Williamson Maurice: Budget Debate 
Williamson Maurice: Budget Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19158] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) 
: 
 I start by putting a little bit of context around the Budget debate. This is the 24th Budget debate I have sat through in this Parliament. I have to say that of the 24 Budgets I have known—probably only three short of your count Mr Speaker—this Budget was drawn up in the toughest circumstances that any Minister of Finance has faced. 
I always like to think of little analogies or parables like this. If a father had told his family: “When we get to Christmas I’m going to be buying you a 65-inch plasma TV” and everyone in the family was excited and if as the year rolled on the father lost his job and the business they had went bankrupt or whatever when it came Christmas the father would have to say to the family: “You know we’re in circumstances where I can’t buy you that plasma TV.” What worries me intensely about Labour members in view of their catcalls all the time is that they seem to have ignored the fact that when the last election campaign got under way at the beginning of 2008 and we campaigned on a number of things the world was a very different place—an incredibly different place. 
As the global economic crisis started to really bite and take out huge chunks of the world’s economy the sharemarket in the United States took one of the biggest dives the property market in the United States fell through the floor and we experienced the shockwaves right across the world. Portugal Iceland Greece and Spain—“the PIGS”—took a real smack-around and here in New Zealand the finance company meltdowns and the Government guarantees that had been made in respect of those companies started to change the entire landscape. 
If it was not bad enough that the global economic crisis meant that the whole world was a different world and a different paradigm along came a number of mother Nature smack-arounds just to make us really realise where we were. So I give absolute unbelievable credit to the Hon Bill English for what he did in this Budget. He did not get into a slash-and-burn mentality. He did not get into a “Let’s tear the place to shreds” mentality. He laid down what I think is a very solid foundation a bedrock Budget which does a number of key things. 
Before I go into those key things—because I think it is worth rehearing them for this House—I want to say that in respect of my own portfolio I want to show some gratitude to the Minister of Finance. At a time when most Ministers were being told: “There is no new money; what part of ‘no’ do you not understand?” Bill English saw the reason in a number of cases we put to him. I thank him for that. In one case we got some new money for the electronic SmartGate at customs. 
I am enormously proud of that project. In recent weeks over 60 percent of all eligible arrivals at the Auckland Wellington and Christchurch airports have been using SmartGate on arrival as an alternative to using the manual desks. The huge efficiency gains and saving of time has allowed customs officers to direct their work at the secondary queue. That is where the bad eggs are where the drug smugglers and all the other evil people are. It has been a fantastic success. Bill English gave us some new money in this Budget to extend the SmartGate project both for arrivals and departures and I thank him for that. 
We also inherited 2½ years ago a Statistics New Zealand that was in a state of meltdown with regard to its technology platforms. It had fully depreciated schemes that were outdated and there were many different variable platforms. At a time when things are tough when there is plenty going on it is hard to convince a Minister of Finance that the statistics portfolio is what one would call high on the radar for New Zealand. But at a time when things were tough he saw the benefit. He saw the merits of what good economic statistics like GDP and the household labour force survey can mean for our planning and we got a Budget allocation of $58 million over the next 4 years for putting in place some new systems. 
Having said that I return to the key things about the Budget. One of the headline-grabbing facts and figures that is used by the media—I hear the Opposition using it all the time and it is a really sobering number—is that while we have our books where they are the Minister of Finance has to borrow about $300 million a week. In fact it has been $380 million because the economic circumstances around the world in terms of the money markets has meant that it was worthwhile taking advantage of some of the deals going—and yes some of that was in excess of the requirement. 
We can argue around the margins—whether $300 million $310 million $320 million or indeed $380 million was necessary—but it was about $300 million a week. I think most New Zealanders if they multiply that figure by 50 weeks soon work out how many billions that borrowing is adding to our debt. What did Mr English do in this Budget? He set about putting us on a path to reducing that level of borrowing and doing so very rapidly. I think this headline is worth repeating: we are currently borrowing $300 million yet average borrowings will fall by over two-thirds to about $100 million in the next financial year—that is 2011-12. And the Government will start repaying debt 2 years later—that is 2014-15. 
I know that most New Zealanders who have had tough times at home and have struggled to make their family budget work know what we are talking about. These are not times of plenty. There were times when Labour was in power when the world was booming. The world economy was in a jubilant mood. Commodity prices were going through the ceiling and there was no end to the morrow. In the United States money was flowing through the sharemarket and the Dow Jones knew no top. In some years Labour turned in an $11.5 billion surplus. Well New Zealanders know that the world is not like that at present—and yes the economic cycle will come back and one day there will be better economic times for the entire world—and Mr English recognised that and did something about it. 
Mr English also recognised that there is only one way to get oneself out of trouble long term and that is economic growth. Every family knows that it is no good sitting around whingeing and complaining that they cannot afford this or that. The best thing they can do is try to increase their income increase their wealth and increase their financial position. Treasury’s numbers based on the books that Bill English delivered to this House show that we are looking at 4 percent growth in the GDP of this country in 2012 and as a result 170000 new jobs by 2015. 
This is where the rubber hits the road in terms of the difference between Labour and National. We hear it in questions from Jacinda Ardern and others about how many jobs the Government is creating. Other than when Labour was in power and created a huge number of bureaucrats within the concrete towers around here the Government actually does not create many jobs at all. We employ a few people in our offices and a few people in the ministries in the bureaucracy but the vast vast bulk of jobs out there are in the private sector. 
Jobs are created by risk takers who put their own money at risk who put their own skin in the game and who actually invest to grow the economy overall and make some money. It is a really simple model. They will take on staff if they have some confidence that the economy is on the up that their products will have customers that their books will be in good shape and in black ink and that they will be able to retire some of the debt to the bank. This Budget will have restored a very big chunk of business confidence and restored a very good view of the future to New Zealanders. That is why Treasury’s advice to the Government is that with the confidence we will get from this Budget we can be looking at about 170000 new jobs by 2015—jobs created by the private sector not by employing a much fatter and greater bureaucracy. 
Mr English had to trim some elements of various programmes because they were just not sustainable. What was done to KiwiSaver? The $1000 was left; a whole range of the elements in KiwiSaver were left. There was an increase in the amount of private savings required and a reduction in the Government contribution and overall savings will increase because of it. New Zealand has to focus on that. I will say in my last 20 or so seconds that over 24 years I have sat in this House and tried to assess Budgets against their times and this was the toughest time ever to have to put together a Budget. Mr English delivered what I think is a superlative Budget. The Opposition members are struggling to find things to say against it. I give him 9.9 out of 10 simply because one should never give 10 out of 10 in case there is room for improvement. I am delighted to be a member of this Government and support this Budget.