Bennett David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Bennett David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:662;Page:10739] 
2. 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What will be the main focus of the Budget on 20 May? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 The Budget will be about the many not the few. [ 
Interruption 
] But seriously New Zealand has come through the recession in reasonable shape and the Budget will focus squarely on building the recovery so New Zealanders can get ahead. It will set out a credible plan to achieve faster and more sustainable economic growth after 9 years of the economy underperforming under the previous Labour Government. 
David Bennett 
: How will the Budget help hard-working New Zealand families get ahead? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Budget will focus on two things that will help hard-working New Zealand families get ahead. There will be a reform of the tax system so that it will be fairer and will provide the right incentives for good choices for the economy. It will also focus on getting better value for the large amount of taxpayers’ money spent on public services and that will include getting rid of ineffective programmes left over from the last Government and redirecting that spending to high-priority programmes. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: When the Minister said that the Budget would be about the many not the few did he mean the many increases in costs New Zealanders can expect in addition to increasing taxes on all the basics increasing the costs of university and polytech increasing the costs of childcare and increasing the costs of home help; and when will we get a Budget focused on creating jobs? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I meant the many people who are relieved that the dreadful economic management of Labour has come to an end at just the time when New Zealand needs competent economic management to get through this recession. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member was obviously indicating to me that I should have objected to the Minister’s answer but when he asked the Minister what he meant he inserted a whole lot of statements. The Minister answered with what he meant and the member may not have liked it particularly. 
David Bennett 
: How are early signs of economic recovery being reflected in the latest labour market trends? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: A couple of trends are evident. Firstly it appears unemployment is approaching a peak. We are not quite sure whether it has reached it yet. Secondly official statistics confirmed this week show that the number of hours worked by New Zealanders is picking up. Total hours worked increased by 1.1 percent in the latest March quarter. That is one of the reasons unemployment will fall only slowly. Many New Zealanders took a cut in hours in order to get through the recession and now the economy is picking up they will increase their hours of work rather than new jobs necessarily being created immediately. 
David Bennett 
: What kinds of economic policies would threaten New Zealand’s recovery and destroy jobs? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The biggest threat to our recovery would be policies that featured a mix of soaring debt higher taxes and never-ending Budget deficits. That is precisely the scenario that the National Government inherited in late 2008 before the global financial crisis. It is unfortunate that those remain the policies of the Labour Party.