Pettis Jill: General Debate 
Pettis Jill: General Debate 
[Volume:643;Page:13106] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call this afternoon in the general debate. It has been very interesting to listen to the National members’ claims during the debate this afternoon. Most of them do not stand up to much scrutiny at all. We are currently considering the Electoral Finance Bill in the Justice and Electoral Committee and I have had the opportunity to sit on the select committee a few times while evidence has been heard by it and while it is considering all of the submissions. I have to say listening to the debate in the House this afternoon that I have never heard so much bluff and bluster. 
I actually wonder what National members will say in the next few weeks when that bill comes back on to the floor of the House. Mr Maurice Williamson held up some campaign pamphlets that the Labour Party put out during the last election campaign but he omitted to mention any of the campaigning—the tactics and publications—that the National Party engaged in during the last election campaign. Do National members not remember all of those billboards that were plastered around our electorates or all of those pamphlets that were put into letterboxes as late as 6 o’clock on the night before the election? 
By coincidence I happen to have a National Party candidate’s campaign form here in front of me. It was totally funded from the parliamentary budget—the crest is relatively tiny. I am sure the member Dr Nick Smith’s photo has been airbrushed. In fact I am absolutely positive the member’s photo has been airbrushed and optically enhanced one would say given our knowledge of the member. So the National Party really is continuing to engage in bluff and bluster. There is not a great deal of sincerity to what National members are saying at all. During the last 8 years this Labour-led Government has delivered remarkable gains for New Zealanders and it is very proud of that. 
Further evidence of bluff blunder and bluster coming from National members is the completely erroneous claim that it is the only party of tax cuts. In fact Dr Michael Cullen revealed in the House today that research has shown that National has only tampered with tax once in the last 40 years and the one time it did tamper with tax it actually put up the business tax rate. I have to say National has quite successfully portrayed itself as the party of tax cuts and some of the media—some of those Tory rags—have gone along with National’s claims and printed the story that it is the party of tax cuts whereas the reality is that National has voted against every single one of Labour’s tax reduction policies since we have been in Government. National has voted against tax cuts more times than it has ever reduced tax rates. I repeat National has only ever tampered with tax once and that was to put up the tax rate. 
The facts are now out there: National is the party of tax increases; Labour is the party of tax reductions. During just this term of Government there have been three significant tax reductions by Labour and National has voted against them every single time. So the claim by National members that their party is the party of tax cuts does not hold water at all. Also more recently National has been caught out on the hoof through that vocal person who is its health spokesperson Mr Ryall. He was caught out when a very sharp journalist showed that National would increase the cost of going to a doctor.