Transcript of National Party televised campaign launch 2011 “Good evening it is great to see you. This election is all about who can provide strong and stable government in difficult and uncertain times. This election is all about who has economic credibility. Over the last three years, New Zealand has faced some extraordinary challenges. The National led government has a plan, and has begun implementing that plan. It is a plan that has ensured we have provided support for New Zealanders in difficult times and that we’re fully committed to the rebuilding of New Zealand’s second largest city, Christchurch. It is about making sure that we get back into surplus as fast as we can, so that we keep interest rates under control. It is about a tax system that rewards New Zealanders for hard work, and allows them to save and get ahead in their life. It is a plan all about cutting red tape, and making sure that we build infrastructure to ensure that our country is competitive. And it is a plan that says we need to sell more to the rest of the world. And so New Zealand needs to be competitive and to have great links with the fast-growing parts of the world, particularly Asia. New Zealanders are facing the lowest interest rates they have for 45 years. And we’ve expanded enormously our trade with Asia. We’ve already started down the path of providing better public services for New Zealanders. We conducted an additional 27,000 elective surgical operations last year. Crime rates are starting to fall as a result of the 600 additional police that we’ve hired. New Zealanders are starting to feel safer in their communities. This election, New Zealanders have a clear choice. They can go forward with a National led government that will provide strong, stable and decisive leadership, or they can go backwards with a Labour led government that will go back to the days of more borrowing, more spending, and more taxation. I believe New Zealanders are very aspirational for our country. So on November 26 I’m asking all New Zealanders to give their party vote to National. And provide for New Zealanders that brighter future we all deserve.” Clapping. Okay so let’s take some questions. Does anyone have a question they want to ask. Yes, sir. Question: “Thanks John. On TV every night we’re seeing countries with governments that are really struggling. Riots and all sorts of things are going on. Basically the global outlook isn’t so good. Is New Zealand in any kind of trouble?” John Key: “The first thing to acknowledge is that these have been very difficult economic times in New Zealand. For a couple of reasons. Firstly, the global financial crisis is on-going. And as you’ve pointed out, we’re continuing to see countries with very high levels of debt, no great probability that they’ll get back into surplus any time soon, as we can see in the United States and Europe that position has been extremely challenging. From New Zealand’s perspective, we’re in much better shape, but what we do know is that we can’t afford to go out there and continue to borrow, and we have to get back into surplus as quickly as we can. And that is really what the plan has been focussed on, to make sure that we do a few things economically. Firstly, make sure that New Zealanders have jobs, and hopefully the highest paid jobs we possibly can, and we put the country back into the strongest position we can. The other thing we’ve had to contend with in New Zealand of course, has been the earthquake and I think it is worth putting a bit of perspective around that, I mean just to give you some idea, we’ve gone away and looked and we can’t find another natural disaster that has had such a big impact on a developed economy such as New Zealand. So this is a very very big event, is has had quite a dramatic effect on our economy. So we’re very focussed on a few things. Getting back into surplus as quickly as we can. And to give you some idea of that we’re going to halve our deficit this year, we’ll halve it again the year after that, and then fundamentally it will be gone, that’s the track that we’re on. And that will help take pressure off the Reserve Bank, it will help keep our interest rates lower, for longer, and make sure New Zealand is in a much stronger position, if we have to confront any other international challenges or challenges that might come our way. The second thing we’ve been working very hard on is to make sure that New Zealanders feel rewarded for their work and that is why we’ve cut taxes and aligned our tax system. And we undertook significant tax changes right across the board in 2010. And that had quite a dramatic impact. Just to give you some idea, three-quarters of all New Zealanders face a top personal rate of no more than 17 and a half percent; about half of all New Zealand families, when you take into consideration Working for Families, pay no tax whatsoever, so if you earn $50,000 or less and have two children then you pay no tax in New Zealand. The other thing that has been really crucially important has been to lift the competitiveness of New Zealand. So when our economy is more competitive, then we can sell more to the rest of the world, and we can create better high-paid jobs, and to do that you need a really top rate infrastructure. So we’re rolling out ultra-fast broadband, investing a billion and a half dollars in that; we’ve been building an enormous amount of roading and increased the roading network in New Zealand; and we’ve been enhancing rail; making sure that we’re strengthening our electricity networks. Another really important thing that we’ve been doing, is trying to take the red tape off business, stream lining our compliance costs, and making sure that New Zealanders feel encouraged actually to start new businesses and to hire people. Ah and I think on a relative basis that if you look at New Zealand, we’re in much better shape than a lot of other countries. