Beaumont Carol: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBeaumont Carol: General Debate[Sitting date: 14 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17842. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour): On the eve of the Budget I wish we had a Labour Government and at the next Budget we will. We will be looking at opportunity for all New Zealanders. It will be a Budget that will ensure all New Zealanders can participate to their full potential. But that is not what New Zealand looks like at the moment. On any measure inequality is increasing under this National Government. I find it fascinating to see how sensitive members on the other side are on this issue because they know this to be true. In question time today we saw them all ducking and diving. They do not believe that figure and they do not agree with that figure. Even figures from entirely reputable sources—they do not agree with those figures. Well not only are they out of touch; they are actually trying to hide the facts.I just want to note that on many reputable figures including on OECD measures the evidence is quite clear: New Zealand has high income inequality. In fact Bill English seemed to say as a matter of some pride that even though we are one of the worst for inequality in the OECD we are stable at that position. Well hello that is not good enough. We want to do much much better and we want New Zealand to go back to being a more equal country a country where every New Zealander can get ahead where every child has opportunity. The Prime Minister does not even agree with the figures confirmed by Treasury that 285000 children are living in poverty which is actually 45000 more than when National took office. Of course the Salvation Army scored the National Government a D—a D—on that particular measure. So those figures are there for everybody to see.I want to talk about Auckland. I am a proud Aucklander. I am based in the Maungakiekie electorate and we have seen reports that under National there are two Aucklands. In fact theNew Zealand Heraldtalked about a tale of two cities. It was nottalking about Charles Dickens’ bookA Tale of Two Cities although there may be some parallels there one of the main themes in that book being about social justice. That book talked about two cities: London and Paris. In this case we are talking about within Auckland. The article compared people living in the eastern suburbs—in the Ōrākei area Mission Bay and St Heliers where incomes were up significantly—with those living in Māngere and Ōtāhuhu where incomes have actually fallen. The net effect of that according to the Salvation Army is something like a 19 percent drop for people already on a low income and those people have got an even worse standard of living. That is all under this National Government and that is putting communities under significant stress.I want to reflect on the fact that in the Maungakiekie electorate where I work I can see those inequalities and I am not the only one. If the Government thinks that New Zealanders are not seeing this it is very wrong on that matter. New Zealanders do see it. There was a survey quoted earlier where 75 percent of New Zealanders believed that inequality was increasing. Of course Bill English said: “Well it doesn’t matter what they think. It’s just not right.” Well actually they see it with their own eyes. They see it in terms of family members struggling. They see it in terms of people unable to put food on the table. They see it in terms of their own children unable to even contemplate buying a house. They see it with loan sharks proliferating all around the city of Auckland. Forty-six percent of workers saw no increase in their pay rate in the 12 months to March and yet costs keep going up. That is something the Government wants to try to deny but those figures are correct: 46 percent saw no increase. We need to focus on jobs and we need to focus on lifting wages and that will happen under a Labour Government.Housing is the other big issue. Homeownership is plummeting and that is most pronounced in Auckland. I just want to remind people about the member of Parliament for Maungakiekie the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga. He said that there were 1100 homes under $500000 in Maungakiekie and that $130000 as a deposit was not out of reach. That is how out of touch the National Government is. Those figures are clearly not correct. Those assertions are not correct. Housing is a significant problem. We have senior citizens worried about being chucked out of their houses. I have talked to people with heart problems and with cancer who are being ripped out of their Housing New Zealand properties as we speak. There is a shortage of housing throughout that electorate. Thank you.