Adams Amy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Adams Amy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:672;Page:18242] 
1. 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What will be the focus of the Budget on 19 May? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 The Budget will focus on three main areas: building faster economic growth around higher national savings setting a credible path back to surplus and the repayment of debt and rebuilding Christchurch over the next few years. At the same time the Government will continue to protect the most vulnerable New Zealanders by increasing funding for health and education and maintaining income support programmes. 
Amy Adams 
: Why is it important for the Government to get back to surplus and repay debt? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As we came through the recession it was appropriate that the Government ran larger deficits and borrowed a bit more to help protect New Zealanders from the sharp edges of recession by supporting jobs and incomes but that cannot continue. The economy is now returning to more normal growth patterns. We need to reduce the need for extra borrowing and get the Government’s books back to surplus and in particular we need to increase national savings so that we can decrease our vulnerability to external borrowing. 
Amy Adams 
: How will the Budget contribute to the cost of rebuilding Canterbury after the two devastating earthquakes? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Budget will allocate around $5.5 billion to rebuilding Christchurch over the next 3 years. About $3 billion of that will relate to the Government’s share of rebuilding local government infrastructure and roads covering insurance excesses on schools and hospitals temporary housing and land remediation as well as demolition costs in the central business district ACC costs and the costs of business and welfare support. That funding will also include some contingency for land remediation which is likely to be the biggest cost following the February earthquake. There is also around $3 billion worth of direct costs to the Earthquake Commission for meeting the insurance cost of residential property damage. 
Amy Adams 
: What alternatives are there to the Government’s balanced and considered approach to managing the economy? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: There are those who are to the left of the National Government who want to borrow and spend significant amounts of money that we do not have. That would cost jobs and push up interest rates. There are those who are to the right of the National Government who want to significantly cut spending on Government programmes without regard for the consequences. This Government will continue to take a balanced and responsible approach. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Why is not the focus of the Budget on relieving financial hardship on New Zealanders given that Statistics New Zealand confirmed this morning that prices have risen more than twice as fast as wages in the last year? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The member knows he is being misleading with the use of those figures. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think we all know that what the member just alleged is a breach of privilege— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am on my feet. The member could have simply asked the first part of the question. The member chose to include in his question a statement that was debatable. The Minister in answering picked on the statement in the second part of the question and disputed it. The Minister is perfectly entitled to dispute a statement added to the question that was not an essential part of the question. There is nothing that I can do about that as Speaker. Had the first part of the question been the only part of the question the Minister could not have answered in the way he did. The member invited that kind of answer by adding his statement to the second part of the question. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. All of that is right. You are absolutely right in that ruling. It was not the question that I was asking you to rule on; it was the statement made by the Minister of Finance that Mr Cunliffe was knowingly misleading the House. He said that Mr Cunliffe was knowingly misleading it. If he is doing that he is breaching privilege and one is not allowed to allege a breach of privilege in that way. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I hear the member’s point that I perhaps did not pick up exactly the issue in his first point of order but I listened to the Minister. The issue is one of deliberately misleading the House. The Minister did not accuse the Hon David Cunliffe of deliberately misleading the House. Misleading is a matter of debate but the crucial issue is deliberately misleading the House. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just ask you to indicate the difference between knowingly and deliberately. I think if we allege that someone does something knowingly we are alleging that they do it deliberately. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: What I will do just to avoid taking further time is ask the Minister to be just a little more careful in his language but there was nothing wrong with his focusing on the second part of the question. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The member is misleading the House whether or not he does it knowingly. The fact is that the consumer price index of 4.5 percent includes the increase in GST. The increase in GST has been fully compensated for through our income tax package. The figures today show that in fact when we take into account the compensation for GST we see that New Zealanders’ incomes are more than keeping up with inflation. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Leaving aside the debate about knowingly versus deliberately the facts are that 1.9 percent of all— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will resume his seat immediately. That is not a point of order. The member has further supplementary questions if he wishes to use them.