Cunliffe David: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Cunliffe David: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Volume:661;Page:9560] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) 
: 
 We can always tell when a Government is in trouble by the way its members handle themselves in the House. A clear giveaway is when the member speaking cannot face the Opposition and turns and looks at his or her own backbenchers. Mr Bennett spent the whole 10 minutes staring at Mr Quinn. I do not know whether he is particularly fond of him whether he does not like Mr Henare or what it is. But I tell members that Mr Bennett should spend more time facing the camera and less time ogling Mr Quinn and then he would be in better shape. 
But that member has good reason to worry because when we go around the country we are hearing two very clear messages. From the business sector we are hearing this message: why can this Government not make a decision just one decision and stick to it? There is “Handbrake Joyce” back in the Chamber the member who made a handbrake turn on the SuperGold card. “Auntie” they call him in the blogosphere—“Auntie Joyce.” I have an Auntie Joyce and she is offended by that nickname. She was far more decisive than that Minister—far more decisive. The business community is asking why the Government cannot make a decision. 
What ordinary New Zealanders are saying around New Zealand—and Madam Speaker you certainly have improved in looks in the last couple of minutes—is: “My God! Why don’t they stop making the decisions that they’ve been making? If GST is the answer what was the question? We don’t want this GST rise; we didn’t vote for it. They didn’t tell us they were going to do it; they told us the exact opposite.” The Prime Minister said that no Government with half a brain would raise GST. No Government with half a brain—I do not know what that says about the current Government. 
The problem with this Government is serious. It is very very serious. There is no plan for growth. Sir Roger Douglas is back in the Chamber. Sir Roger Douglas had a plan that many of us did not agree with but at least he had a plan. That is the difference between this Government and other Governments. 
Hard-working Kiwis have struggled through the recession. On our recent bus tour of the country we met with many families who are having trouble; the member Sam Lotu-Iiga may smirk but there are real people out there with real challenges. They have real trouble feeding their children from week to week. People who earn below the average wage and who are facing a rise in GST are saying they cannot cope; they are genuinely afraid. It is all very well for Government members like Mr Bennett to smirk away when there are real Kiwis suffering. Whatever this Government does when Labour comes back people can be assured that we will have a tax package that is fair to all New Zealanders. Under National the people at the bottom know they will get it in the neck. The people in the middle will be lucky to break even. The people at the top the very few will get a big wad of cash that they do not need. I repeat: they will get cash that they do not need and that they did not even vote for. 
So why is this Government doing it? If GST is the answer what is the question? It is not a plan for growth. It does not address the structural imbalances in the economy the runaway property— 
Hon Steven Joyce 
: Yes it does. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: “Oh yes it does.” says the “Handbrake”. Minister Joyce thinks GST is a structural policy. He thinks he can stop a property bubble with GST. Well we have news for Mr Joyce: it is the wrong tool for the wrong job and it will have the wrong effect for his party on the polls. 
There is no plan for growth. This Government was elected with a mandate for change. Mr Key said it would be a step change. He said that we were going to take a bold step forward into a brighter future that we were going to catch up with Australia—but what happened? The 2025 Taskforce was dead before the ink was dry on the paper. Sir Roger has not forgiven the Government for that. The Government has abandoned even the term step change because it cannot do even bit-by-bit change. The Government cannot change anything because it cannot take a decision. 
Why is that? Handbrakes are around every time there is a focus group. Let us take mining for example. I personally think that mining national parks is a very stupid idea because we will lose more from our brand image and our tourism revenue than we will get in digging up a bit more coal in the Coromandel. But if Government members were to make that stupid decision we would expect them at least to have the courage of their convictions and make it. But oh no another week’s focus groups told them what we already knew: this was political suicide. So we can imagine the Cabinet meeting: “Handbrake” came to the fore “Handbrake” said: “You can’t do that; I’ve seen the focus group numbers.” and Mr Key withered. He withered in the headlight of public opinion. Once again this Government looks like a possum on the road waiting to be road kill. It will not be long until the next election when we can examine the entrails of the failed experiment of the great National Government. The Government that was never— 
Paul Quinn 
: Lift yourself above the clichés; give us something new. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Mr Quinn wants a doctoral thesis in the House. I will be happy to match Mr Quinn thesis for thesis but I will give him first try. But I will not hold my breath because I am sure that Mr Bennett was not looking lovingly at him for theoretical policy advice. 
There is no plan for growth. National’s tax package is unfair and nobody voted for a rise in GST. 
Paul Quinn 
: The members that you talk about of society—that is how they want it. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Interjections are supposed to be rare reasonable and witty and that was none of the three—neither rare nor reasonable and certainly not funny. 
Why are Government members trying to distract New Zealanders from the truth from the real story? It is because there is no game plan and there is no policy. It is like buying a used car and getting home and lifting the bonnet to find there is no engine in it. That is what New Zealanders are increasingly saying about this National Government. There is no plan there is no there there. 
National has a leader who would rather preserve his own personal popularity than do what is right for New Zealand. He smiles and waves watches the focus groups but does not make a decision. That was great for National in 2009 in a long honeymoon. It might work for a few months in 2010 but it will not work in 2011 because when a party is in Government for 3 years it is supposed to govern not spend the whole time complaining about the world economy and the previous Government. The New Zealand public expects leadership. They have not had leadership from John Key. They have not had leadership from this National Government. They have had sound bites they have had focus groups they have had a 9-day fortnight—which was cancelled—and they have had a cycle track to nowhere which was the best idea of a job summit. 
There is no plan there is no future and that is why New Zealanders are talking about leaving this country. That is why young New Zealanders are looking at their parents and saying “I don’t know if I can get a job in New Zealand that will fulfil me.” 
Hon Steven Joyce 
: That’s absolutely outrageous. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: “Handbrake” says that that is absolutely outrageous. He says that it is outrageous that New Zealanders are losing hope. One of the reasons why they are losing hope is that they cannot get broadband I say to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology. Nearly 2 years ago the Broadband Investment Fund was ready to run and Maurice Williamson promised roll-out within a year. Fifteen months in that Minister has yet to make a decision. There is not yet a bankable project in the hopper and not 1 millimetre of broadband fibre has been laid under his $1.5 billion hole—not 1 millimetre. The information and communications technology sector is asking why John Key is loading up that Minister with portfolios when he cannot do even the basics in the one portfolio he started with. He cannot do the basics in the one portfolio he started with. Where is our faster cheaper broadband? It is not here. That is one of the reasons why young New Zealanders are going overseas. They are going overseas because they have lost hope in the so-called brighter future that they were promised in the step change they were promised. They have lost hope. That is what we have heard as we have been going around the country. 
If the Government thinks that the answer to its problems is to raise GST where has that Government been? Ordinary New Zealanders do not like that idea and they can tell the difference between a tax rise and a plan for growth. There is no plan for growth. There is no step change. There is no brighter future.