2. AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
How is the Government ensuring the economy recovers in a sustainable way that delivers more jobs and builds faster growth?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
We have put in place a comprehensive economic plan designed to guide the economy through a period of recession. Since 2009 we have now had five consecutive quarters of growth. We have focused on building faster and sustainable economic growth over the medium and long term—growth based on savings, investment, and exports, rather than the unsustainable growth based on borrowing, consumption, and Government spending that were the features of previous years.
Yesterday I mentioned three of them in the House: strengthening the tax system, investing in productive infrastructure, and supporting business innovation and trade. There are three others that we are focusing on: lifting productivity and improving public services, removing red tape and improving regulation, and improving education and lifting skills. All of these things are helping to tilt the economy towards saving, exports, and productive investment, and better equipping New Zealand business to make investment decisions and New Zealanders to take the jobs that will be provided in a growing economy.
Within this programme, what steps has the Government taken to lift the performance of the public sector?
The public sector has needed a lot of effort to lift its performance, after a number of years where it grew fast, both in terms of funding and numbers. We have reviewed the performance of all major Government departments and agencies. We have capped the bureaucracy, and we have moved nearly $4 billion of spending from back-office into front-line public services, such as health, education, and law and order. I might say that the leadership of the Public Service is now looking ahead to how it will manage through very limited new funding, and there will be significant change in the public sector over the next few years.
What steps has the Government taken to remove red tape, as well as to improve education and lift skills?
We have moved to simplify the Resource Management Act. We have simplified regulation in respect of water infrastructure and urban design. We are also progressing reforms in aquaculture, the construction industry, the food industry, and the financial sector. In respect of education and skills, we have introduced national standards in literacy and numeracy, the Youth Guarantee, and Trades in Schools, and we have significantly improved the quality and relevance of tertiary qualifications—an area where the previous Government wasted hundreds of millions of dollars.