Joyce Steven: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeJoyce Steven: General Debate[Sitting date: 22 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5202. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development): You have to start wondering I think not for the first time who are the strategic geniuses in the Labour Party headquarters. I think it is not the first time we have been worrying about this in the last 7 years but you do have to worry about it.Fresh from the strategic success of last week there was the great project: all people with Chinese-sounding names must be foreigners. That was last week’s success—all people with Chinese-sounding names are foreigners. Those members have been casting around for this week’s strategic success. Well they tried the flag. They ran that up the flagpole but nobody saluted today and that did not work. They also flirted with the idea of looking at the pie awards. I do not know whether you have seen this but there are some very Chinese-sounding bakers who have won the New Zealand pie awards this week. So those members thought maybe about a campaign of getting back all our pies from the foreigners.But they actually decided that what they might go with is something along the lines of “National’s not diversifying the New Zealand economy.” They thought they might give that one a go. Still they were having a discussion—“National’s not doing anything to diversify the New Zealand economy.” They were talking it around and then somebody said: “Well that’s not quite true though is it because National has actually lifted quite a lot of research and development spend in this country—that’s true. So aside from research and development spending National is doing nothing to diversify the economy. Well actually there is Callaghan Innovation. National set that up. And there is the Primary Growth Partnership. National set up that. But besides the Primary Growth Partnership besides the lifted research and development spend and besides Callaghan Innovation National has done nothing to diversify the economy. Well actually National has done the ultra-fast broadband as well—that’s true. That’s broadband but that helps to diversify the economy.Oh well there’s also the investment in tourism marketing. But aside from tourism marketing education investment—because it is doing international education—the Primary Growth Partnership Callaghan Innovation and a big lift in research and development spend it is doing nothing to diversify the economy. Well that is just not quite true because as well as the broadband there are the roads of national significance linking our regions to the big ports. So it is doing that. So you know we’re a little bit concerned about that.”They said: “You’ve got to park the infrastructure you’ve got to park the research and development you’ve definitely got to park the tourism marketing and the education but aside from that—aside from that—there has been nothing that National has done to diversify. Well actually there has. There is the Korean free-trade agreement. Oh there’s that. And there is the World Trade Organization global procurement agreement for manufacturers—so it has done that. So we have to give it that.We have to give it the ultra-fast broadband we have to give it the Korean free-trade agreement we have to give it the information and communications technology students—the investment it has made. We have to give it the engineering investment to create more engineering students—so we’ll give it that. And we’ll give it the tourism and we’ll give it the investment in international education. We’ll give it the Primary Growth Partnership we’ll give it the research and development we’ll give it the broadband we’ll give it Callaghan Innovation. But aside from that what has National done to diversify New Zealand’s economy? Absolutely—absolutely—nothing. Let’s send Robertson out with that. Let’s send Robertson out with that. Don’t tell him that there’s a few things that National has done; just send him out and say it has done nothing to diversify the New Zealand economy.” And those members wonder why New Zealanders think they are shallow and they do not do any work. Thank you.