Parliament began sitting this week with the Prime Minister outlining in his speech his government’s priority for 2010. As I listened I started to write notes as to what he was really saying to the country.

The speech began with, “The Government starts 2010 with a very full programme of reform in front of it.” This statement is aimed at New Zealanders. It means the government will force upon New Zealanders significant changes this year whether people liked it or not.

The next statement is, “Our eyes will be firmly on the economy this year as we continue to implement our economic plan.” The words that sprang out at me are, “our eyes” “firmly on the economy” “continue to implement” and “economic plan”.

To me “our eyes” means government looking down at people at the very bottom, “firmly on the economy” means pushing workers to work harder, “we continue to implement” means we’ll do what we want to do and force people to their limits to accept what we want, and “economic plan” is a plan for how to make the rich richer.

When we look at Mr Key’s next statement, “The good news is that New Zealand has weathered the worst of the global crisis, and New Zealanders can be pleased at how well this country has come through it.”

I was shocked by this statement at how far removed Mr Key was from the 168,000 people unemployed as of December 2009 and from the more than 3000 people that lined up last month to apply for 150 job vacancies. Are these people and their families supposed to feel “pleased” at how well New Zealand has come through the global crisis?

Where are the benefits of the economic recovery for ordinary kiwis and their families? How are our communities supposed to make ends meet if they suddenly have no jobs through no fault of their own? What about the 110 staff from Pacificare/Blue Dove that still haven’t been paid by the company they were working for. These workers aren’t pleased. They are stressed out.

Mr Key continues his statement by saying his government will “reform the tax system” which I read as meaning his government would significantly shift the tax burden around from where it currently is. He gives us an insight to where the burden will shift by saying, “ we want people to pay their fair share of tax” which is to say his government wants ordinary people to pay more of the tax burden, and for those on high incomes to pay less.

He said, “that is one reason we are not only looking at a possible reductions to the top personal tax rate…..but at the whole personal tax structure, across the board.” Which suggests the government will lower the top income tax rate from 38 cents to 30 cents and shift this burden to everyone else on the lower levels. He confirms this by saying, “The Government is also carefully considering a modest increase in the rate of GST, to no more than 15 per cent” which means in order to compensate for the reduction of tax at the top income levels, the government will take this from people on lower incomes by raising GST to 15%. It is widely known that people on lower incomes spend their money on food, rent, petrol, power, phone, school fees, school uniforms, where GST is included.

Yet during the 2008 election campaign Mr Key told a press conference that if National is elected and does a “half decent job” at growing the economy, then increasing GST and the top tax rate will not be necessary. He then went on TVNZ 20 October 2008, and told the New Zealand public that he is not interested in increasing GST and does not support such a move.

As a Member of Parliament, I am not allowed to call others MPs liar, or hypocrite in the House, but what would you call someone who says one thing one year, and then says exactly the opposite thing another year.

I’ll leave that to our readers. But if the Prime Minister said, that if he does a “half decent job at growing the economy” then increasing GST will not be necessary. What does that tell us now that he is saying he’ll increase GST to 15%? For me, there has been no bold plan or any plan at all for the economy or to protect jobs. This speech was saying to me that the government’s mates will get a special tax rate, and for the rest of New Zealanders we’ll get a tax increase.