Adams Amy: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Adams Amy: Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20494] 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 I am very happy to rise this afternoon to take a call in this debate on what is technically the third reading of the Appropriation (2011/12 Estimates) Bill and the second reading of the Imprest Supply Bill but really more broadly than that I think this debate is a good chance to have a bit of health check on the company’s economic performance and the economic position we find ourselves in. I think there is no more important time to do that given the situation that the world finds itself in. We have followed with horrified attention the growing concerns in the European Union for some months now. We have watched it spread from the disasters in Greece and Portugal into very mainstream economies like Spain and Italy now. I certainly do not claim by any stretch to be any sort of expert but I know enough to be very concerned as I know most thinking New Zealanders are about the economic situation in the European Union. 
Of course more recently we have watched the old superpower America teeter on the brink of complete collapse and we have seen its economy not only downgraded recently but also put on further negative watch. That tells us how important it is that we can present to the world the face of a strong economy that has its books in order its debts under control and most important is being led by a Government that knows how to run a strong economy and knows how important it is to keep the accounts in good order and keep us in good shape. We have seen over the three Budgets delivered by the John Key - led Government a story of returning this country to the strong position it deserves to be in putting us on the front foot and putting us in a position where we are economically competitive internationally and where the world and the lending markets know we are a good bet. 
All of New Zealand can reflect back with some pride on the fact that although we are by no means out of the woods and we still have a difficult period ahead of us—and I certainly do not want to diminish the reality of that—New Zealand is in a very strong position right now. Compared with so much of the rest of the world we are in a good position. We have a strong Government we have a Government that knows how to manage the economy and we have a Government that has acted early from as soon as it was elected in 2008 to turn round the never-ending deficits bequeathed to us by the last Government. It wants to turn round the explosion of the bloated bureaucracy and to instead turn our focus back to the productive sector of this economy and say that our job as the Government first and foremost is to make sure that we keep our house in order. If we cannot control the 25 percent of the economy that is central government then there is little hope that the rest of the country will follow suit. I think we have done that. 
We have sent a very clear message that we will get Government expenditure under control. We will not sit and preside over ever-growing Government expenditure and what is worse is that the growing expenditure under the Labour Government did not deliver any better outcomes. Time and time again we saw more and more money being thrown into the bottomless pit of bureaucracy with no improvement in the outcomes. What have we had under this National Government? We have had tight fiscal management. We have put pressure on the chief executives of Government departments yet we have seen better outcomes. 
Tony Ryall stands up in this House day after day and reports on the fact that more New Zealanders are getting elective surgery now than ever before. More New Zealanders are getting access to more medicines than ever before and we have not done that by simply throwing more money at the problem and hoping it will go away. We have done that by imposing some pretty tough requirements and making it very clear that our expectation is that the Public Service will do more with taxpayers’ money. It will do more with the money we take from hard-working New Zealanders and it will recognise acknowledge and thank frankly the New Zealanders who go out to work every day and pay their taxes to enable that to happen. Controlling Government expenditure has been a core part of what we are about. 
The other very important part—and if anyone doubts the importance of it recent events should certainly put them right—is presenting a credible picture of the control of national debt to the world. I acknowledge that a large part of our net investment position is made up of private debt but the track we have now set New Zealand on with regard to Government debt is something to be proud of. The fact that we will now see core Crown debt peak at no more than 30 percent and that we are seeing a return to surplus in a little more than 3 years is an absolute endorsement of the John Key - led Government and the work it has done to put our economic house in order. We have controlled Government expenditure we have our debt position under control and we have put ourselves in the position where the rest of the world can look at us and know that we are still a good bet—and if we need to borrow it is certainly ready to lend to us. 
We are supporting the productive economy because National Governments get it. We get that Governments have money only if the productive sector is working growing and paying its taxes and our job is to support it in that. It is not to get in its way it is not to put up barriers and it is not to smack down anyone who dares to be successful in this country. It is to say “Good on you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for working hard.” That is part of the reform of our tax system. The Minister of Finance talked in his contribution about the biggest reform of the tax system in 25 years which this Government is overseeing. That tax switch despite what the previous speaker Trevor Mallard said was tax-neutral. It was broadly tax-neutral. The tax cuts across the board that now see over two-thirds of taxpayers—two-thirds of taxpayers—paying no more than 17.5 percent in income tax funded the increase in GST. 
Labour wants to talk time and time again about the $1000 tax cuts. Those members talk about $1000 tax cuts. For the few people who get those cuts let us just reflect upon the fact that to have had a $1000-a-week tax cut as Trevor Mallard goes on about ad nauseam one must be paying more than a quarter of a million dollars in tax every year after the tax cuts—after them. Those people whom Trevor Mallard wants to harangue bully and vilify are paying every single year a quarter of a million dollars in income tax alone to support the families in New Zealand who need it. If we are to vilify those people and beat them up as Trevor Mallard would have us do I would not blame them for asking themselves why they would stay. If Mr Mallard wants to scare away and beat the golden goose then I say good luck to him but I ask him who will pay for his welfare and his handouts. Who will pay for his excessive government spending and lolly scrambles? I say to Mr Mallard that every time he wants to talk about $1000-a-week tax cuts he should just bear in mind that the people whom that member refers to are paying now—after the tax changes—more than a quarter of a million dollars in income tax every year to support this country. Frankly I would rather that they were doing that in our economy than anywhere else around the world. 
When we talk about the tax system I think it is also worth reflecting on the fact that the lowest 43 percent of income earners in this country receive more in Government transfers than they pay in income tax. How do we give income tax cuts to people who do not pay any net income tax? Households have to earn on average more than $110000 a year before the Government starts to make a net buck off them. That is fine but I will not accept the suggestion that we are not being fair when people have to earn more than $110000 before they actually start to contribute to the net performance of New Zealand. 
This Government is controlling Government expenditure. It has turned round our debt position. It is supporting the productive economy. It has reformed the tax system to be fair and to be aspirational. It is building world-leading infrastructure to support our economy. It is raising skill levels across the board. It is investing in science and innovation. It is doing all of this so that we can move New Zealand forward. We will not follow the Labour plan of taking New Zealand backwards into the dark ages of more tax more debt and more spending. We are interested in moving this country forward and raising the outcomes for all New Zealanders and that can happen only by fixing the economic mess that Labour left us. The three Budgets we have seen from Bill English and John Key are a step in that direction. The fact that we are in such a strong position while the rest of the world struggles under this period of global turmoil is a credit to the National-led Government. It is a credit to our economic management. It is why New Zealanders will continue to support us. They want to see us take this country forward and that is what we are planning to deliver.