Shearer David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3809. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert):Would you really believe the numbers coming out of the head of that man Nick Smith the “Minister for Housing Inflation”? Here is a number for you: $800000—$800000. That is the average price of an Auckland home today and that has occurred under that man’s watch. So when he stands up and tells you about numbers do not even believe it. The worst inflation in New Zealand’s housing history has happened under his watch.If there is a Budget that separates this side of the House from the other it is this Budget and it is about “short-termism” versus putting something away for the future. This change to KiwiSaver is exactly—exactly—what I am talking about in terms of good fiscal management. It is about broken promises. Here is a promise I want to read out to you. Here is a promise I want to read out to you: “The $1000 kick-start for KiwiSaver’s members will remain as it is now.”—will remain as it is now. Who said that in 2011? Well the Prime Minister said that—the Prime Minister said that. It is another broken promise.This Government is going down the same track as its ancestors did back in the 1970s when Muldoon came in and killed the superannuation budget that was around then. He pulled it apart. People had accepted it. People believed and knew that that was going to ensure that their savings were protected and that New Zealand would have a pool of investment for the future. That pool if that vandal Robert Muldoon had not pulled it apart would have been worth $280 billion today—$280 billion. The big point about this is not just about the ability to save and to ensure that that is there for the people in the future. It is also about ensuring that that money that $280 billion is able to be invested into the New Zealand economy. It does not require us to sell off our assets. It does not require us to go into debt—and this Government has gone $70 billion into debt. It enables us to invest in our future with our own money. This Government axed that. It poleaxed that.Let us look at what has happened. In the same tradition as the Muldoon Government and the same tradition of not looking at the future and looking at cynical short-term smart alec Budgets what has happened here over the last few years is this Government has gone on and progressively cut and chopped KiwiSaver. Let us go back and have a look at what the legacy of this Government is with regard to KiwiSaver because this is not the only time it has stepped in and had a chop at KiwiSaver and tried to vandalise it. The minimum member contribution—remember that? That was 4 percent. That got cut to 2 percent in 2009. It was a cut. There is the first one.The second one is the member fee subsidy. That was cut in 2009—another cut to KiwiSaver and the incentives of KiwiSaver. Here is a third one: compulsory employer contributions. They were cut by that Government in 2009. That is three—three cuts to KiwiSaver since this Government has been in power. Four: employer tax credits—cut. Employers no longer have an incentive. That was cut and taken away. There are four changes to KiwiSaver that this Government has brought in. Five: the member tax credit—cut by $500 to members who used to get that. That was back in 2012. The last one today that has happened under this Budget is the KiwiSaver kick-start—cut. One thousand dollars has been removed from future generations—and it was given to those guys over there for sure and their families. They made sure that their families got their $1000 before they stepped in and chopped it.They were making a big play over on that side of the House that somehow this is not going to affect the take-up of people in KiwiSaver. Let us face it; KiwiSaver is fantastically successful—fantastically successful. Two and a half million people in New Zealand have signed up for KiwiSaver. Two and a half million people have gone into that system so that they can start saving for their retirement. What does the Inland Revenue Department say about that? In its analysis from people it has asked and the various surveys it has done what does it say? Well here is a fact. The Inland Revenue Department—a Government department—says that 67 percent of members joined KiwiSaver because of the kick-start. Two-thirds of those people joining KiwiSaver voluntarily did so because of the kick-start. This Government—the vandal that it is the “short-termism” that it is—has gone out and removed that and removed that incentive. It is like you have got a successful policy and what you do is you keep cutting and cutting it and cutting it and cutting it until it falls over. Then the Government will blame it on somebody else or it will not be in Government. It will leave it to us to actually have to fix up. This is a travesty. This is a Budget about “short-termism” broken promises and not looking out for future generations.But look do not take our word on how stupid this policy is. Let us take the Financial Services Council’s word. The Financial Services Council chair is Jenny Shipley a former National Prime Minister and what does it say? What does it say about this policy of cutting the KiwiSaver kick-start? Listen to this: “This is like a parent raiding their own child’s piggy bank to pay for a round of drinks already promised down at the pub.” Let me read that again just in case you did not get it clear. This is not coming from the Labour Party; this is coming from the Financial Services Council. “This is like a parent raiding their own child’s piggy bank to pay for a round of drinks already promised down at the pub.” Does that not say it all? It is about “short-termism” looking at what is in front of you smart alec gimmicky little promises and forgetting about what is actually happening further down the road for the future generations.“Raiding the piggy banks”—the council goes on to say—“of the next generation is not the smartest move when the population is ageing. It is a pity that the Government’s failure to manage its own finances will hold back some younger New Zealanders from better managing their own future finances.” In other words not only is this stupid but also it sets an extraordinarily unfortunate example to everybody else out there who says: “Look out for yourself now because who knows what is going to happen in the future.”The issue about retirement policies is that they are about certainty. You invest in them now hoping that everything will be fixed and right in 20 30 or 40 years’ time. When with every single Budget this Government comes in and cuts cuts cuts what people have come to believe is their right—and when they are putting in their money every week on the understanding that there is going to be some sort of nest egg at the end and this Government comes in and cuts it and changes it every single time—then they have no confidence in it. Suddenly we kill what has been a fabulous means of being able to save and being able to invest in New Zealand’s future. This Government is about “short-termism” it is about broken promises and it does not deserve to be sitting on that side of the House.