Seymour David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSeymour David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3786. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): I greatly enjoyed listening to the contribution of Fletcher Tabuteau. He told us that he was a lecturer in economics. Between you and me I think he has been telling a few bedtime stories. His declaration also reminded me of a quote by Margaret Thatcher: “If you have to tell them that you are a lady maybe you are not.” If you want to quote economists then maybe we should start with the wonderful Henry Hazlitt who said that the good economist looks at the long term and an average for all groups; the bad economist looks only at the short term for some. When we talk about this shift in resources within the Budget we are reminded of another thing that Fletcher Tabuteau said. He said it was a “Peter and Paul Budget” taking money from one person and giving it to another. Well I hate to tell you but that is what Budgets are about. If everyone was just going to keep the money that they already had we would not need to do any of this. We could just keep our own money and not have a Budget. But I know that members are very eager to get home so I will be as short as I can.The fact is that what this Budget has done is take money out of middle-class welfare—2.5 million New Zealanders; $2.5 billion—into savings and put it into another form of investment—that is investment in human capital the most important investment that any country can make in the long term.Clayton Mitchell: Are you getting a sore neck from all this bobbing around?DAVID SEYMOUR: Maybe just wait your turn. Oh wait you have had your turn and it was not very good was it? The fact of the matter is there is a real problem with this policy and I am sorry to disappoint members to my immediate left but this Government has shown tremendous courage in removing a middle-class welfare transfer. Would it not be nice—would it not be nice—if this Government could show the same courage when it comes to superannuation? Because the benefit that so many older generations got it is more than happy to take it away. It is more than happy to take it away from younger New Zealanders those who might have been enrolling for KiwiSaver in the future. It is more than happy to do that but it will not bite the bullet when it comes to the future liabilities for New Zealand superannuation which those same young people will now have to pay. This is the same $1000 that not so long ago National wanted young people to put into the same housing market that the Reserve Bank Governor is doing everything he can to deflate because he says that it is dangerous. So this cuts both ways. It is an admirable policy. It is an economically literate policy unlike what I hear from my right. It is a policy that I will be supporting. However would it not be nice if this Government had a little bit more of a long-term view and was a little bit more prepared to look into the future confront the challenges that this country faces and take on long-term superannuation reform? Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker.