Steven Joyce speaks to Rotorua businesses ahead of budget (+video)

Questions about tourism infrastructure and the granting of a casino licence in Rotorua put Steven Joyce on the spot at a meeting in Rotorua today.

The Finance Minister and Infrastructure Minister was in town as part of a nationwide pre-budget tour of the country's regions and gave a talk to members of the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce about his priorities for his first budget to be announced in May.

About 40 people attended the lunch meeting at Rydges hotel, including Pukeroa Oruawhata Group Holdings deputy chairman Alec Wilson who wanted to know if the Government would approve a casino licence for the group that wants to build a 5-star hotel on the shores of Lake Rotorua.

"We are a tourist town and what we need is a casino so the gambling situation here can be controlled. At the moment it's all over the place," Mr Wilson said.

Mr Joyce said it was an interesting idea, but he could not provide an answer as it was the first time he had been asked the question, "but we'd want to know if there would be strong community support for the idea".

"We'd listen to any sort of pitch," Mr Joyce said.

Chamber president John McRae asked members to raise their hands if they supported a casino with the vast majority of those attending putting their hands up.

During his speech, Mr Joyce said the key priorities in his upcoming budget were to invest in public services such as police, health and education, but also wanted to see better results from those organisations if they received further funding.

His second priority was to build better infrastructure for the expected growth in the country.

"But, it's also important councils focus on that as well...and chambers [of commerce] around the country need to make sure they keep an eye on what they [councils] do."

His third priority was to reduce debt, saying the global financial crisis and the Christchurch earthquake had seen New Zealand's debt grow to almost 30 per cent of gross domestic product.

And his fourth priority was to focus on people's incomes and looking closer at personal tax rates was an option.

He also said there was more work to do regarding youth unemployment in some areas of the country and that the challenge of providing infrastructure to keep pace with regional growth was a good challenge to have.