Gosche Mark: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Gosche Mark: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:21993] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 I look forward to the debate on Vote Economic Industry and Regional Development and I congratulate the Hon Jim Anderton on the good work he is doing in economic development. Up and down this country we have regions going ahead like they have not gone ahead for a very long time. That is why we have the lowest unemployment rate this country has seen for so long. This is not a “sit on your hands” do-nothing Government like that lot on the other side of the Chamber would be. I ask members to watch: when we get to the vote they will vote against this. They will say to business that they are against nearly $250 million going into economic development that they are against helping business build capacity and that they are against the Government being involved in helping regions with their planning. 
On this side we applaud the Minister for the money he has in this vote that will help the Food and Beverage Sector Taskforce support business clusters and incubators because that creates economic wealth and jobs and it allows regions that have suffered under National Governments in the past to move ahead as they have never done before. We are for this Government being involved alongside business in training advice and grants for budding entrepreneurs for people who want to start up businesses for small businesses and for people looking to initiate exports in terms of helping this country to develop and create employment opportunities. 
I want to know why members of that party on the other side are saying they are against those initiatives. They are saying: “No we will not support those. We’ll cut tax some time in the future. We’ll tell you what it will be in maybe 4 weeks so that you get as little time as possible to read the fine print.” It is these initiatives that go out the window if they cut taxes. Opposition members will rubbish them at the same time as saying that they support economic development in the regions. Well it just cannot be so. One cannot cut taxes and also go out and do the sorts of things that Jim Anderton has been doing—marching up and down the country visiting region after region and listening to what people have to say in terms of what they need. 
We would not have a film industry that is going ahead in leaps and bounds in this country if we did not have such things as the Screen Innovation Production Fund which receives $35 million extra in this Budget. Those things are creating skills jobs and overseas earnings for this country. It does not happen by sitting on one’s hands like the National Government did for so long. We saw regions going backwards at a rapid rate. What we have with this sort of policy and with this Minister is a proactive Government; not one that says it will give some sort of tax cut maybe but will not tell people about it for 4 weeks in case they read the fine print and find out that it is a con. We actually have a Budget that says what we are going to do as a Government. We are using taxpayer funds cleverly smartly and we are seeing the results. 
We are seeing regions like Northland which used to have record levels of unemployment and very little hope going ahead like no one would believe. We are seeing the East Coast of New Zealand going ahead like no one would believe because we have a Minister who went there and asked: “What do you need to improve this region of yours that suffered high unemployment and stagnation for too long under National?”. So we developed a strategy we have transport infrastructure going in we have capacity being built and we have people working alongside Government. 
I want to hear members of the business community say that they do not want this $250 million and that they want some miserable tax cut instead. There is an expectation that one can have this and a tax cut. Well it does not work that way; it has never worked that way. National Governments have a record of sitting on their hands doing nothing and leaving it to the market. National cannot say it will give some sort of tax cut as well. This is evidence of the enormous difference between National and the Labour and Progressive Government. 
We say we are here to help and we are here to listen. We do not just march in and say: “This is what you have to have.” We ask what taxpayers’ money needs to be spent on and that is exactly what this Budget gives: $30 million for promoting New Zealand businesses and their products and services within New Zealand and internationally so that we support the development of international trade and attract new high-quality investment. That is what the Minister has talked about and that is what this vote is about. National will not have a word to say on this because it is embarrassed. It is embarrassed by the fact that this Government is actually making a difference out there in the economy and that this Budget makes a difference. 
Judith Collins 
: Ha ha! 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: We get the little giggles from Judith Collins who has been sent in to prop up the National Party ranks which are very depleted at the moment. We notice that its economic spokesperson is not leaping to his feet to talk about this because he knows and Dr Brash knows—wherever he may be—that one cannot have economic development and have a tax cut. One cannot have this portfolio producing what it is producing and have a tax cut. But National members do not want to talk about that.