Hon Deputy Speaker, I think the biggest problem we have is the negativity by hon Harris, because I have just gone through a number of initiatives - which are not the Minister of Finance's but government's initiatives - and policy reforms that have taken place since 1994 and during the past five years.
With regard to the issues that you raised and the comparison you made, I just referred to the competitive index that actually compares us with our peers. Every time you look at this glass you see a half-empty glass, you don't want to see a half-full glass. When we look at how we were impacted upon by the global financial crisis, the only thing you see is the labour flexibility that you always refer to that has not been addressed. When you look at the strides that we have made in that area, for you it is nothing, compared with our competitors. If you look at our stable microeconomic policies that have been implemented, none of them have been blocked by anyone because it is this government, and not the Minister of Finance, who has implemented those policies.
I said that we would not be able to achieve the target that you put with regard to all the issues that I have raised, particularly the microeconomic reforms, unless we are able to step that up. It is one of the things that the Minister said during the tabling of the budget. You talk numbers as if there is a switch that you can just turn on and get your 8% growth. Eight percent growth comes from a concerted effort that is derived from the efforts that the government is currently implementing, and we are likely to achieve that only if we are able to move in that direction.
With regard to the underspending by the state-owned companies, if you were to look at all their plans and the departments they report to, you will realise that there have been genuine reasons why most of the state-owned companies have actually not been able to spend their entire allocations.
If you are actually negative, you will not appreciate that, in a way, some of them have actually realised some savings, some of them have actually made better progress than was projected in their original plans. Therefore, I want to submit that we are making good progress. It is only those who are sitting in a bus facing backwards that will not see the progress that we are making. [Applause.]