Webb DuncanDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): I'm keen if nothing else and as I should be because it's been an outstanding year on the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I must say as the Reserve Bank comes in and answers questions it always surprises me how well our economy is doing under the fine leadership of Grant Robertson the Minister of Finance.However we must recognise that there are clouds on the horizon. We hear of the headwinds that are ahead of us from time to time and the Reserve Bank Governor warns us about that and about the fact that steps need to be taken. When we asked questions of him it was important and interesting to hear from him that the Reserve Bank is considering increasing capital requirements for our trading banks because whilst the banks are resilient and are able to weather any particular storm that is likely to hit in the near future we must be prepared for serious financial conditions. So that's going to be an important step. We were assured that the banking sector would be able to manage that kind of impact but there's much much more to it than that. We heard time and again that the fundamentals of the New Zealand economy are strong that there is strong employment and great employment growth. In fact the Reserve Bank Governor would repeatedly tell us that one of the pressures on the economy is that we are near maximum sustainable employment—that in fact there are labour shortages. Indeed we've seen that labour demand has seen the average wage grow up by $65 and approximately 70000 new jobs have been created. So we've got a very sound economy and of course the minimum wage increasing.It's great to see that we've got such a solid economy but having said that there are pressures. We know that the health sector and the education sector have real demands on the Minister of Finance because there is a lot of ground to make up. We're trying to plug the gap in our teacher shortage that hasn't been looked after for nine years—and we heard about that. The Budget responsibility rules are giving us some very firm very clear and very reasonable parameters sending very stable signals to the market so that despite the naysayers out there business confidence is stable consumer confidence is up and we're doing a great great job.One of the things that I found that I was most excited to hear about was the green fund—a great initiative. We've heard today about the zero carbon bill a fantastic piece of legislation introduced into this House—and this is part of that programme of getting New Zealand to a zero carbon framework. A fund managed by Treasury—and you know quite reasonably Treasury officials were questioned about how this fund would be administered and it's not some slushy fund; it's in fact a very carefully targeted fund to ensure that any project will be innovative and will drive New Zealand to a green and zero carbon economy. So a business case will be required and it won't be a case of corporate welfare for your mates and it won't be looking after the usual businesses; it will be looking at people like local bodies who might come to Government and say I've got something I want to do. I want to explore how to transfer out our buses to a zero carbon fleet."—whether that be through perhaps a biodiesel supply chain or electrification or any other number of things. What we're looking for here is innovation and more than just a good idea but something that will go on and on and on—so that's really what it is about.But you know what? This Government has turned around the ship of State and what's more it's cleaned all the barnacles and weeds that have grown on it over the past nine years; the barnacle of inequality the weeds of homelessness and the housing crisis—we have addressed those matters. I'm very proud to sit on that committee. We have seen a huge improvement and we will continue to do so. Grant Robertson Minister of Finance will take that to the next step this month. Thank you Mr Chair."