3. Question No. 3—FinanceHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Finance: What advice if any has he received from the Treasury on potential job losses in New Zealand for the rest of this year?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Treasury's most recent forecasts in the Budget show employment bottoming out in the June quarter 2020 at 2.463 million. The forecasts show employment is then expected to grow by 60000 over the rest of the calendar 2020 year to 2.523 million in the December 2020 quarter. Treasury's next set of forecasts will be released in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update on 20 August.Hon Paul Goldsmith: What are his expectations of job losses following the end of the wage subsidy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well that is a difficult calculation to make. Not all businesses who are in receipt of the wage subsidy scheme necessarily at the end of it would let staff go. Some of them will carry on; some of them have seen significant improvements in their turnover in recent times. So that's not a figure that's able to be calculated.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is he concerned that three of the country's largest industrial employers have now either announced their closure as in the case of Tīwai Point Aluminium Smelter or are currently under strategic review in the case of New Zealand Steel and Marsden Point?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well in respect of the latter two companies it's no surprise that large companies in the current uncertain environment are reviewing their operations. The Government is ready willing and able to be talking to those companies. I was down in Invercargill last week meeting representatives of Tīwai of the workforce and of the wider Southland community. The member will be well aware that Rio Tinto have long been either seeking increased subsidies or threatening to leave. What the people of Southland want is certainty and support and the Government is working with them on both of those things.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is the de-industrialisation of New Zealand something this Government accepts as inevitable?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Well at a time when we're losing jobs every day why is his Government piling extra pressure on key industrial employers with the emissions trading scheme changes increased waste levies and fuel excise taxes coming on top of the impact of the oil and gas decisions made earlier?SPEAKER: The member may address any two legs of that one.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: With respect to the last part of that question we're not. With respect to the first part of that question it may have escaped the member but there is a global pandemic and I stood in this House as far back as 17 March and said that we would not be able to save every job but we would do everything we could to support New Zealand businesses and households and we are doing that.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he agree that private sector investment is a key driver of job creation and if so isn't it lower taxes regulatory restraint policy certainty and access to international investment that help more than anything?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I absolutely believe that it's important that the private sector in New Zealand continues to create jobs. This Government is committed to being a partner with them in doing that.