Oil and gas exploration will fuel the Government's growth plans, Finance Minister Bill English has told a post-Budget business audience.

He also had a crack at protesting students who blocked an Auckland street yesterday, saying "they need some Greeks to show them how to do it".

English came under pressure from ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie this morning to get more out of the country's abundant natural resources as the country tries to make its way through continued global economic turmoil.



Bagrie said New Zealand was the eighth highest-ranked country in the world for its endowment of natural resources per head of population. The seven countries ranked higher were all oil-intensive producing countries, he said.



''We need to pull multiple levers. We do need to see austerity, but the more we can pull the growth lever, the less intense that austerity lever is going to be,'' Bagrie said.



''This does not mean we pull a growth lever at all costs. If New Zealand decided to mine the MacKenzie country - that great drive from Twizel, Tekapo, those sorts of places - I'd be there with a placard.

''But let's be honest, a lot of New Zealand's coal reserves are down around Ohai, Nightcaps and those sort of places and they're not exactly a tourism mecca. So there has got to be some opportunities here.''



English noted he was the local MP for Ohai and Nightcaps, in Southland, and said he had been there a few weeks ago.



''It may not be a tourist mecca, but I was a tourist. I might have been the only one there,'' English said.



He agreed, however, that New Zealand must get more out of its natural resources.



''If you want a job where it doesn't exist now then you have to do something we're not doing now, such as expand our oil and gas programme in New Zealand,'' he said.



With legislation before Parliament at the moment, the Government would be able to ''look New Zealanders in the eye'' and say oil and gas exploration was being promoted as well as ensuring that activity would meet high environmental standards.



''We'll get that legislation through and that will give New Zealand the opportunity - I think with public support then - to push the growth of that industry,'' English said.



Projections in yesterday's Budget had GDP growth at 1.6 per cent this year, 2.6 per cent next year and 3.4 per cent in 2014/15.

Some commentators have suggested those projections are over-optimistic but English insisted they were Treasury's best professional judgment and around the middle of the road.



''We have the opportunity to, with a bit of confidence, continue along a path of moderate and increasing growth,'' he said.



''To achieve that, we need to keep re-organising ourselves for efficiency and we need to take the kind of opportunities such as expanding our oil and gas, building on our innovation and high tech companies to underpin that growth.''



After his speech, English told reporters the Government was ''expecting to see more'' mining around the country.



''There are some proposals at the moment, for instance coal mining on the West Coast and down in Southland, which are reasonably significant.



''We're seeing more interest from oil and gas companies in exploring our offshore resource and there is some speculative work that Solid Energy has done about new resources that haven't been exploited before,'' he said.



''I think New Zealanders are keen on the economic potential, provided that the environmental safeguards are in place.''



English, who also took a swipe at student protesters in Auckland yesterday, said the Government had ''nothing against people protesting environmental causes'' because the environment mattered.



''It's when they then criticise New Zealand for not providing enough jobs - when actually they're the people standing in the way of the jobs. The fact is, if you don't do anything in the environment, we won't have new jobs, so most New Zealanders accept that there is a trade-off, they want reasonable environmental safe-guards ... at the same time, they want to see the economic opportunities.''

AN ENGLISH LESSON

Students yesterday blockaded Auckland's Symonds Street in protest at English's Budget, which he delivered at Parliament.

The Budget included measures tightening eligibility for student allowances and increasing the rate of compulsory student loan repayments from 10 to 12 per cent.

English this morning told his business audience that most people thought students "got a pretty fair go".

"Yes, there's a protest movement out there but who's really listening to them?" English said, in response to a question from the audience.

"They get on TV and they can make a bit of a racket ... dragging a few rubbish bins around, they need some Greeks to show them how to do it," he said.

"It gets reported, mainly because it blocked the traffic, [but] who's listening? Most people actually think the students got a pretty fair go and they should count themselves lucky that they've still got interest free loans and get on with it because, you know, get your training finished and get a job and start contributing."

NZUSA President Pete Hodkinson said students felt "targeted" by the Budget.

"What is not fair and reasonable, and what this government doesn't want to accept is that the loan repayment threshold kicks in below the poverty line for our graduates who shouldn't be forced into paying for the 'private benefit of education', before that benefit is realised," Hodkinson said.

There were "some nice touches" in the Budget, including a boost to science and research funding but that was at the expense of a "devastating blow" to the accessibility of tertiary education.

"Institutions will be glad to see at least a degree of investment, [but] students are furious that they've been handed the bill at a time when knowledge and intelligence are key to developing the nation's future" Hodkinson said.