Scott Alastair: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeScott Alastair: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate[Sitting date: 18 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5877. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): I would like to focus on a couple of things initially—export markets and the dairy sector—and to pose a couple of questions. Who is the friend of the primary sector? Who understands the primary producer and the export markets? Who amongst us here has experience in farming or experience in exporting? Across that side of the House there is not one—not one—farmer.Hon Member: Yeah there is.ALASTAIR SCOTT: On this side there is—I have got to admit that Mr Browning has been a farmer of organic produce but other than that there is not one farmer on that side of the House. On this side of the House to name a few we have Ian McKelvie David Bennett Amy Adams Nathan Guy Stuart Smith and Barbara Kuriger who are all involved in producing primary sector products.Kelvin Davis: Come on! I’ve driven my uncle’s tractor.ALASTAIR SCOTT: And then there is—you have driven a tractor did you say Mr Davis?Kelvin Davis: Yeah once.ALASTAIR SCOTT: But what about exporting? How many have been involved in exporting? How many have got on a plane and tried to sell the product that we derive from New Zealand? How many of them have made phone calls talking to buyers offshore? How many of them in this House have run an export business? On that side of the House it is none—none. There is not one who is currently running an export business. So it is not a surprise in a way that none of them can support free trade because we are a trading nation and free trade is the key to the success of this little nation that we are.The Opposition does not understand that the leveraging of an advantage in a competitive environment is what we must do. We must have access to our products in order to enable our economy to grow to enable higher-paid jobs to eventuate and to increase the standard of living for all New Zealanders. It is quite sad in a way that you have New Zealand First Party people protesting on the steps of Parliament with anti - free-trade people when they profess to support the primary industries. They call themselves friends of the farmer but their actions speak louder than their words.The Greens are the same. They do not want trade. They do not want us to grow the economy—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! This is a very broad-ranging debate on the Budget and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2015/16) Bill. The member has now been going for 3 minutes and I think if he could draw his remarks into the debate which is not particularly hard then I would not interrupt him again.ALASTAIR SCOTT: In the Budget we have demonstrated that we are friends of the primary producer because we have not introduced a capital gains tax we do not support a controlled foreign exchange market—in fact quite the opposite—and we have not introduced agriculture into the emissions trading scheme which is all possible in any Budget and of course we support the free-trade agreements.The economy is tracking well. It is forecast to grow between 2 percent and 2.5 percent over the next number of years. We understand that dairy prices have in fact fallen below the cost of production and that enables the global market to re-establish itself and to weed out those inefficient producers of dairy product and in time the maths tells you that the price must come up to above the cost of production. What the Government has done in these tough times for the dairy industry is support them by spending or investing another half a million dollars on rural mental health professionals and that is appreciated in the rural sector.Despite the rhetoric around dairy prices we know the economy is diversified and we know it is tracking well. We also know that the safety valves are working. The currency has reduced by around 20 percent. And those in the House who have a mind to think about exporters or who may have exported in the past will know that that brings a 20 percent devaluation. It brings a 20 percent increase in New Zealand dollar terms to the revenue the top line of the exporter.We have talked about tourism increasing 7 percent year on year. Wine is increasing. Kiwifruit is having a fantastic year. Information and communication technology services and international students are all on the up and will all benefit from the weaker currency and of course the lower interest rates—another safety valve in the economy that is functioning exactly as it should. But the long-term prospects are good for dairy. The long-term prospects in the Asian market will continue to be positive based on the ever-increasing demand for high-quality safe protein. That has not gone away. That is there and it will continue to be there.The regions are doing well. Anecdotally at least I hear of Aucklanders looking around interested in purchasing housesin my electorate from Dannevirke to Featherston because you can live anywhere in this day and age. Broadband allows accountants in my electorate to service Shanghai customers. Broadband allows rural towns to be connected to the rest of the planet to sell their services—designers with customers in Los Angeles. The world is your oyster as we roll out the ultra-fast broadband. The plan continues to work and as the economy grows this gives us a choice.The well-managed economy allows better investment into the health systems the education systems and as we have already touched on the social programmes that we are investing in. There is $790 million invested in the most vulnerable and that is all about nipping it in the bud nipping it in the bud where we know that statistically it is likely to cause misery and problems down the track. That is what social investment is all about and that is a fantastic initiative of this last Budget.Investing in warmer homes is also an investment in the future. Our Warm Homes programme combined with the minimum housing insulation standards that will be implemented will be affecting half a million homes—half a million homes—which reduces the risk of health issues and increases education outcomes because kids are warmer and in a healthier condition when they go to school. These are all good things and part of the social investment programme that we have implemented.Plan A is in progress. Plan A is working. It is creating a framework for Kiwis to decide for themselves how to invest their time and their energy. It is not a patronising policy as the Opposition dictates. It is a positive programme that is laid out in the Budget and I commend it to the House.