Budget Debate

Grant Robertson had one task in this Budget, and that was to ruthlessly focus everything in this Budget around overcoming the cost of living crisis and to stop New Zealanders going backwards. But it’s clear that he’s failed, because Grant Robertson has delivered the “backwards” Budget. Now, I have to say, we had a moment. We thought about calling it the “Budget blowout” Budget, then we thought maybe it’s just the “band-aid” Budget, but we landed on the “backwards” Budget, because when you cut through all the words and you strip out all the spin and look at the facts of it, the sad news for New Zealanders is that Kiwis are going backwards, the books are going backwards, and the outcomes are going backwards.

Now, the sad part of this Budget is that the reality is that Kiwi families and Kiwi households are going backwards. They’re being squeezed by this massive cost of living crisis. And I want New Zealanders to get really clear about where we are and what’s happening with this cost of living crisis, because inflation is at a 30-year high. It’s higher than most of our trading partners, despite what Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson will tell us, and it’s actually getting a grip in this economy.

Now, some people, like David Parker, are students of economic history, and if you go back to New Zealand in the early 1980s, we remember interest rates being at 20 percent and we remember double-digit inflation. You look around the world, and inflation destroys economies. And once it gets in, it’s hard to get out, and it causes hurt and pain to people everywhere. We’ve got inflation now at just under 7 percent, we’ve got wage growth only at 3 percent, and that means all Kiwis are going back faster than they’ve been going in the last three decades. Mortgage costs are up because interest rates are up, rents are up $150, food prices are up the highest they’ve been in over a decade, and petrol is up over $3 a litre. And I can tell you, Kiwis up and down this country are feeling that pain. And this Budget will be putting Kiwis backwards into the future.

The Budget forecasts that inflation isn’t actually due to come down below 3 percent until 2025. And what that actually means is that this cost of living crisis is going to go on for longer and for some time, and Kiwis will keep going backwards. And rising inflation is going to mean that our mortgage rates and our interest rates are going to have to go higher for longer, and, sadly, there is more pain on the way for Kiwi households. And what we saw in this Budget was that the growth forecasts have been slashed. Growth in 2024 will be less than 1 percent, and only a few months ago, growth in 2024 was going to be 2 percent, and now it’s been slashed, and unemployment is going to continue to rise, and by 2025, we expect it to be just under 5 percent. Kiwis are going backwards under Labour, and the Budget shows that it’s going to continue.

Now, to Grant Robertson, my advice to you is quite simple: you need to get out more; you need to leave the Beehive, get out of the Wellington Central beltway, and go meet some real people up and down this country, because I can tell you—the Kiwis will tell you—they’re going backwards and you’re not listening to them. And every week, I get out of this place, and I go to maybe two or three towns across this country, and the message is clear: there is a big cost of living crisis, it is broad-based, it’s affecting everyone, and it’s impacting everything.

But there was, basically, nothing in the Budget for the hard-working young couple who came up to me on ANZAC Day at Stockade Hill in Howick the other day. They were a teacher and a nurse, and they said to me, “Chris, we’ve got good jobs on average incomes, we’re really good with our money, and we’re trying really hard to save for a deposit for a house.” But because of rising rents, because of the rising costs on everything, they can’t get ahead, and they can’t get that deposit together. And then they started to say to me, “We think there might be more opportunity for us if we move to Queensland.” And I thought that is a tragedy that young people don’t think that this is a country where there’s opportunity for them and that they can get ahead. And they are what we call the squeezed middle, because the Government doesn’t care about them. They earn too much to get formal Government help and support, but they don’t earn enough to deal with the cost of living crisis, the rising mortgage payments, the rising rents, the rising food, and the rising petrol prices.

So let me be really clear: the cost of living package that this Government announced in the Budget today is just a band-aid on a major wound—it’s a band-aid. They deny that there was, in fact, even a cost of living crisis for a long period of time, and now they’ve added a temporary band-aid, which just runs out after three months. And I can tell you, what we just saw was inflation’s going to be running at 3 percent right out to 2025, so Grant Robertson’s big solution to the current cost of living crisis is a temporary payment to a small group of people. And I have to tell you: if you’re earning $71,000 a year, you get nothing.

And that means nobody on the average wage gets a cost of living payment, because these are the people that would have benefitted from income relief through a very good, sensible, logical plan—our plan, which was just say, “Take the current progressive tax system, and in fairness, why don’t you just lift the tax thresholds up by the amount of inflation? And an average Kiwi household would have had $1,600 a year to fight this cost of living crisis that they’re facing.” But Grant Robertson said no. And why did he say, no? Because the dirty little secret is that inflation, while it destroys savings, it destroys people’s purchasing power, and it gets into an economy. The dirty little secret is that inflation helps Grant Robertson. Why? Because he’s collected $17 billion more in tax revenue because, as prices go up, taxes go up. And Grant Robertson, as we know, is utterly, totally addicted to spending, and that means that he won’t let Kiwis keep a single cent of their own money, because he thinks he can spend it better than them. And on this side of the House, we know Kiwis with cash in their pockets will spend it and save it a lot better than Grant Robertson.

So, in the spirit of wanting to help Grant Robertson, I wanted him to think about—he could have adopted the National Party inflation fighting plan if he wanted to deal with the cost of living crisis. And what is that? It’s (1) return the Reserve Bank to a single mandate to fight inflation; (2) remove the costs that you add to business, so we don’t pass through higher prices that further drive inflation—get rid of the rental property taxes, get rid of the national awards, get rid of the national income insurance; (3) remove the bottlenecks that are stopping productive growth in our economy—why don’t we wake up Kris Faafoi and get the immigration settings in this country set right?; (4) why don’t we review all the existing and new spending? It’s obvious that it hasn’t happened with this Budget. We have an unprecedented amount of money being spent here. And (5) prioritise tax relief, as I just said, for those workers. It wasn’t ideological; it was sensible, practical, common sense just to say, “Take the tax thresholds, index them to inflation, and give people a break.” And what I want to say is anyone earning over $50,000 would be better off under National’s proposed inflation-adjusted tax brackets compared to Labour’s cost of living package.

Let me lay out the facts on why the books are going backwards, because it is very, very important that Kiwis register what has gone on here today because of the economic mismanagement and the lack of economic leadership from this Government. Kiwis up and down this country are tightening their belts at their kitchen tables. They are doing it. Grant Robertson should be doing exactly the same, but he’s not. And what we have seen from this Government is a loss of a culture of financial discipline. We’ve seen a loss of targets. They don’t care about every single dollar being spent as if it’s their own, and they should because it’s not their money; it’s taxpayers’ money. But I’m telling you, Grant Robertson has a problem, and his problem is that he is so deeply and utterly addicted to spending, and I want to say that the impact of his addiction on our fiscal books is incredibly clear, and when you think about it, he’s damaging New Zealand’s economy very strongly. This is—be under no doubt—a massive Budget blowout.

This Government—and I want to just step it through—has increased Government spending since coming to power by 67 percent. You haven’t seen a 67 percent improvement in outcomes or services. And, consequently, we’re spending $127 billion this year in Government spending. That is unprecedented and that is $51 billion more this year than it was in 2017—$51 billion more. And now, let’s just look at this year, because Grant Robertson said he would spend $6 billion in the biggest Budget spend-up in the history of New Zealand, and he’s actually spending far, far more than that. And I want to take the House and the country through this because it’s actually really important everybody understands what’s going on, because he’s trying to make out that he’s fiscally prudent. And the reality is he’s more addicted to spending than he’s ever been before. There’s the $6 billion he’s already announced, and then you have to remember, earlier in the week, he spent $3 billion from the Climate Emergency Response Fund, earlier in the week—a lot on Labour projects and buzz words and strategies and plans and plans for plans.

But not to be done there, he’s gone off and spent another $2 billion of new spending from the Budget next year. And then on top of that, he’s added another $400 million from the Budget after that. That’s called Budget 2024. And he’s so desperate to spend up that he’s actually robbed $2.5 billion from the next two years of Budgets. But it’s even worse than that, because the cost of living payment is actually outside that new allowance. There is a massive Budget blowout and, when everyone thinks seriously about 2023—he’s going to be spending a lot more next year, you just know it. Like someone who’s addicted to spending, he can say all he likes about the future, but we just don’t trust him, because when you’re addicted to spending, you can’t let it go, and we know he’ll continue to do it in the coming years.

