Carter DavidRt Hon DAVID CARTER (National): As my colleague Andrew Bayly said we will support the legislation principally because there is a need for more venture capital in New Zealand—that's accepted. But what drove me to be very supportive of the legislation is that I went through Budget 2019 and you go through the Budget and this is the only piece of legislation the only idea the Government came up with that could be described as business-friendly.Hon Chris Hipkins: Rubbish.Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: Somebody interrupted Rubbish." Well I'll let that member stand to their feet and take the next call and give me the second business-friendly announcement that was in the Budget because that member won't be able to find it. What we have got is a Government that for two years has been completely anti-business to the extent that we've now got business confidence as low as we have ever seen it in this country. I've been saying to the Government on many occasions when I have the privilege of speaking in this House that that lack of business confidence will lead to lower growth for the economy. Various economic "experts"—and I say "experts" with inverted commas—on the other side of the House said that was rubbish and yet we've got proof out today with the latest Treasury forecasts. They were optimistically forecasting GDP growth at 3 percent. They've now revised that to 2.2 percent and I still suggest to Treasury that they are probably over optimistic at 2.2 percent. What that means is we've now got a Government that had been forecasting a substantial Budget surplus now having to acknowledge Treasury's forecast of the economy going backwards to the extent that we now face a Budget deficit of $1 billion for the year ending June 2020. Hon Amy Adams: Shocking.Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: We're now in the vicinity of a $1 billion Budget deficit. Well my colleague my friend Amy Adams said that's shocking but we shouldn't be surprised because this is just par for the course for Labour Governments. They inherit an economy that is well-established well set up—and they were forecasting as they took over from National after the election of 2017 a sea of Budget surpluses. The economy was in good shape. And what they've done is sadly but almost immediately in two years take it from surplus to deficits because of wasteful expenditure.So when we look through the Budget and we find the Venture Capital Fund being announced—$300 million to give some boost to New Zealand businesses—I'm supportive of that. But I do want to point out that looking at the $300 million figure even that was a case of figures by mirrors. There is no new money for this bill. What they're doing is they're directing the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to make available $240 million and they're directing the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund to make available $60 million. Those two figures add up to the amount being available for the venture capital bill of $300. So again it is mirrors and trickery by the Minister of Finance. There is no new money at all and you wouldn't expect it from a Government that is so anti-business so prepared to let business confidence slide to the level that it has recently to the announcement today from Treasury forcing Mr Grant Robertson to come up with a raft of glowing announcements of $12 billion of infrastructure and I guarantee we won't see any of them ready for starting construction before election 2020. So what we've got is a Government full of rhetoric. It's been full of rhetoric from day one but it fails to deliver. This piece of legislation will be of benefit to business but it shouldn't be confused—it shouldn't be sold as $300 million of a new initiative. It is simply the reclassification of two other appropriations. But at least finally—at least finally—we have a Budget announcement in the last Budget that showed some friendliness to business and business will grab I hope the opportunity although if I was a businessperson with an entrepreneurial idea the first thing I'd be thinking about is "What else will the Government come up with that's completely anti-business?"—and therefore would I have the confidence even to apply to the Venture Capital Fund? Would people have the confidence to apply to the fund to take their entrepreneurial idea out of that valley of death scenario that most entrepreneurs find and take it into a situation where with the borrowing of extra money they can mature their entrepreneurial idea and take it to a sustainable business that may or may not be so successful that it even stays in New Zealand or goes elsewhere. So while National does support the Venture Capital Fund Bill it's not without reservation. We support it because at last we've seen the Government come up with something that shows it understands a little bit of business. But in the raft of other anti-business pieces of legislation that have been advanced from the start of this Government's tenure it is not surprising that business confidence is as low as it's ever been. It's not surprising that today Treasury has revised its growth figures and revised the Budget outlook and I think it's a very sad day where within two years of a Labour Government we're seeing their old habits come to the fore—a Government now forecasting deficits into the future."