Hide Rodney: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Hide Rodney: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:16289] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I have been reflecting on the Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill that we are debating which is a bill to cut taxes and I was thinking how marvellous it is that a bill to cut taxes in New Zealand is passing through the House with no dissent. It is quite extraordinary if we think about it that such is the overwhelming support for people to keep more of the money they earn that the parties in Opposition or sitting on the cross benches are joining with the Government to vote for a tax cut and indeed that Labour members one after another are standing up and praising a tax cut measure. 
I remember first coming to Parliament and calling on parties to see the need for tax cuts and ACT was the only party to do that. I do not think that we are responsible for Dr Cullen’s tax cuts but I do recall calling for tax cuts in the 1990s and being shut down by every political party in the House as if it was nonsense and we could not have tax cuts. But now we fast forward a few years and find that every political party here today is voting for Dr Cullen’s tax cuts. I cannot really count the Greens because they are not voting for a tax cut but to give them their due they are not voting against it. The only thing that is a bit disappointing is the fact that the tax cuts are a bit small but it is a long way for Dr Cullen to come in order to give us a tax cut. 
I will pick up on a point that Dr Cullen made and that the Prime Minister referred to. It was that when times were getting tough the previous National Government sold assets but now this Labour Government—apparently this is a good thing—has bought back assets. That is to say it has taken assets held in private hands and brought them in to be owned by the Government. The example that we have here is rail. We heard Dr Cullen say that buying back rail was great because Kiwis wanted to use rail. Well the interesting thing is that if that is the test of what the Government should buy back then what would we leave to be run by the private sector? If the fact that people wanted to use a service is the justification for State ownership then we should perhaps buy McDonald’s Woolworths and Foodstuffs. 
Of course if Kiwis want to use rail and pay the price then how come the Government has had to step in and buy it? I ask Dr Cullen how smart it is to take—what was it—$665 million of taxpayers’ money and give it to Australians. How does that make New Zealand richer? By taking $665 million from Kiwis and giving it to Australians the only thing that has changed is that the railway now supposedly belongs to the Government. 
Michael Cullen’s answer will be that we have the advantage that the Government will be able to operate the rail more efficiently. Well when has that ever been the case? When has the Government ever run anything more efficiently than the private sector? Even when the private sector is losing money it does not actually run things badly. But what we know about having the Government sector running a business is that it runs it poorly whether it is making money losing money or doing nothing. 
Then Dr Cullen said that we have to pour more money into rail so the poor taxpayer will be hit year after year and he is telling us we need to do that because “Kiwis want to use rail”. But clearly we are not prepared to use rail for what it costs so that is a loss of resources. Clearly we are backing a loser. We actually had the Australians owning a loser. They are now $665 million better off and the economic wizard is saying that this is somehow a victory for New Zealand. I do not get it. 
I will tell members another thing. If I were an old-style Labour Minister or MP I could understand the Government’s wanting to own and run things because that is the ideology of the Labour Party—the ownership of the means of production. But people around the world can see everywhere they look that any country that is half decent is divesting itself of enterprises. Why? Because those countries find that the private sector does the better job. Why? Because there is competition and choice. But we in New Zealand cannot even mention the word “privatisation”. 
I put it on record that ACT believes wholeheartedly in privatisation and private enterprise. We believe that we need more privatisation and that New Zealand is out of step. Governments around the world are all privatising except as far as I can tell for these countries: North Korea Cuba Burma and New Zealand under either a Labour or a National Government. Why is that? Do we not believe in private enterprise? Do we not believe in competition and choice? Have we not learnt the lessons of Government ownership and control? 
How is it such a great victory for New Zealand taxpayers to have given $665 million to Australian investors and in the process to have given them for free the largest trucking company in New Zealand? We have given them rent-free all the depots in the railway yards and given them preferential pricing on rail. I thought that Mr Woolerton cared about provincial New Zealand. Provincial trucking companies owned and built by Kiwis are now competing against an Australian company that has $665 million of taxpayers’ money. It has obtained the trucking company for free with something like 430 trucks. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Biggest in the country. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: It is the biggest in the country. The company has access to the depots for free for 6 years and has preferential pricing on New Zealand Rail—which the New Zealand taxpayer will prop up from now until eternity—and New Zealand First is saying that it is a good idea for New Zealand. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Yeah it is. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Well I would love it to be explained because the Australians are laughing all the way to the bank. Look at their share price! New Zealand First and the Labour-led Government stopped Canadians from buying into an airport—which is already privately owned because Mr Peters sold it—but it is OK to give to Australians the largest trucking company in New Zealand. I am sorry; it does not compute.