King Annette: Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
King Annette: Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13807] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Labour members are very keen to speak on the Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill. I will continue on from the previous speaker Phil Goff who put forward a very strong case as to why we support this bill’s referral to a select committee. I ask why National will not support it to a select committee. I ask why National will not allow the people of New Zealand to make submissions on this bill. It is probably the first opportunity in 25 years for people to say whether they believe that changes ought to be made. Is that not democracy? Is that not open government which we heard so much about today from the Prime Minister? 
Unfortunately as soon as the suggestion was made that GST ought to be removed from healthy foods—in particular Labour suggested that GST be removed from fresh fruit and vegetables—John Key said that National would not support it. He did not wait to see whether the public wanted to have a say. He came straight out and said that National would not support it and that the Government has compensated for the GST increase through personal tax cuts. Well in the House today I pointed out to Mr Key two increases not even mentioning the price of food that have come in before 1 October. Firstly there has been an increase in power prices right around New Zealand. Yesterday a letter arrived notifying me of a 6 percent increase in power from Contact Energy. Secondly I pointed out the increase in the cost of bus fares in Wellington for people to get to work which is $5 extra a week. So $11 of the so-called tax cuts to compensate the increase in GST has been cancelled out and we have not even got to the extra GST on food. Labour asks why the Government will not support sending this legislation to the select committee. 
The problem we have with this bill is that the definition of “healthy food” is complicated. Rahui Katene mentioned eggs and we would have to ask whether the definition of “eggs” includes Scotch eggs. Scotch eggs are eggs with sausage meat around them that are put into fat and deep-fried and they come out as a very fatty food. So we get into definition issues when we have such a broad definition. Labour would define “healthy foods” as fresh fruit and vegetables. There is nothing complicated about that and we would move an amendment to propose that definition. 
We support the bill’s referral to a select committee because there is a real issue in New Zealand of obesity and the cost of affordable food. A very recent study in New Zealand showed that low-income New Zealand families would have to spend up to one-third of their income on food in order to eat healthily. A separate study revealed that 40 percent of New Zealanders go hungry skip meals or scrimp on ingredients because they are not food secure. The studies also said that people in low socio-economic groups are more likely to have diet-related diseases such as diabetes heart disease and some cancers. 
I hope Dr Hutchison will take a call because as a doctor he should understand that there is a need to do something in New Zealand to address the obesity epidemic and to show some leadership. But all we have had since National came into Government is the rolling back of measures that try to address the obesity problem in New Zealand. Initiatives relating to healthy eating and healthy action have been laughed at and scoffed at by National and such public health measures are being taken out of circulation.