Little Andrew: Budget Statement —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Budget Statement —[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3531. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): “Wait until tomorrow.” they said. “One sleep to go.” which was a bit rich for a Government that spent 7 years sleeping at the wheel. If this is a plan that is working then why have we seen today one of the biggest spends on alleviating child poverty which this Government has known of for 7 years and done nothing about until now? Why has this Government been panicked into doing something about the desperate Aucklanders who cannot get to own their own homes? They are hardly features of the Budget at all and we know why: because the Government cobbled it together in just the last few weeks alone. I move That all the words after “That” be omitted and the following substituted: “this House has no confidence in a government which has failed to deliver the jobs the incomes or the surplus they promised; squandered the golden economic weather; failed to diversify our economy; failed to fix the housing crisis; neglected regional New Zealand; and is tired out of touch and out of ideas.”This is a Government that is demonstrating management by sleepwalk because that is what this Budget is. This is a Budget that manages the decline. There is nothing in this for the long-term future of New Zealand that will give hope and confidence to those who are working hard and struggling to get ahead. So we see now this surplus of $176 million for next year. Well just remember—just remember—last time the Government promised a surplus of over $300 million and the deficit is over $600 million. It is the billion-dollar gap—the billion-dollar gap—that has materialised in 1 year alone. So my message to New Zealanders is this: the Government might have promised it it might have budgeted for it but you cannot trust it because it never ever happens. It is a continuation of the dance of the seven veils.Poor old Bill English there ever since about 2010 another veil comes off and a promise is made. In 2011 another veil comes off and the promise is made again. We have had that repeatedly. And now we have had another veil removed and we know that there are still more to go. I do not know what he is trying to hide. It is some sort of fiscal gender-reassignment or something. Who knows what it is? He cannot produce a surplus. This is not a real surplus in this Budget and he knows it. New Zealanders will see it for what it is: a desperate Government that cannot fulfil the core election promise that it made last year that it would return the books to a balance and a surplus. And there is a good reason why: good Governments manage the Government’s books to achieve a surplus.There is a reason why the last Labour Government managed the Government’s books to achieve nine successive surpluses because when you get a surplus you do the stuff that builds a nation. You can put in place your New Zealand Superannuation Fund to pre-fund superannuation because when you take a close look at these books what you see is that by 2018 the cost of New Zealand superannuation is going to rise—it is going to increase—by nearly $1 billion a year in just 3 years’ time. And what is this Government doing for it? Absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing. That is the disgrace of this Government: no forward looking no sense of the future manage it by sleepwalking hope that nobody notices and come back next year and it will all be the same again. That is what this Budget represents.There is no future in this Budget. There is no hope in this Budget. The next generation the next Government and the future generations of New Zealanders are going to have to cobble together and patch up the failures of this Government including meeting the cost of New Zealand superannuation. This mob over here have no sense of future and do not know what to do about it so they crib around the edges—a million dollars here a million dollars there. It is not enough to build a strong resilient New Zealand. The Government has failed. It has failed. We have had the surplus we have had the surplus chimera we have had the ethereal result—it will not happen.Then we have got the challenge of dealing with child poverty. Well we will give the Government some credit for that. It has taken a step—it has taken a step. The Government has increased benefits but it has paid for it by taking it out of the future-building initiative KiwiSaver. It has taken away the kick-start for those future generations of New Zealanders who need—and know they need—to save for their retirement all those parents lining up to sign their kids up for it because they know that at least if they get that kick-start then by the time they get into their adult lives they have got a little nest egg to continue to build on. It is just an incentive when you are a youngster to carry on with the saving. This Government steals from the next generation and it does not know what to do about their needs. That is what it is doing. It is taking off from the top of Working for Families to pay for it. This is a “fiddling-around Budget”. This is a “fudge-it Budget”. The Government is doing it again. It has no long-term plan.Then there are the initiatives on housing. Well this is the biggest rort of course. This is the biggest rort. It has got new tax plans new rules that Bill English proudly announced today: “We’ve got new rules on tax.” Two days ago he was saying that they probably will not work. I do not know how they got left in the speech when 2 days ago he was saying that they will not even work but he has put them in there. I want to say this about the house