ACT For Business, Low Tax & A Red Tape Bonfire

Speech to ACT Policy Launch; the Angus Steak House, Fort Street, Auckland; Saturday, August 2 2008.
Two things are certain this year: the first is that there will be a General election; the second is that National Leader John Key will be Prime Minister.

The country has had enough of Helen Clark and her Government. They want change - and there's nothing Helen Clark can do to reverse the mood.

What's NOT certain is what sort of government John Key will lead. That depends on how many Party votes ACT wins.

We now know what John Key stands for: Helen Clark's policies. Even though she loses the top job, Helen Clark wins - because John Key has conceded to her policies and the direction her government has set for New Zealand these past nine years. John key won't contest Labour's vision, ideas, or policies; he's simply rolled over and accepted them.

That might be smart politics for the National Party, but it's bad news for New Zealand. Helen Clark's polices have torn the social and economic fabric of our country these past nine years. They need to be dealt to, not pandered to.

The only thing National and Labour now differ on is who should be Prime Minister. They agree on all significant policies. The differences are mere quibbles. There are bigger policy debates within the Labour Cabinet then there are between Labour and National.

The latest policy concession from John Key was Working For Families. That's where Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen scoops up an extra $2.5 billion in tax from 200,000 hard-working families, and then hands it back to them by putting them all on a benefit. That includes putting on a benefit those he calls "rich pricks", and who he hammers with his 39 percent envy tax. "Rich pricks" under Labour and National are taxed hard and put on a benefit.

On average, Working For Families taxes 200,000 working families an extra $250 a week - just to put them on a benefit so they can claim it back. It's stupid. They should just get to keep their own money.

Back in 2004, John Key labelled Working For Families 'communism by stealth'. Now he's endorsed it. What John Key labelled 'communism by stealth' just four short years ago is now National Party policy. Helen Clark and her policies have won.

Well, not so fast. There's ACT.
ACT stands four-square opposed to Helen Clark's policy prescription for New Zealand. We believe an election should be about more than just who should be Prime Minister. We believe it should be a contest of ideas, and competing visions and policies.

We hate how Labour's policies are sapping New Zealanders enterprise and moral fibre. We want to reverse the rot - not entrench it.

ACT has set its vision for New Zealand: it's for a prosperous, free and secure New Zealand. We have set out goal: to beat Australia by 2020 - not just in rugby and netball but - economically, socially and political. We have produced our plan and policies in our 20-Point Plan.

We have a candidate in Sir Roger Douglas with the vision, principle and guts to do what's right for New Zealand and our future.

That's all very fine and dandy, I hear people say, but what can ACT do? Well, that's where MMP comes in. It's crucial that voters understand MMP and use their vote strategically to get the government and country they want.

I've worked hard with Heather and the ACT team to be the best MP for Epsom that I can be. I will be working hard in Epsom right through to election day. I will never take the Epsom people for granted. I believe that. with the commitment and work we have shown, I will hold the seat.

The Epsom seat is crucial. Epsom voters guarantee that every vote for ACT counts and contributes to a change of government AND - here's the crucial bit - a change of direction for the country.

Voters can vote for ACT with their Party vote confident that it will count. In fact, it will count more than a vote for any other Party. A vote for NZ First, the Greens or the Maori Party is a vote for Helen Clark. A vote for National is a vote for Helen Clark's policies with John Key as Prime Minister. A vote for ACT is a vote for a change of government AND a change of policy. A Party vote for ACT is a vote for individual freedom and personal responsibility. It is the only vote for freedom and a change from Helen Clark's stultifying and wealth-sapping policies.

We want the Party vote to put ACT's ideas and Roger Douglas round the Cabinet table. It would be a disaster for New Zealand post-election if the only ideas around the Cabinet table after the election were Helen Clark and Michael Cullen's.

That's crucial to New Zealand's success.
The engine of New Zealand's prosperity is business but, right now, they're struggling. That means the entire country is struggling.

It's not hard to see why: business is being taxed to death and enterprise strangled.

Michael Cullen has increased government spending in 10 years from $34 billion to $62 billion. That's an extra $250 a week from every family over and above inflation. No wonder people are feeling the squeeze.
National's approach is to reassure voters that they are sticking with Labour's spending policies. That's irresponsible. The Government's spending needs to be reigned in and people's weekly pay packets boosted.

That's why point number one is to get spending under control through ACT's Taxpayer Rights Bill.
That will put taxpayers - not politicians - in the box seat for determining the size of the tax take.

Red tape also needs dealing to. That's where ACT's Regulatory Responsibility Bill kicks in. It sets up a bonfire of red tape by reasserting a respect for private property rights and the freedom to contract in all legislation, two principles the National Party has sadly completely abandoned.

It's bad enough that National has abandoned its principles in favour of Helen Clark's policies and condemned New Zealand to a mediocre future. It's truly shocking that it has dropped its standards to match Helen Clark's desperate to hold on to Winston Peters and limp through to the election.
National SHOULD be promising something better than that. ACT IS.

The donation scandal engulfing Winston Peters is sinister. An overseas billionaire dropped $100,000 into a Government Minister's lawyer's account to the Minister's financial advantage. That same billionaire was seeking a Government favour from that same Minister.

The same billionaire gave half a million to Labour and lent it some big money when it was short.
And we're supposed to believe that no one but the lawyer knew about the hundred thousand.

We also now know that Sir Bob Jones gave $25,000 to Winston Peters for New Zealand First. It disappeared into the hitherto secret Spencer Trust administered Winston's brother Wayne. Bob Jones understandably wants to be reassured that his money went to New Zealand First. No reassurance is forthcoming. Winston Peters refuses to explain what the Spencer Trust is about and what happens to any of its money.

Anywhere else in the developed world, a Minister in these circumstances would be stood down and the financial shenanigans investigated - if for no other reason than to clear the air and reassure the public that everything is above board.

That hasn't happened. Prime Minister Helen Clark is satisfied with Winston Peters' assurance that he has done nothing illegal. That's from a man whose credibility has been shot to bits.

But John Key in Opposition has set the same standard. He hasn't questioned Winston Peters, or ruled him out of his Cabinet.

That's a shocking indictment of our Parliament under MMP, where the two old Parties put power above principle and integrity. It's been left to the ACT Party to ask the tough questions and to set out an alternative direction to Clark's for the country.

Thank goodness there's one party that has the guts to do what's right. But what we need is for you to vote for it. National with Helen Clark's policies and Winston as Minister of Foreign Affairs is no change at all.
National plus ACT with Roger Douglas. Now that's a government worth voting for. And you vote for it by giving your party vote to ACT.

Thank you.