Speeches

Debate in House: Budget 2008

Martin Gallagher

29.05.2008

MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) : In a few moments I will deal with the comments of the previous speaker, Colin King. In the context of the Budget debate, and as chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, which has a scrutiny function with regard to defence, and also as someone with a very keen interest in veterans’ affairs issues, I take a quick opportunity to acknowledge the wonderful moment this afternoon when all of the parties in the House came together and honoured our Viet Nam veterans.
Like many New Zealanders, I also had family members who served in that theatre of war. I acknowledge my first cousin, of whom I am very proud, Rion Gallagher. He was one of the 3,000 or more personnel who served there. I visited Viet Nam back in 2002. One thing that struck me was the deep respect that the Viet Namese people hold our soldiers in, notwithstanding the fact that we were, at the time, technically on the losing side. I acknowledge that this weekend will have the wonderful moment of Tribute 08 for New Zealanders to pause and reflect on those young men, and a number of women as well, who went at that time to serve our country.
I reflect on the following point with huge sadness. The previous speaker, Colin King, represents quite a vibrant region. I do not know whether he has been there recently. I think he must live just in Wellington. I do not think he has got on the ferry or the plane. I want to give him an atlas and tell him to go back to his constituency, look at the vibrancy of his region, and make some connections in relation to sustained economic growth. I also want to make an interesting observation. I say to the previous speaker that instead of taking a half-empty glass approach, he should say what his policy is. He should give us a policy. He should stop taking the people of this country for being suckers.

Eric Roy: Growth!

MARTIN GALLAGHER: “Growth!”, he says.
In the time I have left I will quote from the Sunday Star-Times. It is hardly a newspaper that is overarching in its affection for this current Labour-led Government. What it stated last Sunday says it all: “Key’s explanations of where the money would come from are thin and sometimes plain silly. Cancelling an embassy in Sweden will make no fiscal difference. Nor would wholesale sackings of bureaucrats: even huge cuts in this area would save at most some hundreds of millions, when Key will need billions. Key promises that he won’t cut social services, and it is difficult to know whether to believe this or not. National’s record from the early to the mid-1990s in this area is utterly disgraceful, a record of ludicrous structural revolution and deep cuts.” That comes from the Sunday Star-Times, which is hardly a wonderful friend of this Labour-led Government.
Even the New Zealand Herald talks about Mr Key claiming that National will direct spending away from low-quality programmes that push up inflation and towards front-line services like doctors, nurses, teachers, and police—

OTHER REGIONS +NORTHERN