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have enormous amount of work to do and there aren’t a lot of challenges there, there absolutely are. Ah, but I think from New Zealand’s point of view we can count ourselves as one of the luckier countries, we’re in the right part of the world, Asia that’s growing, we are producing things that the world wants to buy and we have enormous capacity, I think, to deliver stronger, better paid jobs, for New Zealanders and if we can keep those interest rates as low as we possibly can, then we can take pressure off the household budgets, and make sure that New Zealanders can get ahead under their own steam. And what we see from our political opponents is them wanting to put a lot more cost and a lot more taxes on the economy. And that can only do one thing, and that is slow the economy down, and cost the country jobs. And we cannot afford to run high debts and have a slower economy in this weaker international climate; we have to get things right and that’s what we’re focussing very firmly on”. Clapping. And another question out there? Yes, sir. Question: “Mr Key, you’ve been saying that we’ve been borrowing too much, and we must cut back on our spending. How is it then you can spend, or how can we afford to spend billions of dollars on roads and on broadband?” Key, “Yes so I think the first thing the first thing to acknowledge is that we need to make the New Zealand boat go faster. So the only way you make the boat go faster is when you have an infrastructure that will allow you to be competitive and efficient. And if you go and have a look around the countries in the world, that are competitive in the world, they have world class infrastructure. When we have broadband that means we can reach out to the world, all of a sudden you can run a business from any small town or large town in New Zealand and have a world-wide customer base that is affordable. You can do that through the internet, but you can’t do that if you don’t have a reliable, fast internet connection. If you spend, you know, 30 minutes or an hour every day locked up in traffic that is time you are not at work or not with your family, certainly not productive, so it is crucially important we have that for economic growth, for higher wages, and actually for delivering a society where people actually enjoy, you know, what they’re doing as they go about, whether it is work or play. So, you are right, in terms of paying for that we need to make some choices and one of the choices that the government has made is that we want to follow what is called the mixed ownership model. So that is we do want to sell down a minority stake in four of the assets than New Zealand owns and by taking that capital out of those particular companies, but keeping a majority stake in those companies, we want to use that money to build other assets in our economy. We’re proposing a model you will understand is the Air New Zealand model, which means that the government not only has but always keeps a majority 51% control as a share minimum and possibly more. It means that we release that capital, and what we actually do is use it to build even more assets. So at the end of that process New Zealaders won’t have less assets they’ll actually have more assets than they currently do. So we want to use that money that we are releasing to build that infrastructure, without having to borrow more money. And as I said earlier, what we’re seeing around the world is a very fragile international environment. You’ve got countries in Europe and the United States that are extremely debt laden; they’ve got a lot of debt, and the last thing we want is for New Zealand to be a highly indebted country. So that is how we’re going to pay for it, and that is why we’re going to do it” Clapping. Any other questions. Yip. Question: “There has been a lot of talk about National Standards over the last three years. But how do they actually improve the learning outcomes for our children. There seems to be a lot of teachers that don’t like them.” Key: “Yes, so I think the way I characterise this is that there are certainly some teachers that don’t support National Standards, but the vast bulk of schools have actually begun the implementation of National Standards, and I think we need to take a step back and ask ourselves why have we implemented that policy? So currently, before we became the government, one in five young New Zealanders left school with hopelessly inadequate literacy and numeracy skills. In other words they couldn’t read and write properly. So as a country can we really sit back and say that we can afford to have twenty percent of all New Zealand children leaving, with inadequate numeracy and literacy skills. And the answer to that is patently no, we can’t. It doesn’t matter what job you undertake in the modern economy in New Zealand you need to be able to read and write properly. And so what National Standards is all about is not some sort of test for five year olds, it is monitoring the progress of that child. So it asks some obvious questions, it says if the average five year old can count to 10 we want to understand whether your child can count to 10, and most importantly if they can’t ask why not and what are we doing about it. And schools are free to use whatever method they want to make that assessment, but what they are required to do is, in plain English, report to you the progress that your child is making. And that allows us very early on to pick up some issues that manifest themselves in some young children. Maybe their eyesight isn’t good. Maybe they have dyslexia. Whatever the reason might be, it is crucially important we identify that progress and we help make change. Because in the end, in a modern day New Zealand, it is an absolute basic function of the education system that every Kiwi comes out being able to read and write properly. And if we don’t do that, we rob this country and those New Zealanders of a future. Personally, I believe in equality of opportunity. And the only way we’ll ever get equality of opportunity, is where every child, it doesn’t matter what background they come from ,what household they come from, what part of New Zealand they