Cullen Michael: Appropriation (2006/07 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Cullen Michael: Appropriation (2006/07 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:633;Page:4564] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 I move  
That the Appropriation (2006/07 Estimates) Bill be now read a third time and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2006/07) Bill be now read a second time 
. Sometimes in this Parliament there is a short moment—a moment of transition of major change—when one can see something has occurred that is going to have repercussions for a long period of time and this afternoon in question time we saw precisely that. We saw a moment when the Prime Minister challenged the National Party as to who was the real Leader of the Opposition Don Brash or Gerry Brownlee. Both stood up; Gerry Brownlee told Don Brash to sit down and Don Brash sat down. The question about who the real leader of the National Party was answered itself. It was Gerry Brownlee who led National members into the procedural mess they got into this afternoon—the folly they have now got into on which they will go nowhere on what has been their favourite hare to chase for the last couple of weeks or so. 
That supposed leadership of the National Party over there—Dr Brash who looks as though he has been suffering from a famine and Mr Brownlee who looks as though he has been causing it—has now no moral standing in this House at all. That is both as a result of that leadership moving a foolish motion and of its inability to organise a debate despite many offers to allow the debate to occur and the motion to be put and also by refusing to allow a member to make a personal explanation in order to offer an apology to the House. That will also resonate in this House for many weeks and months to come. Those kinds of thing are always examples of “what goes around comes around”. When some member on the opposite side of the House desperately needs to make a personal explanation it will take an awful lot of Christian charity on this side of the House to allow that to happen. 
There has been folly piled upon folly and lack of leadership piled upon lack of leadership. What does one expect from a party when the leader gives a speech saying that we ought to have rules of citizenship whereby we would respect democracy and the principles and freedoms of all New Zealanders yet the very same party wrote a minority report on the Oaths Modernisation Bill rejecting the inclusion of swearing support for democracy and the rights and freedoms of New Zealanders? What does one expect from a party of that sort? What does one expect from a party when Mr Key says National would have the same outcome in the surplus and the deficit as Labour but would have more tax cuts but not less spending? Somehow or other “a” plus “b” no longer equals “b” plus “a” in the National Party’s economic philosophy and economic arithmetic. 
The National Party lacks a clear policy on anything. Tax cuts was once its big policy but when one goes to the National Party website and asks about tax cuts one gets referred to a website www.taxcuts.co.nz. When one goes there one finds that it states: “This domain is parked”. It ought to say: “This party is parked”. 
The National Party is permanently parked in Opposition. In Opposition it shows not the slightest sign of putting together the kinds of policies principles and leadership that could possibly lead it to this side of the House. Those members will grow old in bitterness as they are growing old in bitterness now on the front bench of the National Party. They will be there as long as we continue to perform as a Government in the way that we are. 
I will outlast yet another one two or three National Party finance spokespeople as I have outlasted about six or seven already during my time as the Labour finance spokesperson. In part that will happen because of the achievements of this Government. We have growth that has resulted in the rate of unemployment being one of the lowest in the OECD and the lowest in New Zealand for over 20 years particularly amongst Maori; a major achievement for this Government. Business profits are at the highest level we have seen for decades in New Zealand. Why have we collected more tax? It is because the corporate sector has made more profits and we have collected the corporate tax off those profits. We do not hear much about that from the National Party opposite. 
Debt has reduced as a proportion of GDP by about a third under this Labour-led Government. Working for Families is now pouring money into many low to middle income families who are beginning to realise the benefits of those changes that we have introduced. Superannuation was restored to the 65 percent floor and now during the life of this Government to the 66 percent floor as a result of the confidence and supply agreement with New Zealand First. 
On 1 July the rates rebate scheme will see hundreds of thousands of hard-working Kiwis getting rates rebates on their homes. The National Party bleats about rates but never does anything about them—except pretending somehow or other that they are not going to increase at any point in the future. Primary health organisations are rolling out cheaper doctors’ visits and cheaper pharmaceutical costs for the 45 to 64-year-old age group. There is only one age group left to go—25 to 44—which will qualify for that on 1 July next year. 
Now we have a massive agenda moving forward. In infrastructure we have the biggest investment in roading and public transport in New Zealand’s history. We have seen an eightfold increase in public transport spend under this Government and a doubling in land transport spend under this Government. We are going to complete the Auckland motorway network. We are building roads in the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. We are saving New Zealanders’ lives by improving the quality of those roads. We are spending all of the revenue we take off motorists which is not going to the Accident Compensation Corporation but is coming off for land transport purposes on land transport. That has not happened for so long that nobody can remember when we last did that. One would have to go back somewhere before Sir Robert Muldoon before one found that was the case within New Zealand. 
We are now moving on electricity and sending clear signals that we must have sufficient security of generating supply and we must have a sufficient margin on transmission. Transpower and the commission must sort out their differences including their personality differences; if not the Government will have to take and consider other actions to ensure that those differences do not stand in the way of achieving the security that New Zealanders need and New Zealanders deserve and that we must have if we are going to have investment. 
On skills I say that I am in the middle of a major reform of the structure of tertiary education within this country; a reform that has been very broadly welcomed across the tertiary education sector. The almost lone voice in Opposition is that of Mr Bill English as he was the lone voice on the curriculum changes announced yesterday by my friend and colleague Steve Maharey. On savings we are introducing the KiwiSaver scheme. There are going to be changes to that scheme through the select committee process I am sure which will see it improve and that will start to see a lift in the savings rates within New Zealand. 
On compliance costs I say that Lianne Dalziel is chasing major reform in terms of the way in which we treat compliance costs. At the same time the Government is looking at its own internal compliance costs because they also have become far too large in terms of the way Government business is carried on internally—something that the National Party never deals with at all. 
Finally last week Mr Dunne and I put out the business taxation document which is offering tax cuts in the business sector that are three times what Mr Key offered and Mr Key says: “Oh it’s not very much at all.” It is three times what he was talking about as possibilities but he is saying: “Oh well never mind. That won’t go anywhere near far enough.” What is important is to address those skills issues to address those research and development issues and to address those export market development issues. They are areas where New Zealand has under-performed for a generation and where a hands-off laissez-faire pure level-playing-field approach is simply not delivering the results that this country needs to lift its quality of life. Opposite we have a leaderless moral-less wasting Opposition which has no future a past it can scarcely now remember and a future that in fact will simply be one of sitting there increasingly bitter and irrelevant to New Zealand’s needs. The Opposition showed that in the House this afternoon.