Lotu-Iiga Sam: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10458. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie): Malo le soifua maua ma lagi e mama lau afioga le taitaile fono nei o le palmene o Niu Sila Aotearoa.[Greetings to you the Honourable Mr Speaker of the House of Representatives of Aotearoa New Zealand.]Good evening Mr Assistant Speaker. Good evening to our guests in the gallery and to all those listening across this country and watching this debate. Budget 2013 is about building momentum. Budget 2013 is about leadership it is about stewardship and it is about a vision for this country to go forward. For that I commend the Hon Bill English for bringing this Budget to the House and for bringing his steady conservative leadership to our country. It is built on the four previous Budgets of this John Key - led National Government. It is about responsibly managing the books and the accounts of this country. It is about building a competitive and productive economy and delivering better public services as well as rebuilding Christchurch.I want to just answer my friend and colleague Louisa Wall from across the aisle about access to health services before I do talk about what is pertinent within this Budget. There are many general practitioner services throughout South Auckland where she is the member of Parliament for Manurewa. They are very low-cost access practices where children by and large receive free access to health care to primary care and where the maximum amount paid is quite a low-code payment. It was a policy that was implemented by the Labour Government and it was continued by this National-led Government so I do beg to differ around the access to services not only across South Auckland but also including in my own electorate of Maungakiekie.What we inherited 5 years ago was an economy teetering on the brink of a collapse. There was forecast a decade of deficits going forward. The global financial crisis was beginning to hit. Many countries across Europe particularly were suffering quite distressing circumstances financially where high unemployment rates were the order of the day. So what this National-led Government has done by coming in and rescuing the finances of this country is we have now got to the point where we have some of the lowest interest rates in the Western hemisphere where we have the lowest inflation rate in the civil world of under 1 percent and where our economy is actually in the sort of top 12 countries in terms of economic growth.You might ask why that is important. Why is it important that growth stimulates this economy? It is because growth produces jobs. It produces jobs. As far as my constituents in Maungakiekie are concerned when I go out and door-knock and when Igo out to the markets and talk to business owners and I talk to schoolkids and residents what they are after is an economy that produces jobs for their parents where their parents are able to look after the kids feed them clothe them and get them educated and where they can enjoy the Kiwi lifestyle that many of us—many of us across this country—have become accustomed to over the years.This morning 2300000 people went to work in this country. Over 2.3 million people went to work in New Zealand this morning and that is more than at any other time in our history—any other time in our history. We know that 50000 jobs have been created over the last couple of years and it is not because of the Government by the way. All that this Government does is set a framework set an environment from which jobs can be created. Often those jobs are created by the private sector. So we have got a situation today where the unemployment rate has dipped down to 6.2 percent the household income has risen by 20 percent in the past 4 years and where superannuitants—[Interruption] Members opposite know this. Superannuitants’ real incomes have gone up by more over the last 5 years than they ever did under the Labour Government—more than ever under the Labour Government.What I want to focus on is export growth. Export growth is the key to delivering jobs in this economy. Mr Mallard knows because he was a Minister in the last Government. In the last 5 years of the last Labour Government exports contracted in 5 consecutive years under the Labour Government—in 5 consecutive years—but we know that under this Government we have grown the export sector. We have had a compound annual average of 4.6 percent over the past 4 years—4.6 percent. That is a record that we can be proud of as a National Government and it is a record that creates jobs.I have just come back from the United States where we had a trade mission. I was with some iconic Kiwi companies like Vista—Hon Trevor Mallard: Name-dropper.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: —like Orion Health—and Mr Mallard knows this but he denies it. But let me talk to you about Vista. Vista is a cinema-ticketing software company. Mr Mallard knows it but Mr Jones and Mr Cosgrove were there and they have seen these companies. This company in 2008 had a revenue of $11 million and today that company now generates sales of over $38 million which is three and a half times what it was. Under the National Government under this environment—Hon Trevor Mallard: And how did they get started?Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: —under the framework that we have set it has more than tripled its revenue. But it gets better Mr Mallard. It gets better. Its profits have almost tripled from $3.5 million to $10 million and its employees—Mr Mallard will like this because he was formerly a Minister of Labour; he will like this—have gone from numbering 38 to 175 under the 5 years of this National Government. This is another success story of an export-driven company that is supported by this Government that is nurtured by this Government and that is encouraged by this National Government to expand and export goods.Orion Health—$150 million—is another company that under this Government and the conditions that we have set is really thriving in the United States of America. When we have opened up more trade routes when we have negotiated more free-trade agreements whether it is—Louisa Wall: And the relevance to the Pacific community in Samoan Language Week is?Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: —yes the Trans-Pacific Partnership with America and with Canada and with Japan Viet Nam and Malaysia—when those markets are opened up we can expect more export-led growth in this economy.I just want to make one more point around why this Budget is delivering for New Zealanders and it is in the area of housing. The Hon Nick Smith has brought a package of reforms to this House that addresses one of the key issues of our times and that is around housing affordability. Under the Labour Government between 1999 and 2008—Louisa Wall: 200 premature deaths every year.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: —and Louisa Wall knows this. She knows this. Under those 9 years average house prices in Auckland went up by 91 percent which is two and a half times the rate they are going up under this National Government—two and a half times the rate. So what we are doing as a Government is providing land supply. We have set up an inquiry that will look at building material and construction costs and look at how productivity in the housing sector could be improved. The Productivity Commission in its report stated quite clearly Louisa Wall—and you know this—that land supply was the critical issue in terms of unlocking housing affordability both in Auckland and around the country. So this reform is going to speed up consents it is going to release more land for development and it is going to put more Aucklanders into homes in the next 3 years than was ever accomplished under the Labour Government.So I return to just summarise that this Budget is again about managing finances and it is about addressing matters that really are important to New Zealanders. It is about an education system that is robust and growing. It is about a health system that can be relied upon and trusted. But most of all it is about creating jobs for families who want to look after their own who want to be independent of the State and who are confident and optimistic and give hope to those who want to get out there and produce for our country. Thank you.