Young Jonathan: General Debate 
Young Jonathan: General Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20268] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 When the National-led Government came into power wanting to build a brighter future for all New Zealanders this country was already in recession. Well before the global financial crisis hit us the pre-election fiscal update told us that we were faced with never-ending deficits preceded by a 50 percent increase in core Government spending under the previous regime. 
The tradable sector—that part that our exporters and other companies have to compete with in the international market—was only about 30 percent of the economy. Since 2004 it had flat-lined. That is the part of the economy that earns us our wealth. The part of the economy that spends our wealth the non-tradable sector was about 70 percent of the economy. It does not take much to see the disparity and the imbalance that grew under the auspices of the previous Government. This imbalance has accelerated since 2004 when the tradable sector went into recession. 
We have taken responsible decisions to restrict the build-up in Government debt and get Government spending and finances under control. Because of the sense of the New Zealand public Kiwis are backing National’s action plan for the economy. They know we are responsible managers. We have only to look at the latest poll from Fairfax Media and Research International which shows that 49 percent of voters think National has the best plan to fix the economy. That is well ahead of Labour which is on 17 percent. 
The news gets even worse for Labour with only 48 percent of its supporters backing its plan to fix the economy. The Government is delivering its economic agenda based on a six-point plan to boost growth and create high-value jobs over the next 3 to 5 years. We are supporting better science innovation and trade; removing red tape and unnecessary regulation; delivering better smarter public services; investing in productive infrastructure; and lifting education and skills and we have created a growth-enhancing tax system. 
Think of a supermarket. Historically New Zealand has been very good at producing the items sold around the outside edge of the store: meat fruit and dairy products. The future of our industries particularly in the food and beverage sectors is to move a big chunk of our activities into the centre of the supermarket by making value-added processed and packaged goods. The food and beverages sector of the economy remains the linchpin of our prosperity generating $27 billion in 2009 or over half of our export earnings from merchandise traded annually. That sector directly or indirectly employs one in five of the working population. This is why we support the agricultural sector of our economy. It is such a generator of wealth jobs prosperity and growth for New Zealanders. In 2010 our exports to China rose a staggering 33 percent to $4.8 billion. 
We have introduced the biggest reform of the tax system in 25 years. It rewards work and savings discourages borrowings and consumption and significantly tightens tax rules on property speculation. Each year an extra $850 million is coming in through tighter tax rules on property speculation. We have rebalanced the tax burden. Treasury has done the calculations. It states that the entire tax package presented by the National Government as we heard the Prime Minister say today is effectively neutral in terms of distribution. 
In respect of GST let us not forget that the last time GST was increased was in 1989 by the then Labour Government. GST went from 10 percent to 12.5 percent. The only difference between then and now is that that Labour Government of which Phil Goff was a member did not compensate New Zealanders with a tax cut at the same time. That Government just took without giving back. Guess what? Labour is on the take again. 
We have turned back 2008 forecasts of never-ending deficits and soaring debt by setting a path back to surplus by 2014-15 a year earlier than projected.