Joyce Steven: General Debate 
Joyce Steven: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19822] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 That speech was from a member of the party that gave us the decade of deficits and from a member of the party that gave us a productive sector in recession for 5 years before it left office. Apparently it is supposed to be seen as part of the solution at this point but it is the problem. There is an interesting thing about the bit of paper that the Leader of the Opposition was waving around. He might have said that the article rated National five out of 10 but it also said that the Labour Party was a waste of space and irrelevant. I would not be getting up and quoting that article if that was the big endorsement that the Labour Party was looking for. 
We need a competitive economy to grow in this country and that means a number of things. If the Opposition wants a plan here is one: a competitive tax system. That would be a great thing and that is what this Government has delivered. This Government has delivered more infrastructure for this country which will help our growth and productivity. It has delivered better results from education not just money being tipped in the front end. Actual accountability for that money is very important and that is part of the plan. The plan includes more free trade less red tape and a much more productive public sector. That is what this Government is delivering and Labour opposes pretty much all of it. Labour is against a competitive tax system and that is even more obvious today. It is against infrastructure investment. Labour is interested in it in theory but it opposes all of the moves that we are making in practice. Out the front of Parliament today Labour MPs were once again opposing infrastructure development in New Zealand. 
Labour opposes accountability in education. Labour wants to just tip more money into skills training and more money in the front end. It does not care about whether we get anything out of it. Labour members think that as long as they get a headline with their funding then they are OK. Research and development tax credits actually do not achieve anything except to shift money from one side of a company’s accounts to another but Labour members think that is a good idea because they feel good about it! Now apparently more tax is the answer. More tax is the answer from the Labour Party and it is an appalling answer. Labour proposes a capital gains tax for New Zealand and it quotes the Tax Working Group on that. That capital gains tax that the Tax Working Group proposed was 30 percent on capital gains not just on investment houses but also on commercial properties on farms on shares and on investment properties. That is what the $4.5 billion— 
Hon David Parker 
: It was not 30 percent. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: It was 30 percent on average across those—go back and read it I tell Mr Parker. That is what it says and that is an outrageous imposition. Labour says it wants a competitive economy yet its solution is more tax on the productive sector. That is why those guys got thrown out. They got thrown out because they crippled the productive sector and now they are saying “Elect us and we’ll cripple you again!”. That is Labour’s solution; that is Labour’s answer. 
The Labour Party is all about going backwards. It wants to go back to the heyday of tax and tax and tax and of crippling the productive sector and it expects the public of New Zealand to trust it to get a productive economy and to increase competition so that we have a better result for this country. Nobody believes that. Nobody believes that Labour has the potential to do that and today’s and yesterday’s little utterances prove that once again. It is all about increasing taxes and it cannot even get its numbers to add up. It is exactly the same as the research and development tax credit: the numbers do not add up. Labour threw around the figure of $4.5 billion on the TV last night and said it could do the capital gains tax at about 15 percent. It is all rubbish and it will be unpicked over the next few days. It will be interesting to see when Labour finally makes its announcement because I think the announcement is going backwards pretty fast at this point—it is going backwards. I am picking that the announcement will come forward a little from Thursday. Labour will have to get it out there because it is absolutely falling to bits. Labour members will be out there beavering away. David will be off with his calculator after this session out the back to beaver away and to try to come up with another answer because Labour needs one. 
It is appalling what Labour is proposing. It is actually economic vandalism. It is what Labour did for 9 years in Government and now it is on the other side it asks to have a crack again. It has no idea what to do. The solutions are a competitive tax system more infrastructure better results from education more trade less red tape a much more productive public sector and investment opportunities for New Zealanders. That is what this Government is delivering. That is the plan. It is the plan New Zealanders know about and they are keen on the plan. On 26 November I am confident that we will get that endorsement.