Ardern Shane: General Debate 
Ardern Shane: General Debate 
[Volume:665;Page:12764] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I am not sure where to start in this general debate. We have heard about the price of lemons and barnacle-clad ships of State so we might as well start talking about some of the contributions from members on the other side of the House. It is awful—awful—to see one washed-up former Minister after another from a party that was in power for 9 years stand up to try to defend the indefensible and try to talk about the total vacuum in respect of their policy going forward. Labour had 9 long years in Government and has had 15 months in Opposition and it still has nothing to offer. 
Let us talk about what the John Key - led Government has done. Firstly let us start with the upcoming proposed and now legislated for tax cuts that every Kiwi in New Zealand will enjoy. The average wage earner will be $15 a week better off as a result of those announcements—$15 a week. When we go into electorates like the Taranaki - King Country electorate where families are at the lower socio-economic end of the income bracket $15 a week is a substantial amount. Of course it is $15 for individuals and per household it is expected to be $25 a week. Individuals and households will be the beneficiaries of those tax cuts. 
When we look at what is happening with the top tax rates we will see much greater enthusiasm from people who are at the higher end of the income bracket but who want to live in New Zealand have family ties in New Zealand and can lead the economy going forward. They want to live here instead of moving away to Australia where circumstances have been much better for them until now. 
Company tax is of substantial benefit to New Zealand. Most of the companies in Taranaki - King Country are very small. There are a number of large companies but the majority of them are small companies. That includes farmers and the trusts that go with farming and companies around farming enterprises. They will be the beneficiaries of the cut in the company tax rate. When we look at what those incentives will do in terms of lifting economic growth and compare that with what we have had over the last 9 years of a Labour-led Government then clearly we see there is a parting of the ways. Clearly there will be an increase in where New Zealand can go with that. 
It was clearly time that the barnacle-clad ship of State led by the previous Labour Government ran on to the rocks—and surely it did. I heard one of my colleagues earlier use an analogy with horses and from what I am hearing from those washed-up former Ministers over there they are clearly flogging a dead horse. It is dead it is gone and it will never return; long may that be the case. 
Agriculture will be the leader in this economic growth. The Primary Growth Partnership that was announced earlier by this Government—a $140 million-a-year investment in Government industry partnerships—is the flagship for moving the agricultural sector out of what has been basically a commodity provider into a value-added producer. That is nowhere more to be seen than in the research I see going on with the merino industry. The wool industry has been on the rocks for a long time. The industry used to be worth over a billion dollars and now it is down to about $500 million. But that is with the exception of fine wools and the Icebreaker brand which is the shining light within the industry. To give that industry the ability now to figure out a way or research how to produce fine meat from the merino breed will be a wonderful step forward for the meat and wool industry of New Zealand. It is very heartening to see that it has partnered with the Primary Growth Partnership in a $45 million investment into looking at ways to do that. This Government is forward-looking and progressive. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I call the Hon Shane Jones. 
Paul Quinn 
: Ha ha!