King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:663;Page:11431] 
4. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he agree with the 53 percent of New Zealanders in last night’s Television One poll who believe they will not be better off as a result of the Budget? 
Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 What people believe is entirely up to them but I can assure people that the GST / income tax switch will make the vast bulk of New Zealanders better off. They can check that out by going to www.taxguide.govt.nz and putting in their details. I would also note that 61 percent of people in that survey said that the Budget would be good for the economy and even more important 94 percent said they did not want Phil Goff to be Prime Minister. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Provocative answers invariably lead to disorder. The answer was very good until the last unnecessary bit but then the interjection across the House was totally unreasonable. 
Hon Annette King 
: Who does he think has the best understanding of the impact of his Budget: himself or our leading Christian organisations who have spoken out against his Budget in the weekly newspaper  
Challenge Weekly 
 saying that it does little to reduce queues to food banks that GST will fall most heavily on those least able to bear it that it has not lessened the gap between the rich and the poor and that the cost of new houses will rise and who have dubbed his Budget the “price and pay Budget”? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: I would not agree with those comments. 
Hon Annette King 
: When he said that New Zealanders would be pleasantly surprised in October will the gap he highlighted when in Opposition between the underclass and other New Zealanders be closed by his tax cuts—an underclass he promised to do something about; if not was the trip to McGehan Close with the TV cameras in tow just a publicity stunt? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: It will not be worsened and I believe that the creation of 170000 new jobs will help close that gap. 
Hon Annette King 
: When he said New Zealanders would be pleasantly surprised with their tax cut in October had he factored in the $10 to $20 a week increase in rents as quoted by landlords; the $5 a week power price increase; the increase in telephone bills; the increase in accident compensation levies; the increase in doctors’ fees; the increase in the cost of food items; an interest rate hike; an increase in rates; and an increase in early childhood education costs for parents; and in fact will the surprise not be an unpleasant one as Kiwis already suspect because they are not silly? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. If we take one of those points—we do not have all afternoon in the House—Treasury’s advice is that rents will go up by 1.4 percent. I might add that over the last 8 years of a Labour Government the average was 2.6 percent. I point out that if the member is looking at the inflation rate which is really the fundamental point the member is making I would refer her to Michael Cullen’s response when he was asked about why inflation was continuously running at over 3 percent under a Labour Government. He simply said that New Zealand could not be immune to these challenges and that the Government certainly could not control the price of petrol or food. 
Hon Annette King 
: Does he think the low-income Aucklander who has contacted me today will get a pleasant surprise in October given that he has just received an increase of $10 a week to his rent before October because of increasing costs from the Government’s Budget; he has been promised a $13.81 a week tax cut and this rent increase leaves him with just $3.81 a week to cover the $9.68 increase in GST alone without all the other costs he will face? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: All I can say is that if rent has gone up now when there has been absolutely no change at this point that is because the landlord is choosing to do that. I would make one point: I fondly remember before the Budget when the Leader of the Opposition or the finance spokesman—one of the two—said he was interested in talking to this Government about a capital gains tax on property. Well that might have done a thing or two to rents. 
Hon Annette King 
: I seek leave to table the front page of the  
Challenge Weekly  
newspaper. It is not a well-known newspaper around New Zealand but it is a Christian newspaper and I think it fits into your category of one that is not widely distributed.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon Annette King 
: I seek leave to table a transcript from an interview on  
Breakfast 
 television on 26 May with the New Zealand Property Investors Federation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That one is a transcript from a recent broadcast which is available to everyone.