Parliamentary Debate

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS : Economic Development Fund---Job Creation

Economic Development Fund---Job Creation

12. Hon. MAX BRADFORD (NZ National) to the Minister for Economic Development: How many extra jobs does he expect the $100 million economic development fund to create, and in what areas will they be concentrated?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Economic Development): It is a mistake to think that $100 million in Industry New Zealand is the sum total of development investment by this Government. One of the first things that has begun to happen is that significant new investments are being made because investors have confidence in the Government's economic development strategies. Over time we need at least 100 new state-of-the-art industries like Tait Electronics and C W F Hamilton, which are supplying thousands of jobs and exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of high quality exports each year in all regions of New Zealand. We will not get them immediately but at least with this Government's new approach we have a chance of achieving them---something that was impossible under the previous Government.

Hon. Max Bradford: Will the Minister confirm that his inability to put any number of jobs on this $100 million investment by the taxpayer will in any way offset the effects of withdrawing between $500 and $600 million in accident compensation savings and in higher taxes from local communities around New Zealand, or will he simply obfuscate the issue of jobs being created by his so-called ``jobs machine''?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: I recall a National Government in 1990 that said it would halve unemployment and then set about doubling it. This Government is neither as foolish nor as short-sighted as that. We want jobs and we will get them. Some of the jobs will undoubtedly be in Rotorua and I am sure the member will be pleased about that because Rotorua needs them. His loss of 10,000 National Party votes at the last election should show him the reality of that position.

Grant Gillon: Exactly where can the new jobs be located?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: The Government's development strategies will lead to jobs being created in all regions of New Zealand, but particularly in those regions that have been in decline constantly since a National Party Government was elected in this country. I would have thought National Party members like Bill English and John Carter, who have welcomed the development strategies of the Government to strengthen the regions of New Zealand, would be applauding the Government, as I see its press releases are doing.

Hon. Richard Prebble: Could the Minister answer Mr Bradford's question, which asked: how many extra jobs does he expect the $100 million economic development fund to create?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: I said earlier that questions that ask a Government that has been in office for 2 months exactly how many jobs it will create are as silly as the policies of the ACT party that lost the seat of the member for Wellington Central at the last election.

Rod Donald: Will the Minister be ensuring that all Government agencies adopt a ``buy New Zealand made'' policy for their goods and services in order to create more jobs?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: The member will be pleased to know that the Minister for Economic Development and Deputy Prime Minister has written to all members in this Government suggesting that they advise all of our Government officials to look very carefully at the contracts that are let, and see that New Zealand contractors get a very even chance to offer New Zealand products to this Government.

Chris Carter: What sorts of industries does the Minister expect that Industry New Zealand will invest in?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: Job rich, high technology, export orientated, high skilled, and highly paid---all the kinds of jobs that were never created under the previous Government.

Rt Hon. Jenny Shipley: Given this Government's determination to keep its promise, what guarantee will the Deputy Prime Minister give that he will keep his promise, which he made prior to the election and just after the election, that his economic development strategy would deliver 76,000 additional jobs for New Zealanders?

Hon. JIM ANDERTON: All members of this Government, whether they are Alliance members or Labour members, have set about keeping the commitments they have made, in the way in which it is appropriate for a coalition Government to keep them. The Alliance will keep every single promise, to the extent that it has influence in the Government, and so will Labour. I think it is very clear to the people of this country---as recent polls have shown---that this Government has a huge amount of confidence and support, far more than any previous Government could ever have hoped for, or ever got.