Pragmatic approach to economic growth prime responsibility—Peters

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 5

Pragmatic approach to economic growth prime responsibility—Peters

Wellington reporter A pragmatic approach to the creation of economic growth was the prime responsibility of a Government, the Opposition spokesman on Maori affairs, Mr Winston Peters, said yesterday. “When it comes to the health and welfare of this country then we must win — and I’m not too concerned just how it might look in the style book,” he said. Speaking to a banking audience in Auckland, Mr Peters said New Zealand was being forced to compete against “trading partners that impose import tariffs, subsidise production and exports, (and) provide generous incentives -for their local industry.” He praised the “judicious mix of Government incentives and increased productivity” of the Asian nations. These countries had “outstripped by far the economic growth rate of those Western nations busily promoting the virtues of the so-called ‘free market’.” Mr Peters said he agreed with the views of the British Conservative member of Parliament, Mr Michael Heseltine, that “a

Government’s prime responsibility is to create the conditions for economic growth — a pragmatic philosophy long since abandoned by this Administration.” “He is also a man scathing of the general economic philosophy we broadly term as monetarism. “It will not surprise you to

learn that we got on like a house on fire,” he said. Mr Peters met Mr Heseltine on a recent trip to Britain. The Government’s attempts to make the New Zealand economy more competitive had produced a discouraging score so far, with 175,000 people unemployed, high interest rates, undefeated inflatiton, and negative economic growth. “There are those prepared to say ‘it’s not the winning that counts, it’s how you play the game,’ and then wonder why this country is looking down the barrel of economic bankruptcy.” Mr Peters told “The Press” he was not advocating protectionism, but “transitional measures to greater competitiveness.” He was not suggesting “a return to the excesses of regulation.” The Asian economic experience showed that policies needed to give people time to adjust to economic change. Mr Peters said he now accepted the need for a floating exchange rate, claiming he had only ever argued that the timing for such a move had been wrong.