Ryall Tony: Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand Integration Bill — First Reading 
Ryall Tony: Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand Integration Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4347] 
Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to take the first call from the National Party in Opposition on this bill. Before I address the substance of the matter I want to say to the Minister in charge of the bill that in deciding to concertina the select committee process from what might have been only a couple of months to 1 month he has lifted the temperature considerably on this debate. Quite substantial parts of this bill warrant investigation by a committee. The Minister will find that he has a majority in the House for the bill but what concerns me is his decision that it needs to be rushed through in 1 month. I know the Commerce Committee currently has a workload that would facilitate the passing of this bill through the committee probably within 2 months but certainly there should be sufficient public notice. What will happen now is that this bill will go before the Commerce Committee this week. The committee will place advertisements calling for submissions—which will take at least 2 weeks—and then there will be 2 weeks for it to consider the bill. Of those 2 weeks at least 1 week will be in an adjournment and over Easter. The select committee process is being unnecessarily concertinaed. If the Minister had not put a time limit on it the process of the bill would have been smoother and he would have got better deliberation within the select committee. Having just 1 month for this major change to the structure of industry support in New Zealand is not appropriate. I ask the Minister to reconsider the motion he wants to move—1 month is not enough. 
I draw members’ minds back to 5 February 2001—to a new superyacht development in west Auckland. According to the Government that development will deliver hundreds of jobs and up to $600 million in export earnings over the coming years. The $18 million construction facility to be built on surplus defence land at Hobsonville is being set up by expatriate Kiwi Bill Lloyd who is returning to New Zealand to expand the Canadian superyacht-building firm Sovereign Yachts. Announcing the project Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton said the downstream benefits of the venture would flow on to the rest of New Zealand. He said the Government had not given the company any money to come to New Zealand although his ministry had been able to clear obstacles to the use of the defence land. Further the Prime Minister of New Zealand went on to say that this latest investment was just a flagship of the Industry New Zealand programme and an indication of the true commitment of the Government to industry development in New Zealand. 
The National Party’s concern about this bill is not only about the concertinaing of the time frame but also about the fact that there is no regulatory impact statement attached to the bill. We have no idea what impact this legislation will have on business compliance cost or regulation nor is there a cost-benefit analysis on the benefits of doing what we are doing. This bill has been rushed into the House. There is a 1-month submission period no regulatory impact statement and no cost-benefit analysis. That is concerning because we think the whole Industry New Zealand-Trade New Zealand merger needs quite considerable analysis by a select committee. This Government has just given $1.5 million to Ross Perot. During his presidential campaign Ross Perot used to spend $1.5 million on one 30-second advertisement and now Industry New Zealand is giving his company EDS $1.5 million to set up some sort of lower-order call centre here in New Zealand. As Mr Hide says it is Jim Anderton who is giving him that money. 
We are concerned about what is going on at Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand. We think it is vital that firstly we rationalise the Government’s business assistance mechanisms. Right now there are over 32 different Government funds and schemes to which business can apply for assistance. There are myriad different entities and organisations—Trade New Zealand Industry New Zealand Technology New Zealand—the list of different structures just goes on and on. It is right that we should be looking at the integration and consolidation of Government business support programmes. Indeed the National Party talked at some length about doing that before the last election. 
We are totally supportive of some of the functions that Industry New Zealand and Trade New Zealand perform. The best work they do is to provide advice and some direction to people who are interested in the start-up process or a new investment. I am very sceptical of the grants they give out to organisations particularly the larger organisations. The announcement made by the Government in February 2001 promised hundreds of jobs and up to $600 million in exports from Sovereign Yachts. What we know today is that redundancy notices are being issued to the workers at Sovereign Yachts. We also know that the Prime Minister Helen Clark is strongly supportive of the investment the Government made in Sovereign Yachts. She said it proved the sense of the Government’s business support programmes but those programmes were just made a mockery of. 
The fact is that the select committee should not be limited to 1 month to consider this bill. At a time like this it is important that the Government’s overall economic strategy be put under the microscope. Looking at this bill it is clear that the Government is fiddling with bureaucracy while business burns. Just in the last few days Parliament has become aware of the significant reduction in business confidence that is happening in the New Zealand economy. The Westpac McDermott Miller consumer confidence survey which was conducted before the war on Iraq shows that a net 6 percent of respondents are pessimistic about New Zealand’s prospects over the next 12 months. Most respondents feel financially worse off today than they did 12 months ago and that has nothing to do with Iraq. It is very significant that the growth we have been seeing in New Zealand has been driven by the strong recovery in rural export markets which are facing considerable drop-offs in their income. 
On Sunday night the latest Colmar Brunton poll showed that almost one-fifth of respondents believe that the economy will deteriorate in the next 12 months and that only 27 percent believe that the economy will improve in the next 12 months. If that is coupled with the very significant reduction in the dairy payout—from $5.30 to a projected $3.60—the stronger New Zealand dollar and the droughts in Canterbury Marlborough Taranaki and the Waikato one can see why there is considerable concern about the New Zealand economy. We are seeing no vision whatsoever from this Government about how those downward figures can be reversed. We have a Prime Minister who has described the Sovereign Yachts deal which was basically a sweetheart arrangement as “giving substance to our vision of New Zealand becoming innovators to the world turning great ideas into great ventures.” Sovereign Yachts has put paid to that. Giving $1.5 million to Ross Perot is just a waste of taxpayers’ money. 
This bill does not give any sense that this Government has any idea about how it will reverse the decline in our economic fortunes. It is just fiddling with bureaucracy when there are much more important issues it could be looking at—such as those outlined in our plan for prosperity for all New Zealanders which was released by our finance spokesman Don Brash and our leader the Hon Bill English. That document sets out a plan for going forward which is far more than this Government has ever proposed. I ask the Government to rethink its 1-month time line on this bill. It is far too important to be treated with such disdain.