Appropriation (2010/2011 Estimates) Bill
As the previous speaker, Craig Foss, just said, it is a pleasure to take a call in this estimates and appropriations debate. It is a useful time, actually, to stop and look back at the 2008 election, when this National-led Government under John Key came to power. When New Zealanders elected us, as they did overwhelmingly in 2008, to lead this country through the recession, they did it on a platform of aspiration and ambition. We did not get mired in the mud-slinging and negative campaigning from members on the other side of the House. We stood up—John Key stood up and our members stood up—and said we thought that New Zealand could do better than it had been doing. We had high hopes for New Zealand, and we offered to New Zealanders a positive vision for a way forward and a package of economic growth that could lead them into the future. That package was the key to our plan, because we knew that in order to be ambitious for New Zealand, and to deliver more for New Zealanders, we had to address the issue of economic growth. That was what had been holding this country back for so long.
Let us take a moment to go over the issue of economic growth, because from listening to some of this debate this afternoon it is very clear to me that members on the opposite side of the House neither know what it looks like and what it means, nor have any clue whatsoever about how to deliver it. So let us have a look at it for a minute. Economic growth is important because it means creating jobs. That is what it means in a real sense. It means more Kiwis being in work. It means having higher incomes; it means lifting the incomes of New Zealand families. That means that they can get ahead under their own steam and are not reliant on handouts from the State, so they are not caught up in the culture of entitlement and of asking what the Government is providing for them. No, we say people should work hard, get ahead, and accept responsibility for their own destiny, and we will back them. That is what economic growth means to us.
Economic growth means getting this country back to having Government surpluses. Why is that important? When we get this economy back to showing Government surpluses, it will mean that we have choices. We will have choices about how to deliver the sorts of public services that New Zealanders deserve. We will have choices about how to deliver the best in education, the best in health—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I have mentioned before that barracking across the benches is unacceptable. Interjections are fine, but they should be interjections about what the member is saying at the time. I ask members to please calm it down.
AMY ADAMS: I was talking about the fact that when we get this economy back to showing surpluses, we will have choices about what we can deliver. That means that we can deliver to the people of New Zealand the sorts of public services that they are entitled to expect—the sorts of education, health, law and order, and other things that we want for all of our citizens. In order to do that, we have to get the economy into surplus.
Under the Budget that Bill English has delivered in 2010, we will now be returning to surpluses; they are predicted for 2016. That is 3 years ahead of the predictions that we had just last year, and considerably better than the decade of deficits that the previous Labour Government left us as its legacy. This Government understands that we have to earn money before we spend it. It is a pretty simple lesson. Most Kiwi families get it and most businesses get it, but Labour never understood that money has to be earned before it is spent. That Government just kept on spending it. As a country, New Zealand had been living beyond its means for far, far too long. We cannot continue to just assume that money will come from a magic ATM in the sky.
We understand that Governments have no money. There is no such thing as Government money. The money that we spend is taxpayers’ money: the hard-earned money of New Zealanders who contribute to this country and its prosperity. We understand that if we do not back those people, those workers, and those businesses—every man, woman, and child who is working hard to get this country ahead—then we will never prosper as a country. That is a fundamental truth that Labour does not get. Spending was the only thing that the previous Labour Government was ever any good at.
National has always been seen as the party that people turn to when they want to have sensible economic management, and that is exactly what New Zealanders wanted in 2008. That was exactly what they were asking for, and that is why they delivered to this John Key - led National Government the strong, overwhelming mandate that they did. We understood that recovery and economic growth were going to come from addressing the imbalances that had been hamstringing our economy for so long—the imbalances that meant that under Labour’s watch, no net new jobs had been created in agriculture or manufacturing since 2002. For the Labour members now to cry crocodile tears, when they had presided over an economy where no net new jobs were created in agriculture and manufacturing—the backbone of our economy—for the last 6 years of their Government, is an absolute tragedy. It is an absolute shame and a farce.
