Shanks Katrina: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shanks Katrina: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 13 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2934. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 Well I have got to say what an impassioned speech that was from the previous speaker the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. What did I get out of it? Well we got called lazy we got called lizards and we got called self-obsessed but nowhere in that speech did I hear about a plan from Labour a vision from Labour or an alternative Budget from Labour.  
 So what did we hear from Labour members? We heard criticisms put-downs and personal attacks. Nothing has changed in the last 4 years. But it is good to see for the first time in 4 years that they are starting to wake up. It is good to see them taking notice of what is happening around them. It is good to hear them say that they are looking forward to a brighter future for all of New Zealand because that is what this National Government is going to deliver.  
We are a nation that is not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get down to some good hard work. We are a nation of hard workers we are a nation of integrity and we are a nation of innovation. They are key to economic growth in New Zealand. That economic growth will be driven by this Government driven by the 120-point plan because this is a Government that is going to build that brighter future for all New Zealanders. We are taking responsibility for ensuring that we have got our books in balance to ensure we return to surplus in 2014-15. This is not a new aim; this is not a new plan. This has been in place for the last 4 years and that is what we are going to deliver for New Zealand.  
We are looking at economic growth at 3 percent—equivalent to Australia’s. We are looking at creating 154000 more jobs for New Zealanders. In the last 2 years we have created 60000 new jobs. This is important to New Zealand. We are building economic growth on strong fundamentals. We are going to make the most of all the opportunities that we can find. But we know that businesses depend on six things. There are six key components to business. The first one is ideas and innovation and we are great at that in New Zealand. The second one is allowing businesses to have access to money. We have worked with the capital markets to improve those and improve confidence. The next one is access to raw materials. We have got plenty of those in New Zealand. The fourth one is a skilled workforce for our businesses and we are working on that. The fifth one is customers who want to buy our products. That is why we are working with these emerging markets around the world. The sixth one is infrastructure. Businesses depend on infrastructure like electricity broadband and transport. Those are the three areas that we are focused on.  
I would like to touch a little bit more on research and development and innovation. We are increasing our spending significantly in science and innovation. We will spend $385 million in the next 4 years which is more than $1.3 billion by the year 2015-16. We believe that science and innovation is one of the major drivers for economic growth and our international competitiveness. So $166 million goes into the advanced technology industry and it will work with our businesses. We will put $60 million into national science challenges $100 million into a performance-based research fund and $59 million into increased funding in science and engineering tertiary education. We are focusing on these areas because that is our future and that is how we will stand out from the rest of the world.  
But I believe that we need to change the way that we look at science and innovation. We have to challenge our culture around science in New Zealand. We need to get the science community the businesses the universities the public and the Government all having open discussions about how we can increase our economic development. We need to start mature debate around the issues that really matter to New Zealand. These debates previously have been based on emotion not science and evidence—for example fracking. Thank you.