Parker David: General Debate 
Parker David: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15506] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of State Services) 
: 
 One of the headlines in the papers in the last week was “Labour can take heart”. This is reflected in the fact that Labour is doing relatively well in the polls and National is going backwards. National until about a month ago was 18 percent ahead in the polls. The most recent poll has seen a remarkable turn-round: Labour has advanced in the polls by 8 percent while National’s lead has dropped from 18 percent to 10 percent. Labour is on the way up; National is on the way down. 
What is behind this trend? It is a combination of good Government performance and poor Opposition performance. Under the heading of “good Government performance” we have things like 4 weeks’ annual leave which was initially opposed by National but now it says it supports that. We also have KiwiSaver with over 500000 enrolled. That is very important to people who are trying to save for their first homes. They not only get $1000 when they join the scheme; they also get $1000 per annum plus a tax credit plus what they save themselves. So a couple after 10 years will have a $10000 contribution from the Government plus their own savings plus their tax credit and they will be on the way to acquiring their first home. 
What did John Key say about KiwiSaver just a couple of years ago? He said it was “fundamentally flawed” and a “glorified Christmas club”. Of course we do not hear those sorts of statements from National now about such a popular policy. KiwiSaver will be important for New Zealand’s savings record for years to come. We have restored the baseline for superannuation; the previous National Government cut it. With the support of New Zealand First we have increased superannuation again. That makes a weekly difference to every superannuitant in New Zealand. 
National spins the myth that there have been no tax cuts under this Government. This Government has lifted so many families—and the children of those families—out of poverty. When we came into Government a shameful 30 percent of all children were living in families with an income so low that according to the standard international measure of poverty they were living in poverty. We have reduced that figure by 70 percent through the Working for Families tax policy which has conferred real income increases on those families. 
But we do not want just those families to go well; we want the economy to go well so we have cut corporate taxes as well. We have cut corporate taxes from 1 April 2008 from 33 percent to 30 percent. That move was opposed by National. The last Government to cut taxes was actually a Labour Government which cut them from 45 percent to 33 percent. National pretends that it knows how to run an economy. National knows how to run an economy into the ground but not how to grow it. 
As a consequence of the popularity of these policies we had a period earlier this year when National members were running “Labour-lite”. They were pretending that we could have a change of Government without a change of settings. They were pretending that nothing would change except the name of the Government and that it was time for a change. But of course the people started to wake up to that—it is obviously rubbish. National was also annoying its own supporters who were starting to describe it as “Labour-lite”. National members did not like it so they chose to differentiate but again they misjudged so they are being criticised and are suffering in the polls. What did they differentiate on? Investment in research and development in agriculture! That is a heartland area for National one would have thought but having called for more research and development in this fundamentally important part of our economy it opposed this. National was criticised roundly up and down the country by people who were absolutely amazed that it had made such an incomprehensible decision. 
That poor judgment has been reflected in other poor judgments. One of the key issues in this election will be whether there should be borrowing for tax cuts. Labour says no; National says yes. National says that it should increase debt from 20 percent of GDP to 25 percent of GDP. The interest bill of the country would go up by $700 million per annum. That would be a $700 million per annum increase in the interest bill. Which was the last Government that got New Zealand into dire financial straits? It was a National Government. It increased debt to 60 percent of GDP—$1 out of every $4 of tax was being spent on interest. We have got that figure down to 20 percent of GDP. That is a prudent level of debt particularly in these days when we have financial markets in turmoil internationally. National would put that at risk. It would borrow for tax cuts. That is why Labour is going up in the polls while National is dropping.