Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Well listening to that contribution from that prior member Ginny Andersen talking about future economic shocks can she not understand and see what's in front of all Kiwis today? We're faced with a cost of living crisis today not in the future and this Government are asleep at the wheel in terms of putting in place solutions that are going to deal with it. This income insurance scheme which in effect is a job tax is absolutely a solution looking for a problem—it is not required. Madam Speaker I'll take you through that quite simply because Kiwis sitting at home watching this will go I haven't heard too much about this job tax." But I tell you what when they work out the detail and what the impact is on their back pocket—because that's where the money's coming from—they're going to send a big bad "no" to this Government that they oppose it. Because the impact fiscally on the back pockets of hard-working Kiwis is a thousand dollars a year for someone on 72 grand—that is the average income. A thousand dollars—$20 a week of taxes coming to every Kiwi or 2750000 workers in this country for an insurance scheme or a tax that benefits 50000 people at best. That is the fact of the matter—2 percent of Kiwis if they are lucky. Because of course people have private medical insurance potentially; their employers actually do the right thing and look after them when they get sick and unwell—they've got other medical options around this. This is a scheme that'll benefit less than 2 percent of Kiwis but tax nearly 3 million of them. It is completely outrageous and they are failing to see the issues right in front of them today: a cost of living crisis. And that shows that this Government do not have any perspective in terms of what are the real-world impacts on Kiwis at home right now. They are creating a model of state reliance. A model of reliance by individuals in this country on the state. They are not talking about aspiration. They are not looking at what is the investment we need to require in order to support this element of the workforce. They're not looking at working and partnering with the private sector to bring in place solutions that may deal with this problem. They're painting a picture which fiscally will cost this country—and it was in their reports and in the Budget yesterday—$3.5 billion by 2026 of levies collected off hard-working Kiwis. That's $3.5 billion and that could increase up to over $4 billion. That is outrageous and I hope some of the people watching and those looking will actually go "Well hold on a second that doesn't sound smart. That doesn't sound sensible. Why are they trying to deal with something that doesn't even exist today?" Maybe they should deal with the problems that Kiwis are facing when they're paying an extra 150 bucks a week today for their living costs. Maybe that might be a good idea. Maybe we could give inflation-adjusted tax relief to all Kiwis. Give them the benefit today because they need the benefit today. They do not need a scheme that will impact a small number of Kiwis that will not bring benefits to the nearly 3 million hard-working Kiwis in this country. That is why National oppose this bill."