Tremain Chris: Taxation (Business Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading 
Tremain Chris: Taxation (Business Tax Measures) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1093] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 The speaker before me Stuart Nash tried to make out that there was no vision or plan for taking this nation forward. That is completely wrong. There is a clear plan to take this nation forward and it began the day after this Government was elected to the House. Within a few short weeks we were in this Parliament introducing tax law—our tax breaks—and rolling those tax breaks through. Within a few more weeks we are back here introducing a range of other new initiatives. Tomorrow we will have a rollout of our infrastructure plan. Today we have introduced this bill relating to small to medium enterprises. It contains no fewer than 14 initiatives which is a pretty clear number of initiatives. 
I have risen in support of this Taxation (Business Tax Measures) Bill but before I get into that I welcome Mr Nash to the House. I acknowledge that he is from Napier and I wish him well in his parliamentary career which I am sure will be a good one. Mr Nash and I both went to a fine school—Napier Boys’ High School—and I want to start my speech tonight by referring to another old boy of Napier Boys’ High School and that is a gentleman by the name of Rod Drury who owns a company here in Wellington called Xero. 
Xero is a medium-sized software development business and Rod has summed up the feelings of many small-business owners I have spoken to in the last few days. He disagrees with what Mr Nash is saying. He believes there is a clear vision in the initiatives that are being rolled out as we speak. He said in a press release: “It’s fantastic to see the New Zealand Government putting words into action”—which means rolling out initiatives rolling out a plan—“with a number of initiatives included in the Taxation Bill being introduced this month and coming into effect on 1 April.” That is pretty clear to me. Rod Drury goes on to say: “These initiatives will improve cash flow as well as reduce compliance costs and effort for many small businesses.” That is exactly what we are hearing up and down the country. 
Last night I spoke to the Ahuriri rotary club. The message I received from the many small-business owners present was that the package of small-business initiatives was definitely a step in the right direction. No doubt many of those men and women are facing tough times right now. As I have said previously tonight they know that there is no silver bullet. There is not one fix that will turn this economy around. As John Key said it will be a rolling maul—a positive rolling maul that will go forward as we roll out a range of initiatives. These rotary club members were pleased to see a Government that has some real empathy with the problems they face and is actually getting on with the job of addressing the issues before us. 
The Hawke’s Bay economy is an export-driven economy. Over the last 20 years we have diversified our export markets to China South Korea Vietnam Thailand and Indonesia. When we read figures such as those used by Rod Oram in Sunday’s newspaper we see that many of our key trading partners have projected economic growth worse than our own and we know that it will be a tough ride for the next few years. 
Businesses like Apollo Pac Ltd Crasborns and Bostocks in Hawke’s Bay between themselves and the growers they support employ hundreds if not thousands of workers in the Hawke’s Bay region. They know it will be tough; they know it will be hard. These men and women are already looking at their profit and loss statements and their balance sheets and they are going through them line by line to see how they can make a difference to their business how they can reduce costs in their business and how they can be in a position to get through this recession. 
Those businesses will be there because they know they will get through this recession and they want to be in the best position to come out with strong growth and they are looking for a Government that will be doing the same. That is what we are doing with this rolling maul of initiatives. I am proud to stand here today in support of this Taxation (Business Tax Measures) Bill and the initiatives it implements.