3. Economic Growth—Economic Growth Per CapitaGRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of FinanceEconomic Growth—Economic Growth Per Capita3. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes.Grant Robertson: Does he stand by his statement made as recently as yesterday that what really matters for higher material living standards is real per capita GDP; if so is annual per capita GDP growth of 0.7 percent going to give Kiwis meaningfully higher living standards?Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Bill English. There were actually two questions; the Minister can address either one.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes I do stand by that statement particularly in the context in which it was given. As I explained to the member when you are looking at per capita income two things drive it. One is the number of people and that has been rising strongly in New Zealand because New Zealanders have stopped leaving for Australia in their thousands so there has been sharp population growth. In respect of income that has been held down by a significant drop in dairy income. So it is not surprising that growth in per capita income—which was I think 0.5 percent in the quarter which is not too bad—is a bit soft under those circumstances. It is likely to grow as dairy incomes grow and migration turns.Grant Robertson: Why is he pleased about a growth rate per person that is at a level that has been described by leading economists as lacklustre far from perfect and subpar?Hon BILL ENGLISH: If the member spent a bit more time with economists he would find out what a miserable bunch they are.Grant Robertson: I'm tempted to ask what his degree is but anyway.Mr SPEAKER: No we will have the supplementary question.Grant Robertson: Does annual per capita GDP growth of 0.7 percent represent acceptable value creation from the population growth New Zealand has experienced?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I am not exactly sure what the question means but if the member means Is it enough?" well of course it is not enough. We would like it to be higher. That is the whole point of a raft of policies run particularly under the Business Growth Agenda which are all designed to promote more investment and capital deepening so that we can deliver higher incomes. I am pleased the member understands that the Government is not complacent in any way even though the top-line GDP number is pretty good.Grant Robertson: Is it correct that today's Statistics New Zealand release shows that real disposable incomes for New Zealanders have dropped in the last quarter?Hon BILL ENGLISH: What impresses me—and surprises me—is that the member got through 20 pages of statistics before he found that one. I used to think he hardly ever got past the first two pages but there you go. That measure is a negative number in this quarter and actually it is historically quite a volatile measure. In some quarters it has been plus 5 percent—way higher than GDP—and today it is lower than GDP. In the long run—Dr David Clark: It's soft isn't it? It's soft. You're meant to say it's soft this month.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Of course we want real disposable income per capita to be positive.Grant Robertson: In light of that answer if per person New Zealanders are not getting welfare and their disposable income has actually dropped can he blame New Zealanders for feeling that whatever spin he puts on it the economy is not working for them? [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question is to the Minister of Finance.Hon BILL ENGLISH: With the amount of confidence in the economy it does not need any spin for New Zealanders to believe that actually they are not doing too badly under the circumstances.Grant Robertson: Is it not correct that no amount of spin that he puts on the numbers can get away from the fact that as Paul Glass of Devon Funds Management says "We only grow our share of the economic cake when GDP per capita grows otherwise we are running hard to stay still."?Hon BILL ENGLISH: As I think I said the other day I do disagree with Mr Glass actually. For the 30000 Kiwis who decided to stay home this year instead of going away—we do not regard that as some kind of statistical blip that upsets that per capita calculation; we regard it as an indication of success that New Zealanders have decided to stay here instead of going to Australia. If that makes that particular statistic a bit "soft" for a few quarters it is a small price to pay for success when people are voting with their feet to stay home."