Budget 2011—Job Creation

Rt Hon JOHN KEY Link to this

I thank the member for asking that question. It will create an environment where interest rates will certainly stay lower than they would have under a Labour Government. We know that, because Labour members cannot even work out what a research and development tax credit costs. They are out there telling the country it costs $800 million when it costs $1.55 billion. It creates an environment through education, where young New Zealanders will get a chance to be sure that we can be tracking their progress through national standards. It allocates $550 million to early childhood education over the next 4 years, and we are sure that that will make a significant difference. I could go on, but, given that it is question No. 12 and we want to get out of here before 5 o’clock, I will sit down at this point.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY Link to this

Let me just alert the member to a couple of facts. Firstly, just to give her an idea, if we go to Budget 2010 and the forecast that 26,000 new jobs would be created over the year to March 2011, in fact, 39,000 new jobs were created. If one looks at the 170,000 job number, we see it is basically a little over the trend of the last 20 years, at 35,000 new jobs a year. In fact, as I say, we are ahead through creating those 39,000 new jobs against that forecast. I think it is fully achievable.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY Link to this

All I would say is that overall, if one looks at the amount of money going into education, one will have noticed that in a zero Budget that increased by about $1.3 billion, I think, over the forecast period.