Carter John: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Carter John: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6294] 
JOHN CARTER (NZ National—Northland) 
: I want to talk about clause 9 and in particular about subclause (1)(a)(i). People who are listening to this debate on their crystal sets while driving home will want to know that tonight we are talking about over $200 million of taxpayers’ dollars for this department and its agencies—$211 million actually. They will want to know that $130 million of that $211 million is set aside for “feel good”. That part of it is not going to business; it is not going to help someone develop and grow. This is the “feel good” bit—$130 million to make one feel good. If I could get my hands on that amount of money I would feel quite good about it. But the sad thing is that it is not going to any one individual; it is not going to a number of individuals; it is to be given to bureaucrats and their agencies to go out and make people feel good. 
If we are to be doing promotions; if we are going to have trade industries and the development of small businesses is that not where we would want to put the focus? I would have thought that we would want to make sure that we had a structure that said: “Here’s somebody with a good idea. Here’s somebody who might create something for New Zealand that we can sell internally and externally. Here’s something that will help us create employment and opportunities for New Zealanders. Here is something that will promote us on the world market.” 
But no the Government will not do that—not under this part not under the non-departmental output classes. There is $130 million going round so that Jim Anderton can shake a lot of hands and make people feel good. It only makes him feel good because sadly he is letting a lot of people down. That is the disappointment in what I see. He said today that it is better to do something than nothing but sometimes that is not true. Sometimes the something that Mr Jim Anderton does is to give people expectations and then leave them isolated so that they are disappointed. In those circumstances it is better to do nothing. 
I have come across case after case—as I am sure you will have done yourself Mr Assistant Speaker being an assiduous electorate MP—of people coming into my office to ask what they should do. They tell me they got started got led down the garden path got a partial grant thought they were going to grow and thought that the Government would stay with them for 4 or 5 years only to be dropped. They tell me they have mortgaged their homes and everybody else’s homes that they could. They have some money but they need something to keep moving and it is not happening. 
Clause 9(1)(a)(i) talks about fostering networks and partnerships between the Government regions education and research organisations potential investors and individual enterprises—and that is the area I particularly want to focus on. That is good stuff. Let us do it but let us do it in a way that will make it happen. Let us not do it like this failed Minister who quite honestly is a disgrace to Parliament. 
Hon David Carter 
: A very generous disgrace. 
JOHN CARTER 
: He might be a generous disgrace with taxpayers’ money but he is achieving nothing for New Zealand. He is spending a huge amount of taxpayer dollars and doing nothing for New Zealanders other than getting their expectations up and then bashing them. If the Minister in charge of this bill does that it is a disgrace to Parliament.