Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:19010] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise in support of the Government’s Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill. I stand here today representing the Taranaki - King Country electorate an electorate that starts near Hamilton and finishes in South Taranaki. It is a rural electorate a farming electorate with a large number of dairy farmers. It is not a rich electorate. It is made up of 17 small towns up and down the electorate. They support the rural electorate and we support them as part of the farming sector. 
I stand here as a dairy farmer and I say to Labour members over there that I know what my tax is I know what we pay and I despise the way that issue has been misrepresented over the last few days. If there is one thing that the rural electorates know how to do it is to hunker down when there are tough times look at what works pay the bills on the areas that are essential not pay the bills for things that are not essential and look to where cuts can be made. That is why I am proud to be part of the National Government. I am proud of a Government led by John Key which has looked at the circumstances New Zealand faces at the moment and what we can do to bring about an increase in economic activity and growth. I will tell members on the other side of the House what does not increase economic activity and growth: taxing the productive sector—that is taking taxes from the productive sector and spending them on non-productive activity. That is Labour’s answer that is its solution to the way forward and that is what the Labour Opposition puts up. 
I have one question to put to the Labour Opposition and it relates to the fact that I have heard in many speeches in this House that the agriculture sector and particularly the dairy industry is supposedly the backbone of this country. What does that mean? What does the word “supposedly” mean? Does it mean that it may be or it could be or it might be? If it is not what is? I ask members on the other side of the House whether it is the black market that the trade unions support—openly and regularly. Maybe it is the underground non-taxable income that is so often supported—and turned a blind eye to—by those members on the other side of the House. Maybe it is not; maybe it is something else. Maybe it is the activity of the trade unions or maybe it is the activity of the Labour Party. If the agriculture sector is not the backbone of this economy what is? There is no “supposedly”; it is in black and white the backbone of the economy and there is no doubt about it. Why then would those members use such distorted figures? The only reason I can suggest is that Labour intends to attack the very productive base that this economy depends on. I am a dairy farmer and I will never back away from that and I am a shareholder of Fonterra a small cooperative—a small farmers’ cooperative. It is small by international standards but big in New Zealand. 
When the Christchurch earthquake struck who was the first one there? Who was the first one there with a tanker load of water? Who was the first one there? And I ask this question: who put the money in? How much money did Mr Little write out for the earthquake? What was the cheque from the trade union movement? Righty-o they cannot afford it. They will say that they cannot afford it. Where were they when they needed the soldiers on the street cleaning up? Who turned up for that? It was the Farmy Army and the students—not the trade union movement no. They were the ones sitting in their houses and looking out at the workers. This is a childish shallow and vindictive attack on the farming sector the very sector— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I respect the member and I do not wish to interrupt him but I simply ask for your advice. I know this is a very wide-ranging debate and we have roved reasonably wide but the member speaks of the Farmy Army the student army and the earthquake. This is a tax bill and the member might want to come back to it. I do not think it is healthy to throw accusations about black markets and people being involved in that. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I take the member’s point but I think that if I was going to be overly critical on this point then I would have raised this matter at other times during the succession of debates on this matter. It is probably stretching things a bit but has he gone further than other members? I am not sure. My preference certainly would be for members to debate specifically. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Thank you for that Mr Assistant Speaker because the member has given me such a wonderful opportunity that I do not know where to start. In the Budget there is $5.5 billion going to the Christchurch earthquake repair. The member would have missed that I am sure—he would not have seen that. It is on the second or third page and he would not have read past the front page that the Labour research unit gave him. The National Government is investing $5.5 billion into a town that was devastated and so it should. But here is the irony: most of the Christchurch seats are held by Labour. It is a Labour town and the National Government is putting $5.5 billion into it—so we should—and we do not resent a single cent of it. 
Labour members have this notion that we can get this economy back on track by once again identifying entrepreneurs and successful people—not the losers on the other side of the House not the vindictive haters and wreckers on the other side of the House but people who are successful work hard and strive to achieve—and attacking them. Labour’s alternative budget is to tax farmers more and that will solve the problem. That is the next Tui billboard: “Tax farmers more and that will fix the economy!” That is what Labour members have said in the last few days. It is the next Tui billboard. What will they say to that? “Yeah right!” Shame on the Labour colleagues who have decided to shift the limelight from the fact that they have no alternatives that they have nothing to offer that they are shallow and completely without any substance at all on to a group of hard-working dedicated individuals who are paying their taxes are good citizens and are good community people. Those members should be ashamed of themselves and that is all I can say. 
The Green Party has also put up no credible alternative. Dr Russel Norman sails up and down rivers all over the country talking about the state of pollution and blaming a particular industry. I invite him actually to row his canoe down the Avon River—row it down the Avon. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Oh a bit difficult. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: OK OK of course it’s different. There are no cows anywhere around the Avon; it cannot be polluted because there are no cows there. It is the most toxic waterway in the country next to the Viaduct Basin in Auckland of course where again one would have to go a long way to find some cows. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. The Hon David Carter and the Hon Nick Smith have done more to correct the situation in terms of cleaning up waterways with the recent announcements that this Government has made than any Labour Government has ever done. Labour and the Greens talk about the environment but they do not do anything about it. 
In closing I say that this is a good Budget and it is the right position to go to. I am a farmer and I live in an electorate that is made up of farmers. I share the highs and lows. I know when they are hurting and when they are not paying tax because they have not made any money and have made a loss. I know that when they make a good profit they pay their share of tax. I say to members opposite that I know what their vision for the future is. One need go no further than the small community I live in where there used to be a small school that produced four duxes in four different high schools in the electorate but now it looks like a Third World derelict. That is the Opposition’s future for the rural community. It closed that school despite the fact that 75 percent of the operational grant went into the curriculum. When one looks at it now we see that it is a disgrace. That is the legacy and the vision that Labour has for New Zealand. The vision is bankrupt Labour members are bankrupt. They are losers haters wreckers and muppets. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Last night you made a series of rulings and I was quite rightly a victim of one of them. Given the last set of comments by that member I invite you to be consistent. You were right last night you should be right today and I invite you to be consistent in your rulings in respect of that last salvo from the member. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I think the member Shane Ardern used some invective that certainly was not necessary. Probably the appropriate thing for me to do would be to ask the member to withdraw and apologise for that. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: I withdraw and apologise.