Fairbrother Russell: Budget Debate 
Fairbrother Russell: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9612] 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (Labour) 
: 
 For the benefit of those who might have missed it I say that speech was from one of the young leaders of the National Party misnamed as Simon Power. Simon Power of course is on the right wing of the National Party. We know that because he said that where George Bush goes it—the National Party—goes. When George Bush goes to Iraq it will go to Iraq. So where does that place him on the spectrum? It places him on the right wing. We know of the troubles in the National Party; the troubles in the National Party are with its own right wing. The right wing is becoming disillusioned with the centrist populist policies—if I can use the word policies—of the leader John Key. This is not just political cant this is not rhetoric; this is based on analysis. 
Just late last week political commentators Busby Ramshaw Grice commented in a political update on the work of Simon Power: “It is ironic but nevertheless a real possibility that the biggest obstacle Mr Key faces on his march to the Beehive may not be from Labour but from the right of his own party.” We have just heard a speech for 10 minutes from the extreme right of John Key’s own party. One of those up-and-coming leaders of the National Party in Opposition one of the extreme right wing has spent 10 minutes avoiding speaking about the Budget. He has spent 10 minutes avoiding speaking about the central issue of KiwiSaver. 
That man followed my friend Lynne Pillay who in her speech laid down a challenge to the National Party and its leadership. The National Party and its leadership includes the extreme right-winger Simon Power who said: “Where George Bush goes we go. We follow him to Iraq.” That is what taxi drivers are talking about. My friend Lynne Pillay finished her speech by asking National to tell us what it would do with KiwiSaver. That is not an idle question. The question on the table is: what would National do with KiwiSaver? When did that question go on the table? 
It clearly went on the table this morning on the Radio New Zealand National programme  
Morning Report 
 when the leader of the National Party would not commit to the continuation of KiwiSaver. The failure to commit speaks louder than words. This is the same man who was shown in the book  
The Hollow Men 
 to have accepted the challenge that it was better to lie about policies than to talk about National’s extreme right-wing agenda. This is the man who said it would be worth his while to pursue a lie. So we hear the cant on  
Morning Report 
 when failure to commit to the continuation of KiwiSaver was part of this obfuscation this avoidance of the real issue. 
The real issue of course came out this morning in the  
Independent 
 of 23 May. On page 6 the headline reads: “Everyone’s a Budget winner on the NZX”. This article by Nick Smith headlined “Everyone’s a Budget winner on the NZX” analyses the fortunes of the various companies on the New Zealand stock exchange and the fact that they will do very well under this Budget. I return to the article by Busby Ramshaw Grice where they identified quite perceptively that this is a Budget that takes the Labour Party back on to the middle of the political floor because this is a Budget on policy. 
Those writers believe the National Party is “vulnerable”—to use the word in the article—because it has been tardy in developing new ideas and in part because of what seems to be a lengthy process to get agreement within the caucus on new policy. The article asks why the backbenchers of the National Party do not come out and state their position. Those backbenchers rode in on the coat-tails of Dr Don Brash who is busy undermining John Key in the Auckland area by circulating an economic document critical of the direction of the National Party. Why do the young National backbenchers who rode in on the right-wing coat-tails of Don Brash not tell us what they will do with KiwiSaver? They will not tell us not because they do not know but because they are too scared. 
They are too scared to admit that KiwiSaver is an answer to this country’s problems and is the future of this country. National members debate KiwiSaver in isolation; KiwiSaver is not to be seen in isolation. They rant in this House that a large number of people are not able to afford KiwiSaver—they say there are hard-working Kiwis who cannot afford KiwiSaver. Those hardworking Kiwis are the same people who recently received the full implementation of Working for Families. An offer of a $10 or $20-a-week tax rebate offered by National is answered by hundreds of additional dollars going into people’s pay packets each week from Working for Families. So KiwiSaver must be seen as part of an integrated policy—a concept that is foreign to the National Party. We cannot debate KiwiSaver without also talking about Working for Families. Working for Families is the answer to the propaganda advanced in this House by National members that the working man cannot afford to enter KiwiSaver. The working man is just as thrifty as the capitalist. The working man knows when a good opportunity is presented and a good opportunity is presented— 
Hon Paul Swain 
: And the working woman too of course. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: My friend who knows about working women says I should mention them as well. Under the Prostitution Reform Act of course they will be able to enter KiwiSaver too. 
Under Working for Families families have the cash to invest in KiwiSaver and they will immediately get a return of $1000 a $20-a-week tax credit and the credit that goes into their account from the employer. So it is an investment that will lead to behavioural changes as people learn not to blow excess money from the wage packet but to invest it. This is the answer to globalisation and the neo-liberal policies of borrow and spend—the policies that keep international companies foraging in and raiding the pockets of our working-class people in New Zealand. The answer is to change behaviour by encouraging saving patterns. The Working for Families package is the first step and KiwiSaver is the significant second step. 
I want to talk about the third step which has been totally ignored by National members in the debate. The third step is the bill that is currently on the floor of the House. I ask Dr Smith whether he can hear me and whether I should speak up; the answer we want from him is what he will do with KiwiSaver. The third step of course is the third reading of the Social Security Amendment Bill a bill that will become law very shortly. That bill guarantees that we will continue to have low unemployment levels—world-record low unemployment levels. That is the third part of the interlocking picture that makes this Budget such a sound proposition. This is the answer to our lack of capital markets: KiwiSaver Working for Families and the Social Security Amendment Bill will put money into the pockets of New Zealanders and back into New Zealand. As we build up our own capital funds no longer will we be the market to raid for overseas capitalists. 
The way to get wage rises is to increase productivity. The way to increase productivity is to invest in research and development—as this Budget does—and to invest in the workforce. A workforce that sees a future for itself in New Zealand will push for and get higher wages as it contributes to the businesses it is employed by. As a result of building our capital markets and building a happy workforce productivity will rise as sure as the sun rises in the morning and as sure as Dr Lockwood Smith will get up here and bleat about a picture based on distorted facts. 
Dr Smith will not answer as to what the National Party will do to KiwiSaver. He will not say what it will to do to Working for Families. He will not say how National will fund cuts to essential services if it does not take that funding out of tax. If National gives tax cuts how will it maintain our education policies? How will it maintain hospital services? How will it maintain research and development? The challenge National also faces—which Dr Smith must address—is how it will control inflation. Putting $20 a week straight into people’s pockets to spend is only inflationary. 
This Budget addresses the need for capital markets. It addresses the need to prevent the growth of inflation on our tradables. As the tradables market increases it is inflationary and this Budget provides the answer to that. This Budget reflects the work of Working for Families and builds on that work and on the work of the Social Security Amendment Bill which makes all people in this country potential participants in the workforce. The Social Security Amendment Bill recognises that most people can work and that everybody wants to work and it enables people to get back into work by constructive schemes. This is a very good Budget based on policy—sound policy.