Sio Hon Aupito WilliamHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): I've never heard so much hogwash and poppycock coming from that side claiming how bad the economy is. Let's just clear up the air here: the economy is moving steadily it is stable and it is outperforming many other economies in the international community. Our interest rates are low the fixed rates for two years on a mortgage is less than 4 percent the floating rate is less than 6 percent and people are employed and they're feeling positive in the community. So I don't understand. The other side think just because they own a business they know how to run a business; those are two different things. So I want them to understand that this Government is very different in the way that it approaches our economy today.Firstly I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and the great leadership that she is providing. I want to acknowledge also the Rt Hon Winston Peters leader of New Zealand First and the Deputy Prime Minister and the leadership that he is providing in working with the Prime Minister. I acknowledge also the leadership of the Green Party. You see for the first time ever New Zealanders are beginning to better understand what coalition Government" means. This coalition Government is demonstrating—for all of New Zealand to know—a new kind of leadership a new kind of leadership that is proving that you can be responsible stewards of the economy and also promote good values: values of compassion values of kindness values of aroha and values of manaakitanga—which makes New Zealand different from any other country.Compare that to the last nine years that that lot were in Government. They weren't governing for all of New Zealand; they were governing for a few. They got so fixated with tax cuts that the rest of New Zealand bought into that greed and what was left was an economy that this Government is now having to fix an economy where we're having to rebuild and restore the foundations of health of education of building more houses and of lifting incomes for the workforce because for the last nine years they kept denying it because they weren't governing for all of New Zealand; they were governing for the few. That's not what this Government is about and so we are governing for all of New Zealand. This Government is on track to deliver better outcomes for New Zealand.Earlier this week the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson announced that we were on track and that there is a lot of work that this Government will do. Our focus now is about ensuring that we're transforming this economy into more modern more productive more inclusive and more higher-salary wages. We're focusing on ensuring that greater support is given to business to workers and to families. So this week we saw $1 billion in R & D tax incentives—15 percent tax credits for those businesses spending a minimum of $50000. That's about generating more innovation and more creativity in our economy increasing the ambition to be modern navigators of the technological world. There's a drop in ACC levies from 72 percent to 67 percent. Workers will now have better support around KiwiSaver contribution rates of 6 to 10 percent and more workers will be able to sign up with 65-year-olds.The one thing I want to really emphasise is the increase of the minimum wage to $16.70—the greatest increase in history. Why is that important? Because by giving money to those who are the lowest paid of our economy it's showing that we're sharing a bit of the pie here. Workers at the bottom generally put back that money into the economy through rent through food and through a host of other expenses. So there's a ripple effect in terms of when you're increasing incomes for low-income people through their contribution to the economy. There's a flow-on effect to that which that lot there continues to fail to understand and recognise. So when they're harping on about how "This is going to harm business."—that is wrong. Just because they think they own a business doesn't mean they know how to run a business and for the last nine years in Government that reflects how bad they are at working and managing the economy."