Good afternoon and thank you for the invitation to join you today.

It's great to be a Minister and to be able to get things done, to help people run their businesses by addressing the over regulation that hampers so many aspects of living in New Zealand, and especially in doing business here.

New Zealand is over regulated. Government has got too big.

Resources have been draining from the productive sectors into the state sector, which has been dragging the economy and the country down. Red tape is tying up businesses in knots.

The practice of imposing more and more obligations onto businesses and councils must stop. Businesses have to pass on those costs to consumers, like councils pass them on to ratepayers and consent applicants.

Over the past few years there has been an avalanche of new rules and regulations. It's no wonder that people are walking away from projects and businesses saying "it's too hard".

My job as Minister for Regulatory Reform shouldn't exist.

All ministers should be ministers for regulatory reform. But they aren't, as a rule, and a quick look at economic history shows that they rarely have been.

I see one of my tasks as Minister for Regulatory Reform as changing the culture of government.

The culture that says politicians and bureaucrats have a better idea of individual self-interest than individuals do.

The culture that comprehends market failure, but not government failure.

The culture that overlooks the regulatory burden borne by households and firms.

The culture that says taking people's money is OK, as long as you have a law that lets you do so.

The culture that fails to realise that regulations can stop people from doing good as well as harm.

Time spent on complying with regulation is time that can't be spent on producing value.

Money spent on complying with regulation will ultimately be passed on to consumers as higher prices - and that's not good for anyone.

In the current climate, businesses need all the help they can get. These are unprecedented times. For the nation, and the government, it is not business as usual. 

So how can we help?  We haven't been on the job long, but I believe we're making changes and carrying out reforms that will make a big difference both to businesses and to individual New Zealanders.

Getting government out of business is one way to encourage businesses to grow. But for many New Zealand businesses to grow beyond a certain level, they have to explore trading across borders, an area I am sure is close to all your hearts.

I know you had a presentation yesterday about the work New Zealand Customs is doing on Trade Single Window.  The project aims to reduce the time spent dealing with government when getting goods over the border. Business will only have to deal with one government agency that will be able to sort out all the compliance matters required to export or import.

This sounds like a really great idea to me - a very good way to reduce the burden on the sort of businesses you operate.

The objective of a Trade Single Window fits very well with the other work I have underway in the regulatory area - to minimise costs, reduce delay, and increase transparency for participants in the supply chain.

This will mean that people importing and exporting products will only have to deal with one organisation that will represent all of the government agencies involved in border control. 

If this policy work gets approved, it will lead to a significant reduction in the regulatory burden on your day-to-day activities.  That's got to be good for you and for New Zealand.

An open trading system is critical to New Zealand, as it is for many countries. 

That's why it is so important for us to continue to work hard to grow world trade and strengthen New Zealand's international connections.

We need to embrace the opportunities we have coming out of this current economic crisis and ensure that we work hard to leverage any advantage that can be found.

New Zealand businesses, across all sectors of the economy, have the ability to be world leaders.

There is no doubt that New Zealand produces some of the brightest business people in the world, and we need to ensure they want to stay doing business here. 

I take very seriously my responsibility to reform New Zealand's regulatory environment, so that it encourages business and international trade rather than hindering it.

We are in a very tough situation economically and we must do everything we can to help businesses flourish and grow.  By cutting costs and cutting red tape.

I want to free up businesses to do what they do best - create wealth, opportunity and jobs.

These are challenging times, and we need to lift our game substantially.  This government is certainly here to help.

Reform is needed, and I promise you change will come.  

As I'm well aware that politicians aren't the source of all wisdom, I would appreciate hearing from you about what you think the government could do to make it easier for your industry to operate and your businesses to flourish.
 
I'm happy to hear from you now, or for you to drop me a line any time in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to join you here today.