EMBARGOED AGAINST DELIVERY

Rt. Hon Winston Peters
Leader NZ First

“GST = Greedies Snatching And Taking”

PUBLIC MEETING
The Lodge, Grahamstown Community Centre, Pollen St, Thames
Wednesday 29th September 2010, 10.15AM

In three days time you are going to get a surprise that all the media are talking about.

GST, a consumption tax, will rise to 15%, near the very highest consumer tax in the whole

wide world and yet just 2 years ago, when you voted, no one warned you about it.

GST used to be called the “Goods and Services Tax”.

It should be renamed.

It should be called the “Greedies Snatching and Taking Tax”.

October 1st marks a dark day in New Zealand's social and economic history.

It is the start of an era during which there will be massive redistribution of wealth in this country.

The money will be taken from people on middle and low incomes and given to those at the top of the pile.

These changes solely benefit people on high incomes.

People of considerable means, like National's most loyal supporters.

Let's call them the “greedies”.

Hardest hit will be pensioners and lower income families, especially Maori, Polynesians and many European families who already lag behind the rest of the community.

In a country which once prided itself on equality of opportunity and taking responsibility for looking after its citizens, October 1st will become another day of shame.

Whatever they tell you about everyone being better off after the tax cuts and GST increase, take it with a bag of salt.

The facts are,

The government will collect the same amount of tax.

Tax cuts will be on a sliding scale, and they will really kick in for people on $100,000 or more.

Someone on a hundred thousand a year will get about $70 a week extra and the prime minister will get about $300 a week more.

That's just on his parliamentary salary alone.

Now remember the same amount of tax is being collected.

And, people on high incomes are getting big tax cuts – so the laws of logic say that the money must come from somewhere for these tax cuts. Someone has to pay for it.

Guess where? – and guess who?

Mr Key's pay increase will be paid for by groups like pensioners.

They get a small rise in one hand – but on the other hand pay out a lot extra in GST, increased power prices, increased rates, increased government charges like car licenses, insurance – increased everything.

And don’t forget this important fact.

The Finance Minister has himself admitted that the increased government charges will add nearly six percent to the cost of living.

So when you add normal inflation on top of this – you are looking at price rises of probably eight or nine percent.

Pension levels will simply not keep up.

We have set a target of 72.5 percent of the net average wage as approaching a fair amount for superannuation.

The trouble is the way the net average after tax wage is calculated keeps changing.

It always changes downwards so in real terms the pension has been reducing over the years.

We have tried to push it up over the years and did manage to get 66 percent of the net average wage after the 2005 election.

However it is being eroded all the time and the changes taking effect on Friday will speed up this unfortunate process.

New Zealand First has always believed that governments should look after the most vulnerable in society.

We feel society has a special obligation to look after the very young and the elderly.

We do not subscribe to the belief of officialdom in Wellington that the elderly are a burden on society.

It caused us great concern to learn of a recent study that said many elderly people are risking malnutrition by not feeding themselves properly.

This study, commissioned by the Hawkes Bay District Health Board, suggested that these people either believe they don’t need much to eat or find it too hard to cook.

The study showed 57 per cent were at risk of developing malnutrition that could lead to losing their independence and increasing their chances of being put into hospital.

The highest risk factors were living alone and being Maori. That is in the Hawkes Bay.

Low incomes were also a factor.

This is serious. What has happened to us?

Why did we let this happen?

New Zealand First has already announced an extension of the SuperGold card for a free annual medical check for the elderly – the moment we are back in Parliament.

We are also capping the cost of a visit to a GP at ten dollars.

However, much more needs to be done and we will be working with organisations like Age Concern and GreyPower and health authorities to tackle problems like malnutrition.

It is obscene to give big tax cuts to the rich while some elderly people no longer eat properly.

Sometimes the solution can be simple – like neighbours looking out for each other.

We are sure that is happening but more needs to happen.

For a start the government should stop squeezing district health boards, and home help services that are being cut should be restored.

And let's take a long hard look at policies of bailing out finance companies that go down the gurgler owing Billions of dollars.

We oppose any system that ‘privatises profits and socialises losses’.

This government has been very selective about whom it helps.

Tens of thousands of elderly people lost their life savings when companies like Blue Chip went under.

Some even lost their homes because of shonky deals set up by finance companies.

The whole business climate has been tainted.

And where was the Serious Fraud Office when ordinary people were losing their life savings?

Getting perversely involved in politics – that’s where!

Hopefully things will be different now that there have been staff changes at the SFO.

But don’t hold your breath. This government is not serious about white collar crime.

And while we are on the subject of greedies snatching and taking.

The foreshore and seabed around the Coromandel will be up for grabs over the next few months.

National and the Maori Party have decided against the Crown, that is you and I, owning the foreshore and seabed, on behalf of all New Zealanders.

No, this priceless asset will be available for transfer into private customary title.

There will be nothing we can do about it.

The proposed legislation says it can be sorted out through the courts or by direct negotiation.

In other words – the courts will be clogged up for generations, or the foreshore and seabed will be handed over in a deal sorted out behind closed doors.

There will be no guaranteed access for New Zealanders of all ethnic backgrounds and most Maori will miss out as well.

There is nothing wrong with the present law. It is fair to everybody.

It allows the historical rights of Maori but outright ownership is with all of us.

This government has gone far too far and we will sort out the mess again when we return to parliament next year.

There is one group of greedies whom I have saved for last. The people who sell our land to foreigners and the politicians who let them.

These greedies and their political yes men are involved in selling our birthright, our sovereignty to foreigners who don’t give a damn about what happens to this country.

This week the government announced the results of a review into selling priceless assets to overseas interests and guess what?

Despite all the rhetoric and bluster from John Key they are actually making it easier for foreigners to buy our land.

No laws are being changed – just a bit of nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

On the day National faked a change to the law, on Monday, the OIO approved Shanghai based Bright Dairy’s purchase of over half of Sinlait Milk for $82 Million.

So National’s announcement is merely a few more hypocritical soothing noises to keep you natives under control.

All the overseas buyers now have to do is appoint a local director.

That's right, a traitorous puppet who'll do the bidding of his foreign masters.

Nobody with a jot of commonsense or patriotism was allowed into this review process.

They were all National stooges or Treasury boffins who have long shed any semblance of loyalty to their country.

They are economic traitors who do not care if their fellow citizens are reduced to the status of landless peasants.

History is very cruel to political leaders who sell their nations' heritage for the historical thirty
pieces of silver.

And speaking of next year – there has been a lot of media speculation about where the Leader of New Zealand First will stand in the general election.

Some commentators are already describing the make up of the next government.

Let me put the record straight.

No selection decisions have been made about where candidates will stand.

The party makes these decisions – not Winston Peters.

We had not considered targeting John Key in Helensville.

We were told about that by a television reporter.

As we were about Epsom which surely needs an MP.

Politics is not like “Dancing with the Stars”.

You might get away with dropping a dancer on her head in a television programme but it's another thing to drop a whole electorate on their heads.

And it's another thing to privatise a city and ignore the concerns of the people who live there.

One MP left parliament because he stole the identity of a dead child.

Another MP from the same party is going to leave because he stole the identities of four cities and three districts!

On the other hand, New Zealand First is going to come back at the next election because we have policies that are not extreme at either end of the scale.

We believe in a fair go for everyone and we don’t subscribe to the “dog eat dog” mentality that prevails in the upper echelons of New Zealand politics today..

We don’t believe in those holding power and their supporters being the biggest beneficiaries of the political system.

We are resolved to put things right.

All we ask of you is the chance to do so.

ENDS

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