Mackey Moana: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mackey Moana: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4587. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 The amazing thing about that speech with all the nasty and frankly unnecessary comments towards members on this side of the House was that Maggie Barry had them written down. Sometimes members come into the House and they say things in the heat of the moment and sometimes you go back and you get an email from people saying: “You know it wasn’t very becoming of our representatives to behave like that.” and you say: “Fair enough.” You know you get wrapped up in the heat of the moment you forget that people are watching and it might not seem appropriate. But she had them written down. She sat in her office and wrote all those nasty vitriolic statements about the Opposition. She wrote them down. That is extraordinary. Apart from the fact we are not meant to read speeches in this House to read a speech out like that and for someone who is in only her first year in Parliament to already be that nasty is frankly very very disappointing. 
One of the comments she made that I found interesting was that she said everyone on this side of the House was on a benefit before they came in to Parliament. That is what Maggie Barry said. Well I was not. I was a scientist before I came into Parliament and I can tell that member that everything that is laid out in that science and innovation plan is not good enough—not good enough. National has gone backwards in terms of assisting science and innovation and then lo and behold we found out over the weekend that now in charter schools we are going to be teaching creationism instead of evolution. How is that pro-science and boosting science? How is that going to enhance the reputation of science in New Zealand? We are now going to be teaching not evolution but creationism in charter schools with unqualified teachers. So I say to that member—with her 10-point plan 60-point action plan summit this summit that pamphlet glossy booklet—how about less hooey more “do-ey” from the National Government? Less hooey more “do-ey” because I am sick and tired of all the action plans and the glossy pamphlets. 
The only jobs that have been created under this National Government have been people who produce pamphlets and glossy little publications that are outlining the Government’s next great big idea for the economy because all the others have failed going right back to the Job Summit. Remember the Job Summit? When the National Government first came in it was going to create thousands and thousands of jobs. It created practically none apart from in the pamphlet-producing sector of the economy which is a very important sector of the economy but there is so much more that the Government could be doing. 
Maggie Barry talked about the importance of getting into China. Let us take that example because I agree. One of our best assets in New Zealand for getting into a lot of these international markets particularly China is our mayors because mayors are very very highly regarded in China. The Mayor of Opotiki has gained enormous access to China. He is working on a project that will create jobs. He has been able to do that because of his status as a mayor when he takes delegations there to forge those relationships and to do it in a way so that local government is not doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to the relationships that we are developing with these important overseas markets. Well we have a bill at the Local Government and Environment Committee at the moment the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill—Maggie Barry is a member of that committee—which seeks to do away in some cases with the roles of provincial mayors. They will no longer be responsible for the economic environmental social and cultural well-being of their communities. The bill will limit their ability to do these things and if it forces amalgamations it will actually take those mayors out of the picture entirely. 
Just about everything Maggie Barry said in that speech is contradicted by what the National Government is actually doing and that is a frustrating thing. It keeps talking about jobs. Well where are the jobs? We have been sitting here for 4 years waiting to see when all these promised jobs are going to eventuate and nothing in Budget 2012 is going to do that. Do you know what the big king-hit economic plan of Budget 2012 was? Taxing kids on their paper routes. Taxing kids on their paper routes was the big surprise economic plan of the National Government in Budget 2012. How mean is that? How mean is that that at the time when you are giving tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders and taking assistance away from those who need it the most you tax kids on their paper routes. And what the National Party said about that was: “You know it’s not that much money anyway. It’s only a few hundred dollars.” Well when you are a child and you are saving and when like most of us on this side of the House did you are saving to go to university and pay the fees all that adds up. It might not be a lot of money to people on that side of the House but we know that for the people we represent in this Parliament it is a lot of money and it was appreciated. Taking that away to pay for unaffordable tax cuts that overwhelmingly went to those who needed it the least is not what a Government’s priority should be in the tough times. 
There was nothing in Budget 2012 that is going to grow the economy. There was nothing that is going to bridge that gap between the jobs that are starting to come out now the jobs that are out there and the people who are unemployed who need the skills to do those jobs. That is where the Government focus should be and the Government dropped the ball in 2012 Budget again.