Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 21 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7419. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Has GDP per capita growth declined over the last two quarters and what reports has he seen that this trend will continue for the next two quarters?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): No and none.Grant Robertson: Is it in fact correct that for the first 6 months of this financial year GDP per capita growth was minus 0.2 percent?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It would be of some assistance to the House if the member could tell us whether he is talking about nominal GDP per capita or real GDP per capita because they both fluctuate. They fluctuate because inflation fluctuates and also currently because the population is growing so fast.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a very specific question about the first 6 months of this year. I gave him a figure—[Interruption] Well you can answer either way Bill but you still have to answer.Mr SPEAKER: Order! And the answer addressed the question certainly by asking for the question to be more specific. So I suggest that the member now proceed with a specific supplementary question.Grant Robertson: Is it in fact correct that Treasury is forecasting growth dropping below 2 percent and with immigration continuing at high levels the economy will continue to fail to keep up which will mean continuing negative per capita economic growth?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It is quite possible that the economy could by the end of this year be growing at an annual rate a bit under 2 percent. The indicators are that next year it will pick up a bit if you believe the services and manufacturing indices. In respect of population growth it is surprisingly strong—there is no doubt about that. There has been a big turn-round in the number of people who want to stay home under this Government compared with the number who left under the last Government and it would not be surprising if per capita incomes were flat to falling for a while.Grant Robertson: In light of that answer how then can he be satisfied with an economy that cannot generate the jobs or activity to match population increase?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well I do not think the Government has indicated it is satisfied at all. In fact part of the key to this Government is its relentless dissatisfaction about what can be achieved in New Zealand. That is how we achieve a brighter future—by keeping at it. But it is good news that more people stay in New Zealand and that we have had now the sixth month of a net inflow from Australia—something that has not happened since we have been measuring it.Grant Robertson: How can it be good news for New Zealanders that unemployment is still up around 6 percent and that high levels of immigration are not being matched by economic growth and in fact what they are leading to is higher housing prices in Auckland?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well both of those things that the member has pointed out are correct; that is the measured unemployment rate is not dropping as fast as we would like—in fact it may well be rising at the moment—because the number of people showing up to the labour market is growing faster than ever and despite the fact that this economy is producing tens of thousands of new jobs a year it needs to produce even more than it currently is if we are going to drop unemployment.Grant Robertson: Will he do anything differently in the face of a slowing economy or is he simply prepared to outsource to the Reserve Bank in responding to what is now a sluggish economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well the thing is as I have pointed out to the member previously and to Ministers actually the Government cannot chase quarterly or monthly economic figures. In fact it cannot really influence 6-monthly figures. We focus on the longer term as you would expect a Government with vision to do and that is by funding the research and development and support for business that backs innovation getting the levels of educational achievement up particularly among those with the lowest levels of achievement so that they can be long-term contributors to the economy and negotiating the kinds of free-trade agreements that Labour opposes which will open decades of opportunities for our businesses.