1. CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
Why is the Government embarking on a comprehensive economic programme in 2010?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
Because the country needs it, after 10 years of economic mismanagement and a global recession. We have a lopsided economy where we spend more than we earn and our export sector is weak. In fact, it has been in recession for the past 5 years, and in the 5 years to 2009 Government spending grew at twice the rate of economic growth. We can either muddle along and fall further behind, or set our sights higher and create the kind of country that the Prime Minister spoke about yesterday.
Better economic performance means having more jobs, new jobs, higher incomes, and better public services. In 2010 the Government will have less focus on managing the short-term impacts of the recession and more focus on raising our long-term economic prospects, so that we can have more jobs, higher incomes, and better public services.
By correcting all the imbalances that arose through 10 years of economic mismanagement, and by improving our management of the economy in a systematic way. We have used a range of review groups and task forces to give us advice, and yesterday the Prime Minister set out in detail the Government’s policy programme and action programme for this year.
Hon David Cunliffe—as is obviously the case. Those who were responsible for the mess that we got into do not agree that things need to change. But even on issues such as taxation, there has been broad agreement that the taxation system needs to be improved so that it is fairer and more equitable, and so that it sends the right incentives to people to save, to invest, and to work, and less of an incentive for them to consume too much and borrow too much.