Ryall Tony: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Ryall Tony: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6272] 
Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: In taking a call on this part I foreshadow that there are a significant number of amendments in the name of the National Opposition. Frankly there will be a very difficult situation in this Chamber I suspect if there is a truncated debate on this part as there was on the last question. 
This debate is an opportunity for the Committee to look at the very purpose of this organisation. The National Party in Opposition has moved a number of very well-drafted amendments that seek to provide for more of a one-stop shop for the delivery of business support services than this Government provides for. Our plan for Investment New Zealand is to have all the various granting and development structures incorporated in that authority so that New Zealand business and New Zealand taxpayers can be assured that they are being administered and developed in the most appropriate way. We simply do not believe that the myriad of funds that is currently out there should all be under different roofs. 
We have the Enterprise Awards Scheme the Investment Ready Scheme the incubator development unit the Business Growth Service the Major Investment Service sector strategies regional business programmes the Business Cluster Pilot Programme the Industrial Supplies Office the World Class New Zealanders programme the major events support fund the Celebrating a Culture of Success fund the Talented New Zealanders project the Developing More Highly Skilled New Zealanders Through Adult Literacy fund the Electronic Commerce Action Team and Network—which has just voted itself out of existence—the Ministry of Research Science and Technology the Science and Innovation Advisory Council the Foundation for Research Science and Technology the Supporting Promising Individuals programme the New Economy Research Fund Technology New Zealand the Research for Industry fund the Grants for Private Sector Research and Development and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. The list goes on and on. We also have Trade New Zealand Investment New Zealand the e-commerce strategy for exporters and the Overseas Investment Commission. Anything that one can think of this Government has a fund and a programme for. 
That is only half of it. I have not talked about all the enterprise grant schemes that we can get through Work and Income or about the funds we can get from Te Puni Kokiri the business development programme from Te Mangai Paho and the international travel fund of Te Mangai Paho. We have not talked about any of that stuff. That is all available as well for business support. Would members believe that there is a fund for business development in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs? In the past there was always a separate fund for encouraging women’s business development in that ministry and I would be very surprised if it is not still there. There are business development funds available though the Maori agencies as well. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: And lower taxes. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: And lower taxes especially for them as well. Those are the things that this Government offers for business. It is a hodgepodge of confusion. In fact there are at least 32 different grant structures and every agency seems to have representatives who visit 200 companies. It is not unusual to meet people in business who say that five public servants have offered them money. 
It is simply not efficient to have all those different funds different granting agencies and different Government departments go out and ask people to apply for money. In fact we even have significant New Zealand business leaders writing articles that state it is not unusual to have several of those agencies knocking on one’s door and offering money. The fact is we need to have a system whereby a business that is looking for some support or encouragement has one person—one stop—where it can go to and receive a straight answer. We can imagine the amount of taxpayers’ money that would be saved if the purpose of this bill was to put the prudent financial management of taxpayers’ resources to the fore. The huge amounts of money that would be released from administration would then go to New Zealanders. 
It is remarkable that there were some estimates that about one-third of the money provided for various grants programmes is eaten up in the administration and bureaucracy of those funds. We can imagine how much cash could be released if we had a streamlined and efficient organisation as the National Party proposes in its amendments. That is why we have moved a number of amendments.