Mackey Moana: Budget Debate 
Mackey Moana: Budget Debate 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson. Thank you very much for the call. I too put on record my congratulations to the Hon John Carter on his valedictory speech tonight and his new post in the Cook Islands. I think it is testament to the relationships he has had with people all around this House that any one of us could have added another three or four stories to the stories he told in his speech today. I wish him and Leoni all the best. 
I have sat through a lot of Budgets in my life. I am not ashamed to admit that since about 1993 I think I have seen every Budget live either up in the gallery or here in the House. I would take the afternoon off work or university and come to watch it. Without a shadow of a doubt this was one of the worst Budgets I have ever seen in my life. It was bad on a number of levels. I will make a few comments about the speech from Chester Borrows. I do not doubt at all his sincerity. I do not doubt that at all and I do not doubt at all his desire as we all desire in this House to see the terrible ramifications of child abuse and of violence against children mothers and families dealt with in a way that actually delivers results. But it astonishes me for him to stand there and not realise that the changes his Government has made over the last 3 years—changes that were very much brought home in Budget 2011—have made things only harder for the very families and children he was talking about. The people he was very eloquently defending and discussing in terms of what needs to be done are the very people who are hurting the most. The problems he outlined have only got worse under this Government’s watch. So although I do not doubt the sincerity of his comments at all I really am just astonished that there is this complete disconnect from reality with National members. 
National members just cannot understand the damage that is being done in our most vulnerable families. I take one example: family violence prevention cuts. If the Government is really serious about child abuse about the impact on children of witnessing violence why—why—would it cut family violence prevention funding and funding for Women’s Refuge? Women’s Refuge funding was cut. I do not know whether it is a deliberate disconnect; I do not know whether those members just do not get it. But I would love to see some kind of backing-up of the very fine words we heard from Chester Borrows—words I believe we all very very passionately agree with but are I am afraid just empty words when we look at the actions of this Government over the last 3 years. 
This Government confirmed however that there is no plan. There really is no plan. We said last year we did not think there was a plan we said 2 years ago we did not think there was a plan and this Budget confirmed that there is no plan. We need judge this Government only on the benchmarks it gave itself. What was it going to do? Firstly it was going to close the gap with Australia. Where did that benchmark go? The Government has stopped talking about it. It does not talk about closing the gap with Australia. Number two: we were going to be aggressively coming out of recession 18 months ago. No one talks about us aggressively coming out of recession any more. 
Chris Tremain 
: Yes they do—4 percent growth. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: “Four percent growth” says Mr Tremain. This week—2 weeks after the Budget—Treasury has already had to say as Labour was saying on the day of the Budget that the Treasury figures were overly optimistic they were fairly fluid and flexible and in fact it has now had to downgrade them. Two weeks! We had the Budget only 2 weeks ago yet Treasury already has to pull the figures back in and say what Labour was saying on Budget day which is that those figures were absolutely untrustworthy—absolutely untrustworthy. Where will these 170000 jobs come from? Jacinda Ardern pointed out that in last year’s Budget the Government promised 170000 jobs—or a bit fewer than that number. Well they did not appear in the last financial year. They are being promised again but there is no plan. There is no plan. 
Chris Tremain 
: They never promised 170000 in one year. They beat the forecast as you know by 10000. You don’t like that. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: We actually have to do something if we want to create jobs I say to Mr Tremain. We actually have to do something. Just wishing jobs up out of thin air will not do anything. 
National members really love rewriting history. It absolutely kills them that they inherited from the last Labour Government an economy that had zero net debt which the IMF and Bill English said put us in a very very good position to weather the recession. When National took over Government and inherited low unemployment and low Government debt—because Labour had resisted National’s continuous calls for tax cuts and saved for the rainy day—what did it do? It squandered it. The legacy of this Budget is a $17 billion deficit that has grown on this Government’s watch—seven or eight times what Treasury predicted it would be when National took over in 2008. What happens to personal responsibility? All of a sudden it is everyone else’s fault. It is not National members’ fault that they have not done anything for 2½ years—not a single thing! The Australian Government had an enormous economic stimulus package $5 billion of which was housing. It has added 20000 State houses to its social housing stock. It has done up 80000 more. It kept builders in business. It kept income tax flowing from those workers. It kept GST flowing from the houses built. What did we do? Nothing. The Government brought forward by 6 months some projects that Labour had already agreed to fund. 
