Tremain Chris: General Debate 
Tremain Chris: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8844] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 This Government is in trouble. It has lost its ability to make the tough decisions to lead this country and it is increasingly losing its parliamentary majority. It is out of touch with the people of this country. My colleagues have already touched on the numerous areas in which this Government has been totally out of touch with this country since the election. It has been out of touch on smacking on the pledge card on the Taito Phillip Field inquiry on the Auckland stadium and on art royalties. 
No more so is this Labour Government out of touch than in the area of the economic situation that currently strangles our exporters. Many of our valued businesses are being crippled by the current climate and it is this situation that I wish to speak about today. This situation is having a real impact across New Zealand across our provinces and certainly in my own electorate of Napier. 
On 17 April last month my Napier electorate office received a press release It did not receive much pick-up in the national media because it did not rate with the Fisher and Paykel story or the other recent big stories that were hitting the news such as the announcement from Skellerup. It was overshadowed by those larger announcements but it is typical of what is happening in heartland New Zealand. Design Spun Ltd located in Onekawa Napier announced the need for a further restructuring that will regrettably lead to approximately 25 job losses—certainly not the 350-odd announced by Fisher and Paykel. 
The General Manager of Design Spun Brendan Jackson said market and trading conditions had continued to deteriorate over the last 2 years and at the same time increasing costs had eaten into margins with the exchange rate causing lost export orders and providing the final straw. Mr Jackson said most of these adverse factors were beyond the control of his business or New Zealand businesses. Government policy had continued to add to the substantial cost of compliance and direct cash costs and the Government appeared oblivious—that is what he said “they appear oblivious”—as to the effect. He said the reduced scale of the business will realise long-term sustainability goals in a more focused high-end market sector. It was extremely disappointing to see external factors adversely affecting the business to such a degree. His company questioned the Government’s labelling of 2007 as the year of the exporter. The company will do whatever it can to assist affected staff through this difficult time. That was the end of the press release. 
Brendan went on to say to me in another email that he and his company were not quitters but it was just too tough and they have had enough. He said: “Watch this space. There’s a hell of a lot of us out there that feel the same way. Every way you turn these days there’s a barrier of some description.” 
We all know the scenario that our exporters currently face—the ones at the sharp end. House prices are out of control domestic inflation is raging outside the 1 to 3 percent band the official cash rate is rising to 7.75 percent floating mortgage rates are going through the roof the exchange rate is at US75c and the economy is at full capacity with negative multi-factor productivity growth. It is a tough position to be in and it is a position that requires immediate action. It requires leadership and strong action and it is the responsibility of this Government to make those tough calls now. 
So what are Helen Clark and Michael Cullen doing about it? They are sidestepping the issue. They are giving a big fat sidestep hospital pass to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Despite the urgency of the situation they are not prepared to make the tough calls and the tough decisions. This Government has lost control despite an army of advisers in both Treasury and the Reserve Bank providing all manner of advice to the Minister of Finance—over many many months now—that could help to resolve these issues. These advisers are far more highly paid than any politician in this Chamber and have spent their entire lives rolling in this monetary policy strategy. But the Government says: “No there’s no need to listen to their advice. Let’s just give a sidestep pass to the Finance and Expenditure Committee and hope that it all goes away.” I can tell you Mr Assistant Speaker that it will not go away. This is an issue that we have to face right now.