Boscawen John: General Debate 
Boscawen John: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19384] 
Hon JOHN BOSCAWEN (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Like other members in this debate this afternoon I also acknowledge the pain suffering and loss in Christchurch. On behalf of the ACT Party I say we should not lose sight of the fact that we have now had the third $1 billion - plus earthquake in Christchurch in the last 8 months. Tragically another life was lost as a consequence of the most recent earthquake. 
We face serious times—we face very serious times. How interesting to be reminded of that by the Hon Christopher Finlayson this afternoon. He talked about the serious times we face and he talked about the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister addressing those. Well I am pleased they are Mr Finlayson because you certainly were not. All you could do— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Members do not refer to “you” doing this or “you” doing that. 
Hon JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: Sorry Mr Speaker. I say this country is in serious difficulty and what have we had today? We had an attack on the Labour Party. What this Government should actually be doing is addressing the serious issues. 
We cannot afford to overlook the fact that we have a deficit of $16.8 billion—$16.8 billion. We are borrowing over $300 million a week. I do not know how many times the ACT Party needs to remind the people of New Zealand that we are in a very serious situation. What will it take? What will it take I ask Mr Finlayson—a fourth earthquake a fifth earthquake or a sixth earthquake? 
Last week in question time I asked the Minister of Finance about the Government’s rosy forecasts. The Government is forecasting to get the deficit back under control by 2014 and it does that based on growth of 4 percent and 3 percent in 2013 and 2014. That is based on forecasts by Treasury that have been shown to be grossly over-optimistic over the last 6 years. 
In the House this afternoon we heard Louise Upston who has put out a press release in the last month pointing to the massive increase in early childhood education funding. She pointed out that despite massive investment—an increase from less than $500 million to $1.2 billion—we have seen an increase in the participation rate in early childhood education of less than 1 percent. When we questioned the Minister of Education in the House this afternoon what did she say? She said she was setting up a task force. She is setting up a task force. It has taken 2½ years to set up a task force. Rome is burning while Nero fiddles. Rome is burning. New Zealand is in a serious situation while John Key and the National Government are simply painting. The reality is that we actually have to address these serious issues. 
We have to address these serious issues. We have a deficit of $16.8 billion this year which looks to be just under $10 billion the following year and we will not be back to breaking even until 2014. We have to look at how we can better target the $1.2 billion to be spent on early childhood education. Why for example did it take until this year’s Budget to reduce the massive subsidies on KiwiSaver? Yes the KiwiSaver scheme is good but it is taxing low-income earners—the people who can least afford to contribute and who can least afford to get those subsidies. It is a tax on low-income people to subsidise those who can afford to save. 
I could say the same thing about interest-free student loans. John Key called that policy a massive bribe prior to the 2005 election. What has National done about it? Basically it has done stuff-all. It has cut back the entitlement for trainee pilots who want to learn to fly. It has said that those who go overseas and move out of the system have to start paying interest after not 3 years but 1 year. 
We need to look at how we can better target Government expenditure. How do we actually grow the economy? How do we actually grow the jobs that our party keeps referring to? We need to reduce taxes we need to get Government expenditure under control and we need to provide incentives. We need to provide incentives to grow the economy for people to work and for people to save. 
We heard this afternoon from Maryan Street about the cost of living. I say good on her for raising the cost of living. She said people are concerned about the price of electricity. It is a pity she did not also tell people this afternoon that her Government passed an emissions trading scheme that will subsidise foresters to plant trees to the extent of $350 million a year. That is not subsidising foreign investors and that is not subsidising the wealthy I tell Maryan Street. That is subsidising people who will plant trees and every New Zealander pays for that in massive electricity price increases.