Muller Todd: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMuller Todd: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 01 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9229. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): I would like to take a leaf out of Bill English’s book actually and spend just a moment reflecting on some of the Opposition response to the Prime Minister’s statement and particularly to its members’ discussion on the future of work. One of the things that I would like to draw out is how they particularly reinforce that the future is going to be a period of unprecedented change; we are going to have significant globalisation technological connectivity and disruption and massive turmoil. In fact it is a huge opportunity for both capital and labour—and they talk about a huge free flow of ideas and talent and investment.So with that as a basic premise I find it extraordinary that the policy response of the Labour Party to that future is to contract out of the very trading bloc that has been established to maximise the opportunity for this country to be able to participate in this future. It is a trading bloc that hardwires innovative businesses to over 40 percent of world trade: 800 million consumers. It is a trading bloc that creates a framework to be able to deal with the issues of intellectual property and services and investment into the future that other countries are lining up to join. It is a trading bloc that will exceed the expectations of the national investment analysis. That is a future that this Government wants to be a part of and the Opposition wants to withdraw from and I think it is very flawed thinking indeed.The other policy that Opposition members then put on the table is one that increases the subsidies for those who want to retrain. I respectfully put forward that that is precisely the wrong question to be asking. The real question here is whether we are teaching the right vocational and tertiary courses to enable people to have the skills and resilience to be able to be successful in that future economy. In my view this Government has a fantastic track record in investment particularly across vocational and tertiary areas both in terms of their prioritisations of ICT graduates STEM funding the lifting of engineering students and the like.In fact I believe that when we talk about resilience and the capacity to deal with a changing world looking out 5 10 15 20 years it is as much about attitude as it is about technical competency. In my opinion a party that—as we do—talks to that future is keen to embrace the world of tomorrow the one that sees globalisation as a significant generational shift and an opportunity to connect us with world consumers is the way of the future and is a party that has the right policy settings to be able to deal with that reality. In my view that future is particularly exciting and challenging and our success as a country will be measured on how connected we are to the world. It will be measured on how direct the pathway is for our innovation to the consumers of tomorrow and it will talk to how technically competent we are as a nation and how resilient we are as individuals and communities.As I have reflected over the last couple of weeks and listened to the various responses to the Prime Minister’s statement I firmly believe that on this side of the House we have a framework that is focused on preparing New Zealand for that future and what we have on the other side of the House is a party that is captured in its 1980 student president and political rhetoric. I was with its members at that time. I was in the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations and Waikato Student Union with Grant Robertson. I heard his speeches. They are the same today as they were 25 years ago and Bill English is right: they are caught in a policy response that is 25 years old. They do not understand how they talk about this future of globalisation. They talk about the forces that are changing the world rapidly but their policy response is inadequate it is weak it is poor thinking and it is the reason why they are 25 points behind in the polls. It is the reason why the community of the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga are so supportive of John Key so supportive of this Government and I am very proud to be a part of it. Thank you.