Mark Ron: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Mark Ron: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:4019] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 To quote a phrase used by a very highly respected New Zealander—a young Maori leader who forged his way in Auckland running a great trust delivering social services—what could one say about the Government speeches today in particular its fiscal policy? I could use three words. “Dumb dumb dumb.” I could go further and quote that same member again and say that this Government should stop “b-essing” the public because nobody believes it. It is simple. Why do we say that? Let us turn to the great Budget Policy Statement that everybody on that side of the House is lauding and applauding themselves over. I tell Mr Cunliffe that there is an old saying in Maoridom: “The kumara never tells you how sweet it is.” The member should think about it. He may catch on sooner or later. But if one is really so good one does not need to tell the nation; the nation will tell one. But the nation is not saying that. The nation is saying that there are things wrong. 
If we look at the Budget Policy Statement and the trumpeting of the great surplus what do we see? It states that Dr Michael Cullen notes that tax revenues have been larger than predicted in forecasts but the reason for this is unclear at the moment. That is what the report states. Hello! We have a man in charge of a national Budget and the best he can say is: “We’ve got lots of money but we don’t know how we got it.” That is the sort of philosophy that people on that side criticised Maori trusts and Maori incorporations for. That is the sort of thing for which members over there got stuck into people like Tuku Morgan and continued to get stuck into people for not running their business affairs—and what do they say? “The tax revenues have been larger than predicted in forecasts and the reason is unclear at the moment.” ! 
I shall tell members why it is unclear. This Government does not want to accept that it is the heaviest-taxing party to ever come on to the Government benches. How will I prove that statement? Let us look at a couple of things. What is one of the first taxes that went up? It was tobacco. Who does that hit? It hits working-class New Zealanders. What is the next one that went up? It was petrol. Who does that hit? It hits working-class New Zealanders. What is the next one that went up? That one hits Maori because apparently so many of them are going into Ngawha jail that they need this. Court charges jumped in some cases by over 200 percent. Then the Government implemented all that legislation. It is all in the Budget Policy Statement. It was told; it does not want to know; it does not want to listen because the great experimentalists—the “spa pool socialists” over there—do not want to listen to anybody else except themselves. 
The Government has increased compliance costs on taxpayers and business through the Local Government Act the Health and Safety in Employment Act that it passed and the Resource Management Act. It has increased it by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. It has increased accident compensation levies and there is a whole raft of business categories where the Government has whacked up taxes. Does anyone remember that pledge card—that little credit card with the airbrushed photo of the Prime Minister? It is the one where her teeth are straight and she looks like a stand-in for Cindy Crawford. Does anyone remember that? 
Georgina Beyer 
: Cheap shot! 
RON MARK 
: Others in Christchurch say that the election was won on an airbrush not a hairbrush. That is not a cheap shot; that is reality. Members should look at the hoardings. What did it state on that pledge card? The detail stated “No tax increases.” How is it that we have this huge Budget surplus climbing to $3.8 billion this fiscal year and $2.5 billion last year? The Minister said: “For reasons that are unclear at the moment”. It is very clear to New Zealanders who go to the supermarket to buy their groceries. It is very clear to working-class New Zealanders whose real income is on the record as having fallen—not increased—under this Government. It is really clear to Ukrainian labourers who have been brought in under a scam to undercut the labour market. 
Jim Anderton stood in this House and told us that the Modern Apprenticeships scheme is working. If the Modern Apprenticeships scheme is working so well why amongst all the unemployed people in this country are no people being trained to work on dairy farms and to milk cows? Why is that? It is because the Government does not want to do that. It wants to bring in cheap labour from the Ukraine and pay them $20500 a year. Then it will approve the taking of $120 a week out of those people’s wages to pay some shyster in Christchurch for organising the transaction. That is a Labour Government! 
John Tamihere—God bless his cotton socks—spoke the truth. How do I know that he spoke the truth? Even now within days if one wants evidence of how stuffed up this Government’s economic policy is one should simply pick up every newspaper every day and read the headlines. What does this say? “MPs repeat Tamihere call”. These are Labour MPs in a select committee saying that what John says about taking money from the beneficiaries and paying their bills for them is a smart idea. Is this new? No. 
I raised this with the Minister of Housing Mark Gosche—Steve Maharey is the Acting Minister—2 years ago. Landlords in Christchurch were saying beneficiaries were fraudulently taking the accommodation supplement and using it for other purposes and running up rents that they were not paying. Mr Tamihere knew this problem years ago—almost a decade ago—and moved in his private capacity to resolve the issue. He stood here speaking from the heart and said that what is happening with the fiscal policies and strategies of this Government is dumb dumb dumb; and all he gets is told to sit down and shut up or his job is on the line. Then there are the sycophantic few who know he speaks the truth who stand up and spiel that sort of garbage across the House at us and expect us to accept it. 
Labour’s fiscal policy is dumb dumb dumb. What more evidence do I need? Let us look at the police. What are the headlines for the police today? We have the police so well resourced that they now have a backlog of 700 years of leave! Why? Because there are not enough police to allow people to take their leave when they should. What does that do to families? Stress stress stress! Is that a caring sharing Labour Government with a Budget surplus of $2.5 billion? All the nodding puppets sit in Cabinet for fear of Auntie Helen dumping on them and nod their heads and say that yes they will hold the money they will not give money to the police and they will run with being understaffed. The bottom line is that we need more police on the beat. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I am sorry to interrupt my colleague Mr Ron Mark but is it acceptable in this House to refer to the Prime Minister as Auntie Helen? 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No. The member should refer to all members by their correct name. 
RON MARK 
: That is right. That is acceptable. Let us look where money is blown. The “Burns unit”: we saw a headline the other day about the “Burns unit”—that Labour Party candidate from Nelson-Marlborough way. I understand that $300000 to $400000 has been blown in that area and that unit has fallen apart. What is it at the end of the day? It is a unit that Goebbels would have been proud of. It is a propaganda unit designed to sell the message that this Government’s strategic plan is working. Rubbish! It does not. 
Mental health is another area. There is another article on the front page—pull out the paper—“Tiger mauls man who scaled fence”. The second paragraph says that a 29-year-old Wellington man who had a history of psychiatric illness suffered severe lacerations. Psychiatric illness—we talk about a man who has been in the charge of the Wellington Hospital mental health unit. Who is responsible for the care in the community programme? Helen Clark is—the Prime Minister. Do we see them owning up to that? That member knows that the biggest workload that MPs face in their electorates is what—accident compensation mental health? Why is that? Because the money is not being spent in those areas. 
Let me take another headline. We will go further here and take any one that comes—“Lone officer for some prisons”. Why will we now have single officers on duty alone at night in prisons? Because this “Scrooge McDuck” Government will not fund as required. So Labour has a $2.5 billion surplus and is boasting of how wonderfully it is doing. Labour is telling the nation that it has the biggest heart of any political party going that it is managing the economy well. Yet it has one man in there who knows the truth—it is dumb dumb dumb. 
I could go on—and I shall because I have the time to do so. But look at the press release today from Pita Paraone about the wastage of money in—where are we talking about—Northland hospital? 
Hon Member 
: Ngawha. 
RON MARK 
: Yes. Well we could go to Ngawha. This is about the appointment of a second chief executive to a Taranaki public health bureaucracy. We have already got one in the job. We have another one there. But look at Ngawha—that has to be the crowning glory. From $40 million to $140 million— a total waste of money. It is irresponsible economic management. 
Motion agreed to.