Groser Tim: Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Groser Tim: Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:17811] 
TIM GROSER (National) 
: 
 Madam Assistant Speaker putting aside your own ruling on the relevancy of the speech we have just heard from Mr Cosgrove I want to tell you that I personally enjoyed it. I enjoyed it in spite of the fact that in the brief time I have been in Parliament I must have heard that speech about the student riot—a speech attacking the member who 18 years ago was a National Minister of Education—about six times. 
It is understandable if people are mistaken but what we are meant to be debating is the Budget strategy of a Government that is into its eighth year. Let me say this: I have decided to look at this positively. I am no longer going to refer to this Government as being of 8 years’ standing; instead I am going to put my glass down on the table and declare it to be half full and I am going to start referring to the fact that there are only 100 days left of this Government. For Mr Cosgrove the member who was speaking about the National Minister of Education of 18 years ago there is actually some good news about this. I predict that although some of the Ministers may be shattered by what happens when the New Zealand electorate is finally given its head to talk about and deliver a judgment on this Government I think Mr Cosgrove will be one of those Ministers who will take to being in Opposition like a duck to water. I think he will actually find himself in hog’s heaven because he will have a real live actual Minister of Education to attack instead of having to drag through this eternal story. It is a story that I have heard only about six times but God knows how many times other members who have been here longer than me have heard it. He will come in here with his little finger wagging in the air with his phoney sense of outrage and he will be in hog’s heaven as an Opposition MP. We can see it very clearly. So I think that for Mr Cosgrove it is not all bad news. 
There are only 100 days left before we deliver Mr Cosgrove into the Opposition and I am afraid that I think those 100 days will be pretty ugly. This Appropriation Bill is a statement about the Government’s overall economic strategy and we have to look at this in the context of where we have been during this period. It strikes me that it has been a bit like a long school holiday as we remember it in our youth. The first 5 years were like those glorious first 6 weeks when we as children could look forever into the endless summer holiday and we thought that time would stand still. In fact we realised as we grew a little bit older that we would sit up one day and find: “My God time has passed by. We have only a few weeks left.” This Government spent the first 5 years of its time in office having walked in—with all the arrogance that the famous or infamous phrase “We won. You Lost.” implies—in golden sunny weather. We had the best terms of trade for a quarter of a century inflation was at 2 percent unemployment was falling and there were low interest rates for mortgage holders. Everything was looking great and those members opposite had the opportunity to pick up the ball run with it and take this country forward. But no that was not their political choice for reasons that anyone who is familiar with the internal political history of the Labour Party from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s understands. They set about building a coalition. That was their priority. 
Labour made its choices and now in the autumn of this Government we can see what the real situation is. Violent crime is out of control in what Labour members would have considered to be a Labour Party stronghold in South Auckland. They have the second-highest interest rates in the developed world. The rubber has hit the political road out there in the mortgage belt of New Zealand as New Zealanders struggle with these realities. We have the financial companies collapsing around our ears. We have productivity that has tanked. Inflation has gone well out of control. We have had a situation where inflation in the non-tradable sector has been out of control throughout the life of this Government. Absolutely nothing has been done about it. Fortunately for this Government until recently the tradable sector aided by a high exchange rate and a cost-reduction process—coming in primarily from China—has kept the headline rate under reasonable control. What has happened now is that the chickens have come home to roost. What has happened now is that on top of a problem that was never addressed in any serious way by this Government we have inflation coming in from the external world and we are now looking at inflation of nearly 5 percent. We are looking at a situation where our people are struggling out there. And what has been the Government’s response? Well we will not find it inside its Budget strategy. It has been politics pure and simple: first rort the electoral laws of this country; second try to attack the personality of the Leader of the Opposition and as soon as these attacks are launched they evaporate within an hour. 
The third step which we have seen in a very ugly way is to start engaging in dirty tricks. This is the Labour Party political elevator: “Come in. We are going down. This is going to get ugly.” In contrast National has put forward a programme that actually identifies what the real issues are. We will tackle violent crime. We will tackle the underperforming sector of our education that produces 150000 kids who are barely literate and barely numerate after years of compulsory education. We will not shy away from these tough problems. We will attack the taxation structure with a determination and an understanding of how crucial it is to reincentivise middle New Zealand. We will put controls over Government spending while maintaining the actual frontline services that New Zealanders want absolutely intact. We have given an unconditional guarantee to our superannuitants that we will maintain all the entitlements and all the rules. Nothing could be stronger than an explicit statement by our leader that he would personally resign as Prime Minister and from Parliament if there is any going back on that promise. You cannot get a clearer political commitment than that. 
National will reform the electoral finance rules. Although some people—and I might be one of those people—would want to put the Labour Party on the political naughty mat for a time once we have repealed that Act we will get together all the political parties and try to forge a multi-partisan understanding of how we can have a fair contest. The next leg in this double is that we will ask New Zealanders finally what type of electoral system they want so that people will have a choice going forward. 
National will deal with our infrastructure issues. We all know what the problem is for New Zealand: it is a lack of productivity and a growth problem. That is why 80000 New Zealanders are leaving our shores every year—80 percent of whom are under 40 the people this country can least afford to lose. That is the problem; debt at 20 percent is not the problem. We will address the real issues. This will be a welcome contrast to what is set out in the Appropriation Bill by this Government.