Goodhew Jo: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goodhew Jo: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5903. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JO GOODHEW (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) 
: 
 It would seem to me that all the Opposition members are worried about—and I disagree with the Hon Gerry Brownlee; I do not think it is Jeffrey Archer; I think it is the forensic novels they are into at the moment—is what is hidden where. They have forgotten where the tape is but they are worried about who said what to whom and when. So it is Tess Gerritsen Kathy Reichs or Patricia Cornwell they have been reading instead of going out and asking New Zealanders: “What matters to you New Zealanders?”. 
I can answer that question for Opposition members. If you want to know what matters to New Zealanders it is their take-home pay it is their mortgage rate it is their interest rates and it is whether they have got a job. But guess what? This Government is concentrating on that not on what was leaked to whom or what is happening on what day or the next. New Zealanders want to know that this Government has a programme of action and it is about growing the economy. Because guess what? Governments do not create jobs. Governments create the environment for jobs to happen in and that is what this Government is doing. 
Our plan is to deliver a more competitive and productive economy a robust economy which means more jobs for New Zealanders—real jobs that are sustainable. Already the Hon Gerry Brownlee has listed a whole lot of new jobs and in my own patch of Rangitata we had an announcement just in this last week of 75 to 80 new jobs. Salmon processing is happening here in New Zealand instead of overseas. You will not hear anyone in my electorate saying that that is not a good deal. 
What other good deals have we got going on here? In the last month 5230 people left a benefit. But that is not what Opposition members would have happen. They certainly do not want to see that. We have got GDP figures for the June quarter at 0.6 percent and annual growth of 2.6 percent. It is the same as Australia and better than most. But we do not hear the Opposition celebrating that either do we? What we have got at the moment is the lowest inflation rate since 1999. Does anyone hear Opposition members talking about that? 
Interest rates are at their lowest for 45 years. What does that mean to New Zealanders? New Zealanders care about those interest rates because if an individual has a mortgage of $200000 what that means is $200 a week more in their pocket. That does matter to New Zealanders and the Opposition could not give a—whatever. 
We have heard about lots of new jobs but the problem that we have to face at the moment is that every time the Government talks about how to create the environment for new jobs Opposition members say “No we don’t want you to do that.” They have totally all the time opposed everything we have tried to do such as reform of the Resource Management Act and the 90-day trial which has created a whole lot of new jobs for New Zealanders. 
The additional programmes of action we put in place over the recession period have kept people getting something on their CV like Job Ops and Community Max. They have kept those people occupied and have been very very successful during that time. There are many many companies that are going to be taking on New Zealanders such as Xero and Orion Health. The International Convention Centre when it is being built will employ heaps of new people. Woolworths and Heinz Australia are coming back to New Zealand. There are new jobs here in New Zealand. We have got jobs happening all over the place. 
But Labour members do not want intensification and development of agriculture—of course not. They do not want more irrigation because that might actually mean more jobs. Labour members would prefer to see people kept on benefits. Just remember right now what are they talking about? They are definitely not talking about vulnerable children are they? No they are not. They do not want public sector reform. Actually they do not want any of our labour market reforms. They are not that interested in the $1.5 billion we have put into ultra-fast broadband and what that will do for New Zealand. Remember they are not that keen on  
The Hobbit 
 either—3000 jobs were created over  
The Hobbit 
. 
Labour members are also very much against our emissions trading scheme. What they would do is penalise households and businesses by having a far more onerous emissions trading scheme. They are not interested in local government reform. They should get out there and ask the people who are ratepayers whether they are interested in local government reform. Listen to the people of New Zealand Opposition members and you might actually get a clear story without having to rely on your forensic novels. 
They are not the slightest bit interested in what we will do with the money from the State-owned enterprise mixed-ownership model. In their view they would be better to take that off New Zealanders and not raise it in that way. I rest my case. It is forensics for the Opposition and it is real live action for the Government.