Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Kaipara ki Mahurangi): Thank you very much Mr Chair. It's been a fascinating debate and I'd like to congratulate the Green Party for their passionate abstention in the matter. There is a march for apathy being arranged and I hope they'll join me and the procrastination society and we'll advise the date of that later—if it can be agreed.I've got a couple of comments and then questions—it's sort of like the kind of question you get at a public meeting which is a long statement followed by Don't you reckon?" So in that spirit I've got a couple of different lines of comment-question and one is in relation to the different time frames and the different regimes that will apply in different quarters of this year and going into next year and beyond. The other line of questioning is in relation to the dollar amount at which the minimum family tax credit will kick in.In relation to the dollar figures we've heard some discussion about tax bracket creep which is obviously not a derogatory term for a finance Minister one doesn't like—it's genuinely creep in the sense of increasing tax brackets. But I did wonder about the difference between those two numbers: the $31000 roughly speaking and the $30500 and obviously I could ask you the difference between them and on the face of it it would be roughly $500—or "five hundy" in the name of a card game of that name. But leaving aside the arithmetic that underlines the difference I wonder if the Minister can speak to the reasoning behind that change. I understand of course from the explanatory note of the bill and from the legislative statement that's come out in conjunction with the bill that of course it's in response to the increase in benefit rates. But I wonder if the Minister has considered other ways in which the amount might or might not be said to keep pace with current economic fiscal and indeed monetary trends. I refer of course to the spectre of inflation which I think is a very real possibility and prospect following the Budget that we've heard today and in the context of other changes that the Government has announced and implemented recently. When wages are increased in an artificial or arbitrary manner that is to say with no connection to increased production or productivity then of course it's only right to consider any legislation in the realm of taxation in connection with the possibility—indeed some might say the likelihood—of inflation getting away on us as a nation and as an economy.So my question to the Minister in relation to that increased threshold is whether it takes into account the possibility of inflation and if not why not? I have a question too about whether any thought has been given to the possibility of the exchange rate—that is to say the New Zealand dollar as compared with overseas currencies. New Zealand families are not immune to the fluctuations in the exchange rate. It's not a particular area of expertise of mine but I will note of course that in a pretty volatile global environment—I mean New Zealand I suppose is doing its best to insulate itself from that by not entering into any new trade agreements but that's more in the category of cock-up than conspiracy or perhaps accident rather than design. But in any case the reality is that it is at least theoretically possible that the exchange rate of various other currencies that are relevant to New Zealand families directly or indirectly should be considered in my submission and I want to know if the Minister has given any such consideration.I will just add—I apologise to the Minister who is prepared to answer those questions and I do thank him for that genuinely. Simeon Brown: Is it a speech or a question?CHRIS PENK: Well it's a bit of both. It's a lot of one and not the other—that's my answer to Simeon Brown who's asked whether I'm posing a question or giving a speech.The cost of living of course is another factor and we've got inflation with a capital "I" but of course more generally the cost of living in a way that might not be captured in the Consumers Price Index (CPI)—for example when a Government excludes the cost of housing increases whether that's mortgage loan payments or rent which have seen rise in a rampant fashion in the last 3½ years and to be fair to a lesser extent before that.So I want to know please from the Minister if he has considered the changes to the economic landscape in that regard when talking about those different thresholds. I give a heads-up or a warning perhaps that I do want to speak about and ask some questions in relation to the time frame but I look forward to the opportunity to do that in a different contribution and I request an answer from the Minister on those other points in the meantime."