So it’s no surprise that the surplus is pushed out another year; it’s no surprise that a $2 billion surplus has now evaporated, like a mirage, into a $2 billion deficit; and it’s no surprise, when you think about the hyper-spending levels that we’ve now got more Government debt—it’s nearly tripled; I mean, Government debt has tripled to $173 billion. And the problem with that is there’s no modern monetary theorist—you actually have to pay the interest on the debt, and that bill is almost $5 billion a year, and that means that that is twice what we spend on our police force. So that means that Kiwis cannot get better public services as a result of that debt, because of his out-of-control spending addiction.

Now, I want to say that the books are going backwards, and Kiwi households are going backwards, and the outcomes are going backwards, and the people of New Zealand see through this Government. I’m telling you now, they can see it is all spin, no delivery. They can see it is all talk, no action. Lots of activity but no achievement is what’s going on here. Listen, I’m going to give you some advice, because the fundamental problem with this Government is that they conflate and they confuse spending announcements with actually getting things done and getting outcomes for New Zealanders, and they are two very different concepts. For you to spend money and to deliver outcomes, there’s something in the middle called “implementation, execution, delivery”. Those are the things you need to do. But if you haven’t run anything, you don’t know how to get things done, and that’s exactly the story of all of this front bench: they don’t know how to convert the spending into outcomes. And you can pick any topic you want—any portfolio you want—and you’re going to see a consistent pattern: more spending, more bureaucrats, worse outcomes.

Let me give you an example; let’s take Chris Hipkins and education because, without doubt, that’s the most damning set of stats I’ve seen since I’ve come into politics, and to this place, 18 months ago. He spent $5 billion more, hired 1,400 more staff—staff earning $120,000 or more has tripled—and yet we have less kids attending school, and we have worse academic outcomes. What we’ve got from Chris Hipkins is more spending, more bureaucrats, and worse outcomes.

Let’s look at Megan Woods and housing, because, if you remember something called KiwiBuild—remember KiwiBuild?—we don’t talk about it anymore, but the flagship KiwiBuild; only delivering 1.3 percent of the promised 100,000 houses. But, even if we put that aside, just think about the four outcomes you actually have to deliver in housing: house prices are up $400,000; rents are up $150; there’s a quadrupling—a fourfold increase—of people wanting a State house; and, sadly, this morning, 4,500 kids woke up in a motel in emergency accommodation. So what I’ve got to say is that from Megan Woods, we’ve seen more spending, more bureaucrats, and worse outcomes.

Let’s talk about Kris Faafoi, because he’s probably going to wake up now. He spent an extra $150 million. He’s hired another 500 people and, on every single visa processing, the wait time has got even longer. What is that? More spending, more bureaucrats, worse outcomes.

I want to talk about Kelvin Davis just quickly, because we should talk about Kelvin and Corrections. He spent $139 million. He increased the back office staff of Corrections by 50 percent, and then those prisoners that desperately need alcohol and drug rehabilitation services dropped from just over 6,000 down to 1,000. More spending, more bureaucrats, worse outcomes.

I really want to talk about Michael Wood and transport—that’s the one I really want to get to, because who would have thought that an $800 million bike bridge across the Waitematā was a killer idea? Brilliant idea. And then you go and spend $55 million on consultants looking at it, and then we’re still hiring an empty office building on Auckland’s waterfront to run a cancelled project for $600,000. He’s tripled the communications staff, we’ve had a tenfold increase in those that are paid over $100,000, and even then they still can’t communicate why you need two props of zeroes for $10,000. I mean, you honestly can’t make this stuff up, and I could go through every single portfolio and the story’s the same: more spending, more bureaucrats, worse outcomes. They don’t know how to get things done.

I just want you to take yourselves back two weeks ago because, two weeks ago, Andrew Little came to this House and he stood up and he realised he had a problem with wait-lists on health. And he had a cunning idea, I thought, you know, because the reality is this: there’s been a fifteenfold increase in people waiting more than four months for their first specialist appointment, and that was from when they came to power before COVID in February 2020, and it’s only got worse since then. Anyway, so Andrew Little came to the House and he said, “Look, I can’t just go and create another working group, because that’s what we used to do. We spent nine years in Opposition, we had no ideas, we arrived in Government on day one and we formed 230-plus working groups.” Now, we lost count of them but that’s what they did. So he didn’t just create a working group; he thought about it a bit more and he created what we call a “task force”—that was task force. And the great thing about a task force—this wasn’t just a normal task force, or a bog-standard task force; no, this was a “high-powered task force”, OK. [Cheers from Opposition members]

Yes, and I’ve been thinking about it because, as I look here and I look across the other side, what you see is people who are tired and struggling to get things done in this Government. And New Zealanders are looking at this Government, and they can see they’re tired and struggling to get things done. I’ve been thinking about how I can help and how we can help, and I think what this Government needs is a high-powered task force. Here’s the idea for you: what I want to suggest to you is you could employ a high-powered task force called “the National Party” to actually go off and take over and run this Government and get outcomes for the New Zealand people. And I can tell you, the National Party is ready. We are able and we are willing to step up and deliver for the New Zealand people—and the New Zealand people, they trust us, because they know we’ll have an economic plan. They know that we can provide the economic leadership that this country so desperately needs. The bottom line is that we have to kick-start and enlarge this economic engine in this country of ours. And, on this side of the House, we know strong economic management, a strong economy, is actually how we lift prosperity for people. We know that a strong economy is actually how you lift wages; how people get ahead. It’s actually how you get a world-class healthcare system. A strong economy is how you improve education, a strong economy is how you have a police force that can keep communities safe, and a strong economy is what enables us to protect our environment. A strong economy is how you get Kiwis ahead, and that is what a National Party Government will deliver.

You might remember but, years ago, Grant Robertson used to talk about an economic concept called “productivity”, and he was actually on to something, but he’s actually given up talking about it now, because he’s got this addiction to spending that’s running his life and taking control of everything. And the biggest thing that we can do is we can lift incomes for Kiwis by improving the productivity of our economy and what that means, when you look at it, is you’ve got to get into the fundamental drivers of an economic plan, and that is about improving education, it’s about a world-class infrastructure system that connects us to each other and to the world. It’s about technology and capital and innovation. It’s about making sure we have a pro-business environment, because we know the Government doesn’t do things and get things done; it’s businesses, the lifeblood of New Zealand, that get things done in this country. And we need connections with the world in order to sell our best products and services to the 7.8 billion people sitting in 195 other countries. That’s how we back Kiwis to succeed, that’s how we get higher wages and incomes, and that’s how we give people more choice and freedom.

In closing, let me say that New Zealanders deserve far more than this Government has delivered. Labour has taken so much in taxes, they’ve added so much debt, and they’ve spent so much money, but yet they have delivered so little in public services and outcomes. And this is indeed, sadly, the “backwards Budget”. The books are going backwards, Kiwi households are going backwards, the outcomes are going backwards, and, sadly, the country’s going backwards and we’re heading in the wrong direction. New Zealanders deserve a Government focused on outcomes and getting things done, that listens and works with communities and businesses to do so, and we’re going to do that in the National Party Government that we lead. We do live in the best country on planet Earth. I’m optimistic about New Zealand. I believe we can do so much better than this. I want us to be confident. I want us to be aspirational. I want us to be ambitious. I want us realising our maximum potential—economically, socially, and environmentally. And that’s what New Zealanders can expect, and that’s what they’ll get with a National Government in 2023. Thank you.

If the members would like the amendment put, they will sit down. The question is that the amendment be agreed to.

It is a pleasure to speak to this Budget, the fifth we’ve had the privilege of delivering, and in no less extraordinary circumstances. The business and cycle of Government is, in some ways, no different to life itself: navigating difficult times while also making necessary progress, dealing with the unexpected, and always—always—planning for the future; challenges not least of which include a one-in-100-year health crisis, followed by the biggest economic shocks since the Great Depression. And just as the world was recovering, it’s been plunged into the uncertainty of war.

