Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 18 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7775. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. Tomorrow marks the 1-year anniversary of the new National-led Government and the first year of the premiership of John Key. It has been a very interesting year. 
To take people back a little bit I point out that when the new Government came in it inherited an economy that was in very very bad shape. New Zealand had been in recession for almost a year at that stage and the fundamentals of the economy were in extremely bad shape. To put that comment into context the tradable sector in the New Zealand economy had been in recession for 5 years—it had shrunk by some 10 percent over that period of time—but the non-tradable sector which is the bit that does not bring income into the country had grown by some 15 percent. 
In short under the brilliant economic leadership of the previous Labour Government the part of the economy that brings in income had shrunk and the part of the economy that demands income had grown. That is why we face very large deficits for a few years ahead and why we have had to make some difficult choices. Those choices by and large have been made with the best interests of the New Zealand people in mind. I think that the way in which the public have responded to this Government indicates that they understand that. 
I will list a few things that the Government has done in the last short while. Firstly there have been $1 billion worth of tax cuts to stimulate the economy. Front-line services have been boosted in health education and policing. Superannuation payments have also been maintained. The 2009 Budget attempted to put a curb on the growing national debt. Savings have been protected through the Crown Wholesale Funding Guarantee Facility and Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme. The Job Summit generated an environment where people could talk about the way in which we work together to save jobs in the economy. We have assisted 3500 workers through the Job Support Scheme and the 9-day working fortnight proposal. We have created 17000 Youth Opportunities jobs which will provide those opportunities over the next 2 years. We have supported 5500 people through the Restart package after they were made redundant. We have made 180000 homes warmer and drier through our insulation programme. 
We have capped the number and size of the core bureaucracy and we have put $7.5 billion into infrastructure and $500 million into a general relief package to make life simpler and easier for small businesses. The Resource Management Act has been simplified. Major reviews are about to conclude to improve taxation and the health system to get a better deal out of the electricity system and to improve building regulations overseas investment and next week the emissions trading scheme. A further $190 million has been invested over 4 years in the Primary Growth Partnership. 
All of that leads to a package of measures that shows leadership for the New Zealand economy at a time when things are tough. That is where the difference comes between this Government and the Opposition. Labour members have no economic credibility whatever. What we saw today in question time demonstrates just how bad it is. Rather than those members asking serious questions about how this country grows the economy how we protect jobs how we lift incomes for New Zealanders and how we give our young people a brighter future we had David Cunliffe the Opposition spokesman on finance asking why he never got on TVNZ 7. That is the biggest issue on his desk at the present time: trying to work out why he was not the one who was picked to do the promotion. 
I think that highlights the second problem Labour members have which is that they have no leadership whatsoever—no leadership whatsoever. Day after day they wheel poor old Phil Goff into the House with his shaking hands as he trembles his way through his questions reading them off the bits of paper that Annette King has just handed him. He gets pummelled by the Prime Minister and by anybody else whom he dares to put a question to. In the public perception he is simply not making cutting points which I think is causing a degree of confusion in the minds of many many New Zealanders.