Foss Craig: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Foss Craig: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:670;Page:16578] 
2. 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What will be the focus of Budget 2011 and the Government’s wider economic programme this year? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Today I have announced that Budget 2011 would be presented on Thursday 19 May. It will focus squarely on taking further measures in the Government’s programme to build New Zealand’s national savings increase investment create jobs and lift incomes as well as reducing our vulnerability to foreign debt. 
Craig Foss 
: How will Budget 2011 build on the National-led Government’s first two Budgets? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: In Budget 2009 we had to get on top of spiralling debt which was out of control as a result of a recession and very poor management by the previous Government. In Budget 2010 the Government changed the incentives in the tax system to reduce the incentive for excessive spending and borrowing and to increase the incentive for savings and we will continue along that line in Budget 2011. 
Rahui Katene 
: Is the Minister aware that in 2008 Treasury observed that the last recession from 1988 to 1993 had had adverse social and economic effects on Maori that lasted for at least a decade and what will he be doing in Budget 2011 to prevent the same scenario from reoccurring? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government has moved to prevent that scenario from occurring again by supporting the economy through this last recession and this year we are borrowing $300 million a week to pump into the economy to maintain transfer payments and income support as well as to underpin publicly funded jobs. In Budget 2011 we will have a strong focus on investment—that is getting businesses to invest their money so that they can create new jobs and lift incomes and that will certainly benefit Maori. 
Craig Foss 
: What specific measures will the Government consider to ensure that it contributes to improving New Zealand’s national savings? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government needs to carry some of the weight of improving national savings. Households are doing their bit because they are being careful with their spending paying off debt and increasing their savings—in fact they are doing that faster than we expected. However at the moment the Government is driving up our external debt. We need to get hold of Government spending in the first place to improve its effectiveness and focus and we need to get back to surplus as quickly as we can so that the Government is not driving up New Zealand’s already very high level of foreign debt. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Given that the Government’s books have deteriorated on the Minister’s watch from a surplus of $8 billion as at election day to a debt now of $40 billion and given that he has just admitted that the Government may be taking the country into a double-dip recession will he now admit that his programme has failed and he has no new ideas for jobs and growth? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: No. 
Metiria Turei 
: Why will the Minister not increase the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour saving around $1 billion in Government social services spending? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government has made a balanced decision about the minimum wage. On the one hand we do not want to take measures that will lock young people particularly out of the labour market. On the other hand people on the minimum wage need to be able to deal with the rising cost of living. So the Government has announced about a 2 percent increase in the minimum wage. 
Craig Foss 
: What Budget measures has the Government already rejected and why? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: A number of measures have been proposed that would significantly increase the need for New Zealand to borrow in financial markets that are increasingly reluctant to lend particularly to countries with already high levels of total debt. So we have rejected the $1.3 billion cost of a tax-free threshold of $5000 we have rejected the idea of taking GST off fruit and vegetables at a cost of a quarter of a billion dollars and we are not going to be borrowing another $400 million to add to early childhood education spending. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Minister of Finance like John Key proud of the 5 percent cut in full-time public sector jobs given his concern about young people and jobs; if so why? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Prime Minister has outlined his concern to ensure that we provide better public services and do so with fewer resources. Every other business in New Zealand has gone through that process and most households in New Zealand have gone through that process; the Government has not. We will be investing in improved public services. In some cases that may mean there are fewer jobs but in many cases it will mean a better service. 
Grant Robertson 
: Can the Minister confirm that the grand plan for lifting New Zealand out of economic recession is based on the merger of the Ministry of Fisheries into the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; if so will it generate more savings than the $165000 a year being saved by merging Archives New Zealand and the National Library into the Department of Internal Affairs? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government is focusing on considering on a case by case basis how to provide better public services for less cost. In that case the industry has suggested that such a merger would reduce the levy on the fishing industry. That would help it employ more people grow more exports and lift incomes across the New Zealand economy. So the Government is going to play its part. 
Metiria Turei 
: Why is the Minister of Finance effectively subsidising the wage bills of large corporates like Foodstuffs and Burger King rather than supporting families who need just a decent job with a living wage? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: When the Government came in despite the fact that we faced significant deficits for a long time we maintained the Working for Families programme with only minor changes because we believe that those families need the certainty of the income support particularly through a recession. Whether or not income support is a subsidy on wages is an old argument but we believe that regardless of what one thinks of that issue those families need cash support and this Government is borrowing $300 million a week to help ensure they get it.