Giving people as much certainty and security as possible in uncertain and insecure times is hard, but it’s what we must pursue, and that is what we have set out to do in Budget 2022: deal with the immediacy of the economic and health challenges Kiwis are facing, while also looking to the challenges of tomorrow, and seeking to buffer our people from both. It’s an approach that, as always, is focused on people.

Today, we deliver our fourth wellbeing Budget. Now, my virtual presence in the debating chamber is, obviously, not my preference on such a significant day. It means, for instance, that I’m not able to pay tribute to the Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, in person. New Zealand has navigated some incredibly difficult times in recent years. It was only two years ago, for instance, that the Minister of Finance created the COVID Response and Recovery Fund, and delivered a jobs Budget that included investments in business support, infrastructure, and trades training. It protected half of all workers in New Zealand. It delivered a record amount of new apprentices. It enabled us, in spite of a pandemic, to deliver our nine-thousandth additional public housing place, an economy bigger than even before COVID, and the lowest unemployment rate on record.

Now, these results weren’t a given. When COVID first emerged, we faced sobering forecasts. Treasury predicted 10 percent of people would be unemployed. That would have meant hundreds of thousands of people looking for work, and the financial scarring that would bring. Now, today’s statistics speak for themselves, numbers that it is clear the Leader of the Opposition has not read. Our growth rates are higher than pre-COVID, and, in this Budget, forecast to reach 4.2 percent over the next financial year. Now, compare that to the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), where rates were less than half that, at around 2 percent. Debt sits at 16.9 percent, and it’s forecast to reach 15 percent in 2026. We’ve had a bigger economic knock from the pandemic but managed with a smaller debt impact than the GFC. We will return to surplus in the 2024-25 financial year, a total of five years after COVID hit; compare that to the GFC, where it took six.

Finally, unemployment sits at 3.2 percent and is forecast to reach as low as 3 percent. Māori unemployment sits at 6.3 percent and Pacific at 6.7 percent. And while we have work to do, compare those figures to the GFC, where for our Māori and Pacific families, it was more than double those rates. Now, that is not to say that times aren’t tough for many New Zealanders right now—they are, and not just here but around the world—but in the midst of a crisis, in the midst of such tough economic times globally, we are well placed to recover, with one of the best economies in the world. And while there are many reasons for that, Grant Robertson is one of them, and for that, I thank him.

It was Labour who got us through COVID, and it is a Labour Government who will get us through the next set of challenges as well, and that is what this Budget is all about: addressing the challenges of today but also of tomorrow. Now, when it comes to today, there is no more universal challenge right now than the cost of living: globally, we know that we’re not alone, as inflation pushes up prices around the world. The average rate of inflation in the EU is 7.7 percent. It’s high in Canada, in Germany. Just yesterday, the UK hit 9 percent; in the Netherlands, it’s nearly 10 percent. And while there are many reasons for it, one thing that forecasters are predicting is that it will improve in the latter half of 2022. But that doesn’t help Kiwis now, and while we can’t control global inflation forces, our job is to take the hard edges off it for Kiwis, and that is why this Budget includes a cost of living package to cushion the impact for middle and low income families. Now, we’ve had to be incredibly careful in developing this package, to make sure it reached those who needed it most. Anything too broad could make inflation worse, and that’s exactly what the National Party’s tax cuts to the wealthiest would do. They would feed inflation while giving the biggest benefit to those who need it the least.

We also needed to make sure that our response was sustainable, and that it eased pressure on families who are also keeping up the investment in their healthcare system and in their education system. After all, no one would thank us for short-term relief that came at the expense of long-term services that Kiwis rely on. And we also wanted to make sure that what we did was timely. The result is the cost of living package we’ve delivered today. First, it continues the reduction of the cost of fuel at the pump by 25c a litre through till August. The war in Ukraine is continuing to make prices volatile, and this is some certainty that we can provide in the meantime for everyone.

Secondly, in August, a short-term and targeted cost of living payment kicks in, helping to transition from the excise reduction. It will be paid to middle and low income earners over the age of 18—everyone who earns up to $70,000 who isn’t already getting the winter energy payment. It means those who are doing the vital but unpaid work of caring, such as stay-at-home parents, will be eligible for the payment, which will be paid monthly for three months and equates to an extra $27 a week or $350. In total, it will ease the pressure for more than 2 million people, and means that 81 percent of New Zealanders aged 18 and over will either be receiving the winter energy payment or the temporary cost of living payment this year.

Now, no temporary fast relief can be perfect, but it can make a difference. Thirdly, half-price fares for public transport will remain through August, and then a new change kicks in: all community services card holders will continue to be able to travel for half-price, permanently. This change will not just last through the current inflation spike but for good, because we believe subsidised public transport makes a difference for people and the planet.

Fourthly, as part of our urgent Budget night legislation, we begin the process of addressing the root causes of high prices in our grocery sector. We have a lack of competition in this country, and it is impacting food prices and it’s impacting families. While there is much to do following the Commerce Commission report, we are starting today with unravelling some of the tactics to block competitors—that, I can assure you, is just the start.

Finally, today, we right a longstanding wrong that hits those who can least afford it when the cost of living spikes. For those on Government support, we are finally dealing with the issue of child support pass-on. Many people may not know this, but in New Zealand, those who are on Government support do not receive the child support payments made by an ex-partner, spouse, or parent. Whatever payments are made are retained by the State. That is unfair on a child and also lessens the incentive for a parent to pay. Budget 2022 changes this. It means our kids—those with a parent often on the lowest of incomes—will get extra support not from the Government but from their parent, and it will lift up to an extra 14,000 children out of poverty.

While in this Budget, the forecasts show that cost of living pressures are set to subside, there is no question that while they are here, it hurts. We’ve done what is possible to blunt the hard edges while ensuring we don’t pour more fuel on the inflation fire. It’s a position other countries we compare ourselves to are taking as well, and that’s one of the reasons I would hope the Opposition would support the package we have presented today. In fact, I call on them to do so, because in the Leader of the Opposition’s speech, I hear not one other idea—not one. Now, I know that they’re opposed to the 1 April income changes we made to increase the family tax credit. They’ve spoken openly against subsidies for things like public transport, in the same way they have opposed just about any climate-related policy, even ones that ease the cost of living. They have a policy of giving $2 a week to those we have proposed giving closer to $30 a week. But if they are genuinely concerned about the cost of living and not just politics, surely they will support this package because it does more for people here and now, and it does not leave the tin empty when there are so many other challenges we must address. If it is that they would rather stick with their policy of tax cuts for the top-income earners, then we know for sure that they don’t support the substantial health investments in this Budget—because you cannot do both.

That brings me to our health system. New Zealanders know how excellent it can be. I frequently receive letters from New Zealanders so grateful for the care they’ve received, but it is often supplemented with this: please do more to improve the system our health professionals work in.

Today, Budget 2022 provides the largest ever investment in our health system: $11.1 billion more for nurses, more medicines, and to end the postcode lottery to ensure that Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority are able to make the changes needed to deliver better health services to all New Zealanders, whether they live in Tairāwhiti, Buller, Whāngarei, Masterton, or Dunedin. And, yes, we have given health certainty about their future budgets to help them plan—something I see the Leader of the Opposition has taken issue with, once again showing he’s more of a short-haul than a long-haul kind of guy; or, perhaps more accurately, if you live in the regions, no haul.

In this Budget, we’re also making the largest ever single contribution to Pharmac’s medicines budget, bringing total funding to $1.2 billion, up 43 percent since we took office. I’m going to say that again: Pharmac funding is up 43 percent since we took office.

Our lifesaving ambulance services: supported to recruit an extra 248 more paramedics and front-line staff, and 48 more ambulances as well as chopper replacements.

We know that COVID has left scars on the mental health of many New Zealanders. So $202 million has been allocated to further improve access to mental health and addiction services, particularly for those with acute needs. And we are continuing to invest in two programmes that support young people’s mental health: Mana Ake, which provides mental wellbeing support for primary and intermediate school-aged students; and Piki, a pilot scheme which provides integrated mental health and addiction support for young people. And I acknowledge the Green Party’s support for these programmes.

