Parmar Parmjeet; Mallard TrevorDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I would like to start on a positive note and that is that I had my office's open day just a few days ago. I have to say that it went really well as I have moved from 165 Stoddard Road in Mount Roskill to 68 Stoddard Road. So I want to thank each and every one that came to my office.In those conversations—they were casual conversations but there were things that came out from each and every person that visited. People are really concerned about the consequences of the policies of this Labour-led Government. There were some business people those who visited my office—they are saying yes they don't have the confidence. They don't want to invest more in their business. They don't want to employ more people. So that survey that was done for business confidence is not a waste of paper; that is what we are hearing on the ground and that is what the businesses are saying. So I ask the Government members to go out and connect with businesses to understand what they are saying.As I am the spokesperson for research science and innovation we also talked about research and development tax credit policy. People clearly know that this policy is nothing but a copy and paste of 2007's research and development tax credit policy. The Minister didn't take any opportunity to do any homework to see what's happening in other countries. All she's done is copy and paste that policy and put that out for consultation.Very interesting it was when we had Estimates hearings in the select committee process—Minister Megan Woods she could not answer even simple questions. So I wonder if she has done any homework before putting out that policy for consultation. For example I asked if she could tell me how much of that money that she has allocated for the R & D tax credit will go for existing business R & D. She said she didn't know. We know how much business R & D is there. We also know what they're proposing in terms of tax credit: 12.5 percent. She couldn't calculate that and give me that figure. This is because she knows that some of that money will also go towards reclassification of work as R & D.It became even more interesting when I asked her how it's going to be monitored and she said the Inland Revenue Department will be monitoring all the R & D tax credit claims. And when I asked if any money from this money that she has allocated for the R & D tax credit policy is going towards IRD she said no. So no wonder that Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and IRD staff are planning to go on strike because if you squeeze people for resources and funding that is what you get.Hon Grant Robertson: Ha ha!Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: Yes. It's not a laughing matter. That is what you get—strikes—because this Government is just squeezing the IRD without providing any resources and is assuming that R & D tax credit policy will work fine. This policy is so flawed that no matter how much consultation is done on that policy the design aspects of the policy cannot be fixed.Then it became even more interesting when I asked about the minimum threshold. So the Minister didn't know what's in the consultation document. One of the officials tried to answer and she couldn't confirm who was correct. Then we also see that there is a maximum threshold for companies to claim research and development tax credit and how that's going to work? That's going to be at the Minister's discretion. So the Minister will decide which company will get the tax credit if they're spending more than the maximum threshold and how is that Minister going to decide? We don't know. So the Minister is going to decide—tick for one company cross for another company. How is that going to be decided? We have no idea.But maybe we can pick up some hints from how these Government ministers are operating especially from Minister Shane Jones as he's going around spraying the money that he's got for his portfolio for his political motivations. We need that confidence that this R & D tax credit money that the Minister has allocated will not be used for ticking and crossing the companies based on their own political motivations.I am calling on the Minister to stand by the Prime Minister—the Prime Minister who keeps saying that she wants to see that her Government is a transparent Government. I'm calling on Minister Megan Woods to make all the submissions public. And yes I understand some submissions on the R & D tax credit policy are public; that is because the submitters have made them public. But I'm calling on the Minister to make those submissions public so that we know what businesses are saying because we know there is nothing for businesses that do not have a positive cash flow. There's nothing for small businesses that are working really hard and contributing to research and development.The uncaring policies of this Government are pinching people. But we know that this Government doesn't care about people's back pockets being pinched—or even their bottoms being pinched as we have heard from the justice Minister Andrew Little.SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired.