Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3302. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central)to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with the Prime Minister with regard to achieving a budget surplus that “If we had to take $300 million out of the health budget or something to achieve that I think most people would think that’s a bit silly”; if so why did he reduce the new operating spending allowance by $500 million for 2015/16 after the Treasury forecast a deficit for that year?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):Yes I agree with the Prime Minister. In regard to the second part of the question the member is simply wrong. We did not reduce the allowance for new spending at all. What we did say is that we allowed an average of $1.5 billion across 3 years for both spending and tax reductions and in light of the forecasts we moved the $500 million in the first 2 years into the third year. This is all simply Government accounting. What we know the member is going to try to do is say that there is $500 million of cuts because that is what he has been saying since he was a student protest leader and his economics have not changed since then.Grant Robertson: So to clarify is it correct that he increased the spending allowance for Budgets 2015 and 2016 by $500 million in an election year Budget and then cut them again by $500 million just a couple of months after the election?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No that is not correct. As I explained before the Government allowed $1.5 billion over the next 3 years on average. That was all quite transparent in the election campaign and we always said it was for spending and tax cuts and reductions in ACC levies. We have this year simply used the $1 billion that we specified for spending and pushed the $500 million for moderate tax reductions into 2017. It does affect the surplus numbers as the member has pointed out.Grant Robertson: Is this not as he has just described it exactly the kind of fiddling around with the books that has led New Zealand businesses and workers to be overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars for ACC—in search of a Budget surplus that he has now pushed out to the never-never?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No and the member is giving a misleading impression that it is the Government’s books. The Government’s books are absolutely transparent. The spending allowance is simply a construction that we use to discipline our spending; it is not Government accounting. But it brings me back to the heart of this issue which is that Labour always wants to spend more regardless of whether it works and regardless of whether it changes anything and it cannot stand it when it thinks someone may be being careful with the spending.Grant Robertson: How is it responsible to be “manipulating the books” or “using a construction” in his words to offer the prospect of tax cuts in an election year in 2017 when over successive Budgets he has failed to meet needs in core areas like health and education? How is that responsible Minister?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member is simply wrong. The impact of our health and education systems on New Zealanders is better than ever. There is more of pretty much everything that New Zealanders need despite the fact that money has been pretty tight. There are a lot more children—for instance Māori and Pacific students—achieving the National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2. Māori immunisation rates are now almost as high as the general population’s when for 30 years they lagged by a long way. Actually the key to this Government’s management is Better Public Services even if we are a bit tighter with the money.Grant Robertson: With our exports dropping a failure to diversify beyond commodities leaving a $7 billion hole in the economy and the Christchurch earthquake rebuild peaking can he give New Zealanders today just one new idea that he has to grow the economy or is he just plain tired and out of ideas?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The great thing is we have a country where there are thousands of people with thousands of new ideas about developing the economy. It is my job and the Government’s job to support them. Labour’s view is that the country should wait around for Grant Robertson’s new idea and apparently his new idea is work. Labour has discovered work; it is just that it is against all of the policies that create work.