Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's investing in our people that is a key part of our COVID economic recovery plan. It's great to see more people supported into work young people set up for bright futures and more people move into jobs through successful initiatives like the Flexi-wage Mana in Mahi and Apprenticeship Boost programmes. Apprenticeship Boost supports businesses with access to the skilled workers they need. The programme was launched just over two years ago and in that time they have supported businesses to train their workers—18000 Kiwi businesses have taken on more than 50000 apprentices. Now recently I had the real pleasure of having the Minister the Hon Jan Tinetti coming up for a visit to Kaipara ki Mahurangi and she was very pleased to see local businesses in Rodney supporting young women into apprenticeships like builders electricians painters and spray-painters. We also visited eight schools in the Rodney area in her role as Associate Minister of Education. In light of some of the comments of the Leader of the Opposition this morning picking principals as the next group to put the boot into I want to take this opportunity to put on the record a massive thanks for the amazing mahi done by schools principals and senior leadership teams in the role they have played in keeping our kids connected to schools and keeping them safe all through the lockdowns and through the tough times that have been following. The issues that we are facing are complex. There's a lot of work to do and there's just no easy fix. Being relentlessly negative and tax cuts for the wealthy aren't going to solve any of those.We have a lot to be optimistic about. The last figures show that unemployment has remained at the near-record low of 3.3 percent. I remember when COVID first hit and the Treasury forecast was that unemployment could rise as high as 10 percent and our finance Minister the Hon Grant Robertson said that he would not let that happen. Our following Budgets were put together in very difficult circumstances but they helped New Zealanders get through COVID.I'm proud of our record as a country with one of the lowest death rates in the world but also the country with one of the strongest economies in the world. New Zealand's economy is set to recover faster from the pandemic than it did from the global financial crisis. As well as that near-record low unemployment incomes are growing at the highest rate since records began and my colleague Sarah Pallett was talking about that previously. Our agriculture exports have reached a massive $53 billion and tourists are returning. More homes have been built last year than since records began as our economy grows stronger. We're getting a cheaper faster and better resource management law. It's also important to note that our debt remains low and it's among the lowest in the OECD.It's not to say that times aren't tough for many Kiwis—and no doubt global increases in inflation are hurting New Zealanders. But while there's no easy fix for the cost of living we've taken a range of actions to ease the pressure. That is from rolling out our cost of living package and winter energy payments to the boost to superannuation making sure we keep public transport cheaper and the action we're taking so that New Zealanders are paying fair prices at the checkout. All of those things are designed to help make a difference as we come through a really tough global environment.Since the day that we came into Government we've worked hard to lift wages and reduce cost pressures on Kiwis through methods like cheaper doctor visits free lunches in schools and the family tax credit. Recently of course the next step we announced at that fantastic Labour conference was easing the cost of living pressures for the majority of New Zealand families by improving access to childcare assistance. So from 1 April next year 54 percent of all families with children will be eligible for subsidised childcare assistance.We are continuing the work to ensure that Kiwis get a fair go. We want to ensure that hard-working Kiwis get paid a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. That's why as has been mentioned previously since 2017 we have boosted the minimum wage bringing it to $21.20 per hour now. The minimum wage boost since 2017 has meant that full-time minimum wage workers are now earning an extra $218 a week. We are also implementing fair pay agreements to improve the wages and the conditions of our workers and to support our economic recovery. We are supporting families and businesses and it results in more people in work with higher wages making both families and our economy stronger. Our Government inherited a lot of issues to deal with. But we've tackled big issues like COVID-19 well and made progress on things like child poverty social housing and climate change. Now it is time to accelerate progress on the things that matter most. It's not time for relentless negativity. It's not time for the silly ideas of the Opposition like tax cuts for the wealthiest. Thank you Mr Speaker.