English Bill: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
English Bill: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5899. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I wonder whether Grant Robertson asked David Shearer: “Where’s the tape?”. 
Hon Member 
: No. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I think he did. I wonder whether he asked him in caucus: “Where’s the tape?”. I wonder why he asked the questions he did yesterday in the House designed to make David Shearer look stupid over the tape. There is one thing that has become very clear from watching those Opposition members for that very small number of New Zealanders who bother doing it which is that they are much more ambitious for themselves than they are for New Zealanders. There is absolutely no doubt about that because this lazy trite Opposition has almost nothing to contribute to the real debates. I am sure those members will debate for the next week or month perhaps among themselves whether the name of some guy who found the problem in the Work and Income computer was leaked or not leaked because that is the stuff they like. That is the stuff they like. Was it leaked? Did Grant say to David the right way round: “I support you.”? 
 Actually the big questions are being addressed by the Greens and New Zealand First. Should we be printing money? Well the answer is no. Should we throw out the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act? Well the answer is no we should not. But at least they are putting up something substantial that is relevant to the concerns of every New Zealander—that is their economic security. David Shearer is totally focused on the security cameras in a building most New Zealanders have never seen. 
Grant Robertson 
: He’s more focused on it than John Key is and he’s meant to be the Minister. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well he was put there as Leader of the Opposition to be like John Key and I just want to say this: David Shearer is no John Key and I think everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. 
The Prime Minister is leading a Government that is relentlessly focused on the economy and the performance of the New Zealand economy by international standards has been very good. I was going to say pretty good but as more other developed economies trend towards recession the New Zealand economy is maintaining 2 to 3 percent growth. That is providing higher after-tax incomes for New Zealand families. It has provided more opportunities for New Zealanders to get jobs. It has provided the opportunity to maintain and improve public services under the leadership of the outstanding Ministers that were attacked today by the Opposition. That is in sharp contrast to what is happening in virtually every developed economy around the world—including I might say Australia where large-scale public sector redundancies falling house prices and growing unemployment are now what is happening in the economy that has in recent years served us so well as an engine of growth. 
We will stay relentlessly focused on economic opportunity and on creating jobs. The Government has published three or four documents so far with several to come which outline in great detail the numerous ways in which we are attending to the one decision that makes a difference to economic growth and that is the decision made in a workplace by a business its management and staff to grow. Until they decide to employ another person there is not another job. So we owe a debt of thanks to all those businesses and workplaces which through the most difficult economic times in a generation have continued to grow and have continued to pay the wages and to provide a living for families. That has made it easier for the Government to continue its programme of support for businesses through the largest research and development investment that New Zealand has ever had; for families through the most income support New Zealand has ever delivered to families; and for public services which at the same time as going through tough times and radical change are offering the highest level of services and satisfaction that New Zealanders have ever expressed.