build programme because the Labour Party has been saying for some years that the way to deal with the housing supply problem the way to make sure that more Aucklanders get into an affordable home is that the Government the State must lead the house building programme. So I credit this Government for taking the first step of saying that it will do that of putting land aside.But I want to say this: we will support that initiative on one condition. I look at John Key and I look at Bill English and I look at Nick Smith and I look at Steven Joyce and I look at Paula Bennett. None of them will look back. I say to each of you because you are the ones in charge of housing you know what is going on: make this promise to New Zealanders. Make the promise to New Zealanders that every single one of the houses built on the land you have released in the announcement today will be an affordable house that ordinary New Zealanders can get into. Make that promise today. You have got a dozen TV cameras around here you can make it to. Make the promise today Mr Prime Minister. Do not get on your hindquarters in 15 minutes’ time and flap about like a rooster on heat and give your usual dog and pony routine. Make a genuine promise one that you are prepared to stick by. Be straight with New Zealanders. Tell them: “We are serious about affordable housing.” Make sure those houses are affordable houses.To Paula Bennett I say: make sure you discharge your responsibilities to all New Zealanders to good New Zealanders to the hard-working New Zealanders who still hold on to that dream of getting their own home. Make sure you deliver. Your failure to deliver will be if you cannot guarantee—Hon Dr Nick Smith: The member opposed HomeStart.ANDREW LITTLE: —if you will not guarantee Nick Smith—that every single one of those houses will be an affordable home that ordinary New Zealanders in Auckland can get into. Then you will have failed. You will have failed New Zealanders and you will have failed the test that you have set for all Governments which is to look after average New Zealanders. So far all you have done is look after your rich mates. That is not a policy. Your home build policy is not a policy for the property developers who contribute so handsomely to National Party coffers. It ought to be a promise to ordinary New Zealanders who want only to get into their own home. That is what I ask you to do. That is what I am asking you to do.I want to say this about ACC. We have had the repeat of the promise about ACC and we know that it is not a promise—we know that it is not a promise. It is “It could happen.” “It might happen.” “It’s 2 years away.” “We’ve got further work to do on it.” So I say this to Nikki Kaye to Bill English and to John Key: make the promise. Look New Zealanders in the eye and say that you will cut ACC levies.Sue Moroney: Do it now.ANDREW LITTLE: You could do it now; Sue Moroney is right. You could do it now. You have not. You have held on to the cash. You have deprived good businesses and hard-working New Zealanders of their cash and now you have promised that it might happen sometime in the future. Make the promise now. Mr Prime Minister look into those TV cameras when you are up there prancing around and make the promise to good New Zealanders that you will see through to make those ACC cuts so Kiwis will have some money back in their pockets. Make a promise you are prepared to stand by. Make a promise that New Zealanders can rely on and trust. It would be the first one in your political career.This is a disappointing Budget in so many other ways. This is a Budget where New Zealanders were hanging out looking for an expression of hope for the future. This is a Government that has been 7 years in office—7 years in office—and that has enjoyed the best of times: record high dairy prices record high export volumes and growth of over 3 percent. Now we know it is all going down. You look at the projections and they are all about to go down. This is as good as it gets.New Zealanders deserve better—New Zealanders deserve better. They deserve a Government that is thinking about the regions that is thinking about what happens to the regions when that dairy cash dries up and those small towns and hamlets across New Zealand struggle to wonder what to do next. The farmers the stock and station agents and all those who contract to the farming sector have to buckle down batten down the hatches. They are wondering what to do next. They are going to look at this Government and say: “You let this happen. It didn’t have to be like this. You had the opportunity. You had the good times. You could have prepared better.” They will say and we will say that you blew it. Bill English and John Key you blew it. You have turned up today with a Budget that just continues the same sleepwalking somnambulant management that we have got used to for the last 7 years. It is not good enough—it is not good enough. New Zealanders deserve better and we need better.We are facing some difficult times ahead. The Government knows it; we all know it. New Zealanders know it and they were looking for an expression for a statement of vision and leadership such as we have never seen before with this Government. And we have not got it. It has been more of the same—fiddle around the edges faff around the sides and carry on as if no one is noticing. Well they are noticing. What we now need is a Government that is genuinely focused on the future. It is not just about dealing with the issue of making the books give the appearance of a surplus that is not going to happen; it is about a Government that is focused on building a nation and on giving people opportunities. It is fine to lift the benefits fine to help