Brown Peter: Budget Debate 
Brown Peter: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5927] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I know that the member who has just resumed her seat is a very sincere member. I have a regard for her sincerity. She called this a good-news Budget. I remind her when she leaves her office tonight to please switch the light out because we cannot afford it. That is good news? I do not think so. This country is being treated terribly. This is a do-nothing Budget. It is a politically correct do-nothing Budget. I notice that when Dr Cullen sat down after he had announced the Budget everybody bobbed up and gave a standing ovation with the exception of United Future members. They were looking at their shoes. They could not have looked any further down. I had to look to see whether they were actually in their seats. They were under the counters. 
They now say that but for them this Budget would have been tame and that they captured the spirit of what this Government is about. I heard Peter Dunne say on the radio that the United Future Families Commission Bill which it has funding for something like $28 million is the jewel in the crown. 
Simon Power 
: Of what? 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes of what? There is no definition of family. This is the party that voted against the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Bill because there was no definition of stress. That party will now vote for a Families Commission Bill where there is no definition of the family. The family is the backbone of this country. It is the greatest institution that this country and indeed all countries in the Western World have ever produced. 
In the last election campaign when I was going around the country I stood against a number of people who stood for United Future. One of those people was a Baptist Minister. He outlined what he believed this country should do for the family. He outlined just who and what a family was. I have to say that United Future has sold him down the river. It has hung him out to dry. If United Future does not take stock of this position and have a definition of the family put in that bill then the bill is not worth the paper it is written on. 
I remind United Future members that should the Prostitution Reform Bill go through—and probably even if it does not go through—under United Future’s bill a family could consist of three or four prostitutes and their pimp living in the same house. The member over there is squirming. She does not believe me. I can tell her that a group of prostitutes living in a brothel with their pimp will constitute a family under the Families Commission Bill as it is written. I really do not believe that United Future members want to go along those lines. 
However help is at hand. My colleague Dail Jones has a bill in the ballot entitled: the Commission for the Family Bill. It has not been drawn yet but it has a definition of a family. I will put it in  
Hansard 
 because there is no doubt that we will move this as an amendment if and when the United Future bill surfaces in this House: “A family is defined as a family group including an extended family—(a) in which there is at least one adult member and (b) in which the members have a biological or legal relationship.” We will be moving that as an amendment I am absolutely certain to United Future’s bill and I challenge United Future to vote it down. 
But having said that one has to say that Labour is responsible for a significant area of growth in this country namely crime. Violent crime has increased 13.3 percent since this Government came into office and I have the figures right in front of me if any member wants to dispute that. 
Jill Pettis 
: Now tell us how low burglaries have gone down. 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh the member is interested only in burglary? Let me talk about what real New Zealanders are concerned about. In the year ended December 1999 according to police statistics 39688 violent offences were committed in this country. In the year ended December 2002 44960 violent offences were committed in this country. That is a shameful growth in crime. To offer the police a token increase of 50 police in total for Auckland is an insult. That same Minister is determined to see more and more violent crime in this country. He is sitting on his hands when these films that depict graphic violence and explicit sex come into this country. He is doing nothing. There is a film out now and I will not name it but it has a 10-minute rape scene and a homosexual rape I might add—a young woman I understand is raped by a homosexual male. The film also has a scene where a man’s head is bashed to pulp. 
Hon George Hawkins 
: Have you seen it? 
PETER BROWN 
: Has the Minister seen it? 
Hon George Hawkins 
: No I don’t watch violent TV. 
PETER BROWN 
: Nor do I. But if I were the Minister it would not be coming into this country. 
Jill Pettis 
: How do you know if you don’t watch it? 
PETER BROWN 
: Because I have read the reports. The member should take an interest in what is coming into the country. 
Jill Pettis 
: I do. 
PETER BROWN 
: She takes an interest in what comes into the country through our borders—the meat the biscuits and other things but she should actually be taking an interest in things coming in that affect the mind particularly the minds of young people. This Government’s approach to crime and everything associated with that is an absolute disgrace 
Jill Pettis 
: As a responsible parent I just made sure my children didn’t watch them. 
PETER BROWN 
: That is a good question. 
Jill Pettis 
: No it’s a statement. 
PETER BROWN 
: It is a good statement. I hope the member will take a call and enlarge upon it. Let me tell that member because clearly she has an interest here somewhere that I believe that the law should be on the side of responsible parents not on the side of those who want to make money out of parents having the anguish of kids watching those sorts of videos. 
Let me come back to electricity. Two years out of the last 3 years the Government has had to plead with New Zealanders to use less power. This year it is not even cold and we are pleading with New Zealanders to save 10 percent of power. What will happen to the elderly when it does get cold? The Minister told us yesterday that the announcement he made yesterday on the reforms will have no impact on this year at all—none whatsoever. It is an absolute disgrace. The Government has had a year in-between to do something but it has done nothing. 
Let me turn now to another issue that concerns me: namely transport. Roading in this country has not kept pace with traffic volumes or vehicle type. There is urgent need to address this problem now. I think the new Minister of Transport has picked up on that and he has the Land Transport Management Bill before the select committee. But I do not believe that that will do it and I think frankly nor does he. There is urgent need for funds to develop our roading and if necessary and I believe that it is necessary the Government should be prepared to borrow from the Superannuation Fund to get on with the job and get our roading up to speed. Debt is under control. Net debt is currently about $18 billion and there is plenty of scope for borrowing to address our roading needs and indeed our other transport needs. 
This Budget is a King Canute Budget—talk loud enough and one might stop the waves. Well it will not. This Budget is a “do nothing” so that next year Labour can offer a few little monkeys and lollies to the electorate to vote for Labour again. I hope the electorate is much more wise than it is right now because New Zealanders are not being well served by this Government.