McClay Todd: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
McClay Todd: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16698] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 Kia ora. It is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I start by wishing you Mr Assistant Speaker Barker and all other members of this House a happy New Year. I know that from time to time we can be controversial and confrontational in this Parliament but I hope that all members have been able to spend a bit of time with their families. A member opposite asked whether I had made a New Year’s resolution to be nice to him. He should wait until later on in my speech as I am not absolutely sure that is the case. But I genuinely wish members a good year ahead. 
The previous speaker Su’a William Sio spoke after my talented and hard-working colleague Kanwaljit Bakshi. He was concerned that Mr Bakshi did not mean the things he was saying and that he did not believe in this Government. I can tell him that Mr Bakshi is a hard-working member of this Government. He is out and about all over the country talking to everyday New Zealanders about the challenges they face and what the Government is doing to make their lives better. He is genuine in his support for the things we are doing. I will not show the same discourtesy to Mr Sio and say that he did not believe what he was saying. Sadly he did believe everything that he said. He believes everything that the Labour Party tells him to say which is something for the country to consider. 
The parties in this Parliament this week started this year exactly where they left off last year. The Prime Minister delivered a great statement in this Parliament only 2 days ago. He is a Prime Minister who is positive has drive and determination and is aspirational. The Prime Minister has a job to do and he is focused on getting that job done for New Zealanders in order to build a stronger and sustainable future for all New Zealanders. We on this side of the House are a united team. We are focused on the challenge; we are not shy of it. We are in touch with everyday mums and dads. By the way we have more seats in this Parliament that are held by directly elected MPs—therefore we are in a much better place to know what is going on on the ground. 
Let us compare that situation with what we are seeing from Labour. It is all a bit depressing really. Labour started 2011 as it ended up last year with a leader who is looking unsure and is lacking in confidence. He is more worried about the colour of his hair than about the damage that some of the untested promises he has been making all over New Zealand since the beginning of this year will do to our economy and to New Zealanders. I will talk about his reckless policies a little more in a moment. 
Labour is disillusioned has a lack of direction and is certainly low in the polls. Mr Sio was talking about what will happen on 26 November. I am certainly not one to take anything for granted and I will be working as hard as every other member on this side of the House to make sure New Zealanders know about the importance of their choice on 26 November. But I ask Mr Sio to get in touch with reality a little bit to realise the challenge that is in front of him to stop coasting and to go and look at every single poll over the last year or more. They will tell him what New Zealanders are thinking at the moment rather than what he thinks. 
Mr Sio should get out and talk to New Zealanders. They are concerned. They are worried about their future. They want changes. There is no doubt about that. I say to the members opposite that I do not think New Zealanders are listening to Labour because New Zealanders are extremely intelligent people. 
What have we heard from the Opposition members and their leader Phil Goff in election year? The election plank this year is to spend spend spend and tax tax tax. That is it. We actually heard a lot of that over 9 years before National came into Government but there it is: spend spend spend and tax tax tax. Nothing has changed. A year ago I picked up newspapers and there was Phil Goff riding around on a motorbike apologising to New Zealanders and saying that Labour has learnt and that it wants to re-engage with them. What happens this year? It is the same old stuff that happened over the 9 years Labour was in Government. 
Where will this spending happen in our economy if Labour gets back into Government? Labour is promising a tax-free threshold of $5000 for every working New Zealander at a cost of $1.3 billion. There will be no GST on fruit and vegetables at a cost of $250 million. Labour will not be taking dividends from State-owned power companies. It did not consider not doing that over the 9 years it was in Government but now with desperation in Opposition it says it will not take any dividends from State-owned power companies at a cost of $700 million. 
