Imprest Supply (Second for 2021/22) Bill

The question is that the motion be agreed to. Mr Seymour, would you like to take a call?

Mr Speaker, I’m very happy to take a call. I was under the impression it was the Green Party’s turn to take a call, but if it’s me—

💬 SPEAKER: No, they took the previous call. I think the member was in the Chamber at the time.

Well, Mr Speaker, I certainly was not aware of that. I saw a National Party MP, we had a discussion, and you said the next call was Labour. Indeed, I recall you seemed to be confused about the order of calls yourself—

💬 SPEAKER: And the member corrected me, as he might well do—and he did—and I took his advice and I checked, and he was right.

Well I’m glad we cleared that up. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

This Estimates debate should be a marker in New Zealand’s fiscal history. It is a debate about New Zealand’s response to COVID-19, ultimately. Time and again, we find the Government saying, “Aren’t we doing a good job? We haven’t made the mistakes that other countries have made.”, and they’re able to say that because, time and again, New Zealand faces challenges under COVID-19 later, because we are further away from the source of the original and new variants. That, in a way, has been very welcome for New Zealand, but there is a cost to doing so. That is the amount of money that is being spent by Government, the debt that is rising, and the challenge that younger generations are facing in getting into the housing market as the fiscal stimulus to the economy is matched with monetary policy stimulus that has seen average house prices rise by $200,000 in a year when the borders were closed and there was no immigration whatsoever.

People need to get an idea of just how big the borrowing programme that this Government is committing to through the COVID period really is. Let me put it in perspective. They are going to increase net Government debt by $140 billion over four years. Let me put that into perspective. There are 5 million New Zealanders, and if everyone was in a family of five, there’d be a million of them. So for every family of five, this Government is borrowing an additional $140,000 to get through COVID. But, of course, that debt is not going to fall just on the older people in the family. It is going to disproportionately fall on those younger New Zealanders who will spend more time in future in the workforce, more time paying tax, not to provide for the roads and the schools and the hospitals needed in their time but to pay back a generation worth of debt taken on in this short COVID period near the start of their lives. This is something that I believe has not been given nearly enough attention.

The Government is always congratulating itself about its COVID response, but it never acknowledges the costs that it has put in place. Even if it did, it’s not talking about the costs that it still will incur in future, taking on even more debt and printing even more money, just as it’s kept the official cash rate so low to get through this latest outbreak. That’s why it matters to younger New Zealanders to watch very carefully what this Government is doing in this Budget, and to watch very carefully what it is doing with its COVID-19 response, to ensure that our strategy is not going to be to lock down the border, lock down the country if the locked down border fails, and borrow and print money all the while to try and keep the economy afloat. It is critical that our COVID-19 response becomes more sophisticated so that we don’t continue to depend on borrowing, but it is also critical that the quality of Government expenditure is improved, and if there’s going to be stimulus, perhaps instead of spending more money on dubious projects the Government should be cutting taxes to allow the hard-working taxpayer to keep more of their own money.

Let me just give you an example of how sloppy this Government has been with expenditure in recent times. We are today debating Estimates that will allow the Government to tax and spends tens of billions of dollars in this financial year. If we want to get an idea of how that might end up, we only need to look at how poorly they took care of that hard-working taxpayer’s money last year. Take for example the mismanagement of Ihumātao. Now, this was a contest over property rights where a group of people decided to override the legal rights of the property owner that had been finely balanced and negotiated under the rule of law for many years. These people came along and squatted, and the property owner saw the Prime Minister coming along. They thought, “This is good. Here comes the Prime Minister of New Zealand to uphold our property rights, to uphold the rule of law.” And what did the Prime Minister of New Zealand do? She encouraged the squatters, she empowered them, and she violated the rule of law and property rights.

So what did she have to do then? Well she had a terrible stand-off. What she did was she took $30 million of taxpayer money to try and fix one mistake, setting a precedent for more. But it gets worse. You see, the money that was given, the $30 million, was not appropriated through an Estimates bill like the one this House is debating today, and the Auditor-General pointed out that the money was spent illegally. It was taken out of the Land for Housing fund, that was never intended to try and fix problems created by the Prime Minister haphazardly wading into a property dispute. So the Auditor-General ticked them off for spending money outside the exact type of appropriations that we’re debating today that are required by law for the Government to spend the taxpayer’s money.