come from, come out of school with a world class education. And that has to be an ability to read, write and do maths. And we owe that to every child, and I believe every parent in New Zealand.” Clapping. “Okay any other questions? Yes” Question: “Can you guarantee, that people won’t have to wait too long, to get surgery when they need it.” Key: “So the issue you raise of health is one that is crucial to all New Zealanders. And one of the things we’ve been doing in the last three years, as the government, is to make sure we buy better services for New Zealanders. And fundamentally that has meant reducing the amount of money we spend as a government on bureaucracy and increasing the amount of money we spend in the areas that we think are critically important to a good and fully functioning health system. And that means we’ve employed a lot more doctors, a lot more nurses, more midwives, and we’re spending more money on pharmaceuticals. And we’re starting to see some great results there so we’ve conducted around 27,000 additional surgical operations last year, and the waiting list for cancer treatment in New Zealand is now no more than four weeks, and often less. Unlike the previous government, we haven’t sent anyone to Australia for cancer treatment, we’ve been treating people in New Zealand so that is a great sign of how those are working. When we first became the government you may remember we fully funded herceptin, which is a very specific but expensive drug that treats a certain type of cancer and that has taken a lot of pressure off New Zealand families, and particularly New Zealand women. Ah, and I think that has been a great step forward; you’ve got to make sure you put money in the right place and that is more front line services, less bureaucracy, and very focussed on delivering heath care that is close to home, is convenient and actually delivers top class results for New Zealanders.” Clapping. “Yes, your question.” Question: “My question is about crime. It’s scary reading about home invasions, and people need to feel safe in their own home. What is National’s plan for reducing crime?” Key: “Yes, so I think it is a basic right of every New Zealander to feel safe in their own home. And I remember in 2008 we campaigned very strongly on the issue of law and order. So if you look at our record over the last three years I don’t think you can point to any other government that has implemented as much change as we have in the area of law and order to try and make New Zealanders safer, and actually that plan is working for the vast overwhelming bulk of regions around the country we’re actually seeing our crime rates falling. We added 600 extra police, on the streets, on the beat in New Zealand to again make sure that people feel more secure and as an added deterrent to those who might commit crime. But we’ve also made a raft of different changes in terms of legislation to send that message that we’re not going to tolerate crime. For criminals that are intent on committing crimes that are very serious and significant in nature, we’ve implemented the three strikes policy. Where eventually there will be no parole, you’ll be in prison for the rest of your life if you continue to conduct those kinds of crimes, ah, we’ve lengthened the sentences in a lot of particular areas, particularly for crimes against children for instance. We changed the bail laws so it is harder for people to get bail. We’ve given the police much greater powers, all so that they can keep you safer, and protect you in your homes. One of the areas we know that can drive criminal activity is the use of drugs. And so my office has personally lead the charge in that area of methyl P use as it is sometimes known, and the results are starting to work. In a number of recent surveys, we’re seeing the price of P on the street rising, and the number of clam labs that have actually been busted is falling. And that is all an example we are making progress. So there is a lot more to be done, but I give New Zealanders an absolute commitment that I remain very focussed on making sure that their safety and security is a top priority.” Clapping. “And another question? Yes.” Question: “I’m working hard to pay their bills but there is a lot of people sitting on benefits, and I want to know what you’ll do about it because it doesn’t seem fair.” Key: “Roughly 320,000 New Zealanders of working age on a benefit, supporting about 220,000 children. And we think that that number is too high. So, when we look at that real issue of children growing up in poverty, what we see is an awful lot of those children are growing up in welfare based homes. So we do want to reorient the welfare system, to make sure that important safety net is there for Kiwis when they need it, and there will be many Kiwis who do, either temporarily or in some cases for all of their life, but we also need to make sure we really encourage people to go to work if they can work. There are a number of fundamental changes that we are also proposing to make. So, for instance, the area of young people is specific issue we are focussing on. The historical position, and the policy adopted by previous governments had been that if you are young and say you’re 16 or 17 or 18 and on the domestic purposes benefit, the DPB you’re a young mum, then we just give you money and there is no other obligation. And, I say, that is not working, that is wrong, and actually that policy has a label we can attach to it, called abandonment. We’re actually, asking a very young person to raise a child, typically on their own. And I think those days have to be over. Firstly, we’re going to make sure we provide support around that young person. We’re going to make sure that they’re in some kind of training, we’re going to make sure that they’re attending parenting courses. The second thing we’re going to do is we are going to pay their rent directly, we’re going to pay their electricity bill directly, so that their home is warm for themselves and their child. And the third thing we’re going to do