3. Economy—ReportsHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Reports3. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by the statements and policies of this Government regarding New Zealand's economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in their appropriate context. Hon Amy Adams: If he stands by his commitment to grow prosperity in New Zealand then how is an economy that is losing momentum business confidence that is still falling and a Government that is loading more costs and taxes on to New Zealanders going to help grow our prosperity?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Government is not doing virtually any of the things that the member has suggested. I point her to yesterday's New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) consensus forecasts which show growth in the economy averaging around 3 percent—exactly what's forecast in the Budget. This Government is actually making progress in shifting us from an economy based on housing speculation and population growth to one that's based on productivity and sustainability. It might take a bit of time to undo what the previous Government did but we're getting on with the job.Hon Amy Adams: Does he agree with Westpac's analysis last week that the New Zealand economy will continue to underperform its peers for the next few years or ASB's analysis this week that the post-election slump in business confidence has lasted longer than we initially expected—in particular measures of businesses' expectations for their own activity—and that New Zealand could be entering a danger zone due to uncertainty and low business confidence?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I don't. What I look to is what's actually happening in the economy. For instance yesterday we saw the services index which shows that it's growing. We've seen the BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index staying positive. We saw the Truckometer last week. What the member needs to appreciate is that it will take some time to shift the economy to a more productive more sustainable basis away from the previous Government's speculative approach but we're getting on with doing the job.Hon Amy Adams: Why are virtually all independent commentators pointing to his Government's new policies as major contributors to the coming economic slowdown and yet he stands here denying and deflecting any accountability at all?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I reject the assertions in that member's question and I point her to yesterday's consensus forecast brought together by NZIER which shows that the economy's growth continues to be solid. We have a big job to do to rebuild infrastructure and make sure that our social services are in a decent state. We're getting on with the job but we can't correct nine years of failure in nine months.Hon Amy Adams: Does he agree with his colleague David Parker's assessment that the ANZ business confidence survey is junk or is this just another example of this Government's arrogant and dismissive attitude to any advice it doesn't like?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I would say is that I agree with Cameron Bagrie who said those surveys are very poor barometers" and that they should be thrown out. We have to look at a range of measures to assess the success of the New Zealand economy."