Ardern Shane: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Shane: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 07 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:112. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson. That is a very wise call. Can I congratulate you also on your reappointment to the job. This is my first opportunity to do so. Can I say that in my time in this place I think it would be fair to say there has never been a more qualified team—that is all of the Speakers that occupy the role you do—in regard to knowledge of the Standing Orders and process in the House. I am sure you will maintain the standards that we have become accustomed to from you. Congratulations on that.  
It is always a privilege to follow my fellow Commonwealth Parliamentary Association group co-chair in one of these Address in Reply debates. She touched on a range of child poverty and social issues. I was once asked what I would consider it to be if I were considered as rich. My answer to that—and to her—is that providing I have three reasonably nutritious feeds a day have a dry bed to sleep in am able to pay the phone and power bills and the rent and have a car that will pass the warrant of fitness every 6 months I would consider myself to be rich. Of course if you look at our colleagues on the other side of the House by comparison that is not what they consider. Those things that I spoke of which are basic needs they see as the minimum or poverty. Actually if you do not have Sky TV now something needs to be done about it and social welfare should stump up!  
Let us have a look at the comparison under the National Government led by John Key. In the last term of Parliament we faced more crises I think you could say than any Government in modern history when you look at everything that went wrong during that period. The one that is I guess the most understated—and certainly completely ignored by the Opposition—is that fact that we have gone through what has been termed by international commentators the biggest economic meltdown or depression since the 1930s. I think we should reflect on that. Back at home sure there have been some companies and some individuals that have suffered during these economic times but overwhelmingly we are in a better position economically than most of our trading or competing nation colleagues. When you ask the question of why that is there is only one conclusion: because of the solid sensible considered economic policies of the Key Government. The Key Government intends to have New Zealand back in surplus by 2014. That is no mean feat. In fact some would say it is an unrealistic goal but all of the forecasts at this stage suggest that that is possible.  
I want to touch on something I think has been the No. 1 driver in that and that is the outstanding achievements within our agricultural industries. It is often overlooked I have to say—by economic commentators political commentators and our Opposition—just what role the agricultural sector plays in the New Zealand economy. What has happened in the agricultural sector? At a time when markets have shrunk when discretionary spending has shrunk and when we have faced some of the toughest economic circumstances internationally our market exports have continued to grow particularly in the dairy industry. I want to congratulate the Hon Tim Groser on the work that he and others have done in making that possible in opening up markets where markets did not exist and in doing trade deals with countries we have historically had difficulty trading with. When you look at that you see that the Key-led Government has achieved more in the previous 3 years and has a programme going forward to achieve more than anything we have seen before.  
New Zealand has always been a proud exporter of agricultural products. I have heard comment from the new Labour leader recently—quite recently actually—about how we need to spread our horizons and expand into non-commodity trading. I could not agree more. I think the Leader of the Opposition has absolutely nailed it with that comment. We must do that. But what that does not mention is the fact that about 60 percent of what Fonterra exported last year did not exist 5 years ago. Those who are suffering from asthma use inhalers. To suggest that that inhaling product if you like or carrier for those inhalers—it is a lactose-based product developed in the New Zealand dairy industry—is a bulk commodity is simplistic and childish in the extreme. We need to look at where our opportunities exist.  
If you go through the basket of products we export from that industry you will find that we have nutraceuticals pharmaceuticals high tech protein-based capsules for pharmaceuticals—the list goes on. As I said 60 percent of what was exported from our biggest company last year did not exist 5 years ago and I challenge the Opposition to have a look at some of that stuff.  
What are the big issues facing the Government going forward and what does this new National Government need to address in partnership with its support parties? The first thing that we need to address is responsibly managing the Government’s finances. If you look at the growth in the public sector through the whole 9 years of the previous Government at how sustainable that is in the current economic environment and at what the National Government has done to achieve a higher level of service from our public sector with the same level of finance then you would have to conclude as would the rest of New Zealand that that has been managed reasonably well.  
Building a more competitive and productive economy does not mean throwing up a whole lot of cost of compliance and regulation whether it be under the guise of environmental protection or whether it be under the guise of fairness and equality in terms of who pays what tax where and in terms of depreciation. Wherever you look the rhetoric that came out of the Opposition in the last term of Parliament and prior to that was to place more costs. In fact in the last term of Parliament it was suggested that dairy farmers in New Zealand do not pay enough tax and something should be done about that. Well I have some dairy-farming colleagues this year who are not that happy that they are paying you know six and seven figures in tax in some cases. I challenge others in the House or in the economy to step forward and demonstrate how they believe that dairy farmers paying a higher tax burden than they are already would be beneficial for New Zealand.  
I heard the previous speaker say that giving tax cuts to the rich is not the way forward in a struggling environment. I could not agree more if that is in fact what happened. But it is actually middle-class New Zealand that benefited the most from the last Government’s tax cuts and I would have to suggest to you that there are large cross-sections of New Zealanders now who do not pay any tax at all if they have a family given the tax rebates that they get.  
Delivering and rebuilding on the Christchurch circumstance that we find ourselves in is something that no Government would ever want or could plan for. It is the No. 1 priority for this Government and huge amounts of capital are committed to that. I do not think there is a single person in Parliament who would get up and claim that we should not be doing that. It is a question of how quickly we can do it how we fund it how New Zealand can benefit from that and going forward once that has happened how we can sustain the economy in the area.  
Introducing irrigation to the Canterbury Plains—and across the rest of New Zealand where that is possible where it is feasible and where it will give an economic return—is one of the key platforms that the Key-led Government has announced as a policy going forward. This will be hugely beneficial to the New Zealand economy. It does not mean 100 percent conversion of the Canterbury Plains to dairy. What it could mean is that we diversify the land use into a range of other developments. In fact right at the moment lamb fattening would return a higher return on investment than conversion to dairy. Markets internationally are opening up for that as well along with everything else.  
The Key-led Government has a dynamic plan going forward has shown strong leadership up to this point and will manage the New Zealand economy I think better than any other group or combination in the future. Thank you.