Cunliffe David: Budget Debate 
Cunliffe David: Budget Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3283] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 It is pretty hard and pretty disappointing to see a National Party that has so totally lost its way that has lost its passion for New Zealand that wishes it were Australian and that has a great feel for cultural cringe. The National Party has forgotten that 150000 Australians left Australia last year. Roughly the same proportion of Aussies said: “Strewth mate I’ve had enough I’m packing off out of here.” and left Australia as New Zealanders left New Zealand—many of whom it is true went across the ditch or elsewhere. We know—and I as Minister of Immigration can tell members—that three-quarters of those Kiwis come back again. 
But the Opposition has never let the facts get in the way of a good argument. Tony Ryall said we were not training enough people. That is just a joke. This Government has invested more money in skills training and workforce participation including in the health sector than any other Government in New Zealand’s history. The proof of the pudding is that since we took office we have increased resources for health by close to 80 percent and we have nearly doubled spending on health. What do National members say? They say they would rather be in Australia. Well those members should go to Australia. We do not particularly want you; why do you not try to raise the IQ— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Not you Mr Assistant Speaker I do apologise. 
That is enough about National members; let us talk about us. This really is a good Budget—a great Budget. It delivers on the Government’s promises. This might seem strange to the Opposition but we are in the habit of saying what we will do and then doing what we say. This Budget funds interest-free student loans Working for Families the biggest transport spend-up since Vogel borrowed for the railways an expansion of industry training and skills training a massive increase in health spending and continued expansion in our education services so that we train our young people. 
Why are we doing this? It is because New Zealanders voted for it. They elected this Government on a platform of investment of carrying New Zealanders into the future as proud Kiwis and of making sure that nobody is left out. They rejected tax cuts for the rich mates of members opposite and they rejected an approach to life that says: “I’m OK mate and you’re down the drain.” That is not the New Zealand way. This Government represents fair decent Kiwis who say that they want to go forward and want others to go forward too. They want a Government that takes the whole country forward. 
Economists would say that the best way to do that is by getting productivity up. We all know that there are two parts to productivity: how hard we work and how smart we work. New Zealanders are working harder now than when Labour took office; they are working as hard as any workforce in the OECD. New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate in the Western World and very high labour participation rates. Where we need to drive now and where this Budget takes us is in working smarter and in making sure that our tools are up to scratch that we have the technology we need and that we have the teaching and skills training to deliver on worker productivity. 
As Minister of Communications and Minister for Information Technology my part of that has been to support the Prime Minister and Cabinet in respect of technology. In advance of this Budget at a timing not of our choosing—and I suggest not of Telecom’s choosing—we released what I think is a historic change to the telecommunications environment. Unbundling the local loop is just a small part of this package. This is a comprehensive package that brings non-discrimination to the local loop through a combination of local loop unbundling; wholesale provisions; unbundled bitstream or UBS; and naked DSL which is the opportunity to buy line separate from voice. The package also takes us forward with intermodal competition which is the ability for modes other than copper to reach more New Zealanders with more bandwidth—fibre wireless and mobile. It future-proofs the regulatory system so that we will not be playing catch-up. We are 3 years behind the OECD mainstream; we are in the bottom third—22nd out of 30. That is no way for a small smart country to face the future. The package delivers faster cheaper broadband for all New Zealanders. Will it happen tomorrow? No it will take some time. It is important for us to align expectations. It will take 2 or 3 years for this to settle into the market. But it will deliver—we said that from day one. It is in the Cabinet paper and I suggest members opposite read it. 
What counterarguments have been raised by members opposite and their old mates at the Wellington Club? The first argument relates to property rights. That is a lot of crock because every Western country apart from Mexico has already done what we said we would do 2 weeks ago so that cannot be a problem. I think Maurice Williamson suggested that the only reason we have low broadband speed is that we have low incomes. That is complete nonsense; if one correlates those things one will find there is no relationship between them at all. Even if there were a correlation to say that we are poor and will never get better is no way to encourage New Zealanders forward. That is a party that has given up; this is a Government that is making positive change happen for all New Zealanders. 
What has National come up with now? It is really interesting. In the opening of the Budget debate Don Brash stated that National would support the Communications Legislation Bill at least as far as sending it to a select committee. He said National would support a change. Well good on him! If National members have to expend their energy attacking this Minister rather than attacking the policy I will gladly pay that price. They have had three goes in the last 2 weeks so let us just note for the record what they were. Firstly they said that Minister Cunliffe was responsible for the leak as it must have come from his office. That is wrong; I am not and it did not. In fact no policy official was responsible for the leak at all and it was certainly no one under my command. 
Secondly those members say that this Minister was responsible for driving down a company’s share price. I have never heard such disrespect for a statutory body. The Securities Commission is looking at this matter and I welcome that. I want the facts on the table and I want them considered objectively. I will cooperate fully with that process. What I will not do is what the Opposition is doing—pre-empting the results of that process—because I think I know who will have the last laugh and it will not be the Opposition. 
Thirdly today those members came up with the supposed coup de grâce. They said that this Minister’s integrity has been called into question by the High Court. Well that is very very interesting because that matter was reported publicly at the time. The court has corrected its records to make it clear that the confidential information was not presented to the Minister in the meeting where it was passed to officials. The Minister acted always on advice from his department and the department has since said that the advice could have been better. But most important Vodafone New Zealand has indicated to this Minister that it is shocked that the Minister’s integrity could have been impugned and that in no way was that the substance of its concerns. So if the best the Opposition can do is to attack me then that is the price one pays for doing good things for New Zealanders. 
This Government is making change happen for telecommunications. We are giving New Zealanders a freedom they have not had before. A wave of investment both on the loop and off the loop is poised to happen over the next few years. More important New Zealanders know that it is OK to innovate OK to bring new products and services to the market OK to face the future and OK to be dynamic. There will be no more Opposition cringe no more tall poppy syndrome and no more sell-out to the Aussies. It is time we all became proud New Zealanders and it is time we stood up to be counted for New Zealand. That is what this Government is doing and what this Budget does. It is a great Budget. It will not be the last Cullen Budget and we are very pleased about that.