We knew that in order to get growth, we would have to rein in expenditure. A country cannot keep spending more than it earns; we had to get a handle on expenditure. We had to better manage our balance sheets, which showed $217 billion of Government assets. If we do not manage our assets far more prudently, this country will never recover. We had to ensure that there was better value for money. It is not good enough to simply throw money into a health system that saw expenditure double under Labour, yet the amount of elective surgery per capita fell. That is what that previous Government did: it put twice the amount of money into the health system, but outputs fell. Labour thought that if it just kept throwing money into the pit, without any sort of value-for-money assessment, then that had to be good. Well, that might have been fine if we had had money to throw around, but that Government was spending more than it had. That simply was not sustainable. If we are to get growth in this economy, we have to encourage our export sector. We have to get behind our farmers, we have to get behind our manufacturers, and we have to get behind our innovative New Zealanders who are out there working hard. That is what this Government is focused on; that is what Budget 2010 is all about.
We understand that growth is a partnership between the Government and the private sector, because Governments do not create jobs, actually. Governments do not create jobs; businesses create jobs. The Government does not pay taxes; New Zealanders pay taxes. Governments have to support businesses. We have to support Kiwis: we have to help them to invest and to grow, and we have to not make their lives harder and harder. Faced with the situation that was in front of us, we knew that no single solution would magic away our problems. But we know, from the debate in this House, that Labour has spent the last 20 months waiting for a bill to come on to the Order Paper entitled “The Solution to All Our Problems Bill”, because that must have the answers. Those members have not seen it, so they have figured it out that there is no plan. But do members know what that tells me? It tells me that they simply do not understand what economic growth is, and what delivers that growth. They have no idea of how to roll out a strong economy for this country. Every time they say in this House that there is no plan, all that tells me is that they do not get it. They do not have a clue; they would not recognise a growth agenda if it jumped up and bit them. That tells us that if they were in charge of this country right now, we would be continuing the downward spiral that they put us on in their 9 years in office.
There are many elements to our economic plan. In 20 months the sheer volume of what this Government has delivered in order to turn this economy round is staggering. If we just focus on the six main points, we can see that we have the biggest tax reform in 25 years, which is designed to encourage hard work, discourage consumption, and back New Zealanders who want to get ahead. We have one of the biggest infrastructure packages that New Zealand has seen, and we have been starving for infrastructure growth in this country. Ten billion dollars will be spent on roads alone, and $1.5 billion on broadband, with another $300 million on rural broadband. We see better, smarter public services being consistently rolled out by this Government, and there is better value for money in our spending, as well. We see a focus on lifting education standards. We actually say it is not good enough that 20 percent of our kids cannot read and write.
As the previous speaker, Craig Foss, just said, it is a pleasure to take a call in this estimates and appropriations debate. It is a useful time, actually, to stop and look back at the 2008 election, when this National-led Government under John Key came to power. When New Zealanders elected us, as they did overwhelmingly in 2008, to lead this country through the recession, they did it on a platform of aspiration and ambition. We did not get mired in the mud-slinging and negative campaigning from members on the other side of the House. We stood up—John Key stood up and our members stood up—and said we thought that New Zealand could do better than it had been doing. We had high hopes for New Zealand, and we offered to New Zealanders a positive vision for a way forward and a package of economic growth that could lead them into the future. That package was the key to our plan, because we knew that in order to be ambitious for New Zealand, and to deliver more for New Zealanders, we had to address the issue of economic growth. That was what had been holding this country back for so long.
Let us take a moment to go over the issue of economic growth, because from listening to some of this debate this afternoon it is very clear to me that members on the opposite side of the House neither know what it looks like and what it means, nor have any clue whatsoever about how to deliver it. So let us have a look at it for a minute. Economic growth is important because it means creating jobs. That is what it means in a real sense. It means more Kiwis being in work. It means having higher incomes; it means lifting the incomes of New Zealand families. That means that they can get ahead under their own steam and are not reliant on handouts from the State, so they are not caught up in the culture of entitlement and of asking what the Government is providing for them. No, we say people should work hard, get ahead, and accept responsibility for their own destiny, and we will back them. That is what economic growth means to us.
Economic growth means getting this country back to having Government surpluses. Why is that important? When we get this economy back to showing Government surpluses, it will mean that we have choices. We will have choices about how to deliver the sorts of public services that New Zealanders deserve. We will have choices about how to deliver the best in education, the best in health—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I have mentioned before that barracking across the benches is unacceptable. Interjections are fine, but they should be interjections about what the member is saying at the time. I ask members to please calm it down.
AMY ADAMS: I was talking about the fact that when we get this economy back to showing surpluses, we will have choices about what we can deliver. That means that we can deliver to the people of New Zealand the sorts of public services that they are entitled to expect—the sorts of education, health, law and order, and other things that we want for all of our citizens. In order to do that, we have to get the economy into surplus.
Under the Budget that Bill English has delivered in 2010, we will now be returning to surpluses; they are predicted for 2016. That is 3 years ahead of the predictions that we had just last year, and considerably better than the decade of deficits that the previous Labour Government left us as its legacy. This Government understands that we have to earn money before we spend it. It is a pretty simple lesson. Most Kiwi families get it and most businesses get it, but Labour never understood that money has to be earned before it is spent. That Government just kept on spending it. As a country, New Zealand had been living beyond its means for far, far too long. We cannot continue to just assume that money will come from a magic ATM in the sky.
We understand that Governments have no money. There is no such thing as Government money. The money that we spend is taxpayers’ money: the hard-earned money of New Zealanders who contribute to this country and its prosperity. We understand that if we do not back those people, those workers, and those businesses—every man, woman, and child who is working hard to get this country ahead—then we will never prosper as a country. That is a fundamental truth that Labour does not get. Spending was the only thing that the previous Labour Government was ever any good at.
National has always been seen as the party that people turn to when they want to have sensible economic management, and that is exactly what New Zealanders wanted in 2008. That was exactly what they were asking for, and that is why they delivered to this John Key - led National Government the strong, overwhelming mandate that they did. We understood that recovery and economic growth were going to come from addressing the imbalances that had been hamstringing our economy for so long—the imbalances that meant that under Labour’s watch, no net new jobs had been created in agriculture or manufacturing since 2002. For the Labour members now to cry crocodile tears, when they had presided over an economy where no net new jobs were created in agriculture and manufacturing—the backbone of our economy—for the last 6 years of their Government, is an absolute tragedy. It is an absolute shame and a farce.
We knew that in order to get growth, we would have to rein in expenditure. A country cannot keep spending more than it earns; we had to get a handle on expenditure. We had to better manage our balance sheets, which showed $217 billion of Government assets. If we do not manage our assets far more prudently, this country will never recover. We had to ensure that there was better value for money. It is not good enough to simply throw money into a health system that saw expenditure double under Labour, yet the amount of elective surgery per capita fell. That is what that previous Government did: it put twice the amount of money into the health system, but outputs fell. Labour thought that if it just kept throwing money into the pit, without any sort of value-for-money assessment, then that had to be good. Well, that might have been fine if we had had money to throw around, but that Government was spending more than it had. That simply was not sustainable. If we are to get growth in this economy, we have to encourage our export sector. We have to get behind our farmers, we have to get behind our manufacturers, and we have to get behind our innovative New Zealanders who are out there working hard. That is what this Government is focused on; that is what Budget 2010 is all about.
We understand that growth is a partnership between the Government and the private sector, because Governments do not create jobs, actually. Governments do not create jobs; businesses create jobs. The Government does not pay taxes; New Zealanders pay taxes. Governments have to support businesses. We have to support Kiwis: we have to help them to invest and to grow, and we have to not make their lives harder and harder. Faced with the situation that was in front of us, we knew that no single solution would magic away our problems. But we know, from the debate in this House, that Labour has spent the last 20 months waiting for a bill to come on to the Order Paper entitled “The Solution to All Our Problems Bill”, because that must have the answers. Those members have not seen it, so they have figured it out that there is no plan. But do members know what that tells me? It tells me that they simply do not understand what economic growth is, and what delivers that growth. They have no idea of how to roll out a strong economy for this country. Every time they say in this House that there is no plan, all that tells me is that they do not get it. They do not have a clue; they would not recognise a growth agenda if it jumped up and bit them. That tells us that if they were in charge of this country right now, we would be continuing the downward spiral that they put us on in their 9 years in office.
There are many elements to our economic plan. In 20 months the sheer volume of what this Government has delivered in order to turn this economy round is staggering. If we just focus on the six main points, we can see that we have the biggest tax reform in 25 years, which is designed to encourage hard work, discourage consumption, and back New Zealanders who want to get ahead. We have one of the biggest infrastructure packages that New Zealand has seen, and we have been starving for infrastructure growth in this country. Ten billion dollars will be spent on roads alone, and $1.5 billion on broadband, with another $300 million on rural broadband. We see better, smarter public services being consistently rolled out by this Government, and there is better value for money in our spending, as well. We see a focus on lifting education standards. We actually say it is not good enough that 20 percent of our kids cannot read and write.
