Genter Julie Anne; Kuriger BarbaraHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green—Rongotai): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I'm rising to speak on behalf of the Green Party on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2024-2025 Emergency Response and Remedial Measures) Bill. Now just referring to the Minister's speech there were a number of things he said that I agree with in terms of it being incredibly important that we have a tax system that's fit for the 21st century that it's really important that we address the issues facing our country right now and the difficulty and hardship being faced by so many New Zealanders particularly all those plunged into unemployment now that the Government has taken a series of steps that has resulted in a lot of job losses and a massive recession because that's the reality of what we're facing right now. Of course changing the tax thresholds and rates doesn't benefit anyone who's lost their job especially not when the Government is also in other parts of the system making it harder to access the social safety net for unemployment by kicking people off benefits and bragging about how they're kicking people off benefits.So the Minister referred in his speech to tax relief almost like a bumper sticker that the Government uses all the time. Government MPs use this term tax relief". I just want to speak to what that is really referring to. It's a type of framing that is trying to imply that tiny changes to the tax system that give very small benefits to the average New Zealander—like in the order of $2 a week for many of them or even less if they're on low incomes maybe up to $20 a week if you're on a high income. But these sorts of changes are somehow massively improving the life and the wellbeing of people in New Zealand when in reality the cost of these tax changes is enormous in terms of pressure on our incredibly important public services. So the Green Party cannot agree with the tax changes obviously that we voted against in the Budget—that were signalled in the Budget—some of which are legislatively brought into by this bill. But this is like an administrative process as the previous speaker referred to.The reality is we do need a tax system for the 20th century. We need a tax system that ensures that the wealthiest New Zealanders are paying their fair share that everyone in New Zealand has access to a decent liveable income and that we have the revenue we need as a country to pool together our resources to invest in the infrastructure and social services that benefit all New Zealanders. The reality is that we can't as individuals pay for certain things. That's why we have Government. That's how we work together to pay for things that we can't buy on our own and that we are all in this together. And I know that goes against the dominant ideology of the 1980s and 1990s which many of these members currently in the Government are totally stuck in—the 1980s and 1990s. We have enough information to know now that letting the rich get richer and accumulate wealth doesn't make everyone else wealthier. It doesn't make us richer as a country. It doesn't lead to economic prosperity.We only have to look to the economic conditions that ordinary New Zealanders are facing right now—increased precarity. In fact I was at the infrastructure conference Building Nations last night and people in the infrastructure sector many of which probably voted for this Government were suddenly realising what these policies mean—huge amounts of public infrastructure like public housing other projects put on hold no longer being invested in resulting in the construction sector laying off people massively laying off people. [Interruption] And the members opposite are getting very irate because they know that I'm speaking the truth. It doesn't match their little version of reality but that's OK because ordinary New Zealanders at home know and they've been talking about what an incredible disappointment it is how the National Party basically you know through their campaign implying that people would receive hundreds of dollars a week when the vast majority are barely receiving anything and are having to pay more in terms of higher public transport costs higher prescription fees no longer able to access health services and many many people out of a job now—and that's going to continue to have ongoing detrimental consequences for this Government. That's why the Green Party is not voting for this bill.But we do have a positive story to tell about what New Zealanders could achieve as a country when we leave behind the failed ideology of the 1980s and 1990s which only benefits the very wealthy.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Just before I call the next speaker there was a lot of calls from one side of the House saying what's this got to do with the bill? It does say Taxation (Annual Rates for 2024-25 Emergency Response Remedial Measures) Bill. It's very broad—generally broader at a first reading because it hasn't been through select committee. But I did hear a lot about the annual rates of tax so I deem that to be in scope."