Joyce Steven: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Joyce Steven: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6126. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. Last week I had the privilege to represent the Government in India supporting and encouraging some wonderful New Zealand companies and entrepreneurs and some of our excellent educational institutions that are getting out there and selling their stuff their innovation and their Kiwi ingenuity to the world. It was the same in the US a few weeks ago and it was the same when I had the opportunity to visit around the country regions like Hawke’s Bay west Auckland Palmerston North and so on. 
It is not easy for these companies. It is hard work. These people live out of suitcases they get to know new markets they deal with the heat and they deal with the cold but it is also the thrill of the challenge and succeeding in this most 21st century of pursuits—becoming successful in the global world. It is also about creating things that people value and then working with them to get them to markets partnering up with people obtaining capital and making deals. It is challenging. We have always talked about moving up the value chain but we are doing it. The euro and the US dollar are making it challenging but our companies are succeeding. They are good at it and organisations that the New Zealand taxpayer supports like New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Education New Zealand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Tourism New Zealand and the research sector are all assisting them in doing it. Our exports are up due to a lot of hard work from some great Kiwi businesses and jobs are growing. Our economy has grown in the last 12 months faster than most countries in the OECD. 
But meanwhile back home the Labour Greens New Zealand First Opposition are in a very dark space economically indeed. They are seeking to reintroduce 1970s-style fortress New Zealand economics last seen when Mr Peters arrived in Parliament. They want to somehow strong-arm down the New Zealand dollar to decouple New Zealand from the global world. Leaving aside that it does not work and that it has not worked in Switzerland and has not worked in Japan and leaving aside that if it did work it would cause massive cost of living increases for all New Zealanders and never mind the depreciation of 20 percent of the New Zealand dollar as proposed by John Walley Selwyn Pellett and other fellow travellers of the Labour Party which would put up the input costs of all New Zealand businesses they want to go ahead and do it. They want to control the New Zealand dollar and somehow decouple us from the world. 
They also want to control and prevent foreign investment in New Zealand. We had the frankly preposterous suggestion from Mr Cunliffe last week that Ministers should decide who owns Fisher and Paykel not private shareholders. Well if that actually was allowed to pass she’d be a very sorry day for capital investment in this country indeed. In fact we had a taste of that during the last decade when the sharemarket went sideways for all that time because of the strange policies of the previous Government. 
They also want to halt immigration even if it might help the rebuild in Christchurch—halt immigration even if it helps the rebuild in Christchurch. They are going to say to the people of Christchurch: “Well it would be really great for us to build these buildings but we’re not going to bring anybody in from overseas to help do this.” Two of New Zealand’s leading newspapers have used the “x” word to describe that policy. They have said xenophobia is what we are talking about with that policy. 
Meanwhile their friends in the Greens are out there trying to stop every opportunity to grow with renewed vigour. They are opposed to oil exploration. They are opposed to new mines. They are opposed to dairy farming. They are opposed to convention centres. Together imagine it: you would have the hapless Labour Party putting up the shutters to stop New Zealand being involved in the world and hiding from the world and saying the world is out there but it is too scary; meanwhile back at home you would have the Greens stopping everything from happening and Mr Peters sitting there trying to work out which way the weathervane will run on any particular day. We cannot nor should we attempt to turn the clock back to the 1970s. 
Brendan Horan 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Should he not be referring to the Rt Hon Winston Peters? [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I have asked members not to interrupt 5-minute speeches. The way the member was being referred to was not disrespectful. He referred to him as Mr Peters. I think the member is technically absolutely correct but I do not want 5-minute speeches being interrupted like that. The Hon Steven Joyce has 14 seconds remaining. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Fourteen seconds to go. We should not nor can we attempt to turn back to the 1970s. There is no mother England to buy every mutton leg we can grow. We live in a modern world. There are fantastic opportunities for New Zealand. We need to help our country become more competitive and support the companies that are getting out there and taking their chances and getting ahead.