Roberts AngelaANGELA ROBERTS (Labour): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. There is so much to be proud of in this Budget and to be really pleased about from the investment across the board. We've heard from so many speakers in previous hours about the investment in health primary industries our rural communities and climate change. Last week many of us were privileged to spend time in our communities talking to constituents who will be better off and whose futures are more secure because of this Budget brought to us by the Hon Grant Robertson. I could talk about many things but I'm just going to pick a few little highlights for me from education because the best way to invest in our future—besides health I believe—is investing in our young people in our education system and there's a lot to be really pleased about.I'll start with acknowledging the significant work that's been done over many years by officials and Ministers to replace our decile funding system with a new Equity Index. It's been a long time coming and it is going to mean that our equity funding is better targeted to meet the needs of our students. Not only is it going to be better targeted; there is simply more of it. A 50 percent increase in equity funding is something we should be really really pleased about. Not only are the Equity Index and the equity funding going up but our special education grant and our operation grants are also going up—$184 million over the next few years in order to do more than just keep the lights on. It's wonderful. That really solid structural shift has been pursued relentlessly for years and has been brought about despite the significant challenges the sector has faced with COVID in the last couple of years. That significant challenge we can see in our students. I'd like to acknowledge the money that has gone into the attendance services and alternative education which is really going to support our most vulnerable students and those who work so hard tirelessly to support them as well as they can. At the other end—the investment at the other end—$11 million for PB4L Positive Behaviour for Learning schoolwide. It's a refresh because it's an investment that we know—because it's evidence-based; it isn't chucking money around—provides a return and we continue to make sure that the profession is able to deliver it across schools.One thing we did see through COVID was the response to the COVID response fund when principals were trusted to bring resources in to meet the needs of their particular communities and their particular students and how important that was and how pleased they were to be able to access counselling or other services that met the needs of their students. It allowed them to be nimble and responsive. That response fund has become a regional response fund of $10 million a year with which we will trust school communities to deliver better services for our vulnerable students. It's something that we should be really really pleased to hear about.Once those students escape school of course we need them to be continuing their learning throughout their lives and the Apprenticeship Boost initiative of course continues to need additional funding because it has been so successful. We need to provide further funding because we have more people wanting to become apprentices and more businesses wanting to take on apprentices and we need to support those—young; not necessarily young—new apprentices. There will be 38000 more apprentices able to be supported investing in the future of our economy of our businesses—many of them small and medium enterprises—and of course our people who want to continue with their lifelong learning.I've just got one little shout-out—one thing that nobody's mentioned because for many it seems so insignificant but it is really important for our most remote communities. The boarding allowance will be going up—the boarding allowance that allows some of our students to get to school when a bus ain't gonna cut it—8 percent. So to our families up in Mangamahu Sarah Waldron and your kids; to the kids down at Halfmoon Bay School who've been challenging this Government to think about how we can better support them; to the students and the teachers at Ōtorohanga College—there is just a little bit more there to help you to support those students.