6. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
Does he stand by his statement that “In order for that recovery to be sustainable we need improved competitiveness among our exporters and continued recovery in household savings”?
Hon TONY RYALLHow can the Minister of Finance insist that New Zealand has the best monetary policy in the world when currency volatility makes exporting tougher for businesses than it should be?
There is no doubt that currency volatility is a challenge for many exporters. Export volumes have been stagnating for some time, but the real issue in respect of monetary policy and the effect on the currency is very much a reflection of the legacy that this Government inherited from a Government that made such waste of taxpayers’ money during its years on the Treasury benches. Its spending in a 5-year period increased by over 45 percent, and New Zealanders wondered what they got for it.
How can the Minister of Finance pretend that he is leading an export-led recovery when he is happy to sit on his hands as our exporters struggle against a volatile dollar, and interest rates driven by debt-fuelled consumption in the non-tradable sector?
This Government is not sitting on its hands; this Government is dealing with the issues that really matter to the New Zealand economy. Primary amongst those issues is dealing with the 10 years of economic mismanagement by the previous Government, when it wasted some of the best years of New Zealand’s economic performance.
How can the Minister of Finance maintain that New Zealand has the best monetary policy in the world when, despite our economy being small, we are one of the top 10 or 11 most traded currencies in the world?
I think the Minister of Finance would be quite clear that many challenges face the New Zealand economy, but those challenges are made more difficult by the fact that during the 10 years of good economic times—
Mr SPEAKERThe Minister has been devoting a fair part of his answers to attacking the previous Government, when the member’s questions have not been particularly provocative. He has been asking about the issue of a volatile currency, which is not attacking the Government; it is raising an issue of relevance. My concern about that last answer was that it did not really answer the member’s question, at all. I invite the Hon David Parker to ask his question again, just in case there was confusion.
How can the Minister of Finance maintain that New Zealand has the best monetary policy in the world when, despite our being a small economy, we are one of the top 10 or 11 most traded currencies in the world?