Banks John: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Banks John: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4567. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JOHN BANKS (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Let us restate for the record why I am here. I am back in this Parliament so that those people in Opposition are over there. I am here so that they are there. We do not want these people in charge of the levers of power and we certainly do not want these rabbits in the lettuce patch of Treasury. So the people of Epsom have put me here so these roosters can stay over there. Is that not good? And they are going to stay over there for a long long time. And because they cannot get over here on policy on performance on leadership or on values they want to gerrymander the electoral system to try to get themselves over here. But I have got bad news for those over there. The people of New Zealand are glad that those roosters are over there and we are here. So I rise to support this legislation today. 
By the way the Opposition members would give us an accountants’ paradise if they were in charge here this afternoon—an accountants’ paradise. They would want to mess with GST they would want to take income tax off the first $5000 and they would add a capital gains tax. There is no political party in the Western World that has promised at the polls an additional extra tax on the hapless populace and been elected. So I want these people over there to continue to propose a capital gains tax continue to propose GST and continue to take income tax off the first $5000 because that means in 2014 they will stay over there. 
Every time I walk through Broadway in Newmarket people stop me and say: “Hey Banksie we’re glad you’re there Banksie and those people are over there.” That is what they say to me. They jump out of taxis out of police cars off the buses and they say: “Banksie we did the right thing. We’ve got you here so that those people those rabbits don’t get in charge of the Treasury lettuce patches.” 
There are interest write-offs from the student loans of our most able learners. We think they should go. Clearly there are major chunks in this Budget that we in the ACT Party would like to remove. There is the pension age that stays the same while life expectancy continues to rise. We would like to see the pension age rise. That would save $1.7 billion a year. If we put a small interest rate on student loans it would give us $800 million a year. And then there is Working for Families the Labour Party bribe that continues to give handouts to families earning over a hundred grand. They are prepared to give bribes to families who earn over $100000 a year because they are so desperate to get across to this side of the House. 
 Then there are doctors’ visits subsidised by hard-working people at Countdown supermarket in South Auckland so that I can have a subsidised visit to my general practitioner. How bad is that! It is called middle-class welfare. It does not work. It is too expensive. It is wrong. We cannot afford it. It belongs to those people on that side of the House but it does not belong in sensible fiscal prudence. Then there are the transfer expenditures comprising Labour’s great spending spree that outlived the Labour Government. In a perfect world we would be taking a harder focus on Government expenditure and reducing expenditure that does little good to anyone in the race for votes. These people spend all of their time on their real job: getting themselves re-elected into Opposition. 
What a fine contribution the fine member of Parliament who spoke before me my biographer Paul Goldsmith made to Parliament this afternoon. Well this Budget has maintained a tax system that rates in simplicity and compares favourably with nearly every other system in the world. It is not a time for big spending. It is not a time for big noting. It is not a time for big promises and it is not a time for these people to get themselves from that side of Parliament to this side of Parliament. So I finish as I began. The people of Epsom are eternally grateful for their own inherent common sense when they put “Banksie” here so that John Key and this Government could be on this side of Parliament and these roosters could be over on that side of Parliament. I have not heard one constructive contribution from anyone on that side of Parliament on how we are going to build investment and growth in jobs and start paying our way. This bill the Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill is a good beginning. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There is a further 5-minute call.