Peachey Allan: Budget Debate 
Peachey Allan: Budget Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:11444] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 On 20 May this year the Minister of Finance delivered for the Government the most far-reaching significant Budget in the last 20 or so years. It is a Budget that will impact on this country for many years ahead. Then for a very slight moment in time the nation paused and there was a collective silence—and “collective” is one word that Labour members understand; it is part of the socialist blight that affects their thinking. For a collective moment there was silence and then as the Leader of the Opposition began to speak the nation collapsed into laughter because that leader who incidentally had not asked the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance a question on the Budget until 1 June—today—asked not about a matter of fiscal substance no it was all about the cycleway. 
Let us reflect for a moment on what it is that the Leader of the Opposition and the Labour Party do not have confidence in. They claim not to have confidence in tax reform—the very cornerstone of this Budget. The objective of the Government with this Budget and with the tax reform package is to encourage saving and productive investment. It is to ensure that the tax system finally rewards effort it is to make sure that the tax system is fairer and that it is aimed to attract and retain skilled people. How can Labour not have confidence in a Budget and in a Government that has those objectives? 
Let us have a look at the tax changes for a moment. On incomes up to $14000 the tax rate is cut from 12.5 percent to 10.5 percent. How can the Labour Party not have confidence in that? On income between $14001 and $48000 the tax rate is down from 21 percent to 17.5 percent. How can it be that 250000 New Zealanders on or close to the average wage in the $40000 to $48000 bracket have had in the 18 months of this Government their income tax nearly halved? How can the Labour Party not have confidence in that sort of decision by a Government? 
I hope the list member Carol Beaumont takes her colleagues aside and has a word with them. Ms Beaumont has spent some time in the Glen Innes area of the Tamaki electorate which I have been elected to represent. She will be getting the message which she must convey to her colleagues that the people in those income brackets who used to vote Labour without even thinking about it are no longer interested. The old Labour Party constituency has worked out that the Labour politicians of today have absolutely no interest in their welfare and absolutely no interest in providing them with an opportunity to get ahead. That is where the Labour Party with its vote of no confidence in this Budget has failed its old support base. The list member Ms Beaumont knows that. She has been told that on the streets of the electorate that I represent in this House. It is incumbent upon her to deliver that message to her caucus colleagues. 
Tax on incomes between $48001 and $70000 has been cut from 33 percent to 30 percent and tax on incomes over $70000 is down to 33 percent. I can understand why the Labour Party does not have confidence in that move. The House just has to go back to 1999 to remember how quickly Trevor Mallard and his mates moved to raise the tax rate up to 39 percent. There was no justifiable fiscal or economic reason for that Government to do that. It was sheer vindictive punitive action against people who worked hard and made a success of their lives. That is all it was and it is a tragedy that we have had to come all this way to a Budget in 2010 10 years later before a Government has had the opportunity to redress the balance. 
So we come back to the basic question. What is it that the Labour Party does not have confidence in? It does not it appears have confidence in the ability the commitment and the dedication of New Zealanders to make good choices for themselves with the money that is left in their hands. Let us never forget that taxation is all about denying choice to the people who earn the money and the more that the socialists take from the people the less choice they leave them. 
Let us reflect for a moment on the impact this Budget will have on the homeownership ambitions of our young people. Banks decide whether they will lend on the ability of the potential borrower to repay the loan and service the debt. That is how those decisions are made. So the more money that a Government leaves in the pockets of a young couple the more opportunity that couple has to go to the bank and raise a mortgage to purchase a house. It begs another question: why does the Labour Party not want young New Zealanders to have the ability to own their own homes? The answer is simple: the Labour Party depends on keeping people down and denying them choice and opportunity—denying them the chance to get ahead. 
Moana Mackey 
: That’s a great story grandpa. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Let me just for the moment move to the area of health. There have been major significant increases in health spending. The member who called me grandpa will understand that I am having trouble reading my notes because the old eyesight is not what it used to be. But what I can see from what I have in front of me is a very significant increase in health spending. I would like to take one example of that—an example that is very personal to me. It is now easier and quicker to get treatment for cancer than it has ever been in New Zealand and that is because of the work of this Government this Minister of Finance and this Minister of Health putting the resources where people really need them. 
The same applies to education. There has been a significant increase in expenditure and the great thing that came out of this Budget unlike Labour Budgets was that that increase does not go towards building a huge bureaucracy it is going into things like an increase in the operational grants to schools. I suggest that before Labour members finally put their names to a vote of no confidence in this Budget they should go and talk to a few of the boards of trustees and principals in their electorates. They will get the message that the increase those boards and principals have been given is what they want. I commend the Budget to the House.