Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Appropriation (2017/18 Estimates) Bill on behalf of New Zealand First. I just want to address some of the comments from the chairman of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee Jonathan Young and from the Minister. The chairman stood up in this Chamber today and he spoke about a huge outpouring of money on infrastructure in roading and he put it this way: he talked about all the discussions that are going on and he talked about all the work that is happening. I just want to put it to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee chairman that when he pointed out that there was only one arterial route to get down the country from Auckland to Wellington for example because of some snow on the roads he highlighted the very fact that this Government has spent no money on infrastructure in roading in the country over the last 9 years and now the Government pretends it has got some money and it pretends it is going to spend it on roads and infrastructure apparently.New Zealand First cannot support these appropriations and I am glad Minister Steven Joyce got up and spoke before me because it very much aligns with the notes I prepared in preparation for this Committee. Technically it is correct for the Government to say that it is running a 3 percent growth in the economy. It is technically correct to say that with the Budget released earlier this year and these appropriations that the Government is running a surplus. But I just want to point out to the members in the Committee today and the New Zealand public that in both of these cases any superficial analysis of these numbers in the appropriations will point out the fallacy of those claims.The first and most important argument to make outlining why this is a fallacy is that this country despite having 3 percent GDP growth—which is technically correct—has just run two consecutive quarters of negative growth as a proportion of GDP per capita. Kiwi individuals out there in the regions out there in their households—as individuals—are making less money and that has happened now in two consecutive quarters in the New Zealand economy. Unfortunately it took an Australian publication to point this out in the media sphere. I just want to say that it is really disappointing that we seem to have political and economic commentators speaking to the growth of this economy and simply parroting what the Minister gave to the Committee in his contribution before us.I also want to add to this debate and talk about this Budget and these appropriations—for example the decrease in regional spending for economic development and the absolutely farcical appropriation for the Tourism Infrastructure Fund. It was just taking money from existing funds putting them into one account and calling it the Tourism Infrastructure Fund. The Government claimed it is spending more; that is not what we see in these appropriations and that is not what is happening out in the real world.My point using those two examples from this appropriations debate is that any idiot can create a technical surplus. Anyone can create it. You write down a number on a piece of paper and then do not spend that amount that you wrote down on the piece of paper and you have got a surplus. [Interruption] Sorry Mr Chairperson you are absolutely right; you do not have a surplus. The Minister does not have a surplus. The Government does not have a surplus. We know this because people are suffering. I have just told the Committee that individual income has decreased as a measure of GDP per capita. [Interruption] Household spending ability for discretionary spending has decreased in the last quarter. Everything is going backwards under this National leadership and this is what I am standing up here today to remind the members and to remind the public of—that we do not have a surplus. We have inadequate spending in health. We have inadequate spending—in fact the Minister acknowledged it. He said we are spending more—$320 billion he said—but we are the lowest on R & D spending in the OECD. The reality is—