2. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does he agree with all recent statements by his Minister of Finance; if so, why?
Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) Link to this
I am not aware of all of the Minister’s recent statements. However, I agree with his statement: “It is important to rebalance the economy because of the damage done by the mismanagement of the previous Government, which left behind an economy where the tradable sector had shrunk by 15 percent …”.
Did he agree with the Minister of Finance when he said that the gap between the rich and the poor in New Zealand is about the same after this year’s Budget; if so, was it his intention, after 18 months as Prime Minister, not to honour his commitment to tackle the problem faced by the underclass, as he has described some New Zealanders—the people who he said were his priority when he was in Opposition?
I remind the member that the Minister of Finance went on to talk about the real changes the Budget had delivered for narrowing the gap between those who are rich and those who are poor, which included better incentives for people in the tax system, better incentives and greater ability to own homes, better incentives to save, and the 170,000 jobs that were generated in the economy. I think it is refreshing to have in office a Government that wants to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor by making the poor wealthier, as opposed to the last 9 years when the only policy was to make the rich poorer.
Did the Minister of Finance make it clear to him that the online Budget calculator, which he claims confirms that virtually all New Zealanders will be better off, fails to tell people that as a result of the same Budget they will face a raft of additional costs, including an increase in their rent of up to $20 a week, interest rate hikes, an increase of at least $5 a week in their power bills, an increase in their doctors bills, an increase in their phone bills, an increase in the price of all their food items, and an increase in their rates—to name just some—and will the public who use this calculator think that he was being straight up with them when they find the costs that they are going to face?
There was so much wrong with that question I am not quite sure where to start, but I will take a few points from it. Interest rates were far higher under a Labour Government than they have been in the term that National has been in office. The cost of electricity rose by about 70 or 80 percent in the 9 years that Labour was in office. Rents, on average, increased double under a Labour Government, compared with what they are expected to under this Government. If New Zealanders go to www.taxguide.govt.nz, they will find that the vast bulk of them are financially better off under a National Government.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know that you were listening very carefully to my question. You will know that my question related to the calculator and whether the Government had told New Zealanders about the other cost increases. The Prime Minister’s answer was about what a Labour Government did. We wanted to hear his comments on this Government’s policy, not the previous Government’s.
Mr SPEAKERI understand the member’s concern but I invite her to go back to the question she asked. The member included in her question a number of statements about how she saw costs might go in the future. Strictly, the Standing Orders do not permit a range of statements like that to be put into a question, but I do not want to prevent members from doing so. But when members do that, they invite the Minister answering the question to dispute those statements, and that is exactly what the Prime Minister did. He disputed that range of statements. I cannot prevent Ministers from doing that. I think that he answered the question in a reasonable way.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. You might recall that yesterday I attempted to table in the House a document from the Property Investors Federation setting out the increase in rents that it said would take place following this Budget, but the National members denied that leave. So I was able to show—and I can show—where these facts and figures come from.
That point of order does not assist the situation. The House is at liberty to permit a member to table a document or not—that is not the Speaker’s decision; it is the decision of the House. Yesterday the House, for whatever reasons, chose not to permit that tabling. But regardless of how much the member believes the statements in a question might be correct, a Minister is at liberty to dispute them. The Minister disputed them and disputed them pretty robustly, and I do not believe that I can stop him from doing that.
Did he know that the Minister of Finance was going to raise the issue of asset sales—in particular, the sale of Kiwibank—the day after the Budget; if so, why did he allow the Minister to bring up such a controversial issue, which New Zealanders have rejected for the past seven elections, unless it was part of a process to soften up Kiwis for the next round of asset sales?
I remind the member that the Minister of Finance is a Minister of the Crown and not a toddler. I do not force him to ask me what questions he is allowed to answer in public. If he gets asked a question I expect him to answer it.
Did the Minister of Finance advise him that the Secretary to the Treasury was going to appear on television last Sunday and would be saying that increasing GST to 15 percent was “a first step,”; and has his Minister briefed him on the work that Treasury is doing on increasing GST even further?
In relation to the first question, yes—I was aware that John Whitehead was going on Q+A. In relation to the last question, I am not aware of any work on increasing GST, and that is because it will not be going up further from 15 percent.
I have called the members’ colleague. [ Interruption] I say to both front benches that I have called the Hon Annette King.
Was Bill English correct when he said that John Key just bounces from one cloud to another; and does that account for the international media reporting his antics in the odd spots of the newspapers, including his comments about being eaten by Tūhoe, his vasectomy, his stand-up routine on The Late Show with David Letterman, and his waterbed policy?