Sowry Roger: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sowry Roger: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 16 June 2004. Volume:618;Page:13659. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
: 
 That was the member of Parliament who is responsible for the Holidays Act which the Minister is now struggling to fix up. Mark Gosche chaired the select committee and he made an absolute hash of the holidays legislation. It has been the biggest disaster in legislative terms that this Government has implemented in the last 2 years and that member—that former Minister—oversaw that piece of legislation. The legislation is a shambles and Cabinet is now having to fix up the whole mess around the holidays legislation. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What’s it like to be beaten by Darren Hughes? 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: I say to the member who is about to leave the Chamber that I hope the Minister sends the holidays legislation back to the select committee. I hope that that member sits on the committee and this time listens to businesses who come before the committee and tell us what sort of extra costs there are and what a shambles that piece of legislation is. 
At this stage I want to pay tribute to one Cabinet Minister and that is the Hon John Tamihere. He has been going around the small-business sector and saying that the Government got it wrong. He is saying: “We got it wrong. I wish I had been able to convince my colleagues. It is a mess. I can’t fix it. You have to see the lady upstairs.” At least he is saying the right things. I am not sure whether he is talking about Heather Simpson or Helen Clark but he is at least saying: “See the lady upstairs and she will fix it.” The business community knows that John Tamihere is at least admitting that the Labour Government got it wrong. I bet he does not say that in his Budget speech but he is saying it to business people all over the country. 
This Budget is a real disappointment. There are so many opportunities and so few were taken. Labour has talked up this Budget all over the country. It talked about the spend-up of billions of dollars—the money that was going to go everywhere spread like confetti. But in fact it is not the money that is spread like confetti; it is the spin and the publicity. One in five households get something out of this Budget but the Government deems it necessary to spend $21 million telling people how good it is with its spending. That is absolutely outrageous. It should not be able to get away with that sort of spending. 
I want to comment on a couple of things that are not in the Budget. The first thing that is not in the Budget is anything for infrastructure in the energy sector. The whole Budget was read and there was not one word on the energy sector. I was in Timaru last week and when I booked into the motel there on the door in the bathroom was a sign. It stated—and I will paraphrase it: “Dear Customer Transpower have informed us that there may be power cuts at very short notice.”—it is about 40 degrees below in Timaru at this time of the year.—“These will occur between 5.00 and 7.30. Please bear with us. We will try to make such occasions as much fun as possible. For example candles will be burning in the bar and restaurant area. We will have a fun event like a barbecue.” 
Well I have to say that in Timaru in the middle of winter not too many tourists front up for the barbecue. It is the sort of sign that one expects to see in Tonga not in Timaru. That is what we have in this country because this Government has run down the infrastructure—driven it down. 
Hon Member 
: It is warmer in Tonga! 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: It is certainly warmer in Tonga. In this Budget there is nothing for infrastructure at all not a brass razoo. We will see real problems particularly in the electricity sector because the Government refuses to show leadership in generation refuses to show leadership around the Resource Management Act changes that need to be made to have Transpower upgrade the lines refuses to spend the money to allow Transpower to invest in upgrading the lines refuses to tell the industry what the carbon tax will be and therefore is denying this country a long-term secure energy generation option into the future. That is a tragedy and businesses will leave this country because of it. 
If that were not enough this Budget does nothing for industry. When Heinz-Wattie appeared before the Industrial Relations Committee its people told the members of Parliament who were listening—and there is a difference because the Labour members were sneering—that if they had known that this Labour Government was going to introduce legislation like this they would not have unbolted the machinery from Australia and brought it to New Zealand to increase their production in Hawke’s Bay. 
So we asked them if they had told their local MP. Had they been into Rick Barker fought through his workload found an appointment with that busy busy man who was signing off JP appointments and told him that the company would not invest in his electorate given those rules? They said: “Yes”. What did Rick Barker say? He said those decisions were made upstairs. 
It is the same with John Tamihere. The Holidays Act is a mess and he giggles away and says: “Ha! ha! I’m sorry I should have been stronger but you know you have to see the ladies upstairs.” What sort of courage is displayed when members of the executive will not take responsibility for their own decisions? Why will they not take responsibility? 
John Key 
: “Swainy and the boys” 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: That is right—“Swainy and the boys” being done over by the girls upstairs and they will not take responsibility for it. What sort of Cabinet have we got when they will not do that? 
There is nothing in this Budget for business at all. There is nothing to make the economy grow. There is nothing to create extra jobs. There is nothing for employment. But even worse than that there is nothing for hard-working families. Because if a hard-working family in Wellington that has two kids and earns $38000 a year gross income—the sort of family I used to think Labour cared about—increases its income from $38000 to $60000 $22000 extra in income it will get $2300 of that in the hand. Earn $22000 more take the promotion go from being the primary school teacher to the principal and one will get $2000 extra! 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Oh dear! 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: The Labour Cabinet Minister—I forget his name—but the guy from Taupo goes: “Oh dear!” He does not care. It is so long since he was on $60000 that he does not care. But this Budget puts welfare into middle New Zealand families and it drives the incentive to work harder out of those families. How can Labour be proud of that?