Sowing the seed for a brighter future

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you Nick Pyke for your introduction, I am delighted to be here in Ashburton for the Foundation for Arable Research conference.

Your conference theme strikes a real chord for me - "Sowing the Seed for a Brighter Future". This fits well with the Government's goal.

We want to grow the economy in order to deliver greater prosperity, security and opportunity for all New Zealanders.

We need to reclaim our position as one of the leading economies in the developed world.

To reach our goal and to catch up with our trading partners, we need a step change in our overall economic performance.

This means every sector of our economy.

The primary sector is crucial to getting us over the line.

What most people don't realise is that the export sector went into recession in 2004 - a full five years before the global financial crisis. We just didn't see it.

This National-led Government's first year in office was about rebalancing the skew. We are now out of recession and back on track - our focus has turned to accelerating economic growth.

Every sector has a responsibility to lift its game. There are no exceptions - the arable sector has an important role in turning our economy around.

And the Government is doing its bit.

Our rolling maul of initiatives to kick start growth includes revamping the tax system, encouraging innovation, reforming regulations and boosting infrastructure.

I want to briefly touch on these.

Our reformed tax system sees three quarters of all New Zealanders now paying a top tax rate of just 17.5 cents in the dollar.

There is, of course, a downside to this figure. The threshold of $48,000 is a real indication we are not the high income society we like to think we are.

The aim behind our tax reform is to create incentives for people to work hard, improve their skills and get ahead.

Initiative two is about encouraging innovation.

This Government knows we can't rely on research and development of previous decades. That is why we committed to match primary industries dollar-for-dollar as part of the Primary Growth Partnership innovation fund.

Thank you, guys for being really enthusiastic early joiners of the PGP with your FAR project.

You were one of the first to put in a robust application, and work through what is clearly a very rigorous process.

Your project is exactly what this fund is about - those seriously innovative ideas.

Planting special grasses that don't attract birds around airports sounds pretty good to me - and I can say that as someone who uses airports a lot!

Initiative three is about draconian regulations which strangle economic growth.

One of the first things this Government did was to streamline the Resource Management Act. Legislation was introduced to Parliament within our first 100 days and came into law on 1 October 2009.

Another initiative, and one that directly impacts on your profitability, is around the people you employ.

We are making significant changes to employment law.

The 90-day trial period for new employees is being extended to all businesses, we're looking at changing the rules around sick days and we're reviewing the Holidays Act legislation.

This is one more step on the road to growing the economy.

Another area the Government views as critical to growth is around infrastructure and, in particular, water.

I don't need to tell arable farmers that you need water to grow things.

Water is possibly our biggest opportunity to grow our economy.

It is New Zealand's liquid gold.

We have plenty of it, but not always in the right place and at the right time.

The focus of the new direction is on water quality, water quantity, allocation and infrastructure, and especially water storage.

We are close to getting a report back from the Land and Water Forum. I am expecting something pretty substantive.

And after that, it will be over to Government to move quickly.

Recently we made the Community Irrigation Fund more user-friendly because we want irrigation projects to roll out.

We've spent the last 18 months working hard to get rid of regulatory roadblocks. On a local note, this triggered the passing of the Environment Canterbury legislation. This was the first step to improving Canterbury's water management.

It was drastic and courageous action. But it was necessary.

The Government is working on other initiatives which I can't announce tonight but when it comes to getting infrastructure developed, all I can say is watch this space.

I believe that we have proved ourselves to be a Government of growth and action.

I believe we have done a credible job.

But there's still more to do.

This Government will continue working hard to create a field of play where your industry can, and will succeed. But you must play your part too.

It will be teamwork between industry and Government that will deliver the economic growth this country needs.

Thank you again for inviting me to speak to you - and enjoy the rest of your conference.