Labour closing address at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksc1AAnGpsw Labour gave us ... • Free Healthcare • Universal Superannuation • Affordable Tertiary Education • The Minimum Wage • Declared NZ Independent – 1947 • First Woman MP • First Woman Cabinet Minister • First State Houses • Kept NZ out of the Iraq War • Nuclear Free New Zealand Labour: it’s who we are! Grant Duncan, Assoc Professor, Massey. “When we look at our history I think we’ll find that pretty much most of the signature progressive changes that we’ve made have been made by Labour governments. (Newspaper heading: ‘Top marks for political courage’).National parties when it comes to electoral campaigning prey upon the fears of the public. (National Party ad shown: ‘This year the choice is clear. Labour Stop. National Go.’). Now it’s the National party with the stop sign saying progress will stop if you vote for Labour but I think that when you look at the actual policies, when you look at the real world history o what Labour parties do, they don’t have their foot on the break, they don’t actually stop progress, they tend on the other hand to be progressive politically and socially. (Newspaper heading: ‘It’s time to face some hard choices’). Goff: “I think the big difference between National and Labour is that we’ve got a vision and we’ve got a plan for the future. A better New Zealand, a New Zealand that will be better for our kids and our grandkids. It’s about finding jobs. It’s about giving training to people, up skilling New Zealanders. It’s about making sure we’ve got a fair taxation system, that enables us to pay off the debt, keep our assets, and give everybody a fairer go, because people are finding it really hard”. David Parker MP, Spokesperson for Economic Development. “I believe in the efficiency of free and competitive markets. The Labour Party does. We’re not communists. But that doesn’t mean to say that the market’s always right. And that doesn’t mean the government can just take its hands off all the levers that only a government can pull and pretend that the market will get it right. It doesn’t work like that.” Nanaia Mahuta MP, Spokesperson for Maori Social Development. “If National believes that the free market will take care of us, then Maori have been the victims of that philosophy. Labour believes we need to be an active government (Newspaper heading: ‘Labour’s recovery fix-it plan’) and have greater regulation in areas where we can ensure greater equity, in our society. So I think that is really important, and that’s a fundamental difference.” The last Labour Government: • Balanced the Books • Free Trade Arrangement with China • Zero Net Crown Debt • NZ Super Fund • Budget Surplus The Next Labour Government will: • Create a stronger economy with a fair tax system David Cunliffe MP, Finance Spokesperson: “With this tax package, the books balance. We’ve carefully costed everything. CGT is the centrepiece (Text: ‘Capital Gains Tax’), we’ve had independent experts check the capital gains tax and the numbers balance. CGT brings in up to $3 billion per year, and it means that we can pay off the government debt and keep our assets. Duncan: “Capital gains taxes are perfectly normal, most civilised countries have them, there is nothing radical or fearful about them whatsoever. But they are a way of helping put a break on the development of asset bubbles, and they are also a way of ensuring that the wealthy, who are the people mostly making the gains, actually pay a little bit of a tax on what is essentially a form of income. ‘ “What the National party did was increase the proportion of total tax that is paid by middle income and lower income people and decreased the proportion of total tax that is paid by the people who are already most wealthy.” Goff: “There is nothing more fiscally irresponsible than what the National government did. You know they borrowed money to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. The top earning people in this country, a thousand dollars a week in tax cuts, and they borrowed $1.1 billion more than they got from GST to give those tax cuts to the wealthy.” The last Labour Government: • Introduced Working for Families • 20 hours Free Early Childhood Education • Interest Free Student Loans • 100,000 people OFF benefits The next Labour Government will: • Close the gap between rich and poor “Under the last Labour government we stopped the income gap growing between rich and poor, and that was quite a notable feat compared to the trends around the world where the income gap grew between the rich and the poor. (Newspaper heading: Nats’ policy increases inequality’). Since we left office, the income gap has started to grow again. (Newspaper heading: ‘Level of inequality just not acceptable’). David Shearer MP, Research and Development Spokesperson, “Some people have been left behind. There is no doubt about that. That doesn’t mean to say that we reward people who are sitting on welfare, or we allow people at the other end who can get away with not paying any tax. Uhm, but it’s definitely for me, that there’s that sense of fairness, that is disappearing.” Mahuta, “The thing that scares me most about the