Flavell Te Ururoa: Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13810] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker Roy. Kia ora tatou katoa. Unfortunately my colleague Rahui Katene had to get back to her home and her whanau tonight so I add to the comments that she made to the House in opening the debate on the Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill. 
I say from the very start that there is no politics in this particular bill. This bill was on the agenda at the last election in terms of our platform as a Maori Party. It was ahead of any discussion in respect of what the National Party might do with GST. At the heart of it it is motivated by the factors that my colleague Rahui set out at the very start. The first is a real desire to help those who are struggling in respect of paying the bills and looking after their whanau and families. On the back of that by taking off GST from healthy foods in particular—and that it is healthy foods is deliberate—we might not only enable tamariki and whanau to have good food but also in the end contribute to the longer discussion on the health of New Zealanders across the board. Sure in our view the bill is aimed towards Maori but that is in the belief that what is good for Maori is good for everyone. I congratulate Rahui on taking on this bill for us as a party. 
I cannot help but refer to the bailing out of South Canterbury Finance which we debated in the House today. The amount paid out to the investors of South Canterbury Finance—according to our figures at least—is equal to $405 for every man woman and child in Aotearoa. What we are talking about with this GST bill is equivalent to a mere $38 for every man woman and child in Aotearoa. It hardly bears comparison. 
Removing GST from healthy food is a key Maori Party platform as I said and there are many reasons for that. The health impact is immediate; frankly we are not by a long shot winning the battle of the bulge. New Zealand’s obesity ranking is third out of the 31 OECD countries. We trail behind only the United States and Mexico. At its most serious 8000 preventable deaths a year are related to poor nutrition and obesity and there will be a rising cost of $1.3 billion in the next few years for type 2 diabetes alone. 
One of the most ironic factors setting the scene for this bill is that it can cost a lot to be healthy. Members should just look at the supermarket trolleys these days. The fruit and veges are rapidly allocated to the too-costly basket while the unhealthy items such as noodles a bottle of Coke or a packet of biscuits are far cheaper to stock up on. 
I remind members of the reality of poverty and say to the House that it is easy enough to rattle out the statistics. Twenty-seven percent of Maori children live in poverty and 150000 children are categorised as being in severe or significant hardship. The estimated cost of child poverty is about $2.8 billion. The greater question is how any nation can afford not to eliminate poverty and not to do all it can to invest in the health and well-being of its people. 
We are really proud of this bill and its challenge to the Government to exempt healthy foods from the goods and services tax. We believe that a responsible Government would encourage the purchase of healthy food and would make it possible for all people to benefit from fresh fruit and veges; to enjoy the luxury of lean meat poultry and seafood; and to have a bottle of milk in the fridge. It does not have to be difficult. It is hard to understand why a Government that is so committed to trans-Tasman relations is so reluctant to learn from Australia’s experience and the computerised model the Australian Taxation Office has developed to make it easy to take the tax off. The Australian tax experience has streamlined the process to make it simple for small businesses. 
To sum up for the minimal cost of $38 per person we can save billions of dollars in the health spend. We can do it tomorrow without too much difficulty. In doing so we would be investing in the long-term health of the nation. I will end with a simple question that was posed by Gordon Campbell in his article “Everywhere else countries recognise the need to exempt food from GST”. He asked: “The question then is not why do it—but why not do something so easy so readily manageable by business so justifiable on grounds of social justice and so likely to deliver practical health benefits to the community?”. That is the question. 
If this bill does not make it through tonight we will be raising this matter again as an ongoing issue to support those who are struggling.