5. Question No. 5—FinanceHon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 5—Finance5. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with economist Cameron Bagrie that the economy is too hot" and if he does will he therefore adjust down his Government's spending in tomorrow's HYEFU to alleviate upward pressure on inflation and interest rates?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I thank the member for acknowledging that the New Zealand economy has exceeded expectations and has shown extraordinary strength and resilience. I agree to the extent that it does mean the economy no longer needs all of the stimulus that has been required up to now but there remain significant challenges and opportunities in the economy that require a careful and balance investment. The details of the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) are just one sleep away.Hon Simon Bridges: Does he accept that high Government spending right now is simply competing with the private sector for scarce labour and resources and is accordingly driving up inflation to its highest point in over 30 years?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member needs to seriously consider what he is just proffering up. Does he actually think the Government should stop building State houses? Actually he probably does because that's the record of the previous National Government. If he thinks we should stop spending on health—actually that is the previous record of the National Government. That kind of "short-termism" is what got New Zealand in the position to have a housing crisis and to have a health crisis and that might be the member's recipe but it's not ours.SPEAKER: Order! I just want to make it clear we are talking about overstimulation. I think there's a bit of that over here at the moment and the problem with that is it causes the other lot to get overstimulated.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: There's a bit of inflation too.SPEAKER: Well there might be inflation in the case of the Minister of Finance but hopefully over the summer he can have a programme to get rid of it!Hon Simon Bridges: Will he adjust new Government spending tomorrow so HYEFU downward to alleviate inflation or is he simply going to complacently accept the price of big fiscal policy which is inflation on a number of forecasts heading to 6 percent in 2022?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member well knows that inflation is a global phenomenon. Those are the same percentage figures that are being seen around the world. The Government will continue to invest carefully and in a balanced way to make sure that we do provide New Zealanders with the kind of public services sadly that were not done under the National Government.Hon Simon Bridges: How can he blame it all on this international phenomena when just across the Ditch it's 3 percent and here in New Zealand over half of it is the non-tradeables economy; that is it's happening right here under his watch?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well actually when we compare ourselves to Australia the Australian data officials note the global phenomenon and say that their "trimmed measure" does not actually align with that. On this side of the House we understand that some New Zealanders have been doing it tough. We have supported them through that. But what we will not do is underfund the core services that New Zealanders need. And if the member wants to tell us what things he will cut out of education out of health out of housing go ahead because that's been the problem that New Zealanders dealt with for decades.David Seymour: How does it help New Zealanders afford a home for the Government to bid against private builders for the same land materials and labour?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Government's contribution is to make sure that we have the land available to build the houses that we need to have. Actually overall it is the private market that drives what happens within land and real estate prices. But the Government is not going to step back from building State houses.David Seymour: Does the Minister accept it was a mistake to spend $51 million on design and development for a bike bridge that never got built? And is that an example of the kind of stimulus that's no longer required in the economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No. What I do accept however is that it was a mistake to put $50 billion extra in the ACT policy they put out yesterday. But I'm sure the member knows that.Hon Simon Bridges: Does he accept that paying a lot more for private sector land and a lot more for motels around New Zealand has got to be a key reason why right at the moment house price inflation in New Zealand is 30 percent the highest in the OECD in an unsustainable housing bubble?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I do not accept that assertion from the member. The member knows that the housing crisis has been decades in the making because we have not as a country invested in building houses and we have not taken steps to reduce demand. We have done both of those things and addressed both of those issues.David Seymour: Does the Minister of Finance think that New Zealanders facing rising prices in every aspect of their life appreciate him standing up using parliamentary time to make jokes about a typo in another party's policy document?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I am absolutely certain that New Zealanders across the country appreciate the fact that the Government has worked very hard to support them and their families through COVID and I'm sorry if I've hurt the member's feelings."