Ardern Shane: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Shane: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7716. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in the Debate on the Prime Minister’s Statement and to the vote of confidence in the John Key - led National Government. There are a number of reasons why I say that. The first is that the National-led Government is the only political choice for people who want to see a growing stable economy that will create jobs for Kiwis—those Kiwis who are focused and want to get on in life. That is why our economy remains front and centre for this Government over the next term in Parliament. That is why we have a programme ahead of us to improve the surplus or the economic circumstances to return us to surplus in the next term and a bit. It is also why we intend to spend the amount of money that we do to rebuild Christchurch. It is also why we have introduced a number of reforms in our time so far such as the introduction of the 90-day trial period and the changes to the Resource Management Act system and also why we have invested so heavily in returning ACC back into financial shape. It is also why we have kick-started the multibillion-dollar programme on infrastructure investment. All through that time we have been dealing with three major challenges: an economy that was left in an unbalanced and poor shape by the previous Government—it is interesting to note the comments of the previous speaker Jacinda Ardern in respect of unemployment when you look at that—the impact of the global financial crisis and of course the Canterbury earthquakes. 
New Zealand has to become a magnet for investment by individuals and small businesses—New Zealand and offshore. We have to create business opportunities to create jobs for hard-working New Zealanders. Without more investments that benefit New Zealand we cannot have jobs and we cannot have growth in the New Zealand economy. What is it about that that our Labour opponents find difficult to understand? One is a prerequisite to the other and there are no exceptions. The Government is working hard to encourage investment through our Business Growth Agenda by reducing costs and uncertainty for business and ensuring our people have the right skills to contribute. The Government’s recent announcements on youth training and apprenticeship courses aligned with industry to best meet the demands to develop work opportunities and training opportunities for young New Zealanders have been welcomed by all industries but in particular by the rural farming industries. Our apprenticeship schemes will provide the skills and opportunities particularly for people in the trades that service the farming sector but equally so in the farming sector itself. There has been quite a vacuum in this area for some time. So those announcements are very welcome and will have an undoubted effect on the New Zealand economy. 
 For businesses to invest in plant and facilities in New Zealand they need to be confident that they will have access to infrastructure and that there will be support through transport energy water and telecommunications to sustain those businesses. We have rolled out billions of dollars in investment in infrastructure over the past 4 years which is supporting thousands of jobs and will continue to increase the opportunity for those jobs. But unlike our opponents we will not just throw money at the problem. We are committed to fixing roadblocks like the Resource Management Act that are slowing down the process and driving up costs. We want to work cooperatively with local councils to reduce the amount of costly red tape. New Zealand has abundant natural resources. The Government is taking a hard look at how our resources are managed so we can continue to grow our economy and look after our environment. The Government is working on a comprehensive package of reforms to the resource management system which will be released in the next few months and will progress with our Better Local Government reforms. 
New Zealand is a strong exporting nation. We are committed to increasing the contribution that exports make to our economy by aggressively pursuing more higher-quality trade agreements. The opportunities in Asia and particularly the China economies are enormous and equally so in our Indian trade agreements. It is amazing to know that there are members in this House who would oppose that type of progress and it defies logic why you might do that. Our primary sector is an important contributor to our export earnings. In fact there is no other more important contributor—72 percent of our merchandise exports. Access to water and to the primary production structures is essential when you look at developing an economy that is sustainable. We are establishing a company to act as bridging investor for regional water infrastructure development and we will invest up to $400 million in regional-scale schemes—regional-scale schemes to encourage third-party capital investment. Last week the Government earmarked $80 million for the initial stages of the company’s operations and that will be set aside in the 2013 Budget. Reliable irrigation presents a major step in unlocking economic potential for New Zealand. Having our tradable sectors grow strongly delivering on the Government’s economic growth goals is the No. 1 objective of this Government. 
I hope that the rural and provincial New Zealanders who are listening to this debate and others who may listen in on future debates take note of what our opponents are saying. For example the Leader of the Opposition stated in his speech to the nation that “The reality is that we will not create more better paying jobs by simply exporting more milk powder.” How wrong is that! How naive and ignorant is that! How far off course can you be? Some of the very high-end sophisticated nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals and high-end food ingredient powders that are now processed in some of the largest manufacturing processing sites in the world here in our dairy industry hold one of the strongest keys to extra growth in this economy. And that can be done in a very sustainable clean green way. When you look at what the Leader of the Opposition is proposing he is proposing an increase in industry. That is not a bad thing. In fact increases in industry will generally lead to more jobs and more exports. But you are talking about the industrialisation of New Zealand in terms of its economy. What effects would that have on the environment? What sorts of effects do you create in the environment when you surge forward entirely focused on the industrial area as opposed to agriculture? Measure it credibly and sensibly against the effects of agriculture and I would suggest that the effects on the environment are far more. 
Labour has not changed its ideology since the 1980s when the then Prime Minister David Lange described agriculture as a sunset industry. So 71 percent of our merchandise export earnings are a sunset industry. Well certainly under Labour they would be because its vision for the New Zealand economy is a capital gains tax higher income tax higher company tax an emissions trading tax no support for irrigation systems higher ACC levies no more 90-day trial periods for employment rural New Zealand stuck in a dial-up age less road construction more unproductive spending and more debt. Is there any mix of policies that could be more of a contrast more backward-looking and less likely to grow the New Zealand economy than those? And it gets worse because for Labour to be in Government it would have to coalesce with the Greens. Let us just have a look at what the Greens have said. They would go harder than Labour on the emissions trading tax. They would put a restriction on livestock numbers. They would put a restriction on water use. They would put a restriction on nitrogen applications. The comparison is black and white and clearly it does not favour a Labour Green and who-knows-who coalition Government. 
If you think that by living in an urban environment in your house in Auckland or Wellington you are safe from these changes then I would suggest you think again because if our agricultural sector does not prosper and grow then nor will our urban areas. It is that simple. Seventy-one percent of our merchandise exports from this sector— 
Andrew Williams 
: Where are the jobs? In the cities. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Well the agricultural sector is the highest employer both directly and indirectly in New Zealand. I suggest that a change of Government at this stage would be devastating to the New Zealand economy. Thank you.