King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:672;Page:18788] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 The final veil of John Key and Bill English’s Budget dance will be lifted tomorrow and according to Bill English all will be revealed. Everything will be laid bare; it will be there for the whole country to see. For weeks now we have had the teasing we have had the blame-shifting and we have had the National Government softening us up to expect a zero Budget—a zero Budget that has been forced upon it by the global financial crisis by two earthquakes by floods and droughts and biosecurity and by borrowing and borrowing. 
John Key has told some New Zealanders that they will have to tighten their belts a few more notches. They have been told that they will have to pay off the $16 billion deficit mountain that we now have. It is a mountain that has all been clocked up in 2½ years of a National Government. It has been clocked up after this Government was left with a historically low level of debt by the last Labour Government and—unlike what was indicated in the comments of the previous speaker Jonathan Coleman—with books in a good shape. They were in such a good shape that Bill English said that the previous Government had put away for a rainy day. 
The deficit was clocked up by John Key and Bill English. They decided to borrow $2.3 billion a year for tax cuts that we could not afford tax cuts for those who already had the most. A $350-a-week tax cut has gone to somebody on $393000 a year and a $28-a-week tax cut has gone to somebody on $48000 a year. When were those tax cuts given? They were given after the global financial crisis hit this country. They were recklessly given by the Government. Having told us that everyone had to tighten their belts because of the global financial crisis it ignored that advice and gave out tax cuts that we could not afford. It gave out tax cuts we could not afford when unemployment was growing at an alarming rate. Month after month unemployment figures were going up. 
We are now told by many commentators that the so-called tax switch is a failure and has failed thousands of New Zealanders. The Government clocked up a deficit because it did not have any sort of plan to address our current or future economic and social problems. The deficit was clocked up by a Government that thinks short. Everything it does is thinking short. I have to say that it is selling this country short. 
Tomorrow is Judgment Day for this Government’s Budget. A few questions will be asked by hard-working New Zealanders. They will ask whether this Budget will set out a coherent long-term strategy to fundamentally change the economy of this country and give hope back to Kiwis that they will have a future and one that they own themselves. Will this Budget be bold? Will it really make the tough but fair decisions that will see all people pay their fair share but also get their fair share? Many New Zealanders must have woken up today looked at the front page of the  
Dominion Post 
 
and asked how it could be fair that they pay so much tax but there are people out there who pay so little. 
They will ask whether this Budget will promote innovation and use research and development to diversify our businesses and lift our exports to ensure that we create more wealth. Will it reduce unemployment and will it give the over 60000 unemployed young Kiwis a chance to get a job in this country or will there be more platitudes about how young Kiwis are our future? What future will young Kiwis get out of this Budget? Will there be an opportunity for them to get skills training and apprenticeships? Will there be an opportunity for them to get a decent income and stay here in New Zealand? Will it encourage savings? No I think we will see a Budget of lost opportunities. There will be backwards-forwards backwards-forwards decision-making.