Perry Edwin: Budget Debate 
Perry Edwin: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5945] 
EDWIN PERRY (NZ First) 
: 
 We have just heard from the Hon Rick Barker how well this Government is performing. I have listened to a lot of Budgets over the years and of course this Budget as Mr Cullen has said has been a careful Budget. [ 
Interruption 
] After sitting through the Budget last week I would call it “he moe Budget” a very sleepy Budget I say to Mr Ririnui. I just want to get back to some facts that my colleague Dr Lynda Scott mentioned. The taxpayers of this country deserve better. They expect whatever Government is in power to deliver the essential services that their tax money provides for. 
The Government is saying that yes it is doing this and doing that. I want to touch on a lot of the issues and a lot of the services that the Government says are working. The airlines were bailed out for $800 million. The railway system is in a mess. We do not know whether the Government wants to buy it back or buy portions of it back. It is in a mess. The roading system is in a mess. Health is in a mess. We have just heard from Dr Lynda Scott that 25000 people have been cast off the waiting list. The very people who paid for the roads and the railways of this country have been denied that service. I refer to defence. If a conflict broke out today we would not stand a chance. The Defence Force is in a mess. In respect of education we have only to read the  
Dominion Post  
recently to see that principals of prominent schools have said that the money provided in this Budget for education is a pittance. 
I was walking the streets of Wellington today. I say to the Minister of Maori Affairs who is not in the House that he should have taken a hikoi down Lambton Quay today. He would have seen a whanau not only singing for their supper but also singing for school uniforms for the children to go to school in. Is that what he calls closing the gaps? I do not. The police are pussyfooting around the methamphetamine problem and pussyfooting around the gangs. The Maori members of the Labour Party know after the hui at Waiwhetu last week what the consequences of that are for our young people. More police are required. The 50 additional police officers that have been allocated are quite frankly not enough. What have we heard about power in the last few weeks? It is in a state of shock. Even today taxpayers have been asked to turn off this and turn off that. It is a disgrace. 
I turn to immigration. There are 60000 to 70000 people coming into this country. [ 
Interruption 
] I say to Mr Tamihere that today we hear that Asian students are out of control in Auckland. We should look after ourselves first—before we start to look after them. Mr Barker spoke about Work and Income and this afternoon the korero is being presented on how well it is working. Funding used to be $10 billion now it is $14 billion. The investigators have 8 months’ work ahead of them investigating allegations. 
We heard from Mr Barker about how well the rural sector is going. I tell members that in 3 or 4 months’ time they will soon see how the rural sector is operating. The high dollar is encroaching on the purchase of equipment that is required such as tractors cars and field equipment. I say to Government members that the Government has ridden on the back of the coalition Government of New Zealand First and National. Its monetary systems have not changed. It has ridden on the back of the coalition’s policies that were put in place and the rural sector has made sure that the urban sector has improved. 
I want to touch on the Maori members over there. What have Maori got out of this Budget? This Budget gives $34 million to the America’s Cup and it gives $150 million for Maori television. What should the Government have spent that money on? What should Maoridom have got money for? The money should have been for housing land development—[ 
Interruption 
] Hang on; what is in the Budget for marae development? Those members sat there quietly and never said a word. Education is the key to Maoridom’s success. What about kapa haka? What did that receive? I see that all the other cultures got plenty of money in the Budget but what did kapa haka get? At least New Zealand First can say that it did put money into kapa haka. What the Government wants to do is spend that money on that hit-and-miss Maori television station. On Sunday the Hon Parekura Horomia said on television that the survey showed that Maori want television. But he never put up housing and television—and I know what our Maori people would have gone for. It would not have been television that is for sure. 
Funding of $6.5 million has been put aside to educate Maori and the public on the Treaty of Waitangi. Have members ever lived on a farm and seen a pig trough that is V-shaped? Imagine those people! They would have their snouts and pork trotters tucked in there sucking out the $6.5 million. Over the next 3 years they will do nothing. If people have not learnt about the treaty now they never will. [ 
Interruption 
] At least New Zealand First put $3 million into marae development. At least we got free health service for the under-sixes. Those Maori members ought to go back to their Government and ask: “Where is the partnership in the Budget?” The Budget states that there have been significant improvements in the position of Maori. I ask those members: “Do you approve that 53 percent of prison inmates are Maori males?”. Do they think that is an improvement? I do not. I think that the number of Maoris in prison is disgusting. I do not care what Government is in office; we have to improve that level. 
Again those Labour members talked about how unemployment and how employment has improved for Maoridom. In Ruatoria a little wee place 240 people have just been put out of work. Those members should look at unemployment again. With regard to the Maori agencies that assist the Government to get a better working relationship with the agencies I say in closing to the Maori MPs that the money that is going out for Maori initiatives needs to be more controlled. Te Puni Kokiri should have a body that makes sure that whatever money goes out is spent correctly and the people in Te Puni Kokiri should have the knowledge to be able to assist those people so that the money does not go astray. I finish by saying there is a great cartoon in the paper. It shows Michael Joseph Savage 1872-1940 New Zealand’s first Labour Prime Minister. The cartoon shows him turning over and muttering something about millionaires’ bloody yacht races and he asks: what about the working man?