Connell Brian: Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand Integration Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Connell Brian: Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand Integration Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 10 June 2003. Volume:609;Page:6095. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BRIAN CONNELL (NZ National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I thank the House for the opportunity to make a contribution on the second reading of the Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand Integration Bill. 
Mark Peck 
: Do you think things just keep getting better? 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: They will get better now. Mr Peck should listen and learn. This is a logical merger of two organisations and accordingly National supports it. The theory of it is pretty good. What we should get is economies of scale less bureaucracy fewer compliance costs and more focus. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: It never works. It’s just a bigger department. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: The trouble is that it will not happen as Mr Shirley has already pointed out. All that is happening here is that we are taking in a sum of parts and putting them together as one super-bloated bureaucratic Government mouthpiece. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Do you support it? 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I have already said that if the Minister had listened. Dr Cullen should listen and learn. Typical of anything that Mr Anderton tries to champion—and yes members can read Jim Anderton and Sovereign Yachts in brackets—this merger lacks focus and any type of cost-benefit analysis on which to underpin his decision. The Government does not even know why it is doing it. Jim Anderton has made some very vague claims along the lines of it being “a response to calls from business and other stakeholders for a single economic and trade development agency.” 
 I did a little bit of research and came across a very interesting commentary in the  
Independent  
of 22 January 2003. I will quote some of this commentary for the benefit of the people opposite: “Meat Industry Association chief executive Brian Lynch complained: ‘We have not been made aware of any cost-benefit analysis underpinning and supporting the decision. Moreover several major business organisations say they were not consulted about the Government’s plans.’ ” Maybe that is wrong; maybe Jim Anderton is suffering from the same problem that the Prime Minister has—a form of unconsciousness. I thought Mr Anderton said about an hour ago that he had consulted widely with business organisations across the country. But I found out that he had not consulted. 
The Business Roundtable said he had not spoken to them. They had not been consulted since the announcement about the structure and the services that the new agency would provide. The president of the Wellington chamber of commerce Barrie Saunders said just a week before stepping down from the job: “Not me—at least not formally”. He said his organisation had not been formally consulted since the merger had been announced. Export New Zealand vice-president David Binning said he was not consulted formally although he was aware of the direction being taken. Alasdair Thompson Chief Executive of the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association which represents something like 7000 business units said: “I knew about the planned merger only through the grapevine as an open secret.” He said the association did not know of anyone who had been consulted. Yet the Minister said he had consulted widely. The Chief Executive of the Canterbury Manufacturers Association John Walley said his organisation was not consulted before the Government’s announcement either. 
The powers that be are not interested in listening to what might be required by those on the ground. People who have never been in business—and that means Dr Cullen—want to tell those who have what is best. If the Government had consulted those business organisations it would have found widespread doubts about the merger. 
I do not see any evidence that the new entity will act as a defender of the business sector—none at all. I fear that it will continue to serve as the mouthpiece for the Minister in question. If I can put it bluntly the new entity will be the puppet and the Minister will supply the fist. Given the Minister’s outstanding track record in Sovereign Yachts and the like I am sure some colleagues on this side of the House have absolutely no confidence in him. Business must be free of arbitrary Government interference driven by political considerations. This Government’s view of business as a giant pocket from which it can continually trawl for money must stop. 
Let us look at Industry New Zealand and examine exactly what it has done for regional development. Have compliance costs for businesses gone up or down? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Up. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: By how much? Can the member hazard a guess? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Hugely. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: It has gone up by about $43000 in the last 12 months. What did Industry New Zealand say about that? It said absolutely nothing. Has it done anything to ensure that regional businesses have a guaranteed and affordable supply of electricity other than standing by and watching this Government sneak in another tax? No it has done absolutely nothing. What has it done to influence the Government to decongest Auckland’s roading problems? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Nothing. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: How much of the petrol tax has gone towards roading projects and how much has gone into the consolidated account? It is not hard for a Government to announce a surplus when it does not spend any money; when all it does is tax people. What has the Government said about the sneaky little accident compensation petrol tax that will be slapped on to hard-working Kiwis in the next few weeks? We have heard not a whisper. What has the Government said about the Resource Management Act which is the real handbrake on growth across regional New Zealand? Not a whisper nothing. 
What has Mr Anderton done to try to harness excess water for irrigation across Canterbury Marlborough and Otago? He has done absolutely nothing. He does not understand that water is the lifeblood of most of the regional economies around New Zealand and that it makes a significant contribution nationally. Translated very slowly for Dr Cullen and Co. it means lots of jobs and lots of export dollars. I will say this slowly so that Dr Cullen Minister of Finance will understand it. Regional development is not about little piddling handouts; it is not about picking losers like Sovereign Yachts. Regional development is about creating wealth so that we can all share it. 
According to Mr Anderton it was the aim of Industry New Zealand to lift New Zealand’s growth rate fast enough for us to catch up with Australia—to stop the relative economic decline of New Zealand compared with Australia. Where happened to that aim? The Government has abandoned its attempt to get this country into the top half of the OECD. 
Members should listen to this little gem from Industry New Zealand spokeswoman Debbie Gee: “We are a business dating agency. We hook up people and find business the smoothest route through paperwork and red tape.” Someone should tell her that business wants less red tape not a pathway through it?