Brown Peter: Budget Debate 
Brown Peter: Budget Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20783] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Listen to those members gloat! Boy do they think they have done something worthwhile for this country! They are gloating all over the place. Let me tell those members over there that this is a “Shakespearean” Budget— 
Much Ado About Nothing 
. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Very good! 
PETER BROWN 
: They like it. When Dr Cullen began to talk about the savings scheme I thought that finally after something like 10 or 11 years of New Zealand First harping on about savings the Government had listened and had developed an idea. Well the Government has listened and it has developed an idea but it has got it wrong. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: The speech was good until now. 
PETER BROWN 
: Would the member give his savings to the Inland Revenue Department? 
Mark Peck 
: Yes. 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh that member would but he is leaving. 
Then I thought: “How do poor people afford to save if they do not get any consideration?”. Then in the next move Dr Cullen almost blunted my attack. He said that he was going to raise the tax thresholds. I thought that he had solved the problem—there is a savings scheme and he is raising the tax thresholds. I thought: “If he does that annually those people will get a few bob in their pocket and most of them will save it.” But then what did we find out? The thresholds are rising by peanuts and the change will not come into effect until 2008. The lowest-paid the people in the $9500 tax bracket will move up to the appropriate level—$10000 or something a year—and they will get back from tax the grand income of 67c a week and it is to be indexed to inflation every 3 years. 
Petrol cigarette and alcohol prices are indexed to inflation every year—it takes immediate effect. Such provisions are usually brought in under urgency. This measure will take effect in 2008 and will be indexed every 3 years. How fair is that? The higher-income guys like those sitting opposite will get something like $10 or $11 a week—15 times as much as poorer people. How can those members say in clear conscience that they represent the working people of this country? The fact is that they do not. The tax threshold should be raised now. There is not one political party that would vote against that. I think that even United Future would support the tax threshold being adjusted now. Those members are silent. I think it is because they are somewhat embarrassed at having rolled over and agreed to take that measure 3 years hence. If the Government were sincere about raising the threshold it should be—[ 
Interruption 
] Oh the member is awake. Would the member vote for raising the tax threshold now? 
Murray Smith 
: Yes. 
PETER BROWN 
: He would? Why did the member’s party not give a bit of stick to the Government and get it done now immediately after the Budget? 
Murray Smith 
: We wanted it up 13 percent. 
PETER BROWN 
: And what happened? That member’s party rolled over and got less than that in 3 years’ time. I have to say to those members that I do not know how they can sit there and— 
Murray Smith 
: What did New Zealand First get out of the Budget? 
PETER BROWN 
: New Zealand First will get quite a lot out of the next Budget because we will improve on this no end. 
Murray Smith 
: What about this one? 
PETER BROWN 
: I say to the honourable member that we are not prepared to sacrifice our principles to get a peanut. The member’s party has sacrificed its principles to get a peanut. 
Let us look at roading. When Dr Cullen started talking about roading I thought: “Oh this is a move in the right direction.”—but what did he say? I have his exact words here. He said: “All the increase in excise duty that came into force on 1 April is going into the Land Transport Fund.” That is what the Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill was about. When did that bill go through—March or February? What big news is that? 
Hon Paul Swain 
: It’s reinforcement! 
PETER BROWN 
: The Government is just saying that it will do what it said it would do—as if it does not always say what it will do. Then Dr Cullen said he will add another $100 million a year. Are Government members not aware that if we improved roading in this country our economic well-being would go up soundly almost overnight? 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Tick the box Pete. 
PETER BROWN 
: I will tick the box but it will not be that member’s box. I think the Government could have done better in addressing the roading problems in this country. We have gridlock all over the place and the Government does nothing. This is again peanuts. 
Then I looked at spending on health care. Many of the members opposite have made a lot of noise about the amount of money going into health care but if we look at spending as a percentage of GDP we see that it has been reasonably constant over a number of years. This Budget has changed nothing. As a percentage of GDP compared with other countries of equivalent size the amount is not high enough. So Government members who rant about putting extra money into health care are really not giving New Zealanders the true picture. In actual fact the Government is barely keeping pace with the increase in GDP. So what do we give the Government on that score? Well it was a poor try. I think there was some comment in the Budget speech about looking after the employment of New Zealanders. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: That’s right. 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes just as the Government is doing in the fishing industry and just as it is doing with fruit pickers! It is bringing in anybody who will work in the fishing industry or in fruit picking for less money than the average Kiwi. [ 
Interruption 
] Let me tell that member—because I think he has a bit of a conscience—about another area of concern and that is the way we treat Filipino nurses who come to this country. They are lower-paid than their counterparts. This is another issue. I can see that the Minister is taking note now. He is thinking: “Oh my goodness! New Zealand First has found another case.” 
Hon Paul Swain 
: When does it end? 
PETER BROWN 
: I can tell the Minister it will end after the next election when we have a greater say in the future of this country. The Government is undermining the working conditions of the average New Zealander. It is not undermining my working conditions because mine are very similar to those of the honourable members opposite so they— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: You are joking. 
PETER BROWN 
: I am not joking. I am just telling members to take note of what is happening to working people in this country. If we allow wholesale immigration into this country and if we allow fishing people to come here jump ship and take jobs here there and everywhere and undermine the conditions of the working person then we are doing this country a huge disservice. 
Finally there is nothing in this Budget about electricity and the concerns people have about electricity. We are coming into winter and it will be darn cold in many areas of this country. Poor people people on fixed incomes and pensioners—the member who spoke before me raved on about their concerns—will have a really tough time. The further south we go in this country to places like Dunedin the more we find that elderly people are staying in bed all day simply because they cannot afford the power for heating. What has the Government done? It had a good opportunity to address investment in the electricity industry. New Zealand First wants three things and I hope members opposite take note of them. We want security of supply we want more investment in the industry and we want reasonable prices particularly for people on fixed incomes. New Zealand First is determined to deliver on that if nothing else. Come the next election we will see that people’s concern about electricity is a huge election issue.