Ryall Tony: Budget Debate 
Ryall Tony: Budget Debate 
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Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
: 
 I am very happy to stand in this debate and support the motion of Dr Don Brash. It is a motion that clearly shows that this is a failed Budget from Labour’s outgoing Minister of Finance. It is a failed Budget because it does not address the priorities of mainstream New Zealand. It is a Budget about the carping minorities that have captured Labour. The Government does not propose anything for ordinary hard-working people other than 67c in 3 years’ time. How do we say to a hard-working family on $40000 a year which is trying to get ahead that this Government offers it 67c in 3 years’ time? It provides hardly any incentive to work hard or to get ahead. 
This Government is presenting a Budget surplus of over $7 billion and is trying to tell the country that ordinary working people should not be allowed a decent tax cut. With a surplus of $7 billion of course this country can afford lower taxes to reward effort and create jobs. Of course with a $7 billion surplus there is enough money to lower taxes to reward effort and to create jobs. Ordinary New Zealanders mainstream families want a tax system that rewards their work and effort that gives them an incentive to get ahead. What does this Government offer? Well it offers 67c in 3 years’ time. But what does it offer to families that are trying to get ahead? It offers the Working for Families package. What does that do? It says to two households in Papamoa that live next to each other—one with two kids and earning $40000 a year and one next door with two kids and earning $60000—that the family that earns $20000 more gets to take home $40 a week more than the family earning $40000. Where is the incentive to make the effort required to get ahead? Let us lower taxes to reward effort and create jobs. Mainstream New Zealand wants a Government that recognises that the values of endeavour self-reliance and independence need to be rewarded. 
This Government’s Budget the final Budget of Michael Cullen reveals that this Government’s priorities owe more to carping minorities than they do to ordinary New Zealand families. Where is the investment in dealing with crime? Where are the extra police to go on the streets of Rotorua? 
Jill Pettis 
: 10000 extra police. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: “10000 extra police.” says the outgoing member for Whanganui. The fact is there has been no increase in the number of police based on population. I have these answers from the Government. What was the number of police per 100000 New Zealanders at the end of April 2004? It was 211. What is the number of sworn police officers per 100000 New Zealanders today? It is 211. There has been absolutely no change in the ratio of police to population under this Government. What about a commitment to dealing with those criminals in our community who keep reoffending— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Lowest crime in 20 years. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Mr Cunliffe says we have the lowest crime rate in 20 years. I think Linda Clark summed it up best on her programme when she said to the Commissioner of Police: “We can’t believe anything you say any more because these numbers are so cooked.” We now know that 17000 cases are shelved every year. We know that there are “ghost squads” responding to 111 calls. We know that this great record of the 111 centres responding to calls within 2 or 3 seconds is a joke because that is only after Telecom has got them through. As Linda Clark said we cannot believe one word of those crime statistics. 
Where is the action on the economy? Where are the tax cuts to reward effort and create jobs? Where is the extra investment in trade training? There is plenty of investment in hip-hop tours homeopathy for pets and Twilight Golf—all things that Labour defends. There is no howling from the Government on that issue. But there is no money for trade training. Why are apprentices being put off? They have to wait for next year’s Budget. What about supporting businesses? Where are the lower accident compensation premiums through competition? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Not there. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: They are not there. Where are the fewer compliance costs through a better Health and Safety in Employment Act? Where is the opportunity to create new jobs through National’s 90-day grievance-free period? 
Where is the vision in education? This Government offers no vision in education. Its education portfolio is led by a thug and that is no way to provide vision for New Zealand people. This National Party says that it wants no child left behind and that there will be a focus on literacy and numeracy in our schools. Where was talk in the Budget of national standards for literacy and numeracy? There was no mention at all. Where was there a mention in the Budget about cutting bureaucracy and paying good teachers more? There was none at all. Where was the work in the Budget to address the concerns of the Secondary Principals Association which said that bureaucracy is stifling innovation in our schools? There was nothing on that. Where was the Government’s plan to deal with the disaster of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)? Where was the plan to deal with NCEA? 
 This Government tries to hide failure. New Zealanders want an education system that does away with the “no marks no failure” culture that this Government has brought into the education system. From a Government dominated by schoolteachers I would have expected more. So there was no new education vision in this Budget. There was nothing that matches National’s vision of “no child left behind”—national standards in literacy and numeracy. This Labour Government has brought a “no marks no failure” culture into the education system. Everybody passes; nobody fails. Everybody feels good. Pupils can go to school and sing “Kumbaya” and get a pass in NCEA. That is what this Government proposes. 
Here is another failure of this Government: where were the leadership and new ideas in welfare? We know that the number of people on the sickness benefit and the invalids benefit has simply rocketed under the Labour Government. In the Bay of Plenty the number of people on the sickness benefit and the invalids benefit has increased by hundreds of percentage points. 
Where was the plan to deal with one law for all in this country? Where was the plan to deal with ending treaty separatism? This Budget contained no idea whatsoever on that. 
Where was this Budget’s vision for getting more investment in roading? It was nowhere whatsoever and still more of our road taxes will be siphoned off by this Government to pay for every noisy minority group that puts its hand up. 
Any noisy minority will be looked after by Labour but those who are part of mainstream New Zealand will get absolutely nothing because this Budget has no vision for ordinary people and no vision for this country. There is no hope here for the families in the middle who are trying to get ahead. Those are the families who lose out on all the family support payments on the student allowances and on every little thing this Government offers to minority groups. But those people are the backbone of this country. Mainstream families battling to bring up their kids to be self-reliant independent and proud are the people we in the National Party stand with. I can tell the people of New Zealand that when this country has a new Government—in a matter of weeks—people will see that the mainstream has taken back control of this House. The noisy minorities who fill the Labour Party’s electorate committees the noisy minorities whom this Government showers with money will be on the out because mainstream families will be back in control of this country.