Speech by New Zealand First Leader and MP for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters

Public meeting
Shoesmith Hall,
Shoesmith St, Warkworth
12.30pm, Friday, 22 April, 2016

GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS OF SUGAR-COATING – NEW ZEALAND FIRST IS IN BUSINESS OF FACING REALITY

Thank you for your invitation to speak at Warkworth. This is a specially beautiful New Zealand town, gateway to the great Tawharanui beach, and wineries around Matakana and other attractions.

It would be easy to assume all is going well here but like other towns and areas, you face your challenges.

There is for example the need to plan for new schools to cater for the expected growth here.

And here services are actually declining and you are not getting your share of infrastructure spend.

This has only come about since the forced formation of the Super City.

New Zealand First warned that the Auckland Super City was a mistake.

It was the brainchild of the dysfunctional leader of a dysfunctional political party.

You must remember there was no grassroots demand for a super city.

It was imposed on the people.

You the people were never asked.

On the way to establishing the super city the National Government imported, at the request of the Māori Party, the concept of a statutory, non-elected Māori body on the Auckland Super City.

The idea that you can have people on a council who were never elected goes against all sense of democracy, representation and public service and equal shared citizenship.

This occurred under the political party that just three elections ago campaigned on the slogan Kiwi not Iwi.

So, today on the Auckland Council, with rights to sanction all manner of applications to the Super City, is a body purporting to represent 19 iwi in Auckland. That number, of course, will again be received by astonishment from people who understand the early Auckland tribal set up.

The body’s operations are financed by the ratepayers, both Maori and non-Maori, but the ratepayers have no say who their appointed representatives are.

Accordingly, instead of New Zealand working towards a single franchise something the Royal Commission on our electoral system said would be possible over time under MMP, we have a new establishment that is not even electorate, franchised based on the Auckland Super City, and it won’t stop there.

New Zealand First warned this outcome would occur if local authorities lost control over their own destiny.

IMMIGRATION/YOUNG NZ’ERS

One of these serious issues is immigration.

We have become a country without borders and with little concern for the impact immigration is bringing on vast sections of our society.

We are becoming a country which is increasingly showing a lack of concern for some New Zealanders who are born here.

If you listen to government ministers such as our Finance Minister Bill English, they have written off many of our young people.

No doubt you would have heard Mr English’s recent comments in which he described some of our young New Zealanders as being unreliable and hopeless when it comes to working on farms.

He said also the reason why his government was “permissive” with immigration was to plug employment on farms.

Instead of making young New Zealanders more employable by ensuring they have a better education and some training, this is how the government works.

They opt for the short-term quick fix option: Bring in migrants.

They don’t think through the consequences of this policy – that the risk of unemployment among New Zealanders born here spreads to yet another generation and with it the growth of a permanent under-class.

They don’t think about the increased risk of crime and the greater drain on our welfare system.

New Zealand First is extremely concerned that too many of our young people are becoming disillusioned and disengaged and ending up on the scrapheap.

Statistics show more than 70,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 are not in education or training – they are just drifting.

Not all of them would be suitable for farm work.

But many of them would be.

We must not give up on these young people.

To help this at-risk group, we have a Youth Employment, Training and Education Bill which would place many of them in the army, where they would be schooled in literacy and numeracy.

They would learn the discipline of turning up with the intention of being fully engaged and they would perhaps learn a trade.

These are the sorts of policies which are needed in New Zealand.

Not comments from a minister about Kiwis being “hopeless” and “unreliable,” nor a government actively pursuing a “permissive” immigration policy.

No good comes from slanging young people off.

This week one of your local papers published a story on a Mahurangi teenager receiving a $4100 scholarship to pursue a career in building.

This is what is needed – young people should be encouraged to get involved; to receive training.

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation says there are not enough apprentices to meet the demand.

Young people should be given incentives to get into that industry, and to get into the farming industry as well.

Hearing words like “unreliable” or “hopeless” or “useless” is not the answer.

