Adams Amy: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Adams Amy: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
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AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 I am rising to take a call on the Budget Policy Statement. I mention its title because I think that the Leader of the Opposition who spoke before me missed the whole point. I think that everyone forgot to tell Mr Goff that there is no general debate today. This is not a general debate and anyway I ask where the Opposition’s spokesman on finance is. Where is Mr Cunliffe? Why is the Opposition’s finance spokesman not taking the call? It is interesting that Mr Cunliffe is not here to take the call on the Budget Policy Statement when he leads the Labour position on that. No instead we have Mr Goff. 
The reason we had Mr Goff is because when he travels around the country on his “happy bus” nobody comes to listen to him. So he saved that speech up he comes here and he has the cheek to talk about the chamber of commerce. When he rocked up to the chamber of commerce in Napier five people turned up and three of those five were from the Labour caucus. Of the five people who bothered to listen to the Labour leader three of them were from his own caucus. So what does he do? He trousers the speech that he could not use on the bus he comes to Parliament and he tells the whips to put the call around and get him a full house because someone has to listen to his speech. Do members know why he gets so passionate when he gives these speeches? It is because every single time he stands up it is a leadership bid. Every single time that Mr Goff gets to his feet he has to convince his troops that he is still fit to lead them. No one is listening on the streets and no one is listening in here but at least in here he can get the whips to make sure that he has a full house. Because of his insecurities we have had 10 minutes of what should have been a debate on the Budget Policy Statement wasted on pandering to Mr Goff’s insecurities and his sense of failure over his bus trip which no one noticed or cared about and certainly did not help him in the polls. 
I will take it back to the Budget Policy Statement because I think it is shameful that the Labour leader completely failed to deal with it. The economy is the single biggest issue this country is dealing with. It was the single biggest issue facing us when we came into power and it is one of the key reasons why New Zealanders chose a National-led Government to get them through the worst global recession that any of us will see. When we took office New Zealand wanted one thing from us above anything else: a significant lift in economic performance. That is why people put their faith in John Key that is why they put their faith in Bill English and that is why the National-led Government is taking this country through the current issues. Economic growth is the only thing that can deliver New Zealanders the sort of permanent increase in their living standards that everyone is calling for. If we want to talk about going around and talking to people every single member of this party knows that the one thing that New Zealanders want is a lift in their standard of living. The difference is we know that the way to deliver that to them is through a lift in economic performance. We have to get this country growing. 
The Budget Policy Statement does two things. It looks back over where we have been and it looks ahead to what this Government will do to continue the path of recovery. We are through the worst of the economic recession but that should not be mistaken by anyone for thinking that from here on in it is smooth sailing. Everybody knows that there will still be bumps in the road. My colleague Mr Foss made the point that certainly for every New Zealander who loses his or her job it is one New Zealander too many. But we have to reflect on the fact that when we look at what all the numbers were predicting when this Government came into office the turn-round has been remarkable. The Labour Opposition was trumpeting from the streets that there would be 10 percent or more unemployment—10 percent or more. In fact unemployment has been limited to just a little over 7 percent and it is gratifying for us all to see those numbers coming off significantly. 
Chris Tremain 
: And thanks to the employers. 
AMY ADAMS 
: Mr Tremain is absolutely right; we have to thank employers for coming on board and doing their part. 
I thank the Minister for Social Development and Employment Paula Bennett for her excellent work through schemes like Community Max and Job Ops and for extending the Limited Service Volunteers scheme. Those are all real steps that will create jobs. I thank the Prime Minister for the 9-day working fortnight initiative which has been so valuable in saving New Zealanders’ jobs. 
The best thing we can do to create sustainable jobs is to get our economy back in balance. We heard the Minister of Finance mention today during question time that if New Zealand had kept pace with world growth during the period when Labour was in Government right now New Zealand families would on average be $5000 a year better off after tax. That is the legacy of the previous Labour Government. It took an average of $5000 a year after tax from every New Zealand family by squandering the opportunities that it had while it was in office. Those were some of the best economic times this country has seen but did we see our real economy growing? No we saw our productive economy—the part of our economy that is real and creates real wealth and real jobs not Government spending; it is the export economy and the engine room of New Zealand—in recession for 5 years under Labour while the world was growing. 
In the time that we have been in Government we have taken significant steps to change that. We are focused on things that will create a higher standard of living real jobs and higher incomes so that we do not see our young people heading off to Australia. Just this week I was called up by a constituent who said: “Amy I am sorry to tell you but we cannot keep doing this any more. I think your Government is on the right track but it will take so long to recover from Labour’s mess that I think the only future for us is not in New Zealand.” 
Moana Mackey 
: He did not say that. 
AMY ADAMS 
: That is exactly what he said I tell Ms Mackey. If the member were to listen to constituents she would know that that is exactly what the people of New Zealand are saying. 
We in this Government are prepared to take the necessary steps to get the economy growing. We have signalled that we want to have a world-class tax system that encourages production entrepreneurialism innovation and enterprise not one that encourages consumption and the debt-fuelled boom that we have seen for too long. We have to focus on reducing the regulatory burden on businesses and getting away from some of the nonsense red tape. I think that all of the Ministers in this Government have done an excellent job of getting that under way. Minister Williamson who is sitting in front of me now has made some significant steps towards reducing red tape in the building industry and I know that that is the sort of thing that will allow our construction sector and housing sector to get under way without those sorts of regulatory burdens. We are supporting business and innovation. We have seen an excellent paper released from Minister Mapp recently around the changes we need to make to our Crown research industry. It will make a significant difference and it has been warmly welcomed. 
We are focused on lifting productivity in the public sector. One thing that this Government has talked about consistently and is doing consistently is getting more money out of bureaucracy and out of the back room and into the front lines. We are seeing jobs in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education refocused so that the actual outputs for consumers—for the real people of New Zealand—increase. That is why we now have more elective surgery than we have ever had before and that is why we will lift educational outputs across this country as we focus on what really matters. 
I want to focus on the fact that even since the 2009 Fiscal Strategy Report the indicators have improved markedly due to the actions of this Government. In the 2009 Fiscal Strategy Report gross sovereign debt was forecast to be at 45 percent of GDP in 2012-13; now the forecast is for 38.8 percent of GDP. The operating deficit was forecast to be 3.3 percent of GDP over this year; it is now forecast to drop to 2.6 percent. With regard to total Crown expenses one of the things that we have consistently been strong on is the need to rein in Government spending so that the real economy grows. I am very pleased to say that in the 2009 Fiscal Strategy Report total Crown expenses were forecast to be 48 percent of GDP in 2012-13; that forecast has now dropped to 44.5 percent in 2013-14. 
Those are real measurable outcomes of the solid economic performance of this National Government. That is why New Zealand elected us. That is how we will get the sort of change in economic growth that this country needs to lead to a much stronger much more sustainable and much more balanced New Zealand for us all to enjoy. Thank you.