Hayes John: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes John: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10462. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa): It is a pleasure to speak on behalf of the “miserable miserly” National Government. This is the Government that—contrary to “Miss Glossy” over there who has a very fast way with the facts—has spent $100 million in Budget 2013 to insulate a further 46000 homes. We are so miserly that we are spending $21.3 million to reduce rheumatic fever in children so miserly that we are spending $189 million on welfare reform and on providing more front-line staff—donot go away; you come here and listen to the truth. We are spending money on health care you can rely on—$14.7 billion in total in this Budget. We are spending $1.6 billion in Budget 2013 for new initiatives so as to meet population pressure. We are such a miserly Government that we are spending a total of $12.4 billion on education in 2013-14. We are spending $173 million in early childhood education. We are so miserly we are spending $215 million to help improve our schools and to ensure kids get the basic qualifications they need! We are spending $130 million on tertiary education. Really miserly are we not!I would say to Louisa Wall that an individual’s present circumstances do not determine where they can go; they merely determine where they start. I am a sailor a sport I enjoy and I know that it is always possible to reach your target by simply trimming your sails to the wind. That is why I believe this to be a damn good Budget. It offers the lowest inflation since 1999 it offered 3 percent growth last year our mortgage rates are the lowest in 50 years and our after-tax wages are up 22 percent since 2008. Our communities know that and that is reflected in the most recent political polls that I have noticed over the last few days. People know—contrary to what was said by Green speaker Metiria Turei—that 50000 more jobs now exist in the economy than were in place 2 years ago. This economy is being responsibly managed. The Government is going to have its finances back in order by 2014-15.Our objective and this Budget’s objective is to have a more productive and competitive economy. This fifth National Budget shows the Government’s books are in good shape because the Government chose sound fiscal and economic policies and is sticking to them. That is why the National Government had such a good turnout last week in Dannevirke when the Prime Minister came to meet the Chamber of Commerce and to visit industries like Metalform (Dannevirke); to view the old freezing works at Ōringi which is running really well; and to observe how Norsewear had morphed itself into the Kiwi Sock Company and is now employing 17 people as against nine people when the policies of the Labour Government tipped that company off the edge.Budget 2013 forecasts an operating surplus before gains and losses of about $75 million in 2014-15—a very sharp contrast to the sort of outcome that we would get from a Green Government that printed money or a Labour Government with a capital gains tax. New Zealand needs to pay its way in the world through increased trade and investment if we are to create jobs and opportunities for hard-working Kiwis stretching in my electorate from Pirinoa in the south to Dannevirke and Ōtāne in the north.Under our Business Growth Agenda the Government will lift exports by 40 percent of GDP by 2025. This target is an important part of our plan to build a more competitive and productive economy. Budget 2013 builds on the Business Growth Agenda by investing and growing New Zealand exports and boosting our overseas profile and international competitiveness through a $100 million—or $400 million over 4 years—internationally focused growth package. This is not something a miserly Government would do. The new spending will be invested in extra research and development assistance to businesses and supporting new start-ups—about $106 million over 4 years. We are going to invest in public science—about $93 million over 4 years.We are going to provide additional funding for high-value tourism—$38 million in 2013-14 increasing to $40 million a year from 2014-15 when our economy will be back in surplus. There are more resources for marketing New Zealand to international students—$40 million over 4 years. That is a market that already contributes more than $2 billion to our economy each year. For the marketing of New Zealand under the New Zealand Story there will be $2 million in 2013-14. These are not the actions of a miserly Government as asserted by the Greens and Labour.To meet the target of 40 percent by 2025 the value of New Zealand exports needs to double. This requires nominal export growth of between about 6.7 and 7.6 percent in 2025. I believe that the productive sector as exists in the Wairarapa electorate will seriously contribute to that. Government statistics show that our nominal export of goods and services has been growing by a compound average of 4.6 percent over the last 4 years. These things are possible because of a sensible hard-working moderate Government and sensible financial policies. These things are possible despite the international headwinds which you can see in Europe where unemployment rates are up over 25 percent for example in Spain and where if you are 25 or under you are 50 to 54 percent likely to be unemployed. We are nowhere near that space because we have sensible policies.The aim of the internationally focused growth package is to help accelerate this trend over the medium term and in particular to build on the opportunities that exist in China India Burma South Asia Latin America and also the Middle East. Along with its mates the Greens Labour is promoting policy ideas that would stunt New Zealand’s growth. I listen to that regularly at Finance and Expenditure Committee meetings where I hear Mr Cunliffe talking about the introduction of his capital gains tax. On top of that it is opposed to all initiatives that would create growth in jobs and boost incomes.I think that Labour is the anti-growth party. It wants to bring in a capital gains tax on every business and on every farm in my electorate. The Greens want to print money to lower the dollar to force households to pay an extra $500 a year under an emissions trading scheme and to borrow more and spend more. In the view of the Labour Party and the Green Party this stuff money grows on trees. I think that in their rush to appeal to the political left—those who have just left the gallery—they are ignoring the economic impact of their ideas.Labour’s latest plan—Mr Mallard’s latest plan—on electricity is playing politics with the value of New Zealand’s economic assets and the Opposition does not care whom it affects. Even Mr Damien O’Connor from the West Coast electorate can see the stupidity of Labour policies as Nick Smith pointed out in the House this afternoon. Labour clearly has not thought through the consequences of discouraging investment and savings both for KiwiSavers and for the jobs for all policy that pretty much everyone agrees will not work. I think that our policies are very good. I think the Budget is outstanding. I look forward to this country and the economy moving forward and people getting into a much better space over the next 5 years of this Government. Thank you.