If Winston Peters was an animal, he'd be a crocodile – says Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce.

'He always looks like one of those big crocodiles doesn't he? I often see him in Parliament with that one eye open and think he's going to snap at some point.”

Economic Development Minster Steven Joyce at SunLive. See below for video interview.

Steven, who has a degree in zoology, made the tongue-in-cheek comment during an afternoon visit to SunLive's offices where we questioned what animal best suits each political party.

He says the National Party would be some sort of 'hard working” animal, before warming to the task for the political opposition.

'Apparently David Cunliffe looks a lot like a cat, so I suppose that has to be the Labour Party. And they like herding cats so that makes sense.”

He says the Greens would have to be some form of native bird.

'It's an interesting thought; I will have to scratch through my zoology history to think of interesting ways to name all the other parties.”

But animal politics aside, Steven says the Bay of Plenty economy is poised to play a leading role in strengthening New Zealand's economy, which is currently on the cusp of 'something great”.

During his visit to Tauranga today he told about 100 gathered National supporters that thanks to resurgence in the kiwifruit industry, and the impending opening of the Tauranga Eastern Link, exciting times are ahead for the region.

'I think the Bay is helping, after the meeting I spoke to a guy from the Chamber of Commerce [CEO Dave Burnett] and he feels Tauranga is on the cusp of something impressive.

'Because there is a lot of things going on, whether it's the tertiary partnership, the work being done with the marine station and of course the kiwifruit industry coming back now after PSA.”

He says right across the Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty economies there is significant growth.

Steven says New Zealand's current economy continues to go from strength to strength after recovering from the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8 better than most developed countries.

National policies are helping create employment, with 83,000 new jobs in the last year: the highest number in a decade, he says.

One area he takes pride in is helping turn around the number of Kiwis crossing the Tasman in search of job opportunities – a problem hindering the nation since the early 2000s.

'Going across the Tasman for better job opportunities, that's been a real problem for us and finally the flow has largely stopped.

'Last month only 79 headed across and prior to being in government it was 3000 a month. The numbers have come back to near nothing.”

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