IMMIGRATION/NZ SUPERANNUATION

I am sure many of you here receive New Zealand Superannuation.

The cry of Treasury and other scaremongers is that it is becoming less affordable for the country and they want to push the qualifying age for National Super beyond the age of the present 65.

The fact is at 4.3 percent of GDP, the cost of New Zealand superannuation is relatively low by international standards.

This compares very well with an OECD average of around 7 %.

Because NZ Superannuation is taxable, its cost net of tax is around 3.7% of GDP.

So do not be taken in by the propaganda which flows from the Beehive and from wet behind the ears bean counters, that New Zealand Superannuation is unaffordable.

You must be aware, however, that Mr Key and his government do not like New Zealand Superannuation.

They think it is a weight on New Zealand’s financial back.

You need only consider recent history to gain an understanding of the National government’s attitude to superannuation.

They are the ones who increased the surtax, increased the age of eligibility, who lowered the level of entitlement and capped the travel concession.

They argue about the increasing superannuation numbers, as if such an argument would hold up for increased primary school or tertiary education numbers.

If it’s poppycock to apply such an argument to primary school entrants and university entrants why would it have validity on NZ Super.

That tells you the real story: they do not like New Zealand Superannuation in spite of the fact it is affordable and will be affordable well into the future.

The critical issue on the affordability of any social welfare policy is the relationship between population growth and GDP growth.

And the truth is that while our population is growing the failure of present government economic policies means that GDP growth is not keeping up with it.

And the main component of population growth that we can control is unfocused immigration.

Bu you won’t hear any of this from our sugar-coating government.

They want immigrants flooding into this country.

They are hell bent on consumption instead of production, manufacturing and exports, and they cover off their failure with self-serving egregious arguments.

If we want to solve our social problems whilst providing adequate police numbers for example, then we must provide enhanced economic performance policies, something which the facts prove after seven years National, despite all the spin and sugar-coating, prove unable to do.

Moreover, they have suspended contributions to the future cost smoothing Cullen Fund, preferring instead tax cuts for the rich.

You won’t hear the government telling you that by stopping contributions to the Cullen Fund has cost the taxpayer billions of dollars.

The government said they would cease making further payments until the Budget returned to surplus. Treasury estimated that would not be until 2020 which would mean by 2050 the fund would be worth $49 billion less than if contributions had continued.

But the government ignores that as they did the fact that the Cullen Fund was set up with the whole purpose of cushioning pension payments at the start of peak demand in about 15 years.

New Zealand First believes superannuation can be made more affordable if New Zealand was not, as it is now, a fully funded rest home for other countries.

We say only New Zealanders and those who have qualified by length of stay and other requirements should get the full pension.

In this country a migrant can come to New Zealand at the age of 55, live here 10 years and contribute nothing to our economy and qualify for a full pension - 82,000 people have done so in the last 15 years.

National won’t confront this matter because they are politically correct and lack the fortitude to face up to these facts.

New Zealand First faces up to these facts.

These people from overseas get the same money as you, even though you have contributed all your working lives and they haven’t.

No other country in the world gives full pensions for all migrants after 10 years residency.

We say changes must be made in entitlement criteria so that payments are adjusted directly proportionate to the years of residence.

We will be resubmitting our bill – the NZ Superannuation and Retirement Income (Pro Rata) Amendment Bill based on residency in New Zealand between the ages of 20 and 65.

We say all those who come in with overseas pensions can keep all that they have earned overseas. Expat Kiwis who have lived and worked much of their lives overseas can come home to retire and also be entitled to pro rata New Zealand Superannuation and keep their overseas pensions.

New Zealand First stands for fair entitlement of NZ Superannuation and supports keeping the age of entitlement at 65 with NO means testing.

It’s all about fairness.

It was very disappointing that our Affordable Healthcare Bill failed to get past its first reading in the House last year.

This bill was supported by New Zealand First, Labour and the Maori Party, but was not supported by National, Greens, ACT and United Future, and failed 75 votes to 46.

