John Key: National's Agenda
new-zealand-national-party
Mon May 21 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
John Key: National's Agenda
Monday, 21 May 2007, 10:27 am
Speech: New Zealand National Party
John Key: Party Leader
National's Agenda
Speech to the Canterbury-Westland Regional Conference,
Hamner Springs
It's a real pleasure to be addressing the Canterbury-Westland Regional Conference as Leader of the National Party.
It's good to be joined today by eight caucus colleagues from this region, half of whom were new to Parliament at the 2005 election. Congratulations are due to those MPs and the voters and volunteers who helped get them elected. This line-up is proof that the National Party is in great heart.
I am hugely proud to be leading this wonderful party of ours. It's a privilege to be your leader.
The National Party is built on age-tested principles that reflect what is best about New Zealand. We are a party of enterprise; a party of personal freedom and individual responsibility; a party of family; an inclusive party; a party of ambition.
We believe in every individual's capacity to shape their own life, and we believe in this great country of ours. New Zealanders from all walks of life make National what it is and we take strength from our diversity.
Today, I would like to thank every member and volunteer here who helps make this party strong. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the work of National Party Regional Chair Roger Bridge, and Party President Judy Kirk.
The efforts of our members are what keep us vibrant; keep us connected and make us heard. So, thank-you.
I am excited about what lies ahead for us and I have a crystal clear message for all of you: National is absolutely committed to winning the next election. And the one after that. And the three after that!
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We have the drive. We have the fresh ideas. We have the people. And we have more Kiwis behind us than any other party in this country.
Let me tell you, I am determined to lead National to Government in 2008. I am determined to serve all New Zealanders with the strength, the courage and the energy that they deserve.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we must be determined.
The mission before us
A great mission lies before us.
New Zealand is at a critical juncture in its history. Big winds are blowing in our direction.
The explosion of the Internet is bringing billions of potential customers within our reach.
Our booming and ever-wealthier Asian neighbours are reaching out for new services and new products. People everywhere are seeking safe and green havens in an increasingly unstable and dirty world.
New Zealand is uniquely placed to respond to these global forces.
We need to harness the opportunities they bring and ensure every Kiwi can use them to build a better life.
I'll tell you what won't work. It won't be enough to simply chant slogans of "economic transformation". We need more than warm platitudes. New Zealand needs a vision of what we want and how we plan to get it.
We must act now to give the New Zealanders of tomorrow maximum opportunities, security and choices. These are our children and grandchildren I am talking about. As we have had the gift of a great country, so must they.
That's why I want to lead a National-led Government.
We need to raise our sails and catch the drift of this new millennium. We have to be more ambitious, more outward-looking, and more responsive than ever before. We need to maximise the contribution of every single New Zealander.
Tragically, Labour is running dial-up policies in a broadband world. To steer this country forward we've got to change the tack. We've got to change the crew in Cabinet, and above all – we've got to change the Captain!
National is ready to lead
The National Party is ready to ratchet this country's dreams up a notch.
Our caucus is in cracking shape. I am proud to lead a group of men and women who are experienced, driven, and in tune with ordinary New Zealanders.
It was no accident that Labour lost 10 electorate MPs in the last election. Those MPs were booted out because they had lost touch with their voters. New Zealanders chose National MPs to replace them because National MPs can be trusted to listen and work hard for the causes their constituents care about.
Our representatives have got their teeth into real issues and they've put their hearts into their work. National is lucky to have them.
And we're lucky to have a formidable Shadow Cabinet that is taking it to Labour like never before. This region contributes vital members to that line-up: Gerry Brownlee, Nick Smith and David Carter.
While Labour's Ministers spend time asking each other patsy questions those MPs ask the hard questions. The questions that matter.
National is a great team. We are firmly united and we are ready to govern this country.
New Zealand wants National
And it's not just me who thinks it. New Zealand thinks it.
For the past six months, I've had the privilege of travelling New Zealand from city to town talking to the people who make our country tick.
I've been to places like McGehan Close and met people like Aroha Ireland, a young girl with big dreams for her future. I've milked cows in the Horowhenua. I've visited primary schools in Canterbury. I've met with iwi in Ruatoria.
In every one of these places I have found people who are quietly cheering for the National Party. Sure, there are plenty who are loudly backing us, but there's something else happening as well.
Even people who voted for Labour in 2005 are telling me they don't think Clark and Co represent the future of this country.
Kiwis are sensing what I see every time I return to Parliament. Helen Clark has lost her mojo. Turns out she lost her Taito as well. Labour has lost the pulse of the people and it has lost New Zealanders' hearts. 'Third -term- itis' has well and truly sunk in. It's up to National to ensure this 'third -term- itis' is terminal.
An analysis of Labour's performance, even when measured against its own objectives, paints a bleak picture.
Labour came to power saying hospital waiting lists were a disgrace. Those lists have only got worse. Labour's attempts to manipulate the numbers by bumping sick people off waiting lists is the new disgrace.
Labour came to power saying it was unacceptable that Kiwi kids were leaving school unable to read, write and do maths. Billions of dollars later and their own agency reports that a shameful one in five kids are failing at school.