Funding will be restored for early childhood education Mr Goff said at a cost of $400 million. I guarantee that none of that $400 million will go to Maori and Pasifika children or to the children of New Zealand in low-decile backgrounds who are not engaged in early childhood education. That is not where it will go. I say to the ladies and gentlemen of the public who are listening today that the Labour Party is showing New Zealanders all over the country a sleight of hand. The National Government is spending $1.4 billion on early childhood education this year which is more than has been spent in any other year. Where will the extra $400 million go that Mr Goff has said he will spend? It will not go to the people whose children are not in early childhood education. It will not go there at all. 
A Labour Government would restore research and development tax credits at a cost of $330 million. It would increase paid parental leave to 18 weeks at a cost of $50 million. It would restore full contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund at a time when the country can least afford it at a cost of $2 billion. 
What do all of those figures add up to? Just over $5 billion. It would be $5 billion of extra spending and $5 billion of promises and where would the money come from? Mr Goff said a Labour Government might do something with defence—which would be a one-off change or cut; it would certainly not be continuing—and that it might tighten up on a little bit of tax avoidance. If there were $5 billion worth of tax avoidance in the New Zealand economy at the moment then our hard-working Minister of Revenue and Minister of Finance would have found it by now. 
They are empty promises of lots of spending. That suggests to me that it is nothing more than a desperate wish list to buy votes. We have seen it before with Labour at election after election. Labour members will say anything will promise anything and will commit to spending anything so that Mr Goff can become the Prime Minister of New Zealand and so the members opposite can get better jobs. They are more interested in themselves; they are not interested in this country. That is it: there is no thought at all about financial security for New Zealanders no thought at all about what the extra borrowing will do to interest rates in this country and no thought at all about what will happen to our credit rating. It is just spend spend spend and tax tax tax. Well it did not work 3 years ago. I guarantee that if that is all Labour has New Zealanders have nothing to worry about because it is nowhere near enough to get Labour over the line. 
Conversely what does the National Government have in store for New Zealanders? A clear plan is needed and we are paying more attention to what New Zealanders need. We are building a brighter future for New Zealanders keeping New Zealanders here in this country and giving them a reason to stay here. [ 
Interruption 
] What did I hear from Mrs Chadwick opposite? I do not want to give her any more publicity. She really finds it very difficult to get it herself. 
In the newspaper in Rotorua this week an article had Mrs Chadwick saying that 45000 New Zealanders are leaving New Zealand every week. Let us work that out. How many weeks are in a year? Mrs Chadwick has said that 2.3 million New Zealanders a year are leaving New Zealand. People should look at the article. It was probably a mistake but I draw attention to it because there are lots of mistakes and they mean that the Opposition is not paying enough attention to what is going on. 
The Government will focus this year on achieving two main goals: continuing to build the foundations for a stronger economy so that we have better and more sustainable jobs that will be good for hard-working New Zealanders who want to work in our economy and getting better results from our Public Service. We will hear screaming and yelling about cuts and job losses but this is about taxpayer money being spent on a Civil Service and taxpayers deserving and expecting a return from that spending. They want their money to be used well. They work very hard for it and they want us to be delivering for them. That is where we will see some action. 
Members opposite say there is no plan. Well a 20-minute speech the other day just started to touch on the plan. The plan is to build a world-class infrastructure to help businesses compete in this country to build skills and knowledge to future-proof jobs in this country to help exporters to sell more of their goods to the world at a better price and to give businesses confidence and certainty so that they will invest. It means building upon savings and investment and putting in place some rules to make it easier for New Zealanders to save and invest. There will be more security and they will get more for that investment. 
I could talk about a lot of other things in my 10 minutes such as infrastructure roading and delivering on the provision of broadband. It is all about a better future a stronger economy and a better country to live in. It is about delivering more for the important sector of science and technology so we can be innovative and so that New Zealanders will have better jobs. It is not enough for Labour to say that it is OK for people to have a lack of education or a lower education to have not been given the chances they should have been given. Labour is quite happy about them having low-paying jobs. We want more for New Zealanders. We are driven to make things better for New Zealanders. We will be working in health and education in law and order and for vulnerable children.