<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>0:10 now <,> to four billion dollars and on its way to five billion dollars why did he tell them that he was a minister that couldn't get confidence up and interest rates down the honourable david caygill i <.>didn't i didn't tell them what the member suggests i should have told them because it wouldn't <{><[>order <,> order <[>because because it wouldn't have been true to do so <,> it wouldn't have been correct to say that our growth rate is only a tenth of that of our trading partners the reserve bank have forecast only in the last two days <,> er <{1><[1>a growth rate of two percent for the year ending march nineteen ninety that certainly won't be a tenth that of our a tenth that of our trading partners i remind the member that when her government had the opportunity to do so they managed to <.>pr for the decade prior to nineteen eighty four they <&>1:00 managed to produce a growth rate of nought point two percent a year nought point two percent a year for <{2><[2>a decade <[1>order <[2>order <,> order <,> order the questions on these issues i've noticed have tended to become more mini debates than than questions and answers and that's <,> well that might be fun but we need to change the standing orders if we're going to allow for that and that's because er other members feel er obliged to join in by er offering their <,> tuppence worth and and that tends to distract the member and the <,> <{><[>the member trying to ask the them well some of the contributions might be out of date as well but the but the the point is we <,> do tend to get more noise than than is desirable for both the questioner or the minister er supplementary elizabeth tennet <[>word did the minister also outline to the wellington chamber of commerce what the effects on the <&>2:00 economy would be of a one billion dollar lost from taxation revenue of a one billion dollar increase in government expenditure therefore accounting for a two billion dollar <,> er loss of expenditure shortfall and did he explain where <.>the where the money would come from the honourable david <{><[>caygill <[>mister speaker no i have to tell the member that i didn't outline that er because this government has no intention of behaving er in that irresponsible fashion er mister speaker er had i thought there was the remotest prospect of the opposition getting into office i might well have warned the chamber against that question two earl patrick thank you mister speaker my question is to the minister for state owned enterprises what is the latest estimate <,> he has of the cost overrun on the clyde dam and how does that amount affect the viability of the project the honourable <{><[>richard prebble <[>mister speaker under the provisions of the state owned enterprises <&>3:00 act all operational decisions of an s o e are the responsibility of its board accordingly the electricity corporation not the shareholding ministers are responsible for decisions relating to the clyde dam including decisions relating to the viability of the project supplementary question earl patrick <,,> does that mean that the project is still viable or does it mean that it's going to be added to the great long sad litany <{1><[1>of think big <{2><[2>disasters <[1>order <[2>order <,> order well the the first er part certainly is in order the honourable richard prebble <,,><&>3 er <.>whi <.>whi <.>whi which bit's er first the first part <{><[>if the project is still viable <[>oh the word factors the mister the bit of the dam that's there mister speaker <.>the the the indications <,> are that providing <.>tha that the work can be done <,> er the <.>pro the project er will still be a a <.>wor it'll be worthwhile er switching it on er <&>4:00 though <.>i though it's been <.>pu put to me that if one it's still viable as a really longterm project even if you don't because we'll be able to persuade tourists in two thousand years time it was a pyramid and they'll come and look at it supplementary question mister speaker doug kidd supplementary question bob hope has the minister <,> er inquired of the chief executive electricorp <,> er as to the <.>s public statement by the chief executive that they <&>drawl at the time of purchase from the crown er <.>prov allowed in their thinking three million dollars ONly er for remedial works er as compared with the figures now being touted about by the government with gay <&>pronounced as grey abandon the honourable richard prebble gay abandon <{><[>sorry <[>mister speaker <.>i <.>t the chief whip was er looking concerned <{><[>there <[>well well <,> with regard to the figures being touted around one of the reasons why <.>i why i <&>5:00 didn't give to the house <,> some some figures is because one one has to <.>s <.>e establish a year <,> because it's one of the problems with the clyde dam <,> project it's been around so long <,> that that i have seen suggestions in nineteen eighty four figures then nineteen then nineteen ninety figures and people not and not explaining er <.>tha that they that some of the increase is due to is due to the fact that they're <.>com not comparing er year with year and i didn't want to join in to that and that's why i didn't give any er figures but if the member wants to i can i can give him er figures to word <{><[>eighteen months ago <[>order order question three ruth richardson speaker my question is directed to the minister of finance and asks <,> in light of the comments by the national bank chief economist <.