King Annette: Appropriation (2005/06 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
King Annette: Appropriation (2005/06 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:627;Page:22239] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 There are 6 weeks and 3 days until the election. Obviously it cannot come soon enough for some people in this House who are looking forward to a long holiday indeed. In fact the bell is about to toll for a large number of MPs and parties in this House. It is past time for some of them to front up speak up and own up to New Zealanders as to what their policies will do to New Zealanders. It is time that those politicians put on record what their policies are so that New Zealanders can make their choices. 
I have to say that Don Brash and the National Party have been playing New Zealanders for suckers week in and week out in this Parliament and in the little meetings in halls that they have been holding around New Zealand. They have been playing New Zealanders for suckers. Don Brash has been doing the equivalent of a political striptease with his major policy plank. He has been doing the political striptease with his tax cuts. It is a sordid little peep show that he has been teasing New Zealanders with. He is the proverbial teaser of the voter. What he has been doing is talk about when he will announce the tax cuts. I want to take New Zealanders who are listening tonight on this political striptease of Don Brash and his tax cuts. 
On 1 April this year he said that he did not propose to announce National’s tax policy and that indeed he would defer any detailed announcement on its tax policy until after the Budget on 19 May. On 13 May he said that not long after the 19 May Budget in the run-up to the election he would be announcing a very different set of policies from those of Helen Clark’s Government and that lower taxes on families would be firmly on the agenda. The next day the National Party leader Don Brash said to the Otago chamber of commerce that National’s tax policy would be announced in the next 2 or 3 weeks. When was that? That was on 14 May. We got to the next day 15 May. He said that National would lessen the burden on hundreds of thousands of middle-income families and would be announcing its policy once it had seen what was left in the Budget. 
The Budget was on 19 May. Obviously National members are slow readers as we hear from the rest of the story. On 21 May at the launch of his post-Budget roadshow Dr Brash confirmed that he would offer big tax cuts to all workers but he refused to repeat the Budget night assurance that it would amount to billions of dollars. John Key had told New Zealanders in the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 that the tax cuts would amount to billions not hundred of millions of dollars. Dr Brash refused to confirm that figure or to provide details of National’s tax plan. 
He said on 21 May that he would be announcing details of the tax cuts in a few weeks’ time. Well we got to 22 May and Dr Brash said that National would bring in a tax system that rewards enterprise and rewards skill and hard work and that he would announce it in a few weeks’ time. That was on 22 May. On 23 May Dr Brash said that he hoped to provide wide-scale tax relief for New Zealanders to restore some kind of incentive for hard work and initiative but that we would have to wait because he intended to announce it in a few weeks’ time. It was reported that he said that teasingly on  
Morning Report 
 on 23 May. Well we got to 26 May and he said that National’s tax policies could not be announced until after the Budget. Well the Budget had been the week before! He said that National would announce them shortly in the next few weeks—that he would do that. 
By 11 June he had this to say: “The reality is we will announce our tax policy well ahead of the election. We said we would do it in a few weeks after the Budget was announced.” National was going to do it a few weeks after the Budget was announced; we were now at 11 June. “Why are you holding this back?” asked the presenter; “Is it for strategic advantage?”. Dr Brash said: “That is correct.” This is all about strategic advantage. It has nothing to do with wanting to be honest and upfront with taxpayers. 
Then we got to 6 July and Dr Brash said this: “We will be revealing more and more bits of policy over the next few weeks.” Then we got to 7 July and he said: “We will be rolling it out next month. We don’t have a particular date in mind. We want to see when the election will be.” Then we got to 13 July. He said: “We will put it out in our own good time. Just ask Helen Clark when the election is and at that point I will tell you exactly when we will announce our tax policy.” 
We have had this political striptease going on since April this year. 
Darren Hughes 
: We’re down to the pyjamas. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: We are not down to the pyjamas; we are down to the Y-fronts and people are waiting eagerly for the final act so that they can see what lies beneath. I have a terrible feeling it is going to be a great disappointment to many many New Zealanders. 
John Key said there will be tax cuts by Christmas if National is in Government. So not only have we had this slow striptease about the tax cuts but we are told that if National is in Government we will have them before Christmas. Of course that all changed quite quickly when Don Brash heard about that. Of course a National Government could not actually give tax cuts before Christmas. A few things would have to happen before it could do that. First of all it would have to decide who is going to get them. Along the way Dr Brash has told us that every single New Zealander would get a substantial tax cut. Do members know what New Zealanders are saying? They are saying that “substantial” means 50 to 100 bucks a week. That is substantial. That is what they are expecting. Every hard-working New Zealander toiling away out there is expecting between 50 and 100 bucks a week. That is what would make a difference; that is what people say would make them vote National. I can tell members that those people will be very very disappointed. It will be the final act of treachery when National takes off the last veil and there is nothing there at all. It will be a great disappointment. 
We heard today from Dr Brash about the fact that this Government has announced a very attractive student loan policy. He said it is a bribe to the voters and how dreadful it is to have a cynical bribe to the voters like that. Of course promising a substantial tax cut to every single New Zealander is not a bribe at all; no it is just sensible policy! It is what parties do when they are in Opposition! 
We then get to National’s promises on health. I have been looking for the policy. I have searched for the policy. I have been on Google. I have read everything I could. I have read the  
New Zealand Herald 
 and I have read the  
Dominion Post 
. I have read the websites. Have we found a health policy? No we have not. But I did read the general election report in  
Pharmacy Today 
. There is a little bit of policy there! It is the first little bit of policy I have found. It states: “The National Party supports the amalgamation of district health boards.” Well let me tell Jill Pettis—and perhaps Mr Power would be interested—that the Whanganui District Health Board would be gone under National Party policy. So would the Taranaki District Health Board. They would be amalgamated with Palmerston North’s. That is where they would be. National should tell the people of Tauranga and the people of Rotorua because their boards would be amalgamated with Waikato’s. National should tell the people in the far north; their board would be amalgamated with Auckland’s. And so on down New Zealand. 
We are talking about a party that would force amalgamations of district health boards up and down New Zealand. That is not what the people necessarily want and it is not what they will be consulted on but because National needed a policy—it had to have something to say—it would force amalgamations. Well I would like to see National impose that policy on New Zealanders. It will not work. When it comes to local government amalgamation Dr Brash said National is in favour of amalgamating councils. Of course when it comes to the local council we notice the views of political candidates such as the National Party candidate in Otaki. He is suddenly not in favour of this sort of amalgamation. He is saying: “Amalgamate everybody else but not my council.” So let us see how this policy would work. It is a half-baked approach to health but is about the best we have from National so far.