You might ask yourself, “Why on earth did the Government have a Land for Housing fund?” What Government would think the answer to New Zealand’s over-inflated property prices was for the Government to join the market and start bidding up prices further with the taxes paid by other people trying to get into the market? I mean, if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. You can’t make this stuff up. Altogether, $4 billion of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund were taken by this Government and put into housing. Supposedly the best way to recovery from COVID is to put money into a market that is overheated, which has a shortage of labour because the borders are closed, and now has a shortage of materials because, under level 4 lockdown conditions, materials are all sitting in Auckland warehouses, unable to be distributed because the Government can’t work out the testing regime for COVID-19 at the Auckland border.

These are the kinds of things that the Government uses our money for: buying land without proper legal authority, putting money into an over-inflated housing market, and all of this money at the margin is borrowed and will have to be paid for by those younger generations, who are the ones struggling so hard to get into that exact same market. The ACT Party says that the hard-working taxpayer who gets up, makes the kids’ lunches, takes them to school, goes to work, puts up with the challenges they face there, goes home, makes the kids’ dinner, and goes to bed, knowing they’re getting about a third of all their money taken by the Government, needs to know that when the Government spends money it is spending it legally, according to legislation like we’re debating today, on the right things, not putting it into markets that are already overheated, and that it is actually adding value to make sure that New Zealand will have a more skilful, a more productive, a better-housed, and a better-infrastructured future.

At the moment, the way this Government spends money, none of that is something that we can be remotely hopeful of, and that’s why the ACT Party opposes this Estimates bill. We don’t believe this Government is competent to spend hard-working taxpayers’ money, and we can’t wait to write our own bill that makes savings for those taxpayers. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mālo e lelei, Mr Speaker. It’s great to be in the House and supporting the Appropriation (2021/22 Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2021/22) Bill this afternoon. Can I first do what I traditionally do after we’ve been in lockdown: acknowledge all the recent deaths that have occurred during this recent lockdown. E ngā mate kua wehe atu ki te pō, haere, haere, haera atu rā.

[To those who have recently passed, may you rest in peace.]

This Budget, which I’m proud to stand in support of, acknowledges the long-term challenges that this Government’s been facing, particularly around housing, infrastructure, and climate change. Also, it’s regarded as a recovery Budget, in terms of COVID, which we all know is still very much a part of us. On that point, can I acknowledge our team of 5 million and all our essential workers—our border workers; our health professionals; our food producers; and government—and regional, iwi, and Pacific leadership all throughout the motu who are working really, really hard. Can I simply say thank you.

Budget 2021, while dealing with long-term issues like housing, like inequality, and like climate change, also has a stimulus package around the economy and our economic recovery. This is what this Budget does: it does balance the fact that COVID is still very much a part of us, while also recognising that there is much more work to do.

I was hoping that former member who got up would have a “please explain” note when he came in here talking about the COVID response in his recent remarks around Waipareira Trust. Can I acknowledge all our hauora providers and our Pacific providers, who are doing an amazing job in getting Pacific and Māori communities across the country vaccinated. Comments like that seriously undermine the great work that our Māori and Pacific providers are doing.

I want to acknowledge in this Budget two areas that the tailored part of the Budget talks about—both economic stimulus as well as issues around housing inequality. Nowhere else in this Budget of 2021 do we need to look to, other than the infrastructure and, of course, the Māori budget. I want to talk on both those two parts of this Budget.

In terms of infrastructure, you’ll see the Government is investing $57.3 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. This is around long-term investment in building our houses, our schools, and our hospitals, and meeting our transport needs. It is the continuation of last year’s Budget. As a regional MP, I can tell you now that seeing works on State Highway 35 up the East Coast and on State Highway 2 is an absolutely welcome sight, not to mention the work that is going on in our schools and in our hospitals. This $57.3 billion investment will help create jobs, grow jobs, in a time of great difficulty facing many New Zealanders at this particular time.

Can I put a bit in for rural broadband. As the Associate Minister of Agriculture, having spoken to a lot of our agricultural and rural communities, the need for better connection is definitely echoed in their delegations to myself. Let’s hope that that budget will absolutely bring our rural communities into what city folk enjoy.

