Fenton Darien: General Debate 
Fenton Darien: General Debate 
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DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 Tomorrow hard-working Kiwis will take another hit in their family incomes thanks to this uncaring Government. Price hikes in a raft of areas will hit them hard in the pocket and that comes on top of a year of lay-offs pay freezes and increases to the cost of living. Families are already doing it tough and if Government members are not hearing from those families then we are on this side of the House certainly are. Rents have increased by 9.5 percent and are set to get worse. Rates have gone up by 6.4 percent. The price of groceries went up by 10.3 percent. Telecom has put up its rates so the family phone costs more. Interest rates have gone up so mortgages will be affected and interest rates are forecast to rise further this year. 
It is not as if the jobs are bounding back. Just last week 350 workers in the meat industry lost their jobs. That is a lot of jobs in a local economy. Did we hear a peep out of the Government about it? Not one word. The rates of Youth Maori and Pasifika unemployment are at sky-high levels. 
Many workers effectively had pay cuts when the accident compensation wage earners levy rose in April. Tomorrow the cost of accident compensation in terms of registration for the family car will go up and that is more stress on the family budget. Drivers of vans utility vehicles and light trucks will face an increase in levies of as much as 46 percent. People in small businesses rely on those vehicles in order to earn a living and of course those who need the car to get to work will find it tougher. 
I have to say that the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) is a mess. The Minister for ACC boasts of a culture change but culture change can happen only with the cooperation of staff and look what has been happening with ACC staff. They walked off the job last week. They have been through 91 redundancies and we were told at the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee last week that it is not over yet—there is a lot more to come. Do members know why the staff went on strike? It is because ACC refuses to even write their rates of pay into their agreement. How backward is that! It sounds like the 1990s. 
New Zealanders are paying more and getting less in accident compensation. Every day now Labour MPs hear from people who have been denied cover for spurious reasons. The Government has completely abandoned the victims of sexual crime who seek counselling to recover. It has reduced cover for part-time workers seasonal workers young workers and those with a threshold of up to 6 percent hearing loss. The Government has privatised the management of 600 long-term claims and in a memo leaked last week it was revealed that it is planning to privatise some more claims. Unfortunately Kiwis had better get ready for a whole lot more because of the secret privatisation agenda of the Government. The Government will not even release the interim stocktake report. We are waiting with great interest to see what it recommends but I think that we can guess. 
Kiwis will not be able to rely on the health system because the Government is cutting four front-line services every week. It has cut them every week since the 2008 election. Doctors’ fees are on the rise and services are being slashed particularly for older people. 
Tomorrow petrol prices will go up. That is another blow to the family income and it comes on top of the accident compensation levy increases. Power prices are going up and many householders have already received a letter from their electricity company saying that it is all the Government’s fault. I have to say that I liked getting that letter even though the power prices are going up. 
Workers who rely on the minimum wage are expected to make do with a miserly 25c pay increase until next year—and they cannot rely on tax cuts for any relief. Their tax cut in October is a miserable $4.13 a week and that has already been more than eaten up by the price rises that this Government is rolling out. Meanwhile the Australian minimum wage has gone up. It is now 45 percent higher than the New Zealand minimum wage. The truth is I think that the Government has given up on catching up with Australia. We are drifting further and further behind. 
There is just one last thing: it is now 12 months since pay and employment equity was cut. The Minister of Women’s Affairs said that she would leave no stone unturned in her efforts to close the gender pay gap. Well I have seen nothing except perhaps the rocks in her head.