Clendon David: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClendon David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 12 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15855. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID CLENDON (Green): Kia ora koutou katoa. Some of the most interesting and some of the most revealing parts of the Prime Minister’s statement were in the things that he left out—in that which was missing from that commentary about the state of the nation public affairs the economy and so on. Issues like climate change did not rate a mention. Environmental protection features scarcely at all in the statement—and I have searched it. The word “sustainable” appears in the long statement only once in a rather dubious and questionable link to describe the state of our fishing industry. The Prime Minister’s primary focus was on the economy. That is unsurprising. But he talked about the economy in a way that reveals his and indeed his Government’s lack of deep understanding about the ideal relationship between the natural environment healthy communities and a robust and resilient economy suitable for the 21st century.There was one very important sector of the economy that was scarcely mentioned at all. It was completely overlooked by the Prime Minister despite the fact that that sector of the economy employs something like 30 percent of New Zealanders it generates a similar percentage of our GDP—about 30 percent—and it constitutes a remarkable 97 percent of all of our businesses within New Zealand. I talk of course about the small business sector—the small to medium sized enterprises which were once and indeed continue to be one of the mainstays of our economy. This scarcely got a mention at all in the Prime Minister’s economic rhetoric or that of his Government. This is unsurprising. It just continues a pattern of behaviour that has been very readily observed over some time not least of all by the very hard-working people who are in that economy which contributes 30 percent of our GDP and employs about 30 percent of our New Zealand workers. This sector is important in our towns and our cities and critically important in our provincial and rural areas but that is where it is being most overlooked.At one time National Governments could fairly have been described as the champions of small business. Those days are long since gone. The Government’s single-minded focus on dancing to the tune of large corporates talking boldly about macroeconomic issues and so on has distracted it from the daily challenges and opportunities that confront the small to medium sized enterprises the people working in them the owners and operators and the many thousands of New Zealanders whom they employ. National has stepped away from engagement with small to medium sized enterprises. It has made only token gestures of support towards this critical sector.Fortunately the Green Party is here and we are willing and able to step into that space to take on that role as the champions the advocates for small business in this country. I myself come from a long career in business. I have run my own businesses and I have managed other people’s businesses. Immediately before coming to Parliament I was a business adviser for those companies wanting to put their business on a more sustainable footing and to be prepared for the transition to a 21st century low-carbon economy. I have maintained those links. Critically we in the Greens listen routinely to businesses and to business organisations and we hear what their problems and opportunities are. They are definitely not feeling the love from this Government. They know that they are on the outer that they are being overlooked and neglected. They know that they need to see a good change in Government to a more progressive Government before they will get the support and the advocacy that they really do merit in terms of the wider economy.It continues to amuse me to ask business audiences who their champion is in Parliament. Many of them do not even know that there is a Minister for Small Business. Even fewer know who that might be. I think that reflects the lack of attention that this Government has shown to this sector. There have been one or two useful initiatives such as RealMe which uses the idea of one-stop engagement for small businesses—that is a good thing. The business.govt.nz website is a useful initiative but it is undersold. Business people do not know it is there because this Government is not putting that message out there. There is no real drive to build the sector or to assist it. Sometimes the best thing the Government can do for small businesses is to keep out of their way give them a clear run and let them get on with it. But there is also policy setting and Government practices behaviours and attitudes that can actually reinforce the sector help consolidate it and help serve it. The Greens look forward to being the party that will do that. Kia ora.