Stuart Smith
National MP
Kaikoura
The behaviour displayed by Te Pati Maori in Parliament last week was highly inappropriate and disrespectful. Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer seem more interested in theatrical displays than engaging in debate on the issues that matter to New Zealanders.
Despite proclaiming their strong commitment to upholding tikanga, they demonstrated a disregard for the traditions or the tikanga of Parliament.
It’s no surprise that Christopher Luxon ruled out working with the Te Pati Maori. Frankly, it would be impossible to work with them, without conceding to divisive and dangerous policies. Right now, it’s crucial for politicians to focus on getting New Zealand back on track. Our infrastructure is failing, two-thirds of our students are not able to pass a basic literacy and numeracy test and truancy levels are alarming.
Despite the Government’s record tax receipts, our services are buckling under pressure and taxpayers are struggling with the cost of living crisis. The Government is attempting to blame international factors, yet our economic problems are very much homemade and due to wasteful Government spending.
While superannuation and benefits are adjusted annually for inflation, tax brackets are not. As a result, the phenomenon known as “bracket creep” or “fiscal drag” has contributed to an additional tax burden of $17,500 per household over the past five years. National will inflation-adjust tax brackets.
With such a significant increase in real taxes, we should expect an increase in the delivery of public services, but the opposite is happening. We hear horror stories of long wait times in emergency departments and surgical procedures, educational achievement is declining and crime rates are rising.
National believes that quality spending is more important than the amount spent. We will not waste money restructuring the health sector to prioritize ethnicity over need. We will not spend billions giving ratepayer-funded water infrastructure to co-governed entities where appointed iwi have veto rights on all decisions. Nor will we allow a small group to control all water use by issuing Te Mana O Te Wai statements.
We will require Treasury to outline the effectiveness of spending in key areas – like health, education and social development.
We will require IRD to produce a “taxpayers’ receipt”, which every taxpayer will receive when their tax returns are finalised. It will break down how much money they’ve paid in taxes and what transfers they have received in the last year – including any Working for Families and other benefit payments.
It will also break down where their taxes were spent, including on education, health and welfare payments.
We will bring back performance pay for chief executives and deputy secretaries who will have their pay determined in part by their performance.
We can either help those in need through more social welfare assistance or inflation-adjusted tax brackets. We believe that taxpayers should keep more of their own money as they will spend it more wisely than any government can.
