Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise and take a call in this general debate today. I want to speak about the stability that Labour Governments bring to South Auckland and the economic prosperity—Hon Louise Upston: You're dreaming.ARENA WILLIAMS: —that those Governments bring. Let me give you an example; in the global financial crisis which members opposite who are heckling me now oversaw 15 percent of Māori lost their jobs. If you look like me if you're a Māori woman it was 25 percent and if you lived where I do in South Auckland it was even more; it was almost 30 percent. You find three Māori women who were my age in the global financial crisis that that Government oversaw one of them would have been out of a job. Now in August in a far deeper crisis that this Government has overseen Māori unemployment is at record lows. That didn't happen by mistake; that happened because this Government made choices which kept our people in work. It meant stability for South Auckland households who would have otherwise borne the brunt of the economic impacts of a global pandemic. It meant that people have remained in work. It means that people have been able to balance their household budgets at the end of the week. It means that families will be able to invite each other over for Christmas. It means that in February when mums think about buying the stationery and the school uniforms they will be able to do that. It's a very real impact for South Auckland and it's one that this Government has made choices to implement. I want to talk about what's at stake in the election for those families. Labour has promised to make childcare more affordable for families and that means choices for families in South Auckland. It reverses the freeze on the income thresholds that National implemented in 2010. We're fixing that by extending the subsidy to 10000 additional children. That means if you're a family with two parents and say 40 hours each and you're on $26 say and you have two children under five like mine—well mine has turned five recently; happy birthday Tem. But if you have two children who are not in school you would not be eligible for the subsidy at the moment but we're changing that and from April next year you will be eligible for $252 per week. That's a really big change. It gives families choices it gives women choices and it's a big deal for the South Auckland economy because when that member talks about workforce shortages we're talking about teachers women in healthcare roles like nurses and aged-care workers—exactly the kind of people in South Auckland who look like me who make choices about whether they can afford to have their toddlers in childcare or whether they cannot. I'll give you an example. When I had my first baby we set up a playgroup with a lot of mums and I want to shout out to them today people like Carla Tamara Ash Caroline Harshna Isabelle both of the Megans and Mel. These were women who were all faced with a choice of paying between $300 and $500 in our area for full-time childcare per child or going back to work. And if you were on $26 an hour and working 40 hours a week you would be earning about $760 after tax. That doesn't add up. In fact if you have two children at childcare at one of the cheapest centres in that area you would be paying for the privilege to work because of the choices that the Government made. When you value work and when you value women's contribution to work—when you are committed to giving women choices to work—you don't make those trade-offs and it was a trade-off made in 2010 when that Government extended tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders.I am proud to be a part of this Government which is giving stability to an economy in South Auckland which would have borne the brunt of the global pandemic and I'm proud to be a part of a Government that is giving women choice.