Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is subject to correctionFlavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14058. Text is subject to correction.]10.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party) to theMinister of Finance: Does he recall his statement that “Anyone who can take a business away has a community over a barrel and has its workforce over a barrel”; and will the Government take steps to intervene in Rotorua and Shannon to help protect jobs like it did in Southland with the threatened closure of theTiwai Point aluminium smelter?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes I do recall the statement and in answer to the second part of the question no. The Government obviously is not going to step in to support businesses in every case of a job loss. On the other hand it is not satisfactory to ignore every single episode of jobs losses. In the case of theTīwai aluminium smelter the Government at the time outlined the specific reasons why it intervened there in a situation it regarded as one of national interest.Te Ururoa Flavell: Does he recall his statement on the same day 8 August that “this is a Government which is pretty pragmatic” noting that the Government had also offered assistance to other sectors such as the kiwifruit sector after thePsa virus; on that basis does he agree it would be pragmatic to support hundreds ofwhānau members in Rotorua and Shannon who are looking at the prospects of a very bleak Christmas unless the Government puts a recovery plan in place?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Without looking into every detail of those particular businesses it is simply not feasible for the Government to put a recovery plan in place. If you just take for instance the fellmongery in Shannon there have been significant changes in meat industry processing that are necessitated by the fact that the national sheep flock has been shrinking while the national dairy herd has been growing. We have felt the impact of that in my electorate where over 300 people lost their jobs at the Mataura freezing works in the last couple of years. The best thing we can do is to ensure that we have an environment where businesses are investing in other industries that are growing. The indications are that this economy is pretty positive jobs are being created and there will be opportunities for those who are losing their jobs.Te Ururoa Flavell: Will the Government consider forming partnerships with iwiMāori organisations to save or maintain businesses such asTachikawa Forest Products (NZ) in Rotorua where over 120 workers will lose their jobs and also a plant will become redundant to ensure that unemployment lines do not get any longer especially forMāori?Hon BILL ENGLISH: As a general point unemployment lines are tending to get shorter as the number of new jobs in the economy continues to grow. The Government is happy to work with anyone who can assist in creating an environment where businesses will invest and employ. However the use of the term “partnerships” does not explain much about what is proposed. The Government is very unlikely for instance to invest in particular businesses when they are loss-making businesses because that would be frittering away the hard-earned taxes of others who are working hard and paying their taxes every day. We are happy to have the discussion but those discussions have to be substantive and responsible. It is very unlikely that in these cases the Government would intervene in what is a pretty normal process of businesses under pressure going under jobs being lost and other jobs being created.