Bennett David: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5906. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 The Green Party member there Eugenie Sage has just attacked the basic industries of New Zealand—the farming industries which provide the backbone of this country and pay for those members to sit in their cushy seats and tell the world how it would operate in some kind of dream fantasyland that does not exist. 
The real world out there is a world where this country has to earn its way and pay its way. We do that in a balanced way as much as possible unlike the Green Party that can sit there and lecture this country—the economic strength of this country—and do it in a quite unproductive and sad way. I heard that the members from the Hawke’s Bay were very much upset at the comments made by the Green Party there—not understanding the wider implications of what this Government is doing for the best interests of New Zealand going forward. 
When you look at this Parliament and this Opposition the Labour Party is in crisis. It has no policy. It has no people standing up and putting any direction forward. It does not have a leader of any consequence but that is good for us. We are quite happy to keep David Shearer there. The Labour Party does not know what it is doing in this Parliament. It has to go around and talk about petty issues that make no difference to people’s lives. People out there are smart. The people of New Zealand are smart. What do they want? Do they want low interest rates? Yes they do. Do they want a country and a Government that is going to keep inflation rates low? Yes they do. Do they want a Government and a country that is going to get into Budget surplus? Yes they do. Do they want a country and a Government that is going to provide as much employment as it can in these most difficult times? Yes they do. And what are they getting? They are getting a Government that is delivering all those things. 
On the other side of the Table—on the other side of the Table—they will not even talk about those issues. They will not talk about the economics of New Zealand. They will not talk about our vulnerable children. They will not talk about jobs or growth because if they could get a growth rate of 2.6 percent for a year they would be loving it. When we came into Government the country was in recession—a recession started by the Labour Party before the rest of the world. 
The Green Party has actually gone out there last week and put a plan out. And we must commend it for that. But it is a plan that will never work. They want to print money—print money! They say the dollar is too high. Well the dollar is high because that is a reflection of a good Government doing good economic policy in this country. The way the dollar will go down is if you ever got a Labour-Green Government in the dollar will crash because that will be the international market saying it has no confidence in the economic plans of those parties. That is what happened last time the Labour Party got in did it not? The Labour Party got in last time and the dollar went down to 40 cents. That is because of its economic mismanagement which the market knew would happen. 
We have had to pick those pieces up and turn it round. It has taken 3 or 4 years to do that in the world’s biggest recession since the Great Depression and in that time we have had to rebuild our second-biggest city but we have still done it. We have rebuilt this country and got it back on track. 
The New Zealand First Party—it comes into this Parliament and it has got only one type of campaign and that is the conspiracy theory campaign. There has been a conspiracy theory in New Zealand for 30 years under the New Zealand First Party. Everybody has got something to hide. New Zealand First members should be in Eastern Europe in the middle of Communism. That would have suited them because that was what they grew up understanding and thinking that that is how government works. 
Well government is not a conspiracy. Government is an open book. What you see here is what you get and it is in the best interests of New Zealand. The New Zealand First Party needs to stop looking for a conspiracy because the people do not vote for conspiracy politics. They vote for real politics. Real politics in Hamilton means that we are building an expressway that is creating jobs in our city because we are getting the right transport options for our city. In Hamilton we are building the broadband network before the rest of the country—providing real jobs for our city. In Hamilton we have industrial growth and we see that through Government departments wanting to come to Hamilton like the Earthquake Commission coming and providing 150 new jobs in Hamilton. This Government has delivered is delivering and will continue to deliver good economic results for New Zealand going forward and that is in the best interests of all our people.