is we’re going to start putting some of that benefit on a payment card, which means that the money can be used for food, but it can’t be used for cigarettes and alcohol. And I think that is a very important step.” Clapping. “Okay, thanks very much for joining us this evening. I’ve been doing these public meetings right around New Zealand, I find them a great way of engaging with kiwis, an opportunity for them to ask me questions so I can see the areas of concern you have and to try and give you an update of what the government is doing. On November 26th we’re holding an election. Elections are always a contest of ideas. And over the last three years we’ve been working hard as a government to provide stable, decisive and I think clear leadership for New Zealand to address those critically important issues so that we can actually build that brighter future for kiwis. So thanks very much, thanks for being part of this evening, I wish you all the very best, and remember come November 26th we’d love you to give your party vote to National. Thank you very much.” Clapping. Music: “It’s a great time to live and it is time to stand up and be counted on. It is a great time to live, it is time to stand up and be counted. It’s a great time to live and it is time to stand up and be counted on.” “John Key and National, building a brighter future.” Labour’s televised launch “The oldest political party in New Zealand, Labour’s roots were forged on the West Coast. Times were hard, and many Kiwis worked and lived in appalling conditions. Labour fought for a fair New Zealand. Food, clothing, shelter, and a living wage for all. Wellington watched helplessly as unemployment gripped the nation.” Old voice over: ”This is no burlesque way of life. This was life in New Zealand.” “Into the political vacuum swept Michael Joseph Savage and New Zealand had its first Labour government.” Savage: “Our mission is to build, and not to destroy the social structure.” “Pulling the country out of depression, Labour’s vision for the future became the New Zealand way of life.” Old voice over: “Under a Labour government, which puts people before things, the health services claim a high priority”. Free healthcare. Housing. “Labour addressed the housing shortage by building thousands of homes.” Old voice over: “For the family man, nothing gives so much satisfaction as a house to himself and a garden to break in”. Homes for all pamphlet. “From free milk for school children to the world’s first social security legislation, Labour’s New Zealand boasted high living standards and one of the smallest gaps between rich and poor on the planet.” Free education. Old voice over: “For young people of ability, the Labour government has ensured free entry to the universities.” “After Savage’s death, Peter Fraser took the helm.” Fraser: “New Zealand is appreciated very highly because of its leadership and social progress.” WWII. “He pushed for New Zealand command over Kiwi troops and tried to ensure they weren’t treated as cannon fodder. Labour was still in power when our boys came home and made sure there were opportunities to greet them. The country showed its gratitude by putting them back into power. In just 14 years Labour had built a prosperous, thriving nation.” Waterfront Dispute. “But by 1951 National was in power and at war on the wharves. 22,000 men were off the job. National made it illegal to help the wives and children of workers.” 1957. Old brouchure: “Everyone – yes, everyone- will be better off under Labour”. “Under Walter Nash, the 2nd Labour government focussed on local production, but a tax on cigarettes and alcohol was well ahead of its time. And the 60s went to National.” 1972. “Labour came back with Norman Kirk, a man of the people. Big Norm tacked the housing shortage, gave pensioners a Christmas bonus, and created a superannuation scheme that would be a $240 billion dollar asset today if National hadn’t dismantled it.” Muldoon: “I don’t think we want to see, in New Zealand, industries taken over by a pension board.” “The Muldoon years polarised the country. Labour won the popular vote in 78 and 81, but National moved the electoral boundary goal posts and maintained power. In 1981, goalposts split the country in two.” 1984. “After nine years of National, the economy was on the verge of collapse. David Lange and Labour came to power, introducing ground breaking social reforms. Finance Minister Roger Douglas restructured the economy, but his free market policies and assets sales didn’t belong with Labour. The party was divided. And ultimately Douglas left to form ACT. Lange resigned, but would be remembered for declaring New Zealand nuclear free.” “During the 90s, National continued to sell off state assets.” Richardson: “This is going to be the mother of all budgets, yes as they say dah”. “Unemployment skyrocketed, while benefits were slashed. (Newspaper headings: “Family benefit gone, Dole Slashed, Medical Fees up, Housing Slashed”). It was the era of market rents for state homes. Evictions, hospital charges, and the erosion of workers’ rights.” 1999. “Labour was swept back into power. The party had returned to its core values. They lowered state house rents and raised the minimum wage. There was a budget surplus. And New Zealand had the lowest unemployment in the OECD.” 2005.” Labour was back and people mattered more than ideology.” “Labour: It’s who we are!” “Jobless at record low” heading. “Number of jobless lowest in 27 years”. “Dole figures drop to lowest in generation”. “I know what its like to be poor. My father, he was dead at 47. So my mother was on a widow’s pension with three boys. Phil used to go there when he was growing up (Bruce Goff) and talk to her about it he never got the politics from me.” Phil Goff: “Well she was always a very staunch Labour person and she was staunchly Labour because when they moved to New Zealand from England after the first war my grandfather had been a prisoner of war, he had been gassed on the Somme, and he died nine years after they came to New Zealand. That left my grandmother with three young boys, they’d almost paid off their house, but without an income they had a mortgagee sale on the house and they lost everything”. “When Savage got elected as Labour’s first Prime Minister, one of the first things that he did was to lift the widow’s benefit by a shilling a week. I used to listen to the stories that she talked about, the hard times, that was what made me Labour.” Old voice over “Eight miles of mountain rope way, and the mine face still leaves the coal in Deniston two thousand....”