Swain Paul: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Swain Paul: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1603] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 For those who did not know that was Rodney Hide the leader of the ACT party. The first part of his speech sounded to me very like the kind of gobbledygook recipe he dished up to the people in Fiji. Many of the people who went and listened to him in Fiji came away losing millions of dollars. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: Poorer. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: They were the poorer for it. That is the kind of gobbledygook nonsense that that member constantly dishes up in this House and he then has the cheek to lecture Michael Cullen and the Labour-led Government which has turned round economic growth from very low figures to an average of around 4 percent for the last 6 years which is well ahead of the OECD average. Rodney Hide used to believe in “values not politics”. Do members remember that? Roger Douglas did some good things and some not so good things but I do think he was a principled person. When he was starting the ACT party he talked about “values not politics”. What he was trying to say was that people were interested in hearing about the big issues; they were not interested in the sleaze and the character assassination with which Rodney Hide has made his mark. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: It’s his trademark. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: That is right—it is his trademark. He thinks that that is the way to build the party. That is why the party’s support is down that is why it now has only two members and that is why its coffers have dried up—because it has nothing to do with values; it is all to do with sleaze. Rodney Hide thinks that that is the way to build a party and of course he is wrong. That is basically why he is inconsequential to the proceedings of this House. 
The Budget Policy Statement sets out— 
Rodney Hide 
: Tell us about David Benson-Pope! Why won’t Benson-Pope take an interview? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The point about that comment of course is that the member realises that during the entire 10 minutes he had to speak he made not one policy statement on behalf of ACT—not one new idea not one new thought and not one constructive suggestion. That is why the ACT party and Rodney Hide are irrelevant to this debate. 
The Budget Policy Statement sets out the broad strategic priorities that the Government is guided by in preparing the Budget. The three broad themes the Government is pursuing are economic transformation families—young and old—and the importance of national identity. There is not sufficient time to go into all the huge measures the Government either has begun or wants to proceed with over the next 3 years but I will mention a few. 
The growth in employment figures is an outstanding spectacular success with growth rates that have been the envy of the OECD. Unemployment is the lowest it has been for decades but the job is not finished. We recognise that growth will soften—there is no question about that—as we go into this phase of the economic cycle but we are pursuing a number of measures. One is the Superannuation Fund which is now such a huge success. National members opposed that at one stage until they realised they had to jump horse very quickly or they would be in trouble. 
Another success is in the area of skills training. The Government has resurrected the apprenticeship system that was killed off by Bill Birch in the 1990s. The tax changes for small business which have just gone through the Finance and Expenditure Committee are very very positive for small-business development. We have also worked on productivity which the Budget Policy Statement says will improve. 
The second theme is the whole issue of families with the Working for Families package and the announcements made prior to the election. The Government is now well on track to expand those measures giving more opportunities to families. 
The third theme is the issue of national identity which this Government has taken really seriously—led of course by the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage who happens to be the Prime Minister who has put a real focus on arts fashion design film and all of those things New Zealanders do well. And of course we are having some huge successes in sport including the magnificent performance of the Hurricanes. I have a feeling that this will be their season. 
I want to compare that with the National Party. It is hard to get a single policy out of National at the moment. We have had a huge number of flip-flops. I do not want to flog the nuclear policy any more because everybody knows that the National Party does not know what it stands for or what its policy is on that issue. So I will not even bother with that; that would be like flogging a dead horse. Then we had the flip-flop on superannuation. 
Those members have also fallen into the trap of focusing on personal attacks and character assassination and it is really sad. I have been in this place about 16 years and I have never known Parliament to stoop to the low levels it has been stooping to lately. I am sad about that because the situation will become worse. The real point is that we have always been able to keep away from that sort of thing but it will become worse and members opposite will have to start thinking about the things they have done in their past that may well come forward in this House. So I think a few of them will be sweating. The problem is that people who live by the sword by and large die by it. 
I think that the problem with National Party members talking about or even trying to reflect on what their policy might be is that they are sounding like a stuck old seventy-eight. It is the same old policy: they want tax cuts—huge tax cuts—at a time when the economy is starting to slow and they want to spend more. All National members of Parliament want to spend more. I have one such member close to my electorate. John Hayes the member for Wairarapa wants to build a tunnel through the Rimutakas. Of course he has no idea how to fund it or what other projects might go by the wayside. National members just want to do whatever they like say whatever they like and borrow more. We heard this morning that the National Party is quite happy to give up on the debt target this Government has set. Those members would have tax cuts of huge amounts borrow heaps and spend more—and that is why no one takes them seriously. 
Don Brash in his speech lamented the fact of the income gap between Australia and New Zealand. He forgot to point out of course that the labour market in Australia is much more regulated than New Zealand’s and that workers there have been able to take a bigger dividend from the growth that has come about. What the leader of the National Party wants to be able to do of course is say that we should deregulate the labour market more. National thinks that somehow that will solve the problem. Of course it will not. The National Party still believes that 4 weeks’ leave is an outrage even though Australia has had it for about 30 years. That is one of the reasons why this Labour-led Government has introduced it. 
But I think the problem with National Party members is that they are still obsessed with the leadership race and I am obliged to tell those punters where things are at since last week. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: Give us some tips. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Well I think that Don Brash has slipped back a bit. He has gone from $1.30 to $1.40 because he has become involved in sleaze and because of his inability to recall the deal with the Exclusive Brethren. With John Key there is no change; he is on $1.50. Bill English has gone from $1.80 to $2 because he has become involved in sleaze. He knows that that is not the way to do it so he has slipped backwards. Money is coming off him at the moment so people are watching him closely to see whether he will keep on with that. If he keeps away from doing that I reckon his odds will shorten again and he will be back to more like $1.70. Gerry Brownlee has gone out to $8. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: $8? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes—$8. I think he has gone way out to that. But of course he has been handicapped by his past and we do not want to talk about that. But he is carrying quite a lot of weight in that department and I would say he is out to $8. Simon Power is on $3.50 I would say. That is where he is. I think that some of the money that is on him will probably go to one of the other contenders—probably to John Key towards the end. But there is still that big tussle going on at the moment at the TAB between Key English and Brash with Brash to be fair with his nose out in front. Then of course there is Tim Groser. If one had a hundred bucks one would put it on Tim Groser. He is paying $100. That would be a great return; that would be a real roughie. It would be a great return at $100-odd. If I had a hundred bucks I would slip it on there because we never know what will happen before they get to the finish line. 
So the National Party is concerned about leadership. What the Labour Government is concerned about is economic transformation families young and old and national identity and that is what the people of New Zealand want to hear about.