Rurawhe AdrianHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā. Let me assure the Hon Kelvin Davis the Minister who has just resumed his seat that the National Party has never walked away from Māori. In fact Māori have achieved more of real substance under National Governments than they have under Governments led by his party over decades in this country. This has been a year like no other in our lifetime. Equally Budget 2020 was a Budget like no other that any of us can remember. I do actually feel some sympathy for the Minister of Finance and his officials because whatever work had been done up to the beginning of March will largely have gone out the window given the events that followed in the weeks immediately afterwards. So the document that was presented here in this House on 14 May was really more of a fiscal update than a detailed Budget. Cobbled together in a matter of weeks and with circumstances changing daily it is understandable that it was light on detail and left so many questions unanswered. But the Government now needs to show much greater understanding of what this country needs in order for us to rebuild and to save shattered livelihoods. This of course was our first COVID Budget and every foreseeable Budget in the years ahead will have COVID recovery as its dominant theme. So I want to acknowledge again those whose lives have been upended by COVID because as I mentioned their livelihoods are now at risk as jobs are being lost as businesses are going under as export markets have been put at risk as our tourism sector has taken such a hit and so it goes on. That has to be the focus of any Budget. Sadly from the current Government we have not been hearing enough about investing in initiatives that will turn those very serious challenges around. They must be the focus of all future Budgets. Most of those who died of or in some cases with COVID in New Zealand were older citizens and so in my capacity as National's spokesperson for seniors I'd like to send my aroha and my condolences to their grieving families. I also want to acknowledge and thank the New Zealand Aged Care Association and all the wonderful staff who work in the many retirement villages care facilities and similar institutions around the country looking after so many of our senior citizens. I know that at least one of those very special New Zealanders who they look after is watching this afternoon. She is a constituent of the member for Tāmaki and I send her my love. Simon O'Connor: Who's her favourite MP? Hon TIM MACINDOE: Ha! Her favourite MP is probably Mr O'Connor; I'd like to think that her son might come in a close second. But thank you Mr O'Connor for asking. Mr O'Connor was one of several National colleagues who have made very fine speeches in this House this afternoon. Their analysis of the Budget has been thoughtful and especially their understanding of the economic and social challenges that our country now faces has shown that the National Party is a team match-fit full of talent and ready to govern and we look forward to having the opportunity to present our alternative vision to the country in just a few weeks from now as we face the general election on 19 September. We will be highlighting how disappointing this Budget was in failing to provide the leadership and a clear outline of our choices and what our priorities should be in a post-COVID world. Never has the work of our farmers and our other primary producers been more important yet currently they have a naive Government that continues to believe they should be put at a competitive disadvantage with less efficient producers of the healthy food the world so desperately needs and which New Zealand produces so well. We must not kneecap our farmers and our primary productive sector. The current Government or Ministers within it have supposedly set aside for themselves $20 billion for unspecified purposes so that amounts to unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility. No one doubts that money must be spent and a lot of it but it's money we don't have. So it will need to be repaid for decades by our children and their children and I do not want to saddle my descendants or the descendants of any other New Zealanders with a bill that is literally going to make life miserable for so many of them. So the money that the Government is setting aside and a future Government will also set aside must be spent wisely and in ways that will stimulate jobs growth promote our economic recovery and save livelihoods. Gareth Hughes asked in his contribution—which was one of the better ones from the other side—about half an hour ago how does the Budget help people. Of course it's a fair question because Budgets are always about people. That's what our primary focus should be as any politician. But unfortunately it's a question that people are still asking now three weeks after the Budget was delivered. I said that Governments must spend taxpayers' money responsibly and not say that they'll put aside $20 billion that we don't have and then think later about what they will do with it every time they need to scratch a pre-election itch. Make no mistake it's all about buying votes. That is appalling pork-barrel politics of the type we have seen far too often in the last three years particularly with the shameful $3 billion slush fund which looked dreadful at the time and yet now is small beer by comparison with what they're doing. Well we're not playing Monopoly—this is not a game. People's livelihoods are at risk. Hundreds of thousands of them are losing their jobs this year—37500 of them lost their jobs in April alone—and they need a Government that backs them to get back into work as soon as possible. We must move into alert level 1 right now because every day that we fail to do that more jobs are being lost more businesses are at risk and more people are suffering and frankly there is no longer sufficient reason to justify that. That's why Nationals' JobStart policy that was announced by our new leader Todd Muller—who will be a fine Prime Minister of this country—was the right approach. It has the potential to assist many businesses to have the confidence to invest in staff and start rebuilding. It's why we in the National Party have offered to work with the Government to share our policy to cooperate with them and to implement it as soon as possible—not to wait until we have an opportunity to do so after the election—and it's indicative of more positive initiatives that our party will be introducing in the weeks and months ahead. Well I want to make it very clear in the little time that I've got remaining that because Budgets are about people we will continue to work as constructively as we can with other parties. We are all in this together—we said that when we went into the lockdown—and we're all in it now. But they must ensure that they are willing to respond appropriately to initiatives and not give the trite facile answers that we had from the Prime Minister when asked questions about her approach to dealing with the National Party on the JobStart programme. Could I in just the short time remaining acknowledge the recipients of the Queen's Birthday honours because they're people who have often contributed hugely to economic growth in our country. I want to acknowledge in particular the founder of Hamilton Zoo founded just over 50 years ago. Murray Powell who was also a pioneer in the deer industry of this country and who has been one of the great conservators of wildlife not only launched Hamilton's fine zoo which is one of the best in the Southern Hemisphere but in 1976 generously gifted it to the nation. Dr—now Dame—Karen Poutasi a very distinguished public servant is now doing a wonderful job as the commissioner for the Waikato District Health Board. I congratulate Murray and Dame Karen on their awards—both well deserved. Could I finally pay tribute to Ismail Gamadid who was the former president of the Waikato Muslim Association and the Waikato Refugee Forum. Sadly he died of COVID in Mogadishu about 10 days ago. He had returned there after 20 years of living in Hamilton to take up a ministerial post in his native State. He did a fine job in our area of promoting race relations and helping new settlers in our region to settle in. I was proud—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member's time has expired.