Dalziel Lianne: General Debate 
Dalziel Lianne: General Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20478] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 This cartoon of Bill English and John Key looking at the New Zealand taxpayer on the tax cut blood drip as the bloodsucking cost-of-living mosquito sucks it straight out says it all. That is exactly what is going on for New Zealanders. The National Government had a choice in last year’s Budget to proceed with tax cuts that benefit the highest-paid New Zealanders and increase GST which hits hardest those on the lowest incomes or to accept that that would inflict too much pain on too many hard-working families and develop an economic plan to grow the economy for the benefit of the many rather than the few. But actually National has failed to deliver a plan even a skerrick of a plan since it became the Government. There is a Prime Minister who says he is all prepared to kick the tyres but he is not prepared to switch on the ignition. We think it is time that this economy was put into power drive—overdrive—and that will happen only if there is a change of Government. 
The cartoon has Bill English saying to John Key: “Apart from the initial discomfort—it all looks tickety-boo to me …” It all looks tickety-boo to him because the bloodsucking cost-of-living mosquito is not sitting on the back of the taxpayers who got the lion’s share of the tax cuts under this Government. That is why it looks tickety-boo to Mr English and why it looks tickety-boo to Mr Key. They have no compunction. Mr English had no compunction in claiming over $40000 a year to have his Wellington home cleaned. There are people in this country living on less than $40000 a year as their family income. The reality is that John Key and Bill English are both completely and utterly out of touch with the real lives of people who are on a modest wage or a fixed income. They are completely and utterly out of touch. 
It is not tickety-boo for the carers providing home-based support to older people to enable them to stay in their own homes—those people are on $14 to $15 an hour if they are lucky. It is not tickety-boo for families who are struggling to feed their families when they feel the pain at the pump and the pain when they go to the supermarket till to pay. I know there are people who take items from the till and put them back on the shelves because there is not enough money in their wallet to pay the full amount. 
The announcement this week that the Government will allow the National members of the Commerce Committee to vote for an inquiry into the price of milk has brought a sense of relief but it must not be buried. We know we have only a very few weeks before the House adjourns before the general election. Our committee is up to the task. We are a very good and very efficient committee. I want the National members of the committee to commit alongside all other members of the committee to getting a report back to Parliament before it adjourns for the general election. We know it will be too late for the Government to respond but at least the inquiry will be a debating point for the general election. I believe that people are entitled to have that. The public want the scrutiny. We are prepared to deliver that and I hope the Government is as well. We will not put up with a con job to just sweep the real concerns of New Zealanders under the carpet. 
John Key prides himself on his financial background but there is something about that background that is conveniently overlooked by everyone. Currency traders do not create wealth; they amass wealth. They do not create wealth; they amass wealth. They do not make anything of value. Individual traders have become millionaires without risking a cent of their own money. They speculate on sovereign currencies and they never mind the impact that has on a nation’s economy. So is it surprising that someone with that background wants to sell our country’s assets? The price we pay though is much worse and much more far-reaching than speculating on the New Zealand dollar; it is the income that generation after generation after generation of New Zealanders will be deprived of when the Government sells off our State assets. This election is about a second referendum that is being conducted: a referendum on asset sales. 
Paul Quinn 
: That’s right. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: The National Government says—and the member Paul Quinn says that that is right—there will be asset sales if National is re-elected. There is a commitment to no asset sales if Labour is elected. That is what this election will be all about.