Guy Nathan: Budget Debate 
Guy Nathan: Budget Debate 
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Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 I wish to take a call on the Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill which covers the recent Budget. Before I do this is the appropriate time for me to acknowledge my colleague the Hon John Carter who will be giving his valedictory this evening. He is a Minister a former Government whip and indeed a good bloke. We wish him well in his new chosen career in the Cook Islands. 
We will miss his humour around this place. We have heard plenty of stories. We will miss his wisdom. When I came into Parliament in 2005 he shared an office close to mine in the old parliamentary building. He taught me a few tricks. We now share the same level in Bowen House. I know that the Parliamentary Rugby Team will sorely miss the prowess of the Hon John Carter in the scrum on the side of the scrum at half back or wherever he chooses to play in the future. I have no doubt that he will be opening up invitations to the Cook Islands and we wish him all the very best. 
I also acknowledge today Craig Foss whom the Prime Minister has announced as the new Minister to take over from Minister Carter. We wish him well. Mr Foss came in and stole the Tukituki seat from the Labour Party in Hawke’s Bay. He has worked tremendously well with his parliamentary colleague Chris Tremain the senior Government whip in backing the Bay. He is a proven performer in the Finance and Expenditure Committee and he will make a huge contribution in his new role. We wish him all the very best. The House should know also that Mr Foss’ parents are fine constituents of the Otaki electorate. I welcome him to level 6 of Bowen House. 
More important John Carter has sat in this House for 24 years—almost a quarter of a century—and he has never seen such a woeful Opposition. He has been in Opposition but it has never been as woeful as the current Opposition. This Opposition is more focused on the size length and style of carpet in Premier House and how many pails of paint are being used on that historic building. This Opposition is more focused on Helen Clark’s purchase of the BMWs and more on the air transportation that the fine Rt Hon John Key chooses to get around in in his important role as Prime Minister of this country. 
Su’a William Sio 
: Talk about the Budget. 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: I will talk about the Budget in a moment but it is important that I lead into Labour’s woeful performance in this House. We talk about Labour and Phil Goff still struggling to connect with New Zealanders. It is no wonder when we hear him every day on the stumps talking about things that are not at all relevant to getting the economy moving. We look forward to the Labour Party no doubt running more on the texts from New York. I wonder whether Phil Goff will receive texts from Chris Carter; he may choose not to. 
We know that Labour is in disarray. We have heard in Labour members’ speeches—I have sat here for a couple of hours this afternoon—that their focus is more on spend and hope. They have no plan. They are talking about releasing their Budget in due course and we wait with bated breath. All we hear from members on that side of the House is that we should spend more. In fact it is very hard for the Labour Opposition to criticise this Budget. 
Coming into the election campaign Labour is likely to look to tax businesses on revenue and not on profit. We know that Stuart Nash is focused on that. We have also heard in recent times in response to the Budget that Labour members are very keen to bring agriculture into the emissions trading scheme. 
Hon Member 
: Early. 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: Indeed—bring agriculture in early. We have worked out that that will cost every farmer in New Zealand—every cocky in this country—about $35000 to $40000. Of course right now we know that we are relying heavily on the rural sector of New Zealand. Why on earth would Labour want to bring agriculture into the emissions trading scheme early when we know that the price of milk will go up? Those members are complaining about that now. We know that the price of bread the price of eggs and the price of meat will go up because Labour wants to bring agriculture into the emissions trading scheme early. It makes no sense at this point in time. 
We have also heard from Labour members that they want the first $5000 of earnings to be tax-free. That policy would not be targeted; everyone would get it—everyone. It would not be targeted at all. It would be about 10 bucks on average per week. When our Government chooses to increase the minimum wage to 13 bucks an hour—which is on average an increase of about 10 bucks a week—we hear from the other side of the House that no way is that enough. No way was that increase enough we heard from the Labour Opposition. Yet it is fine for them to roll out a stupid policy that is not targeted which would make the first 5000 bucks a year tax-free for those hard-working New Zealanders. 
We have also heard recently that Labour wants to increase the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Of course we all want to head in that direction over time but it will take us on this side of the House a bit of time to turn round the economy. Why on earth would Labour come out right now and say it will increase the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour when we would see from every Work and Income New Zealand office up and down the country a total of 6000 extra unemployed in 2011 from this daft policy? 
Let us focus on some positive things we have done in this Budget. I acknowledge the fine work of our Minister of Finance Bill English. He has worked tirelessly with Treasury and his Cabinet colleagues to deliver a pragmatic Budget. I also acknowledge the fine work of our Prime Minister up and down the country. He is out there selling this Budget to hard-working New Zealanders. This is a solid and pragmatic Budget that will turn this economy round. It is not a spend and hope wish such as we see from the other side of the House. This Budget is focused on turning this economy round. It will get us into surplus quicker by about 12 months. It will reduce debt. It is focused on rebuilding Christchurch; it put $5.5 billion extra into Christchurch. There will be 170000 new jobs created over the next 4 years as a result of this Budget. There will be 4 percent economic growth in the next 12 months as a result of this Budget. 
Everyone agrees that the changes at the top end to Working for Families needed to be made. The changes to KiwiSaver will get us on to sure footing for the future. It makes no sense for this Government to borrow to save at this point in time. In terms of the mixed-ownership model mums and dads will be at the front of the queue. There will be savings across the State sector of close to $1 billion over the next 3 years. The tax reform means that 73 percent of hard-working New Zealanders now pay 17.5 percent tax. Is that not fantastic for hard-working New Zealanders? 
It is interesting that this Budget has been so well received. When I looked at the  
Kapiti Observer 
 I saw that its reporters went out into Coastlands which is a fine shopping place for anyone who wants to come and spend money in my electorate on the weekend. The reporters did a little vox pop in Coastlands. One lady Bev Coxon said: “I feel that they haven’t gone quite far enough with slashing some things”. Leon McDonald is a worker; he said: “something has to be done” and that Christchurch needs some help in its rebuild. Paulen St John thought that the Government tackled the right areas: “I reckon John Key is doing a good job”. Caroline Kinvig said: “I think something’s got to be done. We can’t keep borrowing money without putting something back. That’s just ordinary economics.” Finally David Nokes said: “In general I think it’s a good idea I’ve got nothing against what they have done.” That is support from the people in my electorate. 
Congratulations and all the best to John Carter. 
Debate interrupted.