We wanted a 25 per cent health insurance rebate for people aged over 65, a requirement that migrants have health insurance on arrival and maintain it in New Zealand for 10 years, as well as the removal of fringe benefit tax from health insurance to avoid penalising employers who provide insurance for staff.

This bill would have alleviated pressure on the public health system and would have been fairer for Kiwis who have contributed to the economy. It would have corrected the present imbalance regarding migrants.

This after all is policy that is the essence of conservative thinking which shows that they are not conservatives but opportunists and reactionaries.

IMMIGRATION/HOUSING

We have pointed out time and again that record immigration and foreign buyers have caused an explosion in housing demand in Auckland.

For that New Zealand First has been labelled xenophobic.

But the Reserve Bank and SOE Quotable Value have confirmed immigration is having this effect.

Earlier this year QV linked China’s crackdown on cash being taken out of the country to a cooling in Auckland’s housing market.

Since then cash has resumed flowing out of China and what have we seen? A resurgence in the Auckland housing market.

QV and the Reserve Bank were not the first to connect immigration with housing demand.

Five years ago a government taskforce (the Savings Working Group) tabled a 160-page report for Finance Minister Bill English suggesting greater control of migration would be a way to reduce house prices to make them affordable for New Zealanders, and to ramp up national savings.

The minister buried that report without a trace.

What we’ve seen since is record migration into this country and skyrocketing house prices in Auckland.

Three months ago a housing affordability survey found Auckland is now the fourth most expensive city in the world to buy a house, ahead of cities such as London and Los Angeles.

That is how bad it is: Houses in Auckland now cost 9.7 times the median income.

Young New Zealanders are finding it almost impossible to buy their own home in Auckland.

The Prime Minister is unconcerned.

He does not even believe we have a housing crisis in Auckland.

He is unconcerned also that that Kiwis face overstretched health services as rapid population growth through immigration overloads our already underfunded public services.

Infrastructure is overloaded including, health, police, housing and education.

With Statistics NZ stating that half the migrants are settling in Auckland, it’s little wonder there is a crisis with too much demand and a shortage of supply.

At the same time, figures show that district health boards are under growing financial pressure as they struggle to deal with more and more people queuing for medical services.

New Zealand is under strain from the lack of the National government’s foresight and failure to balance immigration with adequate funding of public services. New Zealanders are paying the price as they now queue for services funded by their taxes.

LIQUID GOLD

Without water New Zealand is nothing.

All over the world – right now – there are shortages of potable water.

In many countries aquifers are under pressure from over exploitation: in California years of drought have meant that farmers need to drill deeper and deeper to find water. Lack of potable water is a huge problem for China.

Global warming means more water stress and scarcity.

Clean water may become more valuable than oil. Overseas companies know that locking up their supply of this resource now is smart.

You do not have to be a financial genius to realise that if foreign companies are after NZ’s water there is probably a good reason –i.e. it’s valuable. Giving foreign companies access to our water resource – virtually in perpetuity - is plain stupid.

So it is an absurd anachronism to regard water as something valueless in itself.

The PM uses his usual distraction tactic; “No one owns water.” Would Key say: “No one owns oil.” Of course he would not. The reality is that New Zealanders pay for their water through rates – but foreign companies get access for a token fee.

Could a New Zealander go and help themselves to something out of the ground in China?

New Zealand First’s bottom line – water is an incredibly valuable resource for NZ and should not be given away.

Pure water is precious – we should guard it jealously!

CONCLUSION

Ladies and gentlemen, there is not much sweetness and light for average Kiwis under this National government.

They ignore reality, spin their stories, sugar-coat harsh details and do not confront what is happening in New Zealand today.

Many of their supporters will be disappointed in the lack of vision, the inability and refusal to plan ahead for our children and grandchildren.

New Zealand First does confront the serious issues and we back it up with policies which work for all New Zealanders.

We are not like this National government that looks after some New Zealanders and favours recent arrivals to this country over Kiwis who are born and bred here.

New Zealand First works for all New Zealanders and we will continue to do so.

ENDS

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