Hughes Gareth: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hughes Gareth: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3389. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Speaker. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to take a call on the Appropriation (2011/12 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (First for 2012/13) Bill. 
This Government has been a poor economic manager for the economy. We have seen over successive Budgets no real plan for the economy no real vision and no real emphasis on the things that matter which is our children and what we are doing going forward. All we see from members on the Government benches—their only plan—is to drill it mine it frack it cut it and sell it. That is it. We have seen over the last few years a number of terrible economic decisions that have been made. We have seen those unaffordable tax cuts which were not cost-neutral. We have seen poor transport spending. We have seen this Government subsidising polluters. It is bailing out its mates from MediaWorks to Skycity to Warner Bros. 
David Bennett asked the Opposition: “What is out there?”. He asked the question: “What is out there?”. But to quote from the popular TV show: “What is out there is the truth.” And you have only to look at those Budget papers on the Table to see the truth. What we see from the Government and the last Budget which is what these supplementary estimates deal with is a Budget deficit of over $18 billion which is a New Zealand record for a Budget deficit. We see Crown debt rising to $13.4 billion making that total Crown debt $40 billion—that is poor economic management. And we are seeing economic activity stagnate at levels just above a technical recession and that is poor economic management. 
The economic conditions around the world are concerning. We are facing a debt crisis globally. In New Zealand it is particularly important given debt is expected to exceed $72 billion over the next few years. We have a growing current account deficit which is at 4 percent of GDP and estimated to be around 7 percent of GDP in a few years. We have massively growing inequality between our richest and poorest New Zealanders. We are seeing 270000 Kiwi kids growing up in real poverty. We are seeing kids going to school without shoes without breakfast—real poverty in a First World nation. But we are also seeing a lack of vision from the Government. It has got no plan bar drill it mine it frack it cut it and sell it. 
So what has National done over the period it has been in Government which these supplementary estimates deal with? Well we have seen the unaffordable tax cuts. In 2010 those tax cuts which were not cost-neutral delivered the biggest cuts to those New Zealanders who needed it the least. We saw the head of Westpac bank getting $5000 a week from tax cuts and who is paying the bill? Well it is those other Kiwis at the lower-income levels who are paying it through increased GST but it is also future generations who are paying for that $5000 a week tax cut for the head of Westpac through borrowing. So it was not only fiscally reckless it was also immoral. 
We have seen poor transport spending—which the Labour Party it is good to see has come to the party on as well. Look this Government has somehow in a time of austerity facing the debt crisis a growing current account deficit and an $8 billion a year oil import bill found the ability to borrow $14 billion over 10 years for motorways with negative benefit-cost ratios. I would get laughed out of a business board meeting or I would get laughed out of a council meeting if I proposed a project with a benefit-cost ratio of 0.6 because when you are investing $1 you are losing 40c. But somehow members of this Government and particularly Steven Joyce and Gerry Brownlee have convinced the Government and Bill English to find $14 billion to borrow to throw at these unaffordable motorways. 
We are seeing subsidies for polluters. This Government has also found $1.5 billion in the last financial year and $800 billion in the next financial year’s Budget to subsidise polluters under its amended emissions trading scheme. We are not sending the right signal. We had Amy Adams go to Rio to rail against fossil fuel subsidies but then she is quite happy to come back and talk to her Cabinet Ministers to keep this $1.5 billion in subsidies to polluters continue. 
Hon Amy Adams 
: Just wrong. 
GARETH HUGHES 
: It is a subsidy. The taxpayer is paying for it and what you are doing is sending the wrong economic signal which is to keep investing in polluting technology. Well this Government in its books has got that figure there. It is the taxpayer fronting up funding polluters. But it does not stop there. We heard Tim Groser in the House say he was quite happy for this Government to subsidise risky deep-sea oil drilling with a $25 million free handout in the seismic survey. When the Government is railing against inefficient fossil fuel subsidies around the world really it should look closer to home. Action begins at home. 
