Williams Andrew: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williams Andrew: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2434. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to oppose the Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill. It reminded me today when I heard about the nickel-and-diming of our paperboys of a song that was sung back when I was on the stage. I was the Artful Dodger and Fagin sang that famous song: “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two You’ve got to pick a pocket or two boys You’ve got to pick a pocket or two.” I could recall being on the stage back then and as a young person who delivered newspapers back then who made money delivering newspapers and delivering the milk on a cold morning in Waipukurau I could remember those words of Fagin’s. We are reminded of those words today by this incredibly incredibly austere Budget which ends up basically going after the young children of New Zealand because they will not even get a tax credit for the small wages that they make. The babysitter who makes a few extra dollars will not get a tax credit for that. 
This is appalling. This means that basically this Government has run out of ideas so much so that it has to start going after the young children of this country who earn a pittance. Why did it not go after the likes of the people who sold TradeMe for $700 million and did not pay a dollar in tax? You can sell TradeMe for $700 million but the Government does not go after you; it goes after the children of New Zealand. 
Why does it look forward 3 years and suggest that it can make only a $197 million surplus in 2014-15 in 3 years? If that was a poll that would be less than the margin of error. If the Government can come up with only a $197 million surplus in 2014-15 in its Budget then basically it is working within the margin of error. We heard all the promises in 2009-10 we heard the promises in 2010-11 and they were repeated in the House today. All those promises of the two previous Budgets under the Minister of Finance Bill English have come to nothing. Most of the promises have been just absolutely not worth the huge piles of paper that they are written on. They are not worth the paper they are written on because the promises of those last two Budgets have come to nothing. The promises of this Budget will be the same. 
We heard today from the Rt Hon Winston Peters who was in the House with a number of the members here when the “mother of all Budgets” was delivered by Ruth Richardson 20 years ago. The Rt Hon Winston Peters said that this Budget is a repeat all over again of failed measures by the National Government failed policies going back 20 years. We could call this the “mini-me Budget”. This is the “mini-me Budget”. Bill English was a mini-me back then under Ruth Richardson in those days. Now mini-me has grown up to be the big mini-me who is delivering the same Budget 20 years later which basically is another failed Budget. 
The Minister of Revenue is trying to net sprats instead of going after the sharks. This is a nickel-and-dime Budget. This is a pathetic Budget that really does bring New Zealand down to the lowest common denominator maybe putting us just slightly above Greece in terms of our financial capabilities. Instead of this Government going after the big-picture stuff it is going after the little sprats. I am not surprised to see today the headlines from the papers already after this Budget. The headline in the online  
New Zealand Herald  
this afternoon was that this Budget is “A most forgettable (and dull) Budget”—a most forgettable and dull Budget. Imagine the biggest newspaper in this country and that is how it describes this Budget. Further the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association this afternoon has put out a statement saying that this Budget still needs step change to turn round the economy and that the “fundamental problems such as a lack of export growth have once again gone ignored.” That is from our own New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association. It says the fundamentals are being ignored and once again there will be a lack of export growth.  
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Who said that? 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: That is the chief executive of the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: What’s his name? 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: You should know his name. You should know his name.  
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: What is his name? 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: I have got his name written down here but I will not get into it. I will arrange an appointment for you to go and see him. 
It gets worse. The overseas merchandise trade statistics were released today and I wonder whether the Minister from Christchurch knows what the figures were that were released today. Does the Minister know? 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: They’re all good out of Christchurch.  
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: They were not good. Today the overseas merchandise trade statistics show that exports are down 17 percent on April last year. They are down 17 percent on April last year. That is appalling. This country is dependent on trading our way out of the recession—which keeps getting referred to by the Government—and if we do not export more this country will continue to slide. To have a 17 percent drop compared with 12 months ago means this Government is not performing. But it is not surprising because the future growth that the Government sees is in the likes of a conference centre in Auckland—all looking inwards; not looking at the harbour and not looking at the beauty of Mount Eden or the beauty of the Waitemata but looking inwards at its pokie machines looking inwards at its 500 pokie machines. That is the Government’s vision for New Zealand—a conference centre. People fly from all over the world to come to beautiful New Zealand to see what is being provided by our Minister of Tourism. Who is he again? Who is our Minister of Tourism? Does anyone know who our Minister of Tourism is?  
Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor 
: “Spray and Walk Away”. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Oh “Mr Spray and Walk Away”. I had forgotten. That is right. “Mr Spray and Walk Away” is our Minister of Tourism. People come all the way here and what do they get? Our economic development package for this country is 500 more pokie machines—500 more. Is it not ironic that those 500 pokie machines are going to be in the very same building that the National Party had its election night party in the very same building that the National Party had its national conference in and the very same building that it launched its 2011 election campaign and its 2008 election campaign in? They were launched in the very same building where there are going to be 500 more pokie machines. It is interesting is it not that National’s economic development seems to go hand in hand with where it has its conferences. It seems to go very much hand in hand with where it has its conferences. You do just wonder where the strategy is. 
So when we see figures today and we are told today that the future hopes are out of Christchurch and it is all going to start we ask when it is starting. We were down there last month and it all seems to still be coming down. There is not a lot going up—not a lot going up. There seems to be an awful lot of tradesmen and an awful lot of builders heading off to Australia and other places where they can get work. There is not a lot happening down there—not a lot happening down there. 
New Zealand First certainly does not support this Budget. We think this is again just like the “mother of all Budgets” in 1991. This is another absolutely hopeless Budget for the New Zealand economy. The New Zealand economy is not going to gain from this. This is not addressing issues such as where the New Zealand dollar is what we are going to do about the New Zealand dollar being overinflated in terms of its value how we are going to stimulate exports how we are going to help grow the export sector and how we are going to create jobs. This Budget is all about nickel-and-diming. This is all about taking money off the young people of New Zealand. This is about attacking middle-class and poor New Zealand families and keeping the money in the hands of the rich and the wealthy—keeping the money in the hands of the mates of the National Party basically. This Budget is about protecting National’s mates and keeping its mates in good pasture particularly those who go to the likes of gambling halls who can use the pokie machines and who have disposable income to go and get involved in all that sort of thing. 
What we need to do is have a rethink. We need to have a rethink. At the next election I am sure this country will elect a Government that will start to stimulate the economy stimulate exports get alongside the likes of the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association and get this economy moving not one that attacks the children of New Zealand to nickel-and-dime the Budget.