Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): COVID-19 climate change and the war in Ukraine are teaching us that we need to build a more secure economy in which New Zealand households have protection from the sort of shocks that are putting household budgets under pressure right now. The lesson here is that we need a high-wage low-emissions economy and we need a Government that has a track record of building this country up not a record of selling off State houses and saddling the DHBs with so much debt that there was sewage coming out of the walls at Middlemore Hospital. The difference between the Budgets delivered by this finance Minister Grant Robertson and his counterparts in the Opposition is that this Budget starts and finishes with the wellbeing of all people and recognises that without investment in our people we can't do that. There are three things in this Budget which show that commitment to people. The first is the cost of living payments which cushion the impacts of inflation for 2.1 million Kiwis. The second is the first allocations from the Climate Emergency Response Fund that contributes to achieving the goals of the first emissions reduction plan. The third is the Equity Index which replaces the decile system in our schools and means so much for South Aucklanders.Let me speak quickly to this cost of living payment. It is a package which deals with the pressure that people are under now. It extends the reductions of the fuel excise tax. It creates the temporary $27 a week payment for everyone earning under $70000 a year who doesn't already qualify for the winter energy payment and it extends half-price public transport fares. That extension for half-price public transport fares for people with a community services card will be permanent and will make a difference for people like students to access cheaper public transport and to shift modes of transport around the city. Secondly let me talk about the climate. The landmark emissions reduction plan and the first allocations for the Climate Emergency Response Fund puts us on track to meet our goals for the first emissions budget and ensure that New Zealand is on the course to build a low-emissions economy that provides a greater security for everyone. This investment sits alongside other Government investments which put us on the right track and all politics is local politics so let me tell you about the $1 million that this Government has invested in the Puhinui Stream. The Puhinui Stream has suffered from under-investment for far too long to the point at which it was so clogged and polluted that in some parts of Manukau it didn't flow at all. But in the leafy suburbs around say the Gardens it was always well maintained. Then down the road in Rata Vine it was undergrounded it and not daylighted it at all. It was used as a barrier between that suburb and other more new suburbs and people couldn't access it at all. It was a breeding ground for the famous rats the size of cats in Rata Vine. We are putting money into a system that allows collaboration between the Auckland Council between mana whenua and between the Sustainable Business Network to clean up that stream. It's a serious investment in the drainage area in that area that makes the land usable for the densely populated housing in that area and it makes it possible for people to enjoy it and to have a relationship with their whenua. Let me talk quickly about the Equity Index and its impact on South Auckland. We're increasing the amount for schools that have students facing equity challenges and replacing the outdated school decile system that has not served us. Almost $300 million in Budget 2022 is being provided to implement this new Equity Index to replace that system and that includes $75 million per year in additional equity funding for schools with higher levels of socio-economic need. That's big news for Manurewa schools from my electorate who have lost out through a system of funding that has not changed to reflect the reality of our communities and the kids coming in the doors because when deciles are funded based on the houses around a school it doesn't reflect the need of the kids coming in the doors especially in those urban centres like South Auckland. This is an investment which represents that long-term thinking I'm talking about and which represents an investment in the education of our children and ensures that every child in New Zealand is starting from the same starting line and not that South Auckland kids are starting 10 steps behind everyone else. New Zealand's economic security depends not only on addressing these near-term challenges which is what the cost of living payments does but it relies on us addressing things like supply chain disruptions and skills shortages and on the investments we make now for the security in the future. That's why those long-term investments in health and climate and schools are there in this Budget. I acknowledge that the last few years have been very tough on everyone and the things that have made it really hard are still with us. This Budget builds on the strong COVID response of the Government and the effective fiscal response and allows us to look forward. Madam Speaker thank you.