Collins JudithHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura): After that contribution from the member who's just resumed his seat Grant Robertson I could say something nice about that.Hon Member: Well you could.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I could. And I will try. The only thing nice I could say is that it reminded me of all the humility of Michael Cullen but none of the talent. So I can't. I mean I'm not going to lie. And I think that's actually the kindest thing I could say—and also none of the humour frankly because humour requires wit.As for these Estimates I think one of the most concerning things is that so much of the Government's books and plans require the economy to continue to grow and for people to continue to make sufficient profit in their businesses that they are paying taxes. That is actually a requirement for all of the fiscal outlook that we're looking at in the Estimates documents. We see that there should be extra growth: $9.9 billion in growth and a source for deductions in the next few years; extra growth and revenue in GST; extra growth a $3.5 billion increase in corporate tax due to expected growth in corporate profits. Not a lot of detail as to where those profits are going to be made how they're going to be made and why they should be made given that the increase in cost to business and also the increase in the cost of living for people who are on salary and wages is going to continue to increase.It's pretty clear to those of us who have now seen the results of some of the extra taxes put on particularly in the Auckland region around fuel tax that the cost of living for New Zealanders is going to rise under this Government. That means actually that people will effectively be getting either a tax increase—you could look at it like that—or they will be getting a wage cut because their wages will not go as far as they did last year. That is one of the big concerns that I have for people in New Zealand who are saying Oh look we were being told that the economy's going to grow that there's going to be more of this and more of that." Well tell that to the 140 workers that The Warehouse has just said are going to be made redundant. Tell that to those people. Tell that to the people who are not going to get opportunities because business confidence is low.We've just heard Grant Robertson saying that business confidence was really high in Cambridge. Well I'm sorry that's not what I'm hearing everywhere. What I'm hearing on all the surveys and what I'm hearing from business owners is that they are really worried about the way in which this Government is spending their money and that this Government is looking to tax them more.This Tax Working Group is going to come up with a capital gains tax. It's going to come up with taxes that some of our people have not even thought about because what they're doing is looking for every single way that they can to get every scrap of money out of people that they can. That really does concern me because what it means is with most businesses in New Zealand being small business those businesses who are actually now experiencing a lack of confidence—that they delay or they stop taking decisions to employ staff.The people who are going to be the most hurt by this are the people who are the most vulnerable staff. So the people without experience the people with a lot of experience the people who are having to do two jobs or the people with disabilities—they are the people who are going to be the most hurt by decisions that make employers stop and think and say "Can I take a risk on this employment or can I afford this person next year?" Those are the people who will be most hurt.I'm very pleased that unemployment is low. It was low last year too after nine years of a National-led Government. It was much lower than it was when we came into Government but also interest rates were low last year. They were low last year and they were low for the last five or six years. In 2008 they were 11 percent for house loans; now they're about 5 to 6 percent—that's the difference and a lot of that has got to do with how much money Government borrows and Government spends.This Government is on a pathway to higher interest rates for ordinary Kiwis who have bought their first home. This Government is the Government that will actually make business harder for people and harder for employers to take on more staff. This is the Government that is putting up the cost of living and which will continue to rise particularly around things like electricity that they've been big lions about in Opposition. But I think we've got electricity prices going up next year and it'll be the fault of this Government."