prospect of a National Act government is that there will be greater inequality in our country between the very rich and the very poor. What that tells me is that Maori will be right at the bottom. (Newspaper heading: ‘Crime hurts young, ethnic, poor’). National’s plan isn’t a plan for a brighter future; National’s plan is to keep the rich rich and the poor poor and downtrodden.” Duncan: “Our New Zealand probably in OECD terms has higher than average income inequality, and yes we really need to take this seriously because I think we can see from the politics that is going on all around the world (Newspaper heading: ‘London’s burning: Riots spread across the city’) now that income inequality and wealth inequality (Newspaper heading: ‘Riots spread to other cities’) have really got out of control. There is no use in having policies that are just lolly scrambles for the rich again. We’ve actually got to think about really reconfiguring social and economic policy”. Goff, “National says we can’t afford to lift kids out of poverty. You know what I say to them. You can’t afford not to. (Newspaper heading: ‘Alarm raised over child poverty’). If we don’t invest in our children we certainly pay for it in (Newspaper heading: ‘NZ’s child poverty rate one of highest’) in our young people being unemployed, poorly educated, (Newspaper heading: ‘Child poverty getting worse’) in the criminal justice system.” Cunliffe” It costs about $100,000 per year to keep a prisoner in a maximum security prison. It’s far, far cheaper to feed and educate young people than it is to see them drop out of the system and to become a cost to society for the rest of their lives.” Extend Working for Families “We need every kiwi kid to get a decent start to life and that’s what our policy will achieve.” Parker, “There are issues here that need to be addressed and the current National led government is not brave enough to tackle them. They’ve got this welfare reform that says they’re going to push all the people sitting on their arses, according to them, into jobs, when we’ve got high unemployment because there’s no jobs to go into (Newspaper heading: ‘OECD calls for superannuation age to be raised’) and yet the big issue is actually superannuation. Within four years the amount that will be spent on superannuation is twenty times the amount that we spend on the unemployment benefit.” Goff, You can’t just put that burden on a younger generation. We know that problem is coming. Let’s deal with it now. (Image: ‘Raise the retirement age’). Let’s fix it. We can do that by gradually getting people to retire later at age 67. Under our plan (Newspaper heading: ‘At last – Labour breaks taboo on super’) it won’t affect anybody until 2020. It’s really obvious why we’ve got to do this. We can make superannuation sustainable, we can protect it for the future, we’ve got to do the right thing. (Labour poster: Labour will leave more for future generations than just debt). Cunliffe: “Universal Kiwisaver is a crucial part of the plan. You know it’s the key difference between us and Australia. They’ve had compulsory super just like Norm Kirk tried to get for New Zealand and Rob Muldoon canned it (Newspaper heading: ‘Reforming superannuation needs to start immediately’). Compulsory Kiwisaver builds a huge pool of local capital. The government’s own savings working group calculated that if we could do something like that we would grow GDP by 10%.” The Last Labour Government: • Raised Minimum Wage 9 Times • 4 weeks Annual Leave • Paid Parental Leave • Lowest unemployment in the OECD The Next Labour Government will... • Grow the economy and create jobs Goff, “Since National became government, 62,000 extra people have gone on benefits. That is costing a billion dollars (Newspaper heading: ‘Unemployment hits its highest level in a decade). You know they talk about welfare reform. The best form of welfare reform ( ‘How high will jobless go?’) is actually providing jobs for people to go to and that is what the research and development tax credit is about. It grows jobs, high pay, high skill, high tech jobs and it enables us to compete with the world at the top level. (Image: Research and development tax credit).” David Shearer, “So we need to bump up the amount of research and scientific research in particular, the amount that companies are doing, we need to plan for that, we need to look at the capital that is available to these young companies that have got fantastic ideas, but they just aren’t getting them off the board at the moment, and a lot of these ideas people come in from the United States or Asia, they look at the idea and they think whoa, I’ll buy that from you and we sell it to them because we don’t have the capital to produce it ourselves. And we need to get alongside some of these companies in a way that we haven’t done yet and really help them along. All of those things are not being done at the moment.” Mahuta, “Youth unemployment is very serious, Maori and Pacific youth unemployment is more dire, over 58,000 young people don’t have a job (Newspaper heading: ‘Youth jobless a time bomb says business lobby group’), or aren’t in any time of training (Jobless young will take lives). The future