Nash Stuart: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Nash Stuart: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17455] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 That speech made by Craig Foss was astounding. That member said New Zealanders are responding to the tax switch. Well I will tell him how New Zealanders are responding. They are responding by going in ever-increasing numbers to food banks by going in ever-increasing numbers for budget advice and by going in ever-increasing numbers to creditor courts. If that is the sort of response the National Government wants from New Zealanders then I am ashamed. It is a disgrace—an absolute disgrace. 
I stand during the Committee stage of the Appropriation (2009/10 Financial Review) Bill to talk about the financial review of Treasury and more specifically the $6 million spent by Treasury over and above the amount allocated in Budget 2009-10. I have only two points to make: the first is that the National Government has no plan; the second point is that Labour does. 
Treasury is not a big department when compared with many others but it is most important. Treasury provides financial and economic advice to the Government. I wonder what the $6 million worth of extra money spent on providing advice resulted in. I wonder whether it was the sort of advice that ended up with very wealthy New Zealanders—New Zealanders who earned over $1 million a year or more—getting a tax cut of about $1000 a week. Yet those who are on the median wage in Napier as in most cities have ended up with a tax cut of about $5 per week. What sort of advice is that? There are 650 people in New Zealand who earn $1 million or more. Every one of those people received over $1000 a week more yet thousands and thousands of New Zealanders received around $5 a week. That is simply not fair. The National Government is not working for the vast majority of Kiwis; it is working only for its very wealthy mates. I say as do the vast majority of people who come into my office that the National Government is out of touch. Its members simply do not understand how hard it is for hard-working New Zealand families to make ends meet. They do not care about those who are on the median wage who receive just $5 a week in tax cuts and who are facing an increase of $20 a week in their food bills. Those members are so out of touch and they simply do not care. 
The thing that astounds me is that the $6 million overspend by Treasury resulted in only two plans for economic growth. The first was to mine national parks and the second was to sell State assets. When is a plan not a plan? When National is so desperate that it comes up with the plan to mine national parks and sell State assets. That is no plan because this Government has no plan. It is as simple as that. 
With an extra $6 million Labour would ensure that advice sought is on how to create jobs how to provide opportunities for the nation’s children and how to create a future for the nation’s grandchildren. Labour believes in giving all a fair go not just those who earn substantial amounts of money. Advice from Treasury to a Labour Government after November—if Treasury wants to be heard—will never ever include a suggestion to sell State assets because unlike the National Government Labour will never sell State assets. Labour has a plan for the future that gives all New Zealanders a fair go. Labour has a plan for the future to make sure that everyone who wants to work has a job. We have proven that we can do it. When Labour left office there was 3 percent unemployment and now 160000 New Zealanders are out of work—160000 New Zealanders are out of work. I tell members that the National Government has no plan to get those New Zealanders back into work. It has no plan to create jobs for good hard-working New Zealanders. Thank you.