Ross Jami-Lee: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Ross Jami-Lee: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
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JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 It is always a pleasure to follow the honourable Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections because she is a Minister who knows the value of investing in the important areas as this Government is doing. It is not something that previous Ministers in the last Government understood very much but it is something that Ministers in the National-led Government understand and something that the Hon Judith Collins especially understands. The people in Botany say thank you for the extra police who are now on our streets in Counties-Manukau and for the reduced crime rate. That is something we never saw under a Labour Government but it is something we are seeing under a National Government. 
I enjoy listening to these debates. I enjoy listening to these debates because it is so clear when listening to Labour members that they just do not get it. They just do not get it and do not understand that the people outside this Chamber who are looking in at the way we are debating matters of importance to this country can see right through them. They can see right through all the rhetoric. They can see right through everything Labour members have been saying about this Government’s plan to get the economy back. 
I think it is a bit uncharitable when some people say that Labour members do not have a plan. I think they do have a plan. They have a plan for more spending they have a plan for more debt and they have a plan for more taxes. That is the grand plan. The grand plan is for all of that: more spending more debt and more tax. They do not understand that out there in the real world people are watching. The markets at the moment are in turmoil around the world European countries are struggling with their debt and the US has just had a credit rating downgrade but Labour members just do not get it though. They think that more spending will solve all those issues. Well it will not. They think that more debt will solve all those issues. Well it will not. It will put us in a situation where we would have a credit rating downgrade if we continued along the debt projection that the last Labour Government left us with. It would be a shambles. 
Labour’s grand plan its grand plan to win the election its grand plan that it thinks it can convince voters to sign up to is just to have more tax—as if the people in New Zealand really think they want more money taken out of their pockets by the long hand of a Government led by somebody like Phil Goff. Phil Goff cannot really remember anything he did in the 1980s. I had to laugh when I heard Stuart Nash talking about State asset sales and the vast concerns Labour has about asset sales. Well let me remind everyone here tonight that it was the Labour Government in the 1980s that sold a heck of a lot more in assets than the National Government in the 1990s ever did: $9.5 billion worth of assets was sold by the Labour Government. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: What was wrong with that? 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: I am not saying anything is wrong with that I say to Rodney Hide. I am just pointing out the sheer forgetfulness of the Phil Goff - led Labour Opposition. Its members cannot remember meetings they had even a few months ago so I do not expect them to remember the assets they sold in the 1980s: $9.5 billion worth versus $9.3 billion worth sold in the 1990s. So when we hear people like Stuart Nash complaining about asset sales we should remember what the record of those members is. They do not remember it. They do not remember meetings held a few months ago and they do not remember their record either. 
This Government has done well over the last 2½ years. This Government was left with a decade of deficits planned by the last Labour Government. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Just a young kid. 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: What is that noise I can hear? I can hear an alarm clock going off. I can hear a screaming banshee over on the other side. What was that? 
This Government has done well. We are seeing a plan to reduce debt. We are seeing a plan to get the Government books back to surplus by 2014. I know it is hard to hear that but it is the truth. It is the truth and the people out there in the country understand. People out there in New Zealand do not understand the Labour plan. Well actually they do but only 49 percent of Labour’s own supporters support its plan. 
Jonathan Young 
: 48. 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: Forty-eight percent is it? I am sorry; I am being uncharitable. I had given them 49 percent. Is it 48 percent? I thank Mr Young. Even Labour supporters do not agree with its plan. 
Eighty-one percent of National supporters agree with our plan. They agree with National’s plan to reduce debt. They agree with National’s plan to get us back to surplus. They agree with the fact that National wants to keep Government debt below 30 percent of GDP. Members should have seen the projection of debt we were left with. It saw the figures going up and up in a never-ending increase. Well this Government after the Budget that we have just passed will see that debt come back down. It will stay below 30 percent of GDP—a sensible level to keep it at. European countries as I mentioned before are struggling with their debt. But if we were to have Labour in power we would probably end up going towards a similar situation where we would struggle with high debt levels. High debt levels would lead to a credit rating downgrade and that would lead us back to the area of high interest rates for New Zealand homeowners. 
I was one of those people who had to buy a house during the high interest rates of the last Labour Government. Interest rates under the last Labour Government peaked at about 11 percent. I was one of those homeowners who had to buy a first house with interest rates at that high level. Now interest rates under National are at some of the lowest levels they have ever been and we are leaving more money in people’s pockets as well. Labour members just do not understand that. They do not understand that people like having their own money in their own pockets. We have a tax system that rewards work we have a tax system that rewards savings and we do not have a tax system that hurts the people who are investing in core assets which they want to increase in order to look out for their own futures. 
I am proud to be part of this National-led Government and I am proud to be the last speaker in this debate. We have a very good story that we are out there selling. We have a good story that people understand—a good story in which people can see John Key as the leader of National leading us. He is one of the most popular Prime Ministers this country has ever had and despite what we hear from members on the other side people like moderation people like pragmatism and they like a carefully managed economy. They do not want to see more debt they do not want to see more taxation and they do not want to see more spending. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: That’s what happens. For the next 6 years it goes like that. 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: No no. I say to Steve Chadwick that she should really look at the figures. The debt will be kept below 30 percent of GDP. We have completely reversed the situation Labour left us with. We have completely reversed it and we now have a sensible situation where debt will be reduced and we will be back in surplus by 2014. 
I am pleased to speak in this debate on the Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2011/12) Bill. The people out there understand the plan that the National-led Government has. We do not want more debt we do not want more taxation and we do not want higher spending. That is what we would get with Labour.