Carter David: Budget Debate 
Carter David: Budget Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:4211] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 As the National Ministers assembled back here in the latter part of January after the Christmas break and started work on progressing Budget 2009 we were increasingly aware that this Budget was going to be a difficult Budget. We had the revelation of declining tax revenues. We had revelation after revelation of unfunded commitments made by the previous Government which we had to face. It was inevitable that the process involved in making a Budget to meet ever-increasing global financial conditions was going to be a difficult one. But I think that if members on the other side of the House wanted to be upfront and honest they would agree with most of the commentators I have read throughout the media that Budget 2009 will be recognised as a turning point for this country. 
We have now seen a decade of the previous Government’s excessive very poor-quality and reckless spending. The previous Labour Government spent and spent in an attempt to buy election after election. I thank God that the New Zealand voting public finally woke up at election 2008 to the situation of Labour going out scratching any itch and being prepared to solve the matter by giving it more money. But the situation was finally recognised for what it was worth by the voting public of New Zealand. That previous Labour Government had no interest at all in the long-term prosperity of New Zealand. That is why so many young and talented New Zealanders left in their tens of thousands over the last decade. They knew that the situation the previous Government was coping in was about nothing but naked self-interest and about Labour staying in Government. Thank God the New Zealand voting public finally woke up! 
After the Budget was delivered in the Chamber last Thursday I have to say I witnessed the most desperate speech by the Leader of the Opposition Mr Goff that I have ever heard him deliver. People have been phoning my office asking whether the man was well. His speech was unbelievable and the defining comment for me was when he said either in all honesty or in total ignorance that he thought Labour had left this economy in good shape. That is what he said. But I well remember seeing Dr Cullen on TV the night he was forced by legislation to deliver the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. Dr Cullen stood before the TV cameras and gloated. He gloated that he had left this country with a legacy of 10 years of deficit. That happened because the Government had been prepared to spend recklessly.  
So what do we face? These figures sum it all up: over the last 5 years the previous Labour Government increased Government expenditure by 49 percent. At the same time tax revenue grew by 25 percent. Anybody with an ounce of economic literacy should have been able to see that that was leading to a deficit situation. That is what National faced when it came into Government. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: And what did the National Party want to do? They wanted to spend it on tax cuts. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The member Maryan Street yells out asking what National was going to do. It was going to come in and instil some fiscal discipline back into the Government so that over a period of time we would get debt back under control we would build an economy that was sustainable and delivered real prosperity for New Zealanders and we would address the flow of New Zealanders who were leaving the country by their tens of thousands because they had no hope in this country under a Labour administration. That is the scene this Budget has been set around. 
Ever since October the world has been approaching a recession. That recession has got worse since the election. It is all very well for Labour to criticise National for cancelling the tax cuts but every poll I have seen taken of the public of New Zealand shows that at least 70 percent of New Zealanders agree that in view of the declining economic conditions we made the right decision. Seventy percent of New Zealanders agree but the Labour Opposition is still so out of touch with New Zealanders. I guess that every Opposition takes a while to adjust to its position in life but we would have expected that by now the Labour Opposition would start to realise that it is completely out of sync with what most New Zealanders are saying. 
Mr Phil Goff’s comment that we did not have to worry about Standard and Poor’s rating again shows complete economic illiteracy. We heard my colleague Nick Smith talk about a figure whereby if we had not succeeded in convincing Standard and Poor’s that we were prepared to be serious about the gap the debt track that that previous Labour administration had left us with there would have been a rating downgrade. There would have been $600 million extra paid by New Zealanders not only by businesses but also by people like me and other New Zealanders with a household mortgage. They would have paid more and considerably more if we had not been prepared to present a Budget that showed that we were concerned about the ever-increasing debt level and that we were concerned about what we would potentially hand on to the next generation of New Zealanders. That is why this Budget has been so widely acclaimed by most commentators—with the exception I might add of every Labour member and Rod Oram but that would not surprise too many people. There has been a very careful balance between continuing to invest—and there has been a substantial amount of investment—and continuing to control our debt. 
In my portfolio areas I have been concentrating on making sure I can address what I see as a very serious lack of investment in the primary sector by consecutive Governments. This economy is built on primary production. For a long period of time we have achieved dramatic productivity increases on farms like mine and that of my colleague Nathan Guy. But if we are truly honest about those productivity increases we have had over recent years we acknowledge that most of the research work was done probably 20 or even 30 years ago in places like Massey University and Lincoln University. It was something that seriously had to be addressed. 
I pay credit to Mr Jim Anderton because he saw this deficit of investment in the primary sector and he attempted to set up a programme called Fast Forward. He was right in recognising that we had a deficit of investment that had been going on for decades. He was right to involve a programme with co-investment from industry. But where he was in absolute fairyland was with his notion of creating a fund of $700 million that would magically grow to $2 billion while being drawn down on over the next 15 years. No one understood the voodoo economics of Mr Anderton so I was determined to deliver something better. I have achieved that. The Primary Growth Partnership is substantially bigger than Fast Forward would ever have been. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: That is nowhere near remotely true. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Let me give the member the figures. Mr Anderton said Fast Forward would deliver $700 million in 15 years. The member can work it out for herself from the Budget document. This programme will deliver $1 billion in 15 years. Even Maryan Street can understand that $1 billion is bigger than $700 million. Well we would hope that she would be able to understand that. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No I wouldn’t count on it. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Well it is not too much to ask is it? I know that we have a literacy problem in this country but if Maryan Street cannot understand that $1 billion is bigger than $700 million then I hope that she never becomes finance spokesperson for the Labour Party. 
This Budget has finally rebalanced the excessive spending of the previous Labour Government. It does have debt increasing and I do not want to see that debt increase any more than it has to because I am concerned about my kids finding a future in this country. Every bit of debt we build up now has to be paid back by somebody. I want to make this country attractive enough for my kids to want to live here and that is what drives me here in Parliament. It is what drives me to make sure that I fulfil my election commitment to get out there and build up a really credible fund around primary sector investment. The Primary Growth Partnership has done that. It has received acclaim from every major organisation involved in the primary sector and I am personally very proud of it.