The other area I wanted to touch on, importantly, in Budget 2021 is the Māori budget. I want to respond to the previous speaker, the leader of the ACT Party, when he talks about the COVID economic response—or the COVID response. I’m proud that this Government has acknowledged the significant importance of both Māori and Pacific not only in ensuring that we’ve got the tailored tools and the resources for a response but also in terms of coming out of it economically. That’s why the Māori budget in Budget 2021 needs to be underscored.

Almost $1.1 billion has gone in the Māori budget. There is $98 million to establish the Māori Health Authority—and, of course, much of that work is getting done now under the leadership of Minister Little and Minister Henare. There is $126.8 million for hauora Māori—and, of course, they’re all working so significantly hard on the front line now, as our vaccination numbers continue to rise. There is $17.8 million towards iwi Māori partnership boards.

I mentioned housing in my opening statement as an indication of long-term challenges which were here before this Government and is something this Government is acknowledging and addressing: $380 million in housing across Aotearoa for Māori; 1,000 new homes for Māori, including papakāinga housing, transitional housing, and owner-occupied homes; repairs of up to 700 Māori-owned homes—again, led by Te Puni Kōkiri—$30 million towards building future capability for iwi and Māori groups to accelerate housing projects; and, of course, $350 million ring-fenced in the Government’s Housing Acceleration Fund, which will target investment in infrastructure support and build homes for Māori funding. Big investment by this Government—over $700 million towards housing specifically to help Māori.

In terms of education, we see a $20 million package supporting Māori boarding schools. These are iconic boarding schools, of which there are only four left in this country. Many who actually filled these halls of Parliament came through boarding schools. Three of the four are in my electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. We see $32 million to address inequitable funding of wānanga that will improve pay of kōhanga reo teachers; $77 million in property building—again, to help deliver better Māori-medium education, putting more money into Te Reo Matatini and Pāngarau and Marautanga programmes.

And, of course, there are our tamariki. We’ve seen this during this particular lockdown around the impacts of being in level 2 in terms of ensuring that our children’s education and their wellbeing is well looked after. In this Budget of 2021, $23.4 million is set aside for the wellbeing of Māori children.

But it doesn’t end there: $50 million for Māori tourism, $10 million to Corrections, and $70 million in Justice. Sexual violence gets and injection of $12 million. And, of course, broadcasting: $14.8 million to further supplement the Māori language strategy for our basic reo speakers up into 2040, and, of course, $42 million into Māori broadcasting to help sustain the Māori-medium sector and investing in programme content.

One that I’m particularly proud of is $14 million to Māori data sovereignty. It is no surprise to this House that in 2018 and 2013, the census let down Māori. We have a very poor database, but this $14.1 million goes a long way to supporting good data when it comes to Māori—the Treaty partner—if all Governments are to ensure that we are working alongside them and, more importantly, are accountable for our deliverables and our programmes that are meeting the needs of our Treaty partner—so $14 million in Māori data sovereignty.

Having shared the suite of programmes in Budget 2021, in terms of the Māori budget and, of course, infrastructure, we on this side of the House know we cannot do it alone. We know we can’t do it alone, which is why relationships are really, really critical, and these are just the beginning of many more investments over the coming years. As we have said, these are long-term issues that one Budget will not fix. These long-term relationships I want to underscore with the last few seconds that I have—the partnerships that we need to build and have built with local government, with iwi, with our Pacific communities, and with our primary sector. If we work alongside those that know our people better, then we are going to get better gains for this nation as a whole.

As I did in opening, in acknowledging our 5 million workers, can I again please acknowledge the Māori and Pacific hauora providers up and down this country, who, despite unnecessary fearmongering around what they are doing, are working hard. I want to acknowledge all the hauora providers and iwi providers and Pacific providers throughout my electorate and throughout the entire country who continue to turn up to encourage and get as many of our people over the line to be vaccinated. They need to be acknowledged; they need to be thanked. As the saying goes: “Be a doer, karawhiua!” [Go for it!]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We’re here debating this bill today because this wasteful Labour Government needs more money from taxpayers. Labour Governments are always like this; they wastefully spend money, other people’s money. It’s what they’re hardwired to do: to tax and spend. This Labour Government is no different. Grant Robertson has pretended to be fiscally conservative and have fiscal restraint, but that is clearly failing and here we are again today. Grant Robertson thought one of the ways to beat his chest and show he was fiscally conservative was to announce a pay freeze in the middle of a pandemic on our doctors and nurses. He was so wrong. Grant Robertson used doctors and nurses during a pandemic to pay for his ideology. How’s that going for you now?

