Hipkins Chris: Address in Reply — Presentation to Governor-General 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Address in Reply — Presentation to Governor-General 
[Sitting date: 28 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:593. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 We are into the tail end of this debate on the Address in Reply and I rise to speak in favour of the amendment put forward by the leader of the Labour Party David Shearer. I have listened to most of this debate—in fact I listened to the speech itself—and it is a clear sign that the Government is in trouble when its members spend most of their time talking about the Opposition. And that is exactly what National has done during this debate. National members have spent most of their time talking about the Opposition. I guess that is not surprising because actually if they were talking about themselves it would not look all that flash. Because the rhetoric from the National Party has changed over the last 3 years has it not? Just 3 years ago John Key promised New Zealanders a step change. In fact what he is delivering is a step back. He promised a step change: everything was going to be rosy under a National Government and in fact he was going to be straight-up and give straight answers. Now when he is asked a tricky question we are told we live in a dynamic environment. So the rhetoric is changing from the National Party. He was going to close the wage gap with Australia and stop everyone leaving. Do we remember John Key at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington talking about how many New Zealanders were leaving to go to Australia? Well three times that many people have left to go to Australia since National took office. We could fill the Westpac Stadium three times over with the number of people who have permanently relocated to Australia since John Key became the Prime Minister.  
Perhaps that could have something to do with the fact that unemployment is up by over 50 percent since the National Party took office—and counting. We have 157000 New Zealanders out of work under this National Government. John Key promised an “aggressive recovery”—aggressive recovery—to the recession and now we are “just muddling through”. Those are his words all of them. First there was an aggressive recovery; now we are just muddling through. Then John Key— 
Michael Woodhouse 
: Both accurate. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: They are both accurate according to Michael Woodhouse. It is an aggressive recovery we are going to muddle through! Well I think most New Zealanders would see that for what it is: a Government that simply does not know what it is doing. It is simply muddling through. It is managing the decline rather than getting New Zealand back on track. Before the 2008 election John Key was “all about building assets”. Now he is “all about selling assets”. That is what John Key is all about these days; he is all about selling assets managing our economic decline. In fact the clearest indication of National’s management of our economic decline happened just before the election when we saw the first credit downgrade New Zealand has had in 13 years. It was not just one downgrade; it was a double downgrade. Do members know the last time we got a credit downgrade? It was the last time Bill English was in charge of the country’s finances. It was back when National was in Government in the 1990s that we last got a credit downgrade. The Labour Government did a good job of managing the economy and by Bill English’s own admission in the House today he has overseen the largest explosion in Government debt ever in New Zealand’s history. It is the largest explosion in Government debt ever in New Zealand’s history. That is the legacy that Bill English is going to be leaving future generations of New Zealanders. It is a massive explosion in Government debt and in the meantime he is busy focusing on hocking off what is left of the family silverware.  
The question we need to ask ourselves and the question that every New Zealander needs to ask themselves when they next vote in 3 years’ time is whether after 6 years of a John Key National Government we are better off and what do we look like as a country. This Government has higher unemployment more Government debt than ever before and kids will be going to schools where there are more kids in front of every teacher in the classroom. Students will be paying more than ever before for their tertiary education. Families will be paying more than ever before when they go to the supermarket because of the National Government’s increase in GST. They will be paying more than ever before every month when their power bills arrive. That problem will only be exacerbated when the National Government hocks off the energy companies.  
What will New Zealand look like after 6 years of John Key’s Government? There will not be many assets left to be sold because we know one thing about this Government: if they cannot sell it they are going to cut it and if they cannot cut it they are going to contract it out. That is the mantra of this Government: leave nothing behind for future generations. New Zealanders after 6 years of a National Government will fast find themselves becoming tenants in their own land as National presides over the further sale of our land to overseas investors.  
New Zealand will have been for 6 years dragging behind when it comes to leadership on environmental issues. Some of the first measures that this Government implemented back in 2008 within weeks of taking office was to wind back leading legislation on environmental protection and turn the clock back. That is exactly what this Government is going to do and has been doing for the last 3 years and will do for the next 3 years. National’s agenda for public services has got New Zealanders rightly worried because they were conned by the National Party which promised that its cuts to public services would not affect front-line services. Remember that rhetoric: they were going to move resources from the back office to the front line. Well have they actually lived up to that? In recent weeks we have seen examples of district health board after district health board cutting front-line services because of Tony Ryall’s funding cuts in the health service. For 3 years now we have seen a steady stream of older New Zealanders have their home help cut because of Tony Ryall’s cuts in the health service. Now the Government is promising to cut funding for teachers and to have bigger class sizes. Those are front-line services again on the chopping-block under a National Government. We have seen Department of Conservation rangers have their funding cut. The number of rangers has been cut. MAF Biosecurity staff—and such a vital role they play in New Zealand’s economy—had their numbers cut under the National Government.  
In these last few weeks we look at what it is doing with the Housing New Zealand Corporation and it is one of the clearest illustrations of the hoax that the National Party played on New Zealand when it said it was not going to cut front-line services. In Housing New Zealand Corporation it is closing local offices and replacing them with a call centre. It is replacing them with a call centre and what is more there is no guarantee the call centre will even be in New Zealand because John Key is talking about contracting out those types of back-office functions like call centres. So somebody in Taita Pomare or Cannons Creek who has a problem with the Housing New Zealand Corporation could end up on a call to somebody in a call centre in Mumbai trying to deal with this problem where previously they had a local Housing New Zealand Corporation office that they could go to where they could get assistance and this National Government is closing down those front-line services. This Government is far more interested in what it can do for its mates than it is in what it can do for ordinary everyday New Zealanders. This is a Government that already is totally out of touch with the concerns of ordinary New Zealanders.  
We have got John Key talking about how important jobs were. That was his No. 1 priority when he became Prime Minister. He even had a Job Summit where he promised New Zealanders he was not there to talk about the economic recession. He was not there to blame the economic recession; he was there to do something. He was going to do something about growing unemployment. Well what has the track record been there? It has been a 50 percent increase in unemployment under this National Government. We have seen 150000 extra New Zealanders out of work under this National Government and what does his Minister of Finance Bill English say about that? “Oh well there’s not much the Government can do about that.” That is what Bill English says. So while John Key made it his No. 1 priority when he first became Prime Minister to deal with this rising tide of unemployment Bill English says: “Oh oh not our fault. Can’t do anything about it; sorry you’re on your own.” That is the message that Bill English is sending to New Zealanders who have found themselves out of work: they are on their own.  
That is not good enough. That is not good enough. This Government has a responsibility: if it is going to pull the rug out from underneath New Zealanders pull the safety nets out from under New Zealanders it has a responsibility to make sure that it is creating jobs for them. Because it is all very to say to people “We’re going to cut your benefit unless you go and get a job.”—where is the job? I think it is actually very reasonable to say to New Zealanders that if they can work they should work but where are the jobs? During the tenure of this Government 157000 jobs have disappeared. Cutting benefits will not solve that problem; creating jobs will. This Government has no plans and no ideas about creating jobs.