Bennett David: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Bennett David: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 It is good to speak on Vote Finance. For those listening that was Shane Jones. Shane is the Labour Party— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member will refer to the member by his full name or his title. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Mr Jones is the Labour spokesperson on finance at this point in time. When he gets into trouble he always goes on about the vulnerable people—that is Labour Party rhetoric. It tries to build fear into people. It will not actually give them inspiration or give them aspiration; it tries to put people down and to create fear tactics. That is Labour Party policy that is how it has always been and that is how it always will be. The public have moved on from that; the public have moved on. They want aspiration and they want to know what the future is. They do not want to be put down by the Labour Party they do not want to be seen as being vulnerable and the last thing they need is people like Shane Jones telling them what should be done for their lives going forward. 
Let us look at what Labour did for this economy when it was in Government. Labour created a recession before the rest of the world; it put New Zealand into recession at that time. It put the wrong incentives into our economy. The tradable sector was not growing and the economy was going downhill big time. What did Labour also do? It made a variety of promises just to win votes promises that were for policies that now New Zealanders are paying for—policies that did not deliver economic results and did not deliver the social cohesion and delivery of services that New Zealanders would have wanted. All Labour did was to create a situation of more debt more Government and less economic growth. 
Let us compare that with what has happened under the National Government in just 2½ years. In the most difficult of times in a recession in a time when we have had to rebuild Christchurch what have we delivered for this country? We have delivered low interest rates. Interest rates have been some of the lowest so that people can go out there and make investment decisions grow businesses buy houses and do what they need to do to have a home for their families. There are good growth rates coming through this year—growth rates in the first quarter are beyond expectation—and we are looking at good growth rates over the next few quarters going into next year. That is a very very strong position for an economy in these most difficult of times. 
We have balanced the need to have major infrastructural investment. We can see that in the broadband investment the roading investment and the Transpower investment. We are building the infrastructure of New Zealand so that we can grow the economy. We have rebuilt Christchurch with a plan that will go out there and deliver a stronger more successful city going forward. We have changed the tax incentives so people know that they need to get a good education and work hard and that they will get some rewards for that—and then they will invest that money through their savings in the economy further grow the economy and produce even more economic growth. 
That is the game plan and it is a game plan that has worked in 2½ years of the toughest economic times. It is a game plan that is ready to deliver New Zealanders strong economic growth going forward and the future prosperity that they all deserve and seek. The public understand that game plan and they support it. They want that game plan and they will get it at the coming election. If we compare that with Labour’s game plan we see that Labour’s game plan is to borrow more money and put the country in more debt. Labour is not worried about repaying debt within a short period of time. It is not worried about getting the New Zealand economy in a position where it can grow and deliver things. It wants to borrow more and more and more. That is what the Labour Party wants to do. What does the Labour Party also want to do? Tax you more tax you more and tax you more. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Labour wants to borrow more and tax more. That is its plan. It is a great plan is it not? One can see how it will work. What will it do? Interest rates will go up. What will that do to economic growth? It will kill economic growth. What happens if we tax our people more through higher tax rates which is what Labour is looking at with the capital gains tax? It will kill economic growth. There is no incentive for New Zealanders to go out there and build a stronger economy. 
Labour’s plan is to borrow more. That will lead to higher interest rates and less economic growth. Labour’s plan is to tax more and that will lead to less growth and less potential for the New Zealand economy. What else does Labour want to do? It wants to have a bigger Government—a bigger Government that knows more and can spend more and do it in a way that it agrees with.