in the criminal justice system to enable decision makers to determine
whether a perpetrator has a history
of violence and
provide for information about
information about family violence volumes and trends.
My
My question is to the Minister of
yesterday's Dominion Post editorial,
hand out tax cuts while refusing to restore contributions to the
Cullen
As
As it happens, no. Every Government has to make decisions ambulancing
the needs of investing in
people today versus tomorrow. For this
Government our focus is on
well as what happens in the future. Therefore our budget, which
is coming up, has four key priorities,
delivering the
delivering the better public services for a
growing country, building the infrastructure we all
need to keep growing
the economy, paying down debt as a percentage
of GDP and also working
towards reducing the tax burden on lower and
middle income earners to
help them with raising their kids
or saving for a home.
with raising their kids or saving for a home. Why is he prioritising
absurd tax cuts ahead
of actually housing the 41,000 homeless New
Zealanders living in
cars and
out and tell every New Zealander, every
out and tell every New Zealander,
giving them back a little more of their own money is absurd. I
invite him to do that, to go and
tell
to bring up their families, that are saving for a home, that
they don't rate with the
Labour Party. He should do that all day.
I recommend he gets on with it in
the next question.
he gets on with it in the next question. Why is he prioritising
absurd tax cuts rather than helping
the 530,000 hard working
Kiwis who said they couldn't afford to go
to the
said they couldn't afford to go to
doubt about the member's numbers but nevertheless, again, it is
important for a Government to focus on
delivering public services and
we are doing that with big
increases in investment in the health sector,
the under 13s policy which
is allowing the young Kiwis to go and
see the doctor, we do all of those things
and we focus on doing that in a more
effective way with
things like better
better public services programmes and then when we get the room we
also trust Kiwis
to have the opportunity to
opportunity to spend a little of their own money to bring up
their own kids and to actually do the
saving for the things that
they want. That is what is
really important to them, doing that too.
Why
Why is
Why is he prioritising absurd tax cuts when there are 90,000,
not in employment and not in
Again,
Again, we're investing huge amounts in that area. Just a couple of
weeks ago I was in Kaikuri where there
was a graduation ceremony for the kids
that have been
actually neat for a long period of time. There is
a Government investment to
get some of them into work, some of those
with challenging social issues. We have
project 1,000 in Hawke's Bay and The
Project Tamariki programme
in Auckland and the Youth
Guarantee Fees free. Actually it is not
getting worse, it is getting better,
considerably better and we
are always looking at ways of
supporting Kiwi families and other
ways. I invite the member to keep rubbishing
Can
Can he please save New Zealanders and himself from the indignity
of more cartoons like this one in
the dominion Post today. Stop
the slow striptease on tax cut
answer prioritise investing in housing,
health
prioritise investing in housing,
Mr
Mr Speaker, can I just say to the member, as much as he's hanging
on to his copy of the cartoon,
it's not a particularly good likeness.
Order!
a particularly good likeness. Order! Supplementary question,
Rt Hon Winston Peters. Will the
Minister admit that his Government's
decision not to contribute
to the Cullen Fund has
decision not to contribute to the
already, or as Adrienne said yesterday,
already, or as Adrienne said
moment is 34 billion. We estimate the capital
the capital contributions had continued and
continued and the investments had been as they had performed, the fund
would
been as they had performed, the fund
Mr Speaker, I'm sure that the Minister would be first to
tell the member that actually
past performance is not necessarily
a guarantee of future performance in
any investment. But more
importantly, I think
the question the member would need to
answer... Order! Point of order. I
specifically referred to the period
to the time for Ord
was referring to, which was yesterday, not
the future. And I'm asking him, are we
down
future. And I'm asking him, are we
Order! The question was a very
questions like that, he invites a very generalised answer from
the Minister. If the member wants more
specific answers to
his question, he's got to tighten them up, in line
with Standing Order 380. Point
of order. Mr Speaker, I am
referring to a quote from
order. Mr Speaker, I am referring to
run by Mr O, and I think I'm entitled to quote what he said. It's
all in two sentences. Order! I gave
the member the chance
to use the quote. There is no reason why
I shouldn't allow that to happen. And
in using such a long quote and in
such a substantial part to the
question before the quote, it's
a very long question, which gives far
more licence to the Minister when he
answers. Does the Minister wish to
complete
answers. Does the Minister wish to
point that is raised is that the question has to
Now, we did not put that money into the Super Fund because we had to pay
for the Christchurch earthquake
recovery, and we had to
support New Zealanders through the
global financial crisis. So, what
the member needs to answer, if he wants
to ask that question, is would
that be
to ask that question, is would that
New Zealanders, or would he tax New Zealanders
New Zealanders, or would he tax New
are his three choices. He can't magic it up.
are his three choices. He can't magic it up. What Aidan Or says,
I can't speak to Mr Or's particular quote, because I think it might have
been mangled a little bit. But my
point is, in that context,
is that it doesn't count against our
net debt, Mr Peters. It's actually
hypothecated to superannuation. So,
if we borrowed to
put more money into the fund, that goes against
our net debt. I come
back to my
Order! We're getting to the stage now where the Minister is asking the
member questions. It's
question time, for Ministers to
answer questions. Question No. 7. Nuk
Korako.
questions. Question No. 7. Nuk Korako. Tena koe, o te mana.
My
My question is to the Minister of
made about the Government providing more support
more support for regional tourism
Well,
Well, today we've announced that applications are
Well, today we've announced that