Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill

Members, the House is in committee for consideration of the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill and the Disability Support Services Bill. We start with the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill.

The Business Committee has determined to organise the debate by portfolio; Votes are available for debate, but only specific Ministers will be available each day to speak to the indicated portfolio. The Government has indicated that the Minister of Finance, Minister of Local Government, Minister for the Environment, Minister of Transport, and the Minister for Tertiary Education will be available today. Each debate will be led by a call from the chairperson or member of the committee that considered the Estimates most closely related to the Minister’s portfolios.

In leading off the debate, the chairperson should take care not to be overly political and should ensure their call gives a fair reflection of the committee’s report on the Votes relevant to the portfolio. This debate expires after 11 hours, at which point questions will be put that the Votes stand part of the schedules and on the provisions of the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill. All parties have time allocated proportionally.

The Estimates debate should be relevant to the Government’s current spending plans as contained in the Estimates of Appropriations. A compendium of the reports of select committees on the Votes is available on the Table.

The question is that the Votes contained in the Estimates of Appropriations for 2026/27 stand part of the schedules. Members, we start with the Minister of Finance. The Minister is available to speak to that portfolio from 4.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. I give the call to Ryan Hamilton.

Committee of the whole House—Estimates Debate

Finance