Goldsmith Paul: Budget Measures (Miscellaneous Fiscal Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoldsmith Paul: Budget Measures (Miscellaneous Fiscal Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 15 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:18037. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): That was a somewhat underwhelming speech from the other side here for the second reading of the Budget Measures (Miscellaneous Fiscal Matters) Bill. Mr Robinson asked—Hon Clayton Cosgrove: It’s Robertson not Robinson.PAUL GOLDSMITH: Sorry. Mr Robertson said: “Where is the plan?”. Again I think the problem is that members opposite do not like steady sensible predictable Government policy that everybody can understand in terms of where the Government is coming from and that is built up in lots of little steps that together bring the economy in the right direction. Theirs is the politics of the grand gesture where somehow you are going to wave your wand in a transformational way.If you overturn monetary policy and start changing the very foundations of what has been part of the successful New Zealand economy if you suddenly upturn the tax system and bring in a capital gains tax or if you overturn the electricity sector and start nationalising it—all those radical things Labour members are opposing but I do not quite understand what basis there is for this when we have a strong successful economy that is so much stronger than so many other parts of the developing world today.We are looking at the books being back in surplus well ahead of many other countries we are seeing growth at 4 percent and we are seeing wages rising faster than inflation and more money being made available in this Budget for families for businesses and for the most vulnerable. That seems to me to be a plan that is working a plan that is working very well and a plan that we are all proud of on this side of the House.Again I do want to remind the House of the whopper by David Cunliffe in his Budget debate speech. He said that Labour produced nine surpluses in a row. Well that is rubbish. The final one ended up being a deficit of $3.9 billion because Labour had increased spending by 12 percent in 1 year and it was 50 percent over the last 5 years of Government. That is how a Labour Government works.Yes it is true. To give Labour its merit it was reasonably disciplined in the first two terms of the Labour Government under Clark but the third term was a runaway train.Spending went out of control and it left us with an economy pregnant with a decade of deficits.This Government has had the fortitude to get us back to where we are today after 6 hard years and the hard work of New Zealanders—New Zealand businesses and New Zealand people all around the country from the top to the bottom bringing us back to surplus today. And that is something we can celebrate. This bill is about some specific details but we should not lose sight of the broader picture and the broader picture is the very successful one.I do want to talk just briefly about what we mentioned on the temporary suspension of dumping duties. Again that was mocked on the other side by Mr Robertson who said that it was just a small thing and that having cheaper nails is a terrible thing. But this is all about a plan that brings together a whole number of issues that help bring about affordability of housing.Who would have thought—I did not think it was imaginable—that we would be able to work so successfully with the Auckland Council in terms of bringing the special housing accords together and seeing upwards of 30000 houses planned to be built in Auckland over the next little while which will produce so much more supply which is what we need. It will have a much better result than any sudden introduction of a capital gains tax. All the small businesses in the country all the farmers and everybody you can name who has risked their money in an entrepreneurial venture is suddenly going to be hit by a capital gains tax. Somehow that is going to make housing in Auckland more affordable just as it has in Australia and elsewhere in the world. It seems it is a hard one to follow.Our policy of focusing on a whole range of issues on housing affordability starting with getting greater access to land and more supply in housing and then working our way through the specific issues is hard and detailed work but the cost of building is an important part of what makes housing expensive in New Zealand. When the Productivity Commission did its thorough review of housing it pointed out that New Zealand materials were more expensive than those in Australia so we are doing what every good Government should do by drilling down into the details. This legislation removing duties and tariffs on building products will increase competition and reduce costs in the industry saving Kiwis around $3500—Hon Clayton Cosgrove: Wow!PAUL GOLDSMITH: —to build a standard New Zealand home. The member opposite mocks. I do not know about you but I would prefer to have $3500 in my pockets than not.Hon Clayton Cosgrove: Do you know how much a house costs to build?PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes I am very familiar with the general costs of housing but I will not go into that detail. On that basis—Hon Clayton Cosgrove: It wouldn’t even cover the heat pump.PAUL GOLDSMITH: —heat pumps are a lot cheaper than that actually; you just have to shop around—what we will find is that this Government has made a great contribution to housing affordability with this temporary suspension of dumping duties. On that basis I commend this bill to the House.