Ardern Shane: Address in Reply 
Ardern Shane: Address in Reply 
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SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 First I acknowledge you Mr Deputy Speaker in your new role. This is my first opportunity to do so and as a colleague of some years I am sure you will do a fine job. I also acknowledge the Speaker himself and Assistant Speakers Eric Roy and Rick Barker. I know they will be competent in the job and I congratulate them and you on those appointments. 
After 9 long years and the best economic circumstances that New Zealand has seen in a generation the National Party has the good fortune—or the misfortune—of coming into office at a time when the economy is going down. It seems to be our lot in life. If one looks at the history of the National Party one will see that it has a history of coming along after some misguided left-leaning socialist Government like the previous Government in this country and it has to fix up the mess after 9 years of mismanagement. 
The worst aspect of that is not that the economy is going down. Rather it is the fact that during those 9 years we had some of the best opportunities a country could have had in a generation and we have lost them. We have missed them. It was a race we could have won and we have come fourth or fifth. It was an opportunity to grow the economic base of this economy in a way we have never seen before and it has been lost. 
Let us consider a couple of our primary industries—agriculture for a start. Year on year for the last 25 years agriculture has outstripped any other industry in this country in terms of growth. But what could have been? Let us look at our forestry sector. In Australia—and I acknowledge the tragedy of the Australian bushfires at the moment—the forestry sector has grown year on year for the last 7 years. 
In Australia a country that takes 5 years longer to grow a  
Pinus radiata 
 than New Zealand a country where the products of that industry are exported into exactly the same international markets at exactly the same prices a country where the domestic market and the international market are exactly the same—except that we have the advantage of being able to grow the trees faster—there has been growth in that industry while we have had decline. Why is that? 
When we ask members of the industry they tell us that every time a major proposal was put forward to build a computerised modern 21st century processing site in this country they came up against so much red tape and so many hurdles—the Resource Management Act for a start and various other Acts of Parliament—that made it so difficult that they just decided it was better to make that investment in Australia. So National will remove those roadblocks. I know that the Deputy Speaker in a previous portfolio area did a lot of work in looking at what red tape was doing to small businesses. 
What the Labour Government in 9 years could never understand—and still does not and probably never will—is that this country is a country of small businesses. We have a profile in that regard that is much different from any other country in the world. The average size of a business entity in this country is quite different from the average size of a small business as it is described internationally. Therefore there were unique issues that this country had to face. The red tape created by taxation laws resource management laws employment laws compliance costs and any number of other areas has caused those industries and those businesses not to prosper. 
So what does National intend to do about it? National intends to bring about massive changes to the Resource Management Act as fast as it is possible to do so sensibly. We intend to unblock the arteries. If a farmer has a major infrastructural failure on his or her farm and it is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars—and millions of dollars for New Zealand—then that farmer will borrow the money and fix it. That is what National is intending to do and the announcements today in terms of our roading infrastructure are just the beginning. Members will see our objective of growing the economy which National articulated during the election campaign starting to take effect as quickly as we can unblock those arteries. 
The second major issue is our ability to communicate with the world when we are doing business with the world. The dairy industry exports 95 percent of what it produces but we would not know that by reading the newspapers or listening to some of the commentators. We do not actually sell dairy products in New Zealand; it is not where we sell them. We sell them internationally to something like 50 different countries around the world. At times we have done business with as many as 150 different countries around the world but the majority of that product goes to about 50 different countries. So it is absolutely essential to have 21st century communications to be able to carry out that type of export activity. 
Again we will unblock the roadblocks. We will introduce broadband connection fibre-optic rollout cables particularly in rural areas where the economy is actually based. One of the things I find a real irony as an MP is when I am talking to people who are talking about the growth in the economy and the importance of the economy and they always refer—particularly the financial commentators—to the importance of Wellington City Auckland City or any other major metropolitan area. Yes they are important—there is no question about that—but they are not where the economy of New Zealand is based. They might like it to be based there. They might see it there in the future when they are crystal-gazing but it is not where it is at the moment and it has not been for a long time. 
We are always reminded in these debates that a Prime Minister of New Zealand in a Labour Government was able to come to the conclusion that agriculture was a sunset industry. I am not sure how that could happen. It suggests to me that the advice that was given then was about as good as the advice given to the previous Labour Government—and it was not good advice. The one sector that has grown in this country consistently through good and bad times has been that of our primary agricultural land-based industries. Forestry is an excellent example. It is the third-largest exporter in this country. Who knows that fact? Forestry is the third-largest earner of overseas funds—and it has been in decline. 
Let us look at another legacy of the Labour Government. What has it done in terms of the environmental front? It is interesting to note that over the last 9 years we have had a Green-supported Government. The Green Party has been a major supporter of the Labour-led Government over 9 years yet on the environmental front we have had greater decline than we have ever seen in the history of New Zealand. It beggars belief that we could go through such a long period with a Green-influenced Government and go backwards environmentally. 
I finish by saying that as a farmer and as someone from a rural electorate it is engrained in us from birth—and it does not matter how many people disagree or how many times they say they do not believe this; it is a fact—that we should leave our land in better condition than when we found it. The only debate is about whether scientifically the argument that it is not in better condition can be backed up. I suggest that particularly in the environmental debate some of the science that has been used around what is happening in our agricultural sector is at best suspect and certainly has been selected on a very selective basis. 
I suggest that as we go forward in this debate it is incumbent on the new Government or any Government to make sure that all the science is considered and that that science is well founded has peer review and is backed up with the facts of the matter as opposed to the emotion that we have seen. 
What we will see as we go forward with a new National Government is transparent fiscal leadership. We will see people who have experience in the areas that count in regard to the economy of New Zealand. We will see a number of people who have had leadership in a number of roles and will achieve the kinds of outcomes and the kinds of growth rates that will be absolutely essential if New Zealand is to be the prosperous nation that we all look forward to in the future.