Now it is the private sector. If there's one thing we should learn from Asia, it's that when the crunch comes, financial markets won't distinguish. We will have a serious recession on our hands when, not if, they lose confidence in New Zealand. The word recession is already creeping into the language of economic commentators. This week the Asian bug spread into European markets.
Japan is New Zealand's second biggest export market.
Our challenge is to promote the alternative. Jeanette and I get laughed at in Parliament when we question trade for trade's sake. Well, the emperors on the Government benches clearly have no clothes and we must continue to say so in the face of their derision. The message the Green Party must take to the voters is that New Zealand's future depends on cutting imports, not boosting exports. Greater self-reliance is crucial to our future prosperity.