Hayes John: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hayes John: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Sitting date: 02 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:1879. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 I find it a real tragedy that “Aunt Daisy” was believing what she was saying here in the House this afternoon. 
Grant Robertson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.  
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: And I am going to rule. That was a derogatory remark. There was no need for a personal reflection. That was a personal reflection under Standing Order 117. The member will stand and withdraw. 
JOHN HAYES 
: I withdraw. The member was saying— 
Grant Robertson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not want to disagree with your ruling but when people sometimes use other names to refer to people that is one thing but that was quite clearly a deliberately derogatory possibly sexist ageist reference and I think in addition to withdrawing Mr Hayes should be asked to apologise. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No I have made my ruling. It was the first time and if he does it again something else will happen. 
JOHN HAYES 
: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. The speaker said that New Zealand First went to the Government and asked for a small discount on the price of power. That small discount would have required an amount of $150 million to implement. Is $150 million a small amount? I think not. I think not. The same speaker also suggested that we need to stimulate the economy. Well that member’s party leader was a colleague of one Robert Muldoon who went down the road to stimulate the economy through a series of Think Big projects that actually did not stimulate the economy at all. It created a whole lot of high-priced jobs just as the member’s leader did in the last Labour Government when he saw millions of extra dollars put into the foreign affairs ministry to create jobs that did not exist.  
When you create a job and you take money from somewhere you are taking it from a person’s pocket. Those people live in my electorate. They are taxpayers. They removed your leader and his Government in 2008 because they were sick of the constant drain on their pockets for jobs that were unreal. 
Barbara Stewart 
: No no. 
JOHN HAYES 
: Your leader’s Government left this party—the new Government—in 2008 in a situation where falling economic growth was reflected in a country in recession. It left rising unemployment. It left high inflation. It left a rising current account deficit. For every dollar a person in these manufactured jobs was earning the Government was spending $1.02 or $1.04. We have now implemented policies that are ensuring that for every dollar someone is earning the Government is spending only 98c.  
Our Minister of Foreign Affair and our Prime Minister John Key have turned this economy round. We are managing the Government’s finances responsibly. We are building a more productive and competitive economy and I see it in my Wairarapa electorate where unemployment is dropping quickly. We are delivering better public services and I see it in my Wairarapa electorate. I see it through health services I see it through schools I see it through a police system that works and I see it through a 111 call system that works and soon we will see it in the courts system.  
Also we have to rebuild Christchurch. That is a huge project. The Minister of Finance acknowledged that returning the books to surplus by 2014-15—which is our goal and which my colleague in New Zealand First said was going to be difficult to do—is something that is going to be difficult to do but we will do it. And we will do it by putting a cap on the Public Service and stopping the creation of jobs that we cannot afford. We will do it by leaving money in people’s pockets through tax cuts so that they can get up and engage in productive activity and work. We will do it by moving resources from back offices across a range of agencies whether it is health or education or foreign affairs or science and bringing them forward to the front office.  
I think we are going to see quite rapid progress and I am seeing it in my electorate where I am seeing confidence in the farming sector where I am seeing confidence in the retail sector and where I see that companies like JNL which processes timber are now back working 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This is a very very different economy from the one we had.  
Although there have been some comments in the House this afternoon that have interested me on the question of selling partly the shares in some State-owned assets the biggest shock for me and one of the most difficult things to cope with as a constituency member of Parliament—a constituency member of Parliament—was people who had lost money in finance companies.  
When I looked at what those people had done I saw that they had invested in finance companies because they did not have a sharemarket that could guarantee stable returns. One of the big issues and one of the reasons and one of the really big benefits that is going to come from selling shares in some of our power companies is that that group of people can now use some of their savings to invest in stable shares that will guarantee year after year a reliable return. We need depth in our sharemarket and the savers in this community are entitled to be able to buy shares that will offer a good and reliable return.  
I am absolutely confident that the Budget’s plan is going to be really worthwhile and I support totally the Minister of Finance’s plan not to spend any new money. It is most important that we contract the size of government so that we allow people in the private sector to get engaged in real new investment not in mickey mouse investment. We get people involved in government that allows people to make their own choices about whether they save whether they buy shares and how they create new opportunities. I think that is really important.  
I would just like while I am on my feet to express my disgust that our foreign affairs ministry would leak Cabinet papers to Mr Goff. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Who said they leaked them? 
JOHN HAYES 
: They were tabled and brought into the House this afternoon and he brought them here. It is quite clear to me and to most people I speak to in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade that change is required in that institution. I am pleased to see Mr Robertson agreeing with me. What really is objectionable is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has moved across a line. It was once one of our most highly respected public servants and I for one was proud to be a part of it. But it has moved across a line into becoming an entity that is totally untrustworthy and will garner no respect anywhere in this House.  
I support entirely the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in their plans and their plans are being discussed. All staff are involved in their preparation. I think it is highly condemnatory that these documents should be being leaked and I assume they are being leaked by people with particular vested interests who want to see no change to a dinosaur that has resisted change for 70 years since it was in existence.  
Grant Robertson 
: They believe in their organisation which is being undermined by that member’s Government.  
JOHN HAYES 
: No no. This entity needs change. John Allen is a very good person to lead it and all of us in this House need to support him not to undermine him because this undermining by Mr Goff is actually tackling the integrity of the whole Public Service. I feel that Mr Goff and the Labour Party should be really thinking very carefully about what they are doing and what they are buying into.  
Finally I would like to say that I am seeing very very great change in my electorate a high degree of optimism and a very positive and buoyant view of the future. Thank you.