Korako Nuk: Budget DebateText is subject to correctionKorako Nuk: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 07 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11681. Text is subject to correction.]NUK KORAKO (National):Tēnā koe e Te ManaWhakawā. Before I make my contribution to the Budget debate I would also like to honour and remember a great New Zealander a great tōtara in the forest of Māori leadership Sir Graham Latimer. Nō reira e te rakatira haere atu rā haere atu rā ki te pā o te whakawairua e takoto mai takoto mai.[So depart esteemed one travel on to the abode of spirituality lie and rest there.]When I look at this Budget and Labour’s response to it and the other events of last week I am reminded of where I came from as a child of a family witha strong Labour Party background. I was born to a working class family and a family that was proud of its Māori heritage and it also embraced all that it meant to be Māori. At that time to be working class and Māori actually meant almost certainly that you voted for the Labour Party. Labour had a proud heritage at that time of looking out for the working man. My father was proud to give his vote to Labour and I do not mind saying thatalso at a very early age so was I. The Labour Party back then though was aspirational. Michael Joseph Savage gave us social welfare but he never intended at any family remain dependent on a benefit over multiple generations. Peter Fraser’s Government first provided a free education for every child. But more than just a free education he espoused the vision of an education that was best suited to each child. He allowed each child to reach their full potential.The Labour Party of old drew much of its support from poorer working-class people but it supported the aspirations of those people to better themselves. Many of us did make a success of ourselves. We took our opportunities and got jobs that were better than our parents’ jobs. Many of us built businesses and began employing others. But at some point we looked back and realised the Labour Party had not come with us—had not come with us.That is why the Labour Party has sunk so low in the last week that it has admitted it is no longer a major party and cannot challenge National on its own. Budget 2016 shows us that this is the Government led by John Key’s National Party that is a Government of today and that is aspirational. It is this Government that wants to see New Zealanders improving their lives and is giving them the chance to do so.This Government continues to support our welfare system. Last year we increased benefits in real terms for the first time since 1972. Although we want to see people who are out of work and particularly their children—particularly the children of those families—be better supported we do not want to leave them there. We do not want to leave them there. Budget 2016 invests $50 million in initiatives that will reduce long-term welfare dependency. Whānau Ora will support 2500 more whānau. This is in stark contrast to the party opposite—a party that did not increase benefits at all in 9 long years of Government. In Opposition it has opposed every single measure here in this House to get people off benefits and back to work.I tire—I tire—of hearing from the other side of the House how National is only looking after its rich mates. I support National not because I have had some success but because it is National’s policies that will enable others from a background of poverty to make a success of themselves. This Budget is not a handout; it is a hand up. Thank you.