Robertson H V Ross: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Robertson H V Ross: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8989] 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON (Labour—Manukau East) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou no reira te Whare e nga iwi e nga reo e nga hau e wha tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. I say to matua Rick Barker haere ra. When I first read the Prime Minister’s statement I thought surely this is not the best the Government can do but I am still waiting to find anything of substance in the statement from the Prime Minister. Where is the leadership that is required to motivate and inspire New Zealanders to effort? It is not on that side of the House. I rang around some business contacts who asked: “Is that it?”. I say to the Prime Minister that tax is not a silver bullet. 
I say to the honourable member Todd McClay who preceded me that Steve Chadwick is out knocking on doors now. She has acknowledged her candidacy for 2011 and she will fight it tooth and nail. While Todd McClay has to stay here in the House we will have our candidate out there wresting the seat back for the Labour Party and we will give her all the support that we can. 
With this Prime Minister’s speech we have a half-hearted effort. The speech is shrouded in uncertainty until we see the Budget and it is full of sound and fury signifying nothing. It is time that the Prime Minister delivered on his promise to lift our country’s performance. I believe as do my Labour colleagues that Alan Bollard was right when he said that the Prime Minister has over-promised and he cannot deliver. Although we have had the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament I acknowledge the speech made by the Hon Phil Goff. His speech to the nation in Hamilton resonated with the many and not the few whereas the Prime Minister’s speech pandered to the few while ignoring the many. It was a speech of a smiling Muldoon; I remember him well. 
GST the major initiative unleashed by the Prime Minister is a regressive tax taking more as a percentage of earnings from the low paid than it does from those with more discretionary income. Let me give members an example. If people take home $200 a week and their grocery bill is $100 that bill currently includes a GST component of $12.50. So they pay 6.25 percent of their take-home pay in GST. But if they take home $1000 and their grocery bill is $100 that $12.50 in GST is only 1.25 percent of their take-home pay. Therefore the less people earn the greater the percentage of GST they pay. Personally I would prefer to live in a country that prioritised looking after the many not the few. What it means is that those who are the most vulnerable in our society and those who are on fixed incomes—and I stand here as the Opposition spokesperson for the elderly most of whom are on fixed incomes—will be greatly disadvantaged by the implementation of an increase in GST. Not only that but they will lose their purchasing power while they are waiting for a catch-up. 
I have been inundated with calls from constituents about the impact of GST on their standard of living and they ask why they should trust this Government’s word and its rhetoric when the Prime Minister promised not once not twice but three times not to raise GST. He can use all the weasel words he likes here in Parliament to deny it but the people know differently especially the elderly. They are the reason that I stand here speaking up for them. I have the senior citizens portfolio; it is a challenging one but I enjoy it. I have been inundated with calls from around the country and I intend to hold this Government to account. 
David Garrett 
: How many? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: The point about GST I say to Mr Garrett is that it is a regressive tax. So those at the bottom are paying a greater percentage of their income than those who are earning much more. 
As a result of this Prime Minister’s statement to the House what we see is that the elderly will continue to suffer under this regime. To date a number of changes have affected senior citizens. There has been the issue of home support on the Kapiti coast. We have heard that the district health board has been ringing people to ask whether they are OK and when they say that they are the board cuts the number of hours of home support that they are entitled to. The Safe with Age driving programme which was implemented in the South Island has been changed and cut as has senior citizens’ access to student loans and allowances. These things have all been cut. 
My Labour colleagues and I have been vocal in opposing cuts to health accident compensation and adult education and we have been drawing attention to the axing of the Safe with Age driving courses and speaking up against the freezing of the contributions to the Superannuation Fund. We also oppose the recommendation of the Tax Working Group to increase GST to 15 percent a policy that we know would hit our elderly citizens particularly hard. 
Chris Tremain 
: So why did you raise it from 10 to 12.5 without reimbursing senior citizens last time? 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON 
: Let me just say to the member on behalf of senior citizens that during my regular visits to Grey Power around the country I have been alarmed to hear of instances of a general lack of care and empathy for some of our most vulnerable seniors including where one district health board informed and gathered information by telephone to justify cutting back home support hours. Other district health boards are discharging patients from accident and emergency departments late at night without considering whether those people have the necessary resources to get themselves home. 
The honeymoon I say to this Government cannot go on for ever. When the gloss comes off we will be waiting and thank goodness we have a democracy in this country. I want at this stage to acknowledge all of those who have fought and those who have died so that we might have that privilege. I look at the plaques around the Chamber starting over here with ones for Malaysia Viet Nam Korea Cassino Pacific El Alamein Crete Fortress Europe River Plate South Africa and Atlantic to name just a few. Those people did what they did so that we might have a democracy here so that we might have change. Change will come again because more and more people are recognising that this Government is not delivering what it promised. 
Alan Bollard made it quite specific last week when he said that we would not be able to achieve what the Prime Minister had set out to do. He fronted up; he told the people of this country that they cannot believe everything they hear from the Prime Minister. 
We will continue as Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition to hold this Government to account because the speech read to this House by this Prime Minister was lacking in vision it was lacking in commitment and dedication and it is holding all of us up in the air while we wait to see what is in the Budget. Leadership is about motivation it is about inspiring others to follow and to date that has not happened. Let me say to the people of New Zealand and to the senior citizens whom I represent kia kaha—stand tall. The elderly are not to be taken for granted and we on this side of the House will continue to speak up for them. Tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa.