Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration): I rise to celebrate the strong economy in New Zealand and National's exceptional financial management. A strong economy underpins a healthy and happy society. A strong economy provides more jobs and good jobs provide security for individuals and their families. That translates to a better quality of life and giving people more choices about how they want to live their lives. So we should all celebrate the 181000 new jobs that were created in New Zealand in the last 2 years and the future 200000 jobs predicted to be created in the next 3 years. And we should celebrate that the unemployment rate is dropping. It is now down to 4.8 percent. Significantly at the same time after-tax wages have increased by 19 percent. That is important because that increase not only supports the workers and their families but flows through to superannuitants.It often surprises me that people are not more interested in the workings of the economy. I think it is because the linkages between a strong economy and the well-being of individuals and their families are not well understood or regularly discussed and I think they should be. We all want New Zealanders to be able to make good financial decisions for themselves and their families so that they can have a good quality of life. The bottom line is that unless a country's economy is well managed and financially secure it does not have the resources to provide the public services that we all want and need. If you do not have a strong economy you do not have the money for a quality education system. If you do not have a strong economy you do not have the resources to provide the hip operations for Granny. It is the richer countries that can provide the best opportunities for their people that have the highest environmental standards and that can contribute most to the world's social issues.Fortunately the National Government with Bill English and Steven Joyce as its Ministers of Finance has actually done a great job of managing New Zealand's economy and we are now back in surplus. That means that we have more resources to tackle some of the long-term challenges in our society and with our social investment approach we can deliver really good outcomes for New Zealanders. The surplus has also meant that in the 2017 Budget the Government provided a $2 billion family support programme which includes tax credits for low and middle income families and additional accommodation support as well as record funding for social services—for example health in particular and education—and a record $4 billion of infrastructure investment for across the country to make sure we can keep our economy growing and provide more jobs.But I am not the only one who is impressed by the National Government's financial management. The international organisation Legatum Institute has ranked New Zealand No. 1 in the world for prosperity for the last 6 years. The interesting thing about its definition of prosperity" is it includes the natural environment quality of health and education governance community safety and security personal freedom and social capital—all things that Kiwis embrace and cherish. All are underpinned by a strong economy. So you cannot do much better than that.The financial future for New Zealand looks very good as long as National continues to manage the economy well. We cannot be diverted by new taxes or by old policies reheated—taxes and old policies that will hinder growth and raise the cost of living for ordinary New Zealanders. New Zealand is a great place to live and it will remain so as long as you vote National on 23 September."