McClay Todd: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 04 April 2012. Volume:679;Page:1658. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to rise and speak in the general debate today and what an important day it is for us. It is an important day where we can focus on the economy and the important things that we must do as a Government—the things we were elected to do only a few months ago.  
Before I get into some of the cut and thrust of the great things this Government is doing and by comparison the waste of energy that has been put in from the Opposition on many debates around these issues can I recognise the Hon Simon Bridges whose seat I happen to stand beside at the moment. I congratulate him on his elevation to being a Minister. I believe that he will do an excellent job. Can I say that in the Bay of Plenty from memory every single seat is held by a National MP. That tells you something about the direction the Bay of Plenty wants to go in. It is held still by National Party MPs; 3 years ago that was the case as well. Can I say that Mr Bridges will do a great job and I look forward to the work that he will do with us.  
John Banks gave an excellent speech—an excellent speech. Do you know why there was so much noise and barracking from the other side of the House? They just wish that they could deliver a speech with such passion foresight and direction as that. Can I say that I picked up one theme from Mr Banks’ speech and it is why there was so much barracking. The thing about the Opposition is that the Greens and Labour want to tax and spend and tax and spend and tax and spend and then spend some more. That is the problem with socialism: sooner or later you run out of other people’s money to spend. Did we not see that over 9 long years of a cold winter of the Government of Labour?  
What is the difference between what it did and the harm that it therefore caused over 9 years and the short 3 years we have been in Government? The reason that John Key was elected Prime Minister of this country was that New Zealanders said they wanted a more stable Government and a clear direction for this country. Over the last 3 years the National-led Government has proven that it can deliver strong stable economic management in extremely difficult times—the steepest recession New Zealand has faced in 60 years. Strong stable economic management has been provided by John Key in difficult times.  
These next 3 years are about making our economy more competitive so that it can fulfil more of its potential. That was the problem of the 9 years of the Labour Government. It had all the potential in the world but what happened to our productive economy—to the people who produce things who sell them and who reinvest that money to grow the economy? They were already in recession for 6 years. The last Labour Government was fantastic at spending other people’s money but those who produced it who trusted the Government to spend it well on their behalf were going backwards and boy did they feel it. The next 3 years is about making our economy more competitive so that it can fulfil its potential and so that New Zealand businesses can employ people and be more productive more competitive and do more not the Government employing more people with other people’s money.  
Our Prime Minister has set out a number of priorities: responsibly managing the Government’s finances building a productive and competitive economy delivering better public services within tight financial constraints and rebuilding Christchurch. In terms of the first priority very important will be Budget surpluses returning by 2014-15 so that we can start repaying debt which has already increased from 5.6 percent in 2007-08 to 20 percent in the 2010-11 year and it is expected to rise further over the next 3 years. It is very important that we get our spending under control. It is not just about how much money a Government is receiving; most important it is about how we are spending that money. As taxpayers every day I hear from my constituents who say to me they want us to be more careful with their money to invest it more wisely on their behalf. They do not want to see the frivolity of those 9 years of Labour; they want us to direct this towards a return for them a better Public Service delivering more for them. We did that over 3 years and that is the single focus that we have over this 3 years making sure our economy goes from strength to strength.  
In the business community there are six key areas we must focus on and do more in: capital markets reform—a lot of work was done over those 3 years but in the Commerce Committee of which I was formerly a member there is a lot more work to be done there—innovation and ideas and ideas are something that we do not hear a lot of from the other side of the House; skilled and safe workplaces; natural resources; infrastructure; and developing our export markets.  
I will conclude here by saying that in my part of New Zealand—