doesn’t look bright for them (Newspaper heading: ‘Youth unemployment a growing problem’).” Duncan, “This is a disaster now. People are able to leave school and get into trouble with the law and the taxpayer is paying for lawyers, police officers, judges, social workers.” Parker, “The Labour Party has got some pretty brave policy in this area too. We say, well why not encourage employers to take on apprentices by instead paying (Labour policy: ‘Dole Payments to Subsidies for Apprenticeships’) the equivalent amount for a period to the employer who is willing to take on another apprentice. Now that’s the sort of thing that a government can do. No one can do that other than the government, but this current government they’re not willing to take those hard calls. And as a consequence they’re willing, effectively, to put up with very high rates of unemployment and the unfairness and the social unrest that causes over time.” The last Labour Government: • Invested in Public Transport • Emissions Trading Scheme • Increased Recycling Facilities • 17 New Marine Reserves • Home Insulation Programme • 30,000 hectares to the Conservation Estate The Next Labour Government will • Protect our Environment Goff, “National for heaven’s sake, wanted to mine our National Parks, our most precious areas. National wants to pay the cost of pollution for the polluter. Labour believes in making the polluter pay.” Mahuta, “When I saw the Rena disaster I thought oh my goodness, this cannot be happening. And then I thought why is this happening? Is this the result of a more systemic issue of deregulation?” Duncan, “Certainly it looks like the Pike River and Rena disasters are pointing towards a lack of regulatory control in this society, but there are other things as well, the leaky buildings syndrome, for instance, is perhaps another example. “ Parker, “Regulation seems to be a dirty word to the National Party. If it weren’t for regulation our harbours would be full of sewerage. Regulation can be good. We do have a real problem in New Zealand with the extra amount of livestock effluent and fertilizer, going into our waterways from the increasing intensification of farming. That needs to be properly managed so that the environmental outcomes are good, rather than making our rivers dirtier. You can’t have it the other way around and say look, environmental matters, you only do something about the environment when you are wealthy and can afford to do s; the reality is you can’t afford to ignore your environment. The Last Labour Government: • Bought back Kiwirail • KiwiSaver • Rescued Air New Zealand • KiwiBank The Next Labour Government will ... • Keep out state assets Goff, “You know it is really dumb to sell the assets. What business person would sell the best performing assets in their business in order to pay off their debt? You lose the assets. You can only sell them once. And you lose them forever. And you lose the dividends they bring back to us as Kiwis. You know that $800 million last year, that paid for our health services and our education services. You cut that in half.” Duncan, “Those state assets we own, why would we sell them to the few to own (‘State assets assessed for sale to investors’). The so-called mum and dad investors, are wealthy mum and dad investors and they are not the average investor (Buy state asset shares of foreigners will, English tells Kiwis). The asset sales policy is all of us giving to the few. And get this, when those people on-sell those shares at a profit there is no capital gains tax. So the two things need to be looked at together. National doesn’t want a capital gains tax, they want to sell off state owned assets, so the wealthy can get a tax free wind-fall profit out of us, out of something that we the public have invested in and owned for decades. Who would vote for that?” The next Labour Government will... • Introduce Capital Gains Tax • No GST on Fruit and Vegetables • Expand Kiwisaver • $15 Minimum Wage • Extend Working for Families • $5,000 tax free zone • Fair deal for Red Zone residents • Apprenticeship Scheme • Support Auckland Rail • Raise Retirement age to save Superannuation • Free healthcare for under 6’s • Extend parental leave • R&D tax credit • Keep our state assets Duncan, “It is really important that people look beyond the surface image, that they look beyond the personality driven, television driven politics and that they actually have a really cold hard think about what we are actually voting for because the danger is that people may end up voting for policies that aren’t in their practical material interests.” Cunliffe, “Labour’s economic plan is fully costed, its numbers balance, we reach surplus in two years, we pay off the debt quicker than National. It is the most detailed, comprehensive fiscal strategy any opposition in decades has produced and put before the country.” Parker, “So many people out there know that what we are proposing, some of these big choices that need to be made, that we’re right, they know in their hearts its right for New Zealand. And if they want to help they’ve got to get out there and vote on the day.” Mahuta, “It’s a call to action. If people want to vote for Labour they