Hughes Gareth: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5168. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green):Kia ora Mr Chair. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. In my short 33 years on this planet we have seen phenomenal technological economic and social change and without doubt I believe that in the next 33 years we are going to see even more. You can see some of that innovation in a warehouse next to Auckland Airport where Rocket Lab is assembling world-leading Electron rockets but with carbon fibre 3-D printed battery-powered jet engines. You can see other companies like Xero selling from the Land of the Long White Cloud through the cloud and competing globally. We have got some fantastic examples that highlight the potential of an innovative economy but we should not be deluding ourselves that a few innovative companies make an innovative economy. What we have seen this week is an economic slow-down in China. Two recent polls have come out showing that consumer confidence has dipped sharply. Dairy prices have plunged a further 10 percent and what we have seen in Treasury documents is that the tradables part of the sector has stagnated. In fact the split between the tradables and non-tradables sector is the greatest in 2000 years—concerning concerning issues.So what is the plan in National’s Budget and Budget estimates? Well when you drill past the spin what you can see is that the strategy is incredibly flawed. Under National we are working incredibly hard but our wages are in the bottom half of the developed world. Under National our costs of living are judged the highest in purchasing power. Under National our economy has simplified and will become more dependent than ever on a few raw commodities. Under National we still spend less than half of the developed world average on research and development. Basically under National we are not building those high-wage industries or sectors to compete into the future. Under National we are digging ourselves deeper and deeper into an economic hole. The plan seems to be a few token policies at the margins a few more cows on paddocks—cram them on—and hoping to find some oil deep in our seas but we are finding ourselves deeper and deeper in that hole. I believe in that old saying that—to paraphrase it—if you find yourself in a hole it is time to stop digging. It should be the same in a coal shaft in a deep-sea mine. It is time to stop digging. The way we have always done things is going to get us the result that has seen us slip down those economic rankings over succeeding decades.On the science and innovation aspect of the Budget we have seen some token—token—gestures from Minister Steven Joyce. What we have seen is a funding approach that keeps us in the bottom half of the developed world. It is an approach that picks winners and that finds money for special prizes for the Government’s special friends in their special industries like film. The funding models that benefit large businesses—the whole Crown research institute sector—is built around the old-fashioned traditional economy and we are seeing emerging start-ups feel that they are missing out on the research and development that they want to do to help get our country ahead.There is a better way to support our economy and that is to build a genuinely innovative economy. My vision is one where we see Kiwis employed competing globally to come out with products and services with intellectual property. There is a limit to the amount of milk powder we can export around the world—we are seeing it in our waterways. There is no limit to the intellectual property—the software the services—we could be exporting. As Sir Paul Callaghan said we need to find those niches that are our strengths. We need to find an economy where we work smarter not just work harder because if we do not we risk what Greg Doone from PwC Digital’s strategy team argues—that if we are just a fast follower of the current speed of change we are going to be left behind following yesterday’s trends.The Green Party stands for an innovation economy an internet economy a clean-energy economy. To get there we need to adequately fund research and development to get us into that top half of the developed world. We need to support a culture of education and this starts in our schools and in our tertiary institutions. We have to make sure those students studying at universities and polytechs are getting the courses and that we are making them affordable so that they can be studying and preparing for the jobs that have not even been created yet. We need to get the settings right for the internet economy. We need to make sure we have got the right infrastructure such as an internet cable to make sure the ultra-fast broadband and the Rural Broadband Initiative are not simply ultra-fast intranets. We need to make sure our teachers are being taught how to teach their kids digital skills. We need to support start-ups like the games sector. We need some thought leadership when it comes to areas like having a chief technology officer as argued by Rod Drury. The Green Party’s vision is a smarter higher-wage more productive economy. If we keep spending less than half of what the developed world spends we are not going to get there under National. Kia ora.