I want all New Zealanders to have a stake in the future.
In Government, I will write a Budget which puts people first.
That did not happen in National’s budget (introduced to Parliament on May 16).
People are let down by a government that is happy to oversee a two-speed economy giving most of the breaks to a few, well-connected elites.
Five years ago, National promised its way into office with shining pledges of a brighter future.
200,000 New Zealanders have left since the day National took down their billboards promising that you would stop waving goodbye to your loved ones. Nearly half of those who left were aged between 18 and 30.
Last election, they promised 170,000 more jobs in four years. Two years on, they have 162,000 to go.
Too many of our families cannot get ahead because we have a two-speed economy.
Economic wrong
Two speeds geographically, with many regions stagnant.
Two speeds in a fairness sense, with incomes and wealth ever more concentrated in the hands of the few.
Two speeds age-wise, with younger New Zealanders locked out of home ownership, and many of them facing a future of low paid or casual jobs.
Two economic speeds in which, exporters and manufacturers struggle, while speculators flourish.
Two Auckland speeds, where growth is in rampant house prices, not in production and jobs.
A two-speed economy is morally and economically wrong.
Kiwis should be able to prosper whatever their circumstance at birth. Yet two in five seriously deprived children have working parents on inadequate incomes.
Huge deficit
National promised to ‘rebalance’ the economy to deliver more export-led growth but failed. We are spending more on imports and interest than we earn from our exports.
At $10 billion, that external or current account deficit is bigger for New Zealand than any other developed country – even Greece – and will be so for years to come.
This is a very, very serious issue that National fails to address
Most of us work harder and earn less as a consequence. That is the two-speed economy which National’s 2013 Budget is designed to keep unchanged.
After five National budgets, net government debt has ballooned from zero to $58 billion because it has run a two-speed economy.
This National government has never balanced a budget. Labour did nine times out of nine, while giving families with children and companies large tax cuts.
National did not want big surpluses. It called for more tax cuts.
But because Labour got rid of so much debt, when the global financial crisis hit, (Finance Minister Bill) English was able to say, “This is the rainy day that the government has been saving for.”
Labour would return to surplus in 2014-2015. At the same time, we would make the important economic improvements we need.
Savings Scheme
This is not about austerity versus government spending. Through innovative policies and important changes Labour will shift our economy towards jobs and exports.
KiwiSaver is one of the many successes of the last Labour Government. Making it universal will add depth to our savings and create a bigger investment pool for businesses.
Pro-growth tax reform will help to switch investment to job-rich industries, instead of speculation that makes homes less affordable.
Labour’s Kiwibuild will build 10,000 affordable houses a year. Homes will be sold to owner-occupiers for what they cost to build; not to speculators banking on future tax-free capital gains.
Labour’s ‘NZ Power Policy’ will cut the super-profits of power companies based on our free public water and big hydro stations paid off years ago.
It will reduce household power bills by $230-$330 a year and lower businesses’ bills by five to seven per cent.
Monetary Policy
Labour will reform the Reserve Bank’s tunnel vision mandate on the primacy of inflation so it can give proper weight to the exchange rate and employment. That would help exporters without hurting homeowners.
National rejects these ideas because it views the economy through the lens of merchant banking, which has dominated the western world for the last 30 years. This is why National’s central economic plank is to sell what already exists – the electricity State-Owned Enterprises, which does nothing to grow our economy.
Labour rejects the merchant banking view of our economy. Ours is a productive jobs focus and all our policies work to this end.
David Parker is a Member of Parliament on Labour’s List and the Party’s Finance Spokesman
