Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members Questions to Ministers 
Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:615;Page:11503] 
4.  
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Has he received any reports recording complaints about the level of regulation in New Zealand? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Indeed I get a lot of such reports particularly from the National Party from ACT from the Business Roundtable and from Business New Zealand complaining continually that the Government is choking off growth in the economy by excessive regulation. They do that despite the strong economic performance of recent years despite record levels of employment and despite the effect their comments may have on deterring foreign investment in New Zealand. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Has he seen any independent commentary on New Zealand as a place to do business? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Yes just by chance I have. There is indeed a new independent report out that compares countries with each other as opposed to taking an absolutist view and it has been carried out by the World Bank which I think Dr Brash used to work for at one point. In a survey covering more than 130 countries New Zealand was rated as the least regulated economy and as one of the easiest places to start a new business. That assessment is in line with recent reports from Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s and I tell the Opposition to wait a bit longer for an IMF report that is coming out soon too. 
John Key 
: Does the Minister acknowledge that the current Government’s policies in relation to holidays and employment law will in the future lead to a deterioration in New Zealand’s performance as measured by the World Bank today; and if growth is important to this Government can he tell the House why on earth the Government has appointed Margaret Wilson as Minister of Commerce? 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sorry to interrupt but when a member on the Opposition side of the House called out during a question you said very firmly that that would be the last time that would be happening in the House. We have had the entire Government front bench calling out and all you did was to call out “Order!”. I suggest that we need some consistency between the Opposition benches and the Government benches. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think I do my very best to maintain consistency. Occasionally during an answer a somewhat witty comment is made and one cannot rule out a little bit of laughter. I thought the member was asking a very good question and he was making his point extremely well. The Minister is not responsible for the appointment of Ministers; that is the Prime Minister’s job. [ 
Interruption 
] The first part of the question is in order. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I can quote from the World Bank report: “Good regulation does not mean zero regulation.” This Government is committed to needs-based regulation. 
Paul Adams 
: Is the Minister aware of the legion of small and medium sized business owners who despite not having the facility to produce a glossy report are none the less wholly discontent with the current suffocating regime of regulations compliance with which demands considerable time that otherwise could be spent on growing their businesses; if so what does he plan to do to ease their strain? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I refer to another press statement reported in this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 from my excellent colleague Mr David Cunliffe. We have announced obviously that we are having a 6.7 percent discount for the early payment of provisional tax in the first year. Work is proceeding in areas in relation to aligning GST with provisional tax payments and on a number of other moves to simplify taxation for small business. This is needs-based deregulation.