. Damian O’Connor MP, Agriculture and Biosecurity Spokesperson. “There is a letter floating around in the family, written by my grandmother who had come from Westport up to Deniston because it was the only place she could find a teaching job, and she took notes and was the minutes secretary at one of the Labour movement meetings. She was very proud of that, and I guess that transferred through to her children without any direct teaching or preaching.” Old voice over: “The coal plummets down this incline, and begins its long haul to the furnaces of industry”. O’Connor: “A connection to Denniston is something that many of us hold with pride, because it was the wisdom, the activism, of people up here, that drove social justice issues and ultimately lead to the Labour Party.” David Cunliffe, Finance Spokesperson: “My dad was a hunter, he was a fisherman, he a was a hiker, and he was an Anglican Minister with a love for the Labour Party, and social justice. I got bits of all of that from him. In a vicarage you see all sorts of families, all sorts of lives come through the front door, people in need, and I guess I learned early about trying to help others. And I think those values have stuck with me.” Jacinda Ardern MP, Youth Affairs and Employment Spokesperson. “This is my old street, this is the street we lived in, ah Kohwai Ave, and we moved here when I was pretty young. Murupara was a town that was entirely dependent on forestry. And in that period we went from being a state owned enterprise to being privatised completely, and the job losses at that time were enormous. Even though I was really young, I remember seeing what that did to the town. The social cost of unemployment. There is no doubt that this place has shaped the way I feel about what government role is in people’s lives. And so you know that is why I am ultimately Labour”. Grant Robertson MP, Health Spokesperson. “When I was at school and at university I worked at the supermarket, chopping up fruit and veges. But when I worked there that was when National brought in the employment contracts act and I saw the impact that that had on the people who worked there. They lost hours, they lost their double time, time and a half, they saw the value of their wages sink (newspaper heading: Employment Act slows wage growth) and I saw people literally lose money, lose their families, as the pressure went on. So I turned to the Labour party (heading ‘Labour vows action on Contracts Act’) and I’m really proud of what we achieved.” Carmel Sepuloni MP, Disability Issues and Victims’ Rights Spokesperson: “I’ve always been politically interested because we grew up in a household where politics was important. Our dad was a union activist, and I think just generally I grew up with quite a strong social conscience and went on to become a teacher, it was all about social justice and fairness and equity for me through my work in education, and just became increasingly aware politically, and then got involved. For me it wasn’t even a choice to get involved with Labour, I can’t even comprehend going with any other political party let alone National (laughs), uhm it was just part of who I was.” Stuart Nash, Revenue and Forestry Spokesperson. “Sir Walter Nash was my great grandfather, an iconic member of the first Labour government. He was part of that first movement who believed in a better way. Who believed that you had a responsibility to look after everyone. And I think that is fundamental to what we believe in in this day or age, or I certainly believe that, the Labour Party believes that. A caring society basically.” The Difference between Labour and National. “There is a huge difference between Labour and National. And it is what we are here for.” Old voiceover: “To vote Labour is to ensure the future of our youngsters. Just now setting out on life’s adventure”. O’Connor:“It is always more complex for Labour because we are here for every New Zealander. And all our aspirations and all our hopes. The National Party is just here to generate money on the basis that they think the trickle-down theory will deliver to each and every New Zealander. Well we know it doesn’t. You know its the rich pissing on the poor. That is their trickle down theory.” Cunliffe: “National and its allies on the right come to politics with a belief that free markets almost always produce the best outcome and wittingly or unwittingly they are there to promote the interests of the strong and the rich. Sepoulini: “You know I hear people all the time tell me that there is no difference between Labour and National, and for me that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the founding principles of Labour is fairness. We are all better off when we lift those who are struggling at the bottom up. If there is an opportunity for government to make a difference, and there is we’ll do it, we’ll do everything that it takes”. Old voice over: “Family allowances have been liberalised, annual allowable income raised from four pounds t o five pounds weekly”. Stuart Nash: “The Labour Party believed that if people were working, and they were being productive, then they were contributing to society. And I just laugh when I see John Key’s billboards saying “Building a brighter future”. But how does 58,000 young people unemployed, how is that a brighter future? How was selling state assets a brighter future? It simple isn’t.” Goff: “What Labour has done is learnt from history and its learnt from mistakes. Thats why in the last Labour government we didn’t sell off