💬 SPEAKER: Order!

Not Mr Speaker, but how’s that going for the Government now?

This wasteful Labour Government has totally lost control of spending and now has an open chequebook policy, and I challenge them to deny it. I, on the other hand, will back this statement with reference to the Government’s independent June 2021 Roche report on the Valentine’s Day outbreak, where under item 16 it clearly says, “The Ministry has indicated that the ‘chequebook is open,’ ”. The Government’s own independent review panel was stating, “The Ministry has indicated that the ‘chequebook is open,’ ”. That’s why we’re here today passing this bill, because this is a Government of open chequebooks that just pay their way through for anything they see fit to pay for, and, clearly, that is now failing New Zealanders.

There are two ways this Labour Government has been wasteful with taxpayer money: spending money in the wrong place or spending money in the right place but doing it very badly. Let’s look at the first, spending money in the wrong place. My colleague the Hon Michael Woodhouse has pointed out several areas where the COVID piggybank has been raided and not for COVID functions. This Labour Government has raided the COVID piggy bank for three waters reform, Government House building renovations, funding to commercialise New Zealand music, subsidised insulation and heating refits, strengthening the Family Court, hunting wallabies, cameras on fishing boats, Papua New Guinea tattoo practice and revival, and a plethora of others. A cycle bridge across the Auckland Harbour for $750 million—I dare the Government to stand by that promise.

We’re struggling with coronavirus, with nursing staff, with access to GPs, with 30,000 people on the overdue waiting list, and no new cancer medicines, because this Government chose to make health restructuring the number one priority. The Budget Cabinet paper from Grant Robertson to Andrew Little makes it very clear “The health funding priority is ensuring the health and disability reform has resources.” In that same document, critical funding for DHBs do not scale above the “minimum viable package”. That’s a tragic way to talk about our DHBs, as a “minimum viable package” funding package. It then goes on to say “All manifesto commitments that are not highly time-sensitive should be deferred to future budgets.” This is why we’re struggling with the coronavirus outbreak, this is why our health system is struggling, because this Government is focusing all their attention on health restructuring and all their funding energies. That is wrong and it will fail.

Spending money in the right place but terrible implementation: you know, the Government’s quite right when it says it has spent more money on health, and thank you for that. The problem I’ve got with that is: spent more money but worse outcomes. If we look at every single one of the national health targets from when we handed them over in 2017, every single one today is worse than when we handed them over. More money in health but worse outcomes. And in fact, what we have now, instead of the health targets, to hide the 30,000 people who have been overdue on waiting lists for more than four months, the Government has shifted the goalposts and called them health indicators instead of health targets. What that means is that the 30,000 people who are overdue more than four months to see a specialist or to be treated suddenly appear as positive 3 percent. How can that be? That’s not a measure of health; that is shifting the goalposts.

Where could that money be spent right now? Well, I might suggest the four lanes from Whangārei to Marsden—the four lanes that when the Labour Government was in Opposition was “a holiday highway”. They came into Government and suddenly it’s “critical infrastructure”, and now it’s out again in favour of rail and other modalities. The single most important economic driver for Northland is the four lanes from Whangārei to Marsden and then from Marsden to Auckland. That would be a much better way to be spending the money rather than what this imprest bill is trying to encourage us to do: to prop up an open chequebook Government.

Mālō e lelei, Mr Speaker. Thank you. I rise to take this short call on the Appropriation (2021/22 Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2021/22) Bill. The Wellbeing Budget 2021 is all about securing recovery from COVID-19. COVID-19 has taught us a lot of lessons, and that is, what really matters most in life is people. Our recovery must be balanced to reflect this. It must be one that never leaves behind, but yet what we hear from the Opposition is just negativity. There is no solution whatsoever. There is nothing about people. We have heard a lot about the fiscal responsibility, but yet nothing about people. I would like to open with a quote from the Minister of Finance, the Hon Grant Robertson, who said, “This is the biggest lift in benefits in more than a generation”, because that’s what you do when you value people, when you put people first, or when you prefer people over fiscal responsibilities.