But I want to make mention of one of the smaller initiatives in the health budget: $7 million for more portable retinal cameras to check the eyes of premature babies to address one of the leading causes of blindness in children.

A third of Budget 2022 investments go to health. In the wake of a health crisis, we know how important our health system and the health of our people is. This investment speaks clearly of the priorities of the Government: the importance of the wellbeing of our people, and the vital services they deserve. We are nothing without our health. And there can be no greater response to the COVID pandemic than ensuring we have better funded and stronger health services—and that is what this Budget delivers.

We know there are a myriad of other challenges we face. While in Opposition, I remember once speaking to a social worker, who had been in the job for 30 years, about what we could do as a nation to change the sometimes intergenerational issues children face. Without hesitation, her response was one word: education.

Now, no one wants to oversimplify what past Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills called wicked problems. And while there are many contributing factors to complex societal issues, we need to look at both prevention and the cure. Yes, we must support the police to bring a stop to violent behaviour and for there to be consequences for those who victimise others, but we must also support our young people on to alternate paths. That’s why we’ve put not just half a billion dollars into law and order initiatives to deliver the largest police force ever, we’re also a Government committed to delivering quality education, training, and skills development so that all New Zealanders get the opportunities they need and deserve to live lives of value.

Budget 2022 invests $2 billion in operating funding, and $855 million in capital for the education system. The new Equity Index relegates the decile system to the past. We take the largest step forward yet towards pay parity for our early learning teachers. We’re supporting Māori-medium education and kaupapa Māori sector. And beyond this, skills and training is a further area where we invested throughout the COVID pandemic to ensure that we retained and built a workforce for tomorrow as our economic recovery took off. We have the lowest unemployment rate on record, and so we need to reach into every corner to grow our domestic workforce. Successful programmes, like Mana in Mahi, which provide significant support to people furthest from the labour market to upskill and enter employment, receive continued investment in this Budget. We’ve also extended the Apprenticeship Boost.

Just last week, I received this letter in response to that pre-Budget announcement. Perhaps the Opposition member for finance for the National Party received it as well. “Thank you for extending the trades apprenticeship funding. We are so happy at the stability and certainty this will give to my children’s futures as they progress through the recently started mechanics and auto-electrical programmes. We all believed this programme would be cancelled from this August, and so we’re so excited about what this would mean. I come from an intergenerational depravity, which is extremely difficult and severely restricts our lives daily. Witnessing my kids begin on an actual qualification pathway has been a life-changing and a very positive experience for me.”

More than 190,000 Kiwis have been supported through our investment in trades training since the start of COVID, with tens of thousands more supported today—all necessary as we continue, for instance, the considerable agenda we have on housing, which continues in this Budget.

Now, that brings me to our partnership with business—so what I learnt the Opposition considers to be “corporate welfare”. Small and medium businesses contribute 30 percent to our GDP. Many are poised to grow and have the potential to accelerate our economic growth, which is why Budget 2022 invests in a new Business Growth Fund—$100 million over the coming year. But Crown investment is a minority shareholder, alongside New Zealand’s major banks, ensuring easier access to upfront finance and the quicker production of more jobs. It works overseas—in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia—and we’ve been told it fills a much-needed gap here.

Finally, we said that this Budget was focused on the challenges of tomorrow. No challenge is more present today and in the future than that of climate change. Where many choose to dwell on what can’t be done, we choose to move on what is not only possible but also the greatest opportunity in our history to move to a high-wage, low-emission economy that provides security in good times and bad.

We’re delivering in an emissions reduction plan that puts us on track to meet our carbon budget. I acknowledge the Minister for Climate Response, James Shaw, for the work that he’s done alongside us in Government to release that plan this week—which includes the biggest investment in climate action ever, paid for through recycling the emissions trading scheme payments on pollution. This $2.9 billion investment is the most comprehensive plan New Zealand has ever had on the issue of climate change. It’s because we cannot responsibly postpone a transition we need to start making today—one where every sector of society and the economy is considered part of the solution, where we have warmer, drier, more energy-efficient homes, more native climate sinks, energy production that doesn’t require fossil fuels, an upskilled workforce, and the most sustainable food production in the world.

When our future generations look back, I want them to see that we tackled climate change in the way we tackle all other crises: with people and the security of their future at the centre of our decision making, because, ultimately, for Governments, as with life, we will always face challenges—it’s not just how we manage a country through a crisis; it’s how you manage the country out of one as well. New Zealand navigated COVID, for two years, better than most because we put people first. That is an approach that Budget 2022 builds upon, tackling the issues we face today while also seizing the opportunities for a secure future for all New Zealanders, because we must do both and, with this Budget, we are.

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Well, the Leader of the Opposition delivered a speech that wasn’t so much 2022 as 1992. They reckon that they can help out New Zealand’s lowest-income families by giving our highest-income earners a tax break. Ruth Richardson called and she wants her speech notes back. The National Party might be dressed up in a nice new sheepskin kimono, but you open it up and it’s the same old wolf underneath.

When they finally get up to speak, I have to say that the ACT Party, no doubt, will continue their call for a robust and sober and rational debate about governance in this country, right after they yesterday issued a press release that called for a senior public servant to be beheaded. Maximilien Robespierre called and he wants back his guillotine. It is becoming clearer by the day that the reason Mr Seymour worked so hard in the last term to dispatch Winston Peters was so that this term he could become Winston Peters. So I guess there’s only room in this town for one alt-right populist.

Can you imagine what this warmed-over Richardson-Robespierre, all-you-can-eat duo would do to this country if they actually got back into power? It has taken at least 4½ years to even start to turn around the legacy left over from the last time they were in Government.

I have to say we do have a long journey in front of us, but Aotearoa is at last heading towards a future that is fairer, cleaner, and more prosperous, and all within the limits of our fragile planet. That is the vision that the Green Party was founded on some 30 years ago, a vision of thriving communities where everybody has the means to live in a warm, dry home; food that is healthy for us and healthy for the land that it is grown on; vibrant, flourishing ecosystems that underpin the kind of healthy environment that we all rely on; clean and healthy and swimmable rivers; new jobs and prosperity for our communities; and a sustainable, low-carbon economy. With a strong Green voice in Government today, more people up and down Aotearoa New Zealand can now make ends meet. Our communities are safer, they are cleaner, they are greener, and we are healing nature.

The Green Party is committed to progress, even when we have to fight for it inch by inch, and so we will be voting in support of Budget 2022.

In recent years, as we have battled a pandemic, there has been more than one Budget that has attracted the moniker “historic”, but I do want to say that despite that fact, Budget 2022 is a Budget of firsts. It is the first Budget ever to put climate action at its heart. It is the first Budget ever to fund a national family violence and sexual violence strategy. There is a lot to celebrate in this Budget. I also want to acknowledge that there is still so much more that needs doing for people and for planet.

This Budget continues to deliver on the foundations that Green Party Ministers laid last term, and I want to acknowledge again the work that they did then. It does also make some very important progress to support some of the Green Party campaign priorities of the last election campaign.

But if the Green Party had, say, 65 members of Parliament and we were writing this Budget ourselves, a number of things would happen. Mike Hosking’s head would explode. The country would be a lot better off, and not just because Mike Hosking’s head had exploded but also because this Budget would look different. A Green Budget would have done more to help the thousands of families who are struggling to make ends meet and towards that most basic of human rights—a roof over our heads. A Green Budget would have done more to halt the degradation of our wild spaces and the harrowing decline of our taonga species. The Budget report, I have to say, shows that there has been no significant improvement in child poverty statistics. A Green Budget would have done more to eliminate the scourge of child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I remember sitting in this House five years ago to watch Steven Joyce deliver the 2017 Budget. In a 40-minute speech, Steven Joyce did not mention climate change once—not once—but things have changed. Our Government over the last 4½ years has seen more action than in the previous three decades combined. We have passed the zero carbon Act, enshrining the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal in primary legislation. We’ve reformed the emissions trading scheme to ensure that polluters pay the real price of the emissions that they put into the atmosphere and we’ve put the proceeds from that reform towards establishing the $4.5 billion Climate Emergency Response Fund, and we have published a comprehensive plan to cut emissions right across the economy. This Budget is a landmark in our journey to continue that work and to build a clean and green and climate-friendly future.

