Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): The Appropriation (2017/18 Estimates) Bill enacts a fine Budget from a fine Minister of Finance. What it does is a few things all at the same time. People often say: Oh it's very unusual that you can make a record investment in public services as well as invest in infrastructure at the same time improving the resilience of our country to future shocks and also make a significant investment in family incomes." but this Budget does all of those things. I want to talk briefly about the Family Incomes Package. It was very interesting in the debate earlier in the House on the Family Incomes Package because what the Government decided to do with this Budget is to allow New Zealanders to share in the dividends of growth. It gave New Zealanders a dividend basically for the hard work they have done over the last few years because we did endure the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 2009 and beyond. It is worth remembering that New Zealand entered recession before the worst effects of the GFC were even felt. Our tradable sector had been in recession for 5 years from 2003 to 2008. We did endure rising unemployment back in 2008 2009 and 2010 and we did endure tough times in that period. Then we had the Christchurch earthquakes of late 2010 and early 2011 which had an enormous buffeting effect on the Crown accounts. So New Zealanders have had to go through a degree of pain over the last few years and what this Budget does is deliver the Family Incomes Package which allows them to share in the benefits of growth. The Budget enacts a range of proposals firstly by adjusting the bottom taxation rate at the bottom end of the scale and it also makes changes to Working for Families in order to deliver the support to those who need it most.The Budget projects that New Zealand's economy will continue to grow at around 3 percent for the next few years. This will make us one of the top-performing OECD countries. Just a couple of days ago Moody's credit rating agency expected our economy to be one of the fastest-growing Aaa economies in the world.The other thing this Budget brings—and what this appropriations bill enacts—is significant investment in infrastructure right around the country. What it does is it makes sure that our infrastructure needs keep up with a growing economy a growing population and growing demands on that infrastructure. Because that has been one of the stories of the last few years—that New Zealanders are coming home staying in the country and for the first time in almost a generation Australians are moving to New Zealand and wanting to make a better life for themselves here and that has quite rightly put pressure on our infrastructure and put pressure on some of the services that New Zealanders take for granted. The Government has responded and by using some of the fiscal buffers that we have built up over the last few years we are in a position to make significant capital expenditure on things like roading and rail. Just on Sunday you saw some of the announcements in relation to that—in Auckland made by the Prime Minister in Papakura and indeed in Wellington with the metro rail network.The other thing I want to mention that is very important is making sure we build in resilience for the future so that we make sure that when that next rainy day arrives we are in a position in order to potentially borrow and potentially spend if we need to. Because we do live in uncertain times—we do. We have Britain exiting the European Union which members in the House will be well aware of; we have a relatively new President in the United States with policies that are still being shaped up and still being formed particularly when it comes to trade; and we still have quite slow growth rates in various parts of the European Union and various other parts of the world. So in this uncertain and unstable international environment it is worth making sure that we put aside money for a rainy day. What the Budget does is signal that the debt will start to be paid down over the next few years. We are on track to reduce Government debt to around 20 percent of GDP by 2021. Sometimes people say that this Government has borrowed a huge amount of money. The constant refrain from Labour is "worse than Muldoon" as David Clark likes to say. It is true that the Government during the global financial crisis and during the Christchurch earthquakes did borrow money as the bottom fell out of the world economy. That was the right thing to do to support our second-largest city but also to support New Zealanders during a very particularly tough time—to support vulnerable New Zealanders in need. There were plenty of people saying "cut welfare cut entitlements and cut superannuation" and the Government resisted those calls. But it is important that we do start to pay down the debt that we have built up as I say for that future shock if indeed that shock comes.The other point I want to mention in relation to the Budget is the important investment it makes in equipping New Zealand for a rapidly globalising 21st century economy. There are big investments in this Budget in delivering New Zealand's Trade Agenda 2030—this very ambitious goal of making sure New Zealand signs free-trade agreements with as many countries around the world as will allow us to sign free-trade agreements with them. Our bread and butter on the world stage is trading with other countries. New Zealand firms and New Zealand individuals often small businesses are selling our goods on the world stage and we need to make sure that the barriers that are sometimes put in place by other economies and other countries are as minimal as possible. The only way to do that is by the hard slog of our world-class trade negotiators driven out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade but also New Zealand Trade and Enterprise which helps New Zealand firms make their way on the world stage. I have seen first hand the really important work that New Zealand Trade and Enterprise does in all sorts of countries around the world helping New Zealand businesses and individuals sell our products. This Budget makes a record investment in those very important parts of New Zealand's future. New Zealanders as we know are shaping globalisation to their own advantage. We are adopting the opportunities and seizing the opportunities provided by a rapidly globalising world that is lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty but it is also providing enormous opportunities for our businesses and our exporters.Relevant to that are the very important investments that this Budget makes in the innovation space. What we need to do as an economy and as a country to seize those opportunities is make sure that we remain agile and innovative and nimble and that we have innovation spreading throughout the economy. Quite rightly New Zealand is sometimes criticised for a lack of innovation in our export base. It is tied really to a lack of diversity in our exports. I think that this Government will be able to look back on the last 9 years as we approach the election with some degree of pride at the diversification of our economy that has occurred during that time.When the bottom fell out of the dairy industry a couple of years ago that did affect the value of the dairy industry but overall our exports went up actually because we have got a rapidly growing wine sector other horticultural products and indeed ICT and the other parts of the technology sector which are growing very rapidly spurred and developed by some of the Government's policies including Callaghan Innovation R & D grants and some of the growth grants that are available.The Innovate New Zealand package—that was actually developed in the last Budget but has continued to be funded in this Budget—continues those very important investments. The good news is that the proportion of New Zealand firms and businesses undertaking research and development is growing and the proportion of it as a percentage of GDP is growing for the first time frankly in quite a long time. That figure is growing. We have got a target of getting it to 1 percent of GDP. I will not lie to the House and say that that is going to be an easy task; it is not. We are someway off that. It is an ambitious goal but with the right policy settings in place it is something that we can most definitely strive hard to achieve. What this Budget does is make record investments in that. This is a confident Budget for a confident country and a confident Government and one that we can be very proud of as we head into the very important day of 23 September."