We have to tackle the systematic issues through investing to address the long-term challenges like inequality. Inequality in this country became chronic. It moved the country from one of the most egalitarian countries to one of the most unequal countries. Low wages have been persistent. Hard-working Kiwis—in the last nine years of National Government there were hardly increases in wages. Our essential workers—we heard some of the Opposition members the other day singing praise to our essential workers, yet they don’t talk about increasing their wages. Singing praise is good—it’s a good gesture—but it’s not going to put food on the tables of these hard-working people. The Opposition needs to realise this.

That’s why this Budget is all about putting people first. This 2021 Budget has seen the biggest benefit increase in generations. That increase will give families food, it will help families feed their kids, and it will give dignity the families deserve. The 2021 Budget also sees $776 million allocated for the use in 2021 to 2025 for three initiatives to fund the lunches in schools that have been identified as having the last concentration of students who come to school with no lunch. Two months ago I was in Timaru with my colleagues from the Education and Workforce Committee. Our local MP down there, Jo Luxton, hosted us. We visited some of these schools and we fed about 422 students, who told us what a difference the free lunches are making in their lives. We have spoken to teachers who couldn’t emphasise enough the difference the lunch was making in the students’ lives.

Yet the Opposition can’t see this. All they see is negativity, complaining after complaining. It’s OK to complain, because that’s their job, but they also need to come with solutions. The reality is if we keep leaving people behind then we are doomed to fail. A society that doesn’t look after its most vulnerable, a society that doesn’t look after its most hard-working people—but yet they don’t get paid enough—is doomed to fail. That’s what we don’t want to do. This Government, this Budget are all about people. It’s all about putting people first. I look forward to a few more wellbeing Budgets in the next few years, so we can bridge the inequality gap that’s persisted in the last many years. On that, I commend this bill to the House.

Mālō e lelei, Mr Speaker. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Well, what a confused argument we’ve heard from the benches opposite. As I’ve been listening to the course of this debate over the last two days, I’ve heard that the Government is spending money in the wrong places. We’ve heard that the Government is spending money in the right places but we’re getting the wrong outcomes. We’re not spending enough on infrastructure, but then we see the members opposite coming into the House voting against a bill which enables that very spending to take place.

What is even more fascinating is infrastructure. I love talking about infrastructure, because this Government has in fact invested $57 billion in infrastructure over the next five years, and this really confuses those members opposite. Usually you’d see them doing a backflip or a couple of claps in the air when you get a bridge, a road, or even a tunnel, but this time they’re very confused, because New Zealand is seeing, under this Labour Government, one of the most significant spends in infrastructure we have ever seen. Not only will that make our hospitals, our schools, our roads, our people better, but it also means we get jobs at a time we need it more than we ever have.

We only need to take a look back in my patch in the Hutt Valley, where we have got the most significant infrastructure project the Hutt Valley has ever seen—over $700 million in total, with a $420 million contribution by the Government, Waka Kotahi, to make sure we have flood protection, we have our roads going, we have our cycleways connected, and we have good walkways to connect into that area. That is something that will not only make our city better, safer, and more resilient, but it will also make sure that we continue to employ people locally to get jobs and give our local contractors that mahi when they need it the most.

So what else have we got? Because one of the interesting things I heard in the course of this debate also was that all this money has been provided out for infrastructure but we haven’t seen any results. I like to take a look at some of the schools that we see around my area that have directly received some of that funding. In fact, 27 schools in the Hutt Valley have had extra funding to be able to complete things like leaky roofs, extra classrooms, bike stands, car parks, landscaping, extra toilets when capacity has been reached in that particular school. Fifteen out of those 27 have already been completed. Eastern Hutt School, Hutt Central School, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ara Whanui, Waterloo School—all of these schools have had projects completed as a result of that extra infrastructure funding. Let me just reiterate that those jobs have been completed by local contractors, local businessmen, local people who have come in and done that work and got the rewards of the fact that we are doing more in infrastructure for New Zealand, and that is a beneficial thing.

I’d like to talk also a little bit about how infrastructure is more than just roads and bridges and buildings. It’s also about our hospitals, and that has been an incredibly important investment that we have needed to do. Nine years—nine years of neglect, as we say time and time again, have let public facilities be run into the ground. It’s not just the facilities; it’s also those front-line workers who have been burnt out by continually working in difficult conditions. This is going to take a significant amount of time, to build back our health system. But out of the funding we have seen come into the Hutt Valley, we will have a brand new upgraded maternity facility—$9.2 million for a special care baby unit, a new mental health unit, and also upgraded maternity facilities, which have been far, far, far overdue.

