English Bill: Imprest Supply DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeEnglish Bill: Imprest Supply Debate[Sitting date: 06 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12407. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Third ReadingHon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):It is a pleasure to bring the Budget debate for 2013 to an end. It is a Budget that has been welcomed by the public but the debate about it in here has been particularly shallow as I think was indicated by the last speaker Clayton Cosgrove who was reiterating the best ideas that Labour had in 1994. Labour members are still talking about the same stuff. If there is a sense of unreality it is in the public’s understanding that Opposition members have not really moved from 1994 and the dynamics of that time. They are still talking to a world that is quite different from the one we are in.I just want to acknowledge today the resilience and the pragmatism of so many New Zealanders who are dealing with difficult circumstances with a positive attitude. Theyare trying to resolve their own problems rather than expecting everyone else to resolve them for them. We find in discussions with all sorts of groups across our community whether it is churches orMāori or iwi or social sector groups a strong sense of willingness to get to the nitty-gritty to resolve problems rather than hang on to them and repeat them for political benefit and increasingly a sense of optimism that we are starting to achieve some things.Just one stray fact that came across this morning is that youth offending has dropped by about 30 percent faster than the crime rate is dropping. I would be the last to claim that that is because of a specific Government programme. What it is because of is a commitment across a broad range of community initiatives supported by Government with action that makes a difference and a focus on the real issues. That is what is adding up to a difference. All that is going on in an economy that has clawed its way out of recession and is starting to show some optimism.There are some imbalances at the heart of this Budget. At the heart of this Budget is a strong focus on housing—Hon Phil Goff: 6.4 percent unemployment again.Hon BILL ENGLISH: —both affordable housing and social housing. I would like to point out to the member that this Budget included the most significant changes in State housing in 70 years with the broad support of the housing sector. We all realise that we can do a better job of assisting those who have serious housing needs as well as running a more efficient property portfolio run by the Government and more important affordable housing.The Government has taken a pretty straightforward view based on sound research. The thing that cuts a lot of Kiwis out of the housing market is restrictive planning laws that stop the supply of new houses. There are a whole lot of other things that have some influence on the housing market but this Budget is decisively focused on the biggest single influence. In the absence of action taken by this Government in that respect it is quite likely that interest rates would be rising sooner faster and in a way that would cost every household in New Zealand more. Interest rates probably are going to rise at some stage but the actions we are taking are pushing that back and putting less pressure into the housing market.The debate I think was characterised on the Opposition’s side by its shallowness. The problem for the Opposition is partly that it is still stuck in a period some almost 20 years ago now but partly that it is just not doing the work to refresh the centre-left’s intellectual way of looking at the policy world. It is just not happening. What the Opposition has relied on is that the politics will fall in its lap. The nasty Tories will slash and burn. They will cut services. The public will hate it and therefore vote Labour. That has not happened.In fact the striking feature of this Budget is that of all the developed countries we are one of the quicker ones to get back to surplus at the same time as increasing public services and improving the public’s perception of public services and that has been an achievement of the National-led Government and its support parties. What has become clear is that the thing that saves the Government money is a better-performing Public Service. What works for the community works for the Government’s books. When we educate a child properly in their first 12 years in the system we do not have to do it again. We save money. If we sort out the alcohol and drug problem of a prisoner in prison they are less likely to reoffend and if they do not we save $90000 per year. One of the more satisfying results of the policy of this Government has been the fact that prisoner numbers are now flat-lining and in my view will start to decrease reflecting the same kind of trend as youth offending.The Opposition got lazy and it has been caught out. In this Budget we have addressed the issue that worries middle New Zealand the most and that is the housing market both for the wider macroeconomic risks—if it goes up too fast and then collapses—but also because of the pressure on the back pockets of New Zealand families trying to get ahead. I think we have now finally persuaded the public that you can get back to surplus you can have responsible fiscal management at the same time as doing a better job for those in the wider community who are the most vulnerable and most in need of support.Finally can I thank our support parties. Putting Budgets together when you are a small support party is not easy but we have found strong pressure from each of our support parties—theMāori Party the ACT Party and United Future—to get what they believe is good for their constituents and New Zealand but at the same time there has been a willingness to resolve those tensions into a coherent plan. They deserve a great deal of credit for that and that is not always noticed.We are very proud of this Budget but of course we are only as good as the next one. We are only as good as the next one and the next Budget has to be about not just getting to surplus but delivering real benefits and improved public services—some real ambition there—and also allowing all those New Zealanders and their businesses and organisations to grow this economy. We know one thing: the answer to a better-growing economy is not the one we are hearing from the other side of the House which is more regulations and more tax. Everyone else knows that that is not the answer. What is the answer is more innovation more risk taking more savings more exports—more of the things that New Zealanders have shown they can do so well at even in the difficult circumstances of the last 4 or 5 years.