Young Jonathan: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Young Jonathan: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20516] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak on the third reading of the Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill and the second reading of the Imprest Supply (Second for 2011/12) Bill. I will start by congratulating first Bill English on his good firm steady long-sighted stewardship of the New Zealand economy. I think that this is what this debate is about. It is about recognising the stability that the National-led Government has brought to this country. The second person whom I will congratulate tonight is Colin Cooper the coach of Tenderlink Taranaki who last night led our team to a great win: after trailing 26 at half-time it came through to a 39-33 win. I raise that because Taranaki is typical of what the National Government can do: we can come from behind to win against the odds. That is what we have done with the economy. Labour left us in a losing position. We turned that round and we have brought stability during a time when we would say that the world is still experiencing the ramifications and reverberations of the debt crisis. 
The Budget that we are speaking about addresses the issue of reducing debt. It is very important to see that this Government is led by sound and sensible people who have presented what I believe the New Zealand public are acknowledging as sound and sensible policies. Because of global uncertainty New Zealand needs more than ever to have these sound and sensible policies led by solid leaders. New Zealand is not immune to what is happening around the world. We trade with the rest of the world and if the world slows down then yes it will have an impact on us. So being able to foresee those movements and make adjustments and being able to continue to trade with countries overseas such as Australia which is our largest market and China which is now our second-largest market are very important for the future prosperity and security of this country and for the jobs that we are seeing come into the market place more and more. 
We still have flexibility in our economy which a lot of other countries do not have. In theory there is room for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates if necessary. Our exchange rate is still relatively high so again there is the opportunity for that to ease back if we see global commodity prices coming back. We have some headroom and all of that is because of the result of our efforts over the last 3 years to see New Zealand placed in a far better position than many other countries to manage what will remain an uncertain global environment for a number of years ahead. 
The comments that I have made are not what people might think—just biased comments from a member of the National-led Government and the National Party—because media reports and companies like for example Fairfax which pride themselves on being unbiased say that New Zealanders are recognising the solid leadership that this Government has brought in such difficult global times. Eighty-five percent of voters view the state of the economy as being either important or very important in deciding their vote. We understand that; we know that. Furthermore Fairfax Media - Research International polls show that 49 percent of voters think that National has the best plan to fix the economy. That is well ahead of Labour which is on 17 percent. Fewer than two voters out of 10 have any confidence in Labour’s plans. What is really astounding is that only 48 percent of Labour’s supporters back its plan to fix the economy. 
Michael Woodhouse 
: We didn’t know it had supporters. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: We did not know that Labour had supporters. That is a crisis in the can without a doubt. Among National voters— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Tell us the plan. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: No this is the plan that Fairfax Media are perceiving or are hearing from you and it says half of your voters—half of your supporters—do not have confidence. 
Stuart Nash 
: Mr Speaker’s supporters? 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: Among National voters on the other hand—thank you I say to Mr Nash—81 percent support our party’s economic plan. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Well that’s not surprising. They’re National voters. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: As a comparison 48 percent of the member’s voters do not have confidence in her party’s plan. Do the maths. 
I was brought up to believe that one should borrow only for assets and never for consumption. We have come through a decade when many people have borrowed for consumption. The balance to that is that when our country goes into recession this Government has continued to borrow in order to take off the sharp edges of the recession for New Zealand families as they go through very difficult times. But whatever we borrow we have to pay back and with interest on it so we know that that level of borrowing is simply a ticking time bomb. 
The reason why we went into recession was poor management and excessive spending in unproductive areas of our economy. Budget papers of the previous Labour Government released under the Official Information Act and available on Treasury’s website show that in 2007 Labour Government Ministers were well aware that their spending was contributing to higher interest rates and higher exchange rates. Treasury warned them that they needed to stay as closely as possible to their previously agreed spending limit in the Budget; otherwise they would risk an interest rate response from the Reserve Bank the exchange rate would stay higher for longer and there would be a more pronounced economic slowdown. Those same papers show that Dr Cullen and his Cabinet colleagues signed off on an overspend of some 50 percent more—almost $4 billion in total—than the limit they had agreed on among themselves only a few months earlier. They did so in the full knowledge that this would place pressure on householders and exporters. I think it is very rich that those members would stand there and criticise us when they made such a poor effort of managing the economy. 
When National became the Government in November 2008 we knew that we had inherited a decade of deficits. We had falling economic growth unemployment was already rising and we had high inflation which was caused by high Government spending as I have just noted. We had a rising current account deficit annual productivity growth of 1.1 percent between 2000 and 2008 deteriorating fiscal deficits sharply rising Crown debt floating mortgage interest rates at almost 11 percent in June 2008—currently they are at less than 6 percent—finance companies collapsing left right and centre and the economy was on two negative credit watches. Per capita GDP had stalled since 2004. That is what we inherited; that is what happened. The tradable side of the economy had peaked in 2004 and it had been shrinking ever since. Growth in exports was at just one-third of previous levels—and those members are the people who want to run the economy again! 
I think that New Zealanders are very very happy with the leadership of John Key and with Bill English as the Minister of Finance. They are doing a fantastic job of bringing stability in difficult times and of bringing growth. We are seeing that jobs are beginning to be created in this environment. I believe that we have the right principles in place and that we will continue to see our economy grow and prosper. New Zealanders have good jobs and earn good money. Thank you.