Bennett David: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3385. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson for the way that you have conducted the debate today. It has been very well done and I think that— 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Ha ha! First of all I just wanted to thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. That was a very interesting speech from the New Zealand First member Denis O’Rourke. The first line I think in that speech was to suck up to the Green Party—a potential neighbour; they sit beside each other. But the whole speech then talked about water allocation: how hard it has been to get consents that they wish to be able to do it in a sustainable way that it took 10 years and that they had to invest heavily in getting through that consenting process with regional councils. I notice that the Green Party was very silent through that process because the Green Party would actually encourage more of that process and would not want to see that water allocation happen in the end anyway. I think that is the paradox that New Zealand First finds itself in. It is sitting in between two parties that have no concept of economic management and no desire to actually grow the economy and yet at the same time tries to spout the rhetoric that it thinks the public wants to hear. 
This debate unfortunately has been about a lot of rhetoric on the Opposition side. The Opposition tried to tug off vulnerable innocent people. It tried to use the emotions that people have and scare tactics. It is a shame when you come to this House and see the Opposition parties day after day try to prey on the vulnerable in our community by making them scared of what the Government is doing when the Government is doing what is in the best interests of New Zealanders going forward. The Labour-Green Opposition does not have a plan. For all that it says it does not have a plan to grow this economy and all it does is try to frustrate and deny what is in the best interests of New Zealand. And that is a very big shame. 
Andrew Williams 
: What about the Job Summit? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: And we have got the member across there who talked about a Job Summit and things like the national cycleway. Well they were initiatives that were good but we are dealing with a big situation at the moment: New Zealand has been in recession because of the world recession and because Labour put New Zealand into recession before the rest of the world. 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: The Labour members over there may laugh but look at the facts: under Labour’s economic management in the best of times New Zealand was put into recession before the rest of the world. The Labour Party cannot deny that; it is a fact of history and it is something that the Labour Party needs to acknowledge and deal with. 
When we came into Government not only did we find a country in recession but we found a country that had its future spent by the policies of the previous administration. A decade of deficits faced this country without even having to deal with the recession of the world that was about to impact and without even having to deal with the consequences of the Christchurch earthquake. To our credit we have dealt with those issues. We have dealt with them in a way that has meant that New Zealanders have not had the burden of the sharpest edges of the recession and that New Zealanders have seen a future going forward. We are doing that in a productive and successful manner. 
We are looking forward at a country and developing it its industries and its productive base. We are not looking at holding this country back through things like capital gains taxes which the members opposite have confirmed this morning that they will bring in should they ever get into Government and I see the Green Party member nodding in approval. The Greens and the Labour Party want a capital gains tax so New Zealanders out there remember that. The Greens and the Labour Party will advocate for a capital gains tax. They will look at hurting the most productive parts of this economy; that is what a capital gains tax will do. 
The New Zealand First Party members are starting to bark in their corner. Well remember this New Zealand First. The New Zealand First Party talks about economic growth. The biggest impediment to economic growth in New Zealand will be Labour and the Greens because they will want to bring in a capital gains tax. The productive economy of New Zealand based around agriculture will be the most affected by a capital gains tax. The Green Party is smiling now. It knows that is the truth—that that policy will hurt the most productive part of the New Zealand economy. New Zealand First speakers will not be talking about how hard it is to get through the consenting process for farm development in the South Island; they will be talking about how the New Zealand farmers cannot actually produce because of the capital gains tax requirement brought in by a Labour-Green Government if it ever becomes the Government. 
That is the truth of what we see and that is different from the rhetoric of what we hear in this House. In this House we hear the Greens Labour and New Zealand First talking about things like growth. They say the right things but at the same time they bring about policies that will have the opposite effect such as a capital gains tax. Do not be fooled I say to New Zealanders listening to Labour and the Greens—do not be fooled at all. They do not mean to grow the economy. They do not mean to actually develop you as individuals and as a country. They have only one thing that they want and that is control control and control. They will have that through things like capital gains taxes so that they can control people’s voting preferences and that is what they have done for many years. 
 That is the true difference on this side of the House. We believe in New Zealanders and we give them that chance. We believe in them over a whole variety of aspects of their life. We believe that they can get a good education. We believe that they can get a good job. We want to give them some rewards for doing that and making the right choices and we believe that they can invest and make this country stronger. We believe in our people. We do not try to control them and we do not try to influence them in the way that the Labour Party and the Green Party do. 
There is one other thing that I think New Zealanders need to talk about and that is the tax switch which the Labour Party and the Green Party say was $2 billion given to the richest New Zealanders. That is simply not true—it is simply not true. I ask the Labour and Green members if they believe that is true in their next calls to stand up and itemise each part of that $2 billion to itemise each part of that tax switch and to come up with those numbers because they simply do not stack up. You need to take into account the whole programme that was announced at that time: the change in GST and the change in depreciation. The change in depreciation brings in $1 billion a year from the most wealthy New Zealanders you could say. That is not taken into account in the rhetoric of the Labour Party and the Green Party because they do not want New Zealanders to have the full story. They do not want the truth out there. They want only the rhetoric that they can push and pull to the most vulnerable people in this country and that is really sad for parties that think or say that they actually represent people who need that assistance from Government. They do not mean it; they do not care. It is all about them—it always has been and always will be. That is the nature of the left in politics and that will never change. 
When we look at this Budget it is a good Budget. It is a hard Budget in the sense that we have got difficult times. We cannot go out there and promise the world. It would be nice to be able to do that but we have to be realistic. In being realistic we have made the right choices—choices that will deliver a stronger economy going forward and that will give our people the future that they demand and desire. It will not happen with the rhetoric and the approach of the Opposition members who talk about things but will not actually deliver them or if anything will deliver things that will hurt the long-term interests of this country going forward. I look forward to the day when the parties on the other side of this House stand up and say what is actually out there that they actually believe in our people and give them the credibility and sense of desire— 
Andrew Williams 
: And don’t sell the assets. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Now we hear the New Zealand First Party going back to selling the assets. It is another one of those senses of rhetoric. It is very sad to see that that is how the Opposition can retain and reinforce its debate. Thank you.