Davis KelvinGENERAL DEBATEHon KELVIN DAVIS (Deputy Leader—Labour): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. I'm going to start and make the unusual move of acknowledging the hard work of a member of the Opposition. I'm going to acknowledge the comments of the honourable member the List MP who's based somewhere here in Wellington across the other side of the harbour and that is Chris Bishop. I'm going to thank him for the comments that he has made that have highlighted the inequities and the unfairness of the National Party tax policy. I want to thank him for reinforcing what this side of the House has always said about the attitude of the National Party towards hard-working New Zealanders. You see Chris Bishop is a rare National Party MP in that in an unguarded moment he was caught out telling the truth. Mr Bishop was caught being honest and in doing so totally exposed and undermined the whole National Party tax plan. That's the tax plan that favours people like himself and his mates at the expense of hard-working New Zealanders. The National Party needs more MPs who are prepared to tell the truth. So what exactly was the context of Mr Bishop's act of honesty? Well in an interview he was asked: how much would he get from the National Party tax cuts? And he said Well I would get quite a bit because I get quite a bit of money. That's the thing about tax cuts." And that is the thing about tax cuts. Those who earn more they get rewarded with more money in their back pocket. It is a matter of the rich getting richer while others get $2.50 per week. So if we were to ask some other New Zealanders just exactly how they fare under the National Party tax policy what would they say? Well let's take Sonny who is a labourer up north that I know who works where he can when he can. What would Sonny say if he was asked "What would you get out of the National Party tax policy?"? He would probably say "I'd get stuff-all." because that is the thing about tax cuts. What about Pat and Glenys superannuitants also up north who have worked hard all their lives but are now living on the pension? If they were asked "What would you get out of the National Party tax cuts?" they would say the same. The same as Sonny the labourer they'd say "We would get stuff-all." but that is the thing about tax cuts. Well what about Mereana the teacher up north who's worked for 10 to 15 years as a teacher and is earning about $70000 a year? What would she say about the National Party tax cuts? Well she would probably say "Well I'd get more than Sonny the labourer. I'd get more than Pat and Glenys the beneficiaries because I earn more. But I'd get stuff-all in comparison to Chris Bishop and his mates." because that is the thing about tax cuts. What could many New Zealanders say they could purchase with their $2.50 that they would get under the National Party tax cuts? Well what could they buy? What's the purchasing power of their $2.50 a week? To be honest I can't actually come up with anything specific that they could buy using their $2.50 a week. But I could tell them: go into one of those $2 Shops that have sprung up all around the country in towns around the country go and look on the shelf select something that costs $2 and buy it and then the thing on the shelf next to it pay for a quarter of it." because that's basically what they will get from the National Party tax cuts. They'll be able to buy one thing off the shelf in a $2 Shop and a quarter of the thing next to it. The tax cuts by going into a $2 Shop they'll be able to buy 1.25 items and that is the thing about the National Party tax cuts. They favour the rich they favour the wealthy—those of us in this room will get thousands but it's not us that we need to worry about. It's those hard-working New Zealanders it's those New Zealanders who are doing it tough by their tax cuts doing nothing whatsoever to help those people's situations. That is the thing about tax cuts: they leave people behind. Thank you Mr Speaker."