28 June 2009 Media Statement

Mapp ignored Treasury warnings on priorities

Research and Development Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp ignored Treasury advice which indicated that his priorities in Vote RS&T would not support innovation or economic growth, Labour Research and Development, Science and Technology spokesperson Moana Mackey said today.

"Treasury's report on Vote RS&T raised significant concerns about the Government's priorities stating ‘there is a risk that these initiatives don’t add up to a set of actions which make a significant difference to innovation performance, and therefore the long-run growth potential of the economy’.

“This is exactly the concern that Labour MPs have been raising with the Minister since the election."

Moana Mackey said Treasury also highlighted a lack of focus on commercialisation initiatives and the low level of private sector R&D investment as major concerns.

"Instead of listening to this advice, the Minister cut funding initiatives for commercialisation and continues to defend the abolition of the R&D tax credit," she said.

"Just last week the Minister was defending the move, even going so far as to claim that New Zealand was not at a competitive disadvantage being one of the few OECD countries with no tax incentives for R&D.

“When asked whether or not he had done any analysis on the numbers of jobs lost because of R&D work shifting overseas the Minister said he had not, and in fact he seemed to think that such an idea was a joke."

Moana Mackey said the Treasury report shows the National Government's claims to have a plan for productivity and economic growth to be no more than hollow rhetoric.

"Treasury says that the weight of evidence points towards private sector R&D as being critically important to productivity. They also highlight the link between innovation performance and the growth potential of the economy. The Government has failed miserably on both fronts."

ENDS