Through this Budget we will decarbonise industry, with $678 million of funding for smaller businesses, commercial heating decarbonisation, and energy-efficient equipment. We will establish native forests at scale to develop long-term carbon sinks and to improve biodiversity, with $65 million. We’re going to reduce and divert organic waste away from landfill and reduce emissions from waste overall, with $103 million. We’re going to give people more transport options and achieve significant mode shift to active transport and to public transport, with $375 million of funding.

All of this investment makes this the first real climate Budget, but it must not be the last. This climate Budget is a huge step, and I do want to take a moment to celebrate that, but tomorrow it is back to the work of turning around decades of inaction on climate.

Another Minister, of course, is also starting to turn around an immensely challenging problem. The Minister I’m talking about, of course, is my co-leader, the Hon Marama Davidson. Marama continues to work tirelessly on the pernicious problem of family violence and sexual violence, a problem that requires bringing together many different Government departments and community organisations. Last year, Marama delivered Aotearoa New Zealand’s first ever national strategy and action plan to eliminate family violence and sexual violence: Te Aorerekura. That work built on the foundations laid by Jan Logie in our first term in Government, as well as Marama’s own deep experience working in and alongside vulnerable communities and tangata whenua.

Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but Te Aorerekura is nothing short of a landmark in New Zealand’s social history. This Government inherited an underfunded, largely ignored sector broken up into many groups that didn’t have a clear understanding of their roles let alone a national strategy. Thanks to Marama, that is now in place, and Budget 2022 has provided the funding to deliver on it: $114.5 million over four years to prevent and respond to family violence and sexual violence across Aotearoa. With that funding, we will address the drivers of harm and will enhance protective factors and shift community and social norms that condone violence with $38 million, we’ll strengthen the existing integrated community-led response approach with another $38 million, we’ll develop workforce and organisational capability frameworks for the sexual violence centre and fund the implementation of new family violence frameworks and tools with $7 million, and so much more.

I cannot overstate the importance of this work. Everybody has the right to live in a peaceful home, to be respected, and to be safe from the mistreatment and violence that has been a shame on this country’s history. We must have a future where children and families and whānau can thrive, knowing that their homes are safe, and the initiatives in this Budget are crucial to getting there.

Our cooperation agreement with the Labour Party has delivered significant investments in people and in planet in today’s Budget. Last term, we helped to turn around decades of underfunding for conservation, which had seen the health of our forests, the rivers, and the birds in decline. There is a long way to go yet, but we do welcome today’s commitments to fund new work to protect our forests from the damage that’s caused by wild deer and goats; renewed investments in Tiakina Ngā Manu to protect our taonga species; and investment in huts and tracks so that more people can have the opportunity to spend time and enjoy nature by walking or tramping or hunting or fishing or mountain biking.

Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers and other staff are on the front line of protecting nature, and we do welcome the Government’s commitment to increase their incomes and to maintain staff housing in really remote areas whilst also upgrading the DOC vehicle fleet to low-emission and electric vehicles.

On Budget day, I do think it’s important to highlight some of the relatively modest amounts of investment that actually will make an immeasurably large difference to people’s lives but that tend to get overlooked with all of the big headline initiatives that get announced. Budget 2022 delivers funding for eating disorder support services that will improve the lives of hundreds of young people and their families. I would like to acknowledge the Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall for her collaborative work with the Green Party on this often unseen but deeply felt crisis in our communities. We welcome the continuation of Piki, the youth mental health programme that was begun in the last term, and also the expansion of Mana Ake to five more areas of Aotearoa.

For our rangatahi and their whānau, we welcome the expansion of child and youth mental health and addiction services for an additional 1,300 people. The Opposition makes a lot of noise about being tough on drugs, but it is precisely that hollow rhetoric that has seen drug harm explode over the past 40 years. The Green Party has always fought for evidence and compassion in drug policy, and the approaches and the investments that genuinely build resilience and healing. These are important initiatives in the cooperation agreement between Labour and the Greens.

The Budget also delivers on areas that the Greens have long campaigned for which are not covered by our cooperation agreement with Labour. For example, we welcome the affordable housing fund, that will provide support for not-for-profit rental providers and we do applaud the huge commitment to give Pharmac the funding that it needs to make more lifesaving medicines available to more New Zealanders who need them.

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the people who have been campaigning for these investments for many, many years. That is a strength of the Green movement: tireless work to put a political issue on the map, to raise public support, and to put forward positions and solutions that Governments adopt. So we are very happy for any Government to copy our homework.

For decades, we have known that the health sector has been underfunded. So today’s announcement is obviously a very good start at turning this around, and, together with the pae ora reforms, that will help to ensure that everyone gets the healthcare that they need, regardless of where they live.

I particularly want to welcome the funding announced for the Māori Health Authority, because the Green Party campaigned at the last election for an independent Māori health authority, and we’re delighted that has not only been set up in legislation but funded in today’s Budget. We do need to see this, though, paired with a genuine commitment to partnership, to Māori-led approaches to determining how primary healthcare is funded and provided to Māori communities—particularly those in rural areas, who have missed out for so long.

We know that good health outcomes will only be possible when we fully address the social drivers of physical and mental health problems, including poverty and inadequate housing. So we will continue to work towards a future where everybody is supported in their wellbeing at all stages of life—that is health policy. We will continue to push for better wages for our essential healthcare workers—that is health policy. We will continue to push the Government to go further than today’s announcement and to commit funding for pay equity across the whole sector, including for the lowest-paid staff who do essential work in related areas, like aged care—that is health policy.

Many families around Aotearoa on low incomes are struggling to manage rising costs and other pressures. Budget 2022 contains an array of measures to ease those difficulties. I am very pleased to see more examples of making people’s lives better and, at the same time, reducing emissions and taking care of our planet—so, for example, we particularly welcome the $73 million to expand and improve Warmer Kiwi Homes. This will mean more families will have access to warm and dry and safe homes, at the same time making those homes more energy-efficient and climate-friendly.

We welcome the commitment to half-price bus and train fares for low-income households. This is work that was begun when there was a Green associate transport Minister. We welcome the extension to half-price public transport—but also wouldn’t it be better to make public transport free for everyone, for all time, for good? The funding that’s announced today will help something like a million people to ditch the car and to switch to cheaper public transport, and, at the same time, that will help to cut emissions in such a critical sector.

We have an abundance of renewable energy sources. We do welcome funding that will help to enable low-income communities to access cleaner and more affordable and more secure energy supply.

So this is a welcome step forward, and, at the same time, the Green Party is firmly of the view that the next way to lifting living standards is to lift incomes and to make sure that families actually have enough money in the first place. That means fair wages and higher benefits.

There is a quiet revolution in this Budget in the form of a new fiscal strategy. For too long, there has been huge political pressure on an arbitrary debt-to-GDP ratio, but we carried the debt in other ways. We have a housing deficit, we have a transport deficit, we have a deficit of three waters infrastructure, we have an environmental deficit, and we have a social deficit. The new approach that’s been announced by the Minister of Finance will now mean that arbitrary debt restrictions will not stop good fiscal infrastructure projects that stack up on all other metrics, such as cutting climate pollution.

Now, we have never shied away from the need for a fundamental shift in our economic thinking—a shift that means putting a focus on the wellbeing of our people and the limits of our planet above the pockets of property speculators. The way that we need to fund our public services in this new fiscal strategy is by broadening our tax base, and it just so happens that there is a massive gap in our tax system where those who earn a salary pay their fair share of tax, but those that own vast amounts of wealth do not. A wealth tax would provide the revenue necessary to increase important, necessary operating expenditure, it would plug a hole in our tax system, and it would mean that the wealthiest New Zealanders would pay their fair share of tax. It would also make David Seymour’s head explode, and that’s an added bonus.

