New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

General Debate [4432]

GERRY BROWNLEE

: Mr Swain, one of the Ministers who went on the Field trip to Samoa-

Hon Maurice Williamson

: Did he?

GERRY BROWNLEE

: Yes, he went on Phillip Field's field trip. He went out to the house, saw the tiler, shook his hand, and asked him how he was going. He said that if the tiler made a nice job of the house and Phillip wrote a nice letter he would give the tiler a work permit for New Zealand. And the tiler knew it would happen, because Mr Goff-the then Minister of Foreign Affairs-was there. We all know what a friendly chap he is. He said the same. This is a cover-up of corruption of the worst kind.

Hon DAVID PARKER( Minister of Energy):

Here we are again, with the National Party mired in speculation about not whether it will change its leader but when. Interruption Cries of disdain are coming from the Opposition. But these are not my views. The Dominion Post cartoon by Tom Scott on 22 July features a very attractive John Key. Tom Scott obviously likes him more than he likes Bill English, who is not drawn quite so nicely. It shows Dr Brash walking off into the wilderness and the two struggling pretenders to the throne fighting each other. We have the ruthless John Key with his arm around Bill English's neck. The caption has Bill English saying: Let me stab Don in the back, John and I'll make you my deputy.... But John says: Sorry Bill, I don't trust you. I'll stab Don and you can be my deputy....

Members should listen to this. While National is mired in endless disputes about when it will replace its leader, the Government is setting the agenda. This week the Government has announced the most significant reform of business tax policies in a long, long time. The highlights include proposals to drop the corporate tax rate from 33 percent to 30 percent, which would match the Australian corporate tax rate and improve the competitiveness of New Zealand business. We want to grow the cake, not squabble about how that cake should be cut up. We want to grow it. We are doing that with support from our confidence and supply partners New Zealand First and United Future. They agree that reducing the rate of company taxation to the Australian rate of 30 percent is good for New Zealand business. They know, as we do, that New Zealand businesses already have a number of advantages over Australian businesses. For example, we do not have a number of their taxes. We do not have stamp duties, a general capital gains tax, or payroll tax, as Australia does.

Our tax rates for waged workers are lower than those in Australia for people on average earnings. In fact, New Zealand's income tax rates for a couple with two children and on the average wage are the fifth-lowest in the OECD. For a single person without children and on average earnings our income tax rates are the third-lowest in the world-three places below Australia's already. In addition to a proposal to reduce the company tax rate to 30 percent per annum, which would come at a cost of approximately 540 million in forgone tax revenue each year, the Government is also targeting some things it wants to promote to encourage businesses to grow and to spend more on research and development, and to give them tax advantages for export market development expenditure.Those measures could cost up to 350 million or more. We are also reviewing depreciation rates-they may change. We are also changing the way in which businesses can write off their assets, rather than having to carry them forward and depreciate them.

This a Government with vision. We are transforming New Zealand's economy. While the National Party is mired in controversy about not whether but when it will replace its leader, we are getting on and improving New Zealand's economy by growing the cake so that we all have a bigger slice of it. In relation to other things we have already done, let us not forgot that 1 billion worth of measures were incorporated in last year's Budget to the benefit of the business sector, including increasing depreciation