KEY POINTS:
Don't fixate on our sparse policy, just listen for the nuances - that's the message business should take from a resurgent National Party.
At the party's annual conference in Auckland yesterday, the first since John Key was elected leader, there were plenty of signals to the economic direction National will take if it wins next year's election.
It was all basic stuff - the type of policy designed to boost productivity and underpin economic growth. But that is the policy Labour is kicking against - such as Resource Management Act reform so that moves to underpin electricity supply or make more land available for housing can be addressed quickly.
It's not the risky, blue-sky thinking that Key really likes - such as the suggestion by one businessperson at the Business Roundtable's Dunes Symposium this week that a financial services industry hothouse (including tax incentives to attract ex-pats back) should be set up on Auckland's tank farm, to create a new money-spinner which leverages off New Zealand's time zone.
That might be a bit too radical for some of Key's counterparts, but don't rule it out in the long term. Indeed, it's vital if New Zealand is to once again register on international radar screens. But right now nobody wants to frighten the horses.
The element of risk that both Key and English maintain will distinguish them from Finance Minister Michael Cullen's more boring and cautious approach will be put in place once the building blocks are secure.
National shadow finance spokesman Bill English set the scene by saying the party had a five-point plan that would create a more prosperous society and build on New Zealanders' confidence in themselves and in their country.
It involves a programme of ongoing tax cuts, disciplined government spending, effective investment in infrastructure, cutting red tape and keeping interest rates lower.
What's important to business is not English's broad thrust but the nuances. Take tax cuts. Key and English continue to maintain that personal taxes will cut in from April 1, 2010, if National wins next year.
Asked if tax cuts could come into effect before then, Key indicated it would be up to English to decide whether a National government would hold a post-election mini-budget, or simply wait until June 2009 to unveil its programme at the usual time.
The important qualifiers here are the words "programme" and "ongoing". English suggests tax cuts will be rolled out over time - they will not simply be a one-off affair.
The competitiveness of the company tax rate, set to drop from 33 per cent to 30 per cent in April, is also an issue. English concedes a National government will have to address this but personal cuts will take precedence.
He points to Institute of Economic Research data showing that after-tax income between Kiwis and Australians earning $60,000-plus has markedly shifted under Australian Treasurer Peter Costello's rolling tax cuts.
This tends to suggest that National, if it is serious about stemming the number of talented Kiwis moving to Australia, should introduce tax cuts as part of its post-election "100 days agenda" rather than waiting till 2010, when even more will have left.
Neither Key nor English will concede that point 15 months out from the expected election date. They don't want to tip National's hand yet, particularly as they expect Labour to make tax cuts a feature of its own pre-election Budget.
Government spending is another area. National is trying to shift the debate from cutting spending to ensuring a more disciplined approach to how it dishes out the billions of taxpayer dollars it will collect.
English gave two examples of poor-quality spending - the $200m Labour spent on benefit administration for the single core benefit, only to abandon the idea; and, the $400m on tertiary education reform, which English says should be abandoned because it misunderstands how students make choices about what they study.
National will not say how many public servants it wants to cull - the focus is on cutting programmes rather than numbers at this stage.
And then there's infrastructure investment. National plans to make greater use of the Crown's balance sheet by taking on more debt to fund infrastructure investments. The aversion to public-private partnerships will go. There are also likely to be more joint ventures between central and local governments.
Business will welcome this shift in thinking. It will also welcome the indication that National will require district health boards to put operations out for tender to private hospitals rather than carry on with the ideologically driven obscenity of 83-year-olds lying on beds in hospital corridors because there is no space.
You would also expect the perennial red tape to feature.
English says consultant-itis and lawyer-itis have become diseases clogging the economy's blood stream. Simpler, cleaner rules will reduce the cost and time of making decisions, he says, but he has given no examples.
And of course, there's interest rates. The key qualification here is that National plans to keep them lower.
English won't buy into the debate about New Zealand's monetary policy settings and whether the Reserve Bank's anti-inflationary platform should be expanded. What National is saying is that interest rates will be kept lower through addressing the level of government spending and increasing productivity.
National is listening carefully to the nuances in some of the submissions to the parliamentary inquiry on monetary policy.
The more considered approach Key and English displayed yesterday is partly a result of not tipping their hand before the election and not yet having the policy in place. But delegates indicated they were up for a more ambitious approach.
Cam Calder, chair of North Shore electorate, pitched a policy to boost innovation. He suggested 100 per cent write-offs for research and development and new plant and equipment; differential tax rates for exports - "Let's stop doing the stupid stuff, 'if it moves tax it, if it moves too fast regulate it, if it stops subsidise it"'; using the Irish approach of low tax rates to attract greenfield investments from offshore; examining the incentives Singapore uses to attract skilled talent.
The delegates applauded Calder enthusiastically. Key nodded his approval.
English told me later: "Get the building blocks in place first." The respective comments speak volumes.
