Gilmore Aaron: Appropriation (2009/10 Supplementary Estimates) Bill Imprest Supply (First for 2010/11) Bill — Second Readings 
Gilmore Aaron: Appropriation (2009/10 Supplementary Estimates) Bill Imprest Supply (First for 2010/11) Bill — Second Readings 
[Volume:664;Page:11908] 
AARON GILMORE (National) 
: 
 What people out there in the House just heard was actually voodoo. It was voodoo that Labour put forward in its belief that it has some bizarre idea of how to run the economy. It is actually economic illiteracy. What we see and hear from the Opposition is no understanding of basic economic principles. It is a bit like Groundhog Day; every time I stand here to talk about our Budget I feel like I am saying the same thing again and again and again. Those members do not seem to get the fact that we inherited an economy that was in recession year after year. Labour does not seem to understand that. Its members cannot read cannot write or are just too damn stupid to be able to get there I believe. 
I believe that this is a good Budget. In fact I think it is a great Budget. In time we will see some wonderful things. Up in the public gallery this afternoon a group of young people were standing there listening to speeches from this side of the House and that side of the House. They loved it because this Government will reduce the debt they will inherit. Those people over there would rather borrow an additional $5 billion or $6 billion a year that young people in New Zealand like my young children would have to pay back in the future. Labour is on a bit of a sideshow. It does not really seem to care about future generations. All its members want to do is to borrow some more money and spend it on their little toy projects. They do not seem to care about some of the issues about getting the incentives right for New Zealand getting the ability to put in place the tax structures that allow people to invest to save and to grow the economy. Every 1 percent increase in economic growth is worth $3 billion to our economy by 2014. That is $3 billion that we can spend on things if we have that money. Maybe it is an idea to have a discussion about that but it is absolute economic voodoo and illiteracy to talk about— 
Hon Dr Wayne Mapp 
: It’s stupidity. 
AARON GILMORE 
:—and stupidity Mr Mapp. It is absolute lunacy to be in a position to say “Let us spend money we do not have yet on things that do not work.” Labour members are so focused on other things that are unrelated to the economy. They are focused on sideshows. They are not focused on the economy they are not worried about economic growth and they are not worried about interest rates. Every 1 percent increase in interest rates costs the taxpayer an additional half-a-billion dollars—$500 million. That is another $500 million that we have to borrow. Every dollar we borrow increases the risk of interest rates going up. We will still be borrowing about $10 billion this year and that is not good enough. But we had a Budget put in place that allows us to be brought back to surplus by 2016. That is years and years earlier than the Budgets the Labour Government put forward. 
We had a momentous moment a couple of weeks ago but Labour members did not mention it at all. You see we had a thing called a current account surplus. When I was at university studying economics people talked about what a current account surplus was. The important thing about a current account surplus is that it is when New Zealand is in surplus when it is paying its way in the world. A couple of weeks ago we had the first current account surplus for one quarter since 2002. Do members know what was driving that? It was growth in exports. It was changes in the way people were using their money and changes in incentives and in how the Government was spending its money. 
We have heard again from members on the other side voodoo stupidity and illiteracy about jobs and growth. Well if the Government has to borrow money to employ somebody that is actually wasteful. That is not a real job. In fact the people in those jobs do not want those jobs either. But I can tell members what real jobs are. In my part of northern Christchurch off the coast there there is soon to be one of the largest mussel farms in New Zealand. The previous Labour Government was completely against aquaculture. But aquaculture has the potential to make—I do not know—a billion dollars extra or something in that order of that magnitude. That one mussel farm will employ approximately 200 people from my wider community. That is a wonderful thing for our local people. That is a great step forward. 
The previous speaker from over there talked about issues of research and development. We are very fortunate to have today in the House the Minister of Research Science and Technology the Hon Dr Wayne Mapp and I will talk about some of the initiatives that have been put forward and that are happening this year and beyond in science. We have the ability in New Zealand to reposition real money into science the ability to put in place about $300 million which will be invested in real outcomes for real people to get real growth. I think that is really really good. 
