Hayes John: Public Finance (Fiscal Responsibility) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes John: Public Finance (Fiscal Responsibility) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:12917. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa): Thus spoke the “Red Reverend” from Otago. What a misleading purveyor of facts that man is.Jonathan Young: What facts?JOHN HAYES: Well he said that we have got the greatest unemployment in his electorate that this country has ever seen. Well I would like to take issue with that because I can refer him to the ANZ Business Outlook survey for July which confirmed that overall business confidence has increased by 3 further points in the month with a net 53 percent of respondents expecting better times ahead. This is the highest level of business confidence since April 1999. Then there is the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s Jobs Online report for July—last month—which showedthat vacancies increased by 8.3 percent per month. “Red Reverend” you have been telling porkies. The month of July took the annual increase to 13.2 percent. The household labour force survey shows that unemployment has fallen—not increased “Red Reverend” but fallen—from 6.8 percent to 6.4 percent over the past year. It also shows—Dr David Clark: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not sure what my remedy is to this but the member is quoting statistics and saying the Otago numbers have dropped and they have not.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): No no. That is a debating point.Dr David Clark: It’s a fact.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): It is a debating point which can come up at another time.JOHN HAYES: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. The “Red Reverend” does not like the truth does he? Well let us go to the household labour force survey. It shows that unemployment has fallen from 6.8 percent to 6.4 percent over the past year. I say to the people of Otago that they are being misled by their member of Parliament the untruthful “Red Reverend”. It also shows that there have been 46000 more people employed in the past 6 months. That man cannot lie straight in bed.I am also totally perplexed as to why the Labour Party will not support this Public Finance (Fiscal Responsibility) Amendment Bill which provides huge common sense and a tremendous improvement in the way that future Governments are going to have to manage this economy. Although I have heard criticism from the co-leader of the Greens this morning and also from “Captain Cliché” of the New Zealand First Party I would like to say that the National Government’s responsible economic management is helping the country grow and is lifting confidence. Under this Government’s strong economic management we are on track to return to surplus in 2014-15. Dr Clark said we have never run a surplus. We never claimed we could in the middle of a global recession but we said we would be back in surplus by 2014-15 and we will “Red Reverend”.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! There is a Speakers’ ruling 28/1 that I would ask the member to look at. You must refer to people by their names. It has been mentioned a few times across the House. I just remind members of Speakers’ ruling 28/1—refer to members by their correct names.JOHN HAYES: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. By 2014-15 New Zealand will be one of the few developed countries not increasing public debt. Our economy continues to grow: 2.4 percent in the past year which is faster than most other developed countries and members of the OECD.I come back to the comments made by the Green co-leader. He was talking in a very misguided and untruthful way about Mighty River Power’s performance. He omitted to understand that running a surplus helps keep mortgage rates lower for longer. It gives the Government choices about how to invest your taxes. In ensures our economy is stronger and more stable in case of future economic shocks—for example if Wellington suffered a big earthquake. What I can tell this House is that Standard and Poor’s has just affirmed New Zealand’s AA+ credit rating saying that the rating reflects the country’s fiscal and monetary policy flexibility economic resilience and public policy stability in the finance sector. This follows earlier comments by theIMF’s managing director ChristineLagarde who said that the IMF is very supportive of what is being done by the Government. So if you look at the numbers whether for growth employment inflation or debt overall they are very stable and they are also very promising. It is certainly a lot better than what we see in most other parts of the world and it is infinitely better than the situation that would arise if those economic miscreants on theother side of the House were to take over running this country and we cannot put this at risk.Here in New Zealand we are seeing a growing mood of optimism being recorded in business sentiment surveys retail sales data house sales and the ability of businesses and consumers to pay their bills on time. The most recent BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Manufacturing Index increased 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 59.5 percent. I would ask the people of Otago to keep that fact in mind when they consider the comments of their member in this House this morning. It raises further questions about the Opposition’s irresponsible attempts to manufacture a manufacturing crisis in this country. It simply does not exist. This is a very good piece of legislation. It helps the Government consolidate its sound management of this economy and I support it without reservation. Thank you.