Prime Willow-JeanWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Thank you Mr Speaker for this opportunity to take a brief call in the debate this afternoon. I just want to start by actually rejecting the comments that have been made by the previous speaker Melissa Lee. Our economy is in good shape. We know that unemployment is down—its lowest in a decade—and we have the highest annual wage growth in a decade. Our minimum wage is up. Our economy is actually growing faster in spite of what is happening internationally in terms of in the United States between the United States and China what's been happening with Brexit and other global uncertainty and destabilisation around the world.So we are actually here in New Zealand doing really well in spite of what's happening in the global markets. But we do acknowledge and we do recognise that lifting New Zealand's productivity is absolutely crucial. I find it interesting some of the points that have been made today because actually it was identified in 2013: the OECD specifically urged New Zealand to provide more support for the expansion of early firms to help them address our productivity problem. It wasn't until now in 2019 when we are in Government that we are actually taking steps to do that.We used this year's Budget to create a fund of $300 million for capital to be invested to be available to be invested to support the type of growth and scaling up that we want to see in Aotearoa New Zealand. So I want to commend particularly the Minister who is sponsoring this bill whose name this bill is in because it was the Hon David Parker's idea as acknowledged by our Minister of Finance in the speeches in the first reading of this bill.So what we're really talking about here is the opportunity to have a pool of funds available to support our start-up companies beyond the initial sort of seed funding or angel investment that they are able to get where they are able to scale up their businesses without having to go overseas.Last night I had the absolute honour and privilege of attending the national award dinner for the Youth Enterprise scheme. We saw our taitamariki the regional winners all converge in Wellington to put their pitches for their business ideas to what is essentially a taniwha's den or dragon's den and the—Dr Duncan Webb: Ha! Red taniwha.WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: Yeah that's right—taniwhas. We saw them receive national awards and overall awards. I want to mention two in particular that stuck out for me which having this type of fund may give them some hope that their businesses could potentially scale up with the support of New Zealand funding and not necessarily having to go overseas.The first one I want to talk about is particularly interesting because it is in the area of technology and it's in the area of sustainability which is an area that we as a Government are particularly interested in. Now that is Mud Tech—they are from Kaitaia College Kaitaia Abundant Life School and Te Kura Taumata o Panguru Papa Taiao and they have developed a remote underwater camera drone designed and built for inspecting the bottom of boats for pest species. Now they are currently working with our regional council in the Far North but they are looking to work with other councils throughout Aotearoa if there is interest there. This is something that could potentially be used throughout the world. We have a serious threat in terms of marine pests. They received one of their national awards from our Minister for Primary Industries the Hon Damien O'Connor. So I'm so proud of them—and watch this space I reckon.The second one I want to talk about in the time that I've got left was Sharndre from Crimson Education—they received a Young Enterprise Emerging Alumni Award—25 years old 24 offices around the world more than 200 employees and worth over $400 million. Now if our youth can see that there is a fund available where they could scale up their businesses without having to go overseas to look for that capital to scale up their businesses then I think there is a lot of hope for them.So I want to thank the Finance and Expenditure Committee for the work that they did on this.Dr Duncan Webb: You did it.WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: I also want to acknowledge—I am on that committee—the submitters for their feedback. One of the points that we did take into consideration was the inclusion of an inclusive economy in the list of things to be considered.