Key John: Budget Statement — Budget Debate 
Key John: Budget Statement — Budget Debate 
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Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 That was not a Budget speech from Phil Goff; it was a valedictory. The “face of the future” told us that this was the worst Budget in 27 years. Well I say this: what about the nine Budgets that Labour delivered just before this National Government that saw interest rates double in this country? What about those nine Budgets that saw no wage growth? What about the fact that the only way that New Zealanders got ahead under Labour was to borrow more money? That was the only way forward. What about the fact that our economy went into recession when it came to exports back in 2004 under Labour? Phil Goff might not like this Budget but Standard and Poor’s does. It has just given this Budget the tick. 
It is clear that the Leader of the Opposition has no clue about economics. That was abundantly clear from his speech. He came out with a couple of crackers. One of them was that the global financial crisis ended in 2009. That is interesting. He should go and tell that to the people of Ireland Portugal Spain and Greece. While he is at it he can go have a chat to the IMF and the World Bank because they are bailing out people left right and centre. On his way home he can go via America see the 10 percent of Americans who are unemployed and ask President Obama why he is borrowing US$1.4 trillion a year. But according to Phil Goff the global financial crisis ended in 2009. 
What did I learn from that speech from Phil Goff? Here is the answer. It is not just Helen Clark who is texting Phil Goff from New York; Bernard Madoff is as well. I can tell members that that was not an alternative budget; it was the Labour Party Ponzi scheme to spend more money borrow it from someone else close one’s eyes hope and eventually leave it to a National Government to tidy up. I can tell members that that strategy might go down well in Greece but in Grey Lynn they want real answers and this Government is delivering them. They want a grip on reality. Phil Goff does not live in Mt Roskill; he lives on “Fantasy Island”. Over here on “Reality Island” we have some serious things going on. 
I want to say to Bill English: “Thank you for a Budget for the times.” We are proud of him. Our balanced fair and affordable Budget is a Budget with a plan. It is not a plan when one just borrows more money. [ 
Interruption 
] The muppets are going on over there. That says it all. You see this is a Budget that gets us back into surplus within 3 years. This is a Budget that will see interest rates lower for longer. This is a Budget that will see 170000 new jobs created. This is a Budget that will see real wage growth. But those muppets do not think that is a plan because we are not spending more money which the Chinese would have had to lend to us. According to Labour unless we spend other people’s money it is not a plan. Well this is a Budget with a plan. 
This is what this Government and New Zealand inherited from Labour: a decade of deficits. We inherited 10 years of rising debt and no end to that. We inherited 10 years of rising debt that would have seen debt to GDP at 60 percent not the 29.6 percent that is delivered today—even while paying for an earthquake of the magnitude we have had to put up with. The parting gift from the previous Labour Government was a decade of deficits and no end in sight to that borrowing. [ 
Interruption 
] Those members do not like it but that is the truth. It is in the Budget and it is in those documents that as the incoming Government we got from Treasury. 
I am proud to stand here today and say that this country is going back into surplus. It will be going back into surplus in my view before the end of a second term of a National Government. This is what the deficit looks like. It is a large deficit this year because it pays for Christchurch and actually it insulates the most vulnerable New Zealanders who rely on the Government. I am proud to have looked after those vulnerable New Zealanders through the tough times. But this is a deficit that halves next year halves the year after then is gone. That is what good economic management looks like. That is a plan. 
This is a Budget that delivers real wage growth. Let us go back and look at 9 years of a Labour Government. We had 3 percent wage growth in 9 years. The only way New Zealanders could get ahead under a Labour Government was to borrow more money—borrow more money or leave. Those were the options. This is a Budget that quite clearly demonstrates 170000 new jobs for New Zealanders over the next 4 years. 
