Parata Hekia: General Debate 
Parata Hekia: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2308] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 E te Mana Whakawa i runga i nga tikanga o nga tipuna kua mihi tenei Whare ki te rangatira a Helen Clark i tenei ahiahi. E tautoko ana ahau nga mihi mai i te Pirimia a John Key huri noa i te Whare ki a Helen. Na reira e tika ana e tu ana ahau ki te mihi ki a ia hoki. 
It is appropriate in our customs to support the greetings that have been given this afternoon to the former Prime Minister Helen Clark on achieving this magnificent position at the United Nations Development Programme so I support the words of our Prime Minister the Hon John Key and all of those who have spoken this afternoon. It is appropriate in our tikanga that we greet the kaupapa of the ra and then we talk of those that have gone before. 
Well what has gone before? We had 9 years of the best of economic times before we got a tax cut. We had 9 years of the best of economic times yet we saw squandered opportunities. We had 9 years of turning up to hui before we got any actual Treaty settlements. We had 9 years of turning independent people into people dependent on the Government. We had 9 years of changing our vocabulary for the traditional relationships which we understood to “caregivers” and “facilitators” as my colleague said earlier this afternoon. We had 9 years of ideology rather than real investment in sustainable change. We had 9 years of a Government that thought it knew better for New Zealanders than New Zealanders themselves. That is why it is a shock to have a Government that actually respects that people can make up their own minds about the quality of life they want and respects that they have the ability to make choices and to be accountable for those choices. This Government believes in New Zealanders and it believes in their right and opportunity to make choices for themselves. 
Now we turn to the present. There has not been much different from the Opposition members today. They have focused on jeering and gossip while we are about jobs and growth. We want to focus on real and sustainable change. It seems to have escaped the Opposition members’ notice that we are part of a global recession. This Government understands that we have to soften the edges for New Zealanders who are experiencing tough times. We are a Government that understands that there is no single response to the multiple challenges that face us. [ 
Interruption 
] Perhaps if Opposition members took the opportunity to actually listen for a change I would finish a thought and then we might get an intelligent response. Let me continue. We are part of a global recession. There is no single response to this and that is why members see laid out before them by this National-led Government a comprehensive approach. Understanding that tax cuts are part of that approach we have not waited 9 years; we have understood that we have to stimulate the economy and that we have to take an approach that says that we need tax cuts.  
Sue Moroney 
: For the rich! 
Hon Member 
: They get to keep more of what they earn. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: They get to keep more of what they earn—thank you. 
We understand that what motivates people is how they personally experience what is happening to them. We understand that people who do not have children nevertheless want to benefit from our economy. That is why this Government has introduced the independent earner tax rebate. Those people therefore—630000 of them—will enjoy that opportunity. There are 1.5 million people who will get the benefit of our progressive tax system and its cuts—another conceptual methodology that the Opposition members seem incapable of understanding. We have a progressive tax system and therefore it progressively affects people in different ways. We propose a comprehensive approach. New Zealand is a diverse community that responds to different incentives. We understand that we need to take a short medium and long-term approach. We keep our word. 
In the short tem in our first 100 days we delivered absolutely everything that we said we would. We are now focused on the medium term: our jobs and growth plan. We have cut personal taxes. Speaking as a former small-business owner I say that we have focused on how we encourage motivate and incentivise the real earners of New Zealand to stay in business to keep their employees to continue backing themselves and to invest in their small businesses. We understand that the compliance regime that they have laboured under makes it too difficult for them so we have moved to ensure that they get greater opportunity.