Curran Clare: General Debate 
Curran Clare: General Debate 
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CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 I would like to wish happy birthday to Isabella Woodhouse as well; my two turn 10 next week. 
We have a responsibility as members of Parliament to talk about the things that make an impact on people’s lives and to try to make a difference to them for the better. I genuinely believe that most members here have a set of beliefs and standards that have brought them here and that they are here to make a difference. It is how to make the difference that sets us apart not the motivations nor the characters of members of Parliament. Right now despite what people might read or see in the media the important things are the cost of living and people making ends meet; whether families have jobs they can depend on that will be here in the short term; and whether the income people have from jobs or from superannuation will be enough to pay their everyday bills let alone the unexpected ones. If they are unemployed it is that they can also make ends meet and have the opportunity to get a job. It is getting through the winter and being able to pay their electricity bills and having a decent house to live in that keeps them warm and dry. 
I have been having a lot of conversations recently with people in my electorate about the recent Budget and what impact it will have on their lives. I have been scratching my head at the so-called polls that support it because I have not found anyone who thinks he or she will be better off. For instance I had a discussion a couple a weeks ago with a woman in her 30s in my electorate in Dunedin who runs her own beautician business. Her husband is a self-employed builder and they have two little kids in early childhood education 3 days a week. They have calculated that their tax cut will be easily absorbed by rising prices through GST. GST price hikes will hurt them not only personally but also in their businesses. They are both worried about having to increase the GST on prices in their businesses and they know that it will not be popular with clients. 
But one of their biggest worries is what will happen to the cost of childcare for their children. The woman I spoke to said she has only recently returned to work and that that was necessary because of the need for two incomes to pay the mortgage. She is very happy with the early childhood education her kids are receiving and she knows that if childcare prices go up or if the centre cannot afford to offer 20 hours’ free early childhood education then she will have to give up her job. She feels she is between a rock and a hard place and she does not know what the Government is trying to achieve. She asked me: “Do they want me to stay at home and not work? Do they not agree with early childhood education or are they trying to keep families like us from getting ahead? Do they want us to end up having to sell our home because we can’t afford to pay it off? Why are they giving us a tax cut when we are being slugged in so many other ways by rising costs? Will my mortgage interest rate go up next year as well as inflation rates rise?”. Those are all really good questions. She knows that inflation of nearly 6 percent will destroy most of the tax cuts. People will not be compensated for the GST rise. 
Where are all these people who are going to be better off? In the last few days in Dunedin we heard that Contact Energy will raise its electricity prices by almost 10 percent next month. I do not know how many members on the other side of the House have heard the term “fuel poverty” but it is a recognised term for people whose fuel bills— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It’s very cold in Dunedin. 
CLARE CURRAN 
: —that is right; it is very cold in Dunedin at the moment. It is a recognised term for people whose fuel bills are more than 10 percent of their income. In New Zealand a conservative estimate is that 14 percent of households and possibly more people are living in fuel poverty because they cannot afford to heat their houses. During winter in Dunedin South my electorate electricity bills are commonly $200 a month for the poorest people and up to $400 a month for many families which is unsustainable. A 10 percent increase is ridiculous in the current environment. 
Let me tell members what Gerry Brownlee’s response was to Contact Energy’s announcement. He said: “Shop around. Change power companies.” What a great response by the Government! It is even more interesting given that just a couple of weeks ago John Key actually admitted that National’s version of the emissions trading scheme would add 5 percent to household power bills. I got a letter from Contact Energy a few days ago telling me about pending price rises that might impact some of my constituents. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.