Tirikatene Rino: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4138. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Seven years of this National Government—seven Budgets and how many surpluses? Zero surpluses—zero surpluses.Hon Ruth Dyson: Not a single surplus.RINO TIRIKATENE: That is right. Not a single surplus. That was the No. 1 priority that the Prime Minister took to the nation. Let me see. He said: “We will be in surplus.” or “We are in surplus.” That was the No. 1 priority and it was an epic fail. This Government has missed the mark not once not twice but seven successive Budgets in a row. Contrast that with the last Labour Government. We managed the economy responsibly and we had 9 years of surpluses. With those surpluses we were able to pay down debt put money away for a rainy day. We handed a wonderful set of books to this incoming Government and what has it done? Seven years of no surpluses. But it gets worse because next year we are looking at more of the same. We are seeing a $7 billion hole in the returns from our dairy sector through the slump in commodity prices. So these are real challenges that our country faces. But what leadership is this Government showing? No leadership at all. It has not been able to deliver on its No. 1 priority for its Budget.This is symptomatic of this Government: broken promises underperforming and not delivering on any of its undertakings. It was demonstrated best by the laconic Minister from the Horowhenua who said in his rural drawl what good news there is in the Budget for the primary sector. We heard a lot about agriculture animal welfare ultra-fast broadband and the like but what was in there for my No. 1 concern—what was in there for the fishing industry? Nothing. Yet again the Minister for Primary Industries has abandoned the fishing industry the No. 7 export industry in our country. He has abandoned that industry. He has forgotten about it absolutely forgotten. Yet again it was demonstrated by his speech which was all about dairy. Look we do support strengthened biosecurity. We do support increased—Hon Nathan Guy: But you didn’t vote for the levy Rino.RINO TIRIKATENE: The levy was already paid for through our general taxes. It did not need to shift to a user-pays charge. There was nothing in there for the tourism industry Mr Guy. Returning to the failed promises from the Minister yet again there was nothing in this Budget for the fishing industry. All we hear about is what is happening in rural New Zealand. Well there is a fishing industry in this country the length and breadth of this country and there is nothing in the Budget. Budgets are big documents and there is a lot of spending that comes in and goes out. Money comes in and money goes out but what has been put in that Budget for the fishing industry and fisheries policy? Nothing. There is no change whatsoever. Operational management—there is no change whatsoever. So the once great fishing industry which was supported by this Labour Government has now been buried and forgotten within the Ministry for Primary Industries. It has been buried and forgotten.There are many areas where this Minister has been negligent—absolutely negligent—in terms of his obligations under the Fisheries Act and to the fishing industry. Just to point out a few areas: research and management plans better spending in terms of the science that the industry contributes to and projects such as Better Information Better Value. That was a 6-year project that worked in conjunction with the industry and the Ministry of Fisheries now within the Ministry of Primary Industries. It worked for 6 years on the difficult issue of the discarding of fish. In many instances this happens because the total allowable catch settings are wrong and they need to be adjusted. For 6 years the industry worked with the ministry on a project to come up with some solutions to that very difficult issue. And what has the ministry done? It has abandoned that project. There is no extra funding going into it. Shame on that Minister for abandoning our fishing industry.There are other areas around the penalty regimes. The penalty regimes in the Fisheries Act are 30 years old. The deterrents and the high penalty rates were set 30 years ago but technology has moved on. Vessel monitoring and other activities that have been implemented by theindustry have moved on and yet the penalty regimes are in place and are hugely punitive on commercial operators. Has the ministry addressed that issue? No and there is no additional funding going into that policy area under this Budget. Again it has been abandoned by this Minister.I could go on and on but the bottom line is that this is an ineffectual Minister. He has abandoned the fishing industry. His view of the primary sector is that it is all about cows animal welfare and the rural sector. He does not care about thefishing industry or the fact that it generates over $1.5 billion in export dollars for our country and that it employs nearly 10000 people up and down the length and breadth of our country. He does not care about that. Yet again he has stood on his feet and has not made any reference to the benefits that he is delivering for the fishing industry. I think I know why now. He does not actually know anything aboutfishing. He does not know anything aboutfishing at all. If he knew he would have actually articulated and presented something in his speech about what he is doing to assist thefishing industry.Hon Nathan Guy: What do you think about foreign charter vessels Rino? Why don’t you talk about that?RINO TIRIKATENE: I am talking about this Minister’s failure to support the New Zealand fishing industry. It has been abandoned and I hear its members. They are talking to me very loudly and clearly. They are very very upset. Yet again this seventh Budget from this Government which has failed to deliver a surplus has failed the New Zealand fishing industry and that is a shame. It is a shame on that Minister especially and on this Government.Just returning to the broken promises—not only have we not seen a surplus but what that has done for our nation is that we have accumulated under this Government a national debt of up to $88 billion. Let the people of New Zealand hear that again—this National Government has racked up $88 billion in debt during its 7 years in office. That is an absolute disgrace. That is $88000 million that every man woman child and whānau is now having to pay back at some stage but it will not be next year because there is no surplus projected next year. We know the difficulties facing the rural sector with the commodity price slumps. There is a $7 billion hole—a $7 billion hole. You cannot fill that hole with just more debt although this Government will. That is all it does. It will just borrow some more to try to meet the deficit. It is living beyond its means.What the Government has done though is look after the rich. This is a classic example: in news out today Television New Zealand will screen a new $8 million drama next year called Filthy Rich. It is a real slice-of-lifer from our biggest city. Let us use it as a metaphor for this National Government—filthy rich. The Government has mismanaged our economy looked after only its rich mates given tax cuts for the rich—they are the ones who have benefited—and the rest of New Zealand has been languishing and suffering. It is proven by 7 years of non-delivery of a surplus. This is a pathetic Government it is a pathetic Budget and just like that show it promises that there will be no substantial benefits to the people of New Zealand.