Labour came to power saying they'd be tough on crime. Well, Labour should ask Karl Kuchenbecker's family if they think they've lived up to that promise. Karl Kuchenbecker – a good man, a father of two young boys, was killed by a man on parole. He was killed by a man who should have been locked up for life.
I'll tell you what I think about that. I think a Government responsible for a tragedy of that magnitude has well and truly lost the right to call itself tough on crime.
A Government I lead will not put up with that.
Labour's attempt to blame every problem and crisis on past governments has lost credibility.
They have had nearly eight years, a fair shot by any definition. Sure, Clark and her crew are experienced now. But is it good experience? No, it's not.
The bulk of Labour's so-called experience is in the dark arts of ducking for cover and shirking responsibility.
New Zealanders are impatient for fresh thinking. That's' why they're looking to National.
The National Party will win the next election because people can trust us to stand up for their aspirations.
National will applaud ambition, we'll back ordinary Kiwis, and we'll stand up for the things that mater.
The three 'Es'
In the lead-up to election 2008, National will announce policies that flesh out our vision for a better New Zealand.
There are three themes that I will keep coming back to as I lay out my vision: the economy, education and the environment. I will keep coming back to those three 'Es' because they are the things that I think will be vital to New Zealand's success in our rapidly changing world. The "Es for Excellence", if you like.
The first 'e' is the economy. National will emphasise this theme because we are committed to delivering New Zealanders the returns of a wealthier country. Make no mistake; Labour's policies are seeing us fall further and further behind the rest of the world.
This week's Budget did absolutely nothing to alleviate that cruel slide. In fact it illustrated quite clearly just how stark the difference is between Labour and National's approach to economic issues.
I'm going to spend some time discussing that today.
Cullen's Budget
Before this week's Budget was announced, a number of commentators thought it was going to be different from the previous seven Michael Cullen budgets.
They thought he was going to turn from Scrooge McDuck into the Fairy Godmother.
Well they were wrong. This was a classic Michael Cullen budget.
Bring in the CSI team and they would find his fingerprints all over it.
I'll tell you what gives this away as a Cullen budget.
Number one: you didn't get a tax cut. Again.
In fact it's much worse than that. You all lost a tax cut, because the promise he made in the 2005 Budget to cut your taxes by a very small amount in 2008 has now been broken. Those tax cuts, however small, have just been axed.
And if you live in Auckland – so that's a third of New Zealand – you have just got a tax increase. You have got a tax increase because you will be paying up to 10 cents a litre in fuel tax to pay for electrification of the rail network.
You'll be doing this because despite the Government having a $6.3 billion surplus, Michael Cullen says it can't afford to pay for electrification.
I know I am safe in saying this – you will never get a personal tax cut while Michael Cullen is Finance Minister. He does not trust you to spend your own money and to get ahead under your own steam.
In Bill English's first budget you will get a tax cut.
But you will never get a tax cut out of Michael Cullen.
Here's the second thing that identifies this as a Michael Cullen budget – it is a money-go-round. It moves money around between different groups of people, but it doesn't grow the income of New Zealand as a whole.
A great example is the KiwiSaver subsidies that were announced on Thursday. The Government will now give you up to $20 a week if you agree to put savings into the KiwiSaver scheme.
But where does that $20 come from? It comes from you. It comes from the taxpayers of New Zealand – it isn't helicoptered in from overseas.
So the taxpayers of New Zealand are forking out what will become $500 million a year to give to people who save.
And who are these savers? The Treasury admits that only half of all workers will join the KiwiSaver scheme – the others are on low incomes and can't afford to save that kind of money.
So employees on the lowest incomes will effectively give money to those employees on the highest incomes, as an incentive to save, when those higher-paid employees were the ones who could most afford to save in the first place!
What is worse, standing in the middle of this money-go-round, collecting money, dishing it out, is a vast bureaucracy taking its cut from every dollar being transferred. To run the new KiwiSaver scheme will require literally hundreds of bureaucrats, all needing office space in downtown Wellington.
The third identifying feature of a Michael Cullen budget is this – he gives with one hand and he takes away with the other. As a result, no-one ends up feeling satisfied.
Employees have certainly got that shoddy treatment in this Budget. Their boss now has to match what they put into KiwiSaver, which they'll benefit from, but because of this requirement they can pretty much kiss goodbye to any wage increases for the next few years. Dr Cullen said this himself in the Budget.
So New Zealand workers have had no tax reductions for 8 years, and now they can look forward to no pay increases either.
Likewise, employers have also had the give-with-one-hand, take-away-with-the-other, treatment.
Businesses who thought they would benefit from a lower company tax rate are now feeling deflated because it will be compulsory for them to match what their employees put into KiwiSaver, at 4% of gross salary.
In effect they are being forced to give what amounts to a 4% pay rise to any employee that joins KiwiSaver. Goodbye company tax cut!
What is more, those businesses that aren't structured as companies won't even get the benefit of the company tax cut.
If, for example, you are a sole trader, a partnership or an incorporated society, then you won't get a tax cut, but you'll see your payroll costs rising and rising.
