Adams Amy: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Adams Amy: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12696] 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to take a call in the estimates debate on Vote Finance. I tell members right now that I will not waste any of my contribution responding to the muck that the member Trevor Mallard continually tries to throw at members on this side of the Chamber. It is clear that when a party like Labour has nothing to offer people its members resort to mud muck and baseless allegations. New Zealand cares about getting this economy growing getting New Zealand moving getting New Zealanders into jobs raising incomes and making this country a place that New Zealanders want to live in and to be in. That is why I think we can all be very proud of the work that our Minister of Finance and Prime Minister are doing. 
The initiatives in this year’s Budget—and in Vote Finance in particular—are central to our economic growth strategy. This Government was elected overwhelmingly by the people of New Zealand to lift the incomes of New Zealanders and to improve the outlook for New Zealanders and that is what we are doing. Let us be frank about this. The polls are very clear: New Zealanders like what we are doing and they are paying no attention to that party over there which is more interested in throwing mud and laying baseless allegations before this House than it is in getting New Zealanders into jobs and creating an economy that is sustainable solid and based on the productive sector of the New Zealand economy. 
In my previous contribution to this estimates debate I said that when Labour members stand in this Chamber and talk about a lack of direction it simply tells us one thing. It simply tells us that they have no idea what an economic growth strategy looks like. They would not recognise one if it came up and bit them. The work that this Government is doing is working. Treasury is telling us that it will create 170000 extra jobs and extra household income of $7000 per annum. Those are real substantial and meaningful achievements. That is why this country is continuing to endorse the John Key - led Government. 
Budget 2010 is focused on economic growth and on rebalancing the economy. A big part of that is addressing the external liabilities that put our economy in great jeopardy. The tax changes that my friend Mr Foss has already talked about are central to addressing the concerning level of external liability that this country currently has. 
As well as the tax changes the other part of that focus is the efforts that this Government is making to control government expenditure. Those efforts are meaningful. The Government is addressing the strong economy that we need and ensuring that our debt position is controlled—far more so than it would have been under the previous Government which just wanted to keep borrowing and ignoring the failing of the productive sector. It also means that we are delivering better and smarter public services. We are ensuring that the taxpayers’ money—money that hard-working New Zealanders give us the privilege of spending—is spent on front-line services not on more bureaucrats not on more red tape and not on more bodies than endlessly study and report on issues but do not deal with them as we saw with the previous Government. We are ensuring that the money is spent on real services for New Zealanders such as more doctors more nurses more midwives and more police on our streets because that is what New Zealanders want. 
This Budget is about addressing the imbalances between our tradables and our non-tradables sector and making sure that jobs in this economy are real that they are sustainable and that they support the parts of the economy that will see New Zealand climb up the OECD rankings. 
This Budget is about productivity. It is about ensuring we have tight fiscal management for the first time in a long time—about 9 years I suggest; from about 1999 to 2008. We are seeing good fiscal discipline. We are seeing a Government that understands the very simple lesson that every household learns: we have to earn money before we can spend it. That is what the previous Government did: that Government spent first then earned later. This Government knows we have to earn the money first. It is not rocket science one would think. Most New Zealanders understand it. Heck my 10-year-old daughter understands it. We have to earn the money first then spend it. But not Labour! Oh no. Labour borrows and borrows. 
This Government understands that if we do not have the productive sector working right we are not earning any money and we cannot deliver the sorts of public services we want for New Zealand. That is what this Budget is about. It is about better balance sheet management and ensuring that the $217 billion worth of assets that this Government is responsible for are working for the people of New Zealand who are the owners of those assets. Thank you. 
Vote agreed to.