I know that at the moment I am focusing a lot on the economy and the 2010 Budget in "Just Peachey". There is a very important reason for that. The economy, our need to strengthen it and to improve the prosperity of New Zealanders is the most important game in town. It is important that New Zealanders appreciate what the Government is dealing with and what its challenges are.

Government debt is an example. New Zealand's gross government debt is at about 30 per cent of GDP. This is too high for the New Zealand economy to function at its optimum. It must be reduced over time.

I do not buy into the view that New Zealand has scope to increase its government debt further. Just because the gross government debt in the United States is more than 90 per cent of GDP and the United Kingdom more than 80 per cent, that is not a reason for New Zealand's debt to grow further.

I prefer looking at it the other way. Australia has a gross debt at 20 per cent of GDP. That is what New Zealand needs to be aiming for, and working towards.

And incidentally while we are talking about Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, a comparison of income tax rates is instructive. In New Zealand after 1 October this year someone earning around the average wage will pay a top marginal tax rate of 17.5 per cent. In those other countries mentioned that figure is around 30 per cent.

In these figures there is a real opportunity for New Zealand.