Tolley Anne: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: General Debate[Sitting date: 03 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4260. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. The Budget debate began with the best speech I think I have heard our Prime Minister make. It was a fantastic speech and it set the scene for what was an amazing Budget debate by the members on this side of the House. It concluded yesterday with an outstanding speech from the Minister of Finance laying out quite clearly I think for anyone listening the difference between this side of the House—the Government benches—and what is that rabble on the other side of the House. The reality was as both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance said that Labour had nothing to say. Labour members sat in the House yesterday with their heads down as they have sat through the Budget debate because they had nothing to say.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Tells us about the surplus.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: The member over there who was so outdone by Maggie Barry today—I mean he really was outdone by Maggie Barry today—says I should talk about the surplus. In fact this Government showed that it was more interested in supporting vulnerable New Zealanders than it was in reaching surplus because we probably could have done it if we had done what the party over on the other side of the House is talking about which is cutting services. We probably could have done it but this Government showed it really cares about vulnerable families and is prepared to put its money where its mouth is. That is what indeed the last two Budgets that this Government has produced in this House have done.If you come back to what the Minister of Finance said yesterday about the Labour members having nothing to say as they sat there in the House—just a few of them actually—and there being no leadership. Well they were probably all out fighting over who is actually the real leader over there. There are so many factions out there so many past leaders so many wannabe leaders and so many failed leaders on the other side of the House. But there was no one in the House to actually even lead the voting. They ended up voting against their own leader’s motion of no confidence.Hon Member: How embarrassing!Hon ANNE TOLLEY: That was so embarrassing for the Opposition. It has absolutely no direction as compared with this side of the House which is focused confident and out there delivering on the things that actually matter to New Zealanders.We are focused on those things like transport an economy that is providing jobs an increase in wages—all of those things—and at the same time we are confident enough to stand in this House and deliver a Budget that for the first time in 43 years increased the income of the people with the lowest family incomes in New Zealand. Those beneficiaries have waited 43 years for a Government to have the courage to do that over and above the CPI. In the very best of economic times when Labour was in Government I remember it talking about the very best of economic times. Even then it did not do anything for those very low-income families. It did not help them whatsoever. It heard their cries and it did not help them.This Government had the courage to do that because we know that the welfare reforms that we put in place are supporting those families into work in record numbers. Under this Government the number of solo parents reliant on a benefit is at the lowest level it has been since 1988. That is what gives this Government the courage to say yes we will increase benefits by $25 a week and yes we will support those low-income working families.The Opposition members have nothing to say because they know it is the right thing to do. They never believed for a minute that a National Government would do it and we did do it because we are serious about helping our most vulnerable families. This Government over a number of Budgets has put money into supporting those families but we want to know that our money is making a difference because taxpayers work hard for that money. They pay it out of their salaries every week and they want to know that the Government is using it wisely. So yes this Government makes no apologies for the fact that we are saying to all those who provide social services that we want to make sure that every single dollar whether it is from education or health—