Wong Pansy: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Wong Pansy: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:11536] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 At least with that single clap after that speech we can arrive at the conclusion that not all members on the Labour benches are mad and we can be glad about that. New Zealanders certainly know that we cannot afford this Labour Government. For a start I think the Minister should take another call and explain to the people of Christchurch why the Canterbury District Health Board is going to close wards. New Zealanders nowadays cannot afford to get sick because if they do they will not get treatment. I would like the next speaker from the Government side of the House to explain to the public why they should have to feel so vulnerable. I have just received an email from the spouse of a seriously ill man—which I may forward to the Minister and ask her to explain—who wrote to me stating that the Auckland District Health Board has delayed her husband’s surgery four times. Our cancer patients are being sent to Australia for treatment. The Canterbury health board has just announced that due to a shortage of funding it will close wards. New Zealand’s health service is very sick because of this Government’s mismanagement. We were told a few weeks ago by one of the district health boards—I think in Auckland—that a patient suffering from gallstones had to have four attacks suffering much pain and blacking out twice before being able to have the gallstones removed. Those are Third World health standards. The Minister of Health should take a call and explain that to New Zealanders. They are worrying themselves sick—and they had better not get sick because this Government has mismanaged the health service. 
However I want to address the Budget Policy Statement. It is with some sadness that I take part in this debate because this is the last time that the Budget Policy Statement will be presented in its current form. I am very sceptical about this Labour Government which has introduced a public finance bill stating that in future the Budget Policy Statement will concentrate only on the priorities of the upcoming Budget. It will actually divorce the Budget Policy Statement from the fiscal strategy outlook although they have usually been presented together. The Fiscal Strategy Report will detail high-level long-term fiscal strategy which means that in future the Budget Policy Statement will concentrate only on the next 12 months’ spending. Now that the longer-term financial position of the Government’s accounts will not be presented at the same time as the Budget Policy Statement people will just concentrate on where the Government is going to spend the money without having a framework of reference in terms of a longer time-span as to how that will affect the overall financial situation. 
I would like to remind the public of why the Minister of Finance wants to remove the fiscal strategy outlook from the Budget Policy Statement. On page 4 of the statement that we are currently debating he states: “Spending in the 2004 Budget is expected to be greater than forecast in the Fiscal Strategy Report 2003 with $2.1 billion of new operating spending committed for 2004/5 rising to $3.3 billion in future years.” Basically in future by removing that longer-term outlook the Government will just concentrate on and continue with its tax-and-spend philosophy. By and large I think the public resigns itself to the fact that the Government is a tax-and-spend Government. However this Labour Government should also be very careful if it wants to continue to tax and spend because for a start it has to have profitable businesses and individuals in employment to derive the taxation revenue from. For the remainder of my speech I want to concentrate on the profitability of our small-business sector mainly because right now the Labour Government is on a roadshow that champions and celebrates small business in New Zealand. 
Let me share the statistics with the public. Eighty-seven percent of businesses in New Zealand are small which means that they employ five staff or fewer. I would like to share with the public what the Hon John Tamihere had to say about those small businesses while on the Labour’s roadshow with that sector. Apparently even the Hon John Tamihere has heard that small businesses’ concerns fall into four areas: the Holidays Act taxation the Employment Relations Act and compliance costs. When I explore each of those areas and how the Labour Government has performed in it I think the public will really appreciate how out of touch this Labour Government is with business.  
For a start small businesses say they object to the policy of 4 weeks’ annual leave. John Tamihere said in his speech that the Labour Government was unable to deliver on that particular promise and would back away from introducing 4 weeks’ leave but that it would do the next-best thing: it would specify the year of its introduction. Small businesses say they do not want the 4 weeks’ leave provisions so the Labour Government says it will do the next-best thing and tell them when 4 weeks’ leave will be introduced. 
The next thing that small businesses ask for is a cut in taxation and the Hon John Tamihere once again says the Government cannot deliver a cut in taxation so it will deliver the next-best thing. Can members guess what that is? The Government proposes giving businesses a subsidy so they can have their payroll tax prepared by an agent thereby introducing welfare into the business sector. So instead of the Government saying it will make it simpler for businesses to pay the tax it says no it will subside businesses by paying them to employ somebody to do the job. 
The other thing that the small-business sector complains about is the Employment Relations Act. At least the Hon John Tamihere is honest compared with the rest of the Labour bench. When as Minister for Small Business he was asked in the House what support he had received from small business for the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill he said there had been none. But the Government is still going to go for that legislation— 
Judith Collins 
: At least he’s honest. 
PANSY WONG 
: At least he is honest as my very good colleague reminds us. 
Lastly when small businesses complain to the Government about high compliance costs can members guess what its response to the sector is? The Government’s response is to say that it will set up a tool on the website called the “Employment Agreement Builder”. When small businesses complain that they do not have the time to get on with their business the Government tells them not to worry about that because it will give them a software package they can log on to that will take them through the procedure so they will know how to comply. That shows just how out of touch this Labour Government is with the business sector. It has 
absolutely no idea about how to encourage and help small businesses to grow into medium-sized business and then into big businesses so that they can actually pay a fair share of tax. We all know that this Government believes in a tax-and-spend philosophy but even if we believe in that we have to make sure we have individuals who earn good money and businesses that are profitable. One does not kill the goose just to get the golden eggs in a one-off situation. 
There is nothing to celebrate in this Budget Policy Statement. I hope that the next Labour speaker who gets up will explain why the Government is not listening to small business.