Nash Stuart: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Nash Stuart: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18902] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a first reading call on the Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill. I think a couple of points need clarification. Amy Adams stood up and said that Michael Cullen was incompetent. Imagine saying that the man who delivered nine Budgets in surplus is incompetent. If Dr Cullen was so incompetent why did this Government appoint him to the board of New Zealand Post and Kiwibank? It is a disgrace to say that Michael Cullen is incompetent. As Miss Adams knows and as Mr Foss knows the reason why this economy has done OK compared with a lot global economies is that Dr Cullen banked surplus after surplus and put money away for a rainy day. My goodness me when it poured down during the global financial crisis thank goodness Michael Cullen had had the foresight to understand how the New Zealand economy worked. That is the reason why Michael Cullen left this country with no sovereign debt. 
Amy Adams also accused me of economic illiteracy. She should not accuse me of that. I think she needs to talk to the Minister of Revenue. Those were not my facts that were quoted yesterday. Those facts were provided by the Minister of Revenue. All I was doing was outlining to the people of New Zealand the facts that had been given to me. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: You were interpreting them. 
STUART NASH 
: I did interpret them. I looked at the black and white facts and they were as plain as day. We need to have this debate as a nation. The agricultural sector holds itself up as the backbone of this country and I tend to think it is a very important part of our economy but it pays no tax according to the figures provided to me by the Minister of Revenue. It pays no tax—not in my figures. So either the rural sector is in dire straits or there is something inherently wrong with the tax system whereby farmers are claiming back a whole lot of expenses that perhaps they should not be. I do not know what the answer is. All I know is that the dairy industry in the last financial year paid $26 million in tax and I ask whether that is fair. 
Mr Foss stood up and waxed lyrical for about a minute about what a wonderful speech his Prime Minister had delivered. What a sycophant. It made me sick. In fact I find it quite insulting that Mr Key simply does not take this House seriously. He treats it with disrespect and I think it is dreadful. I find it quite insulting and I think that if a lot of MPs who have spent a significant amount of time in this House had listened to Mr Key’s speech they would have been insulted. 
David Bennett stood up and said that Kiwis are better off because interest rates are lower. The unemployment rate is now double its level when Michael Cullen wrote his last Budget. How can Mr Bennett say that New Zealanders are better off when 150000 New Zealanders are on the unemployment benefit? New Zealanders are not better off. Mr Bennett said that New Zealanders are better off because they are saving more. The facts show that if one earns over $1 million one receives over $1000 worth of tax cuts. We are better off in that respect but if a New Zealander is on the average wage they are not better off. We have to keep in mind that 75 percent of New Zealanders earn less than the average wage. 
Sir Roger Douglas criticised Labour for beating up the wealthy. I say to Sir Roger that we do not beat up the wealthy. The Labour Party is a party for equity and fairness. That is all we demand on behalf of the people of New Zealand: fairness and equity. That is all we ask for. 
I will make three more points. Good hard-working New Zealanders have been let down by this Government. By cutting KiwiSaver and Working for Families the Government disadvantages the whole economy. The third point is that there is no plan behind these figures. All that the people of New Zealand were looking for was a plan. Is that too much to ask? They were looking for a plan for growth for economic recovery for our families and for our future. New Zealanders did not get a plan. They got a whole lot of words that fell through a hole as large as Africa and ended up in China. That is where our jobs are going unless we start investing in research and development in the productive economy and in our people. Ten million cubic metres of logs are exported to China each year while sawmills in New Zealand are closing down. We are becoming more and more of a commodity economy because this Government is not investing in our productive sector. Where are the policies to help our companies exporters and workers to drive up productivity? They do not exist because the Government does not have a plan to drive economic growth. 
The Government crowed last year about how it had invested in early childhood education. Well the Napier Kindergarten Association had $575000 cut from its budget yet Mr Tremain had the nerve to come and tell the association at its annual general meeting how much money the Government had invested in early childhood education. He was told in no uncertain terms that the association had had $575000 cut from its budget.  
Craig Foss 
: $1.7 million of financial assets by the way. 
STUART NASH 
: The Heretaunga Free Kindergarten Association I say to Mr Foss had over $500000 cut from its budget as well. Is that fair? No it is not. 
What do the people of New Zealand get? They get cuts cuts and cuts. That is simply not fair. Cutting KiwiSaver: who does that hurt? It hurts hard-working New Zealanders who are saving for their retirement and doing the responsible thing by putting money away—and $10 a week adds up. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Gilmore knows that it adds up over time. If someone puts away $10 a week extra into their savings account when they are 25 by the time they retire it will be a substantial amount of money will it not? These cuts are not what the Savings Working Group suggested. It said that it is time New Zealanders started to save. This Budget does not do that. 
Cutting Working for Families: who does that hurt? It hurts families who are already facing dire economic circumstances. In Hawke’s Bay Working for Families pumps about $120 million into the economy. I do not know how much money this cut will have taken out but cutting Working for Families for Hawke’s Bay families will hurt not only those families who are struggling but also the economy of Hawke’s Bay. Under this Government the people of the Bay are going backwards. 
All that the people of New Zealand were looking for was a plan. Was that too much to ask for? 
Craig Foss 
: Single-digit mortgage rates; double-digit mortgage rates under Labour. Do the numbers. 
STUART NASH 
: It is interesting that Mr Foss talks about the mortgage rate. Why did he not do something about monetary policy? Why did the Government not give the Reserve Bank the tools to have an influence over the exchange rate and therefore over the interest rate? The Government did not do a thing. It crows about the interest rates but the only reason the interest rate is as low as it is is that the economy is tanking and Mr Foss knows that. 
I will say one last thing. There is a discrepancy of $4 billion between the revenue forecast by the Inland Revenue Department and by Treasury over 5 years. Page 81 of the Economic and Fiscal Update shows a discrepancy of $4 billion and the Government has gone with the Treasury figures. The Government states: “The lower forecasts of tax revenue from Inland Revenue indicate there may be some downside risk to our tax forecasts.” Well that is the understatement of the decade. The Government does not listen to the Inland Revenue Department. It listens to Treasury when Treasury continually gets it wrong. 
This Budget had absolutely no plan for the people of New Zealand and no vision for this economy and it is a disgrace.