assets, we had to buy back Air New Zealand because it had been bankrupted, we bought back Kiwi Rail because it had been asset stripped and run into the ground”. Old voice over: “The railway train came early to New Zealand; nationalised almost from the beginning.” Goff “And we set up Kiwibank. The problem with National is that they haven’t learnt from history. They ignore that history, and they keep on making those mistakes.” Asset sales. “People have to understand the practical repercussions of selling off our assets. We’re going to lose something between 700 and 900 million in dividends per year, that could be going towards our health system, which could be going towards our education system, but without that money there, then what are we going to do.” Cunliffe: “Asset sales are a road to nowhere. Financially they make no sense; within nine years of selling we’ll be worse off because we’ll lose the dividends. People can’t afford to buy them; most of my constituents can’t afford to buy them so what we mean is we’re selling them to someone else. And the government has got no way of preventing them from being on-sold to foreigners.” Ardern: “Who knows what would happen to our power prices if we sold off our major power companies to foreign owners who have no interest in keeping power prices low for kiwi families”. Old voice over: “For the nation lives by electric power, and the demands grow with our growing prosperity.” Stuart Nash: “These are assets that have built up over generations. By sweat, toil, tears and taxes and they want to sell them in a minute. Look, we’ve been down this road, it simply does not work. You sell them once and that’s that.” O’Connor: “Once they’re there on the open market anyone can come in and buy them. And John Key’s promise to give these to mum and dad investors, you know how stupid does he think we are?” Goff: “Well they talked about the mum and dad investors when Bill English sold off Contact Energy. But who did it go to? The majority owned in Australia. And the majority ownership the big corporates. “ Privatisation. O’Connor: “ACC, arguably the most important, unique part of New Zealand society that everyone around the world is envious of. And these idiots want to start privatising it. You talk to people from the US, from the UK, from Australia. It either costs a whole lot more to have insurance or you don’t get full cover. (Newspaper heading: ‘ACC may open to competition’). And in fact we’ll be a lot poorer for that”. Grant Robertson: “I worked in the United States for a while. And I’ll never forget the morning I walked out of my apartment building and I saw a woman collapse on the crossing in front of me. We ran over and helped her and someone called an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived the very first thing the ambulance driver did was wrench into the purse of this woman to check her insurance card. I was shocked.” Goff: “ACC is a great system in New Zealand, it takes the profit the lawyers in other systems around the world make out of it and that money goes back to the people who have suffered from injuries or it goes back into prevention. National’s indicated quite clearly that ACC is on the list of things to be privatised.” Old voice over: Since 1936 the Labour government has provided housing for 79,000 families.” O’Connor: “They deregulated the building industry and said we’ll leave it to them to work out how we can have safe houses. And then they deregulated the electricity industry and said we’ll leave it to them to ensure fair and on-going supply. They have all been absolute disasters.” Under National. Cunliffe: “What’s happened recently has been that the richest 10% have become much richer, the poorest 40% have become much poorer, and the bunch in the middle have just been squeezed. Newspaper heading: ‘A nation divided: Survey reveals growing concern at wealth gap’. Grant Robertson, “They’ve given tax cuts to those that needed it the least. And put up GST which affects those on lowest incomes. It’s just not fair. I think National’s whole approach to taxation has been about rewarding those who already have the most and punishing those who have the least”. Stuart Nash: “National just doesn’t get it. And let me give you one example. They came in in 2008 and they gave the top guys a tax cut. And in November last year they gave the top guys a massive tax cut. So if you’re earning a million dollars a year, and there are about 700 people, you got a thousand dollars a week extra in the hand. And yet if you’re living in Napier, and on the median wage you got eleven dollars a week in hand, and this was all financed by an increase in GST from 12.5 to 15% so everyone paid it. The top guys did incredibly well, whereas the vast majority are going backwards.” Newspaper heading: ‘Rich list highlights big wealth divide’. Sepoulini: “When we are coming across elderly who are saying to us they no longer shower every day to conserve water or they’ve turned the hot water off to conserve electricity. (Heading: ‘Food prices hit new high’). When you hear from mothers that they’re watering down the milk so that it goes further (Newspaper heading: Children go without food as parents struggle to cope’). These types of things make me think what type of developed country are we living in”. Ardern: “I don’t think the National Party cares about the significant difference between those struggling at the bottom and those at the top. Why else would we see that gap growing astronomically under John Key.” Kelvin Davis MP, Special Education and Tourism. “When I was in LA I saw panhandlers, you know people sitting there holding out tin mugs at traffic lights and in street corners begging, and I said to the American guy that was showing me around you know crikey we don’t see that in New Zealand. And the other day I was walking up and around Queen street looking around the streets, and there I saw the same guys, tin mugs out, begging for coins, and I just went “oh my gosh, we’re going backwards, we’re not going forward”. Newspaper heading: “London’s burning: