Fairbrother Russell: Motions — Family Support Tax Credit—Increase 
Fairbrother Russell: Motions — Family Support Tax Credit—Increase 
[Volume:638;Page:8341] 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (Labour) 
: 
 This morning at 7 o’clock I was in Napier at a breakfast attended by about 120 builders— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: One hundred and fifty. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: —150 builders from Napier. We were attending a breakfast hosted by the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. Three significant things emerged from that breakfast. 
Hon Member 
: Did they know who you were? 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: No one asked where “Candy Floss” was I say to members. Three things emerged from that breakfast. One was that there was a sense of well-being and satisfaction with the Government’s apprenticeship training scheme. There was considerable pride that this Government had reinstituted apprenticeship training schemes. The builders there were very defensive of the integrity of that scheme but that is not what I want to talk about. 
The second thing that emerged from that breakfast was that the 150 builders are enjoying a prosperous successful stable economy. We had first-class tradespeople and first-class businessmen who could plan for their futures. They could employ staff they could seek to employ qualified staff and they could look ahead 10 to 15 years. 
I spoke to a builder who had moved his business from Auckland to Napier to build prestigious homes and who specialises in coastal and elevated properties. This is a builder who is employing a number of people with considerable pride and confidence that under the economy of Dr Michael Cullen he has a future in Napier as a very successful businessman. But that is not what I want to speak about. 
The third thing I want to speak about is that during this breakfast it became immediately apparent that each one of those builders who employs staff and is confident of his or her future in Napier because of the economy of Dr Michael Cullen and this Government is very delighted that the family in Marewa with two adults and four children aged between about 3 and 12 or 13 are getting another $10 a week from 1 April bringing their total tax relief to $303 a week. This will put money in the pockets of families and will enable the builders and the real estate agents the land agents and the travel agents and all those who contribute nothing but take commission from the economy to take a bigger bite with greater satisfaction. 
 The family in Marewa that receives $303 a week from tax relief under the marginal tax deductions of Tim Groser or Heather Roy would have been $293 worse off. That would be $293 out of the economy which those builders were looking forward to putting towards building a prosperous future. So the 150 builders at the breakfast this morning had a spirited range of questions for my friend the Minister for Building Issues Clayton Cosgrove. The questions were spirited but underlying them was a confidence a satisfaction that this is a Government that provides a stable economy low unemployment and puts money back into the pockets of those who will spend it in the economy that these builders work in. The families the mums and dads with children can now afford to upgrade the quality of their house. They can afford to make improvements to their homes in Marewa and can afford to look forward to a sound future. That is why this is a debate of high principle as outlined— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Ha ha! 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: Don’t you laugh. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member by using “you” is bringing me into the debate. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: I am sorry Mr Assistant Speaker. You were not laughing but you should have been. Maurice Williamson was laughing. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: What is this member doing speaking if it’s a high-principled debate? 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: The high principle was introduced by Mr Bill English who introduced the Opposition attack in this debate. There was an irony about the “high principle” reference because Mr Bill English accused Dr Cullen of coming to this Chamber to waste time and speak about high principles on what he said was a wasteful motion. It is ironic that he should criticise our Minister of Finance for addressing matters of high principle but it is increasingly ironic that the debate that is so heavily criticised by the National Party is about putting more money into the pockets of those who count—the mums and dads with children. This extra money enables normal families to buy an extra litre of milk an extra loaf of bread and to keep one parent at home if he or she decides to help with raising the children. 
In February this year I was at the Eastern Institute of Technology orientation in Napier. This is one of this country’s leading technical training institutions. At that orientation I was approached by a number of people but I want to mention two. One was Sue who came to me and said: “Russell I want you to thank Dr Cullen for enabling me to study for my nursing degree because no longer do we both in our household need to work in order to raise our children. With Working for Families I can afford to enter into full-time study.” She said: “If it was not for Working for Families I would not be at the EIT orientation speaking to you today.” She was thankful and grateful. 
But the other matter was also interesting. I was approached by another lady whose name I will not mention who told me that she and her husband had moved back to New Zealand from Canada where they had been living for 15 years. The Government’s Working for Families package meant they could move back to Napier and with interest-free student loans she could embark upon a long-postponed course of study. She said to me: “Would you please thank your Government Helen Clark and Dr Cullen”— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: I’m sure she did! 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: She did indeed. I want to tell the member that on Saturday I was at Boundary Stream celebrating 10 years of a mainland island. A scientist came up to me and said: “Would you tell Helen Clark how well she’s done for us in the United States.” I did not know this man at the time but he said to me: “Would you tell Helen Clark how well she has done in the United States.” Napier is a town that is proud to have a Prime Minister such as Helen Clark. 
But I return to the debate and to the family that moved back to New Zealand from Canada so that the wife could take advantage of our interest-free student loans and our Working for Families package and engage in a long-postponed course of study at the Eastern Institute of Technology. This is the real working side of Working for Families. We have had the patronising approach and productivity arguments from the inherited voice of the Werther’s Originals TV ad Tim Groser. 
There was a time 30 years ago when that same Tim Groser stood on a platform at Victoria University and made a case for zero GDP growth. Back in his student days he argued that the biggest evil in this country was having increasing GDP growth. Boy have not times changed! The voice has not but the thought processes have. Are they an improvement? No they are not. 
I want to move on to talk about the families in Napier that can now afford to go out and buy an extra bottle of milk and an extra loaf of bread and can afford for one parent to stay at home so that children have somewhere to go. I want to talk about the kids in our area of Napier who are now 14 15 16 and 17. These are the kids who sometimes cause problems to the police. Why? Because there is a breakdown in parental structure and control. 
Those children were born immediately after the Ruth Richardson “mother of all Budgets”. Those children are of the time of the slashes to benefits. Those children are of the time of high unemployment. Those children are of the time of the breakdown in families because of the stresses of low incomes into the family household. Today those young teenagers have no structures they have no need to return home at an appointed time at night after attending a noisy party because their parents have forsaken the control from the structures that were eroded by the vicious attack by the principles that Heather Roy referred to reflected in Ruth Richardson’s “mother of all Budgets” back in 1991. 
The party opposing this motion is the party that wants tax cuts. The parties supporting this motion are the ones that want healthy families. They want families with healthy incomes and families that have time to plan their social environments as well as their working environments. The 150 builders at the breakfast in Napier this morning were all very confident about their futures. Not one of them asked my friend the Minister for Building Issues how they would be in 5 years’ time. They want to train new employees. They want to train new carpenters. They want to move their businesses forward knowing that it is going to happen. They were talking with confidence of 10 to 15 years. This is a Government that brings in policies such as Working for Families and redirects the money by way of tax credit to where it counts—to the mums and dads of Marewa Onekawa Maraenui Taradale and Greenmeadows who go out to work and also raise their children. I support this motion.