Finally, what really marks this out as a Michael Cullen budget is that what decent policies there are in the Budget have been shamelessly ripped off from National.
Dropping the company tax rate from 33% to 30% has long been National's policy, although we would have done this after a programme of personal tax cuts. Labour attacked this policy at the last election but has now adopted it.
In February I announced National's policy to make charitable donations of any size, from individuals and from businesses, eligible for a tax rebate. At the time, Clark attacked this policy as "tax cuts for the rich" and inferred that I'd announced it for my own personal benefit. Now Labour has copied this policy word for word.
My advice for people who want good policy in New Zealand is this – don't mess with Mr In-between. You should cut out the middleman and vote directly for National.
Fundamentally, Michael Cullen wants to leave a legacy. He wants to create government institutions which will be forever linked with his name, for better or for worse – and, I might add, for richer or for poorer.
If I have the great honour of becoming Prime Minister of this country then I want to leave a legacy too.
My legacy will be a strong New Zealand economy with higher wages, lower taxes and greater competitiveness. My legacy will be a country that young New Zealanders want to stay and work in.
That's what a National government will give you.
Education and the Environment
There is no doubt the most important ingredient in New Zealand's future growth and success will be our people. That's why education, the second 'E', matters.
We need to lift our people up by giving them the skills and knowledge to foot it with the best in the world. A poorly skilled workforce will condemn our country – and the people in it – to a humiliating race to the bottom.
At a bare minimum, we need to do something about the one-in-five children failing at school. We need to nip underachievement in the bud. Education is supposed to be a liberator, but if you can't read and write, you'll never be free.
That's why in a speech last month I announced our policy of setting national standards in reading, writing and maths, requiring all primary schools to test kids against those standards and ensuring the results are reported to parents.
Labour has rejected this idea. They think it's cruel to measure achievement and highlight failure. I'll tell you what I think is cruel – robbing struggling kids of a future by turning a blind eye to their troubles. That's what's really cruel.
In the next few months you can look forward to more education announcements, including how National plans to fix the NCEA mess.
Finally we come to the third 'e', the environment.
National won't sit back and let the political Left act as if it has a monopoly on environmental policies. We will enter the debate on the big environmental issues of our time because they are too important to ignore.
New Zealand's clean green environment is vital to the Kiwi way of life and vital to the image New Zealand sells to the world. In this context it is essential that we confront the global challenge of human-induced climate change.
In the years ahead climate change awareness will become a feature of global commerce. It will create new markets for Kiwi industries, tourism, and technologyas countries and consumers will be crying out for climate-friendly products and innovations. National is committed to positioning New Zealand to take advantage of those opportunities.
That's why last week we announced our climate-change target and a series of measures for achieving that target. National has committed to a 50% reduction in carbon equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. In shorthand: A 50% cut by 2050.
National's '50 by 50' target will send a clear message to the world: New Zealand means business on climate change. This target is comparable with targets being set by other developed nations and it makes sense for New Zealand's agriculture-intensive economy.
Helen Clark may say 'carbon neutral' more times than we do, but rest assured that National will be coming up with sensible environmental solutions that will outlast today's trendy buzzwords.
So they are the three 'Es': the economy; education; and the environment. They are the things that, done better, will help ratchet New Zealand up a notch.
Rest assured – they are not the only issues National will concern itself with.
We will always have firm policies in law and order. I share your concerns about growing crime rates and I am determined to crack down on the offenders who threaten the security of our families.
We will have welfare policies that motivate beneficiaries to make the best of themselves by moving into work.
We will pursue one standard of citizenship, and will make the most of the cultural, religious and ethnic differences we all bring to New Zealand.
And we will have health policy that focuses on best outcomes for patients; not what is best for the bureaucracy.
We will do all of this and more. In all areas we will implement policies that will achieve the best results.
Yesterday's gone
Before I leave you today, let me sound a warning. The National Party is up against a desperate, dying Government.
As Labour becomes panicked about the prospect of leaving office, you can expect them to resort to a cynical game.
There may well be bribes and there may well be unfounded accusations. But in the end, Helen Clark will resort to what she knows. And what she knows are the battles of the 80s and the 90s.
National must not be tempted to engage in those never-ending debates. Kiwis don't want to resurrect the mothballed decisions of history.
We owe a debt to those who came before us, but we do not honour them by re-entering the battles that have already been won and lost.
We must not allow Helen Clark to dress our new national conversation in the dated clothes of our yesterdays.
We are in a new century and a new millennium, with different and more complex challenges. The debates that Clark cut her political teeth on are over.
The next election will not be a choice between where we are and where we've been. The next election will be about where we go next.
It's time to turn the page. I'm impatient for tomorrow. New Zealand is impatient for tomorrow.
A new generation is ready to take the helm. It's time to put National on board and welcome the winds of change.
Only National has the vision. Only National has the energy. Only National can map out the future that this country deserves.
Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow National Party members, there is plenty of work to do.
Strong tides have brought us here; and there are stronger tides to come; get yourselves ready, we're going to need all hands on deck.
Thank-you.
ENDS
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