Anderton Jim: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
Anderton Jim: Debate on Budget Policy Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:4012] 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 I must say without being too personal about it that I have not been able to take Donald Brash all that seriously since he came to Wellington to take up the position of Governor of the Reserve Bank and advised people not to buy a house in Wellington because it was not a good long-term strategy. I suspect that since he has been here he has decided that that was not quite the advice people should follow. 
Dr Don Brash 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Anderton is quoting me quite incorrectly. He is perpetrating a myth that is wrong. It is important that he desists from that clearly irrelevant comment in the context of the Budget Policy Statement. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: That is not a point of order. It is a debatable issue. 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Michael Cullen’s fourth Budget Policy Statement is another excellent summary of the Labour-Progressive coalition Government’s progress so far in improving the quality of life of all New Zealanders. One of its greatest values however is that it highlights how the excellent management of the Government’s books will allow us to make further progress to improve the quality of life of all New Zealanders in this and coming years on a very firm financial basis. I know that it is not usual for non-Government parties in Opposition to congratulate the Minister of Finance or the coalition Government on anything much but I think there is something for all of us to celebrate in this Budget Policy Statement. 
The Labour and Progressive members are proud of the Government’s record in steadily improving opportunities for New Zealanders to participate fully in their own society. The Progressives above all else seek a Government that facilitates job creation. We want to see a society where every young person is in work training or education. We need to see the already very sound financial position of the Government made even stronger because we know that this is the best way of ensuring that the dividends will be there to pay for the investment we need in better job opportunities and improvement in the quality of health and education services in this country. I have to acknowledge that in the past under a variety of Governments these have been underfunded and therefore are inadequate to meet the expectations of a First World country like New Zealand. 
The sound handling of the Government’s finances outlined in this Budget Policy Statement has made it possible for us to have among other things a growing economy where New Zealand’s rate of economic growth and therefore its ability to create meaningful work education or training opportunities for our people have been at a level above the OECD average over the last 3 years. The OECD has forecast that New Zealand will continue to outpace the OECD average over the next 3 years. I thought that would be a cause for celebration for all New Zealanders. I know that when in Opposition one has to hope that the country becomes miserable so that an Opposition party has the chance of becoming the Government but in truth the country is not miserable. Things are doing very well. Sometimes I think it would be much more credible of the Opposition to say so because everyone knows it. 
We do not outperform the OECD average unless we have a jobs-friendly Government—a Government that encourages people’s natural innovative and creative ideas. We have more people in real jobs than in the last 15 years. There are 15500 fewer people on the main unemployment benefit than a year ago and 123000 more jobs today than there were in December 1999 when we first came into Government. We are expanding opportunities for people to gain high skills in the workplace. We intend to have over 6000 young people in Modern Apprenticeships by the end of this year—a 100 percent increase over the level last year and a 6000 percent increase on what there was previously because there were none. 
But it is true that any Government can temporarily boost spending on training education and job creation. For example the third National Government from 1975 to 1984 had a big idea based on increased spending which ended in tears because it was not based on sound economic development foundations. The challenge for this Government has been to improve social well-being at the same time as we improve economic opportunity. We believe that that can be achieved only through intelligent partnership with all the sectors of the communities of New Zealand. Partnerships between Government and industry—[ 
Interruption 
] I tell the member for Rodney that this Government has a better relationship with mainstream business manufacturers and creative innovative industry than any Government in my time on this planet. We want partnerships in the community because Governments do not create all the problems and they do not solve them all and partnerships within the Government because coalition Governments are better-quality Governments. The partnerships between Ministers and this Government both in the last 3 years and this term are as good as I have ever known them to be in my experience in politics. 
What this Government’s Budget Policy Statement shows however is that we have those partnerships today and they are working positively for the social and economic well-being of all New Zealanders. I want Opposition parties to dwell just for a moment on one important thing in this Budget Policy Statement. Net core Crown debt after taking into account the accumulated assets of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund is forecast by Treasury to fall to just 2.9 percent of GDP by 30 June 2007 based on current policy settings. That is down from around 20 percent of GDP when the centre-left first took office in late 1999. I would have thought that the National Party and ACT would be cheering all that. But no there was not a word from Dr Brash. I would imagine that in any forecast he made as the previous Governor of the Reserve Bank he would have looked at that and said it was an impossible target yet we have actually met it. We are doing better than anyone could ever have thought. 
I can accept that the ACT party and the National Party which recently adopted ACT’s key policies and values might disagree with the new spending on education and training or the development of work being done in the regions of New Zealand to get industries and firms working together in a more coherent fashion than ever to meet common challenges. I can also accept that ACT and National would much rather sell off taxpayer assets because they have a non-negotiable principle which is that taxpayers should not own anything in this country—not even strategic assets like the national airline. But surely even Opposition parties can accept for themselves some happiness at the Government’s overall fiscal stance as outlined in this Budget Policy Statement. 
Mr Speaker you would be hard pressed to count on the fingers of one hand the number of OECD nations with Governments running as healthy and as strong a position as this Government is. The Budget Policy Statement is a progressive document highlighting a Government committed to investment in the country’s productive capacity in training and education doing so with an eye to the known future costs of superannuation and all the while maintaining one of the most prudent sets of debt and operating positions in the OECD. There are political implications in all this. It means that respectable and intelligent stances are available to Opposition parties to engage constructively with this minority Government to advance legislation through the House. It should be clear to most people now that the New Zealand Labour Party and I say this as a minor coalition partner is going to be the far-largest single party in this Parliament for many years to come. 
Ron Mark 
: Here we go. 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: National Party members disagree with that. They will be lucky to be here next time with the rate of progress they have been making. The challenge of the other six parties here is to engage constructively with Labour-led Governments for years to come and to produce the best laws and policies for New Zealand’s future. I am personally delighted with the fact that that is happening already. We hold only 54 seats in this Parliament together which means that no law can pass without the support of at least one non-Government party. In fact of the 17 laws that have been enacted since the July election last year no fewer than 13 have been supported by more than one Opposition party. Seven laws have been enacted with the support of more than two Opposition parties. This shows that this Parliament is working under MMP. There is a positive role to play for every non-Government party showing that there is an opportunity to engage constructively across the floor of this House to support progressive legislation. It is also a sign in my view of the underlying confidence by the whole of the Parliament in the Minister of Finance of this coalition Government and his responsible and far-sighted fiscal management. A word or two of congratulations would not go astray from those who in the past could only have dreamt of the fiscal position that this Government is now in on behalf of New Zealand.