Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
[Volume:676;Page:21517] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 It has been a tough time in New Zealand in the last 3 years. We have had a global recession the Pike River tragedy and the death and destruction caused by 8000 earthquakes in my home town of Christchurch. But in the face of this terrible adversity we have seen the very best from our people the very best from New Zealanders. 
Obviously the earthquakes have affected me most and I have never been so proud of being a New Zealander and a Cantabrian. During this time the way Cantabrians and the whole country have responded to this disaster has been amazing inspiring and humbling. People everywhere have worked long and hard to help and support each other their neighbourhoods and their communities. We have worked together we have laughed together and we have cried together. Most of us who have lived through the last few months in Canterbury have developed a different set of values as we have rocked and rolled and smashed our way forward. If it is true that every experience one survives without breaking makes one stronger then Canterbury is invincible. 
There has been a similar mind shift across the country and the world in the face of the global financial recession. Both internationally and locally the borrow-and-spend bubble has burst and people have come down to earth with a huge thump. Suddenly they have rediscovered that a household should not spend more than it earns and that borrowed money has to be repaid. Again New Zealanders have risen to the occasion. They have responded to the global situation by tightening their belts and instead of continuing to spend $1.17 for every dollar they have earned they now spend 98c and are focusing on saving and investing. 
When National came into Government the country was already in recession and we have worked hard to cushion the worst effects of that recession allowing New Zealanders to adjust to a new economic situation and to make the changes that position this country well to manage the ongoing global uncertainty. We are now on the road to reducing our debt to getting back into surplus within 3 years and to building a faster-growing economy based on savings and exports. We are in much better shape now than we were when we inherited the free-spending economic shambles of the last Labour Government. This Government has delivered tax cuts to hard-working New Zealanders and lowered the company tax rate. We now have better smarter public services that are delivering more for less. We have lifted the quality of education introduced national standards and developed trades academies. And we are investing in infrastructure and developing lucrative international trade agreements. We have put money into science and innovation cut red tape and made it easier to do business in New Zealand. 
And we are beginning to see some results. Our economy has grown for eight of the last nine quarters. Our interest rates are the lowest in 45 years and our unemployment rate is beginning to fall. I am particularly proud of how well Canterbury has bounced back. We have the most number of advertised jobs in the country our employment rate is down and in the last quarter the Canterbury economy has grown by 1.6 percent—the highest in New Zealand. I feel really positive about our future. I know that the National Government true to plan through hard work and intelligent economic management is turning the economy round for a better future for New Zealand.