Shearer David: Budget Statement — Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Budget Statement — Budget Debate[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10027. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition): This is a blackjack Budget. This is a Budget where Bill English holds all the cards but has stacked the deck against ordinary hard-working New Zealanders. It is a game of winners and losers and those who lose out are the millions of Kiwis slogging their guts out every day. Those people are the backbone of this country and the engine of our economy and they deserve a Government that is better than this. Do not get fooled by the scraps that are falling off the table in this Budget. This is and always has been a Government for vested interests for casino giants for movie moguls for investment bankers and sharebrokers and for big noters self-promoters and National Party no-hopers. If there was any doubt about that we see today that Mighty River Power executives are getting $1.2 million in share bonuses—just a few hours ago. That is whom this Government stands for. That is why I move an amendmentThat all the words after “That” be omitted and substituted with the words: “this House has no confidence in the National-led Government because it has failed to deliver on its promises and because it has put vested interests ahead of the interests of hardworking New Zealanders.”This is not a Budget for the people. It is certainly not a Budget for the couple that I know of who are approaching 40 with two kids who still cannot get into their own home—afford their own home—because they do not have parents who can stump up with the deposit. That is becoming the way and the only way you can get into house ownership in Auckland. I know another family whose soccer fees are $100 for each kidwhich means that only the eldest of their three will get to play this season. These are parents who are well educated who are hard-working but who no longer believe that things are going to get better for them because under this Government all they have seen are broken promises. They have been let down by what has become a game show Government with host John Key glamorous assistants John Banks and Peter Dunne and together you will see them on your TV screens at night hosting “Fire Sale of the Century”. On “Fire Sale of the Century” everything is up for sale: farmland Mighty River Power Genesis Meridian Energy Air New Zealand labour laws gambling licences—you name it. It has all got to go.We have even hadDeal or No Deal with special guests of course Skycity. Big prizes are on offer. We have got hundreds of new pokies gaming tables and a one-time-only 35-year extension to a gambling licence if you happen to know the right people—if you happen to know the right people. To the taxpayer what do we get? Well we get a convention centre—except that Skycity still owns that as well. And it does not stop there. John Banks takes over the showWould I Lie to You and he is playing it as an in-court special. Peter Dunne stars in the ultimateSurvivor. Sometimes he outplays; he never outwits but somehow he always seems to outlast.Behind this game show there is actually a very tough and serious reality in our country. I have criss-crossed this country over the last year meeting thousands of people. They are decent people and they cannot understand why when they are doing everything right when they are doing what their parents said would get them ahead they still feel like they are failing. They are starting to understand that John Key cares more about his mates than their mates because the only time they have seen this Government stand up for anything is when it is fighting to protect its own privileges; not for those working hard—like the cleaner I know of who was working 40 hours at a hotel on a minimum wage. She was not able to make ends meet so she took on extra hours at a hotel down the road. But she was told that she could not do that because it was a conflict of interest. She is cleaning toilets for heaven’s sake. What conflict could there possibly be? But that is why this Government wants to be “more flexible” with our labour laws. It is easier to squeeze the little people like her who just want to get ahead with their families.And what about our vulnerable kids? Well I am like everybody else: I am surprised. Why? There is no food in schools in this Budget. It is because John Key would rather spend $40 million on private schools than spend it on kids who need to go to school with full stomachs. That $40 million would go a long way to feed a lot of vulnerable kids.But I have to say it is welcome that the Government has finally woken up to the fact that there is a housing crisis—woken up after we announced KiwiBuild’s plan to build 100000 affordable homes. But when you go through this Budget there is nothing in there that will guarantee more affordable homes—more homes for National’s mates but no more affordable homes. So if you are a first-home buyer or wanting to be a first-home buyer out there today watching this Budget I am sorry but it is nothing but disappointment in front of you. The only way to guarantee Kiwis affordable homes is to roll up your sleeves and build them. That is the only way you are going to get more affordable homes. We have had 4 years of this Government fiddling with the Resource Management Act and nothing has changed. House prices are continuing to skyrocket and the Government will do nothing to tax the speculators—the speculators who are making a killing pushing prices up.This Government’s only plan for getting ahead is to sell New Zealanders what they already own—already own. In 2017 because of the sale-down of our assets our books will be in worse shape financially than they are now because the dividends will havegone. Just a week ago or 2 weeks ago Mighty River Power was 100 percent Kiwi owned. Now 2.5 percent of owners own half of our asset. The reality is that this is a Government for the well-heeled and the well-connected.The reality is that this Government has been exactly that from the time that it came to office. This Government gave $2.25 billion in tax cuts to those people at the very top—at the very top. That is 40 percent of the cuts to the top 