The Green Party has always had a clear, progressive voice in this House, a voice that says that we should tax wealth fairly, don’t just be happy to sit by while many of the wealthiest have a lower tax rate than middle and low income earners. It is a voice that says that the environment and the economy are intertwined, and only with a healthy planet will we have healthy communities. So this is a Budget of firsts.

But to solve climate change and to address inequality and also our biodiversity crisis, we need the next Budget to break new ground, and the one after that and the one after that. The status quo will not work. We can do better—we can do so much better. So we do look forward to a series of bold, progressive Budgets. We look forward to a future where everybody lives in dignity, comfortably within the limits of our planet. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I heard Grant Robertson and I thought that Grant Robertson had one shot, one opportunity, to make sure this Budget did not go down in history as the brain drain Budget. What he had to do was give relief from the cost of living crisis, light at the end of the tunnel, and hope to those people who get their money from doing something called working. Unfortunately, he did no such thing.

What Grant Robertson basically said was “I will continue to satisfy my insatiable appetite for Government spending, I’m going to put on welfare, kind of, for three months at the end of the year, and I’m going to extend your cheap train fares for another couple of months.” That’s it—that’s it. There’s no hope or light at the end of the tunnel for New Zealanders with get up and go, more and more of whom, you can understand, after today’s effort will be thinking “Maybe it’s time I got up and left.”, because this Government and, increasingly—while this Government’s in control—this country does not give hope and opportunity or light at the end of the tunnel in the cost of living crisis to people getting squeezed from every angle.

What’s interesting is the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, called this securing the future. Do you know what’s interesting? It’s that that’s not even original. In fact, he copied it from the Saskatchewan Party’s 2007 election campaign, and the difference is that the Sask. Party got elected that year. They cut taxes, and they stopped the province of Saskatchewan’s brain drain. They saw the stubble-jumper province grow in population for the first time in decades.

Well, there’s no such relief in this Budget. This Budget won’t be remembered for securing the future, unless it’s Australia’s future. This Budget will be known as the brain drain Budget, because all those people who rely on working see no hope in it; in fact, there’s no hope in this Budget from Labour unless you act like a no-hoper. This is the culture of victimhood that the Labour Party imbues through our whole country. That is why people will leave. That is why we need a Government and a Budget that are prepared to make things better and give people hope that it’s worth staying in this country.

We’ve heard a lot about a cost of living crisis and the squeezed middle, but what does that actually mean? Well, it could mean a family with one earner who is at the average wage for a full-time worker—about $70,000—and another earner who works part-time and earns $30,000. Together, that couple earns $100,000 and they pay $18,290 in income tax, and that’s not including GST. If they’re renting and they pay the median rent, then their rent’s gone up $70 a week, or $3,640 a year, in just the last two years. If they own a home, and they have, say, a half-million-dollar mortgage—which would be nice, my fellow Aucklanders would say—then they’ll be paying $12,500 more in mortgage interest than they were two years ago.

If they used to spend $300 a week on the weekly shop, then it’s gone up $20 in the last year. It’s hard to believe, but that’s 6.4 percent inflation in food costs in the last year. It’s gone up 40 bucks a week on the weekly shop just in the last four years. If they are really bad people—meaning that they use a car to get around—then they have found that the cost of filling up has gone up by around $1,700 a year if they each have a car and put in 50 litres a fortnight.

Those people are paying more tax than ever, because remember the GST? Well, if inflation is a thief in their wallet, then the Government is a silent partner, because every time the prices go up because of inflation, “Greedy, Grabby Grant” is there for an extra 15 percent, which he calls GST, and the squeezed middle call the rising cost of everything, squeezing them from every angle.

What hope has Labour given them in this Budget? Has Labour given them a sign, or even just a little flicker of light at the end of that cost of living crisis tunnel? No, they have not.

In fact, I was very interested to read some of the numbers in the back of the big Budget documents, and what I found in those numbers was gravely concerning, because, you see, Treasury makes a forecast for the future of this country’s economic and fiscal outlook, and they make that forecast every six months—someone called Ruth was responsible for that happening—and the thing is that the forecasts we have for New Zealand’s future today released at 2 p.m. this afternoon are vastly worse than the same forecasts Treasury made in December. In December, they said that inflation was going to peak. They said that by next year, inflation will only be 3.1 percent. Well, they’re now saying that next year’s inflation is going to be 5.2 percent.

So if people thought that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for this cost of living crisis, well, when “Grabby Grant” satisfies his insatiable attitude for spending taxpayers’ money, what happens is that it drives inflation, and that’s why even Treasury is forecasting that inflation is going to increase more than we have ever forecast. It’s going to be 5.2 percent next year. We’re not even halfway through this cost of living crisis.

The funny thing is that when I said this was going to be a brain drain Budget, even I didn’t guess that Treasury would update its forecast to show that there’ll be less people in New Zealand. Treasury is now assuming that 15,000 more people are going to leave than they had assumed in December. Even Treasury is predicting a brain drain, and why wouldn’t they? Well, because their forecast for our net debt just as a Government is now $15 billion higher than it was only six months ago. This is just the change of forecast in six months. It’s now going to peak at $15 billion, and that’s because we’re spending more. The thing is they’re now forecasting that we’re going to be in deficit until 2025 instead of 2024.

One of the effects of that borrowing is that interest rates are also rising, and we’re going to spend an extra $1.7 billion a year on interest on Government debt than they thought we would in December. Even in just six months of forecasting, Treasury now thinks our outlooks are worse. We’re going to have more debt, more interest on the debt, more inflation, and a longer cost of living crisis. So if people were looking for hope from this Government, not only has the Government failed to take the bull by the horns and make things better; they have also witnessed this situation deteriorating because of their spending.

This Budget could have been so much better. In fact, the ACT Party is one of two parties in this Parliament that has produced a fully costed Budget for New Zealand this year. There’s the Labour Party, with Grant Robertson, and there’s the ACT Party, and I would say to you that this one would give a much better future for New Zealand, where people want to stay, because the risk is we become a place that’s nice to visit but not so nice to live, especially if you need lifesaving drugs—and we’ll get to that, too.

First and foremost, this Budget needed to kill inflation dead before we get inflation expectations built in and we go on a wage-price spiral leading to stagflation. That is now, unfortunately, a very real prospect.

It’s not often I agree with Adrian Orr, but Adrian Orr, the Reserve Bank Governor, says that monetary policy needs friends, and what does he mean by that? What Adrian Orr means by that is that if Grant Robertson doesn’t stop spending in the way he has, then someone else is going to have to reel in expenditure for the country to stop inflation, and do you know who that will be? It’ll be Adrian Orr, and do you know what tool he’s got? He’s got the official cash rate, and do you know what that does? It puts up your mortgage so that people have less money to spend, and he’ll stop inflation that way. So either Grant brings in Government spending or Adrian brings in household spending, and it’s the second one because Grant can’t stop spending, so it’s going to hurt.

Some people might think, “Well, it’s a lucky thing I rent. I’m not going to be faced with rising mortgage rates.” Well, I’m sorry to say that you just have to ask yourself who pays a landlord’s mortgage if not the tenant? This spending will lead to higher interest rates, higher mortgage rates, and higher rents. It is inflationary for everybody.

The second thing that it needed to do was give relief to all those families we’ve talked about that are battling away and wondering why they bother. There needs to be light at the end of that tunnel so that if you strive and do the right thing for yourself and your family, you’re not going to be fodder for Labour fuelling its hand-out culture.

The third thing it needed to do was secure the future—that was in my speech before Grant took it up—in order that we can have sustainable fiscal settings. That’s why we need to be honest with ourselves about the age of superannuation: 65-year-olds are not decrepit, and we can afford to save $16 billion of taxpayer money by gradually, respectfully, increasing the age of national superannuation to 67 over 12 years, while allowing people to get their KiwiSaver at 65 if they would still like to. That’s the kind of boldness and honesty this country needs right now; not just more spending and delusion.

