2. Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does she stand by her statement that “getting higher levels of sustainable growth is dependent on industry, government, and other actors all playing their part.”; if so, how is her Government planning to achieve that goal?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this
Yes. The Government is continually interacting with industry and other actors to that end.
Why did she say that her Government “has not the slightest intention of bringing New Zealand’s tax rates into line with Australia’s”; and how does she expect, on that basis, to retain our brightest and most skilled people, when a Deloitte’s tax expert estimates that following the Australian Budget last week, everybody earning less than $182,000 per year would pay less tax in Australia than they will in New Zealand, with an ever-widening gap between after-tax incomes in Australia and New Zealand as a result?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
The reason for not wanting the same tax rates for New Zealand is that tax rates are significantly higher in Australia than they are here.
Is it fair that New Zealanders pay 50 percent more in tax now than they did in 2000, with the Government’s tax revenue rising at twice the rate of inflation over that period; if so, why?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
The good news about the increased tax take is that a third of it has come from growth in company profits under a Labour Government, and another third has come from so many more Kiwis being in work. There are over 300,000 more New Zealanders in work under a Labour Government. That does tend to put up the tax take.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
Is Fonterra’s goal of 5 percent per annum increase in dairying in New Zealand part of her ambition for higher levels of sustainable growth; if so, does she regard 5 percent per annum growth in methane emissions, 5 percent per annum growth in the use of water for irrigation, and 5 percent per annum growth in nitrate pollution of waterways as being sustainable?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I would be very happy to see Fonterra growing at 5 percent a year. That, of course, could be achieved in a number of ways, including through Fonterra’s rather successful offshore investments, by which it is growing its business quite significantly.
Does she stand by Dr Cullen’s statement last week that Australia would “… sooner or later, run out of gas and coal”, and can we now take it that waiting for Australia to run out of gas and coal is her Government’s bold strategy for clawing back the gap between after-tax incomes in Australia and New Zealand?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
What the member can take from that statement is that this Government will be investing in sustainable economic growth and in the people of New Zealand.
Sue BradfordDoes she see trade unions and environmental organisations as being included in her phrase “other actors”; if so, what role does she see them playing; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
Definitely. I believe that both have a contribution to make towards more sustainable economic growth, and indeed the international evidence suggests that high levels of unionisation actually go with higher levels of productivity.
Why should we accept her assurance that New Zealand is on the right path to economic transformation when the IMD competitiveness scoreboard released last week showed that New Zealand has plunged 15 places, from 15th to 30th, in terms of economic performance?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I suggest the member have a close look at that scoreboard, because the New Zealand Government was ranked 6th in the world in its contribution to competitiveness.
What is the Prime Minister’s response to the former New Zealander now living in Sydney who featured on Television One news last night, who said that he had no intention of returning to New Zealand in response to the New Zealand Government’s campaign to bring Kiwis home, and that his reason for not returning was primarily financial?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
My response is to say that through the 1990s the Employment Contracts Act saw wages fail to go up at anything like the level of wages in Australia. My further response is to say that if Dr Brash thinks it is so hot over there, he should go and live there.