2. Economy—Business Confidence and GrowthHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Business Confidence and Growth2. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all of the statements and actions of the Government in respect of the economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context in which they were given and undertaken.Hon Amy Adams: Does he agree with the Minister for Small Business that it is concerning that business confidence is as low as it is and that this is a challenge to his Government?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We've already said that we're working with the business community and we'd like to see those numbers turn around. But I would note on the matter of small business that Craig Hudson from Xero yesterday said that Xero's Small Business Insights data challenges the notion that the economy is in a downturn.Hon Amy Adams: Does he think that if he'd taken notice at the beginning of the year when Infometrics warned him that economic growth was going to fall below forecasts because of this Government's policies he could've acted then to do something to prevent the significant falls in business confidence that we've seen since then?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I've said a number of times in this House business confidence ratings do tend to track who's in Government at any particular moment. Perhaps the member might want to reflect on whether or not when GDP started to decline or the trend started to decline at the beginning of 2017 her Government might've done something about it. This Government is doing something about it; we're actually transitioning away from her economy that she preferred based on population growth and housing speculation.Hon Amy Adams: So is he saying to this House essentially that he's not concerned if Government policies mean that growth is now clearly below what was forecast at the beginning of this year even though that means New Zealand is missing out on prosperity that it could've and should've had?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I reject the latter part of that question. What we're talking about at the moment are forecasts and those forecasts show that on average the economy will grow around about 3 percent over the three-year period. That is exactly what Treasury forecast and we're working to make that happen.Hon Amy Adams: So am I correct in understanding the Minister is saying that he doesn't understand that the proper way to measure the effectiveness of a Government's policies on the economy is not whether the economy is still growing but whether it's growing as strongly as it could've been if it wasn't for those policies?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: There is no connection between the matters that the member is trying to draw. We are in a transition phase away from an economy that was based on population growth and housing speculation. There will be bumps in the road there but on average we're seeing forecast growth of 3 percent. If the member thinks everything was absolutely perfect in the economy maybe she would like to justify having economic growth and the OECD saying at the same time that we've got the world's worst homelessness. That isn't success in the economy. We're doing something different.