Finally, and by far most importantly, what we needed to do in this Budget was to actually imbue a culture of striving and success. Here’s how we would do that in our alternative budget. You know, Michael Cullen, who was the Minister of Finance a long time ago, and I acknowledge his recent passing—may he rest in peace. Michael Cullen had two tax rates when he became finance Minister: 19.5 percent and 33 percent—that was it. It was that simple. He also had a low-income rebate, giving relief only to those who really needed it. Since then, successive Labour and National Governments have made our tax system more complex, less effective, and less efficient. Now we have six tax rates: five personal income tax rates—10.5, 17.5, 30, 33, and 39 percent—and a company and trust tax rate of 28 percent. The funny thing is that we say to our kids, “If you want to get ahead, study hard, work hard, save, and invest carefully, you’ll be rewarded.”, and then in the tax code we say, “We’ve got six different tax rates so that for any level of effort, we’ll be there to take a little bit more off you.” Talk about mixed messages—a labyrinth of punishment in a Byzantine tax code.

Then some people say, “Oh, that’s all fine. Just adjust the tax brackets for inflation.” Well, ACT says that we need to put the values of aspiration that other parties say they believe in into our tax system to make it fairer, simpler, and more competitive. ACT’s tax policy shows how we could get to just two rates: a top rate of 28 percent and a bottom rate of 17.5 percent, and that would allow us to do two things. First of all, we’d be able to stop inflation because we would be cutting expenditure by $6.8 billion, but, second of all, it means that people right throughout the income structure would get significant tax rates. You take the example of somebody earning $70,000—maybe a nurse, somewhere in the middle of their income stream, of their career, earning $70,000. They would keep $2,309 extra under ACT’s tax policy to make up for the cost of living increases that they’ve dealt with under the first five years of “Hard Labour Government”.

But there’s other things that we’d do. Do you know that this country is one of the hardest places in the world for foreigners to send money? It’s true. Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, China—those are the three countries that the OECD says make it harder to invest in as a foreigner. We wonder why it is that Israelis and Estonians—people that used to be much poorer than us—get twice as much investment per worker as we do, and we wonder why it is that those countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Lithuania are overtaking us. Well, it’s partly because we just don’t get investment capital.

The ACT Party says it’s time for New Zealand to be open for business and say that we’re going to be the easiest place to invest if you are a member of the OECD. If you’re a democratic country, then New Zealand is open for business for you, because we actually want our friends around the world to bring their skills and their money and their ideas to enrich our country. We don’t want to be a xenophobic backwater conducting some sort of bizarre bicultural experiment. We want to be globally connected citizens with the best that the world has to offer.

Here’s the next thing we’d do. Do you know that this Government owns about $16 billion worth of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) like New Zealand Post, like KiwiRail, like Kiwibank, like AsureQuality. Some of them are or have the potential to be good businesses. Now, the evidence is crystal clear that when the Government sold half of Genesis, half of Meridian, and half of all of the energy companies, in fact, their performance improved so much that the Government actually got a bigger dividend from owning 51 percent of them than it did from owning 100 percent. The ACT Party says that we would partially privatise more SOEs in order that we can raise their productivity and—

💬 Hon Member: Same old ACT—same old, same old.

—reduce New Zealand’s debt by $8 billion. I just ask people on the other side of the House: if you’ve got a policy that works, that keeps New Zealand control of the businesses, and that raises productivity and pays down debt, why would somebody be against that, other than pure ideology? Is this something we can afford not to do, or are we too rich already?

We had a big opportunity today for a Government to stand up and overcome its ideological opposition to cutting taxes, and then we had the opportunity to give people relief from the cost of living crisis. We had the opportunity to reduce wasteful and inflationary expenditure. That would have all been good, but we had the opportunity to do even more: to invest to actually secure the future.

ACT’s Budget would have invested strategically in three areas. We would have taken $250 million for principals to pay their best teachers more, because our teachers are the biggest determinant of where New Zealand is going to be in 30 years’ time, of all the Government employees. We’d not only give them tax cuts of between $2,000 and $3,000 each; we’d also give a teaching excellence reward fund to pay the best ones more.

Our geopolitical situation has changed since Helen Clark said that we lived in a benign strategic environment. The ACT Party would invest in defence up to 2 percent of GDP in order that we can go to the Australians and say we want Anzac back. We want an independent but interoperable Anzac defence force in the South Pacific because—let’s be honest—our neighbourhood has changed.

Finally, we would share $1.2 billion per year with councils so they can afford to build infrastructure, but only if they say yes to building more houses for the next generation. That is smart, strategic investment in ACT’s alternative budget to genuinely secure the future and give light at the end of the tunnel so all those people—all those young people, in particular—who are asking after this Budget, this bluff and bluster from Grant Robertson, “Is there really a reason for me to stay here? Is there light at the end of the tunnel from the cost of living crisis? Is there a strategy to get ahead of former communist countries that are now richer than us?” Well, ACT’s gives hope to those people that next year, things will change. We’ll take our Budget seriously, and New Zealand will have a bright future after all. But Labour’s Budget today—that ain’t it. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Tēnā koe e te Pika. That is the first time I’ve stood up with ACT clapping.

When we look across our world as tangata whenua on 19 May 2022, this is what we see: a landscape where we once owned 100 percent of our whenua, and now we own less than 4 percent. One third of people on the dole are Māori, 65 percent of women in prisons are Māori, and they were put there for just trying to survive and feed their tamariki. More than a quarter of our people are living in poverty, 99c in the dollar was taken from us, and we are supposed to turn that deficit around with 1 percent returned in iwi settlements. The richest 10 percent own 70 percent of the wealth and the top 1 percent own a quarter, while 50 percent of Aotearoa own just 2 percent of the wealth. We have the highest indigenous incarceration rates in the developed world, the highest homelessness rates, and the highest domestic violence rates in the developed world.

This damning state of affairs would shock anyone, but what’s even worse than the numbers is what this means for ordinary people. Some of the whānau I know on the ground in Te Tai Hauāuru who are on benefits are paying up to a quarter of their incomes to service Government debt that was incurred to cover basic needs like food and bills during the COVID pandemic. This is on top of rising prices, an insecure job market, and the Government dropping support they brought in during the pandemic such as the double winter energy payment. The theft of our assets over generations is what has built the fortunes of the rich in this country and it has fuelled this extraordinary wealth divide.

Our world, our reality, as Te Ao Māori is never reflected in the speeches, policies, legislation, or Budgets that are put forward in this House by successive Governments. That is why we are here. It is the role of Te Paati Māori in Parliament, whether on the cross-benches, in Opposition, or in Government, to fight to ensure that every Budget that is put forward in this House is a Budget that restores power and resources to whānau, hapū, and iwi; that every Budget is a Budget that delivers for Māori and honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Funding for Māori programmes will not work if these programmes aren’t conceptualised, designed, managed, and governed by Māori. Funding for Māori programmes indeed have to be ma te Māori, ki te Māori, mo te Māori, e ai ki te Māori—by Māori, to Māori, for Māori, according to Māori.

This is what we mean when we talk about mana motuhake. We are here to be an unapologetic voice for tangata whenua, for our aspirations, our visions, our imperatives, our dreams, and, as a descendant of Ngāti Ruanui growing up in Pātea, I know all too well the real impact on the ground when Budgets fail to deliver for Māori grassroots and fail to honour Te Tiriti. I spoke in my maiden speech of the hardships our people endured in the 1970s and the 1980s as we faced the loss of jobs, factories, schools, banks, and infrastructure. While the State could have responded to this widening inequality with the compassion and care, instead, in the 1990s, we got benefits cuts, more police, prisons, and racist and bigoted rhetoric aimed at Māori and the poor. The persistent disparities in social incomes for Māori are the result of decades of under-investment and deregulation by successive Governments, red or blue.

In recent years, there’s been a continued bipartisan refusal to level the playing field and significantly redistribute wealth back to working people, back to tangata whenua. Instead, Governments have tried to address problems with bureaucratic solutions, never enabling communities to address the root causes. As a result, inequality in Aotearoa is only getting worse. As Bernard Hickey has reported, the pandemic has made the rich $952 billion richer, while the poor were forced $400 million further in debt to the Government itself. Foodbank use more than doubled. Any Budget that is put forward must focus on reducing inequality and restoring the wealth of the grassroots.

