4. Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
Does he stand by all his statements on Q+A on 10 April 2011?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
Yes, particularly the comment about the Government having a long-term plan to lift economic performance and get higher incomes and more jobs.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
If he thinks that the wage gap with Australia is such an advantage, as he told Q+A, why did he not campaign on widening it at the 2008 election instead of campaigning on the need to catch up with Australia, which is what he said he would do but not what he has achieved?
I was just stating the obvious: today, there are New Zealanders whose jobs depend on businesses that are successfully competing with Australian ones. I know competition is a dirty word in the Labour Party, but out in the real world it is how one gets ahead.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
Does he agree with Bernard Hickey, who said Mr English’s tax switch is simply “not working”, the GST increase “has hurt a swathe of society that could least afford it.”, and “The tax cuts for those on higher salaries has not been saved and invested in job-creating export industries.”; if not, where are the rising wages and the new jobs to prove that Mr Hickey is wrong?
No, I do not agree with Mr Bernard Hickey. If the Labour Party does, then it will reverse the tax changes—that is, it will put income taxes up and cut GST. Labour is quite free to campaign on that if it agrees with him.
Michael WoodhouseThat is a good question, because recently the Government has adjusted national superannuation, which includes a formula based on our real after-tax wages. Over the period since September 2008, real after-tax wages in New Zealand have grown by 10 percent. Over the comparable period in Australia they have grown by 6.2 percent. That means we have done better than Australia on real after-tax wages. But it is only a small step and we will not get too excited about it, because there is a long way to go.
Darien FentonWas increasing New Zealand’s minimum wage by a tiny 25 cents an hour from 1 April part of his strategy to attract foreign capital by having cheaper wages?
No. The increase in the minimum wage—which was, I think, the second one under this Government—strikes a reasonable balance between recognising the effects of the cost of living on people who are on the minimum wage, and on the other hand ensuring that a lot of people still have an opportunity to get a job for which an employer can afford to pay them.
In light of his statement that New Zealand’s low wages are an advantage and a way of competing, does he also view the Government’s industrial relations reforms, which remove workers’ rights, as an advantage because they further drive down wages and labour rates?
All our policy is focused on achieving more jobs and higher incomes. Changes in labour market reform—for instance, the 90-day trial period—are allowing people who were otherwise shut out of the workforce and living on benefits better opportunities to get jobs, and therefore higher incomes.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
Which of the following does he consider to be his greatest contribution to improving New Zealand’s fiscal performance: widening the wage gap with Australia, overshooting the Crown liability on South Canterbury Finance by $700 million, signing a blank cheque for AMI Insurance before doing due diligence on the company, granting a $43 million loan to MediaWorks in an election year, paying $2 million for a “Tupperwaka” to float Pita Sharples’ boat with Ngāti Whātua, or finessing his family trust in order to get double the normal housing allowance?