Patterson MarkMARK PATTERSON (NZ First): Thank you Mr Chair and a pleasure to get up and to speak on behalf of New Zealand First in this appropriations debate and to follow Dr Clark who has given us some much-needed balance after what have been some attempts by the National Party within this debate to talk the New Zealand economy down when of course all the news is good and certainly in comparison to international economies that we would normally compare ourselves to.The National Party's false premise of course is that there were some forecasts a few years ago that would've said growth was at a certain rate that's higher than where it is now but that doesn't rely on the reality that things happen. There are international headwinds as the Governor of the Reserve Bank clearly outlined to the select committee and we're seeing that. Who would've predicted back then that Trump and the Americans and the Chinese would be going hammer and tongs in a trade war and just about $200 billion of tariffs are being mooted to be put on to the Chinese imports into America just this very week. Those are the dynamics of the international economy that could not be predicted two years ago.Our performance as an economy—and as Dr Clark has just laid out nearly at 3 percent or just under 3 percent looking at 2.9 percent the IMF predicting this year against the OECD average of about 1.8 percent—is a stellar performance indeed and off the back of some great exporting performances particularly out of our primary sector I might say with record exports. Actually if you look at some of those forward indicators the dairy payout—they're just about to come up. Fonterra are about to announce their payout for next year. All the commentators are saying it could have seven—in fact mid-seven—dollars per kilo of milk solids in front of it. The meat industry which has ticked over $10 billion worth of income for this country are going gangbusters. In fact unfortunately for the farmers of China there's been a major outbreak of African swine flu; so it looks like the tailwinds for the next two years for the red meat sector are very strong indeed. We've got the kiwifruit industry ticking over—$3 billion—and with the gold kiwifruit in particular now outstripping in volume the green kiwifruit and the innovation that we're seeing in our primary sector.Of course when you look at innovation in a sustainable economy going forward in the most successful economies it's R & D. It's R & D as a percentage of GDP and this Government has committed to getting our percentage up to 2 percent but that would still leave us behind the OECD average. There's almost a direct correlation between the wealthiest economies and the percentage of R & D and this Government just the other day passed a bill for R & D tax credits for our businesses. Nothing—nothing—signifies the disarray in the National Party than the fact that they voted against that bill. It's essentially a tax cut a tax incentive for our businesses to invest in R & D for long-term sustainable growth and the National Party voted against that—virtually their only principle they voted against.This Government has been incredibly prudent and as the Governor of the Reserve Bank noted today we have had a Government responsibility around that. We've set a target of 20 percent of our debt to GDP which we have almost achieved—I think it's sitting at 20.6 percent at the moment. So we've been incredibly prudent in the way that we have invested and kept that within balance towards the overall scope of our economy. Not only have we been doing the R & D tax credits—that's a big-picture policy that we've highlighted—but the Provincial Growth Fund. Aren't we proud of that on this side of the House and particularly within New Zealand First—195 projects across 14 regions. I highlighted in the House the other day that I had the pleasure of actually announcing one of those in Nelson at the Cawthron Institute— Jamie Strange: Yeah I enjoyed that. MARK PATTERSON: $6 million—Jamie Strange was there representing the Government as well—into that to grow the Algae business which is a fast-growing area of development. This stuff sells for eye-watering amounts per gram. That's the sort of thing we are doing to transform our economy. We're not sitting here talking things down; we're getting on and delivering real sustainable gains for New Zealand. Thank you.