In addition to that, we’re also seeing extra work going in towards making sure all of our infrastructure in the Hutt joins up. So some of those really important cycleways that have been undertaken over the years will enable that we have a complete cycle network. We see that with Te Ara Tupua, the new connection that will go between Wellington and the Hutt Valley to make sure that we have a place for resilience that we can get in times of need, but also for cycles and others wanting to use a non-road method, non-car method—making sure we’re reducing congestion and giving people more transport choices.

I’d also like to point out that there’s been other work in that space as well, with the Eastern Bays shared pathway also receiving funding and going ahead. Well received in the community that has been. Probably one that’s also very well received is the rebuild of the Naenae pool. So that’s been a long one, and demolition under way very shortly.

I’d like to point out that in terms of the point around projects not being completed, the part of Te Ara Tupua, the cycleway between the Hutt and Wellington, has had the completion nearly from where I live, around Belmont, Melling interchange, all the way through out to Pētone, and is getting close to completion, so well under way on that one.

This is a recovery Budget. This is a Budget about putting people first. While we always talk about the importance of raising those benefits and making sure people have kai in the cupboards, making sure that we have our basics covered, it’s also important about looking forward to where we’ll be in 5, 10, 15 years. So instead of squabbling about whether money should be spent in a good way or a bad way, it would be great to have a bit of recognition that these are unprecedented times for New Zealand. Indeed, we are a Government investing in our people, investing in our future, and making sure that we build back better, that we take what COVID has given us and we work with it in the best way possible to give people and New Zealanders the best possible pathway forwards. I commend this bill to the House.

Mr Speaker, thank you very much. Often when we start these speeches, we say, “It’s a pleasure to speak in this debate.”, but this time, it’s not. This is the second time in about a year and a half that I’ve been in this Chamber talking about borrowing money and spending money, and it is the poor old taxpayer that is at home doing everything this Government is asking of them that will foot the bill. You see, at the time of the first lockdown last year, the Government came and borrowed about $56 billion to be used to help New Zealanders to get through COVID, to be focused on the things we needed for COVID—as they said at the time, to make sure there was enough in the kitty for the rainy day or the COVID day in case it came back. We’ve heard again and again in debates this week, and in questions in the House, the need from the Government to borrow more money because the $56 billion that they decided they needed to spend for COVID last year, that is borrowed, has run out.

This week, we hear the announcement that there will be another $41 billion borrowed. When the finance Minister, Mr Robertson, says that people don’t understand that we are not actually borrowing the money, this week, what we’re doing is being allowed to spend it, what he forgets to tell the public is the Government is still running at a loss. They spend more than they earn. They only earn from the taxpayer when people pay taxes, and so it must be borrowed. If they hadn’t have spent the $56 billion that they gave themselves to spend on COVID last year, and that some of it was still there this year because it hadn’t been spent on things that were not COVID-related, they wouldn’t be coming back to Parliament and going back to the public and saying, “We need another $41 billion for COVID because the kitty is bare.” That is about $147,000 borrowed for every person in New Zealand.

So, when we come back, as the country moves out of level 4 in Auckland, then level 3 in Auckland, then level 2 where many businesses still won’t be able to open and survive, because of the rules that have been put in place and they are not getting the support that they need, that they are crying out for every day from their homes, because they’re not allowed in their businesses, they are doing what the Government has asked of them, they are sacrificing—when we come back and we have the debate about housing in New Zealand and how more New Zealanders deserve to own houses, they need to own houses, I say to the members opposite who have just stood in this House and said, “Rather than talking about whether the money is going to be spent well or not, let’s just rejoice that we have it to spend to help New Zealanders.”, $147,000 is one heck—one hell—of a deposit for a New Zealander, for a young New Zealander, for an old New Zealander, to have their own home. That is $147,000 worth of additional debt borrowed last year and this year because of COVID, because of two lockdowns, that it won’t be every adult in New Zealand, it won’t be every person in New Zealand that is paying back; it will be the young New Zealanders that are yet to be born here, it will be the young New Zealanders that are not New Zealanders yet, because they will to migrate to New Zealand, and it will be the hard work of every single New Zealander who has to rebuild the economy and pay their taxes because this Government has borrowed close to $100 billion and they haven’t spent it all on things that are COVID-related.

