Cunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Cunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:675;Page:21350] 
6. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Is it the Government’s intention to revise its fiscal forecasts and the timing of reaching fiscal surplus; if so when will it do so? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 As the member will know there is an upcoming event called an election and Treasury is obliged by law to independently update fiscal forecasts in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update which must be released 20 to 30 working days before the election. That is where there will be a revised fiscal forecast. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Will the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update include a downward revision in the protected sales revenue from his proposed privatisation policy given international equity market downturns and the higher cost of the plan including forgone dividends and sales fees? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I simply do not know. Treasury prepares these forecasts independently. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Will the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update include higher costs of climate change policy? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Again it is up to Treasury to check whether the Government has made any decisions that would change the Budget forecasts on the emissions trading system. If no decisions have been made then it will not incorporate any changes into the forecasts. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Mr Speaker I do not believe that the Minister has addressed the question— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is this a point of order? 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Yes Mr Speaker point of order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: With respect the Minister answered the question perfectly. I think he said that if any Government decision had been made on climate change policy Treasury would pick that up and if a decision had not been made Treasury would not. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: The point of order is that he is the Minister responsible for the very policy he is delegating to Treasury— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the member had listened to an earlier answer—in fact the answer to the primary question—the member would have detected the Minister saying that Treasury conducts an independent update of the fiscal and economic position. Therefore the Minister cannot tell with detail what Treasury is going to do. The law requires that. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Is it the Minister’s intention to advise Treasury of any changes in the area of climate change that might have fiscal implications for the Government’s Budget aggregates? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: If there were any changes I would be obliged by statute to advise it. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Given the statement of the Governor of the Reserve Bank today that the high level of the New Zealand dollar is having a dampening impact on some parts of the tradable sector does he continue to believe that New Zealand has the best monetary policy in the world; if so why? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As the member will know the level of the currency is not the measure of whether the monetary policy framework is a sound one. In our view the monetary policy framework is sound. We can debate endlessly subtle nuances and changes to that framework but I doubt whether they would have any impact on the forces that are currently determining the level of the New Zealand dollar. 
Amy Adams 
: What have previous fiscal forecasts shown about the Government’s operating balance? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The first set of forecasts I received from Treasury in late 2008 showed that a continuation of the previous Government’s policies would have resulted in deficits for ever and debt increasing to 60 percent of GDP and never reducing. This would certainly have put us by now in the same kind of category as Greece with probably the same kinds of problems. 
Amy Adams 
: What do the latest forecasts show about the operating balance and Government debt? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The latest forecasts show a considerable improvement. These were released in May with the Budget and they show New Zealand getting back to surplus in 2014-15 rather than the endless deficits under the previous Government’s policies and net debt peaking at below 30 percent of GDP instead of exceeding 60 percent of GDP. By 2015 we will have borrowed $40 billion less than we would have needed in order to continue Labour’s policies.