Let us look at housing in this Budget. If we really want to see an area that shows that there is no plan and that the emperor has no clothes we need look no further than housing in Budget 2011. The Minister of Housing Phil Heatley put out a press release saying that there is a $45 million contingency fund for the community housing sector. Great news. But when we actually look at the numbers we discover that in fact the overall housing budget has been cut. Out of that $45 million Housing New Zealand Corporation has to carve back and suddenly find $21 million so that it can pay a higher dividend to the Government. The Government has increased the dividend from Housing New Zealand Corporation by $21 million so that money has to be found elsewhere. We also find out that about $30 million worth of programmes have been cut including the Housing Innovation Fund. The day before the Budget the Minister of Housing did a question to himself—a patsy question—in the House saying what a great scheme it was all the time knowing that the next day that scheme would be gone in Budget 2011. 
The Rural Housing Programme another great Labour initiative we thought the Government supported is gone. Then there is the Healthy Housing programme for Housing New Zealand Corporation to insulate State houses. We all remember the song and dance routines we used to get from the Minister of Housing Phil Heatley. He used to jump up and down about what a great Minister he was and how terrible Labour was conveniently ignoring the fact of course that he had hocked off 13000 State houses when National was last in Government and had carried out no modernisation and that Labour had spent 9 years repairing that damage. Let us just rewrite history on that front as well! The fact is that all those programmes are gone. Housing New Zealand Corporation will have to come up and find this $45 million that apparently will be given to the community housing sector. We do not actually know that. Then Minister Phil Heatley says the money will not go to some of the niche providers. They will have to find money elsewhere. I would like to know who the niche providers are. I visit a lot of housing organisations and I would like to know. Is the Salvation Army a niche provider? Is the New Zealand Housing Foundation a niche provider? Is the Community of Refuge Trust a niche provider? Is the Nelson Tasman Housing Trust a niche provider? Is Habitat for Humanity a niche provider? Is the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust a niche provider? Is Monte Cecilia Housing Trust a niche provider? If they are these people will not get the money. The amazing thing about housing in Budget 2011 was that there was no detail. In fact there was only a contingency fund. The money has not actually been appropriated yet and it will be up to $45 million. The big question is what will be cut at Housing New Zealand Corporation to pay for that $45 million because there is no new money. In fact the money has gone backwards. I can tell the House right now that State housing and State house tenants will bear the brunt once again of this Government. 
David Carter talked about the politics of envy. Apparently when people on low incomes see a Cabinet Minister giving himself hundreds of dollars worth of tax cuts every week and say that that is not fair Mr Carter calls that the politics of envy. He is nodding. Well I tell the Minister that those people are not envious; they are angry. Perhaps if the leader of National got out and visited a food bank once in a while or went back and talked to State house tenants about just how great this Government has been for housing then maybe Mr Carter would not make offensive statements like that. I tell Minister Carter that people are not envious; they are hurting they are struggling to put food on the table they are struggling to keep a roof over their heads they are struggling to pay for the basics for their kids and they are angry. They know that a Government that prioritises tax cuts for the very wealthiest New Zealanders which are paid for by the very poorest is not fair. Labour says that is not fair and we think it is time that some of that balance was put right. We think it is time that the hard-working families in this country—the families that Chester Borrows talked about who are struggling to raise children in difficult circumstances—get a little bit more than just nice words from this National Government. We may have a Prime Minister who is very good at the photo opportunities and who is very good at smiling and waving but when it comes down to it and when we go out and talk to people who are really suffering we find that this Budget does a lot of damage. As Phil Goff has said this Budget does not help but it does hurt.