There is a reason that the Government is going to borrow another $41 billion, and it is twofold. Number one, they did not do their job around managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). This virus got through MIQ. In fact, every time, except for the first lockdown, that it has got back into the community—and we have seen restrictions in Auckland and restrictions, as a result, around the rest of the country, and now the whole of New Zealand in level 4 for two weeks, everywhere but Auckland in level 3 for one week, and Auckland still in level 4 without sight of when they will be able to go back and run their businesses well or their kids will go back to school, because it got out of MIQ. That is a failure at the border. It is a failure at MIQ. MIQ is set up so that those that have a right to return to New Zealand do so and they can then enter the country, the population, at no risk because they haven’t got the virus, they haven’t got the disease. This is a failure because that is what happened this time.

Yesterday, the Government said that they had exhausted all avenues of finding out how it got out of MIQ. They do not know, but they knew that it had got out, and it is Delta. Do you know what that tells me? They weren’t properly prepared. In fact, we have known for many, many months that Delta was circulating the world and would likely arrive on our shores. In fact, the expert opinion, the report that was given to the Government only weeks ago, said that it was a matter of when, not if, Delta will get here.

So here are the questions that they need to answer for New Zealanders, and New Zealand small businesses who are still struggling and don’t know if they are going to survive, before they borrow the extra $41 billion and saddle every single New Zealander alive today with a debt of $147,000, and they are: how did it get out? Why did it get out? Why weren’t they properly prepared? Why does this keep happening, and what are they doing to stop it?

I’m very pleased that the Prime Minister was able to stand in the 1 p.m. press conference today and say to New Zealanders, “I want to announce a success in borrowing vaccines from a country overseas, but before I do, I’m going to ask an official to spend some time talking to you about the number of cases in Auckland that are only there because we failed at MIQ.” She didn’t say that last bit. She didn’t talk about the businesses in Auckland who are suffering, who are saying that they will boycott paying their GST—not because they don’t want to pay their tax; they are hard-working taxpayers, they pay their tax, they are law-abiding citizens, but they are screaming out for help, and Grant Robertson just says, “Well, we’re still looking at that.” They need help with their rent because they can’t pay it, because last week they did what Grant Robertson told them to do, they applied for the resurgence payment, $1,500 at $400 per employee, and they paid their rents and they paid their bills, and this week their rent is due again and they’re not allowed to apply for that again. They are asking for help from the Government, from the $56 billion they borrowed last year and they don’t get to spend.

Do you know what would have been a better use of money? Instead of giving more than $300 million from the COVID fund for councils in New Zealand, to sweeten the deal so that they wouldn’t resist the Government’s proposals or changes around three waters—they shouldn’t have done that, because it came from COVID. It was borrowed. They should have kept it for the rainy day, because in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand, the rainy day is still here.

So when the Prime Minister said in the 1 p.m. press conference today, “We have borrowed, as a country, 250,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from little old Spain on the other side of the world.”, she didn’t say that actually we should have borrowed them, if they needed to be borrowed, many, many months ago so more New Zealanders were vaccinated. When they said that this was the year of vaccination and we would be at the front of the queue, I don’t think they meant, when the Prime Minister said at the beginning of the year, “the front of the queue”, so we’ll borrow some from Spain. New Zealand had an expectation that the Government was planning, had an expectation that the Government was putting in place the things they needed to to keep them safe, to vaccinate them, so we wouldn’t find ourselves here again.

Up and down the country, businesses are doing it hard. When Auckland goes to level 2 at some stage in the future, they will not get the wage subsidy, but today in other parts of the country, other businesses do, because Auckland is still at level 4. That is not fair to those businesses in Auckland that just want to survive.

The resurgence payment is a one-off. It is welcome. We support it. It needs to be more than a one-off, because those bills are still there. Those companies are starting to fail. The rents must be paid to the landlords, who themselves are small-business people, often, and have their own bills to pay, and they can’t pay that this week or next week with the resurgence payment. They need more.

