Adams Amy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Adams Amy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
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AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 The first day of the parliamentary year when the Prime Minister makes his statement to Parliament—effectively a state of the nation speech—is one of the key set pieces in the parliamentary year. It is a day that those of us with a political interest certainly look forward to because it sets a tone for where we have been and where we are going. As I sat here today listening to our Prime Minister John Key deliver his speech to Parliament and reading through the 23 pages of economic plans and indications of where we are going I was extremely proud to be a member of this Government and to be a member of John Key’s team. 
This Government was elected to Parliament on a platform of being ambitious for New Zealand. Today’s statement shows anyone who is still in any doubt that we are ambitious. We are ambitious for New Zealand. Those are not simply campaign slogans. This is what we have come here to do. This is why I myself and so many of my colleagues have walked away from our own private lives our own successful careers. This is the sort of change that we want to bring to New Zealand change that will lift life for many many New Zealanders in this fine country. On this side of the House and I think probably for most people in this House we want to see jobs for every New Zealander we want to see higher incomes and we want to see a better standard of living. I do not think anyone in this House would stand up and disagree with any of that. We want New Zealanders to have jobs— 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: Well try a little harder. 
AMY ADAMS 
: Does Mr O’Connor disagree? Well on this side of the House we want New Zealanders to have jobs we want them to be well-paid jobs and we want New Zealanders to have a good standard of living. If we have those things our young people will live here in New Zealand with their families. They will not feel the need to live overseas. I will not hear the sad stories I hear so often in my electorate from people who tell me that all their children live overseas and they never see their grandkids because the only way their children could get ahead was to go away. That is sad. That is what we want to change. 
The difference between the National Government and the members on that side of the House is that we do not just talk about those things; we understand that the way to get them is to lift economic performance—lift economic performance. The difference is the other parties that talk about lifting the standard of living throw up their hands in disgust and recoil at any suggestion that will actually lift economic performance. Only this party and the other members on the Government side of the House have the courage to make the changes that will see economic performance lift. That is the thing that will do that. That is how we will get jobs. 
Carol Beaumont 
: Like the complete absence of investment in skills. 
AMY ADAMS 
: We do not get jobs from the magic job fairy in the sky I say to Ms Beaumont. We get them from businesses business people making investments risking their own capital and working hard. We cannot all be relying on the State to provide our living. We know that that is what has to happen and that is why this Government and this statement are about getting business done. 
I say that for me and for this Government “business” is not a dirty word. We are not embarrassed by people who say they make a profit. We do not think that is a bad thing. Since when did it become somehow shameful to want to go out and make a profit? Why do we have to discourage those people and somehow shame them pull them down in the tall-poppy style? That is what we have had for 9 years. From 1999 to 2008 we had a Government that took offence at anyone who tried to make a profit who dared to stand up to be successful and to be entrepreneurial. It wanted to do everything it could to pull the rug out from under those people and somehow to insinuate that they were bad for this country. Well they are not. Doing business in this country is what will make the difference. That is what National members are here to support. 
The plan we are debating the plan we have before us from our Prime Minister is a detailed plan to help New Zealand lift its economic game. We can do so much better in this field. If this country were a business any bright chief executive officer would come along sit down look at it and say: “We could do so much more.” That is what is true of this country. It is a fabulous country with so many assets skilled people and resources at its disposal but we do not do enough with them. We sit here and watch our economy our standard of living and our incomes fall further and further behind and we have not done anything. We have not done enough. That is why this Government came in with a plan to make a difference. 
In this statement we see a number of things that are geared towards making that happen. They are the same six points that we have been talking about for some time now. It is about having a world-class tax system one that incentivises people to get ahead to work hard to grow their businesses and to create jobs and wealth. It is about using science and innovation well to develop that and to encourage it. It is about opening up our export markets because we are an exporting country. We will do well when our export sector does well. The work that Minister Groser and others in this Government have done to open up trade and export markets has been remarkable. The signs of that continuing this year and beyond are very very encouraging. It is about increasing our workforce and our workforce skills through better educational standards and better workforce training and encouraging those who are in the benefit system to get back into jobs where they can be productive. And it is about reducing red tape. If there is one thing that any business will say it is that red tape is the death of so many businesses. It is the one thing that they find so demoralising and so discouraging. Here we have a Government that will look at those roadblocks and get them out of the way. 
We will not address New Zealand’s problems by simply spending more and more and ignoring the realities. We cannot fix the problems by continuing to write cheques in the hope that people will go away and stop bothering us. That is what Labour tried for 9 years. That is what Labour members on that side of the House tell us day in and day out. They say we should just keep spending money. Never mind the debt. Never mind that the country’s economy is getting poorer. Just keep spending. Well we are not prepared to do that. We know that as a country we have been spending far more than we earn for such a long time and that has to stop. Tell me of any household in this country or any business in this country that can survive when it keeps spending and spending even though its revenue is down. Every mother or father in this country who runs a household knows that the first rule is to spend less than one earns. Do not spend what one does not have. That is what this country failed to do under the Labour Government and that is what we have to get on top of. 
New Zealanders should not fear change. The Labour Party clearly does but New Zealanders do not need to fear change. In fact we should embrace it. It is often said that the definition of delusion is doing the same old thing and expecting different results. That is a big part of what the Prime Minister’s speech today was about. We want different results we want better outcomes and we have to do things differently if we want to get different results. If we continue with the educational system we have we will continue to see 20 percent of our children come out of school not able to read or write to an appropriate level and that is simply not good enough. 
The tax changes that the Prime Minister outlined today are about doing exactly that. They are about incentivising work incentivising endeavour and not incentivising consumption. Reducing personal taxes and business taxes sends a message to all New Zealanders—and tax is one of the strongest levers we have to affect the economy—that this Government encourages enterprise and encourages and rewards hard work. It will give New Zealanders a choice. With the extra income that they will take home in their pay packet every week they will have the choice to put it into their savings reduce their debt and therefore pay no tax on that money and if they want to go out and consume the GST is there for that. So the tax changes do de-incentivise consumption and incentivise savings and investments. 
The last point I want to touch on in this contribution is about my own local economy in the electorate of Selwyn and the impact that some of the changes in the statement will have. In my electorate of Selwyn we have two big industries: agriculture and tourism. Both those sectors have a lot to be thankful for. One of the things I want to touch on specifically—and I have not heard it mentioned so far in today’s debate—is the Prime Minister’s very strong message of support for better use of our water resources in Canterbury for water storage and for irrigation. That alone is the single biggest thing that can be done in my region to increase economic activity. We know that through better use of our water through encouraging our farmers to increase their production we can lift the economic activity in our patch so significantly that it will have the single biggest impact on our local economy. That is exactly the sort of change we are talking about. That is how we will make the step change. That is how we will lift the standard of living for all New Zealanders. Thank you.