Riots spread across city”. O’Connor: “We just have to open the pages of the papers or look around the world and say that is not where we want to be. And many of those countries have very poor people and very rich people and New Zealand is heading in that direction. Cunliffe: “I don’t want to live in a society where you have Mercedes Benz behind a barbed wire fence. And people on the other side can’t afford weetbix and milk.” What will Labour do about it? Stuart Nash: “There is a different route we can go down. Because there is no doubt about it, debt is too high at the moment. The government is borrowing too much. And that is partly due to the economic situation and its partly due to the fiscal policies this government is putting in place. We can reform the tax system. We can make it fairer for everyone.” David Cunliffe Labour Party Tax Video. “Everybody pays their fair share, everybody gets their fair share under Labour. Only half of the wealthiest New Zealanders pay the top tax rate. Why? Because wages are taxed and capital is not. And that is one way the wealthy can legally avoid tax. In most other countries those forms of income actually contribute to their respective economies through a capital gains tax, or CGT. Goff: “You know most of us pay tax on every dollar we earn. But somebody can go out there, speculate on property, and pay no tax at all. Thats not right. If somebody is not paying their fair share, it means somebody else is paying that for them.” Old voice over: New Zealand is a country designed by nature for challenge and for opportunity. Setting no end for possible achievement.” Ardern: “Never before have we seen youth unemployment at the level that it is now, almost 30% of our young people are looking for work (Newspaper heading ‘Youth unemployment hits crisis point in the north). We are not willing to stand on the sideline while 58,000 young people do absolutely nothing; we are not willing to see that loss of potential. So we’ve decided what we’ll do in Labour is transfer the money that a young person would be paid on the dole to an employer who is willing to support them and back them in an apprenticeship.” Old voice over: “Apprenticeships have increased under Labour rule, from 3929 in 1935 to over 8,000 in 1938. The door of advancement has been opened to youth.” Sepoulini: “Recently we put out a cost of living video, and it really was to highlight the policies Labour would like to introduce. The first $5000 you make in personal income each year, whether you’re a worker, a beneficiary, or retired on super will be tax free. Secondly, we’ll take GST off all fresh fruit and vegetables. “ What kind of future do we want? O’Connor: “If you’ve got a growing gap between the rich and the poor, which is what is happening in New Zealand, then you will ultimately will end up with conflict, with frustration, and ultimately with violence which is not the society we want.” Ardern: “This election I feel like we are at this enormous cross-roads. We have a choice as to whether or not, for instance, we choose to keep our assets, and whether or not we choose to protect the next generation’s future, or whether we sell it off”. Cunliffe: “If we carry on on the path we’re on where we’re leaving half the population behind and we’re not investing in skills and technology, we won’t be able to milk enough cows or dig up enough coal to make this country rich. We’ll continue this slide, we’ll continue to get more divided, we’ll lose a sense of who we are, and we’ll either end up poor, or a state of Australia, and I don’t want either. “ Goff: “Labour believes in governing this country for everybody. Not just the wealthy and the powerful. Not just the tax cuts for those who are already best off. But for everybody. And Labour has an absolutely fundamental belief in fairness. That if we want to create a good society, if we want one New Zealand, not a divided country, then we’ve got to give every one of our children the best start in life. We’ve got to be fair to the whole community, to get the best out of the community and to keep that community together. “ Old voice over: “To guarantee economic security and to keep freedom real, pay a tribute to achievements. Vote Labour again.” For a richer New Zealand VOX POPS: >> I think a richer NZ would be a New Zealand where the economy, and people and the environment are considered one system that works together. >> There'd be more opportunities for everyone. >> We’d have a better public transport system. >> There'd be a decent minimum wage. >> There'd be a smaller gap between the haves and the have nots. >> There'd be houses you can afford >> I reckon in a richer NZ we’d have more jobs >> We'd have MMP. >> Well, healthy food would be cheaper. >> Well, I think, in a richer NZ we'd measure success in more ways than just monetary gain. Woman doing sign language and text: In a richer New Zealand we’d look after everyone. RUSSEL: Kia Ora I'm Russel Norman, METIRIA: Tena koutou I'm Metiria Turei, Together we're the co-leaders of the Green party METIRIA: 18 years ago I was a young mum on the DPB with no education, no prospects, but with this beautiful baby who needed me. And I needed help. I used the welfare system to take care of us both, to go to university to get my law degree. I understand first-hand how important a supportive government is. For me, a richer Aotearoa is one where every parent is valued and where every child has a roof over their head and food on the table. RUSSEL: I grew up in Australia. I came to NZ 15 years ago for work and for study and I loved it here, and I have been here ever since. I've worked in factories, on farms and in offices. I've got a doctorate in political science, I'm a member of parliament, and a new dad. I believe a richer New Zealand is one where we look after the people and we look after the environment. METIRIA: This election the Green Party has three priorities for action for the next three years, to help us build a richer New Zealand. RUSSEL: We're going to clean up rivers, get kids out of poverty, and grow green