We have seen some bizarre behaviour from Opposition members over there in the last few days and we have seen that reflected in the polls. I am a bit concerned now about the people sitting over there in the Chamber because in the polls that came out only a day or so ago Labour would lose eight or nine MPs. The five members of the Opposition who are sitting over there would be very very worried about that—I would be if I were they—and about the way they are going. Maybe they should think about that when people are talking about some of the issues to do with the economy. 
It is exports that will grow our economy and it is lower taxes. It is not about whether we put more money into buying a new machine or about depreciation; it is about the bottom line that exists in the cash flow of a business. The decrease in taxes actually gives companies choices. It gives them choices about whether they want to invest in training because the most valuable thing we have in New Zealand is our people. It is not our machines—anybody can buy a machine—it is the smartness of our people. If a company has less money to spend on people and spends it on machines because the tax structure says that that is the way to go then that is not the right way to go. But lower tax rates give companies the incentives to invest in people’s brains. 
That is the major advantage New Zealand has in the world. We are a small country; we will never have the biggest flashest machines in the world but we can have the smartest people. A lowering of company tax rates encourages the incentives for that. The lowering of personal tax rates gives incentive to workers to say that they want to work an extra shift. They will want to work extra shifts because that will give them a bit more money in their back pockets. This Budget—and I will say it time and time again—puts in a place a system where workers in families with two children earning $50000 a year will pay no tax and I think that is a great thing. It is a great thing because those people will be better off in New Zealand than they will be in Australia. I think it is a good thing—despite any changes that may occur in a tax switching—because those people will still be better off in New Zealand than in Australia. That is what we have seen happen. We have seen migration results come through since National has been in Government where planeloads of people have come back to New Zealand and have not gone to Australia— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Planeloads? 
AARON GILMORE 
: Planeloads of people. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: They’re going down. 
AARON GILMORE 
: We have had net migration. I say to that member over there that if he would learn to read a graph he would understand that that is what happens at this time of year. It is the middle of winter. He should look at the numbers. I encourage him to go to a few websites and understand that. We have put in place some wonderful things in relation to asset management. The member from Hamilton East along the benches there talked earlier about some of the great infrastructure projects— 
David Bennett 
: The Waikato Expressway. 
AARON GILMORE 
: —the Waikato Expressway which he likes to keep talking about—but in my part of town in Christchurch there is a place where we have a wonderful new motorway. We have broadband initiatives going into place. We have had our northern motorway put on an agenda of projects after being delayed for years and years. We are using our assets in a smarter way and I think that that is a good thing. We are looking at turning round and investing large amounts of money in our rail network because that is needed despite the fact that the previous Government spent a huge amount of money and had a lot of waste. I do not think that that made a lot of sense. We have spent large amounts of money trying to sort out issues we have seen in terms of switching—efficiency in the State sector. That is a good thing. You see most bureaucrats will turn round and think they might not have been productive but if money is at least spent on them and on the productive sector that is a wonderful thing. If only we could continue to have a current account surplus—quarter on quarter on quarter—then we would be paying our way in the world; and we had the first ever current account surplus in 8 years. I am proud to be part of a Government that saw that happen. 
We have an ability over the next few years to see some wonderful things occur. We have the ability to see growth and to see our performance improve. Since the Budget appeared about 5 weeks ago on 20 May we have seen amazing improvements. We have seen an improvement in export prices. Those dairy farmers out there are looking at receiving $7 a kilo for their milksolids. That is a good thing. We are seeing improvements in growth in orders coming back to our manufacturing sector. I spent a number of years working in the export manufacturing sector and I can tell members that it is a tough business—it is a tough business selling things from New Zealand to the Chinese to the Indians and to everyone else around the world. But our smart exporters can do it if they get the right Government policies and our Government is putting in place those policies. We have in John Key and Bill English a pair of economic leaders who are putting in place an economy that will grow and that will see a future for my children and my grandchildren to stay here for. I think that is a good thing. Thank you.