Flavell Te Ururoa: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — Third Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:282] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare a tenei ata. It has been great to hear the Opposition begin to grapple with what it means to participate in a mana-enhancing relationship. It would be even better if those same members started to reflect on their own behaviour in the House and how that could demonstrate mana-enhancing principles. It is about listening and appreciating that other parties will have different points of view to their own and there is nothing wrong with that. We need to respect that the views of others may well be different to somebody else’s.  
In this final reading of the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill it is of interest to us that 1 day after the international Human Rights Day Labour has a new approach to again beginning to consider the interests of vulnerable New Zealanders. The impact of those members’ actions over successive terms was never more apparent than during the urgent call from the Human Rights Commission that New Zealand must adopt a national plan to combat child poverty. Poverty did not occur just today day three of a new Government as Labour suggests. It has been here for some time.  
The other irony is that at 1 p.m. yesterday I on behalf of the Maori Party along with Keith Locke of the Greens received a petition to the House of Representatives articulating the concerns of many New Zealanders about the former Government’s record in opposing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The petition states the deep disappointment of the petitioners regarding an action that they describe as unreasonable and unjust. We cannot ignore the fact that 27 percent of Maori children live in poverty. Further the New Zealand Income Survey reminds us that although average incomes have risen relative to others Maori are $151 per week worse off. They are $151 worse off despite a period of economic prosperity so the survey says.  
The Maori Party will continue to speak out today for those who are not so fortunate just as we did yesterday and will do tomorrow. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Well explain why you voted against the Cullen amendment. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: I will do that.  
The Labour members speak loudly of the vulnerable. Dr Cullen Mr Mallard and Nanaia Mahuta should know that this vulnerability did not just happen today. They highlighted vulnerability in talking about our vulnerable Maori. Our people have not become vulnerable just today. They have lived in vulnerability through successive Governments with Labour being the most recent. If there are vulnerable Maori as we discuss this bill they are likely to have been vulnerable 6 weeks ago before the election—when Labour was in power—1 year ago and 9 years ago. If there is one thing to say it would be to tell Labour to look in the mirror. Those members speak of vulnerability as if they are the only protectors of this group. In fact there were a few hundred vulnerable people in the Tuhoe nation who lived in the Ruatoki valley and who were invaded by police on 15 October 2007. I did not and I have not heard any of those members speaking up for them so please do not preach to me about the vulnerable.  
Mr Cunliffe said that he thought that the Maori Party and Labour could have done some deals and worked together. Truth be known those members never talked to us at all while we were on the cross benches so any offers now are simply too late. But 3 years on who knows? We need to remember that we could well have been sitting on that side of the House but we have secured some gains for our people—more than we were offered by Labour or could have expected from this National Government. We will be judged of that there is no doubt. That is how it should be but it will not be against this one bill; it will be over time. We will be working hard to ensure that our people will be proud of our contribution. 
This debate provides an opportunity to consider how well this Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill will assist us in advancing the human rights of New Zealanders and in particular Maori. The taxation bill in summary includes personal income tax cuts and threshold changes and a new independent earner tax credit for low and middle income earners—an initiative we have a particular interest in. It is difficult to accept that those earning under $40000 will receive no tax cut this year I have to admit. No member of Parliament should be comfortable that low-income families continue to struggle. Families struggle to buy food and to pay for the power and are forced to abandon their homes which are becoming increasingly more vulnerable to mortgagee sales. We must consider those people. Unfortunately this bill does little to address these issues. I have to say it will not reduce taxation at this point in time for the majority of the voters in my electorate and I am disappointed at that.  
But it is day three in this forty-ninth Parliament; it is not a time that the Maori Party will wave the white flag of defeat and run away from the opportunity to make a difference for we are here to make a difference. It is after all only day three and there are 900 or so more days to come. The Maori Party is here to make a difference as best we can in the political climate and the constraints we sometimes find ourselves in in this House.  
We want to state for the record that this is not a bill we were consulted on prior to the negotiation of our relationship agreement with National. This is very much an initiative of the National Party as explained by the Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and National owns it as such. We are concerned that the rebate does not do enough for those at the bottom end. We are also concerned at the targeting of particular groups in this bill without taking sufficient care for those groups whom we have always advocated for te pani me te rawa kore [ 
the bereft and the poor 
].  
But this is the nature of politics as Labour well knows. You see we remember the disillusionment of our colleagues in the Green Party with their honourable intention to introduce legislation to abolish the discriminatory provisions that allowed young workers to receive less than the minimum wage. It was overturned overnight by the Labour caucus—yes Labour knows about political landscape. The Maori Party argued that rangatahi should not be vulnerable to arbitrary dismissal or unilateral changes to their terms and conditions of employment. We supported the original intention of the Greens’ bill providing that young people had the right to freedom from discrimination as in the Human Rights Act 1993. Yet as the  
Hansard 
 will show in order to win the support of Labour the Greens had to amend their legislation to the effect that they ended up supporting a new entrant sub-minimum wage for young people’s first 200 hours of work. Yes they know about political trading. Why? Because they have done it. So despite the concerns we will continue to work with the National Party to consider legislation to deal with those who stand to miss out from this bill. 
I want to refer to the trickle-down economic theory that says that boosting the incomes of mid to high income earners through tax cuts will create economic benefits that will trickle down to lower-income earners from the enhanced spending which will create jobs in the subsequent demand for services. Instead what we have witnessed over the years in Aotearoa is more akin to a trickle-up effect which is worsening income inequalities—an effect that the Labour Government failed to give serious consideration to over 9 years.  
Our greatest concern which we share with the Government is our concern about the inequality in disposable income—the gap between the low and the high-income earners. The Opposition is quite right that our policy is to reduce tax so that no tax would be paid on the first $25000 earned. We had many questions about this bill and how it fits alongside our aspirations to address low-income taxpayers. Of particular importance in regard to the tax issues being placed here is manaakitanga to the less endowed and rangatiratanga for them. We think of those unable to generate a living income or to create wealth. If the nation is not willing or able to provide adequate manaakitanga to the less endowed then the shortfall must be addressed by providing opportunities for those people to raise their productive skills to assist them to be better managers of what skills and means they possess and to protect them against loan sharks and pokey machine parlours. There is significant value in taking this route and it would be an expression of rangatiratanga. We need education and counselling services coupled with community banking services including whanau hapu and iwi-designed schools promoted through community facilities including schools. The absence of any tax relief in this legislation means that these sorts of alternatives are rather urgent.  
This bill focuses tax relief on higher-income earners and it intensifies the earning gap between the low and high-income earners. We do not intend to ignore these realities; we must not punish the impoverished. It was with great concern that we saw the Minister for Social Development and Employment the Hon Paula Bennett yesterday release papers that revealed that a substantial group of New Zealanders have continued to be deprived through a decade of relative prosperity. That is a legacy of the Labour Government we must address and we will support this bill in honouring our confidence and supply arrangement with the National Party.