jobs. RUSSEL: We have a plan to stimulate 100,000 new green jobs through government leadership and business incentives. METIRIA: It will add resilience to our economy, without taking our country further into debt. And you can read all about the details on our website. RUSSEL: One action is extending the home insulation scheme we created to a further 200,000 homes (Text in insulation: Creating better environments). Text: Extending the home insulation scheme METIRIA: We will encourage businesses to join the green economy through research subsidies, and tax incentives. We need government support for sustainable services and products which can be sold around the world. (Text: Support for sustainable services and products). RUSSEL: A good example of this is a kiwi company called Aquaflow. They've developed a way to turn sewage into bio-fuel, fertilizer, and clean water. METIRIA: But we've got to keep it kiwi, with government support in partnership with investors we can keep our best and our brightest anchored in New Zealand. RUSSEL: We get the ongoing benefits of jobs and research, and we don't lose all the profits overseas. METIRIA: And while we're on the topic, selling off our state assets, even a "part sale" won't make New Zealand richer. The Green Party will keep our country's assets in public ownership and we will put them to work as catalysts for our common economic good. (Image of logos for Meridian, Mighty River Power, Mercury Energy, Solid Energy, Genesis energy, Air New Zealand, Metrix, Nature’s flame, biodiesel, Switch energy solutions.) RUSSEL Global investment in clean energy will double to US$800 billion per year by 2015. With the right incentives, we can get at least 1% of that global market. Just 1% would generate billions of dollars in exports from New Zealand and employ tens of thousands of people in clean jobs, right here. METIRIA If you want New Zealand to get a piece of the clean energy action, you need to Party Vote Green. VOX POPS: >> In a richer NZ I reckon all our lakes would be clean. >> I just want my kids to be able to swim in our estuary. METIRIA: GO! (kids jump in) haha, when I was a kid, I used to swim in the mighty Manawatu… but now, it's one of the most polluted rivers in the world. RUSSEL: The good news is that we can clean it up. The Green Party has a plan to make our rivers and lakes clean enough to swim in again, just like this one. (kids splash) After all, It's every Kiwi kid's birthright. METIRIA: Having healthy waterways is good for our clean green brand, which underpins our tourism and agricultural exports. (Text: Supporting our clean green brand). RUSSEL: The Green Party will set standards to control the amount of water coming out of our rivers and to cut pollution going into them. (Text: Setting standards for water quality and use). METIRIA: We'll introduce fair charges for irrigation and use the funds to clean up our rivers, and create green jobs. (Text: Fair irrigation charges). RUSSEL: We need to support farmers and industry to find solutions that work for everyone. METIRIA: A Green Party Vote at this election is a start to making our rivers clean enough to swim in again. (splash) VOX POPS: >> Well I think in a Richer NZ there should be more care for parents and their young children. >> Our kids are really important METIRIA: We're here at Edmund Hillary School in South Auckland to celebrate a positive story… VO METIRIA: As a decile 1 school they've had their fair share of challenges, but by developing their own Mahinga Kai gardening & learning programme they've changed attitudes and brought their community together to support each other. RUSSEL: It's a great start in the battle against some of the problems caused by real hardship. Child poverty is a reality in our country, and the Greens plan to do something about it. METIRIA: We have developed four solutions to bring 100,000 children out of poverty by 2014. VO METIRIA: We will give parents on a benefit better access to the training incentive allowance, to help them to study and take care of their kids. (Text: Training allowance for parents on benefits). VO RUSSEL: We will extend Working for Families to 140,000 of the poorest households with children. (Text: Extending working for families). METIRIA: We will raise the minimum wage to $15 immediately to help working parents provide for their children. (Text: $15 minimum wage). RUSSEL: And we'll create insulation standards for rental properties to ensure warm, healthy homes for thousands of kids. (Text: Insulation standards for rental properties). METIRIA: Child poverty costs this country around $6b billion a year. If we invest just a fraction of that in our kids now, we will save money and save lives, ensuring a better future for all of us. RUSSEL: We just need your party vote to make it happen. VOX POPS: >> A richer New Zealand would have more Green MPs. >> I think we more Green MPs in Parliament. RUSSEL: The Greens are a growing, popular party, with a fresh new way of looking at world we live in. METIRIA: New Zealand was the home of the world's first Green Party and we've been represented in Parliament now for well over a decade. We're a successful, independent party and we've delivered great green change regardless of who's been in government. RUSSEL: In just the last three years, working alongside Government we've made 100,000 homes warm and dry. We've got the funding for the cycleway, for toxic site cleanups, and for pest control and more. METIRIA: Your vote can deliver more positive change for the next three years. To find out more about what we believe in, and why you should support us at this election, please visit our website (Text: www.greens.org.nz). RUSSEL: We have policies on economics, health, education, justice, and so much more (image of website). METIRIA: If you share our vision for a richer New Zealand One with clean rivers, where everyone has a job, and every child has enough to eat … RUSSEL If you want a smart, green economy, that works for everyone…. at this election… RUSSEL & METIRIA: Party Vote Green! Text: Party vote Green