Simpson Scott: Budget Debate 
Text is subject to correction 
Simpson Scott: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 31 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2791. Text is subject to correction.] 
SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand and speak this afternoon in support of the Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill—the 2012 Budget. It is a very fine Budget but before I go on to talk about the merits of the Budget I want to spend just a moment or two talking about the presentation from the previous speaker Sue Moroney. She represents all that was bad wrong and evil with the previous 9 years of Labour administration—the excess the fiscal irresponsibility the excess of spending and the borrowing to pay for things that we could not afford. Members on that side of the House—our opponents—have opposed every single growth initiative that we on this side have proposed. And every time we put up a growth strategy they oppose it they knock it and they argue against it. Those members are the same people who have opposed every single restraint on spending that has been put up by this Government because they are from an Opposition and a party—a once proud party I might say—that has lost its way. They are on an orbit in outer space which is an irregular orbit— 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: Out of time.  
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: They are out of time and out of orbit in a very very bad way. But they were once proud. Once they knew what they stood for. Once they knew what they wanted to achieve. Now they do not. They have no idea. They are rudderless leaderless and bereft and lost in the orbit of Opposition. They are completely lacking any credibility in terms of jobs growth and responsible fiscal management and under Labour all that we would get would be more costs for businesses.  
Turning to Budget 2012 this is a Budget that invests in New Zealand’s future. It is a Budget that will stimulate the economy and will create jobs and opportunities for New Zealanders up and down the countryside. Most of all from my point of view it will create opportunities for the good people of Coromandel. We are investing across the board over $4 billion worth of new spending taken from a zero Budget. That means that there have been $4 billion worth of efficiencies gained somewhere efficiencies in the Government spending and investments and that is a good thing. It is a good thing for the New Zealand taxpayer and it is a good thing for the New Zealand nation as a whole.  
This Budget forms a very important part of the Government’s four-step plan. The four steps of course have been spoken about before. The four priorities are one the responsible managing of the Government’s finances and this Budget absolutely represents that. The second one is building a more competitive and productive economy and we are absolutely doing that in Budget 2012. Then of course we come to delivering a better Public Service. Finally the most important one the pressing one and the one that the Labour Party seems to have forgotten is the rebuild of Christchurch after the earthquake. On “Planet Labour” members seem to have forgotten that there has been an earthquake and they seem to have forgotten that there has been a global fiscal crisis of the worst sort that we have ever seen in our lifetimes. So this is important.  
Labour borrowed to consume it borrowed to spend and it borrowed to live beyond our means. It borrowed our children’s future. Inflation in my youth was the big fiscal bogeyman. In the early 1980s when I was first married and buying a house inflation was the big monster that we had to worry about. Interest rates were running at about 18 19 or 20 percent. Now it is debt. Now it is debt that is the fiscal bogeyman and it is debt that Labour does not seem to understand that people do not want. This week I received a text message from a constituent that read: “Have just renegotiated my mortgage downwards. New rate: 5.35 percent. Means a reduction”—wait for this—“of $2000 p.a. for me and my family. All good.” That really means in tax paid dollar terms a huge saving for that family. That is an enormous payback of fiscal responsibility for that family.  
I want to turn now just for a minute or two to what this Budget means for the good people of Coromandel because they will be listening intently I am sure to this presentation watching on their televisions and listening as the member for Epsom would say around their crystal sets this afternoon. This Government has been very very good in providing sound financial management and certainty for the people of Coromandel. One of the best things that has happened of course is that we built early ahead of time and below budget the new Kopu Bridge and by this time tomorrow tens of thousands of people will be crossing the new Kopu Bridge as they head on to the Coromandel Peninsula for the long weekend. That is good news for them and it is good news for us and it was part of the stimulus package that this Government introduced in response to the global financial meltdown after year upon year of delay and prevarication on behalf of the Labour Government.  
Another thing that has been very good and that this Government has assisted in terms of providing opportunity for the people of Coromandel is the newly opened Hauraki Rail Trail cycleway with 77 kilometres of new exciting cycleway track from Thames to Paeroa from Paeroa to Waihi and from Paeroa to Te Aroha. In the first 3 years it is projected that there will be something like 40000 people travelling on that cycleway. Can you imagine the economic benefit? Can you imagine the economic benefit to a township like Te Aroha when 40000 people turn up? If only a few of them buy a single cup of coffee in Te Aroha that is an enormous boost and opportunity for the financial well-being of Te Aroha.  
So we have all sorts of good things. One of the most important ones is the rolling out of the ultra-fast broadband because that is very very important—the Rural Broadband Initiative. Fiscal responsibility means that we can by being careful roll this stuff out and that means there can be opportunities for jobs creation of business and all sorts of happy wonderful things not just in our schools our libraries and our hospitals but also it means businesses can grow. In Waihi there is a group of architectural draughtsmen and I visited them recently. I went to see them and I said “How’s business?” expecting them to say that business was a bit ho-hum. They told me business was booming and I said “What? What’s happening?”.  
Hon Simon Bridges 
: Booming. 
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: Booming—business is booming and business is booming not because there is a great big building boom going on in Waihi. What is happening is that most of their customers actually are in Auckland or Christchurch and those customers are traded with via the internet and via broadband—via fast reliable ultra-fast broadband. They are refugees from Auckland. They are people who have come to Waihi for a better quality of life where they can buy affordable homes where they have reasonable rates where their children can go to great schools and where they can park their cars for free. My invitation to the people of Auckland who are being rated off their properties and out of their businesses by a mayor who is out of control and is inflicting 25 percent and 30 percent rates increases on the people of Auckland is to come to the Coromandel. Come to the Coromandel where there is fiscal responsibility where the Thames-Coromandel District Council which is a good council is for the second year in a row like Bill English being fiscally responsible and for the second year in a row has a negative rates rise. I say that to the people of Auckland: come and bring your jobs bring your enterprise bring your opportunity and bring your entrepreneurial flair; bring it to the Coromandel and enjoy the opportunities that we can create for you and on top of all that you will receive a wonderful lifestyle and a fantastic view.  
Coming back to Budget 2012 it is a good Budget. It is a very good Budget. It is a Budget for the times. It is appropriate given the international climate. It is a very appropriate Budget for New Zealand. We will be positioned in a good space for the recovery that will eventuate and it is through the prudent fiscally responsible leadership of Bill English and Prime Minister John Key and his very capable Cabinet not to say anything of his very good backbenchers. Those people will ensure that the country is kept on a stable footing with a bright future for one and all. Thank you.