Foss Craig: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoss Craig: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 17 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1612. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CRAIG FOSS (Minister for Small Business): Well now we know. It is news to me but the Greens are now wanting to ban lifestyle blocks a house with a bit of a section on it so you could have some chickens run a dog kids could run around have a sandpit have grass between the toes. Now they want high-rise apartment blocks everywhere. I find that very interesting. Maybe I have missed something over the last few months but that was a new one to me. We do not really want too many high-rise apartment blocks in Hawkes Bay I say to the member Julie Anne Genter so perhaps we could explore that a bit more.I do agree that this House expresses its confidence in the National-led Government and commends its programme for 2015 as set out in the Prime Minister’s statement we heard a little while ago. We will continue the hard work—the hard work—that we have been undertaking for the last two terms as we turn this country to a much brighter future changing the framework and leading us a small but confident nation finding its way through the world trading its way around the world growing jobs looking after our families delivering on those social issues that concern us particularly as Kiwis while at the same time growing our economy.I was not going to go back but a previous speaker started talking about the 2008 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update—that was the one before the election when the National Government came in. Interestingly the same speaker around that time said something like “Labour’s not looking back.” and then he started talking about the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. He raised some of the points in it—fair enough—but listeners should remember that in that same Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update it talked about interest rates it talked about inflation rates and it talked about migration I believe. So given the data that that previous member talked about this is what is not happening under a National Government with our prudent management of the economy and our focus on better public services. That is what is not happening; this is what did happen in the years 2005-08 particularly under the previous Government.Mortgage rates were over 10 percent. Floating mortgage rates were over 10 percent. Working capital for businesses was well through double figures under the Labour Government. Inflation was nudging 5 percent. Inflation was nudging 5 percent under the Labour Government in that Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. It is now almost flat to under 1 percent under this Government. As for migration New Zealand families Kiwis in their droves 30000 to 40000 a year were abandoning the policies of the Labour Government with their feet and moving offshore. Friends whānau family left—some for good. Now that net result is around zero to positive in terms of Kiwis not leaving and coming home. That is the absolute stark difference between this National Government and what we inherited from that Labour Government all those years ago.The previous speaker also talked about small businesses in New Zealand. I quote from Andrew Little’s speech earlier in the year because I agree with him on this one. He said small businesses are “the engine room of job growth” and said that that is what New Zealand is. That is quite correct and he talked about Labour priorities. Fair enough—he can say those things. But as I mentioned in answer to a question today cash flow is king for small businesses. It is in the cash flow struggle that small businesses really struggle and spend so much time. So it is helpful if people pay the bills. In this example here a small business was not paid for 4 months after sending an invoice to one Andrew Little—for 4 months. The person who sent the invoice did get a response. He said: “I wrote up my notes as best I could and sent them off along with an invoice for time spent. Both were received with thanks: ‘Thanks. We got your invoice.’ That was it; 4 months later no payment no part-payment no deposit no engagement nothing.” Cash is king for small businesses and when the leader of the Labour Party does not pay bills due 4 months ago serious serious questions need to be asked not only of its policies but perhaps of the gentleman himself.Small businesses are the engine room of the economy—that is right—and they have gone from strength to strength in the last 6 or 7 years. Labour would drop the 90-day trial; we are keeping it. Labour would drop the starting-out wage; we are keeping it. Labour would bring in big minimum wage increases; we are keeping them as sustainable as we can to pay our people more. I could go on. The point being that the context the environment and the parameters under which small and large businesses have to operate under Labour are not very flash at all. Those same circumstances can be witnessed by the economic matrix before us today be it measured by migration measured by very low inflation or measured by high GDP growth across the OECD in New Zealand. I could go on. Things are looking very very good. We have done a lot of hard work. There is a lot to do and we will continue to focus on those most important things that matter. Thank you.