Despite all the risks with deep-sea oil drilling it is not the only sector this Government is helping out. The clear theme of this Government is that it is quite happy to help its mates out. You see it with the dodgy Skycity negotiations. The Convention Centre is not going to be a game-changer. It is not going to help our current account deficit it is not going to help lift us out of growth and it is not going to help with the huge number of jobs and it is going to be paid for by those low-income Aucklanders who are going to be paying for it out of their pockets with those pokie machines. The Government has got money to throw at Warner Bros and it has got money to throw at MediaWorks. This Government is all about helping its mates. It says it does not pick winners but this Government does pick winners be it risky deep-sea oil drillers the gamblers or the other sectors in the economy. 
With the drilling—which this Government wants to stimulate; wants to aggressively promote—what we know from all the data is there is going to be hardly any jobs for New Zealanders because it has put all the jobs on the skill shortages immigration list; hardly any taxes because there are so many exemptions; and hardly any royalties because we have got one of the lowest royalty rates in the world. In fact we have got the fourth-lowest Government take or royalties plus tax rate in the world—the fourth-lowest rate. So we know we are going to see hardly any jobs for New Zealanders hardly any taxes— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: So what are you going to do? 
GARETH HUGHES 
: —hardly any royalties and we know the profits are going to go offshore. 
 What we would do is not sell the assets which is what the Government is doing. What it has done is it has dug itself a fiscal hole and now what it is doing is selling the same tools that would get us out of it. These assets are returning healthy dividends but what the Government wants to do is some days it wants to pay off debt which does not make sense because the cost of borrowing is at an all-time low and some days it wants to invest in other sectors like again more subsidies to its mates in the agricultural sector with a $400 million irrigation scheme. 
So what we would do as Tau Henare keeps asking is keep these assets. We would use them. We would use them and we would supercharge them. We would use them to promote our environment and our economy because what our environment Minister does not get is that New Zealand’s economy is dependent on our environment. There is a global greentech boom happening at the moment. It is predicted to be an $800 billion market in the next few years. For the first time ever last year and I am not sure whether the Government is aware of this investment in renewable energy outstripped investment in fossil fuels—for the first time in our planet’s history. But this Government for its inspiration is looking to the 19th century for its economic inspiration not to the current century which is going to be framed by those global challenges like climate change. 
We could be using our assets. We could be supercharging them. We could be at the forefront of the global greentech clean energy market. We could be using these State-owned enterprises like Mighty River Power to be exporting that geothermal technology around the world but this Government wants to flog them off and forgo the dividends. But worse than that it wants the taxpayer to pick up the tab. It wants the taxpayer to fund around $120 million for public relations spin doctors. It wants to fund that $120 million for admin costs. It has got $400 million approximately for its loyalty scheme. “Loyalty” is the wrong word to use for this scheme. What the loyalty scheme will be when we finally see the details and the Government has stopped hiding and keeping secret what it is embarrassed about is simply welfare going to those New Zealanders who can already afford to buy shares. Again it is going to be the taxpayer those poorest New Zealanders who are subsidising those New Zealanders who have the resources to purchase these shares—welfare for the rich through the loyalty scheme. 
There is a better way. We could be supercharging our assets. We could be rebalancing our economy towards more sustainable production. Drill it mine it frack it is not going to cut it in the 21st century. There is a whole host of smart green economics we could be using. There is a $6 trillion global green race as Pure Advantage pointed out recently. We started in a wonderful position. We had such a head start over many other nations but this Government has squandered its lead. It is looking to the 19th century for inspiration. We should be extending the insulation scheme. We should be increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. We should be boosting research and development. We should be putting a real price on carbon to promote a low-carbon economy. We should be reducing KiwiSaver account fees by having a public option. There is a whole host of things we could be doing. Drill it mine it frack it cut it sell it is not in New Zealand’s interests.