Bridges Simon: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Bridges Simon: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16561] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 That intervention from Kennedy Graham was cool. It was calm; it was cerebral. Some would use another “C” word—crazy say—but I would not say that I tell Kennedy Graham. But I would lay down a challenge to Kennedy Graham. His party it seems has in the past been bound to Labour and there is every chance that Labour would like that to happen again. My challenge to Kennedy Graham is that if he thinks Labour with its big tax big spend big borrowing programme is the answer to any kind of environmental question that this country and indeed this world faces then I tell him that he is sadly mistaken. Maybe it is for different reasons but I think the least we can say about National is that we on this side of the House accept things cannot go on the way they are with borrowing spending and taxing in the unsustainable way—and maybe we mean different things by “unsustainable”—that Labour wants them to go on. 
There will be a very very clear contrast at this election between the two major parties. We could dress up all of this. On the one side we have prudent financial management fiscal prudence etc— 
Phil Twyford 
: On the other side people who talk sense. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: —and on that side from Phil Twyford and the rest of them there is more debt. On this side there will be less debt. We have a guy there Phil Goff who in the first month of this year I think—I ask what promises he was getting up to. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Mr Goff to you Simon. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Mr Phil Goff promised $5 billion worth of borrowing. OK we will come to how he says he will pay for that but there was a stage when every day we had new spending pledges. I wonder and I ask Phil Twyford whether he had talked about those spending promises or whether they were off the hoof because they certainly seemed to be just rolling out of his mouth. There was a new one every single day when he was under pressure from interviewers. 
We all know what that spending means. Ultimately it means a downgrade by the credit rating agencies it means higher interest rates because money costs more and then for ordinary Kiwis—those middle Kiwis whom Charles Chauvel was talking about earlier—it means higher interest rates and higher mortgage rates which are not good for anyone. It probably means even more people will go to Australia and overseas. Phil Goff says: “Yes but we could pay for this by taxing the rich more.” 
Phil Twyford 
: I thought you were going to fix that thing about people going to Australia. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Those so-called rich probably left when Labour was last in Government. I have news for Phil Twyford. The real rich do not pay tax anyway so we are not talking about the real rich. When we are talking about those so-called rich who are they? They are doctors lawyers accountants engineers information technology professionals. 
Hon Member 
: Police officers. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: As my friend here says they are police officers. They are all sorts of ordinary New Zealanders who will be forced to rearrange their affairs as a result of what Phil Goff wants to do when he taxes these so-called rich. They already got used to doing that under Labour. That is not good for anyone except lawyers and accountants. They will rearrange their affairs or they will leave this country. I acknowledge that we still have that problem of people leaving this country but the policies of Phil Goff will make that problem worse. 
Phil Goff’s other policy the other thing we have heard from him—and the next speaker from Labour can correct me if I am wrong—is that he is effectively saying that we just will not spend money on our military force. He is saying that we do not need a military force. We do not need a navy an air force and an army so that is where we will find the money. Well we on this side think that having a military force is kind of important. It is not actually about being jingoistic nationalistic or anything like that. Those are some big words that Phil Twyford may know from his time in Oxfam. I tell Phil Twyford that it is about playing our part in the world. That is why we are in other countries around the world. We want to play our part as a little country down at the bottom of the world. 
We have Phil Goff on the other side with unsustainable spending pledges. He says that we should tax the rich which will not bring us anywhere near the money and that we should slash the military forces. That is no recipe. The recipe for this country—and ordinary New Zealanders are learning this and know this; they are getting this—is to spend less to slow down the growth of spending that went up by over 50 percent under the previous Labour Government— 
Phil Twyford 
: Sell off the family silver. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: —and yes to explore the mixed-ownership model. Here is something that Phil Twyford does not understand. Actually Phil Goff understands it because he is the guy who has more expertise in selling off the family silver than anyone else in this House. Someone said he has been around for 26 years; I read that somewhere. But there are different ways to do these things. We are not talking about trade sales such as those that Phil Goff and the Government he was a part of specialised in. 
Phil Twyford 
: Contact Energy was a great success. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Tens of thousands of New Zealanders in this country I tell Phil Twyford have shares in Contact Energy. I am not saying that that is the perfect model but I would remind members opposite that they were the ones who sold down Air New Zealand. 
Hon Member 
: They did. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Yes because they had to and we can look at the success of that. There are plenty of other successful models like that such as the Port of Tauranga. There is also TrustPower from which social dividends are paid. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Air New Zealand a successful model as a private-public company—you’re joking. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Oh here we go. I ask whether Trevor Mallard is saying that Air New Zealand is not working. Right now ordinary Kiwis—yes that is the phrase Jim Anderton does not like: ordinary mum and dad Kiwis—own shares in Air New Zealand and the Government has the majority stake. It is working. In fact not only is it working; it is thriving. It has had all sorts of innovative ideas for its seats such as its “cuddle class”. I do not know whether Phil Twyford may have experienced that already on one of his trips to the Third World to do good in other parts of the world. Air New Zealand is thriving and we can do this. Yes we have some explaining to do but we will do it and people will know. 
It is not just about economics; that is not the only matter we differ on. It is not just that we understand the economy and know we cannot spend spend spend and that members on the other side of the House want to do just that—spend spend spend—and go on a lolly scramble as my friend Paul Quinn said. It is also a question of style and I am not talking about the way that someone walks down the runway or anything like that. We have a Prime Minister at the moment who unlike Phil Goff is a non-traditional Prime Minister. He is actually prepared to give away tactical advantage. We have seen that in the way he has given away the election date for the good of this country for the certainty of this country. He has been straightforward with the public in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup and then after that we will have the election. 
Chris Hipkins 
: He just doesn’t want to be interrupted while he’s waving for the cameras. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: We would never have seen that from Chris Hipkins’ “mother” Helen Clark. We never would have seen that. 
Chris Hipkins 
: You keep my mother out of this. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Ha ha! If I had more time we would go into that but we do not have the time. But we would never have seen Helen Clark give away that tactical advantage yet we saw it from this Prime Minister. 
Then there was the ruling out of Winston Peters. Labour said that that was arrogant. I say that the public of New Zealand have the right to know what the parties will do and where we stand on these issues and we have ruled him out. It would be good to see some of that clarity coming from Labour. 
Phil Twyford 
: Will you come to Te Atatu and explain your asset sales policy? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Unlike Phil Twyford I have lived in Te Atatu. Unlike Phil Twyford I know Te Atatu. Phil Twyford does not know that he is lucky because his middle-class TomTom tells him where Te Atatu is but I grew up in a place called Gloria Avenue in Te Atatu North. When I grew up there it was called Te Atatu North not Te Atatu Peninsula. It became Te Atatu Peninsula when Laila Harré and all her middle-class lefty mates moved in but when I was there it was called Te Atatu North. I then moved up in the world to a place called Te Atatu South—Strid Road—and that may be part of the electorate Phil Twyford is standing in. I would be happy to come and talk to the people of Te Atatu about our mixed-ownership model because we have the Prime Minister and the policies that will see this country through the bad times into the good times and I am proud to be part of this Government.