Te Paati Māori acknowledges the Prime Minister and her Government on Budget 2022. It makes some great progress in a few areas, and we, again, are grateful that she has decided to adopt some more of our policies. Anei he koha—feel free to take the rest of them, too.

However, sadly, e te iwi, this is not a Budget that delivers for Māori or honours Te Tiriti; this is a Budget that tinkers with the generational challenges that we’re facing. It doesn’t deal with the root causes in a systemic or sufficient way.

During the pandemic, Te Paati Māori was proud to work alongside Whānau Ora and our grassroots hauora providers across the country to hold Government to account and to pressure them to ensure that funding was invested directly into our own front-line organisations. This was essential in turning around the Māori COVID response and it led to its huge success—surprise, surprise. If given the chance, we know how to look after each other; we just need the Crown to step out of the way.

Off the back of the pandemic response, it seems crazy that the Government realises that the success of the Māori COVID response could be replicated across social service delivery, economic development, environment restoration—go figure. We may then be seeing in this Budget a wholesale devolution of funding to Māori organisations to continue this success model to enable us to do what we do best, which is look after own and lead as kaitiaki. That would have been revolutionary. It would have allowed us to realise our dreams for self-determination and self-sufficiency in an Aotearoa where our mokopuna have everything they need to thrive and are supported to grow up and be proud to be Māori. That would be a Budget that truly delivered for Māori and honoured Te Tiriti.

However, in this Budget, what we largely see is business as usual. It’s vanilla, it’s lacking ambition—more money going into broken systems that have failed our people for generations.

Even in the one area where the Government can be acknowledged for making progress—health—this Budget lays bare the reality of the Government’s inadequate vision for Māori health. Aotearoa has been starved of health funding for decades. Our system did not cope with the pandemic, and the State finally had to realise that the best outcomes for Māori occur when the bureaucracy steps aside and resources Māori to lead our own solutions.

Still, even after agreeing to the Māori Health Authority, the Crown continues to put up financial and legislative barriers to it being truly successful. I was on the select committee and the Government refused to put tino rangatiratanga into the legislation. A Budget that delivers for Māori and honours Te Tiriti would have looked like a Budget for the Māori Health Authority that matched that of Health New Zealand.

It is pleasing to see an increase in Vote Health, but we, as Māori, are actually worse off. The more the mainstream gets, the more the inequity is increased and the more we fall behind. The announcement today is even worse than we thought. The Government’s own memos show that the Māori Health Authority only receives 0.7 percent—0.7 percent—of the Vote Health budget. That is 0.7 percent for a people that make up more than 17 percent of the country—20 percent, if they’re in Taranaki—with entrenched inequities. This actually increases the inequity gap in funding. It’s shocking. We expected to receive 2 percent. Even on that basis it would take 1,840 years to reach parity—1,840 years.

We do acknowledge the $191 million increase for Pharmac cover over two years. We have constantly pushed for increased funding for lifesaving cancer drugs, but this still needs to go further. More mental health funding is good, but it must be proportionate to need, and in this Budget, it’s not.

A Budget that delivered for Māori and honoured Te Tiriti would be a Budget that ensured everyone has enough to do well: lifting the incomes of beneficiaries, students, and kaumātua, raising the minimum wage to $25, and honouring pay equity claims in health and education. It would look like a Budget that shifts the burden of tax on to the wealthy end of town.

We acknowledge the rebate for low-income whānau. This would be only for those who don’t receive the winter energy payment and benefits. This is a cruel, cost-cutting way of looking at whānau wellbeing.

We cannot believe that half-price public transport has not been permanently put in place. Extending it for another two months only is just pathetic.

The change with child support payments is greatly welcomed, and it is something that whānau have been pushing for for years. This will make a big difference for whānau.

When the National Party and ACT Party talk about their cost of living crisis, what they’re talking about is their wealthy friends feeling the pinch for the first time and having to put off that second yearly overseas holiday, or thinking twice about that second Tesla. That’s why their solution is tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by the poor, and then they have the gall to call us bottom-feeders while we fund their wealthy lifestyles—go figure.

When Te Paati Māori talk about the cost of living crisis, what we are talking about is the hard-working whānau not being able to afford the cost of basic necessities like food and petrol—whānau who already live pay cheque to pay cheque. This crisis is only deepening the entrenched, persistent poverty and deprivation that our people have endured for generations. That’s why our solutions include shifting the tax burden from the poor to the rich, lifting wages, transformative changes to the welfare system, free public transport, regulating and breaking up the supermarket duopoly, and removing GST from food—a policy which a recent poll showed that more than 75 percent of this nation supports.

A Budget that delivered for Māori and honoured Te Tiriti would be a Budget that enabled everyone to have a warm, dry, and affordable house to call their own, where they choose, where they are on their own whenua, in the city and in the local community. It would recognise that for Māori, the housing crisis has only been made worse, and is already a depressing reality that has locked us out of securing housing and homeownership. The Government has comprehensively failed on housing.

Māori make up 50 percent of the waiting list for social housing, 30 percent of Māori pay rent that is over 30 percent of their weekly income, and 33 percent of all Māori will shift residence every three years. At least 12,000 tangata whenua are homeless on their own land.

We acknowledge that the Kāinga Whenua loan cap will also be increased from $200,000 to $500,000, and that there will be more funding for insulation and heating in homes. But this Budget will not address the housing crisis in any meaningful way. It barely shifts the dial.

Despite much-needed investment in Māori housing in Budget 2021, this has yet to result in many houses actually being built, or whānau actually securing somewhere to live. We must massively increase the pace of construction of State houses while enabling papakāinga and community housing at scale through regulatory reforms and devolving funding and power to tangata whenua and our communities.

We must stop all sales of freehold land to offshore foreign interests. Rather than ruling out the very policies that would help people the most, as the Prime Minister has a habit of doing, we must do what actually works. That means a capital gains tax, excluding the whānau home. That means rent controls. That means scaled-up, equity-based rent-to-buy schemes.

A Budget that delivered for Māori and honoured Te Tiriti would invest in the prevention of crime through kaupapa Māori philosophy. It would defund racist systems that target, harass, and kill our people. Te Paati Māori has been absolutely consistent in highlighting that the new funding for police and corrections will not address the drivers of crime. What it will lead to is even more dead Māori on the streets, and, as my tungāne Rawiri has said, we can’t police and jail our way out of problems caused by failing education and failing health, housing, and welfare systems. The burden of harassment, arrest, conviction, and imprisonment are all carried disproportionately by Māori.

What’s more, we are also pumping more money into the military. The Government’s defence capability plan released in 2019 reveals that they intend to spend an extra $20 billion on the military by 2030. Aotearoa should be ramping up our military capability in the 21st century. Yes, we need to be able to defend ourselves. Yes, we should contribute to peacekeeping. But we have no business getting involved in imperialist proxy wars, whether they are instigated by Russia, the US, China, or anyone else. We should stand as an independent and neutral force for security, order, and peace in the South Pacific. At a time when the finance Minister has caved to establishment pressures to restrain spending, why would he choose to invest millions and millions of new funding into the police and the military?

The Government is both refusing to take on the vested interests whose greed is driving the crisis we face and is refusing to lift the ambition for Aotearoa and invest to deal with the entrenched disparities and systemic barriers that are holding up our people and holding our people back, because—let’s be very clear—it’s our people who pay the price: those who are working two or three jobs and still struggling to put food on the table, those who are trying to raise babies while paying a quarter of the income in debt to Work and Income, and those unable to put a warm, dry roof over their kids’ heads. Tangata whenua pay the price; tangata whenua suffer the consequences.

Until this House makes a stand and redistributes wealth, it’s simply putting nails in the coffin of ngā tangata whenua o Aotearoa. Te Paati Māori will continue to hold this Government to account. We will continue to work with them and acknowledge where they have made real changes that will benefit our people. We will fight to ensure that future Budgets do deliver for Māori and, indeed, honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and that Budgets progress us towards our mana motuhake. We will continue to build the strength of our movement for tino rangatiratanga. We will continue to grow our numbers and influence in this place, and we will always strive unapologetically to restore the self-determination and self-sufficiency that is uniquely ours. Nō reira, tēnā tātou katoa.

I move, That this debate be now adjourned.