This
This programme is live captioned by Ericsson Access Services
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the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Members,
Members, when we broke for the dinner hour, we were
debating the Budget speech and we're expecting
a call from a National Party member.
Mr Speaker, I rise to speak
in favour of this year's Budget. It was
delivered by the Hon Steven
Joyce and speak in opposition, clearly, to
the amendment to the motion put by
the Leader of the Opposition. Not
the least of which reason
is that the alternative motion assumes
that the country would
have some competence in his leadership and
his party's leadership of the
country, compared to the benefits that
are clearly there for
all New Zealanders party's
clearly there for all New Zealanders in this Budget. I, sir, think
that is a completely wrong proposition.
Mr Speaker, Budgets are
never easy is
Mr Speaker, Budgets are never easy things to construct. Everyone
had their requirements and calls on
the funding a government
has available at any time. What a government must
always do is recognise every
cent it's able to expend in
a Budget, comes out of the pockets
of hardworking New Zealanders. The
Government itself, whether it is
accruing its funding from the tax
base, or from the various
entities that are owned by the Crown, must
recognise that in the end it
is the pocket of the taxpayer that is
eventually funding all of the
eventually
eventually funding all of the Government's activities. So
with that in mind, sir, it becomes
very important that Budgets do focus on
opportunities for economic
growth, that they do encourage the
expansion of employment in this country, and
that they do also set out the
bounds and perameters within its own
expenditure for New Zealanders to
share in the benefits of
everybody's expenditure
share in the benefits of everybody's collective prosperity. That,
sir, is what this Budget does.
collective prosperity. That, sir, is what this Budget does. Firstly the
changes lambasted by the Opposition
as tax cuts in disguise
is a complete rubbish notion. To say to
people who are on incomes they
may have been receiving for some years
that there will be a threshold
movement, that they will get more of
the dollars they earn through
their hard work is not an unreasonable
thing at all. To be able to say
to families that now
all of the children
families that now all of the thing
families that now all of the children in your family are going
to attract support at the same rate
as those in the recurrent older
age group is also not unreasonable. It
is recognising the pressures that
is
is recognising the pressures that people have. Then there is the
argument that accommodation
supplement simply feeds land
Lords. Well, it doesn't take a
lot of exercise of the brain to work out
when you low interest rates as we
have now, with interest rates
somewhere between 4.5 and maybe
the requirement for return just to meet the cost of that capital
is going to be in that
dollars per hundred. You mult plie that by the value of the house and
the premises rented and you start to
see that landlords, far from
gouging are in many cases providing for
people in most
cases good accommodation at a reasonable
cost. And for the Government to say
well, if people are having trouble
meeting that cost, here is
some assistance is also very reasonable in the
circumstances.
is also very reasonable in the circumstances. Mr Speaker, the
New Zealand economy benefited from the
approach this Government has taken
over a long number of
years, evidenced by the extraordinary job
growth that we've seen
over the last few years. There's some 200,000
more jobs now expected over the next
few years and with those same number,
200,000 new jobs, since 2014. Those
are the sort of achievements
that cannot only be put down, or only in
part put down to government policy,
but significantly put down to
the response to government policy by
people who take
an entrepreneurial view
people who take an entrepreneurial people
people who take an entrepreneurial view of their role in society. It
is, sir, about people making
that effort, putting their
capital and their reputation on the
line and deciding to expand the business or
start a business or otherwise. It's
people. And it has that effect of meaning that more New
Zealanders are people.
meaning that more New Zealanders are in work now than ever been the
case before. Mr Speaker, a consequence
of having a growing economy and
being able to afford higher incomes inside
that economy is that in this case,
some 50,000 children who might once
have been classed as living in more
deprived circumstances are
now living in
living in more reasonable circumstances. That constant drive
for improving the lot for people
at the bottom of society
is something no government should lose sight
of and most certainly
this Government has. And it's perhaps there we
are most perplexed by the Labour Party's
idea that
most perplexed by the Labour Party's
Budget because somehow the benefit that comes from this Budget to so
many working families is unfair and
unreasonable on those who
are not working and, sir, that is simply not
a proposition that we will ever see
or a philosophy we will ever see
make the economy grow and
expand. Another aspect of this Budget is the
extraordinary commitment, biggest
commitment ever seen by
any government in New Zealand, to
expanding the infrastructure of
the country. There will be
those who expanding
country. There will be those who argue that sometimes
we get it wrong, because we put money into
roads, and roads apparently
are not a good thing. For as long, sir, as
economies have existed anywhere,
roads have been essential. It seems
odd you have one political
party constantly complaining about the
traffic congestion and other such in
Auckland, but at the same
time refusing to support a
Budget that expanding
refusing to support a Budget that will do something about that
congestion by way of
making it will
congestion by way of making it easier for people to move around.
Whether that's the rail system, or
the roads, it does require
investment, it does require a
commitment to infrastructure and
while this government has a very big
reputation for
reputation for investing in infrastructure, this Budget,
sir, reinforces it with a huge
sum going into that over the next few years.
Then there is the core public
services. Well, sir, the quality of
any public service
health and the security services, etc
health and the security services, health
health and the security services,
determined by the ability to pay. It will get better, the service also
get better, when the
ability to pay running ahead of the demands of a
growing population, which is evident
in this Budget.
growing population, which is evident
for the core services. You would assume that Budgets in
the next few years will further add to that
very impressive sum, making sure those
public services are just
as sharp and just as capable of delivering
to the families and other residents
of and
the families and other residents of New Zealand. Mr Speaker,
another aspect of this Budget has
been the commitment that we've made in areas
that are not so large and not so
visible. So one of those areas is of
course our commitment
to the Antarctic. It is extremely important
that New Zealand keep its interest
in the Antarctic. We've had that for
a very long time, since the times of
the first Scott exhibitions and then
the programme that we have, that was
started by Admiral Bird in the
1950s.
It is a part of the world where the conservation values, the
environmental values, need
to be protected. We, therefore, need
to have an interesting down there
interest down there. This Budget sees money put aside
for the redevelopment of our Scott base. I
want to mention one area where
there is a small cost interest,
around the EQC. It is a
body roundly criticised by people who
don't appreciate its value. The first point, sir, to
note in all of that is that in
1992 the cover for earthquake in New Zealand
was going to be removed.
It sure is, in the prix vat sector,
not happy to pay for that, to cover
in the prix vat sector, not happy to
private sector, not happy to pay for that, to cover that. So
the Government expanded them and put the
cost. To meet that cost it requires 20 cents in the dollar. For some
New Zealanders, where they are insuring
the 400,000, practically everybody,
the increases per year p will be
that will be available. What it means is that we won't
get caught short if we have
another Christchurch or wherever we might
have a disaster that EQC's
cover is required for. It is unique in the
world and it is, sir, very cheap. I
hope, sir, that the opportunity that
some might see for private insurers
to leverage off that is not
taken, because it is the first risk that
the Government takes on
behalf of New Zealanders and allowing
or New
New Zealanders and allowing or enabling this cover to be
accessed by anyone with
a household policy. Mr Speaker, this is
a very good Budget. I'm happy to support
it and look forward to voting
against the amendment motion put by the Leader
of the Opposition. The next call is a split call.
of the Opposition. The next call is a split call. The
first five minutes is Mahesh Bindra.
Given I only have five minutes,
I will stick to my area,
which is Corrections. It's not good work,
it's Corrections. Within this
Budget, Mr Speaker,