Alexander Marc: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Alexander Marc: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18297] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 I was very interested to listen to the Prime Minister’s speech as I think most people were. I will not go over those items that I can agree with but will concentrate on those areas that I cannot agree with. The Prime Minister articulated a vision not of individual aspiration but of even more Government intervention. She talked about giving Kiwis the chance to realise the great New Zealand dream. But the dream she spoke of was not one that recognised reward for individual effort; it was not a dream that empowered each of us to shape our own destiny. Instead she gave us a dream without wings a dream manufactured by ideology sanitised by political correctness and supported by collective responsibility which in reality is no responsibility at all. 
I recognise that there needs to be a balance between what an individual can do and what a State should ensure but I suggest that that balance has become one-sided. The Government is no longer the servant of the people but rather it has become their enslaver. In a time of economic growth low unemployment and high possibilities the last Budget made beneficiaries out of families on $70000 per year. The huge surpluses generated off the backs of Kiwi workers have been stripped off them through punitive taxes and when people ask to keep more of the money that they earn they are painted as greedy. But this Government blinded by its own ideological prejudice has arrogantly decided that it knows better what to do with the wealth it had no part in creating. It is wrong it is wrong it is wrong. 
This Government which is so keen to rid us of discrimination against every minority it can find is guilty of discrimination against one minority it will never have the intention of helping—employers. The last 5 years have seen a systematic increase in the State’s financial imposition on employers. The Holidays Act and compliance costs such as occupational safety and health regulations and so on have all been placed on the employers’ back. It is why despite the economic growth no one is better off except the Government tax take. We have witnessed an incremental discrimination against employers greater reliance on Government handouts resulting in a lessening of freedom of choice self-responsibility and a killing of our aspiration to innovate and be entrepreneurial. 
Although employers have been hit in their dreams the irony is that it is the workers through increased costs who end up having to pay for the lot. What about their dreams? Why are they forced to flee from being fleeced to capitalise offshore to replace New Zealand workers with foreigners as has been done recently or to leave altogether to pursue their futures in other lands? 
As far as crime is concerned I was interested to hear the Prime Minister talk about a downturn in crime. On what basis can she make such a claim? There have been more murders at this time this year than at this time last year. Increasingly people are disheartened about reporting crime. While we strap useless home-detention bracelets on violent offenders who simply walk off give compensation handouts and pursue expensive and ineffective rehabilitation programmes the police are having their work undermined by sentences that do not reflect the severity of the crimes. The police are torn between commitments to help victims and income-revenue generation for this greedy Government. Meanwhile law-abiding people and victims are left shaking their heads as their interests and their rights are superseded by those of the criminal. 
I will give members an example. We have advanced a host of policies recently but think on this: the Nelson child pornographer jailed for a year yesterday would have and should have got a sentence of anything up to 10 years if the Government was seriously interested in progressing strong legislation that is already on its books. The Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill is still awaiting its second reading after the select committee reported back in August last year and child pornographers everywhere are still getting weak sentences as a result. 
But I guess we can all see the Government’s point of view—right. It was absolutely imperative that it legalise same-sex marriages and stop people from smoking in bars before election year. The trouble is that perverts such as Jason Gorman are getting wet-bus-ticket sentences while we wait and wait and wait. It is time to start thinking about individuals who are victims and individuals who are employers. The people who matter in this country have been relegated to the dustbin by the aspirations of ideology over common sense and it is wrong.