Dyson Ruth: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDyson Ruth: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4133. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): Talofa lava. Malo le soifua Mr Assistant Speaker. Can I commend the member who just resumed her seat Louise Upston for spending an entire 10 minutes of the House’s time without making a single mention of the 14 percent cut to one of the ministries’ departmental budgets that she is responsible for. She spent 10 whole minutes without giving any explanation or any word of apology and without hanging her head in shame. There was a 14 percent cut and there was not even a mention of it. This is not a surprise because we know that when we went through the I suppose meaty part of the Budget debate between last Thursday afternoon and Saturday night at 10 p.m. when we actually debated the legislation that arose from the Budget—and it was so important that it all had to be dealt with under urgency—there was consistency in the National members’ contributions.The backbenchers are getting paid $150000 - plus to take a call in this House and say: “I move that the question be now put.” That was the only contribution that we had from the start of the legislative debate on Thursday afternoon right through to 10 o’clock on Saturday. How can those members go back to their constituencies or even back to their families? How can they look in the mirror and say: “I am worth $150000 for saying: ‘I move that the question be now put.’ ”? What a waste of space. What a waste of money. What a disgrace to the parliamentary process and the importance of the law that we were changing—and it was important law that we changed.I bet that Gerry Brownlee is wishing that we had followed the time-honoured tradition of Budgets which is that we have the legislation arising from the Budget we have the debate under urgency and then the House adjourns. He will be wishing that the House had adjourned instead of coming back because what we have seen is a revolting National caucus. Some members of the National Party have been revolting and we know who they are—that is pretty clear from the media comments. The only person who seems not to know who they are is the Hon Steven Joyce. He stood in this House and said: “Nobody leaks from our caucus.” He cannot read the paper or listen to the radio much. I thought that he would given his involvement with MediaWorks. I thought that he would have kept in close communication with the media but he does not seem to.What the National members are revolting over is the workplace health and safety legislation. We have had some robust debates in this House and so we should. This should be a place for robust debate. But I find it extraordinary and extraordinarily sad that after 29 men were killed in an incident in the Pike River mine that could have been prevented by decent health and safety provisions members of the National Party are trying to water down the already watered-down legislative changes that were recommended by the royal commission that arose from that incident. It is bad enough for workers who can look at the National Government and say: “They don’t give a toss about our health and safety. They don’t care about it.” How is it for the family members of those dead men? Those lives were lost. The families have been totally misled by the Government which made a commitment to stand by them. It made all sorts of other commitments that the families have been let down on. Those families were hanging out the hope that at least those lives had not been lost for no reason at all but now we see members of the National Party trying to water the legislation down and a further delay in the select committee.Who are those members? Well we have got allegedly the Hon Maurice Williamson who has just been rejected as deputy leader of a one-member party. That is a pretty sad indictment actually. Being rejected by David Seymour must be pretty embarrassing for anyone. We have got Judith Collins—the Hon Judith Collins I apologise—who very conveniently had an urgent matter to attend to in the lobby while Steven Joyce answered a question and trashed her reputation. We have got another member who does not seem to have gone quite so public with his opposition but who is certainly causing a lot of grief and he is a very very highly regarded member of the National Party. He is a senior member and a provincial member who has been treated I and other members think—including those from his own caucus—very unfairly by the Prime Minister in regard to his position in the National Party.The National Government is actually falling to pieces. This is a terrible look for the National Government just a week after the Budget that was meant to save its bacon. We have got all that going on and then of course just to make sure that it does not get completely overshadowed or that we miss anything the Hon Murray McCully has had a shonky Saudi deal exposed in this House. There are clearly some big unanswered questions remaining about that deal. Minister McCully looked to be on very slippery ground. In fact he looked slippery today answering questions. I understand from social media that he has left the building to apply for a job as president of FIFA. That seems to be entirely appropriate given the behaviour with that sheep deal. I want to commend the Green contribution to the debate today. I thought the rewording of historical music was very clever but actually it is a very serious issue.New Zealanders pride themselves on having no corruption in their Public Service. It is one of the many things we love about our country. We have had funny television programmes about the Public Service such as Gliding On and we have had Yes Minister - type behaviour but actually if we are serious about what our Public Service is like what our police are like and we hope what our politicians are like we have always been able to say proudly that we are corruption-free. Well I think the last couple of days have dealt a big blow to that and it makes me feel really unwell to think of that reputation being tarnished by Minister McCully. I hope that we get to the bottom of this sad saga very quickly that the truth is exposed and that any members who have to take the consequences take them fully.Back to the Budget—what a wasted opportunity. I would have thought that on the back of such a resounding victory at the last election National might have finally got some courage to have a plan and a vision—to have a plan and a vision for our country. There is none.Todd Barclay: Where’s Labour’s plan? Where’s Labour’s vision?Hon RUTH DYSON: “Mr Hedges” should just pipe down before he gets laughed at any more. There is no plan and no vision from the National Government. This has been a Budget of totally wasted opportunities for a nation that is desperate for leadership a nation that desperately wants to see a Government providing it with a pathway forward. We have had a massive number of broken promises. You know some are pretty significant. In 2011 the No. 1 pledge was that in the 2015 Budget there would be a surplus. In the 2014 campaign the No. 1 pledge was that there would be a Budget surplus. It was even up on the National Party website. I read it on the National Party website: “We promise that there will be a surplus in the Budget in 2015.”Has anyone looked at the National Party website recently? It is not usually something that I recommend as preferred reading I have to say but if you look at the National Party website now that promise has been taken down. It should never have been made but it was made in the 2011 campaign it was made in the 2014 campaign and it has now been broken. Where is the apology? Where is the apology National members? Are you going to say sorry any of you? No. No it takes a little more than any of them have to say sorry for breaking promises made not once and not lightly but in two election campaigns as the No. 1 commitment to the public of New Zealand. Should they feel let down? Well I certainly think they should.We also heard of course National saying: “No new taxes will be introduced by National.” What a joke that has turned out to be. But oh no it was not a tax was it? We did not increase the broadband tax; we increased the broadband levy which is not a tax of course.Paul Foster-Bell: It’s not a new tax.Hon RUTH DYSON: “No we are not going to increase taxes. No new taxes. We are not going to increase taxes.” The broadband tax increase has been misrepresented including by Paul Foster-Bell now. I thought that he had more integrity. Thank you for putting me right on that point Mr Foster-Bell. It is not a tax of course; it is a levy so increasing it without any advance warning for no justification is fine. It is a tax it was an increase and it is another broken promise. And then of course finally we have the Government saying to parties on this side of the House—