Ross Jami-Lee: Debate on Budget Policy StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoss Jami-Lee: Debate on Budget Policy Statement[Sitting date: 11 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2139. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany): That was an embarrassment. That member David Clark—supposedly the great economic hope for the Labour Party—just gave a Budget Policy Statement speech going over everything that is unrelated to the Budget. What Labour wants to run is its stock-standard attack lines which are meaningless and which New Zealanders do not agree with. If that is what a PhD stands for in the Labour Party I do not have great hope for the next Labour Government in about 10 years’ time.When one listens to the Deputy Prime Minister—the Minister of Finance—giving a speech on the Budget Policy Statement and also when one listens to him in the Finance and Expenditure Committee the public can see that this economy is in good shape. It is in safe hands. It is in the hands of a Minister of Finance and a Prime Minister who are helping to grow this economy who are helping to get more jobs for New Zealanders. They are ensuring that there are more people able to put food on the table at home able to get their kids better educated able to support their families when they need it. I am proud of the fact that we have a Minister of Finance of the calibre of the Hon Bill English.The speeches from the other side of the House so far are proving that those members just are not fit to govern are not fit to hold the Treasury benches and deliver a Budget Policy Statement of their own.Dr David Clark: How many surpluses?JAMI-LEE ROSS: When Mr David Clark—doctor sorry. Dr David Clark—I do not believe it. I find it hard to believe he is a doctor. But when Dr David Clark was giving his speech earlier he had this interesting conundrum. He was talking about his view that supposedly the Government cut services but at the same time he yapped on and on in this House about the Government borrowing money. Which is it? You cannot have it both ways. The fact of the matter is that when the Labour Government was going out of office this economy had already gone into recession before National took the Treasury benches. The only reason this Government had to borrow more was to maintain important services for New Zealand after the Labour Government allowed the economy to go into recession. If Labour members want to stand in this House and want to talk about borrowing then they should start to look at themselves in the mirror because they let the economy go into recession before we came into Government.They also want to talk a lot about ACC at the moment. Let us put some facts back on the table. When the Labour Government left office it left a $4.8 billion shortfall in the ACC accounts. This Government had to clean up their mess. This Government had to step in and take action. But if the argument from the Labour Party is that the Government should always listen to the advice from the ACC board about what to do with levies let us look at what would have been the case in 2010. In 2010 the Government increased the earners levy by 30c. If we had listened to the Labour Party and taken the advice of the ACC board which recommended a $1.10 increase in the earners levy then New Zealanders would have faced an earners levy increase almost four times what this Government actually increased it by.When it comes to the motor vehicle levy which we had to increase by $47 if we followed the Labour Party’s advice which is to always listen to the ACC board we would have been putting it up by $100—more than double what it actually went up by. If we had listened to what the Labour Party wanted on ACC after it left a big black hole in those accounts then New Zealanders would have seen huge costs mounting up alongside them. That would have been unacceptable. So I do not believe the Labour Party has any credibility when it comes to ACC. It should stop preaching about that.This Budget Policy Statement follows on from a number of Budget Policy Statements and a number of Budgets delivered by this Government that are leading to high growth more jobs and better health and education services for New Zealanders. I think New Zealanders look at Governments and ask how they are going to help to create economic settings to create more jobs in the economy. We are delivering economic settings that lead to more jobs. We are delivering more jobs in the economy.Northland happens to be a topic of conversation right now in this Parliament and around the country. Well 7500 New Zealanders in Northland right now have gained jobs in the last year. Jobs are an issue that we are happy to talk about at any time because in New Zealand more people are employed—7500 more employed in Northland. When the statistics department sent out the press releases about growth in regions earlier today Northland was one of the stand-out examples of growth taking place in the regions. There was 7.8 percent growth in Northland in the last year. When the Labour Party gets up and talks about Northland going backwards and when the new lapdog for the Labour Party the Rt Hon Winston Peters gets up and talks about Northland going backwards they are absolutely wrong. It is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. We are proud of that. We are proud of the fact that we are able to talk about that story in the by-election that is coming forward. The economy has improved a huge amount and New Zealanders are seeing the benefits of that.I also want to talk about transport briefly as we consider the Budget Policy Statement and how this Government spends money on behalf of New Zealanders. Transport is such a vital aspect of what the Government can do to provide better infrastructure for New Zealanders. We are proud of the fact that up in Northland the Pūhoi to Wellsford roading project a vital link for Northland is going to be going ahead under our watch. Just yesterday we announced further funding for example for the Waikato Expressway. An extra $1 million is going towards that project.I am an Auckland MP. I am proud of the fact that we are working to accelerate about $10 billion worth of projects in the Budget for Auckland. Those vital transport links help to create jobs. They help business to move goods and services they help employees get to work and they help everyday New Zealanders. On the transport matter and particularly when we are talking about Auckland as a local MP I just want to make a point with regard to transport projects in Auckland. The Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative is an initiative that the Prime Minister outlined in a speech he made a couple of years ago about transport priorities as the No. 2 project that the Government is working on in Auckland. We are working to put together a package that will allow us to assist the Auckland Council to speed up the construction of that project. Right now the Auckland Transport Agency is looking to make some devastating changes to that project. As local MPs I Maurice Williamson and other MPs who would see their electorates benefit from that project will be working hard to fight against what the Auckland Transport Agency and the Auckland Council are doing on that. As a priority for Auckland and a priority for this Government transport is right up there and we are proud of that fact.I know that the Labour Party members do not like listening to speeches on the Budget Policy Statement in this House after it has been delivered by our Minister of Finance and our Government. That is because they do not have a record that stacks up to scrutiny when it comes to their promises. Let us just remember every time they talk about debt every time they talk about deficits that the Labour Party promised $28 billion of extra spending under any Budget it delivered. [Interruption] Mr Parker who is squawking at the moment was the finance spokesperson for—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order!JAMI-LEE ROSS: Well he is.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to check that on the basis of that response to my interjections my earlier interjections will be recorded as they ought to be in Hansard. Could you please rule on that Mr Assistant Speaker.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): If it is the normal practice for interjections like that to cause the recording of the comments they will be recorded. It was clear that there was an out-of-order response from Jamie-Lee Ross.JAMI-LEE ROSS: I apologise if I have hurt someone’s feelings. In terms of the interjections from Mr Parker who is going on at the moment and has been going on about debt as have other members of the Labour Party when they come to talking about debt they should think about the extra spending they were promising at the last election of $28 billion combined with the Green Party and New Zealand First left-wing block—[Interruption] Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.