Woolerton R Doug: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Woolerton R Doug: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:4145] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 In speaking on Vote Finance in the appropriation debate I would just like to say that it does not surprise us in New Zealand First that we have had a blowout in inflation rates. We have long contended that there is a difference between importing and getting monetary wheels turning in that way and exporting which is what we believe should be happening now and should have been happening in past years. New Zealand has simply imported too much and exported too little. 
New Zealand First is one of I think only two parties that believe in incentivising the taxation system. It is good to see that David Skilling who heads a thinktank in Auckland talked about the same thing in yesterday’s  
New Zealand Herald 
. It is an appropriate time given that 2007 is Export Year—a New Zealand First initiative—to talk about those sorts of things. 
In Hamilton we have what we call an innovation park which is for people of a like mind who believe they can add value to mainly dairy exports and dairy commodities and send them overseas. These are the sorts of things we believe should be supported by the Government. They are the sorts of things we believe will get New Zealand out of the exporting hole and they are the sorts of things that will drive up the income level of average New Zealanders—in fact all New Zealanders. It will not be some sort of whizzo greenfields find which people have sought in the past; it will not be some sort of quest for extra production; it will be clever slants on products we already know and already produce. It will be those things that make the difference when it comes to exporting dollars. 
Hon David Carter 
: Dog chips! 
R DOUG WOOLERTON 
: Mr David Carter mentions dog chips. I suggest that he had a dose of that on the brain a wee while ago. In actual fact one of the products in the Waikato Innovation Park is the electronic marking of animals through eartags which will lead to better productivity. Dog chipping is simply an extension of that. It is something that the National Party chose to ignore in the backward-looking step that it took. New Zealand First will tell National members about that in the future because it was a very very old-fashioned stance that they took. 
I shall give members an indication of what happens at the innovation park. A small company has invented a sweetener to replace sugar that has virtually no calories. It is based on a fruit rather like the kiwifruit. Unfortunately we have to get that fruit from China but the company which is based in Hamilton is now exporting something like 25 tonnes of that product to America. It will get the amount up to 100 tonnes in the future and the money from that will go into New Zealand coffers. We would like to say that all of it will but some of it will obviously stay in China where this stuff is manufactured. 
New Zealand First members think all of those things should be done in New Zealand. If we have taxation incentives for our exporters the likes of which they compete against in many other countries and as Mr David Skilling is talking about as New Zealand First has talked about for many years and as will be recognised in the 2007 Export Year we will get the innovative high-value products that will take New Zealand to another level.