Little Andrew: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 12 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15865. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Labour): It is a pleasure to talk on the Prime Minister’s statement. I say to the member Shane Ardern who has just resumed his seat: I wonder whether these jobs that he talks about which this great National Government has produced include the 120 jobs that are going in a few weeks’ time out of Fitzroy Yachts in New Plymouth or the 125 jobs going from Goodman Fielder in Hamilton just last week or the 19 heavy engineering jobs also going from New Plymouth announced just 2 weeks ago or the dozens of subcontractors who have lost work because of the collapse of Abode Design and Build in New Plymouth just a couple of weeks ago as well. What a great record this Government has shown in Taranaki—what a great record!That member is partly from Taranaki—Taranaki - King Country. I have to say that that speech is the most statistic-ridden and energetic speech that I have seen that member give. I have to say that it is a great disappointment that at the tail end of his career—the twilight end of his career or I would say at the very rainy dusk of his career—he should give a speech like that and illuminate us all with just his talents. What a pity that this House is going to lose them and what a pity for the people of Taranaki - King Country. Perhaps he will make way for someone who understands what the modern economy looks like and what the future of jobs needs to look like—high-value production high-value jobs highly skilled—all of the things that this country needs and that this Government is failing to deliver on. Since 1 January this year this Government has been desperate to convince New Zealanders that it is all right here. New Zealanders know because they are living it that it is not.I can tell you now that people in Taranaki have been shaken to the core by what has happened in the last few weeks in their fair region. They cannot understand why with a Government that has boasted great economic growth—creating so many jobs lifting the wages so finely—suddenly all of them are losing it. They cannot understand what has gone so wrong. Well we know—we know. They are learning very quickly not to listen to what members of this Government have to say. They are looking at the facts. They are looking at what is actually happening. They are looking at their lives and are seeing that it ain’t that flash after all. The truth is that New Zealanders are in a desperate search for their fair share because they ain’t getting it. They have not had it for some time and they are wondering where it is going to come from. It is not going to come from this Government.This National Government talks about the wealth it has generated and the growth that it has encouraged but it does not see the lives that people are actually living. They are the people who are losing their jobs at the moment—good jobs well-paid jobs and jobs in the very enterprises and industries that we actually need more of. The Government can harp on about the wonders of farming and the great work that the farming community does but that is an industry that actually demonstrates what we can achieve but need to do elsewhere. The Government has lifted productivity but it has not shared it with the workforce I might add. It has not shared it evenly with the workforce in that industry. It has lifted productivity but that is not going to be enough to pay the bills that this country faces well into the future. That is why the Labour Party is the only party talking about real investment in the next phase of economic development in this country. It is long overdue—it is long overdue.Ever since the start of this year we have had a National Government desperate to persuade New Zealanders trying to convince New Zealanders that wages have been going up that you know we have this outbreak of egalitarianism from this Government—Yeah right—and that public debt is under control. Definitely not. The Government has spent the last 6 years convincing New Zealanders that even on the back of a worldwide recession the decline in interest rates is all its work. But you watch when they start going up. You watch from March this year when those interest ratesstart their gradual upwards climb the Government will not be talking about what it has done; it will be going back to the Government of 6 years ago and blaming it all on it because this Government cannot face facts. This Government does not face reality. It cannot look New Zealanders in the eye and say “Actually you know what? Our economic programme? We’ve got it wrong. It’s unbalanced. Not everybody is sharing in the gains that we’ve made. Not everybody is getting their fair share. We are getting an unbalanced economy and because of the Government’s level of borrowing interest rates are going to go up.”Those members know it which is why they all look down at their iPods and iPads because they do not want to face the truth and they do not want to look New Zealanders in the eye and say “We did this. We have suppressed your wages. We are going to make life harder for you by the end of this year because your interest rates on your mortgage are about to go up.” They will not tell New Zealanders that and they will not tell them that the Government is to blame. The Government is living in a fantasyland. It is living inAlice in Wonderland.The truth is this: every independent statistic tells you that wages in this country for most people are stagnant or barely moving. You have only got to look at the labour cost index which shows that it has barely moved. It has moved in sync with price inflation. I will tell you what the other triangulation point is: it is the census data that came out last week. That is the biggest data set you can imagine. That has also shown that although inflation has gone up by about 1.6 percent in the last year wages have moved the same way.Here is the contradiction that the National Government faces. Having convinced everybody that average wages are going up and we are all living a life of great riches Bill English 2 weeks ago said it was time for employers to put wages up. But why if we are enjoying these bounteous wage increases under this Government would the Minister of Finance be urging employers to put wages up? Because the truth is that he knows. He has seen the figures and he knows they have not been going up.The sad thing for this National Government and why it is so out of touch is that it knows that its bedfellows in the rest of the community do not agree with it. So within a day of Bill English saying—urging employers begging them—“Please lift wages. We’ve got an election to fight this year and far too many New Zealanders know they cannot get ahead under this Government. Please put wages up.” what did the business community say? What did they say? Our dear old friend Michael Barnett chief executive of the Auckland chamber of commerce said: “I think it’s a nice sentiment from a politician that there is probably going to be room for pay increases but that’s going to be the role of the employer.” He was very clear: “Don’t come to us asking for pay increases. We’ll decide.” They know they can do that. They know they can do that because this command-and-control Government knows that the bosses in this country hold the whip hand. They decide. So it did not stop Michael Barnett oh no.The other great National Party friend the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern)—that would be my good friend Kim Campbell. He was a good employer in his day. He is now the chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern). He came out and said: “Oh. The labour market is starting to have movement but it’s still a long way from being red hot. It’s still a long way from being red hot. And in terms of wage rises you’ve got to get productivity to match the wage gains.”Here is the message to employers in New Zealand: we have had productivity gains in this country for the last 20 years. Productivity has gone up 50 percent. Wages have barely moved as a consequence. And actually the productivity gains have all been captured by business owners and barely passed on to workers. That has got to changebecause we are out of balance and we are out of sync and something needs to change. Something needs to change—Iain Lees-Galloway: You need to get out more Shane.ANDREW LITTLE: Something needs to change and if there is anybody who needs to get out more it is not the Salvation Army. The problem with the Salvation Army is that of course it does not set up its soup kitchens in Parnell or in Fendalton or in Ilam—Mike Sabin: Or Herne Bay.ANDREW LITTLE: Or in the wealthy areas occupied by National Party MPs. The Salvation Army is there with the people who are doing it hard. It is there on the streets with people who are doing it real hard. So John Key might not have seen the Salvation Army caravan but there are people who are dependent on it and the Salvation Army has confirmed that the number of people drawing on its food banks has risen. I know from getting around the food banks in Taranaki at the end of last year that they could not explain why the number of food parcels they are handing out has gone up. They could not explain it because all the messages they heard were that things have got better.This Government has run out of time and run out of ideas and it is time for a change. Those members arrogantly parade around saying that things are good but real working people know that it is not. It is time for a change and that change is coming. It is time for New Zealanders. They know they are on board they want to see something different and they want to share in the wealth and the gains that they know this great country can deliver.