Foss Craig: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Foss Craig: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:672;Page:18689] 
1. 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What challenges does the Government face in putting together Budget 2011? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Many challenges not least the ongoing job of undoing the damage done by the previous Labour Government. More recently the February earthquake and lower-than-expected growth in the first part of the year have made the outlook more challenging. In the absence of decisions that will be outlined in the Budget we would have been expecting to return to surplus probably around 2016-17 and net debt to peak at 35 percent of GDP. 
Craig Foss 
: What is the Government’s approach to meeting these challenges? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: We are keen to lay out a credible path to surplus while meeting the very significant extra costs of rebuilding Canterbury. We want to get to surplus as soon as possible because it is only surpluses that give Governments policy choices and provide a buffer against further unexpected economic events. 
Craig Foss 
: What kinds of changes are included in the Budget? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government has hinted at a number of those changes. We will take responsible steps to ensure that large-scale programmes such as KiwiSaver Working for Families and student loans are bettered targeted deliver better value for taxpayers and have growth that is controlled. The Government will also seek a greater level of savings from the public sector to help to fund improvements to critical front-line services. Some of these changes will be legislated for immediately after the Budget but none will take effect before the election. That will give voters the opportunity to make clear choices between what will be a responsible and balanced programme from the Government and some other kind of programme from the Labour Opposition. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Does he agree that increasing the private savings rate is a challenge for the Budget; if so does he agree with the warning from Standard and Poor’s analyst Kyran Curry that moves to strip KiwiSaver incentives without providing offsetting measures may take the country in the wrong direction? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: No. The Government has said for some time that the focus of this Budget is not just on private savings. It is on national savings because it is our overall and total liabilities to foreign lenders that make our country so vulnerable. As the member knows we have amongst the highest levels of debt to foreigners of any country in the whole world. So we are focusing on national savings and the member can wait for Thursday to see just where KiwiSaver fits in that picture. 
Craig Foss 
: How does the approach taken in Budget 2011 compare with the Government’s two previous Budgets? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: It has been evident since 2008 that this economy needed to be rebalanced away from excessive consumption and housing speculation funded by debt and towards savings investment and exports. So Budget 2011 will be broadly similar to Budgets 2009 and 2010 because we are following the same plan. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Can the Minister assure the House that all savings booked in the Budget will identify which vote and which line of that vote will be reduced? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Budget will meet all the standards of transparency for savings that have been required. But I have to say the Government decision-making process will be much more transparent than that of the previous Government which got into the habit— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member should have been aware that I was getting to my feet. That was a pretty straight question about whether votes would show savings. It is a technical question that is capable of having an answer and it did not deserve that last bit to be added. Had the question been a political question there would have been no problem but it was not. Under the circumstances I will invite the member to repeat his question and let us hear an answer without the unnecessary bit being added at the end. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Can he assure the House that all savings booked in the Budget will identify which vote and which line of that vote will be reduced? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Budget will meet all the usual high standards of transparency in the New Zealand fiscal system. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very straight albeit slightly technical question but that reply did not answer or even address that question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well it did in so far as the Minister said the Budget would meet all the standards of transparency that Budgets are expected to meet. It is difficult for me to insist that the Minister give a more precise answer but a further question could follow to ask whether that means— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Further to the Minister’s reply does his reply relating to transparency mean that all savings booked in the Budget will identify which vote and which line of that vote will be reduced? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The reason I referred in answer to the question to the general standard of transparency in the Budget is simply that I have not tracked every single saving to every single vote. Some things may be going on within votes that represent savings in the Budget so I would not want to misrepresent that by saying every dollar is tracked in exactly that way but I think that it is most likely that that is the case.