Clark David: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5156. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North):I get up to speak particularly about the economic development spend that we examined in the estimates hearings. What we learnt and what was affirmed for us again is that this is a Government that is failing to deliver on its central plank and that is in the economic development area to grow exports as a proportion of our economy from 30 percent up to 40 percent. The Minister for Economic Development has been forced to admit that they are dropping. They are projected next year to go from the 27 percent they are already down at down to 26 percent. This is a Government that is failing to deliver on its central objective of growing exports as a proportion of GDP. This Minister talks about the Business Growth Agenda. That is his target. He is a Minister who is failing to meet his own target. He is a Minister who is meddling in his department—meddling and creating a failing ministry.Treasury said it was always going to be an uphill battle and that the efficiency gains projected to be gained by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment would never be realised. But what it did not count on and what it did not brief on was a Minister who was meddling in the ministry: a Minister who was choosing the layout—whether portrait or landscape—of the glossy brochures that go out; a Minister who was in there wordsmithing his own previous documents and correcting them and trying to make them sound better even though they had already been in print in his name; and a Minister who was in there choosing the colour of the brochures. The front cover the back cover—what colour should they be? That is where the Minister is. There are 40-odd spin doctors in there trying to clean up after the Minister. They have got an uphill battle because this Government is failing to achieve the central target of the economic development agenda and that is to grow exports as a proportion of GDP.In the estimates hearings we looked into the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s spending which we all know about now as taxpayers. We looked into the fact that it had spent $60000 on a sign out the front of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment advertising where it was. We looked into the fact that it has a $140000 TV screen in its foyer. We looked into the fact that it has a $260000 sun deck with barbecues on it. We looked into the fact that it has a $23000 fridge. We looked into the fact that it has a $74000 reception desk which is curved—a curved reception desk. It had to be curved because the $140000 TV is curved and the desk had to match it. This is the kind of spending this Minister is presiding over. He is the one who signed off the budget with all of these items in it—and hair straighteners to boot. This is a Minister failing to concentrate on the big targets he set himself and instead is focused on spending and spending and spending. This is a Minister out of touch if he thinks ordinary New Zealanders think that that is OK.Of course as the Minister he will claim his job is to set the general tone. Minister Joyce will say: “My job is to set the general tone.” Sure he signs off the budget; sure he is accountable to this Committee for the spending. Well I would say: “How many small and medium enterprises around the country have $140000 TV screens in their foyers? How many have $260000 sun decks?”.Carmel Sepuloni: Not many if any.Dr DAVID CLARK: “Not many if any.” my colleague says. That is true. I think that when the Minister said to the Commerce Committee that he did not have that information in front of him he was fudging. I bet he has looked into it. When he then answered questions in the House he conveniently did not have that information in front of him either. I think he knows that he is failing to deliver on his targets and he is failing to meet the expectations of the small and medium enterprises that need to be grown if we are going to have a diverse economy. That leaves us vulnerable as the dairy prices have tumbled. The Government beats up on the farmers but actually it is the Government’s fault for not diversifying the economy and not making sure there are others who can shoulder the burden of growing our economy. Leaving it all to the farmers and then beating them up when times are bad is not a good strategy Mr Joyce and New Zealand is not fooled by it.Of course there are plenty of other things that we canvassed in there and there are so many that it is hard to bring them into this Chamber because this Minister is failing in so many areas. The real median weekly wage—well this Minister led of course the campaign in Northland that failed so spectacularly. Since then we have had statistics out that have shown that the real weekly median wage which used to be higher in Taranaki than it is in Northland is now lower. It used to be higher and now it is the same roughly in Taranaki. In Gisborne and in Hawke’s Bay it is now lower than in Northland. These are the kinds of statistics that keep coming out and show how this Government is failing the regions around New Zealand. We cannot afford for the regions to get behind. We need everybody to be succeeding if New Zealand is going to get ahead. The forgone growth is costing us all. And of course unemployment in Northland has gone from 7 to 8 percent under this Government. In the Manawatū and Wanganui it has gone from 3 to 9 percent. Actually plenty of regions are hurting. The Government will try to pretend Northland is an isolated case but this Government is failing all around.