Goff Phil: General Debate 
Goff Phil: General Debate 
[Volume:665;Page:12755] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 The Government confirmed in the House this afternoon in question time that the wage gap between New Zealand and Australian workers has widened significantly. We put up a figure provided by the Parliamentary Library to show that the wage gap between New Zealand workers and Australian workers had increased by over $50 a week. John Key came back with the best-massaged figures that he could find and even his figures tabled in the House on request showed that the gap had risen by $23 per week for the average worker since the election. This is the same John Key who went to this country before the last election and promised that the fundamental purpose of his Government would be to close that wage gap. On his own admission today he has failed. 
Not only will those workers find that they are more than $50 a week further behind their Australian counterparts but on 1 October this year each one of those workers will be paying 50 percent more in consumption tax than their Australian counterparts despite the fact that Gerry Brownlee and John Key promised this country there would be no rise in GST. They broke that promise. They broke their word. For the sake of the next speaker who will try to tell us that income tax has been cut I say that that is true for Cabinet Ministers. They will be paying 33c in the dollar while their Australian counterparts are paying 45c. That is for Cabinet Ministers. Ordinary working New Zealanders on or below the average wage will continue to pay more tax than their Australian counterparts. New Zealanders have a widening gap with Australia in wages pay 50 percent more in consumption tax and still pay more in income tax than their Australian equivalents. 
We have heard all sorts of rhetoric from National about how it was going to close the gap. Gerry Brownlee came into the House and said that he had had a great idea for a step change. The Government was going to dig up our national parks. What a shambles! That Minister was absolutely humiliated last week—absolutely humiliated. His job is under threat. Members should have no doubt that his job is under threat and he is an underperformer in that Cabinet. But there are a lot of those which may help him. 
What about the Job Summit? The Job Summit was to produce a whole lot more jobs but what did we get? We got almost nothing—nothing. The Australians produce jobs; the Job Summit failed. Then of course there were the other bright ideas by John Key such as New Zealand as a world financial services hub and New Zealand partnered by the Chinese to deliver broadband. What happened to those ideas? Where have those ideas gone? They were gone by lunchtime. Then there was the 2025 Taskforce which was supposed to close the gap. The day that its report was announced it was dumped in another shambles by this Government. 
All of those things show that there is no plan. There is no plan to close the gap; the gap is widening. The Government has failed. Don Brash the former National Party leader said that. He said that on its current policy track the Government will not close the gap. Then there is Alan Bollard; he is a neutral public servant. He said that that sort of posturing from the National Government was “unrealistic”. That was the politest word he could use. 
The difference between Labour and the National Party is that Labour has a plan. We have a plan for skill training because we know that we need to upskill New Zealanders their capacity and their productivity. We will not be locking out 5000 students from tertiary education as this Government has over the last couple of weeks. We will not be running down the apprenticeship system as National is again. Labour has a plan to invest in research and development because we know that we need a smart economy. Australia has increased investment in research and development by 25 percent; this Government cut the 15 percent tax credit for research and development. It dumped the $700 million Fast Forward fund. This Government has failed on every front. It has no plan. New Zealanders deserve better.