9. JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
Does he agree with the Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard that “I don’t think we can catch Australia”, but “there’s a lot of crumbs come off the Australian table we can take advantage of”?
Hon BILL ENGLISHIf New Zealand adopts an emissions trading scheme tax and Australia does not, does he agree that this would put us at a competitive disadvantage and slow our growth rate relative to Australia’s; if not, why not?
No, not necessarily. The Australian debate is pretty vigorous, but both sides are proposing to take some action on climate change. Even the actions that Australia’s Opposition is promising involve complicated public subsidies and heavy regulation. It is not at all clear that that would be better than an emissions trading scheme in the long run.
Hon Phil GoffHow did it help New Zealand close the income gap with Australia to scrap Labour’s research and development tax credits and the $2 billion Fast Forward fund, when a smart Government in Australia was increasing research and development by 25 percent?
The Fast Forward fund is a fantasy in the minds of the Opposition members; it never actually existed. The Government replaced it with the Primary Growth Partnership. The one difference between the Primary Growth Partnership and the Fast Forward fund is that the Primary Growth Partnership actually has some money that is actually paying for some science. The Fast Forward fund had no money and had not bought any science.