Sio Su'a William: General Debate 
Sio Su'a William: General Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20480] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 If I were to ask the previous speaker Steven Joyce how much it costs to buy a 2-litre bottle of milk I doubt that he would have any idea. If I asked him how much it costs to buy a block of cheese to buy a loaf of bread to buy a school uniform or to send a young child to an early childhood education centre he would have no idea whatsoever. 
Every time National is in Government we always get cuts to social spending high debt high unemployment high cost of living and tax cuts for the rich. Who ends up paying for that? It is the working-class population of New Zealand. Low to middle income families that are struggling to make ends meet suffer as a consequence of the failure of that Government to get this economy moving to create jobs and to get people to earn high incomes. The failure of that Government is the reason why many many people in this country are struggling to make ends meet. It is the sad experience of Pacific communities up and down this country and of working-class communities in Mangere. Every time there is a National Government our communities end up suffering the most. 
High unemployment is what we get from this Government. When Labour was in Government we had a minimal unemployment rate of 3 percent. What is it now? It went to 6 percent in 2009 and 7 percent in 2010 and it is now hovering at 6.5 percent. What is the cost of living? The cost of milk has gone up 21 percent petrol prices have risen 20 percent the cost of living has gone up by 5.3 percent and the cost of food by 7.5 percent. It all happened under National’s watch. All we get is empty promises that things will be better around the corner. Well they will not be better around the corner because the Government is again promising failed right-wing economic policies. Somehow by selling off four of our asset companies and selling off Air New Zealand the rest of us will be better off! Two weeks ago the Government released a rich list of New Zealanders. How many workers from my community were on that rich list? None. At a time when this economy is suffering under this Government when people are hard up rich people make quite a bit of money. 
How much did the working-class community get? It got a 1.9 percent increase in overall wages. People earning the minimum wage got 25c. That is this Government’s gift. That is the only thing the Government has been able to achieve for them: a 25c wage increase. What did the rich and wealthy receive? They received the bulk of the tax cuts. Over 42 percent went to the 10 percent who are the highest income earners. People who are supporting this Government people who have worked behind the scenes campaigning its rich mates—those are the people who will benefit from any policy that this Government has to offer. 
All that communities such as ours have heard is empty promises. We heard promises before the election in 2008 that GST would not go up to 15 percent. We got more than just GST going to 15 percent. We got a 21 percent increase on petrol and a 21 percent increase on our fresh fruit and vegetables. That is why the only party that stands for low to middle income families throughout this country is the Labour Party. 
We will increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. That will address the issues that are facing families. We will remove GST from fresh fruit and vegetables and that will help families to get quality food. We will not tax the first $5000 of income. Those are the kinds of policies that resonate with communities such as ours. Every time we have National in Government it is working communities such as ours that suffer. All we have had from this Government is smiles waves and empty promises. We will let it know on 26 November who should be governing this country.