have to get out and vote with their feet. If they care enough to ensure that this country is not for sale then vote Labour. If they care enough to ensure that all our kids get a good opportunity then vote Labour. If they care about having a more fair society then vote Labour. It’s that simple.” Goff, “It is about having a plan for the future and about having the courage to take the hard decisions. It’s not about flogging off our assets and driving down wages. It is about a fairer more equal New Zealand. (2 ticks for Labour). Maori Party opening address 2011 (5.04) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvl0jySwn0 Pita Sharples: “You can make a difference for your whanau.” Tariana Turia: “For your hapu, your iwi, and for your future.” Ururoa Flavell: “Life may get hard.” Rahui Katene: “And the cost of living keeps going up.” Flavell: “But you can make a difference.” Katene: “That is what Whanau Ora is.” Mother with child: “Believe in yourself, knowing that you can.” Man: “Put kai on the table, a roof over your head.” Safe “You can keep your way of life safe.” Man: “And your whanau together.” Woman: “So your mokopuna know who they are.” Woman: “That their future is secure.” Woman: “That they have the confidence to get through when things get tough.” Man: “Like losing a job.” Woman: “Or finding another one.” Man: “And when things get better, but it is still a struggle.” Man: “You have to do it for yourself.” Woman: “Because no-one else will.” Woman: “That is when I need to be heard.” To be heard “To be heard. To be heard.” Man: “For someone to listen.” Woman: “To know what it means to live in my world.” Man: “Walk in my shoes.” Woman: “See life through our eyes.” Woman: “Culture counts and that is a fact, we all got coaching, none are irrelevant. It builds our lives and makes us strive and instills with pride so that we feel alive and if it dies we’re condemned to silence so our souls of confusion, segregate to asylums, but it ain’t too late to embrace and celebrate respect for your story, my story, and now our journey for the future, for the past has been the good, it has been the bad, now we make and actively creating history, you and me, together we’ve got a New Zealand identity, what will it be?” Maori Party Music: “The tangata whenua.” People: “Whanau, whanau, whanau.” Whanau “That is when whanau step up.” Woman: “They take your part.” Sharples: “They lift you up. They stand by you.” Woman: “They make your way of life safe.” Sharples: “The Maori Party is about whanau.” Turia: “And we want you to take part.” Flavell: “And stand by you when you speak.” Katene: “We will listen.” Sharples: “When you speak.” Your voice “It will be your voice.” Na Raihania: “Where we go, is with your direction.” Waihoroi Shortland: “Where we stand, is right beside you.” Bruce Mataki: “That is what whanau do.” Sharples: “Like whanau, we’ve been down the hard road.” Katene: “Not everything has gone our way.” Flavell: “But we’ve had to learn to grow up.” Turia: “To deal with our disappointments.” “And find the courage to pick ourselves up. And move on.” “That is when whanau, whanau, whanau; that is when whanau shine.” “We contribute, do our share, carry some of the load, help one another, make it easier for someone else. We give each other a life. We give hope, we give hope. Hope “But whanau is about responsibility for myself.” “For yourself and for those around you.” “When you are old and when you are young.” Sharples: “We will take responsibility.” Child: “For those who are vulnerable.” Woman holding baby: “For those who can’t defend themselves.” Man: “For those who need a safe pair of hands.” Sharples: “Not one more child shall suffer.” Woman: “Not one more child will be abandoned.” Twin children: “Not one more child.” Child with Turia: “Not one more child, aye nanny.” Man: “Not when whanau care.” Woman in Maori and text: “For the bereaved and less fortunate.” Man: “for my children.” “So I can find a job.” “For a better education.” “So I can learn to count.” “So I am able to read.” “To speak my language.” “To ensure our family thrives.” Sharples: “The Maori Party’s responsibility is to find the resources to make things happen.” Turia: “To secure jobs, promote good health.” Sharples: “Reconnect the disconnected.” Responsibility Flavell: “It is our responsibility to find new pathways to achievement.” Katene: “Alleviate poverty and create wealth.” “It is the Maori Party’s responsibility to make sure that the laws that govern us are just and fair.” “It is not about special privilege, it is about being allowed to be who we are: Maori.” Be who we are “In our own place.” “In our own time.” “In our own way.” “That is what whanua need.” Turia: “But above all things, whanau need a warm and safe place to be.” Sharples: “The Maori Party commits itself to make that happen.” Turia: “That is the promise that we make to whanau.” Sharples: “Because whanau deserve no less.” Text: Influence with integrity We secured $620m for new initiatives $2.67m per sitting day Whanau Ora “taking responsibility for ourselves” Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Securing our rights as tangata whenua at an international level Community max $40m for youth training