Genter Julie Anne: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGenter Julie Anne: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate[Sitting date: 18 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5860. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I rise to speak on the third and final reading of the Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill the final reading in the Budget debate.The Budget is all about priorities. It tells us what the Government really values and what it thinks is important. The Green Party believes that this Budget is very much one of missed opportunity. It is the National Government’s seventh Budget and it demonstrates that what it really values is protecting the status quo.There are three big economic challenges that are facing us in the long term and they are what the Green Party wants to prioritise: climate change growing inequality—that is the gap between those who have and those who do not—and rebalancing the economy so that New Zealand is actually earning its way in the world. I know that New Zealanders care about all of these and in particular in climate change they are already taking actions in their own lives but unfortunately the Government is failing to make it easier for them to make the changes that need to be made for us to respond to climate change in the long term.I know that New Zealanders want to live in a country that is fair where everyone has the same opportunities and where we do not have a growing number of children growing up in poverty which means that they have fewer opportunities. They end up costing us more in the long run because they are not able to fully participate in society and we have higher health costs and higher costs in terms in crime. So there are many many reasons to address inequality. I know that New Zealanders value living in a fair country and unfortunately our country is becoming less fair.Finally rebalancing the economy is something that the National Government has already promised to do. Bill English used to talk about it when National was first elected. It has completely failed to do that. Not only has the share of the economy that is exports failed to increase; it has actually fallen. We have seen the largest gap ever between growth in the non-tradable sector versus growth in the tradable sector—it is the largest gap since 2000. The current account deficit is still at over $8 billion and is forecast to increase in the coming years.These are all things that I know New Zealanders care about—and the Green Party has a clear plan and a set of solutions that would address all of these issues—but the National Government has failed to address these issues. I realise that all three of these challenges were problems when National was elected. We had growing carbon pollution emissions back in 2008 we have had a huge growth in inequality in the past few decades and of course we had an even larger current account deficit when National was elected. But what it has failed to do is make progress on any of these issues and that is because ultimately it is a Government that is very much focused on protecting and preserving the status quo not one that is actually going to respond to the challenges and create a cleaner greener fairer New Zealand in the long term. It is a very short-term focus.What are the Green Party’s solutions which were not included in this Budget? Firstly to deal with climate change we have a really clear set of solutions because we know that we cannot continue to grow our carbon pollution for ever we are not going to be able to have an economy that thrives in the long term if we do not respond to climate change and most of all I know that New Zealanders care about their children and their grandchildren. They want them to live in a world with a stable climate one where our economy can actually thrive even when we have a carbon-constrained world. In the talks in Paris that are coming up at the end of this year unfortunately New Zealanders are not going to have a target that we can be proud of but most of all we do not have a plan in this Budget for how we would actually reduce emissions.So how could we reduce emissions? Transport spending is a first and obvious one. Without increasing the amount we are spending on transport and simply by redirecting it to the most productive efficient projects we can massively reduce our carbon emissions for transport. We could also reduce the cost to households and businesses of getting around the country. We could also reduce our current account deficit because at the moment we are spending over $13 billion on importing vehicles and the oil to run them. If we had a more balanced transport system in our major towns and cities and between our cities and if we actually invested in the smart rail projects and busway projects—safe walking and cycling. I know that finally the Government is doing a little bit on cycling but if we actually invested in those smart projects we would save households and businesses money we would save the Government money we would reduce carbon pollution and we would reduce the amount that we need to sell overseas in order to pay for getting around. It just makes sense. It is a smart Green solution.In energy we could have and should have a target of 100 percent renewable electricity generation in this country. It is entirely achievable and we showed a fully costed plan in the run-up to the election last year as to how we could do that. Very small investments by the Government in electric car charging infrastructure for example could help to facilitate the switch to electric vehicles where appropriate. Our climate tax cut was the first change in tax structure that would start to put a price on pollution and return the revenue of that to households and businesses in the form of a tax cut. It makes sense to tax pollution so that we get less of it and we can return that revenue to households so that they actually get a tax cut. It is just common-sense stuff that this Government could be doing and yet it is failing to do it.The next big challenge—also related and the solutions are related—that the Green Party has proposed specific solutions to is inequality. We found out last week that 45000 more children are living in poverty. That is an economic and moral failure on the part of this country and there are some simple practical solutions we could take that would help to reduce the gap in inequality. One of those is dealing with the housing problem in Auckland by putting in place a capital gains tax. We would start to address the imbalance. Right now there is a loophole and we want to close the tax loophole on housing so that we get investment in the productive sectors of the economy rather than just in housing but that would also help to achieve more affordable housing.That is not the silver bullet. There are a lot of other things that we have to do. Introducing protection for tenants and renters is something that we are very far behind on in this country and it makes sense to look after tenants. That also helps address the housing affordability issue from the perspective of both the renters and those who are looking to buy and it ensures that people have access to warm dry secure housing which surely is a human right and is one that makes economic sense.We also proposed our school hubs plan which looked at ensuring there was a nurse in decile 1 schools and low-decile schools would all get a coordinator to ensure that kids are receiving the social assistance they have a right to receive. It would put kids at the heart of not only our education policy but also our social policy in creating a hub which has been demonstrated overseas to work really well. It does not cost a lot of money and it has huge social benefits. Ensuring that children in low-decile schools have enough to eat and that they are not going hungry—not only do we want breakfasts in low-decile schools but hot lunches. It makes sense because kids will learn better when they have access to food and really it is something that all of our children should have a right to. Additional things to deal with inequality would include raising the minimum wage. We would start subsidising low-wage employers and would extend the in-work tax credit to beneficiaries because every kid deserves to have that right whether their parents are in work or not in work.By addressing the housing issue and by looking at the form of urban development in the cities that have the most growth going on which are Christchurch and Auckland we could kill—well not kill; we could address multiple challenges with a few win-win solutions. We could reduce pollution and reduce emissions and we can reduce inequality through some of these practical proven policies that are being implemented in successful economies overseas. We would be looking after our people and looking after our environment but most of all it just makes economic sense.All of the policies that I have just cited do go quite a long way to helping with the rebalancing of the economy so that we are not so overly invested in just a few simple commodities and that ultimately we are not on this rollercoaster as we are right now with the slump in dairy prices. Having a more diverse economy—additional policies that help with that are investment in research and development as we are very very under-invested in this country in research and development and putting a price on pollution as part of taking that first step toward ensuring that we have a balanced cleaner greener future that polluters are paying the cost of the pollution they are putting out there and that households and businesses are better off and have more opportunities to thrive in the long term.The Green Party has a very practical costed vision and we are giving voice to those New Zealanders who are already making changes in their own lives to deal with the long-term challenges that the National Government is absolutely failing to deal with. We want to see action on climate change we want a fairer New Zealand with reduced inequality and ultimately if we address those issues we are going to have an economy that is thriving globally. Thank you.