Bridges SimonBUDGET DEBATEHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition): I move That all the words after That" be omitted and the following substituted: this House has no confidence in this bungling and incompetent Government because they are overseeing a slowing economy declining job creation a rising cost of living and they are failing to deliver on their promises to New Zealanders.This is a botched Budget by a bungling incompetent Government. But it's what this Budget isn't that is the real tragedy for New Zealanders. It sure as heck isn't a wellbeing Budget. It isn't a Budget in the Prime Minister's so-called year of delivery—delivering for New Zealanders—and most tragically of all when you consider what we're all trying to achieve it has no plan to grow our economy and deliver that wellbeing for Kiwi families for mums and dads for middle New Zealand who get out of bed every morning and work and make this such a great country. They are worse off under this Budget from a slower economy from higher taxes—and I'll come to that—debt and more of it and wasteful spending. But before I get to that I want to come back to the botch briefly because this Government is embarrassed—Hon Amy Adams: Which one?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Which one? Good point. This Government is embarrassed that as with our economy and our health and our education systems they've lost control of this Budget and so they're lashing out unfairly here there and everywhere. Well I'm going to explain a few things to them about the so-called hack. Someone went to a website and they looked at the top right of the website and what did they find? A search bar—that is what they found. And when they typed in things like "2019-20 defence" the money came up. There were no tricks and nothing clever; it was on the website for anyone including my 7-year-old son—if he wanted to; I'm sure he didn't—to find. I can hear "Old Naughty" ringing in my ears. Maybe his locus of control is a little out of kilter. Grant Robertson's is today.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Reluctant as I am there should not be a case where someone can use a phrase like that otherwise I might refer to "Young Stupid" and you wouldn't like that either.SPEAKER: There's a tradition as far as the Budget debate is concerned to let debates run to have much less interjection than we have had in the last three minutes and also not to make unnecessary points of order. I just want to say to the Deputy Prime Minister that a number of us may have taken slight offence at that interjection but it wasn't bad enough to interrupt the House and he is warned not to do it again.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: This Budget is the "botched Budget". It's about as safe and secure as the gun cabinet at the Palmerston North police station. Jacinda Ardern did say that the world would be watching this Budget and they sure are—it's just for all the wrong reasons. I was watching TV last night—we were on the BBC; we were all over the place watching Jacinda Ardern. But as I've said it's what's not in this Budget that sadly matters. We have been haven't we promised this new thing that is transformation revolutionary and spectacular—drum roll please. What is it? Wellbeing. That's what we've been promised. It's as if other Governments haven't had this at the heart of what they've been doing for decades and decades and it is a nonsense. But we were told that this Budget for the first time would be strategic that there'd be no silos and that everything would be done in accordance with evidence and according to wellbeing principles that the Government's set out.Well if that's true—[Interruption] exactly right—I've got just one question for the Prime Minister when she speaks: why is there money for defence and trains and not teachers' pay and a 1 percent increase for cancer drugs that keep people alive? And that means people are going to Australia. That's the emptiness of the wellbeing principles and the spin we've seen in relation to this Budget.I'll tell you why: because New Zealand First stole the shrinking cookie jar. And be clear: it is shrinking. Over time with a weakening economy that's what we're seeing and Jacinda Ardern knows that is the price of this Government. Like this Government generally this Budget is all glossy pics and spin.But what it isn't—don't go looking for real wellbeing inside it. Real wellbeing doesn't look like jobs from 10000 a month to negative 4000 this year. It doesn't look like 13000 more beneficiaries. It doesn't look like hardship grants up $50 million a year. It doesn't look like emergency housing tripled when Phil Twyford promised us no one would be sleeping in cars last year and it's worse. Those at the bottom are doing worse.The Government talks about indexing of benefits but the reality is that doesn't even keep up with rent increases. That's what we've got here. Kiwi families and mums and dads who go to work each day—middle New Zealand—they are going backwards.I said I'd come back to tax: $71 million tax snuck into this Budget on GST on mobile roaming—several million bucks. Just another tax hidden in the fine print; didn't see that in the press releases. Fifty-six million dollars in tax on a WorkSafe levy. That takes the taxes by this Government to eight and counting. All the while for middle New Zealand the costs are going up and they are worse off. Rent is up $50 a week to $450 a week the highest ever for the third of New Zealanders who rent in New Zealand. That's not kind Jacinda Ardern. Those taxes and regulations they are not kind.Fuel is up—the highest we've seen I think in at least six months—to $2.20. Again it's the tax and the regulation that is in the Government's programme and more to come that are doing this. Without those taxes it would be some $2 much more affordable. It would mean Kiwi families had more for the essentials that they need. That's not kind Jacinda Ardern.Electricity is going up. Don't ask me; ask the retailers. That is what they're doing and that again means less in essentials for Kiwi families who work hard who pay their bills and who actually don't have enough to do that thanks to this Government and their programmes. You can't mess around with oil and gas. You can't play around with the pricing of electricity as this Government does in a study and have no effect. That's not kindness.You know what the best example of all of that is? Actually it sums up this Budget: it's right on the cover of this. One of the young women in this didn't want to be on it. Do you know what she's done Clayton Mitchell? She's moved to Australia because the costs of living under this Government have gone up more than ever before. That tells you all you need to know about this Budget. It's glossy pics it's spin but in terms of real wellbeing for New Zealanders it just isn't there. That tells you all you need to know. This is many things but it isn't a wellbeing Budget.In the so-called year of delivery it's not just wellbeing that's not being delivered. Anything promised has been broken. Anyone want to