Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): Well it's an honour to follow that wonderful speech. Today I want to pay tribute to a wonderful group of people who've done a fabulous job for this country and that's the Tax Working Group. What a fantastic job they've done and they haven't got the credit that they deserve—well led by Michael Cullen. What I say to the group is they've put out issues that the Opposition were too scared to address over many many years. SPEAKER: Order! Order!Hon WILLIE JACKSON: No good?SPEAKER: No. No the scared" word and lacking courage—not allowed to say it.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh all right. My apologies Mr Speaker. But the Opposition would not address it over a number of years but the Tax Working Group has been courageous. Sir Michael Cullen has fronted up on this group despite the disgraceful campaign from the Opposition who keep telling us that the world is going to collapse and the world is going to fall in. The Hon Simon Bridges who should be worrying about more things than Māoris getting some kickback in terms of the tax cuts should be worrying about what's happening to him at the moment. His carry-on that Māori are going to get these huge benefits is a disgrace. You know this fear-mongering campaign needs to stop because this capital gains tax needs to be put firmly on the table and New Zealanders have to address it. It's as simple as that. We as a Government are showing courage on this. That's why I compliment Sir Michael Cullen. I've got no worries about his thousand dollars a day. It's peanuts actually when you compare it to some of the lawyers and people who've worked in this Government in the past. He's under-charged himself—there's no doubt about that.But why do we need a capital gains tax? Have the Opposition worked that out? We need a capital gains tax because we need a more fairer and more equitable society. We need everyone paying tax. The big boys are skipping out. We only have to read the newspapers. We only have to read the newspapers and today we're talking about people avoiding $51 million in taxes. We're talking about the Panama Papers. We're talking about corporates who've come to this country and are making vast sums of income from New Zealanders and paying very little in tax—very little in tax. So the capital gains tax is an attempt to share the tax burden right across the spectrum. Workers have to pay every cent. They need some relief. This is about relief for working people. What is the problem in terms of the Opposition with regards to the capital gains tax? Why is that so offensive to the Opposition? Why should clerical workers labourers factory workers and in fact everyone who pays PAYE shoulder the full weight of taxation? It's a question that yourself and others have talked about for many many years but no Government has addressed it the way this Government has.This is about inequality and how do we counter that inequality. Why should working people pay tax but those who can afford accountants pay nothing or close to nothing? So there are loopholes in terms of the tax system that we all know have been exploited by National Party's friends for many many years. That's an indisputable fact. And that strategy is all about protecting their friends. They forgot about the average worker. They forget about people out on the street who are paying their way. Now capital gains tax is only paid when you realise the value once you sell the investment property and will only be paid once the property or business has been sold. And again that is a fair tax. That is a fair way to go.Again all the scaremongering comes out and all the questions come out but the group have done their job. They've put it on the table. They're showing courage. They're showing courage that no other group has shown through the years and we as a Government rather than collapse and say "Yes you're right Simon." rather than turn up and answer every single question we're saying let's just wait. Let's take our time. Let's address this. Let's understand that workers have been covering the burden and shouldering the burden in terms of paying tax and the big boys have got off and we want to address that. So as far as we're concerned it's time to be courageous and for a Government to finally address the question. We're allowing the Opposition to petrify New Zealanders but New Zealanders are not listening at the moment. We can see that in the polls. We can see that in terms of the response that our Prime Minister's getting and we think we're on track. This is a Government that will face and front the tough issues. Kia ora Mr Speaker."