Bennett David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 13 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7778. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
1. 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What will be the main focus of Budget 2013? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Today I announced that Budget 2013 will be delivered on Thursday 16 March. It will continue the Government’s prudent management of the economy as we move from recession to recovery. It will focus on four priority areas: responsibly managing the Government’s finances building a more competitive economy to encourage businesses to grow and employ delivering better public services and continuing the rebuilding of Christchurch. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think the Minister inadvertently made a mistake in his answer. He may want to correct the March date to a May date which he announced this morning. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: We thank the member for his point. I think the correction is made. 
David Bennett 
: Why is controlling Government expenditure an important part of the Budget? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Because between 2000 and 2009 core Crown expenditure jumped from $35 billion to $64 billion an increase of 84 percent. If we had stuck with that rate of spending Treasury forecast that the Government would now be spending well over $80 billion per year. In fact we are spending currently around $73 billion and Government expenditure as a proportion of GDP is dropping from 35 percent of the economy to 31 percent over the next 3 or 4 years. At the same time as holding Government expenditure we are improving public services and getting better results for the public. 
David Bennett 
: How will Government policies help increase job opportunities? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Government policies are supporting businesses in times when it is difficult to create new jobs. Job growth occurs when employers businesses and the Government have sufficient resources to invest and the confidence to hire a new employee. It is a product of both foreign and domestic investment. We will focus on continuing as we have done for the last 4 years to create the best environment we can for businesses to make the decision to invest and employ. 
David Bennett 
: What progress is the Government making in its economic plan? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Despite the fact that conditions remain tough we are continuing to make moderate progress. We would expect to see the economy grow at an average of around 2 percent in real terms. New Zealanders are saving more exports are continuing to grow interest rates are at a 50-year low and real wages continue to grow. At the same time we are getting on with the rebuilding of Christchurch. Compared with many other developed economies New Zealand’s is doing pretty well. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Given his statement at the select committee this morning that the New Zealand economy is “training for a triathlon” is the triathlon that New Zealanders are taking part in under his Government that firstly they are working long hours for low pay; secondly they are losing their jobs due to the high Kiwi dollar; and then thirdly they are making the trans-Tasman dash? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The member may recall the context for that remark was his proposition that we should get printing money to fix all our problems. I explained to him that the economies where they are doing that are like a patient on a table in the emergency room where they are trying to decide what kind of respirator to give them. Compared with that New Zealand is like the person outside training for a triathlon—that is we are in much better shape than economies like those of the UK and Europe. That is why we are not adopting the member’s silly policies. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Is the Minister confident that his neo-liberal policy agenda is very successful in light of the fact that New Zealand is now approaching a 6.5 percent current account deficit under Treasury’s own estimates when he promised that he would rebalance the economy and we currently have record high unemployment—unemployment that has not been this high since his party was last in Government? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The member points to a number of real challenges for the economy. New Zealand has a 30-year history of current account deficits. We believe we are making some progress but it will take time to make that progress. But there is no problem that he has come up with that will be fixed by cranking up the Greens’ photocopier and printing money.