Hide Rodney: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
Hide Rodney: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
[Volume:622;Page:18137] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to support this adjournment motion and to thank heaven that the year in Parliament is ending because as my colleague Peter Brown from New Zealand First has just said 100 pieces of legislation have been passed by this Parliament this year. Peter Brown said it was hard work passing them. Well he should try being one of the people who is trying to live with the legislation that this Government has passed this year. 
I would like to thank on behalf of the ACT party the hard-working business people in this country who have had another year of being under unrelenting attack from the Government. Last year it was estimated that the average medium-sized business in New Zealand was confronting an extra $43000 in costs. One might ask where those costs came from. Actually they came from the Government. The Government piled on another $43000 worth of costs. [ 
Interruption 
] I know that David Cunliffe has not done a thing in this House until now the last minute when he wants to have his say but I say to David Cunliffe that he should think about that situation of business—$43000 of extra costs. 
It has got worse this year. On top of 30 new taxes new levies and excise duties there has been the employment relations legislation and costly health and safety requirements and now we have business attacked by the Holidays Act. There are more costs being borne by business. The Hon Dr Michael Cullen was asked in this House about all the taxes he had put up. He could list a few of them. Then he was asked to name one tax or levy he had dropped. He could not think of one. Well I will tell him one that he did drop and that was the tax rate on Maori authorities. He conveniently forgot the fact that under this Government there are now two tax rates one if people are Maori and one if they are not. I think this House should wish a very merry Christmas to every small business in this country because my heavens those businesses have been struggling under this Government. 
And we should not forget every working Kiwi and household in this country who actually pay our way. We should think about them. New Zealand householders continue on with good cheer when as Michael Cullen admitted in this House last week after 5 long years of Labour—[ 
Interruption 
]—and I tell Mr Cunliffe to think of this—they are no better off in real terms. Michael Cullen said there was a 10.1 percent increase in net income. What was the inflation rate over that time? It was exactly 10.1 percent. Yet the average household is having to pay an extra $2910 in tax. I know that David Cunliffe does not like to hear that but it is true. 
What is Michael Cullen’s response? He says they are getting a social wage. What have we learnt about the social wage? We have discovered that under Annette King the health waiting lists are longer than they have ever been in our history. That is the truth about the health waiting lists under Labour. It pours in money at the top and there are longer waiting lists. We have learnt this about Annette King: there are more people dying on our waiting lists than ever before in our history and that is a direct response to this Labour Government’s policy. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Ha ha! 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Phil Goff laughs; he thinks that people dying when on the waiting list because of his Government’s ideology is funny. I say to Mr Goff that the ACT party does not think that people dying when on the waiting list is anything to laugh about. 
I would like to wish Michael Cullen a good Christmas but he has had his present already from each and every taxpayer in New Zealand. This Government is awash with cash. I can see Michael Cullen sitting there like Scrooge this Christmas swimming amongst that money—all paid for by hard-working New Zealanders who struggle to make ends meet. 
To the Prime Minister I say: “Take it easy on the roads this summer. You don’t know what sort of maniac could be coming towards you at what speed. So please Prime Minister slow down take it easy and be careful on the roads.” 
I see that Mr Winston Peters has taken his holiday early. I understand that he really has not recovered from the fact that we now have in our Parliament not one Chinese member but two—one on each side of him. He has had to retreat to the hills early because he is upset that there is an Asian takeover—not only of the country but of this Parliament as well. 
I understand that Margaret Wilson has asked for her stocking to be filled with copies of the Standing Orders and  
Speakers’ Rulings 
 and that she will be spending the summer studying them. 
I wish the Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia a good Christmas. As he said to me yesterday it is only 59 sleeps for him until Christmas. For Parekura Horomia there are 59 sleeps until Christmas. 
I wish the Greens a happy Christmas but I do not quite know how it will work. We have heard from the Greens that we are not allowed to eat strawberries this Christmas. We will have to have pavlova without strawberries because every time we eat a strawberry we are making the ozone hole bigger. I say to the Green members that I hope they get the presents they want but they must be pretty miserable presents because I know that this year they want presents for New Zealanders to be smaller and unwrapped. I have to say that wishing that all New Zealanders have small presents that are not wrapped and not too many of them so as to save on wastage does take the fun out of Christmas. Well it might be a happy Christmas because Mike Ward said that he hopes people’s Christmas stockings are stuffed with vouchers promising special favours to indulge a fantasy or a passion to love or to picnic in the park. I have to say that is a kind wish but I say to Sue Kedgley and to Jeanette Fitzsimons: “Please no vouchers in my stocking!”. 
I wish United Future party members a good Christmas. I hope it is a gay Christmas for them. I hope they have a gay time of it. [ 
Interruption 
] No I say to Mr Dunne that I want him to have a gay Christmas. I hope it is a very gay Christmas and that he does not take down in disgust the fairy on top of the Christmas tree. 
On behalf of the ACT party I say that it is good for us to end the year with a full complement of nine MPs and to have Mr Kenneth Wang join us. I want to thank all the MPs on our side and I particularly want to thank Richard Prebble who has been a stalwart in this House and particularly good to me as the new ACT leader. 
I want to thank you Mr Speaker. This is your 38th adjournment debate and I understand that you are not going to have a 39th so we wish you a very good Christmas and we will see you in the new year. 
We want to thank all the messengers the clerks the staff of Bellamy’s the library staff and all the people who work in Parliament especially the executive secretaries who work beyond the call of duty. I want to wish all the family members of MPs an especially good break. I sometimes think they suffer the most through the year. I especially want to thank the ACT team of staff who this year have performed well beyond the call of duty. I wish everyone in this House and everyone in our Parliament a good Christmas and a safe Christmas.