10 percent of New Zealanders and while other Kiwis are doing it tough—so tough that just last week the 200000th Kiwi got on a plane and flew to Australia with a one-way ticket. Two hundred thousand Kiwis have gone to Australia since that Government came into office because they cannot see a future here because the only future John Key is worried about is Skycity.When it comes to the future of millions of New Zealanders it is just too hard and he is too busy. Let me give you an example of that on why he will not be able to secure superannuation: “2020 is a long way away and there are a lot of things on my plate that I need to deal with in the here and now rather than things in 2020 and beyond.” He knows things need to change but he will not do anything about it because it is just too politically expedient to sit on his hands. In 2 more years according to this Budget our superannuation bill will exceed our education bill—in 2 years—and this Government will do nothing about it.So what does he think is more important than that? It is payouts bailouts and golden handshakes. It is breakfast with Ian Fletcher a cup of tea with John Banks and dinner with Skycity. Every time that man sits down for a meal with anybody they get something out of it. There is something in it for their mates. Just like the MMP review—if it is not about protecting John Banks and Peter Dunne then what is it about? He has ignored what New Zealanders actually voted for and there is a word for that—there is a word for that—and the word is “arrogant”.This Government is mired in broken promises. Budget after Budget its promises simply have not stacked up. In 2010 John Key promised a step change with 170000 jobs but since the last election the National Government has come up with only 8000. In 2011 it promised unemployment would be at 4.8 percent; it is at 6.2 percent. For 3 years we have been promised wages would grow by about 4 percent. Last year it was 1.7 percent and nearly half of Kiwis got no wage increase at all. Every year National promises a brighter future and every year New Zealanders are let down. This year will be absolutely no exception because National has created a two-speed economy: a fast lane for property speculators and a slow lane for first-home buyers; a fast lane for power company bosses and a slow lane for people who are struggling to pay their power bills; a fast lane for foreign and corporate investors buying our assets and a slow lane for our manufacturers and our exporters. Bill English keeps on saying that we are on the right track but quite frankly it is a track to nowhere.What we have heard today in the Budget is about tinkering. It is about pilot projects. There are more pilots in this Budget than in the entire population of Air New Zealand—Hon Shane Jones: Soon to be sold.DAVID SHEARER: And soon to be sold. We needed to hear today a Budget for every New Zealander—one that would have made a difference to everybody’s lives and one that would have given people real hope. That is what a Labour Government is committed to doing. We have the courage to make the big changes. We have the bold and innovative ideas that show what a smart active hands-on Government can really achieve because I want to create and build not just trade and sell off. Our ideas are practical they are responsible and they will change people’s lives for the better.Here is what Labour will do. We will bring down power bills for Kiwi families. National says: “No electricity prices aren’t too high.” apparently. We will reduce power prices for businesses so they can invest and create more jobs. National says: “Nojust let the prices go up.” We will build 100000 affordable homes. What does National say?Hon Members: No.DAVID SHEARER: Exactly—“No get back to us after the election.” We will tackle the high dollar that is crippling employers and what will National say about that? “No. You exporters you’re on your own. You get off and you are on your own.” We will expand KiwiSaver and secure New Zealand superannuation and what does National say to that? “That’s just too hard—that just doesn’t suit our vested interests.” We will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and champion a living wage. What does National say to that? “No we’re happy with a low-wage economy actually.” We will pay employers the equivalent of the dole to take on an apprentice but what does National say to that? “Let’s cut young New Zealanders’ wages instead.”We will live within our means. Has National been able to live within a budget for the past 5 years? No it has not. For 5 years it has run a deficit—unlike Labour which produced surpluses 9 years in a row. How is this Government going to get to surplus this year? By overcharging you on your petrol tax and overcharging you on your ACC levies. So the next time you fill up with petrol just remember where that surplus is coming from. It is coming out of your petrol tank. Our Budgets will get in behind hard-working Kiwis create jobs and they will grow the economy. People are doing their bit and they expect the Government to do its bit as well. That is what should shine through every Budget year after year. That is what I am committed to.In a minute you will hear from John Key and we will hear the one-liners the weak excuses and the scaremongering and most of it of course will focus on the Labour Party with little about what he will do although I am sure he will try to convince us about the nirvana that is waiting at the end of the tunnel after we sell off all our assets. But at the very heart of this Budget there is another deficit and that deficit is one of ideas because what this country really needs is a Government that has the courage to take on the big changes a Government that will give hope—a Labour Government. We have had enough of the game shows and the “Wheel of Misfortune”. Someone should give John Key a vowel because his Government is “O for awful”.In the immortal words of Aaron Gilmore and General Patton: “Lead follow or get out of the way”. Well John Key you have had your chance. Follow Aaron Gilmore and get out of the way because I will lead a Government that puts the interests of New Zealanders first ahead of vested interests—a Government that puts people first. Thank you.