King Annette: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
King Annette: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2481. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai) 
: 
 I had to get to my feet when I looked at this part of legislation that we are passing today under urgency. I had to do it because this is the bright light of the Budget! This is the light at the end of the tunnel for us all this particular clause and that is why we are sitting here on Friday morning under urgency changing a major mistake by National. This was the dopey idea of Steven Joyce his dopey idea that was going to see wonderful things happen for students. They were going to pay back their loans faster and New Zealand was going to be much better off. So I could not avoid speaking on it when it is such a significant piece of legislation. Actually it is one great big fat U-turn by this Government. I mean Anne Tolley the then Minister of Education said “How could you vote against such a measure?”. Then you read some of the other comments. I would like to read Louise Upston’s. I am sure it has been read many times but it does deserve another reading. She said: “This bill is a significant step to encourage student loan repayment and more important to reduce the overall repayment times. The message very clearly is our young people will be debt-free sooner”. Well is that true? Has that happened? Of course it has not and Labour told National at the time that it would not happen.  
As for the Minister in the chair the Minister of Revenue who has been sent here to clean up Steven Joyce’s mess this is what he had to say: “I say to the House that this is a significant incentive for students to pay their loans earlier. I cannot fathom why anyone would oppose the introduction of such an incentive.” Well I hope Peter Dunne has had the good grace to stand up on his hind legs and tell this Committee he made a mistake. I know that it would be rare for that Government to admit a mistake but perhaps Peter Dunne would like to do that on behalf of Steven Joyce.  
You see the sad thing about this Budget is that this is the bright spot of the Budget because when you look at everything else you might as well say “Kiss your kids goodbye Kiwis.” I have to say that that is not just a slogan because last night up in Kaikohe 600 people gathered for a meeting the biggest meeting in 40 years to see what jobs were available—where? In Australia. Six hundred people gathered to see whether they could get a job in Australia. And there are three more meetings to be held: two up in Kaitaia and one just north of Whangarei. So people are looking to go elsewhere. Why? Because they are not getting a good deal from this Government. They are lining up to go to South Australia New South Wales Queensland and Western Australia. Why? Why stay and study here? If you do not believe what we are saying why not look at some of the response today from young people around New Zealand.  
What really gets to me is the fact that we are told that this Budget is called “Investing in our future”. It is not a brighter future now; we are now investing in our future. [ 
Interruption 
] Well where do you start Sam? Where do you start? You start with your kids. You start with your young people and you invest in those young people to ensure they have the skills to build a great country. That is what our grandparents did. That is what our parents did. They invested in us and that is what we as parents have done for our kids. But not this Government! They have penalised young people. And what do people want to do? They want to go to Australia because they will get a better deal there. I think it is a real shame that this Government cannot recognise that when you look to the long term you would have been investing in young people’s education from early childhood. You do not freeze early childhood education; you invest more into it to give them a good start. You invest in good class sizes not small sizes for private schools only where some of our members send their children. You invest in all children and you invest in their tertiary education.  
Some of us were lucky enough to get tertiary education where we were paid to study. Some of us were lucky enough to go to university where it did not cost as much at all. We would have thought if you were going to invest in a brighter future or just even invest in a future you would invest in our young people and our students. So I have to say this is the only bright spot. This is the light at the end of the tunnel. Well done! You made a mistake and now you are admitting it.