Banks John: Budget Statement — Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBanks John: Budget Statement — Budget Debate[Sitting date: 15 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17926. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JOHN BANKS (Leader—ACT): The ACT Party will be supporting this Budget and the two associated pieces of legislation. I congratulate the Minister ofFinance on bringing to this House his sixth Budget and on arriving today at a surplus albeit a fragile forecast at just over $370 million. I was in this Parliament when our Minister of Finance gave his maiden speech. That man from the south has really come a long long way and his contribution to this country as Minister of Finance has been great. It has been great.Achieving a surplus is one of the economic objectives that most New Zealanders clearly understand. It is the proper measure and test of whether a Government is fiscally prudent. On behalf of the ACT Party and the people of Epsom I am particularly pleased that this Budget marks the end of deficits and of borrowing the savings of others for current operating expenses. Debt is forecast to decline from 24.4 percent of GDP to 20 percent of GDP by 2020. If New Zealand cannot maintain the welfare State within our means we cannot expect workers in other countries to prop up our welfare State.Never forget that any Government big enough to give you everything you want is a Government big enough to take from you everything you have. It is essential that future Budgets remain in surplus while cutting taxes to promote sustainable growth. Cutting taxes equals sustainable growth. It is essential that debt racked up to lessen the effect of the global financial crisis by maintaining the welfare State is repaid—that the $60 billion is repaid. That means continuing the pattern of spending restraint. My friend who lives with me in the electorate of Epsom and who works on the Finance and Expenditure Committee Paul Goldsmith knows that well and understands the economics of this country and the importance of reducing debt and running prudent financial management. I take this opportunity today to wish him well in the next Government.No able-bodied New Zealander should be put on the scrap heap at age 16. The clear expectation is that everyone should contribute whatever their talents and however humble their origins. The taxpayer should not enable lives of hopelessness idleness and despair. The taxpayer should not fund lives of idleness hopelessness and despair. The self-esteem self-respect and independence that come from work are the birthright of every New Zealander. Every New Zealander deserves the opportunity for work and the gratitude that goes with making a contribution. If we were to couple these changes with the abolition of the minimum wage even more young low-skilled New Zealanders would be able to get their first jobs. The challenge is to display similar courage and boldness in other parts of the welfare State—in education health and superannuation. The ACT Party believes in responsibility and choice. The ACT Party believes in responsibility freedom and choice.The medium-term challenge is the affordability of the welfare State which has not gone away. Rolling back the welfare State is inescapable due to the demographics of an ageing population. It is a matter that we have to come to grips with. We will make the adjustments or go bust. This week the Australian federal Treasurer signalled a lift in the Australian retirement age to 70 by 2035. On current announcements that will put the Australian retirement age amongst the highest in the OECD. If Australia—a country a third richer than New Zealand with a means-tested pension and a huge superannuation industry—cannot afford a retirement age of less than 70 a New Zealand retirement age of 65 has no prospect of surviving. The only question here is when this Parliament will do the right thing and give New Zealanders enough warning of the inevitable change so that they can arrange their lives.The ACT Party believes in smaller Governments more opportunity less regulation lower taxes less borrowing and less taxation. A welfare State where around 25 percent of GDP is removed from taxpayers and delivered in services back to those same taxpayers and others is unsustainable and wasteful. To have 25 percent of our GDP redistributed is unsustainable and wasteful. Although this Budget rolls back some ofthese services the principle is a good one. We should also look at expanding co-payments. The taxpayer delivery of free goods and services costs more because those consuming them have no clue of their value. If someone consumes something that has cost them nothing it is probably valueless. That is why so-called free services cost more and more and result in much more waste and less accountability.In the long term ACT’s alternative Budget released this week squarely addresses the challenge of lifting long-term growth well above the forecast range of under 2.5 percent. The only way we can achieve a higher than forecast growth rate is if the Government gets out of the business of middle-class welfare and corporate welfare. Less middle-class welfare and less corporate welfare mean that we can let New Zealanders keep more of what they earn by lowering their taxes. I believe that people can spend their money much more wisely than Governments can. By having highly competitive personal and corporate tax rates we can attract overseas investment which results in more employment and more growth. This country desperately needs more employment and more growth. There is no problem that New Zealand faces that would not be easier to deal with if our nation was much richer. The only way we can be richer is if Governments take less and meddle less—Governments take less and meddle less—and leave the money of the hard-working taxpayers in their pockets to spend and invest as they choose.These big issues are not adequately addressed in this Budget—they are issues for the next Government and future Governments—but they must be addressed. We cannot continue to live beyond our means and the fiscal surplus in this Budget is an indication that Bill English and this Government are committed to living within our means.I want to give full marks to the Prime Minister and the speech he delivered in this House today. In 10 Parliaments I have never heard a better speech in the House from a Prime Minister than I did today from the leader of the coalition on this side of the House. We are truly fortunate to have John Key as our Prime Minister of New Zealand at this time and we are indeed grateful in this House to have Bill English as a prudent manager of the funds—the desperately short funds—this country has to make sure that we get through the global recession and move on to more prosperity.I was asked a question by a young girl from Diocesan School for Girls in the centre and heart of my electorate of Epsom when she visited Parliament recently. “Mr Banks” she said “what would you have been if you had not been a politician?”. It is a good question that I put to all members. I said to her that if I had not been a politician I would have been an astronaut. This is a land of opportunity. This has always been a land of opportunity. I first came here 45 years ago as a 13-year-old. I came and visited this Parliament as a 13-year-old and the Hon Allan McCready sat me in a seat up the back here and told me: “One day John if you’re good to your mum and you work hard you too could be a member of Parliament. You too could be a member of Parliament.” The day I was elected to this Parliament I sat in that same seat. That was 33 years ago. Anyone can achieve anything they like in this country and that is the mantra that we want to respect for New Zealand.The young people of this country give me hope. The farmers the nurses the police officers and the entrepreneurs are as motivated and committed today as they were when I came here in 1981. This is a country of goodness a country of hope and a country of opportunity where even the son of a burglar can become the Minister of Police. This is a country of much opportunity. Despite all our challenges we still live in the golden times of opportunity. Unconditional love from the home and a world-class education are what we need. Unconditional love in the home and a world-class education in the classroom are the key to success. The ACT Party believes in that. This is a Budget ofopportunity. The Budget continues to give us much hope and this country much opportunity.