What is very interesting about this Budget is that it includes $8.7 billion for Christchurch. So when my MPs go to Christchurch and say to the people of Canterbury that we are committed to their city we believe in them and we care we put our money on the line. This Budget does that for the people of Christchurch. As the Minister of Finance pointed out in his speech today the earthquake is a big impost on New Zealand. It is probably the most expensive natural disaster as a percentage of GDP that we can find in the developed world. Japan’s earthquake has had half the impact on its GDP that the Christchurch earthquake has had on our GDP. In fact we are struggling to find another country that has had a natural disaster with such an impact on its economy. It is all paid for in Budget 2011. It is a balanced fair affordable Budget with a plan. 
We are going to be going ahead on a platform of solid economic growth. I will talk for a moment about interest rates. It is a topic one never hears about from Labour. Those members are ashamed of their record with interest rates. They talk about the cost of living but when they left office interest rates were twice as high as they are today. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right: they were going up twice as high I say to Mr Cunliffe. Inflation was 5 percent. What do we find today? If a New Zealander living in Grey Lynn—not living in Greece or in “Fantasy Island” over there with Mr Goff in charge—owes a mortgage to the bank of $200000 which many people in Grey Lynn do their interest rate today is $10000 a year less. That is $200 a week less. I say to this House and to the people of New Zealand that a National Government will deliver interest rates that are lower than they would be under Labour and lower than they will be over the cycle. That is what good economic management looks like. That is the dividend of Budget 2011. That is about the young home buyers who today are watching the Budget and saying to themselves that they want to buy a new home to get into their first home. What is their decision point? “Can I afford to pay the mortgage?” is the question they are asking themselves. I say to that young couple that yes they can. They will have real wage growth under National they will have jobs and they will actually have lower interest rates and that makes buying a home affordable. 
Let us get to the tax system. The big idea that came from Phil Goff was this: put up the top personal rate. OK it is about as transparent as the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cup in a few months’ time. “Put up the top personal rate.” is Phil Goff’s message to New Zealanders and probably a capital gains tax is coming as well. David Cunliffe has hinted at it. Phil Goff is nodding. OK a nod is as good as a wink. There will be a capital gains tax under Labour and higher personal taxes. Let us look at the little tax package that is in the Budget. It tells us that 51 percent of all personal taxes in this country are paid by 13 percent of New Zealanders—13 percent of New Zealanders pay over half of all personal taxes. Phil Goff’s message to them is: “We do not care about you. See you later; you make no valuable contribution to New Zealand.” Well I say to the 13 percent thank you for being entrepreneurial thank you for being in New Zealand and thank you for paying half of the personal taxes in this country. [ 
Interruption 
] That is exactly right I say to Mr Power. This is a Government of aspiration not an Opposition of envy. This is a Government that says quite clearly through the tax system to New Zealanders that if they want to get ahead if they want to do better for themselves and their family if they work hard and if they save hard this Government supports them to do that and they get to keep more of what they earn. They get choice. Labour members do not like choice. They do not like the idea of people spending their own money. They like to leave people with pocket money. Well pocket money in my household ends when one is about 16. When people get a bit older they can make their own money and they can make their own choices. 
Let us turn to some of the capital spending in this Budget. There is $1.3 billion for ultra-fast broadband. National is not planning to be like the Opposition. We are not a ring binder Opposition; we are an iPad Government. That is what we are. We are an iPad Government wirelessly walking around and making sure that New Zealanders are connected to the world. Do members know what? I remember when David Cunliffe used to believe in ultra-fast broadband. He used to believe in it not so long ago. The message is quite clear to New Zealanders. I say to them tonight: vote National and get ultra-fast broadband—fibre to the home 100 megabits per second triple play—vote Labour and make sure they get down to the dairy and buy some more biros so that they can write everything down. I tell members that the media strategy of not being able to get information from the rest of the world works well in Fiji but it is not so good for New Zealanders who want to know what is happening in the rest of the world. If they vote National they will get ultra-fast broadband to the home. And I might say that it is not just the information highway we are building; it is the highway that cars and buses travel along. We are making sure that our main arteries are not clogged. 
