Smith Nick: Budget Debate 
Smith Nick: Budget Debate 
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Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 The tragedy of this Budget is it has no vision for New Zealand and gives no prospect of growth. It is from a Government that has run out of steam and ideas and all we have is another dose of cringing political correctness another dose of big government and more waste of hard-working taxpayers’ money. 
There is a famous old saying that the last bastion of a rogue is patriotism and an appeal to patriotism is what we heard from Jim Anderton. If we on this side of the House make any comparison with Australia—where people are receiving tax cuts and increased take home pay and where higher economic growth is projected—then Labour’s only claim is that somehow we are being unpatriotic. We are not; we are proud of this country and want it to do better. That is what we will be consistently arguing for in this Budget debate. 
We have just heard from—can members believe it—the Minister of Agriculture. I was hoping to hear what this Budget might do for the export sector the most important part of our economy. I waited for 10 minutes and I heard absolutely nothing. It is interesting that the Minister of Agriculture had slot No. 49 in Labour’s Budget debate. What does that say about Labour’s level of commitment to agriculture? It is no wonder members of the Nelson branch of Federated Farmers told me yesterday that they were embarrassed that Jim Anderton was representing the Government. They are looking forward to some of the capable people on National’s side of the House looking after the agriculture portfolio. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: Oh really? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: That is what they said. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: Yeah right! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Let us go through it. They asked Jim Anderton what he thought about dog microchipping. Do members know what he told them? 
Hon Member 
: And he’s No. 3! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: He is No. 3. The farmers said that Jim Anderton had let them down. They asked him about biosecurity because we have just had another breach of biosecurity in my region. A weevil has come into the region and is threatening our economy to the tune of millions of dollars and what did the Minister for Biosecurity say? 
Hon Members 
: He’s No. 3. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: He is No. 3. He said absolutely nothing. Our own council has said that such are the failings of Jim Anderton and Biosecurity New Zealand that the ratepayers of Nelson will have to pick up the bill. Such is the failing of the Government in that regard. 
Now we come to the big issue of this Budget. Labour has increased taxes from $37 billion when it came into office to $51 billion in this Budget. That is a 50 percent increase in the tax take. What differentiates National members on the Opposition benches from those on the Government benches is that Labour members think that money is theirs. They think that money belongs to them and that running an $8.5 billion surplus and taking all that money from New Zealanders is OK. National members say it is not; we say those hard-working New Zealanders deserve a tax break. That is what divides this House. 
It was interesting that during the election campaign Mr Anderton stated that the best thing we could do for business would be to give it a tax cut. I wondered whether we could trust Mr Anderton and whether we might see with him at No. 3 in Cabinet some tax relief for business. I wondered whether we would have recognition that it would be better for the farmers and businesses of New Zealand to be able to keep more of their money and invest it. But the arrogance of Mr Anderton—and of Mr Maharey sitting next to him—is that they believe they can spend the money of businesses better than those businesses can. 
I will now talk about some of the specifics of where the Government has got things so awfully wrong. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: When were you in business? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I was proud to be in Government for 9 years during which we took this country out of the red and into the black. I am very proud that in every one of those years we saw a drop in unemployment and huge economic growth. It is sad that—far from seeing New Zealand’s economic circumstances improve—we now have a Budget that projects a pathetic growth of just 1 percent in the next year. 
Let me talk about some of the waste in this Budget. This Budget provides for an increase in the budget for one of the areas I am interested in—that is energy. The Government is to give another $5 million to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. Well how is that authority doing? This Government has given it $100 million but its own review shows that energy efficiency has become worse. So why would a Government reward with more money an agency that has actually produced a worse result? It is bizarre—only a Labour administration could do that. 
Then we have the big hit of the Budget—the key export industry of New Zealand: agriculture. Do members know how much extra money is going into research and development in agriculture in order to transform the New Zealand economy? The Government is putting $3.2 million extra into the area of agricultural exports. Well it is interesting: that is less than half the amount we should allow for inflation over the period of that agricultural research budget. So I would ask the next Labour speaker to please explain how we are to transform the New Zealand economy with an increase in money for agricultural research of less than what it takes simply to account for inflation. It is interesting that we are to spend $3 million on agricultural research—and $13 million on a feel-good “touchy-feely” Green campaign to buy New Zealand goods that we all know will not do one iota for the New Zealand economy. 
I want to hear from the next Labour speaker when the Government will provide hard-working New Zealanders with a tax break. We know Labour has put taxes up by an extra $7000 per household since it has been in Government. Why will Labour not give those hard-working New Zealanders a tax break? Why does it insist on closeting money away so that in this country we now have “rich Government; poor people”? And National makes no bones about saying that the direction of the economic strategy of the Government in Australia—a country with higher growth and less tax—is where New Zealand should be going. Is it not interesting? 
One of the things I would have liked to see in this Budget was some reform of the Resource Management Act. Was there any mention of that in Dr Cullen’s speech? There was none at all. Yet in the report that came out last week from the world economic study on competitiveness do members know where New Zealand was ranked in terms of the quality of our environmental regulation? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Wouldn’t have a clue. 
Chris Tremain 
: Tell us. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: There were 68 countries and New Zealand ranked No. 68—the absolute bottom of the pops. I would have thought that members opposite would say we needed to address that ranking and improve it. But where in this Budget do we see any mention of the desperate need to reform the Resource Management Act? If Jim Anderton had bothered yesterday to listen to the members of Federated Farmers in my community of Nelson he would have heard that their No. 1 priority was reform of the Resource Management Act. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: They didn’t say that at my meeting—never got a question on it. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: They did say that at their meeting. In fact they even had a competition where all the members of Federated Farmers could list their bad experiences with the Resource Management Act. I ask the Minister of Agriculture whether he supports the Resource Management Act. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Silence! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: There is absolute silence. He has no idea because the Minister is as connected with the farming community on that issue as he is in respect of the issues of microchipping dogs and biosecurity. 
This Budget is a huge disappointment for New Zealand. It will go down in history probably as the “colander Budget”—the Budget that leaked heaps. That will be the only thing for which this Budget has any notoriety and it will see New Zealand living standards fall further behind the standards of those countries we need to compete with. I want to hear from the next Labour speaker about how we will stop New Zealand’s economic growth from wallowing down in the lower levels of the OECD. We are falling further and further behind countries like Australia and others in the OECD. 
I want to hear a Labour member tell us where the strategy is for economic transformation. This Budget is a recipe for economic stagnation; that is why this Government should go. Its members are tired and decrepit so they should give up the ghost now. Let us have a Government that can produce some growth give some tax cuts and put in place some of the economic reforms that will give this great country of ours a go.