Foss Craig: Budget Debate 
Foss Craig: Budget Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3241] 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
: 
 The “Bondi Budget” has now been read. From what I heard today Labour is as good as dead—dead thinking dead vision dead boring dead old and dead tired. 
Hon Member 
: Is that a list MP? 
CRAIG FOSS 
: No I am not a list MP; I knocked one of that member’s guys out. What an incredibly boring amount of waffle. There was no vision no passion no looking forward no backing of Kiwis and no fighting off the front foot. It was just the same old waffle from a tired old socialist Minister of Finance from a tired old socialist Cabinet with a tired old socialist Labour caucus who incidentally clapped only about three times during his entire speech and they were all for announcements that had previously been made. Sure there was a couple of billion dollars here and there but I do not think that means much to the Government. Thirty-three pages of the speech took about 50 minutes to read and there was really nothing new in it. What were the highlights? I have been looking at the doughnut and it is obvious that there is nothing in the middle. 
The Bledisloe Cup Budget battle has been lost by Labour which has gifted it to the Aussies. The 2006-07 Labour Budget team did not even bother to take the field. Those members have given up. They are obviously too tired. The Aussie Budget team—the Bledisloe Cup Budget team—must be wondering what on earth has happened to the great Kiwi spirit of can-do of backing ourselves of number eight fencing wire and of Kiwis fighting above their weight. The Australian Government has won the Bledisloe Cup Budget battle because it backed trusted and invested in its people to the tune of $45 billion worth of tax cuts for the next financial year. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: How much did we get? 
CRAIG FOSS 
: We got zero I think. It looks like a doughnut and smells like a doughnut—we got absolutely nothing. Dr Cullen does not even trust New Zealanders with their own money. Quite simply I say to Dr Cullen he should not take it in the first place or at least he should give back so much of what he has taken. He takes so much more than he needs. 
I point out to Government members that they seem to confuse our comparisons with Australia with their own mediocrity and acceptance of where New Zealand is at the moment. They could be no farther from the truth. My 47 colleagues and I are fighting to try to get this country back up to some semblance of a First World nation because under this Government’s watch we have plummeted. Can those members show me an economic statistic from anyone other than some left-wing socialist thinktank where we have performed? What has happened under this Labour Government is a disgrace especially with the economic conditions we have had in the last 6 years. Those members accept that Australia is better and they talk about one-way tickets but with one-way tickets at least we could go and visit the 500000 New Zealanders who live in Australia. Those New Zealanders were pushed out there. They will be attracted to stay by the Australian tax cuts and there will be a lot more New Zealanders to come. 
The 2006-07 Budget was one opportunity. Every year the Government has one opportunity and one shot. It has one chance to try to reverse the tide of New Zealand’s slide down the international credit ratings but our economic rating is still plummeting towards the Third World. It had one chance and it blew it. It bungled it; there is nothing new in the Budget. 
Again I challenge those members to think of something new in the Budget which took 50 minutes to read. “Uncle Scrooge McCullen” has our surplus—our $8.5 billion to $9 billion surplus—stashed away. It is locked away in his safe and no one is to come near it. Outside an election year Dr Cullen says it is not a surplus but all sorts of re-evaluations and financial trickery. I tell Dr Cullen that it is a surplus. He can manage the cash however he likes—$9 billion is $9 billion. The $9 billion he has locked away stashed away for another election year promise is $9 billion that is not being used leveraged off or borrowed against to invest in New Zealand’s future. It is not being used to back New Zealand’s future. A $9 billion surplus apparently is not a surplus until election year. It is $9 billion from this economy that is not available to add value to back New Zealand and to back Kiwis. 
How dare Labour abandon and sacrifice the future of our country for the sake of its silly socialist dogma. How dare Labour limit and throttle the investment in our future and our country to whatever the cash surplus seems to be. The cash surplus can be whatever we want it to be and the surplus $8.5 billion to $9 billion is the surplus that is available. How dare the Government give two fingers to those who want to risk and invest their own capital in the future of this country. How dare it give those people two fingers by having a punishing marginal tax rate of absolutely backward research and development write-offs that do not allow us to invest in the future of this country. How dare Labour give two fingers to those on hospital waiting lists when private hospital capacity is running at only about 50 percent. How dare it do that. This is my country and my future. The Government constantly has an eye on the short-term polls while my party and I are looking towards the medium and long-term future of this country because if we do not another 600 Kiwis per week will be headed towards the airport. 
In the Budget document there are many figures and some facts apparently. Billions of dollars from the Government’s coffers have been talked about and they are obviously at the point of bursting. Well here are a few key numbers that I think are a result of that $9 billion surplus. We could have some audience participation if you like. What does this number mean? Because of overtaxation and the $9 billion surplus we have this number—24000. Do members want any clues? The number of New Zealanders who have been on a waiting list for over 6 months is 24000. That is the result of not reinvesting a $9 billion surplus into our economy. Operations that have been taken for granted in First World countries such as hernias take anything up to 12 to 18 months to be done in New Zealand. That is not the New Zealand I want to live in. 
Here is another number—11000. Does it ring any bells? The number of New Zealand families still waiting for a State house is 11000. If we had had tax cuts those families could be helped to purchase their first home rather than have that purchase controlled by the socialists across the other side of the House. [ 
Interruption 
] All those members can do is to rave on about what may or may not have happened in the 1990s. This Government has been in office and has had the chance to do something itself for 7 years but that number is 11000. 
Here is another number—300000. Does it ring any bells? The number of New Zealanders sentenced to dependency on welfare is 300000 because of the high and punishing marginal tax rates and the Government has not even addressed those. For 300000 people and their families there is no incentive whatsoever for them to get up. They are trying to they want to they are good Kiwi battlers but Dr Cullen makes it so hard for those people so why should they bother? They will go to Australia. 
Here is another interesting number that some members might know—$1.70. That is about the price of one litre of unleaded petrol. It is about $1.70. How on earth are New Zealanders going to be able to afford to pay for the crippling cost of energy without a tax cut? The Minister says that New Zealand cannot afford tax cuts because Australia has all the minerals—it is all underground. How on earth does that explain why Australia’s after-tax income has moved from a 20 percent increase to a 33 percent increase over New Zealand’s after-tax income in the last 6 years? Have Australians found another 50 percent of minerals in their country over the last 6 years? It is absolute nonsense! By the way Singapore has no minerals at all but it is doing pretty well. Those Governments are backing their people and are ambitious for them. 
This Budget has been called an investment Budget by the Prime Minister. Good grief! This was the Prime Minister talking of her years of experience in the real world other than the 25-odd years I think she has been in this House—listen carefully! Interestingly Mr Cunliffe recently gave us investment advice and wiped $200 million off the savings of New Zealanders. That was just last night. What a joke! 
This Budget is socialism pure and simple. It is not about backing New Zealanders. It is not about a better and an ambitious future. It is simply a transfer of wealth confidence and opportunity to Australia. There is nothing more socialist than that. A fair and efficient tax structure will allow New Zealand once again to compete. Only a National Party tax plan and God can defend New Zealand while advancing Australian tax cuts simply mean that more New Zealanders will move to Bondi. 
I seek leave to table a summary of the Australian Budget that outlines $45 billion - odd of tax cuts over the next year which could be used as a good reference point for Dr Cullen. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.