Scott AlastairALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Now I have two things in common with Mr Prosser. The first is an interest in wine making and the second is the agreement with the man's words just in the last 5 minutes. If I was speaking later I would actually go and ask to borrow his notes. I agree with almost every word he said and it was well articulated.Mr Prosser made it very clear where he stood. Labour on the other hand is not so clear about where it stands on this bill and although it is going to vote against it it is interesting. I was having a beer with Mr Robertson last night at The Backbencher with as well Mr Seymour and Ms Genter. The question was asked: do you—not you Mr Assistant Speaker—Mr Robertson support tax cuts? We were all asked the same question. It was very clear from Mr Seymour and me that we believe that taxpayers' funds earned during the day during the week during the month should be returned to the taxpayer whenever possible—whenever possible. I had a condition: a focus on families. My view is that tax cuts at this time are appropriate especially when targeted for families. And here we are 24 hours later with exactly that.The problem Mr Robertson had was that he was not clear about tax cuts at all. In fact he said he did not think there was a need for tax cuts.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am now going to ask the member—he has had a minute and a half to introduce the speech. Get to the bill.ALASTAIR SCOTT: Sure. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. So what do we have? What do we have in this bill? We have tax cuts. We are returning income earned by the taxpayer to that person and the whole theme is that everyone in New Zealand deserves a share in the prosperity of this growing economy—everyone. So that is the essence of it and there is $2 billion and every taxpayer will pick up something from it.The target of families is also welcome. We are going to see an increase in family tax credits as described making it much simpler and also the need to support those who are suffering with increased rental costs. And so therefore we have got some targeted benefit in increasing the accommodation allowance—exactly what is required.This is a very sensible and pragmatic bill in that it is not over the top. We are not cutting tax rates we are not cutting the top tax rate and we are not cutting the tax rates in themselves. We are just moving the bands. We could move it more aggressively. My point here is that we are doing it in a reasonable and practical and affordable manner.Despite the fantastic forecast surpluses we are focusing on repayment of debt and the infrastructure and this bill deals with returning taxpayer money to those who have earned it. And that is the difference between—well it seems that there is only a very small group of people in the House who disagree with that notion tonight and that is unfortunately the Labour Party. So its members are going to have to explain to taxpayers why they are not interested in returning $10 or $20 a week to their constituents—Carmel Sepuloni: We won't support tax cuts that put more money into higher-income earners' pockets when the country's suffering.ALASTAIR SCOTT: —to New Zealand taxpayers to people who earn and work every day looking for—well you have already had a very eloquent explanation of what it really means and the fact that this is a targeted bill looking at accommodation and families. And for that reason I commend the bill to the House.Carmel Sepuloni: For that reason sit down.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Sorry. Before I call the member Metiria Turei I think the member Carmel Sepuloni—she is getting a little bit loud. And sort of I think inviting a member to sit down like that probably goes towards their freedom to make speeches in the House and she should settle. She should really settle quite quickly.