Parker DavidBUDGET DEBATEDebate resumed from 17 May.Hon DAVID PARKER (Associate Minister of Finance): We won they lost let's do this! Some of those with a historical perspective like the Hon Nick Smith will recognise a historical reference in that saying updated to reflect the kinder and more inclusive approach of this Government. We won they lost let's do this—and we are doing this. We're rebuilding the foundations for the future across the board for a stronger economy for a fairer more egalitarian society and for a clean environment. And—and this is galling for the other side but it's true—we're in surplus. Growth forecasts are strong. Unemployment is dropping. Wages are going up.The improvements that this Budget is making reinforce each other. We've chosen solutions that make society stronger at the same time as making the economy stronger. We're promoting measures that improve the efficiency of the rural economy while we clean up our rivers. This interconnection of things is something that I think is notable in this Budget. Other people have spoken about the significant improvements in funding for education and we heard some of it during question time. A tripling of new funding for learning support for children in need—this is enormous. The parents who struggle the schools that struggle with kids who need extra support the disruption that's been caused in the classroom by those kids not properly supported—there is an enormous step towards improvement in this Budget.There is the large increase in operating funding for schools the additional support for preschool education and of course the post-school training and education to help those New Zealanders whose employment might be disrupted through technological change.In health $700 million of new capital funding—seven times the amount in the last Budget of the National Government. In housing we've not only stopped the selling off of State houses; we're building over 6000 new State houses in the next four years. That's more than our election promise in the Labour Party part of our promises of 1000 a year.In the economy—the Opposition's now headed by the Hon Simon Bridges. He still believes in trickle-down theory. You know it's true: exports have trickled down under the last Government from 30 to 27 percent of GDP against an ambition to lift them to 40 percent of GDP. But we on this side we don't believe in trickle-down theory. We do not think it works. We think we have to lift the economy.My goodness there is some significant economic policy in this Budget. First off we're introducing a research and development tax credit. It's worth a billion dollars over four years. That's effectively a tax cut for businesses that are investing in research and development of a billion dollars—a billion-dollar tax cut in support of innovation as we try and lift New Zealand's export performance by growing the complexity of our economy as we move from volume to value.But that's not all: a billion dollars per annum in the Provincial Growth Fund—investments up and down the country in productivity-enhancing measures in our regions where so much of our exports come from. This will be transformative. You add to that the green growth capital fund of $100 million and you can see how we are supporting this transition to a cleaner environment whilst we're also growing the productivity of our economy growing new jobs. You know at one level economics don't change. In order for us to reverse that trend of declining exports under the last Government we've got to grow new points of comparative advantage in the world. That means we've got to invest more of our precious financial capital and more of our human resources in those efforts and that's what we're doing through the R & D tax credit the Provincial Growth Fund and the green growth fund.In addition to that we've got more funding for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Now the other side deride that. They seem to miss the fact that we're on the brink of a trade war. Maybe we've just averted it in the weekend as between China and the US. I hope that's the case. But none the less we've got rising protectionism all around the world. All around the world our exporters are facing non-tariff barriers and we're finding it harder and harder to dismantle the tariff barriers they face.Well we've got an enormous programme of action. It was of course the last Labour Government in concert with other partners at the time that brought home the China free-trade agreement. We've landed the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. We hope in the next day that we're going to start what the National Party could not achieve in nine long years which is a negotiation with the European Union. If we do—well I heard the other side slagging off the Prime Minister when she went to Europe saying it was a photo opportunity that there was no substance to it. Well what was the focus of that? It was trade trade trade with President Macron with Chancellor Merkel. If this comes off we can say well done to the Prime Minister because you never know exactly what it is that tips the balance but it has been hanging in the balance. We're doing this.