Woodhouse Michael: General Debate 
Woodhouse Michael: General Debate 
[Volume:657;Page:6807] 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) 
: 
 If there was any justification needed for the electoral decisions that the public made last year around jobs then I think that was it; the previous speech from the member Sue Bradford really sums up the left’s approach to business. I tell members that I have been going around speaking to hundreds of business managers since the election. They tell me how incredibly hard they are working to maintain the jobs of their workers throughout this recession and how hard they have to work to squeeze every ounce of value out of each dollar spent. Frankly although there will always be errant workers and errant employers just as in a law-abiding citizenry there will always be people who break the law the tail should not wag the dog. The overwhelming number of employers in this country work incredibly hard for their workers and try to maintain those jobs because they know that this recession will end and they want to maintain those jobs for as long as they can. 
I will also touch on the bagging that the organisation Rio Tinto has had in this House over the last few days. I have spent quite a bit of time with that organisation in the last couple of months and I can tell members how incredibly hard all 750-odd members of its staff are working to maintain productivity and jobs through this recession. Not a single job has been lost in that period and that is in the face of huge drops in aluminium prices and huge increases in electricity prices which are thanks largely to the failure of the previous Government to maintain continuity of supply. The moment we had dry years it would go along to Rio Tinto and ask it to switch off a line. Well that is hardly conducive to jobs growth. I also have to say that all of that electricity is powered by renewable sources and that organisation has made incredibly good progress in reducing its carbon emissions. So I think that it behoves this House and particularly members of the Opposition to go down to Bluff and explain to the people in that organisation why they seem so intent on bagging that organisation. 
I congratulate the Minister of Finance. When I go around a lot of people tell me how lucky this country is to have a National Government and a Minister of Finance working so hard through this recession. I think that this morning’s news around GDP was very promising. We are cautiously optimistic. Obviously we have had a number of policies that will take what we hope will be the sharpest edges off the recession and the return to growth has come a good couple of quarters ahead of Budget projections. So I congratulate that hard-working Minister of Finance. 
I was in the gym a few weeks ago and I must say I nearly had an accident when watching Parliament TV. I was on the treadmill and nearly fell off it because I heard the member for Dunedin North Mr Hodgson say that the Labour Government was very responsible in its spending promises in the lead-up to the last election. Well I just could not believe my ears. Members of the public who are listening will remember that the Labour Government tried to squeeze what was conservatively estimated at about $3.5 billion worth of unfunded new spending into a $1.4 billion fiscal envelope. We would think that Labour members would learn would we not because they promised us a Budget at the end of the year. They were thrown out then they promised us an alternative Budget. We are still waiting but we are hearing the promises are we not? By the most conservative calculations those members want another $6 billion of spending including on the Waterview tunnel welfare for millionaires and now free condoms. Well it is easy to make promises because those members know that they will never have to deliver on a single promise not for the next 2 years not for the next 5 years and probably not for the next 8 to 11 years. 
I am very pleased that we have the Minister of Finance we have because I see the sharpest edges being taken off the recession while at the same time we are being kind to employees. While we are on the subject of workers I make no apology for a Government that expects the same level of productivity from the public sector as it expects from the private sector. Just as every ounce of value needs to be extracted from the business sector I think that the obligation is even more on the public sector to provide as much service to the public. I do not think that there is any problem with setting that sort of expectation. This Government has been very pleased with the positive response that has come from the sector in terms of its willingness to improve productivity and to be fiscally prudent during the next few years. I offer my congratulations to the Minister of Finance and long may the good news continue. Thank you.