Goldsmith Paul: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoldsmith Paul: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12049. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL GOLDSMITH (Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee):It was interesting. Once again we have the Opposition spokesman on finance David Parker focusing on one little issue but he does not want to talk about the economy more broadly because the results for the Government have been very positive indeed. This Government is making very good progress. There has been 2.4 percent growth in the last year higher than that of many other developed countries. After-tax wages are up 22 percent since 2008—that is more than twice the inflation rate—and that is why New Zealanders are feeling upbeat and positive about their chances in this world. They have more money in their pockets during what has been a very difficult time internationally. We have the lowest mortgage rates in 50 years and if you are interested in housing affordability you do pay attention to mortgage rates and the fact that people are saving a lot of money by paying less interest and are much more easily able to afford a house. The tax reforms that we have seen are encouraging savings and investment. We have also seen inflation at its lowest level in 50 years and we have tight discipline which will see the country brought back to surplus next year.I came across an interesting quote from Cicero actually from 55 BC which I will refer to just to show that nothing has changed. He advised that the budget should be balanced the treasury should be refilled public debt should be reduced the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance. So the basic recipe of good governance is not new. It is not complicated. It is about living within your means—John Hayes: Did he mention a capital gains tax?PAUL GOLDSMITH: —no he made no reference to a capital gains tax—so that is what we are getting on with doing.There are concerns about housing in Auckland. Nobody denies that. This Government is very focused on actually having some workable solutions to that rather than having dog whistles and extra capital gains taxes which have not served to deal with any housing affordability issues in Sydney or San Francisco or London or in the many other places in the world that do have capital gains taxes and also have very high housing costs. There are lots of theories about what is going on in Auckland but I do not think anybody could deny that if you really wanted to get on top of the issue it is fundamentally about increasing the supply of new houses—Hon Member: That’s right—and land.PAUL GOLDSMITH: —and that is what this Government is focused on doing. Well you need land to build houses on. So I certainly support and salute the efforts of Nick Smith and the team who are getting focused and working with the council.It is interesting that the Opposition refuses to deal with that as the biggest issue. It refuses to rein in its ideological soulmates who dominate local government in areas and who are determined to use land controls to constrain development and make it as difficult as possible. Instead of giving into that this Government is working constructively particularly with Auckland Council to come up with housing accords and find a way just to increase that supply. Overall there is no question that as we build more houses the pressure will come off house prices in general. Then elsewhere beyond that we are focused very much on reducing elements of the costs that we are having to deal with. Again we hear that you never get any support or encouragement from the other side of the House when it comes to dealing with Resource Management Act reform reducing the regulatory burden that we see is adding to the cost of concrete and all sorts of other raw materials which is what this Government is focused on.But all in all I am very pleased and this appropriation debate is revealing time and time again the good progress that this Government has made on getting back to surplus. When we look at the support for businesses ultimately we make progress only if businesses have the confidence to go out and invest their money and employ people and create things that the rest of the world wants to buy. That is why with our 28 percent company tax which is lower than Australia’s we are in good shape here in New Zealand to get out there and encourage enterprise and people to grow their businesses.What about the infrastructure investment that we talk about? We are putting $12 billion into roads over the next little while $1.5 billion in ultra-fast broadband and the Rural Broadband Initiative $5 billion is being invested in the national electricity grid—all these things are fundamental to having the environment and the infrastructure in place for New Zealand businesses to succeed. We are also working on quality trade agreements because it is not much use if you have got brilliant products but you cannot find anybody to sell them to because you are facing all sorts of restrictions. That is why it is so important that we maintain good relationships with our neighbours throughout the Asia-Pacific region so that we can continue to trade successfully.