Barry Maggie: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12070. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore):After that substantial and all-embracing speech from the Minister for Economic Development I would like to talk a little bit about Vote Economic Development—about some of the aspects that have not been touched on. As the Opposition benches do not seem to be aware Vote Economic Development is the entity that funds advice and services that are designed to improve the economic performance.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.MAGGIE BARRY: Prior to the dinner break I outlined the role of Vote Economic Development in funding advice at a crucial high level. This sort of advice is needed if we are to improve the economy as a whole and to improve the plight and the future of individual businesses sectors and regions.A big part of this vote funds our Business Growth Agenda which has the laudable aim of improving New Zealand’s long-term growth by strengthening areas important for our international competitiveness. In keeping with our overall economic vision and the plan that our Government’s Business Growth Agenda includes it has targets and it has goals and these are measurable. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has the specific goal of lifting exports to 40 percent of GDP by 2025. It is looking goodso far with our GDP growth last year at 3.1 percent. We compare very well when you look at the UK the US Canada Japan and the eurozone. The ministry has also set a target of achieving a 40 percent increase of real household incomes by 2025. That is what is different about this Government: it has goals it has targets it measures them and it achieves them.This new ministry as we were told by the Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce when he appeared before the Finance and Expenditure Committee about 6 weeks ago is performing very well. In fact it is a year ago this month that it was formed from those four old Government agencies: the Ministry of Economic Development the Ministry of Science and Innovation the old Department of Building and Housing and the Department of Labour. Businesses—and exporters too—are very well served by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. That is the main Crown entity for supporting business growth which is funded this year to the tune of about $144 million. Its latest successes are in the promotional activities you might have seen on the television recently around the America’s Cup programme in San Francisco and in wine food information and communications technology as well as high-tech manufacturing.We were told by the Minister when he appeared before the Finance and Expenditure Committee that the main area of new funding under Vote Economic Development is an additional $7.6 million to continue the work being led by the ministry on making Government procurement more effective and more efficient. He has released a new set of streamlined procedure and procurement rules that are actually going to make it a whole lot easier for smaller New Zealand companies to tender for Government contracts and that has got to be good news. If they are not required reading on the Opposition benches these six excellent and informative booklets ought to be. They certainly are readily available in my North Shore electorate office and they are in high demand. They spell out in detail our Business Growth Agenda and create a way that you can actually discuss building innovation for export markets for example and increasing exports to 40 percent of GDP as I said by 2025—that is the goal.For innovation it is about helping businesses access the latest research and development and technology to increase their output. I know in my area of the North Shore we have a company AFT Pharmaceuticals based in Takapuna. Its staff is pretty much a United Nations. They have Chinese Indian and international markets they are developing all the time but they do it from their home base because they like living in the North Shore and who could blame them for that? We gave them a $3.8 million research and development grant and that the company has said is crucial to its development—to lift its business to the next level to allow it to increase its productivity and to increase its market reach. The information in these booklets and the help and assistance that we are giving people is really making a difference.Tracey Martin: $3 million for eels that’s all we need—$3 million for eels is all we need. A million-dollar industry and 3 little million dollars that’s all we need.MAGGIE BARRY: The other areas in our Business Growth Agenda include skills—something that is enormously bereft I am afraid when we hear the squeaking of the New Zealand First person over there. The skills we recommend will help Kiwis to upskill to train and to find work in New Zealand. That includes more tertiary places.Infrastructure is vital as well. That is the fourth of the areas that we are concentrating on as part of the Business Growth Agenda. Infrastructure ensures that businesses can rely on roads on rail on broadband and on irrigation. These are all major targets for improvement by our Government and we are doing it fast and we are doing it very well.Natural resources are vital. Responsibly managing our economic opportunities is a very big part of what we are doing with the Business Growth Agenda and with capitalmarkets. This is long-overdue. They are moribund our capital markets and we need to encourage a lot more investment in New Zealand. When the Minister for business innovation and employment came to talk to us he said he believed that the challenge for us all—Vote agreed to.