New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Questions for Oral Answer [4413]

Hon Bill English

: Is the Minister aware that, as far as anyone can calculate it, the dropout rate for apprentices over the age of 20 in that scheme is about 70 percent; and why does he continue to refuse to release the figures that will show us the dropout rate for apprentices under the age of 20?

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN

: I agree with the member that some difficulties exist with some of the data being collected.

Hon Bill English

: You don't like the numbers!

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN

: But of course if he jeers at that I will not give him any more of an answer.

Hon Brian Donnelly

: Does the Minister believe that lifting the proportion of women in Modern Apprenticeships from 7 percent to 8 percent is consistent with the requirement under section 17 of the Modern Apprenticeship Training Act to have particular regard to the employment needs of women?

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN

: I think moving from 7 percent to 8 percent might be regarded as an extreme form of Fabian socialism. We hope to do considerably better over the coming period of time, particularly as we extend the Modern Apprenticeships scheme to areas with a much larger concentration of young women who are available for training.

Taxation-Business Tax Review

3.

JOHN KEY( National-Helensville)

to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by the comment he made last December when announcing the business tax review that we envisage some very bold measures emerging. It will not be a matter of tinkering with the tax rules; if so, can he confirm that the measures released in the review are in fact very bold and not at all a matter of tinkering?

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN( Minister of Finance):

The answer is yes and yes. I said also that some may prove to be too big and too bold for a wide variety of stakeholders, including officials. The business tax proposals are certainly much bolder than those proposed by National last year, which merely proposed to lower the rate by 3 c with no other moves.

John Key

: Has the Minister seen the opinion of numerous tax experts who think the report is superficial and timid, including Mike Shaw, a senior tax partner at Deloitte, who said: I would have thought on a scale of 1 to 10 it was probably about a 2 or 3 mark.; in which case, is the Minister himself surprised that it took 7 months to produce such a lightweight document?

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN

: That member is the last member to talk about being lightweight on matters of this sort. I am not surprised. It is my experience that whenever we spend more money on anything or reduce tax anywhere, everybody always asks for more. The problem that that member has not understood is that one cannot give more to everybody on everything people ask for.

Shane Jones

: Has the Minister seen any reports expressing disappointment that the report expressly excludes consideration of a payroll tax?

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN

: Yes, I have seen a number of reports that seem to suggest great disappointment that a payroll tax was not included. Most of those reports seem to come from Mr Key.

R Doug Woolerton

: Does the Minister agree that the proposals aimed at incentivising research and development and exports, which are endorsed by New Zealand First, are of vital importance in improving our competitiveness with Australia, and consistent with the policy programme within the confidence and supply agreement?