Hon Phil Goff: Is this as good as it is going to get for families and low-income earners who get nothing, given the clear signals from the Minister of Finance that the future tax cuts promised so sincerely by National in the campaign will now likely be scrapped?

Hon JOHN KEY: What is not fair is that New Zealanders had to wait 3,231 days, in some of the best economic conditions that the world has seen, in order to get a tax cut. New Zealanders are doing well under a National Government"”630,000 people who got nothing for 9 years now get $10 a week. New Zealanders, under a National Government, are having their entitlements maintained. That is why the tax cut programme announced today, delivered today, when compared with the Labour programme of nothing today, is being well-received by everybody except the Labour members, who are very grumpy that the National Government is actually delivering on its promises.

Hon Phil Goff: What is the Prime Ministers answer to critics, including his coalition partner Roger Douglas, who say that these tax cuts are a scam because he is borrowing to pay for them?

Hon JOHN KEY: I believe that stimulation is important for the economy when a global recession is going on. It is quite important. It will help the retail sector. I fondly remember coming back in January of this year and hearing Phil Goff say that the Government was not doing enough, when every country around the world has some sort of tax cut programme going on at the moment. When Phil Goff wanted to argue that the Government was not doing enough, he was happy to shout from the rooftops, but now that we are cutting personal taxes, Mr Goff wants to take those cuts away from New Zealanders. The only message coming out today is vote for a Labour Government and taxes will go up.

Hon Phil Goff: Why should Mr Keys high-minded protestations about not wanting a rise in salary this year be seen by the public as anything other than double standards, when today the Government has just given its members and other high-income people much higher effective wage increases by biasing tax cuts to the well-off?

Hon JOHN KEY: The tax cuts are not biased to the well-off. They are across the board and fair. But we know the way that Labour members feel about successful, entrepreneurial, well-off people. It was the same when they were in Government; it is the same now that they are in Opposition.