When 90 percent of hospitality businesses say, after four weeks of restrictions under level 3 and under level 4, “We are not sustainable.”, the Government must listen to them. When a business in Wellington this week—Prefab—announced it is closing and it will make people redundant because it cannot survive under level 2 with just 50 people there, it is not what the Minister of Finance said—that that man had made that decision because he wanted to be safe. If you read the whole article in the newspaper today, it is because he cannot survive and he has too much debt from last year, he hasn’t recovered, and he has to give up. That is not fair to him, it is not fair to his employees, because he and they have done what the Government has asked of them: they have sacrificed.

When the Government announced, last week, $5,000 for tourism businesses in four parts of the South Island to help them restructure, it goes to consultants to tell them that they haven’t got any tourists and how to close. New Zealanders have done what they have been asked. They are crying out for support—$147,000 debt for each of them. The Government must do much, much more for them.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Can I acknowledge all New Zealanders for persevering with the lockdown, and in particular Aucklanders, who are still at alert level 4. I also want to acknowledge the Tongan community: mālō ‘aupito, for their Tongan Language Week. It’s not such a vibrant time to be celebrating, but, none the less, they are doing it in an appropriate manner.

It is a real pleasure to speak on the second reading of the imprest supply bill, because there is much good news, and this is an important element in the Budget cycle. My colleagues here from the Government have spoken at length in very positive ways of the significance of Budget 2021 and the difference it is making to ensure we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic stronger, much stronger, than we have before. The initiatives have been appropriate, and I want to add my congratulations to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, and that health ministerial team, who have done extraordinarily well to put together a programme, combined with the rest of the Cabinet, and put a pathway there that I think all New Zealanders can begin the mahi and celebrate at the end of it.

I want to mention a couple of things to kick off. One of those is the Housing Acceleration Fund—$3.8 billion, a significant portion of that for our Māori community, but that there in itself is addressing some of those long-term challenges we know exist in housing, and in particular the inequality. But it is making a difference, even in places like Wellington south-east and the Chatham Islands. I have seen a significant upbeat response to the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund. The application recently closed, but I can say to you that both local authorities, together with developers and iwi, have come together strongly to respond to that crisis, a crisis that started many, many moons ago, and now we have an initiative in place, thanks to the Budget, that will enable those homes to be built.

Often you hear that infrastructure is a major issue. I believe this will be transformational, and particularly those at the lower end who are seeking something to rent, something to move on from, be it a house that’s supplied by the Government or the private sector, and to move into something that they could rent to own, and a full tool kit. The thing that makes me most proud is that we’ve advanced into a tool kit of initiatives that can help people move from living in public housing, living in housing that’s just an absolute disgrace, into something I believe will be transformational for their lives. We put a roof over someone’s head, and it takes care of most of the story, and we’re not spending unnecessary money at the other end.

I want to also just acknowledge the School Investment Package. The schools I visited some years ago, with the then member for Rongotai, Dame Annette King, needed much work. I know that, from a recent conversation, she’ll be really proud that many a school now has got the investment. I know just travelling along Washington Ave on to the Ridgeway School, many years it needed some investment, as did the three schools on the Chatham Islands. I know, Mr Speaker, we will get to Pitt Island. I will take you back there myself and we will see some of those improvements to Pitt Island School.

I also want to just mention the near completion of the new children’s hospital. It’s an appropriate moment to acknowledge all of those involved on the front line. I know that being the largest employer in the electorate, doctors, nurses, and all of those associated health services have worked right through. They are tired, but they remain defiant and upbeat because they know we can beat this. They agree with our strategy and they work day in, day out to make sure that all New Zealanders are looked after in the most appropriate way. I want to acknowledge Fionnagh and her team at the Capital and Coast DHB for their hard work, but everyone from an orderly right through to the ambulance drivers, up to doctors and those who are just keeping the show on the road. That’s a state of the art facility, a big contribution from a philanthropist who has made it happen. And that’s the spirit. We are working together, in partnerships, strongly with those who have the same values as this Government to put people first, as the previous speaker said, from this side of the House, and make sure that those who most need it get the money that they need.

I want to finish there, with some words. I’ve been in contact with both of the mayors of Wellington City and the Chatham Islands, and I think Monique Croon speaks for all Rongotai residents when she emailed me today and said thank you to the New Zealand Government for putting our island’s wellbeing first, and to the stakeholder teams working together to ensure the needs and the wellbeing of this community and those communities from around Aotearoa New Zealand are met. Thank you, Mr Speaker.