Let us move to the Budget and the area of skills and education. Let us go to that. There is $1.3 billion going into education—$1.3 billion. I thank the Minister of Education for strongly standing up for young children those who want to have a tertiary education and the kiddies going into early childhood education. I thank her for that advocacy because even in a Budget where there is no spare cash the National Government is delivering. I had to laugh because when we got to early childhood education the only people in New Zealand who believe that we are not putting more money into early childhood education are the Labour Party muppets. That is right. The sum of $500 million is going into early childhood education in this Budget and those members are the only people who do not believe it. 
Let us go on to job creation. There are 170000 new jobs being created as a result of this Budget. I tell members who does not like that: the  
Hobbit  
haters over there do not like it. That is right. The  
Hobbit  
haters do not like it. They would rather cuddle up to some Australian unionist. I say no we do not want the Australian unionist; we want the 3000 jobs. We want  
The Hobbit 
. I will tell members the way that the videos are going to go when we are out there on the election campaign stump. We will be on Television One and TV3. I will be there with Mr Goff if he lasts. I will be there with Mr Goff and he will look down the camera and say to New Zealanders: “I did not really mean it when it came to not having  
The Hobbit 
 done here. I would have had it done it if I was Prime Minister.” No he would not have. He would have backed the unions over the jobs. Well we support the jobs. 
I want to thank the Minister of Health. He has flown from round the world to be here today to shepherd the $1.7 billion more that is going into health. The truth of it is that he is a Minister of Health we can all be proud of. New Zealanders who have cancer wait no more than 4 weeks under a National Government. Under a Labour Government they needed a passport—they had to go to Australia. Under National they wait no more than 4 weeks. There have been 20000 more elective surgery operations under this Government there are 1000 more nurses and 500 more doctors and for mums and babies $55 million is going into maternity care. We have a lot to be proud of. 
I take this opportunity to thank our confidence and supply parties the ACT Party the Maori Party and United Future. We have worked very effectively with them over the last 2½ years. We do not agree on everything but that is the nature of politics. We have been able to rely on our partners and they have worked constructively with us. I think we have put together a Government for the people of New Zealand and I want to thank them. Members opposite are waving goodbye only because they are the ones leaving. That is why they are waving. Do not worry about that. Yes Labour has a plan and it is to not paint Premier House to sack a Diplomatic Protection Squad agent to sell the Beamers that Helen Clark bought and by the way to borrow $45 billion more. That is Labour’s plan. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: It’s a Ponzi scheme! 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: It is a Ponzi scheme. I do not have time to go through the mixed-ownership model but I say to New Zealanders who are watching that in respect of the debate on mixed-ownership bring it on during the election campaign. I say to New Zealanders who are watching now that here is their choice: they can invest under Labour in schemes and finance companies that fail them or they can put their money into sound dependable New Zealand assets majority-owned by this Government. Yes we have made some adjustments to KiwiSaver—yes we have made them—and we will take that to the people of New Zealand. But people with KiwiSaver accounts will at the end of their time have more than they had. They will have that. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Broken promises. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well it is not a broken promise I say to Mr Goff if one goes to the electorate with it. [ 
Interruption 
] Will I go back to 2008 and write the manifesto for five terms of a National Government? I do not think so. The 75 percent of New Zealanders on Working for Families get more money—they get more money. Just 25 percent of them get slightly less—on average $4 a week less—but 80 percent of that 25 percent will be earning over $80000. 
I will conclude with this. We have delivered a Budget today that delivers a tax system that is fair that trims wasteful expenditure and that puts KiwiSaver Working for Families and interest-free student loans on a sustainable footing. It saves the $45 billion that Labour would have wasted it pays for Christchurch and it develops our capital markets. Labour can tell us what it will not do which is everything that National will do which is about stable sensible Government. The people of New Zealand want that brighter future. My advice to them is to vote National come 26 November. To Phil Goff I say that I will see him on the campaign trail.