2. JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does she have confidence in the Minister of Finance; if so, why?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Acting Prime Minister) Link to this
Yes; because he is a hard-working and conscientious Minister.
How can she have confidence in a Minister who first promised, then cancelled, personal income tax cuts in 2005, saying that they were “only small” and were “not worth having”, when he is doing it all again—promising personal income tax cuts that are small and probably not worth having, and, no doubt, plotting to cancel them soon after the election?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
The Minister of Finance is promising sensible, sustainable, and realistic tax cuts. I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition doing the ultimate flip-flop and voting for a policy he supports—tax cuts.
Sue MoroneyDoes the ability of the Minister of Finance to express a view on issues such as the purchase of assets that is consistent with Government policy contribute to the Prime Minister’s confidence in him?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
Yes. As a leader, it is important to know that one’s deputy is not contradicting one publicly—and, indeed, vice versa. The Prime Minister certainly would not like to be in the position of the Leader of the Opposition, who constantly has to overrule his finance spokesperson.
If the Prime Minister said that her Minister of Finance’s tax cuts will be, to quote him a few seconds ago, “sustainable”, is that a bit like the rest of the Government’s sustainable promises—huge promises, delayed for 2 years, soon to be cancelled, and the only thing they get to take home with them is a 7-series BMW?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
It is a bit rich for Mr Key to attack BMWs; he carries one in the boot of his own car!
If the Prime Minister’s Minister of Finance promised tax cuts in 2005 but cancelled them in 2007 because they were unaffordable, although they would have cost under $500 million, why is her Minister of Finance promising tax cuts next week costing well in excess of $2 billion?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
The member can make up whatever figure he likes at this particular time, but I can tell him that the tax cuts will be legislated for. He will have the chance to put his mouth where his money is—or vice versa, as the case may be, in his example. I look forward to his once again voting against tax cuts, just as he has voted against every tax cut under this Government.
If the driving force behind the Government’s tax cuts is not that it is election year and Labour is 15 points behind in the polls, could the Prime Minister explain why her Government did not cut taxes when surpluses were large, inflation was low, and it was capable of doing it, but now seems hell-bent on cutting taxes when surpluses are reducing and inflation is, at least, above the Reserve Bank target?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
Clearly, now the Leader of the Opposition is arguing we should not have tax cuts because the surplus is coming down and inflation is relatively high; he is about to build up the argument as to why there should be no tax cuts. Whatever position the Government takes, he takes the opposite position, except that 6 months later he says “That actually was my position all the way along.”
Does the Prime Minister remember her Minister of Finance, in 2005 on the campaign trail, going what can be described only as troppo because the National Party had promised $2 billion worth of personal tax cuts at a time when the surplus was large and inflation was relatively low, yet in a week’s time he is about to promise tax cuts that are even larger than that?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
We have made it clear for something like a year now that there will be tax cuts in the 2008 Budget. They will be sustainable. They will have some implications for ongoing Government spending. I look forward to the National Party voting for those tax cuts, and winding back on the very large spending promises that it has already made.
Can the Prime Minister confirm for New Zealand taxpayers today that their tax cut next week, under her Government, will at least be more than $30 per week, given that they are facing interest rates having doubled under Labour, fuel prices having gone through the roof, the cost of filling up their supermarket trolley having gone through the roof, and every other cost having gone up; or is the No. 1 priority of her Government to get more bureaucrats for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and buying a train set for hundreds of millions dollars more than it is worth?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
We will take the last point. This man dismisses the desire of the great majority of New Zealanders for an effective rail system by calling it “buying a train set”. I think the member should get with the message: people want an effective rail system in this country, they want a decent health system, and they want a decent education system. That member is promising to spend billions of dollars to subsidise Telecom!