Carter John: Budget Debate 
Carter John: Budget Debate 
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JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 Obviously that speech was not written by the member’s good friend John Tamihere because if it had been it would have some substance to it—although we would then not know whether to believe it. 
Once upon a time a guy called Nordmeyer brought down a thing called the “black Budget”. 
Hon David Carter 
: This is a grey one. 
JOHN CARTER 
: No no. This Budget has no colour. This is called a “blank Budget” not a “black Budget”. This Budget has no firepower at all—absolutely none. There we were talking about the fact that there would be tax cuts and that all sorts of promises had been made but what did we get? We got 70c in 3 years’ time—that is half a tomato a scrambled egg and the rasher from a bit of bacon. That is what we will get in 3 years’ time out of these tax cuts. We will be really hungry by then. What a joke! In 3 years that is enough to adjust for inflation if we are lucky. 
We expected to hear a bit about waiting lists in the health sector. But oh no—you’ve got to be joking! There was nothing of that. We thought we might hear a bit about increasing standards in education and what happened? Nothing. We drew a blank there too. The other area I thought the Government would at least want to look at was the police for goodness’ sake! One would have thought that the Government given all the problems it has had in the last little while would want to look at the police. Well I must have missed it because I was sure there would be something there. But no the Budget has nothing for the police. There we go—another blank. 
I want to focus my time on the matter of defence. The way in which this Government has addressed defence is an absolute disgrace. It has a tree-hugging pinko lefty attitude—a philosophy of isolationism. In the whole of this whole Budget are two paragraphs about defence and that is when defence is in crisis. Let us look at the second paragraph: “This long-term strategic funding initiative follows a systematic approach by this government to restore the capability of our Defence Force which was left to run down during the 1990s resulting in ageing equipment and infrastructure and personnel shortages.” Well if there were personnel shortages at the end of the 1990s what do we call them now? Two thousand fewer people are employed by defence now than in 1990. The House needs to understand that defence now has fewer personnel. In fact only two areas in the bureaucracy of this country now employ fewer people than in the 1990s. One is the police and the other is defence. Everywhere else there are more people. Fewer people are employed in defence but this Budget talks about a rundown “resulting in ageing equipment and infrastructure and personnel shortages”. The people they do employ are very good people I have to say and an absolute credit to our country. They are a real credit to our nation but this Government does not give them support. 
What about infrastructure? What has this Government done for infrastructure in defence? Absolutely nothing! The Government goes on to complain about ageing equipment but what has changed since this Government came to power? The Hercules are 5 years older and the Orions are 5 years older. We do not have any F16s; they were cancelled. We do not have a third frigate so we do not have a complete Navy. Oh hang on—the Government bought some LAV111s for the Army—[ 
Interruption 
] No no. They are machines—absolutely—for the Army. There are 105 of them but only 18 can be driven. The rest are parked-up because the Army does not have enough crew. So that is the situation with new equipment. And the light operational vehicles the replacement Land Rover—[ 
Interruption 
] No no. The Army bought them but then could not drive them because their gearboxes broke down. This is a Government that has absolutely collapsed our Defence Force—completely. As a nation it has left us defenceless. 
But let us get away from equipment. Equipment is an important part of defence but more important is the philosophy the ideology of a Government—or in our case of a respected Opposition. The stark difference between National and Labour is that National believes in collective security. This nation up to the end of 1990 was always part of a collective security with other nations that were our friends and allies. But what has this Government done? It has taken us down the path of isolationism. It has taken away our ability to be part of a collective defence. It has taken away our ability to train properly with our Australian friends and allies. We cannot be part of that training and we are not allowed information. We are not allowed on the decks of frigates because Australia has equipment we are not allowed to know about and it receives intelligence that we are not allowed to know about either. So our guys our naval representatives go over there get on a ship and ask whether they can participate. They are told they can go aboard for training but then they are asked whether they would mind going out of the room they are in because they cannot be privy to certain information. Why is that? It is because of the standing of our nation and it is because of what this Labour Government has done to our Defence Force. 
This Government has taken us down a path of isolationism and it has not restructured our defence capability at all. National was going to have a complete defence capability; this Government has absolutely destroyed it. We do not have proper defence with regard to our Air Force we do not have a proper defence structure in our Navy and our Army does not have enough resources—it certainly does not have enough personnel. As well the Government has done nothing at all to address the changed environment since September 11. We are left defenceless. 
This Government goes on about the fact that it cannot recruit and retain defence staff. Is it any wonder? People join the Defence Force to represent their country not just in peacekeeping although that is an important part but also when necessary in defending our country—to be part of defending our shores. New Zealanders have always done that absolutely well and with honour and valour. The problem is that this Government has an attitude to defence that is isolationist. As a consequence people are not attracted to the defence forces. Basically the Government has turned our Defence Force into a home guard. It is an absolute disgrace. 
A National Government will after the next election return us to a collective security. We will make sure that we have a defence structure that allows us to be part of a collective security that puts back honour and integrity of our nation. We will be a respected part of a collective security and not be seen as bludgers like these people are. If we talk to Australian politicians they will say that they see New Zealand as being a bludger. I feel ashamed whenever I talk to our Australian counterparts. I feel absolutely ashamed because this Labour Government’s ideology has unfortunately turned a once-proud nation with people who made a commitment—and our current troops do; they are great people—into an isolationist country that does not play its role. The Australians know it and our friends and allies know it. As a consequence we are seen to be bludgers. That will stop after the next election. We will make sure that we do the things that are expected of us as a nation. We will not pretend like that lot to put in $4.6 billion which is all smoke and mirrors. It is an absolute joke. It is a tragedy. 
Quite honestly the Government has not put any extra funding into defence at all. Just like the Budget it is a blank and having blanks in defence just does not work. It does nothing. That is what this Government has done to us. It has left our defence forces with blanks.