Peck Mark: Budget Debate 
Peck Mark: Budget Debate 
[Volume:618;Page:13726] 
MARK PECK (Labour—Invercargill) 
: 
 Can I say two things to the member who preceded me. First of all if Darren Hughes is facing Roger Sowry it is no contest. Mr Sowry was twice beaten by Judy Keall and once beaten by Darren Hughes and I can assure the member who preceded me that Darren Hughes will be here for quite some time yet so Opposition members had better get used to it. 
Secondly can I also say to the member who complained bitterly about workers’ wages that I am always amazed at how the National Party becomes a job delegate for the low paid when it is in Opposition. This is not new to me. I used to be an employee of the hotel workers union and latterly the Service Workers Union as it was and I will never forget the then MP for Wallace Derek Angus getting off the plane and bemoaning the fact that workers were getting a very small pay increase. One of the most fascinating things is that the very first piece of action the National Government brought about in 1990 was to cut benefits and to slash wages and conditions. So when those members complain about wages not keeping track with growth let me make one thing clear to them: their alligator tears are not believed by anybody and especially not by workers. It might sound strange but workers actually outlast the boss. The boss normally goes before the workers go particularly in larger businesses. As a result of that we are most certainly not impressed by those members’ new-found interest in working people. 
I have some bad news for the National Party and it goes like this. This is a good Budget for New Zealanders. It is good for families and it is good for the economy and there is a lot of evidence of that in the newspapers so far. Those who run the social agencies and food banks are delighted. They are looking at a situation where their services will not be required as often in the future because this particular Budget is making the first significant redistribution of income support across low and middle income earners amounting to $1.1 billion once it is fully introduced. That is significant for families. When one talks about having an additional $10 $15 or $20 just to pay the milk bill and buy some bread when one talks about giving families $60 $70 $100 $130 or $150 a week at the conclusion one realises that this is a good Budget for low and middle income earners. Let me say that having done some door-knocking during the adjournment I know that the sad thing for the National Party is that people actually understand that. 
They also understand one other thing which I do not think the Opposition is being terribly good about highlighting in this debate. They understand that that additional money is being provided in a way that will last forever. Let us look at that. There is a surplus. John Key goes on about the surplus of $6 billion and how we should give everybody tax cuts. The Waihi family who were in the  
Sunday Star-Times  
some time before the Budget complaining about the fact that the Government had given them nothing—a family with four children and whose single income-earner is a teacher on $55000 a year—will be $150 a week better off by 1 April 2007. They will be $60 better off by 1 April 2005 and $110 better off by 1 April 2006. They will be significantly better off. What would a tax cut—Rodney Hide’s lovely 20c flat tax that he likes to talk about—have given them? It would have given them $39 a week. I am still waiting for the Waihi family to say thank you. I do not think they will because I think we know where the information came from and I think we know who put them up to giving that particular story. So I am not expecting a thank you at all. I tell members this much: that family will not say thank you but they will pocket the money and they will use it for various things I am sure—and fair enough and good on them. Who cares? They will vote for Rodney Hide anyway. We did not have their vote in the first place. 
But the majority of New Zealanders actually do understand that the Budget brings significant income redistribution. I want people to consider a little more what the Minister of Finance has said since this Budget was announced. He has said that we must keep an eye on the abatement rates. He knows that the abatement rates can easily get out of kilter as the economy grows. That is the other bit of bad news for the Opposition—the economy is growing. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: What Opposition? 
MARK PECK 
: The member should not ask “What Opposition?”. There is an Opposition. Its only policy is tax cuts but I will deal with that in a minute. I want to look at the issue of the economy. Here are some numbers. There was 4.9 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the year 2000—that was the first year of this Government—then there was an additional 2.7 percent in 2001 3.3 percent in 2002 and 4.4 percent in 2003. That accumulates to a 15.3 percent increase in our GDP since the year 2000. To put that into context there was a $15 billion increase in economic activity in this country. 
We can see it around the provinces and the cities; we can see it in people’s hopes and aspirations. What is the biggest complaint I get in Invercargill at the moment? It is the lack of skilled workers. That is the biggest complaint I get now. It was galling that Gerry Brownlee brought up the matter of the engineer on $70000. Why is the engineer on $70000? Because those skills are in demand at the moment. Those particular workers are in a position where they can demand a salary over and above what they would have had in the past. I find something strange about Mr Brownlee suggesting that that worker on $70000 would wilfully take a cut in pay in order to pick up family support. Come on! Hang on a minute! Workers are not dumb. Workers know that Governments come and Governments go. Do they trust them? No! They do not trust them because they know that when the National Party gets back in it will attack the wages and conditions of the very people it now claims to be interested in. I say to members on the opposite side of the Chamber that they just have to wake up and smell the coffee and understand they will be on that side for some considerable time to come. 
We do not have to believe just what I have in my notes here. Let me look at a couple of issues that are happening in my own area. Bill English will be delighted at this. Fonterra has increased its payout for the past season to $4.23 per kilo of milk solids. It was forecasting a payout of under $3.50 so that is a significant amount of extra cash in the pockets of dairy farmers at a time when the New Zealand dollar has been relatively high. Who can remember the last time it got to 70c? Now we are celebrating because it is about 62c and declining—although the crossover rate with Australia is a little bit of a burden at the present time. 
At a time when the worth of the dollar is high one would have thought that farmers would be gloomy. Well no there was another very interesting headline in the  
Southland Times 
  
and it was along the lines that farmers’ confidence is at its highest level since 1999 when the survey started. Farmers in Southland are looking forward to an extremely good year. Let me tell members why. This newspaper is the 15 June edition of the  
Southland Times 
 which is hardly known for being a great left-wing rag and it reports: “US domestic cow beef and New Zealand bull beef surged 10c and 8c respectively to both achieve their highest ever prices.” Here is the rub: “Normally at this time of the year imported lean beef is often at or near its seasonal low for the year” because US beef is already on strength. So our beef farmers are looking forward to an incredibly good year as commodity prices pick up. But that is not all. The report also states in relation to dairying: “The new season opened on a very bright note. In the last two weeks dairy prices have extended their winning streak and are now 25 percent higher than last year in US dollar terms.” This is at a time when there has already been an increase in Fonterra’s payout. 
The farmers are happy. I have some bad news for Bill English: I was in Dipton in the weekend and the farmers there think we are marvellous! They think we are just great and they want to know why Paul Hutchison does not want us to have trade agreements any more. They want to know why that is. 
This is a good Budget for New Zealand and I am proud to support it.