Goff Phil: General Debate 
Goff Phil: General Debate 
[Volume:652;Page:1628] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. Just over a week ago I had an occasion to visit Irwin Industrial Tools in a small town Wellsford just north of Auckland where 120 out of a workforce of around 160 are being laid off. I witnessed firsthand the absolute trauma facing workers who were losing their jobs in a town where there are no other jobs to go to. Yesterday I went down to Sealord in Nelson. Again we are seeing the loss of 160 jobs which will have reverberations right across the Nelson economy—as Nick Smith will be aware. I talked to my son earlier in the week. He works as an electrician. He said that the two apprentices who have just come out of their time in his firm have been laid off. They have been laid off when they have completed 4 years of training and have yet to have the opportunity to utilise the skills that they have worked hard to gain. 
These are just some of the human faces behind the Treasury estimate that we are currently losing more than 1000 jobs a week in New Zealand. They are decent hard-working New Zealanders. They are people who when they lose the ability to earn a livelihood also have in jeopardy their ability to meet the costs of their mortgages. Those two things combined have an impact on stress in family relationships and we know that there is a direct relationship between those things and marriage break-ups. 
This is undoubtedly a crisis and it is a crisis that impacts unevenly on this country. Some people—those losing their jobs—are carrying the burden of the recession that New Zealand is now deeply into. There is urgency needed to address that problem and for that reason the Labour Party supported the holding of the Job Summit last Friday. We did more than support it; I wrote to John Key and said that this issue transcends party politics and that we need to come together in this House to address and tackle those problems. I got the answer back from Mr Key—as he was entitled to do—that no this Government which makes proud claims of being inclusive did not want Labour or the Greens there. Forty percent of the New Zealand population represented in this House was excluded from the conference. I looked at the list. There were some very worthy people there—some very good minds. What I did not see were people who represented those with the most to lose. I initially did not see on the list members from the Pacific Island community. Nick Tuitasi used to work as a community constable in my electorate. He said in the  
New Zealand Herald  
that he was invited to the summit 2 days before it obviously because the National Government had not given forethought to the Pacific Island community which suffered a 17 percent rate of unemployment the last time that National was in office. 
We continue to support the Job Summit but it has to be more than a place where ideas are discussed. There has to be a concrete expression from that summit that will make a real difference in the lives of the people whom I have been talking to over the last couple of weeks. I hoped the Government would go to the summit listen and take on board the ideas that were expressed. I have great respect for Rob Fyfe the chief executive officer of Air New Zealand. I have huge respect for Stephen Tindall. Those two prominent members of the summit said that there is one way that the Government can make a real difference in unemployment through stimulating the economy. It is not to take away the tax cuts; it is to refocus the tax cuts on those who are at the bottom of the heap—the low and middle income families and low-income workers—because they will spend that money. Bill English asked me in the House yesterday why Rob Fyfe was saying that. He said that giving money to people on higher incomes will help Air New Zealand because they will take overseas trips. What an answer! What an answer to give in this House! I say to the Government that it is no good putting up schemes of $50 million when we would have a pool of $4.5 billion if it were sent in tax cuts to those who need it most—those who are the key victims of the downturn. They will spend it they will create jobs and they will keep businesses going. The best economic minds at the summit told National that yet it was deaf to those arguments. 
Then there is infrastructure development. I ask whether there is a person in this House who does not think that the Labour-Green idea of spending $1 billion on giving people warm and dry houses would not only make them healthier but would be a great job creator.