those people even though you are making it harder for sole parents with kids at the age of 3 and over. That is going to be the real hardship. How are those folks going to cope?It is fine to make some of those gestures but what those people who are out of a job want is a job. What those people are desperately in need of is more work—not the 1-hour jobs that Steven Joyce promotes and encourages; they are not even half jobs they are sort of minuscule jobs. They want real jobs that mean they can earn a living income and get ahead. That is what New Zealanders want. The Government cannot even keep its promise to add the 150000 jobs by next year. The Government has had to abandon that one. The Government cannot even meet the promise to lift incomes by an extra $7000 a year by next year either. It has had to push that out too. The Government knows how bad things are and it serves to us this sort of mess of potage today and pretends that it is all sweet and rosy. Well it is not and New Zealanders know it.New Zealanders are hanging out for a Government that is serious about lifting all New Zealanders serious about what is happening in the regions serious about what is happening down on the farm and serious about what is happening in small to medium sized enterprises. There is nothing in this Budget for them except continuing to hold on to the ACC levies that the Government does not need to. The Government has whacked on a few extra taxes—a departure tax and an arrival tax—and it is going to tax every user of the telecommunication services with a new levy on the operators; $150 million a year. Do you know who is going to pay for that? Ordinary New Zealanders. Do you know why the Government thinks that that measure is an OK thing to do? It is because it does not care about ordinary New Zealanders. That is why for 7 years the Government has shut New Zealanders out of their own homes. That is why for 7 years the Government has not cared about those living in dire poverty. The Government just does not care. We have seen more of that in this Budget today.New Zealanders need a Government that is focused on a number of core things: diversifying our economy; making sure that the State plays its role in investing and encouraging private investment in other sectors in the economy to boost and diversify it; making sure that our people and our education system are prepared for the future; preparing young people for the jobs of tomorrow not repeating the jobs of today; and really genuinely fixing our housing crisis. It is nice to have the building plan but it will not be fast enough and there will still be people without a home in years to come.I think of people like Gene Simmons—not Gene Simmons; Gene Harris. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!ANDREW LITTLE: There is Gerry Brownlee. Gerry Brownlee says he was asleep. Well he has woken up after 7 years now. He has woken up after 7 years and come to life. I think of people like Gene Harris who is in his 30s and is a marketing manager. He rents a two-bedroom flat in Hillcrest on the North Shore with his partner and his baby. He contacted us because he is sick and tired of this Government for its arrogance and its contempt and for laughing at people like him. He told us this: “The opportunities are few and far between. Even if you’re on a good wage you can’t get ahead and there’s something just not right about that.” Like so many thousands of other New Zealanders a good man is struggling and working hard to get ahead and he cannot because of the failures of this Government. That is what this Government represents; that is what this Government has achieved. It has let down far too many others. So Gene Harris is looking forward to a Government that is serious about building the nation building our economy strengthening it giving him and his family an opportunity and letting them realise their dreams of homeownership and a secure future.Then there is Simon Paterson who has also been in touch with us. He is an IT manager from Mosgiel who has a family and like many other Kiwis who live in the regions he is sick and tired of seeing the regions neglected. He told us this: “Middle New Zealanders like me are feeling increasingly left out in terms of stuff like health care and education.” We know that those figures today on education are not enough to fill the gap that has been slowly developing in funding for that sector. He said: “There’s been tax breaks for the rich but nothing for anyone else.” That is how he summarises this Government and it is impossible to disagree with him.We need a Government that is focused on the future; that is focused on all of New Zealand; that wants to fix the real problems; that is thinking far ahead; that is not tinkering at the edges; that is not sleepwalking around letting more and more New Zealanders down; that is creating those real opportunities; that when it says it is going to generate more housing seriously does so; and that when it says it is going to lift incomes by $7000 a year actually is serious genuine and honest about it and does so. Not like this one—not like this Government that loosely makes promises it has no intention of keeping. That is what characterises this Government time and time again. It is time to have a Government that can write a Budget that is good for New Zealand; that is good for all New Zealanders; that makes a difference; that will support the wealth generators and the wealth creators; that sustains the entrepreneurs the innovators the dreamers and the doers—not a Government that faffs around the edges supporting the extremely rich who contribute to the National Party coffers but that does nothing for the vast majority of the rest of New Zealand.