3. Business Confidence—Actions and ReportsHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceBusiness Confidence—Actions and Reports3. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all of his statements policies and actions?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context that they were given made and undertaken.Hon Amy Adams: Will he pay more attention to the latest New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion released today than he has to previous reports of declining confidence given that we now have a series of indicators showing a sharp increase in pessimism in the economy with the decline in business confidence in this survey to a net 19 percent of businesses expecting economic conditions to worsen in the second half of the year?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I take seriously the concerns of business and business sentiment but we have to look at the economy as a whole. We've got a strong surplus unemployment's low there's going to be a sustained period of growth employee confidence is up consumer confidence is steady. There's a lot more to the economy than one survey.Hon Amy Adams: Well given his repeated pointing to own activity measures does he agree with NZIER whose survey reported an 8 percent decline in businesses' own activity which they say point[s] to softer economic growth in the second half of 2018" being now the second business survey in as many weeks to have own activity figures falling to single digits?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member's statement at the end there is factually correct but I continue to implore her to look at the long-term correlation between business confidence and GDP growth and to note that in the years between 2000 and 2009 there was on average 3.2 percent growth and around 82 of 99 months were seen to be pessimistically viewed by business.Hon Amy Adams: Well is he going to take any responsibility at all for businesses in the NZIER survey reporting that cost pressures have increased sharply indicating these costs will be passed on to consumers at an increased cost of living?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I'll take responsibility for the fact that this Government is finally getting on with funding for example transport which for nine years was ignored by that side of the House who now cry foul because we've actually decided to fund our transport plans rather than the billions of dollars that Simon Bridges left as a gap in Auckland transport.Hon Amy Adams: Will he be speaking with his colleague Shane Jones the self-appointed champion of the regions as to why according to this latest NZIER survey pessimism remained pervasive across the regions and in particular in Taranaki?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Nine months in we've set up a Provincial Growth Fund that's putting out millions of dollars into our regions. It will put a billion dollars out over this year and another $2 billion over the next two years. That means this Government will have done tenfold more than the previous Government to grow our regions.Hon Amy Adams: When will he acknowledge that his Government's policies such as higher fuel taxes shutting down oil and gas and pro-union industrial relations reforms are a core driver of business confidence plummeting under his watch?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I'll repeat what I said in my first answer. There are a lot of measures of the health of the economy. One of the most important of those measures is the fact that we have a surplus that unemployment is coming down that we actually have sustained growth in the future and that confidence is shared across the economy. Employee confidence is up consumer confidence is steady and we're working with the business community to lift their confidence."