Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): It is a pleasure to speak on the Appropriation (2016/17 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (First for 2017/18) Bill. I say that because the Appropriation (2016/17 Supplementary Estimates) Bill has quite a lot of impact on the earthquake damage in Kaikōura which I want to talk a little bit about. I would also point out that the Edgecumbe flooding event and the Port Hills fire—all of those things were reliant on some of that funding coming through in that supplementary estimates bill.I think that our Minister of Finance Steven Joyce really walked a delicate line in putting a Budget together between spending money where it is needed and ensuring that we are able to get our books in a state where we are able to actually respond to events like those. Getting debt down by 2020 to 20 percent of GDP—Government debt that is—is a really important target but we have got another target. We are going further than that and we are going to aim to get to 10 to 15 percent of GDP for Government debt by 2025. There is no doubt that we will have an Alpine Fault rupture event at some point in the future and there is no point in casting around the world trying to borrow money to respond to an event like that at extremely high interest rates because our debt-to-GDP ratio makes foreign borrowers very nervous and that is what would happen. So I applaud the Minister of Finance for actually being very successful on that.If I could just for a moment talk a little bit about what some of that money in the Budget is going towards: we did see $17.5 million go towards the earthquake support subsidy. That money supported 862 businesses which have gone forward now and have got through that point but we have now got money for an assistance grant for those businesses that are in need of it. Can I tell you Mr Assistant Speaker and the House that since the earthquake business is actually booming in Kaikōura. However there are businesses that are not doing so well. But the amount of money flowing around through that economy—because when you are spending over $1 billion to reinstate the rail and road corridor it inevitably spills over into the community in which it is being spent. To see all of the people on the street in high-vis gear and spending their money—all of the people who are accommodated in the 300-bed temporary accommodation village are all given a chit to eat at a local restaurant in town. So that is a really tangible way to assist the local economy and local people while they are reinstating their vital links to enable their businesses to respond and get back on their feet.There was also $5.7 million that went to reinstate the harbour. That work is still going on. I had the pleasure of seeing the work being completed there. There was an Australian group that was working off a barge dredging the harbour with a digger. It was very fascinating to see that barge as it walked itself along—it has large piles—and cleaned out the harbour to make it safe to navigate. That is vital because the tourism businesses that are vital for the recovery of that town have to use that harbour. That is the only way they can get their tourists out to see the whales and other features on the water. So that money has been very well put to use and is still being put to use and that is a vital part of those supplementary estimates.There was also—going to the highway and the rail corridor—extra money that came in for that. That is a vital amount of expenditure as well. I was there to see the first train get through to Kaikōura from the south and that is a great fillip for everybody in the community.However having said that there is a lot more to do. They have just reached the halfway point in clearing all of the slips and it is fantastic to get to that point. After the earthquake it was estimated that there were 370000 cubic metres of material to move on the northern corridor but after these two cyclones went through that went up to 600000 cubic metres of material so it is a phenomenal amount of material to move. We did in this House pass some enabling legislation for Orders in Council but that was not to enable the Government to be a vandal and push stuff into the sea; it just enabled a truncation of the Resource Management Act processes and that was very much appreciated. That money is still being spent. We hope that it will be completed in time in December and it is all looking good at this stage. But who knows what can happen in terms of natural events along the way. Getting that right I think is a really important part of New Zealand's economy. It is important also to have a Minister of Finance who enables the economy to be in a position to respond to another event should one come along in the near future. Let us hope it does not but having Government debt down will enable us to respond in the future.There has been a lot of talk about R & D a little bit before. I thought the member from New Zealand First who normally likes to give an academic approach to these matters was a wee bit off-piste I should say. It was a wee bit disappointing; in fact it was rather disappointing and I expected a little bit more. However having said that I think that the R & D and how well we are responding to that—there was a very good example of that this morning when we saw Emirates Team New Zealand spending less money than anyone else in getting a boat to beat the world at its game. It was a technology company of all things that was running the other programme.How this relates to the Budget of course is that we have got things like Callaghan Innovation which is funded through the Budget and other different quangos that are out there helping businesses with their R & D. But Government does not start businesses Government does not export goods and Government does not employ people in export industries. It is businesses and individuals that do that. Where they invest their money—and they do a great job of doing it and taking a risk—R & D is a major part of that. But to do that the businesses have to have confidence that they are going to get somewhere. It is very easy to have a lofty target and say: Let's spend X percent of GDP on R & D." It has got to be sensible money spent in the right area and the people to make those decisions are those export businesses. They are those businesses and companies owned by individuals that have to have a vision. They have to have a product.Another example that we have which started quite small and is rapidly getting quite large is Rocket Lab with Peter Beck. The Electron rocket is quite revolutionary and that could turn into a major business for New Zealand. That has taken Government money and investment but it is not the Government that did the R & D; it is actually a private business. Those private businesses—from all the ones that I have been interacting with anyway recently since the Budget—and the individual businesses are all in favour of the balance that our finance Minister has taken on this Budget. I think it has been phenomenal and I congratulate him on it.So a lot of capital has been set aside for capital expenditure over the next four Budgets—$11 billion which will take that to $32.5 billion over 4 years in total. That is a phenomenal amount of money to put aside to invest in much-needed infrastructure. In the South Island practically every hospital is going to be rebuilt. There is a phenomenal amount of money going into that. That also highlights in the South Island—I know that here in the National Government which is a Government for the regions we get into the South Island and what is the biggest issue facing the regions? It is actually people to work in our businesses. So how do we do that? Immigration—and I am really disappointed by the Opposition parties saying that our economy is based on immigration; it is not. Immigration is actually supporting our growth. It is not causing our growth; it is supporting it. We could take hundreds of people tomorrow in small communities in the South Island if we had them but we do not have them. We try to get them in. We try to get them off the benefits and they do not—[Interruption] I know those members do not like it. It is a difficult thing for them to swallow but if you do not have the right policies that appeal to people that is why people are deserting you in the numbers that they are.The National Government is about growth. It is about the regions. I have great pleasure in commending both these bills to the House. Thank you.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): The next call is a split call. Barry Coates—5 minutes."