SpeechDAMIEN SMITH (ACT): I rise on behalf of the ACT Party and what we've seen in this statement is another example of the empowerment of the Labour political class. It's the long arm of the State that continues to be what drives this statement and in no word does it mention that the economy is facing a crossroads. They have an economic model that inherently requires heavy-handed State intervention—need to change. Major macro shifts are occurring and it's going to be a very difficult two years and the great moderation is over of low interest rates and low inflation. We have on one side the Reserve Bank of New Zealand pumping water surely into the economy to fulfil its role as inflation fighter and it's gone from promoting inflation to fighting it. And now we've also got high rates coming down the line. At the same time we've got a Government that is cashing cheques it can't write over the next five years. Clearly there is no coordination between the monetary and fiscal policy that's required to get us through any major major event. So on one hand we've got Mr Orr raising interest rates and then on the other hand we've got the Prime Minister and we've got the finance Minister pouring more petrol on the economy and it's not going to end well. We think that they have to be very careful that they don't induce a self-induced recession. To allow bubbles as well in all the markets whether it be commodities housing and let them happen along the way is simply not good economic policy. Effectively the Government's been very quiet in its statement about the impact of those sectors and the ability to build houses and the cost of living. We know that in New Zealand the cost of living and healthy communities is a really essential mind-set to have to get through daily life and this has been affected. There's something new going on and it's not Marxism or socialism or any other variant of the traditional left-wing ideology. What we've got is a real threat to liberty which is more generic. So rather than having history rooted in some doctrine like the Workers Union or in any class of socialism from the industrial era what has now been forced upon us is the aggrandisement of the State and the empowerment of the political classes that are allowing them to make economic decisions that will be hard to justify and they will pay the price at the next election. David Stockman calls this movement scientism and whether it's around the green agenda the public health science agenda infrastructure or climate change it's all relying on sweeping control and intervention by the State. The long arm of the State in the daily economic and social lives has to stop. At ACT we have policies where we believe that bringing more capital into the country through overseas investment is essential. We believe in giving New Zealanders a tax break where they actually get some money in their back pockets again. We encourage a wealthy economy not one that's contracting and we implore the Government to reduce its Government spending programme and instability giving what is likely to be a high interest rate environment—which you just will ignore anyway—and a high inflation environment even though the Prime Minister does not believe that to be the case. So our economy is running unhealthy; we'll never get healthier and wealthier if we don't focus on getting away from the nanny State. We believe there's still an opportunity to be a star economy in New Zealand if we manage the risks correctly and that's why the ACT Party here will be holding the Government accountable to.