Turei Metiria: Budget Debate 
Text is subject to correction 
Turei Metiria: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 31 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2806. Text is subject to correction.] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I am pleased to take the last call today I think for the Budget debate at the end of this Budget time. Research from Otago University has shown that 50 percent of New Zealand families have likely lived below the poverty line for at least 1 year in the last 7 years—50 percent of New Zealand families have lived below the poverty line for at least 1 year in the last 7 years. For all of the MPs here they are families whom you know they are families whom you are related to and they are families who are in your community. They are not just families who are on the lowest incomes but those on middle incomes who are under severe financial strain and only just managing to keep their heads above water.  
Their financial circumstances have now been made considerably worse as a result of John Key’s 2012 Budget. We did some analysis of this and our studies show that in terms of lost income a solo mum of one who is on a benefit who is also working part-time and making her contribution is $5000 worse off today than she was in 2008. A solo mum of one doing her best is $5000 worse off. A typical family with both parents in work and three kids earning around $70000 is $11000 worse off than it was in 2008.  
Chris Hipkins 
: They obviously lack aspiration! 
METIRIA TUREI 
: Ha ha! Well do you know who does not? Do you know who is better off though if you look at the numbers and do the analysis? The top 10 percent earning around $250000 a year are $12000 better off today than they were in 2008. Well lucky them! I want to give you just one more example. A person who is married with a couple of children and who just happens to be getting the Prime Minister’s salary of around $400000 a year is now $19000 better off than they were when they first took the prime ministerial salary in 2008. The Prime Minister is now $19000 better off because of the policies he has put in place.  
And where has that money come from? Where does this $19000 more that he now earns come from? Well it is from that 50 percent of families whom I talked about who are struggling just to keep their heads above water and more families trying to work to pay off their mortgages to take care of their kids to save for their children’s schooling which is getting more and more expensive under this Government and to save for their own retirement—ordinary New Zealand families. They have lost income from the increase in the repayment of student loans they have lost income through the cuts in student allowances for postgraduate study they have lost income from increased early childhood education costs they have lost income from the increased prescription charges and their kids will go to the State schools with less food in their lunch boxes and to classes with fewer teachers. All the burden of National’s economic failures has fallen on to New Zealand families—not just low-income families but those in the middle as well.  
There was one shining light—one shining light—from the Budget I have to say. Thank God for the Greens. If there is one shining light in the Budget it is the home insulation scheme. I want to just touch on that for a moment. The Green Party working first with Labour and then with National has managed to save this country $1.5 billion—that is right $1.5 billion saved—through the home insulation scheme. Eighteen deaths have been prevented as a result of the home insulation scheme—18 old people who would otherwise have died from respiratory illness caused or exacerbated by cold homes are still alive because of the Greens’ home insulation scheme. The scheme has been so cost-effective—and it is getting cheaper all the time—that the original Budget allocation made in 2008 is now enough to extend the scheme for nearly a year into 2014 and from 180000 homes insulated to 230000 new homes insulated. This is a programme for families that keeps their costs down that keeps their homes warm that keeps kids and their grandparents healthy and that saves the taxpayer $1.5 billion.  
It is also true that the Budget has failed to allocate any more money for the scheme and we want to work with the community with business with councils with community organisations and with families asking them to work with me and the Minister of Housing Phil Heatley to find a way that we can extend or expand the scheme and keep it rolling until every house in this country is warm dry and safe for our kids.  
A Government makes choices about what it values. It demonstrates those values above all else in how it spends public money. The 2012 Budget makes some very stark choices. John Key has chosen to give tax cuts to the wealthy which cost about $800 million or $700 million a year; to subsidise the agricultural sector through the emissions trading scheme which costs around $1 billion a year; and to spend $14 billion on unnecessary roads over the next period. So who is missing out on all this largesse from John Key and his Government? Kids are missing out. Babies are missing out.  
You know I wonder what Hekia Parata was thinking when she took her Budget paper to Cabinet. I think she was thinking that she was going to get the prize for head girl in Cabinet that she would turn up to Cabinet with this vicious set of cuts to the education Budget and proud of it she would get a big old clap on the back and be told: “Well done Hekia you good girl.” “Good news.” she said to this House with her education cuts. I wonder whether she saw the long tail of underachievement in the education sector and in an attempt to deal with it took out a big giant pair of scissors and just chopped it off—chopped it off and moved on leaving those kids behind. What she has done with her Budget cuts is strip money out of the public schooling system and put it into the private schooling system. So there will be much bigger class sizes for kids who are in the State schools in order to make sure that there are still very small class sizes in the private schools.  
We have had cuts from education and advice on the prevention of child abuse from community support services for families and from the housing budget. This has been a zero-hope Budget but the Green Party has a plan for a smart compassionate economy. This Government has made choices. John Key has made choices about where he will spend Government money and those choices ignore those most in need. But the Green Party makes choices and will make choices about the spending of public money that reflect our values and our choices. The Green Party chooses families. The Green Party chooses children. We make no apology that we put children at the heart of everything we do and we will continue to do so. This is a zero-hope Budget and there is zero hope for families but there will be a time when this Government will look back and see that this was a zero Budget for it and not for our community. Thank you.