Goodhew Jo: Budget Debate 
Goodhew Jo: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16435] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
 Budget 2008—well how out of touch is this Government with New Zealanders? They are not engaged they are not re-engaged they are not even disengaged—the phone is off the hook. New Zealanders are not listening any more. Since Michael Cullen brought this Budget to Parliament last Thursday there has been close scrutiny on the part of New Zealanders. The Budget has been variously described as a big-spending Budget and as just what Kiwis were waiting for—a fair economy a strong future an economic transformation Budget package a fast broadband future and a step change—but they are all Labour’s own descriptions not ours and not those of the New Zealand public. 
One might start to think that some of that rhetoric was starting to sound a little bit familiar. That is because Labour has started to engage in some of National’s ideas because it has seen that they are gaining traction. It was not enough that Labour borrowed National’s very well received charitable giving policy; it has now cottoned on to our policy on fast fibre to the home which is going down very well in the homes of New Zealanders. Labour members like the idea of that so they have decided that their own broadband future will have a bit of urgency to it. But it is too little too late. Pete Hodgson even used phrases like step change. Well Labour heard it here first from National. 
Then there is the oft-repeated phrase in Labour’s language and it is that word “fairness”. I will have a crack at interpreting what this word “fairness” means. There is a hint in those red and white documents and in the Fiscal Strategy Report summary where Labour refers to a more equal distribution of wealth. Well there we have it—for the 9th year running we have in essence a redistribution of wealth. Labour entirely fails to realise that what New Zealanders really want now is some hope some ambition and some incentives and they are not getting them from Labour members. 
There are no incentives for the wavering masses to stay in New Zealand not to head off to further their fortunes in Australia or even further afield. Essentially the Budget has come too late and it is too little. We have already lost more than 78000 people in the last year—more than 40000 of whom have gone to Australia. It is not enough for Labour to trumpet that we have net migration because we want our own skilled New Zealanders to stay here. We want our children to make their lives here in New Zealand. When I knock on doors it is sad to hear the grandparents and the parents of those who have left New Zealand say: “Our kids have settled overseas they do not see a future here in New Zealand.” 
There is just one other thing I want to talk about. The PricewaterhouseCoopers  
Budget 2008 Tax Analysis 
 had some fair but interesting comments to make. I will repeat all of these sentences; I will not try Labour’s trick of quoting just half a sentence. “This is a Budget full of tax cut surprises. More generous than expected more protracted than predicted. We applaud the $10.6 billion size of the three year tax cut package but we have real doubts over whether the structure and timing of the programme will deliver the benefits and behavioural incentives that New Zealand so desperately needs.” It has real doubts and actually so do we. 
The post-Budget analysis has shown that New Zealanders are not as appreciative of the tax cuts as Michael Cullen wants them to be. I guess he is out there saying: “How dare that little old lady say ‘just a miserly block of cheese’! How dare she!”. I will tell him how she dares to do so. It is because she is a bit worried about the future under a Labour Government. In fact she is probably very worried. There will be some money for superannuitants on 1 October and that is good. There is some money for taxpayers but there will be a very very long wait before they get any more. 
Labour members keep on going on about National’s tax plans. I understand why they want to know them. After the next election they will want to know how well off they will be. I understand their need to hear them but it will be in our good time not the Government’s. 
The response I have had when I have been out door-knocking since the Budget has been interesting and it is further proof to me that the phone is off the hook. New Zealanders do not trust this Labour Government any more and I think that is a fair response to its squandering of the economic good times of the last 9 years. This Budget was not the shot in the arm that Labour was looking for. New Zealanders are weary of the controlling nanny State redistributors of wealth that this Government is. They despair of ever being the beneficiaries of their own efforts. 
I have already referred to National’s charitable giving policy. Well boy the charities will need to be lined up at the moment for the New Zealanders who are going to need them! I for one am sick to death of hearing about how well the economy has gone under Labour but we are not hearing it quite so much lately as families feel the pain of interest rates doubling under Labour and of soaring food and fuel costs. You see the good times strangely enough are always all Labour’s and any bad times are a result of National in the 1990s. I just do not get why any time there is anything good Labour made it happen but every time something goes a bit pear-shaped it is us. It is rubbish of course and New Zealanders do not believe it any more. They are sick to death of this playground squabbling-type attitude of: “He did it. It is his fault. He did it. She did it. They did it.” Well no; Labour is the master of its own destiny. It got us here and New Zealanders have had enough of it. 
I want to get a couple of things on the record for listeners or people who are watching out there because they could be lulled into believing some of the misrepresentations we have had from that lot. Firstly people should not believe Labour members when they say that National will cut superannuation. We will not. John Key said he would resign if he was Prime Minister under a National Government that did that. Make no mistake: that is not our intention. National also has no plans to raise the age at which people qualify for superannuation which is what I have heard on doorstep after doorstep. That lot have been telling people that we have such plans. We have made no plans. 
Which party put out a comprehensive discussion document on the aged-care sector? Was it New Zealand First? No. Was it United Future? No. Was it the Greens? No. Was it the Maori Party? No. Was it Labour? No. It was National. For 2 years we have been consulting on the aged-care sector. If we ask those people who has been doing the work on their behalf then they will say that under National they will be cared for in their old age. 
New Zealand First is trying to woo back those particular voters but they can see through those shallow attempts by Winston Peters to save his own skin. They know that his ministerial duties have meant he has been overseas enjoying the baubles of office as is appropriate in his particular ministerial role but they will not be fooled into believing that a future under New Zealand First will be a rosy one for them. They prefer to look to the parties that are doing the hard work. 
In the health sector there have been some interesting announcements. We have seen $5 million for after-hours primary health care services. It is only a quarter of what they needed I say to Labour but I suppose it is a start. We will see how much is wasted on bureaucracy. Actually that crowd is good at that. There has been an announcement of $2 billion for future price increases in the health sector. One would think that might be a surprise but it was not. It is what is commonly called the forecast funding track—or FFT—money to account for increases in health care provision. There is $160 million for elective surgery over 4 years. One would think that the sector would fall hungrily on that money but that is not the case. It is really really worried it does not have the doctors and nurses to deliver it. So instead of saying: “Let us have it. Let us deliver it. Let us alleviate the pain felt by many New Zealanders.” they are saying: “We do not think we can use it.” 
This Minister of Health is no better than his predecessor who was Pete Hodgson crisis-denier mark I. Now we have crisis-denier mark II David Cunliffe. So heartily does he deny that there is a crisis after 43 workforce reports under his Government that he has allocated a meagre 2 percent to the workforce issue. The New Zealand Medical Association described that as a lack of “comprehensive funding availability for workforce strategies”. David “I am running the show” Cunliffe has shown he sure is running this show—down. 
You know I get a real sense that New Zealanders are starting to think they are in a game of snakes and ladders. Instead of going up the ladder they keep walking on to a Labour snake and landing back at square one. This country needs a change of leadership. The country needs ambition. We need net migration that means our own people stay and more arrive. We need a positive future not an excuse-laden set of politicians who blame their predecessors of 9 years ago. Labour has had its chance. New Zealanders will not get a positive future until it has packed its bags.