Parker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 13 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17738. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.Hon DAVID PARKER (Deputy Leader—Labour) to theMinister of Finance: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context they were made. I particularly stand by my answers to the previous question when I said that numbers are not the member’s strong suit after two glaring errors in a press release last week. I guess that is why Labour produced an alternative Budget with no numbers in it because Labour does not even rely on its own numbers.Hon David Parker: Does he stand by his 2010 Budget statement that “Unemployment has already fallen to 6 percent.”; if so why is it that 4 years later the unemployment rate is still at 6 percent?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes I do stand by those statements. As members will recall if they remember the 2010 Budget it forecast 174000 additional jobs in the economy by mid-2014. That forecast is pretty much on track. Of course the job market has had to absorb a fast turn-round in New Zealanders leaving for Australia. Fewer and fewer New Zealanders are going. In fact they are staying home in large numbers. The job market has had to absorb them and that has meant the unemployment rate has not fallen as fast as we would have liked it to.Hon David Parker: Does he stand by his 2011 Budget statement around asset sales that “The expected revenue from offering minority stakes in these five companies is between $5 billion and $7 billion.”; if so did he raise $5 billion to $7 billion from the sale of State assets?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member is overlooking the numbers as you might expect. We sold four State assets not five. For the four we got $4.7 billion and we are very pleased that we are able to put that cash in the Future Investment Fund a fund that we can now use to build more schools renew our hospitals and underpin our infrastructure investment. The member will be hearing more about that over the next few days.Hon David Parker: Does he stand by his 2012 Budget statement that “New Zealand’s household savings rate is positive for the first time in a decade and is forecast to increase to almost 4 percent by 2016.”; if so why is the household savings rate now negative?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I do stand by the statement. Of course any forecast has to be borne out by what actually happens. But it is worth noting that the member usually ties savings rates to the current account deficit and the current account deficit is nowrunning at less than half of what it was when he left office. We owe the world a lesser proportion of our GDP by quite a significant margin. When we came in our international obligations amounted to about over 80 percent of GDP and they are currently 65 percent.Louise Upston: Does he stand by his previous statements about forecast job growth and how has the employment market performed against those forecasts in recent years?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Any forecast of jobs is dependent on the confidence of businesses to invest more capital and employ more people. That is where new jobs come from. They do not come from the Easter bunny. In New Zealand in Budget 2010 the forecast was for 174000 additional new jobs by mid-2014 and Budget 2011 forecast 171000 jobs would be added by mid-2015. The latest household labour force survey essentially confirms that those forecasts have turned into reality but what lies behind that reality are businesses and workplaces willing to invest another dollar and therefore employ another person not just have wish lists.Hon David Parker: Does he stand by his 1999 statement as Treasurer that Labour’s then promise to get unemployment to under 4 percent was impossible on which he was proven wrong by the Labour Government having an average of 3.9 percent unemployment for 5 years?Hon BILL ENGLISH: At least the member has moved on from relitigating the 1975 election. Now he is relitigating the 2008 election. Labour still believes that the public got it wrong in throwing out that Labour Government which did so much damage to the economy. Well we never quite got to test that theory but many New Zealanders are pleased that the country’s economic management has become more steady and more prudent. It has taken a longer view and supported the people who actually make the decisions about jobs which are businesses and workplaces not Governments.