Ardern Shane: Budget Debate 
Ardern Shane: Budget Debate 
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SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to rise in support of the motion moved by the Minister of Finance and to totally oppose the amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition the Hon Phil Goff that states that he has no confidence in the National Government and in this Budget. Let me tell members why that is the case. Everybody in the community has had a view on this Budget. Based on recent responses about 85 percent of people support the content of the Budget and the direction of the Government. 
Hon John Carter 
: They think it’s fair. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: They think it is the best Budget there has been for a long time. I guess that probably explains why we are on this side of the House and Labour is on the other side of the House. Over 9 long years in Government Labour never realised what it would take to turn round the New Zealand economy and capture the opportunities that were there for us in huge abundance. In a time when the economic circumstances were better than what we have seen in a generation Labour squandered enormous opportunities. 
I will tell the House what the National Government will do. First of all there is $14.3 billion worth of tax cuts for middle income New Zealanders for hard-working mums and dads up and down this country who just want a fair go so that they can compete with their Australian cousins compete in the businesses they run and compete internationally. The previous Labour Government never understood that. So that is the first thing this Budget does. 
A typical two-child family with a household income of $76000—we would hardly call them rich by today’s standards—will be $25-a-week better off once this Budget comes into effect. It is the biggest tax reform we have seen in this country in a quarter of a century. In 9 years of the Labour Government what did we get? We got a health system that was crumbling. The waiting lists for elective surgery were getting longer and longer. What do we have after two Budgets from the National Government? We have more operations than we have ever had before. We have better health outcomes: more faster and sooner front-line health services than we have ever seen in the history of New Zealand. What do we have in education? 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: That’s not true. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: We have better faster and higher standards in education. Members opposite bay and say “That’s not true.” I ask them which parts of it are not true. They should stand up and tell us which parts are not true. Every single bit of that statement is a fact. 
The Taranaki - King Country electorate—I am sure people will be interested to hear—despite the fact that it has a farming background is a low socio-economic area. It has a large number of small towns with decile 1 2 and 3 schools and there are very long distances to travel for core health services. It is a low-decile and low-socio-economic area. The people companies firms businesses and mum and dad operators in that electorate will benefit more substantially from these Budget initiatives than the initiatives of the previous Labour Government in the last 9 years. All of this comes at the time of what has been described as a worldwide economic crisis. I have not used that term; in fact I think it is probably overstated but that is what the economic markets are saying and that is what the commentators who are apparently more knowledgable than us on these issues are saying. In this economic crisis the National Government has been able to deliver the greatest tax reforms we have seen in 25 years. 
I will tell the House what else is in this Budget for people. First of all we see that our superannuation payments have gone up. How long ago is it since that happened under a Labour Government? We would have expected that Labour would be very conscious of what is happening with elderly folk in New Zealand because elderly folk are one of its core constituency groups. But what did Labour do? It loaded on to the elderly more and more costs more and more inflation worse health-care worse education for their grandchildren and layers and layers of cost. But this Government under this Budget for the first time in many many years is now able to turn round the great ship of New Zealand in a more economic direction and start to stimulate the growth jobs and opportunities that we so desperately need. 
I say to the House that on looking at the reaction from Labour members throughout this debate I see that I would not want to be where they are. It is so much nicer on this side of the House and we will be here for a long time because of the outcomes of this Budget. So those members opposite should suck it in and get used to being in Opposition. It is a great place to be if members are Labour members. They are better in Opposition than they ever were in Government—and they were no good in Government either. They should get used to it. This Budget will do more for mums and dads and for “Joe Hard-Worker” than anything that happened under the previous Labour Government. 
Let us look at what is happening in regard to research and development in the agricultural sector in its primary partnerships. For a start an announcement has been made that $36.15 million will be expended on Merino New Zealand’s fine wools programme which it has been promoting for some time. The expenditure will allow it to develop markets and to do genetic work to improve the meat yield or meat quality from merino sheep. I say to Mr Assistant Speaker Roy that he is in a very good position to know how important that is to the New Zealand economy. It is one slight success story on what has been a pretty dull horizon for the wool industry. But now that industry has stepped forward and will take full advantage of the money that has been made available by the Government to help them in that research programme. 
The forestry sector is another sector that has been on the back foot for a long time. Forestry in New Zealand has been in decline for about the last 7 years. There have been fewer plantings in the forestry sector for the last 7 years. But what has happened in the last 2 years? Suddenly we are starting to see investment flow into that sector. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: How happy are farmers at the moment? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: The member from Rotorua is baying from the other side of the House. I say to her that Rotorua is one of the biggest forestry areas in the country. She should have a look at what has been announced in the Budget for the forestry sector: a $5.5 million programme to develop better harvesting technologies. Why would we want to invest in that? Firstly it makes forestry more efficient and therefore more competitive internationally. Secondly there is far less environmental impact when we develop that type of technology. We would think that the former member for Rotorua would be quite keen on some of that stuff and that she would give a more passionate speech in support of it than I am giving. But no the role of Opposition is always to oppose. It does not matter how good something is; members opposite will no doubt oppose it. The Primary Growth Partnership between the Government and the forestry sector will bring about substantial development in that regard. 
There are a number of other initiatives. It was announced today that a number of people in the agricultural and primary industry sector are making very loud noises in regard to what they may do. They have not said exactly what they will do but they are working closely with the National Government in regard to what will be spent on research and development. If we are to get New Zealand up and running then it will be the agricultural sector once again that achieves that. New Zealand is an exporter of protein and has three sources: fish meat and dairy products. The dairy industry is growing year on year. It is strong and the tax initiatives announced in the Budget will help that industry. 
The Budget will equally help other industries. The Government’s work towards aquaculture—and the future legislation that will potentially come to this House in that area—can be only positive for New Zealand. Meat and wool particularly with the announcements today have a bright future as well. 
I totally support this Budget. It is a substantial step forward for New Zealand and it is something I am very proud to be associated with tonight.