and employment Te Paepae Motuhake A strategy towards securing the future of te reo Maori Te Ao Auahatanga Hauora $20m for health innovation Maori Education $100m for Maori Education Initiatives Whare Oranga Ake A revolutionary kaupapa Maori programme to support offenders to stay out of prisons Closing the Digital Divide Establishment of Nga Pu Waea, and increased funding to Computers in Homes and Computer Clubhouses Maori Economic Taskforce Leading Economic growth and development for Maori businesses Revealing the $36.9 billion Maori contribution to the economy of Aotearoa Created 1800 training and job placements Kainga Whenua Growing the supply of affordable housing Maori Statutory Board in Auckland Ensuring that we have a voice in all levels of Government. Rugby World Cup Advocating for Free to Air Broadcasting of Games for Maori Television Kaitoko and Oranga Whanau Over 90 whanau advocates in our communities to protect vulnerable families It is about a safe pair of hands ‘a proven track record’ Initiated a parliamentary inquiry into the wellbeing of Maori children 6000 low income families benefitted from home insulation Reduced by half the increase in cost of power and petrol 500 maari kai for our communities to feed and grow themselves Treaty clause in key legislation, including the Environment Protection Authority, Emissions Trading Scheme Advocated for GST off all foods 200 places for Maori trainees in the Canterbury rebuild Refocused family violence funds on frontline services $8m for bariatric surgery to address diabetes, obesity Achieved $12m to fight rheumatic fever Redirected funding for community development in five communities Kaitiakitanga Introduced a bill to provide marae and hapu a statutory veto on proposed exploration and mining permits in their rohe. Introduced laws to increase tobacco tax and to ban tobacco displays from shops. We kept our promises Constitutional Review Placing Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the heart of government Repealed the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 We increased the capacity in Maori electorates More Maori being appointed to Boards – especially in forestry, fisheries, agriculture and climate change Extended 20 hours free early childhood to kohanga reo and playcentre Supported iwi self-determination in finalising Treaty settlements Our whanau, our future Maori Party Music: “We won’t let them talk us down.” United Future 2011 opening (2.56). Peter Dunne: “Hello. While New Zealand seems set to re-elect John Key, he will more than likely need a moderate reliable partner to form a stable government. Neither Act with its far-right policies or the Maori Party getting more radical to hold off Hone can do that. United Future can. We are a centrist moderate party, with a track record of making government work, focussed on what is best for New Zealand. We are neither left nor right, but we are for middle New Zealand families in a way no other party is. You work hard, earn more money and what happens? Working for families tax credits are whipped out from underneath you. You cannot get ahead and you are often no better off than those who your taxes prop up. Income sharing allows couples with children to be taxed on two equal halves of their combined income to get the tax they pay down. Businesses can already do it, so why not let families have the same choice? And we are talking real money here. For up to 310,000 New Zealand families (text: 310,000) for many $5,000 to $6,000 more (text: $6,000) in your pockets for some up to $9,000 (text: $9,000). United Future says you should not be financially slammed for choosing to have one parent spend more time raising your children. My income sharing bill is already half-way through Parliament. Your vote can help put it in place next year. Asset sales are on National’s agenda, but they cannot be given a blank cheque. Part of United Future’s role as a support partner is to keep the government on a centre path, no extremes. So we say there are three key assets that should never be sold: KiwiBank, Radio New Zealand, and our water. And that we also need to keep New Zealand control of all our other assets. One of the most important things that make (text: Outdoors) this country a great place to live and raise a family is our outdoors lifestyle. United Future is the real outdoors party, committed to protecting free access for all to our rivers, lakes, coastlines, beaches and forests. This is the real environment Kiwis are concerned about. United Future’s guiding principles (text: Fairness, Superannuation, Choice) of fairness and choice also extend to superannuation. We say older kiwis should be allowed to choose to take their super at a reduced rate from the age of 60 (text: 60, 70) or at an increasing rate each year up to the age of 70 if they delay taking it up. It is sustainable and it gives people choice over how they live their lives. Dunne to camera: “We live in a fast-changing world, with both opportunities and challenges. We need a government focussed on making things better for families, not dragged to the far left or the far right. To make this your country and your government vote United Future.” United Future.