Goff Phil: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Goff Phil: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16351] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 Let me start where Tim Groser the member who has just resumed his seat left off. He talked about a legacy. I remember the legacy of 1999. I remember that 161000 people were registered as unemployed. What is that figure today? It is 19000. As the Minister of Defence I remember the legacy of that Government in terms of defence. We had a defence force that had been run down year after year and sent to places like Bosnia with equipment dating back to Viet Nam that was not safe to put our troops in to do the job that we expected of them. 
I remember the legacy—the legacy of broken promises. Lockwood Smith said that he would abolish student fees and he doubled them. Lockwood Smith promised that he would resign as Minister of Education if he did not eliminate student fees and he stayed on for 6 years. I remember the legacy of lies about superannuation right from the beginning. “No ifs no buts no maybes”—National said that it would get rid of the surtax. It increased the surtax. And Bill English one of the new-generation National people was the Minister who in 1998 pushed down the rates of New Zealand superannuation. The same guy by the way today says that superannuitants are handled too generously. That is the same man who said that decile 1 schools were paid too much. That is equity from the National Party. That is what those members believe in. 
I say to Mr Groser that we both remember how well National managed governing under MMP. The previous National Government failed to govern this country with stability because it failed to work with other parties. That Government relied on the vote of Alamein Kopu. We remember that. If New Zealanders can remember that then why would they want this “new” team that includes Dr Smith—both of them; Nick and Lockwood—Mr English and Mr Williamson? It is the same failed group. It has no ideas and no vision. 
I sat and listened when the Leader of the Opposition was speaking. I took out a blank piece of paper picked up my pen and thought that I would take down the substantive points he made. Twenty-five minutes later I had nothing written on that piece of paper. That is exactly what the National Party has offered the House in this debate—nothing. 
National members are like stunned mullets. They read about the $10 billion in tax cuts. They have read that the average New Zealand family would be $42 a week better off by 1 October and they thought: “Where does this leave us? Where have we to go?”. That accounts for the utter failure of the National Party in this debate to be critical of what this Budget does. It is an exceptionally good Budget and this bill is very good legislation. 
National members have learnt one thing: they have voted against every tax cut this Government has brought in. They voted against Working for Families they voted against KiwiSaver and I say to Mr Groser they even voted against bringing down corporate tax rates. You know National is meant to be the party that supports the business sector. National had 9 years in Government and did it cut taxes for the business sector? Did National try to lift research and development funding in order for the business sector to go out and do its job? No it did not. National failed where the Labour Government has succeeded. 
This Budget gives tax relief to all New Zealanders. Not only does it give tax relief to all New Zealanders but also it acknowledges the fundamental point that where families have young dependent children the Government has to give more support to those families. We have to give help to those families and that is why we brought in Working for Families. A family on $35000—a low income—with two kids would not have got more than $10 or $20 in simple tax cuts but out of Working for Families they will get $190 a week. 
I will tell members what I am proud of about this Government. I am proud that we have lifted tens of thousands of kids out of poverty because we have recognised the cost of raising a family and have done something about it. That is something to be proud of. When I think of people who are working in the social sector I think of Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation Army who has worked for people on low incomes for all of his life. What was his verdict on this Budget? He said that this is a fair Budget because somebody on the lowest income gets more than a 5 percent tax cut. 
John Hayes 
: 1.4 percent. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The member John Hayes who is making so much noise from his chair got only a 1.4 percent tax cut. I am very sorry about that I say to the member but the truth is that he did not need more than a 1.4 percent tax cut while a family on a low income needs all of the help it is getting. This Government which is always good for social justice and builds on the traditions of Michael Joseph Savage continues to give social justice for working families in this country. That is why I am so proud of this Government. 
This is a good Budget because it delivers tax cuts at the same time that it continues to give for our social services. There is a huge investment in the health sector to make sure that we have a public health system that does not ask for somebody’s health insurance card or ask to see the width of people’s wallets before they get treatment. That is another thing that I am proud about with regard to this Labour Government. 
Sometimes the older folk in our community get a little grumpy about things and think that things could get better and should be better. There was a couple in the news who said that they had voted for Labour all of their lives and they thought that maybe they should give the other crowd a go—there is a sense of fairness amongst New Zealanders. They thought: “This group has done pretty well over 9 years. Maybe we should give the other group a go.” Well I was glad to see when I picked up this morning’s  
Dominion Post 
 that that couple looked at what this Budget offered them and said: “No no; we are doing pretty well with this group.” 
I even saw that the vice-president of Grey Power said that older New Zealanders would be very pleased with this Budget. People should be very pleased with this Budget. If we calculate what elderly people were getting each fortnight we find that they were getting $27 extra a fortnight as at 1 April. On 1 October they will get another $45 extra. That is an extra $72 a fortnight that our elderly people will get to help meet the cost of living. That is not bad going. Even National members know that it is not bad going and that is why they have been so dejected and so pathetic during this debate. They have nowhere to go. 
This is a responsible Budget that looks after the elderly looks after our families and looks after all New Zealand taxpayers. The Budget was done in a way that did not push this economy so far that we had to think about whether we could sustain social services or whether it would have an inflationary effect. 
You see this Budget gives people money at the time they need it because of the cost pressures that Mr Groser talked about. Mr Groser when he was in Tokyo blamed those cost pressures on international inflation but when he got home he said it was the Government’s fault. Well I do not know how it could be the Government’s fault that we were paying US$20 a barrel for oil a few years ago and now we are paying US$133 a barrel. When Mr Groser was in Tokyo he said that food price inflation is a worldwide phenomenon that has a crushing effect on people in developing countries and he was right. But I would ask him why when he came back to New Zealand did he say that it is something that the Government has caused? 
Of course the Government is not responsible for that inflation but this Government has responded by recognising people’s needs and giving them help when they need it. We are able to give them that help because we have managed this economy responsibly for 8 years and we have the money there. I say to Mr Groser that we have lowered the debt legacy of 35 percent of GDP that the previous National Government left us to less than 20 percent of GDP. 
By good management we have created the money that can help New Zealanders when they need it at a time when the international economy is in some trouble. This is a responsible Budget from a good Government as opposed to what we have heard from the failed people who sit on the National benches and this Budget is an election winner. 
Bill read a third time.