>garo gerold carojolu following the release of the bank's survey showing business confidence at an eighteen month low that the <&>6:00 government had missed a massive opportunity with the twenty march statement what action if any does he intend to take in response to that assessment the honourable david caygill mister speaker er the national bank's chief economist also went on to say that despite the shortterm gloom the economy is set to boom he said that it was important to understand that even if nothing else is done er come september there will be a significant drop in inflation significant drop in interest rates and we are seeing massive opportunities he said opening up in australia for our manufacturing simply because they are not doing anything about their inefficiencies and we've already done a lot supplementary mister <{><[>speaker <[>ruth richardson mister speaker does the minister understand that he's going to go on getting these sorts of adverse assessments so long as he fails to take any steps that get business confidence up and <&>7:00 interest rates down the honourable david caygill mister speaker er i understand from the list of indicators that i gave the member earlier er that in fact the real economy is recovering er whatever the pessimism of the business <{><[>community <[>nobody believes that the right honourable geoffrey palmer what does the <{><[>minister say about the opposition's contribution to the spirit of negativism in relation to the economy <[>order the honourable <{><[>david caygill <[>mister speaker mister speaker that is a very <.>im that is a very instructive question <{1><[1>but the fact is the fact is mister speaker that the opposition believe it is an <{2><[2>appropriate contribution to <{3><[3>economic policy <[1>order <[2>order <[3>order a point of order <,> order <,> order a point of order the honourable george gair what ministerial responsibility has the minister of finance for the opposition's position mister speaker speaking to the point of order er <{><[>mister speaker <[>the honourable david caygill mister speaker <{1><[1>when the opposition go around this country persistently poor <&>8:00 mouthing this <{2><[2>economy <,> and it damages and undermines confidence <{3><[3>i most certainly do have a <{4><[4>ministerial responsibility <[1>order <[2>nonsense <[3>order <[4>order order speaking to the point of <{><[>order <[>order <,,> order speaking <{><[>to the point of order <[>not allowed to talk to people in the gallery speaking to the point of <{><[>order mister speaker <[>well <.>t yes <{><[>to the point of order the honourable mister jim bolger <[>speaker speaker i would like to submit that the er the minister has no responsibilities to answer the question that her er desired to respond to but er he's clearly misguided in it anyhow in the sense that the er subSTANtive criticism that's been made out there have been made by professional economists from the likes of berl integrated economic services er independent economist len bayliss the <{1><[1>reserve bank's own report they're the ones who are all identifying that the economy that we <{2><[2>take over at the end of this year will be worse than it was when labour <&>8:57 <{3><[3>became government in nineteen eighty four <[1>order order <[2>order <[3>order order the <,> order it's all there order <,,> order we've er had a couple of mini er speeches now in this er in this session er the the minister has responsibility for information and assessments which er which the government makes er but he's not allowed to be asked for an opinion now the er perhaps the <,> perhaps the if the prime minister <.>re represents the question <,> order order <,> right honourable geoffrey palmer i submit that the question i asked was perfectly in order what i asked was what does the minister have to say aBOUT the atmosphere of negativism promoted by the opposition now i submit that that is in order <,> for the reason that the question the supplementary question asked by the member for selwyn was reading out all the factors of negativism that she could <&>10:00 find what did <{1><[1>the minister have to say about that <{2><[2><,> it's perfectly <{3><[3>in order to analyse the opposition's view <{4><[4>on it as well <[1>order <[2>yes order <[3>mister speaker mister speaker <[4>order order order order <,> order <,> order <,,> order if er <,> <.>i when i heard the the question the first time i thought that it was in order the when the member for er north shore then raised a point of order he took the view that the the government was being asked to comment on or to accept responsibility for matters which were not its matters which were the national party's er er responsibility now subsequently i think we've had a couple of comments on variety of economic indicators but the the <,> member for selwyn as the as the prime minister said the member for selwyn's question related to the er views of others and the <&>11:00 minister's comments on those and i think in in that light the prime minister's question as i allowed it the first time was in order <,> order the if the if if if if people want to ask ministers er quote a number of things to them and then say what do they say about that or have to say about that then i think we have to allow that type of question that's and that that in essence was what the question was <,,> well <,,> well the order the <,,> yes the i think i think it was er <,> it was another comment on the economy <,> a brief answer then the honourable david caygill mister speaker what i have to say about this sort of negative campaigner is is that what i have to say about this sort of negative campaign mister speaker is that six six years ago this country had fifteen percent <.>in <&>12:00 inflation and it had it for a decade we now have four percent inflation <,> er six years <{1><[1>six years ago <,> SIX years ago we had <,> we had interest rates rents dividends wages and prices under under control we no longer have them controlled and in many and in many instances they are lower than they <{2><[2>were then <{3><[3>six years ago we had <{4><[4>three billion dollar deficit <{5><[5>we had to virtually eliminate it <[1>order <[2>order <[3>order <[4>order <[5>order mister word sit down order <,> order <&>12:34