Bishop ChrisEconomic Development and Infrastructure SectorCHRIS BISHOP (Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee): Budget 2017 is under a month away and we have already had a sneak peek at some of it from the Minister of Finance last week with the extremely exciting announcement about a big capital injection infrastructure package. But the debate this afternoon is of course the tail end of Budget 2015 which was a good Budget for New Zealand and demonstrated a confident Government in charge of an increasingly confident country.It is my pleasure to take the opening call on the economic development and infrastructure sector. The interesting thing about this theme I guess you would say is that there are a lot of committees and a lot of different votes within it. I want to concentrate on three particular aspects of economic development and infrastructure.The first is in Vote Communications and the investment that the Government is making through the Budget process into Rural Broadband Initiative 2 and also the Mobile Black Spot Fund. The Budget that we are talking about of course appropriates more money for both those initiatives. The rural broadband first stage has been extremely successful and the Rural Broadband Initiative 2 will be successful. I know having recently been lobbying for an extension of the Mobile Black Spot Fund in the rural part of the Wainuiōmata area in the mighty fine Hutt Valley that that is something that is absolutely crucial for rural communities. I know it is something that my colleagues spread out around the country from Invercargill with Sarah Dowie to Alastair Scott in the Wairarapa or Todd Barclay or any of my colleagues—I see Jonathan Young waving his hand up over there. He always makes a very strong bid for this funding. People think that the Hutt Valley is a predominantly urban area and that is true but we also have rural areas in the Hutt as well including down in the Coast Road and Wainuiōmata. I have been supporting the rural residents there for the installation of a cellphone tower to get rid of that mobile black spot. So it is very welcome the funding in the Budget for that.The second thing I want to mention is Vote Economic Development. Recently we have had the extremely exciting news from Statistics New Zealand that business research and development expenditure in the country is up 29 percent. This is something that members opposite I know are very interested in. Members opposite like to talk about how we need to build a more innovative economy we need to invest in research and development and that we need to diversify our economy. The good news for members opposite is that that is happening right around New Zealand. Right around New Zealand right around the country there are hundreds of firms exporting on the world stage doing battle on the world stage and diversifying the New Zealand economy in medical technology in ICT and in so many different areas. The good news for members opposite is that the latest Statistics New Zealand report into business research and development in 2016 shows that the Government's sustained investment over many Budgets into Callaghan Innovation and into some of the black hole tax expenditure changes that we have made—those investments and those changes to the grants programme are starting to bear fruit. There has been a massive 29 percent increase in business R & D between 2014 and 2016—up $356 million since 2014. That is a sizable increase. We have still got a long way to go. We have got to get that research and development spending up by business and Government as well. We have got to increase it even further but that is a great start and I think it is a testament to the changes that successive Ministers of Science and Innovation have made in that space. And of course Budget 2016 increases that investment through the Innovative New Zealand package and puts more money into mission-led science puts more money into contestable science and spends more money and invests greater Crown resources into growing those start-up businesses that are such a vital part of the New Zealand economy of the future.The third thing I just wanted to briefly mention in kicking off this debate is the change from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Focus 500 to Focus 700. I was just reading the report and there was a question asked in the select committee that considered this: why is NZTE making this change from Focus 500 to Focus 700? The answer is because there are more businesses out there in New Zealand that need NZTE support on the world stage. There are more businesses—700 fast-growing companies on the world stage—that need Government support in those offshore markets where they can make a difference and grow their exports. That is why it happened and that is what is given effect to in the Budget. So it is a pleasure to kick off this debate. I am looking forward to the rest of it.