Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Thank you very much Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to take a call in this debate and to pick up some of the themes that we've heard this afternoon around the matters covered by this theme in the finance and Government administration sector.I want to particularly pick up the comments of Amy Adams around what we learnt in this process about the strength of the New Zealand economy and that was delivered through the financial statements that are covered by this section and also the review of Treasury. The former Minister is correct when she says that there are some high-level indicators that were delivered to us that looked good. We had growth rates that were looking around 3 to 3.5 percent GDP growth of that rate. Indeed many countries in the world would look at that with some envy—some solid statistics around the decline in unemployment—but what Amy Adams said says it all about that period of time because for her that's declaring success.Now the fact is that at the same time that those growth rates were occurring the OECD said we had the worst homelessness in the world.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Rubbish!Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Our rivers became more and more polluted Dr Smith; labour productivity was almost flat; per capita GDP growth never rose above 1 percent during that period.So actually when we decide that a country is a success we can't just look at one indicator like that. On this side of the Chamber we are not satisfied by saying We've managed to run a surplus." if we haven't paid the bills. If we haven't actually done the things that are required to make sure our public services are operating at the level that New Zealanders not only need but deserve then that is not success.So when we take a look at the Government's financial statements it's very easy to look at them and say "This is a Government that has led the economy well." Well actually what those financial statements say about the last Government is that they relied upon population growth and people selling houses to one another as an economic strategy to prop up those GDP numbers. That is not sustainable. What we need are long-term investments in lifting the productivity sustainability and inclusivity of our economy and we will only do that if we actually take a longer-term view about what should happen in our economy.I noted that Amy Adams talked about the idea of this rock star economy that the last Government had left us. Well I used to be the manager of a couple of bands when I was at university and it looks a whole lot more like a roadie economy to me than a rock star economy because actually for a lot of people it's a hand to mouth existence. Working people in New Zealand did not receive the benefits of that growth rate that we saw then and that happens when people are not included in the decision-making process and not included in—Hon Dr Nick Smith: Of course they were.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Dr Smith says "Of course they were." How can that be Dr Smith when labour's share of the economy is among the lowest that it's ever been? Working people did not benefit from the economic growth that occurred. It did not happen and Dr Smith can continue to deny it but he won't get far.So that's why this Government is focused on developing the Living Standards Framework approach and I absolutely acknowledge that work has been under way in Treasury for some time but what we have decided to do is make it core to our Budgets. I am very proud of the fact that Budget 2019 will be New Zealand's and possibly the world's first well-being Budget where we actually take that Living Standards Framework and we say we will measure our success on the basis of not just GDP growth—and we will continue to measure that—but also the health of our environment; how our people are going; what skills and knowledge do they have; are they well; are they actually safe and secure; our social capital; the strength of our communities not just the rampant individualism of the last Government but actually understanding the way in which a community works—these are important indicators of our success.These are important indicators of our success our human capital—how are our people going getting the skills and the knowledge that they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world of work. So this Government will actually take the Living Standards Framework and make that into a real part of how we decide where our spending goes and how we measure our success. And at that point not only will we have a prosperous economy but we'll have one where people get a fair share in that prosperity."