talk about capital gains tax or fiscally responsible debt targets? [Interruption] Oh I can hear something again. It's that locus of control flying around the room—oh no; that's locusts. Does anyone want to talk about immigration welfare reform fees-free or KiwiBuild? All reset which is code we know for no delivery—broken promises by that Government over there. Let's go through it—they're recalibrating; that's right.Housing: I don't know if Phil Twyford's actually read the Budget—or hacked it as Grant Robertson calls it these days. Do you see any mention of KiwiBuild? Not a whisper. Not a single thing in Grant Robertson's speech on KiwiBuild. It's about as popular as Gabs Makhlouf in the Beehive these days—talked about as much I suspect. Housing First—that's the one thing that's here. Here's the problem: that's ours Jacinda Ardern. The only policies in this Budget that work are ours.In transport: not a single new road anywhere. If all there is is Winston Peters' ghost trains—containers carrying nothing and carriages carrying nothing because the customers don't want them—that's simply not good enough when all the roads are cancelled and there's not a single new one being built—well except for the roundabout at Shane Jones house; that's true. That's it in transport.In law and order the tragedy is crime—serious crime—is up some 25 percent. They use the fake news on that but Andrew Little's figures make it so. It's very clear—it may in fact be more. Gun buy-back: $168 million. It'll cost them—you heard it here first—at least half a billion dollars. They haven't remotely covered the cost on that. Drug-driving regime: not there. If they were serious about this stuff that Nick Smith and others have championed—71 million dying a year—they'd do something about that and they're not. Here's the other little thing I saw when going through this Budget. The drug and alcohol courts of New Zealand: no more funding—in a wellbeing Budget no more funding. I say shame on that.Then the big two which you'd really expect to see the transformation the revolution in this Budget: education and health. In education: yep there are some buildings that any Government would do. But $1.2 billion over a decade isn't enough. It's smoke and mirrors in relation to that. I say to Chris Hipkins: what's the use of classrooms without teachers? What's the use of classrooms without teachers? It's tanks and trees not teachers that this Government in this non - wellbeing Budget have prioritised. Some 40 broken promises in education my colleague—40—Nikki Kaye has told me. This isn't a wellbeing Budget; it's a broken Budget.In health: mental health sure. I acknowledge what's there is good and I celebrate that. But there's double-counting. There's smoke and mirrors. They've put Housing First in it and double-counted that. It's not transformative—more broken promises in this sector as with others in what matters so much to our families. Fewer surgeries—less new money in that than we saw the year before. A 1 percent increase in cancer drugs.People like this are moving to Australia because they've seen the cost of living issues they've seen the stronger economy and they're voting with their feet. I say to Jacinda Ardern: how can it be a wellbeing Budget when there really are only crumbs under the table for cancer drugs in this country?Midwives: nothing. Dental care: nothing. St John Ambulance: look it's islands got more than ambulances in this Budget. Where Jacinda Ardern is the $10 dollars off the GP visits? Weeks before the election at the Ōtara markets she was there with the Tua man behind her and she promised it and a transformation. "Let's do this!" she said. I'd say it's more like "Let's botch this!" by Jacinda Ardern. Where are the annual free health checks that are mentioned Rt Hon Winston Peters in this—free health checks annually for seniors dental and also eye checks? Not there. In fact nearly all the things he promised aren't. He's prioritised other things that he cares about. It's broken promises. All this Budget does in health is keep the lights on and it barely does that.They've delivered one thing: the "Shane Jones political slush fund". Actually I'd like to call it the "Shane Jones memorial fund" because it's the last one he'll ever get. It's given a loan to a dairy company that's been sold—Winston Peters—to foreigners. He wanted to give money to an airline that didn't even want it—160000 seedlings mulched and about the only thing that looks any good is a roundabout to Shane Jones' house.But here's the bit that really is the most important thing—or lack of anything—in this Budget and that's no plan zero real plan to grow New Zealand's economy for New Zealanders which means there will be less wellbeing for Kiwi families all around this country less real delivery by the Government. That's why they can't meet their promises. And this lack of plan is why we have a weakening economy—Stuart Nash—from 4 percent growth to 2 percent growth in little under a couple of years. If we need any evidence of that and the shrinking tax take—and the capital gains tax they didn't get and they were counting on—it's the $17 billion more they are borrowing in the next three or four years and it's in the numbers there on New Zealanders' credit cards. But it's the grandchildren that will pay. That's what we'll see there. More debt more taxes more wasteful spending and the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates as well to prop up this Government and the economy.Indeed we're no longer arguing—Jacinda Ardern and I—about that sharply weakening economy; we are simply arguing about who's to blame. Jacinda Ardern what does she say? It's all about the global conditions except all the evidence is contrary. And Grant Robertson he's like that Shaggy song on the economy—"It Wasn't Me". Grant Robertson: "Wasn't me" but the evidence is clear. We caught him red-handed and it is him. It's his responsibility. Growth from 4 to 2 percent: "Wasn't me"; $17 billion more in debt and wasteful spending: "Wasn't me". A cut in the official cash rate to prop up the Government: "Wasn't me". And jobs down and benefits up all around this country: "Wasn't me". Well we saw it Grant Robertson. We caught you red-handed. It is you and you're responsible for this economy.The real reason for all of that is because business confidence and certainty have taken such a hit. As Amy Adams here says to me time and time again "That is simply New Zealanders who get up out of bed who go to their workplaces and they're making decisions about whether they hire another staff member or whether they buy that extra bit of kit or equipment." Right now with employment law changes overseas investment changes the banning of oil and gas the talking down and the doing away with parts of the international student regime—you can't do those things Jacinda Ardern and it not have an effect. That effect is 4 percent to 2 percent it's more taxes it's a slowing economy it's more debt and it's more waste.It's worse than that because the New Zealand economy has gone from reasonable real growth to zero. The only thing that keeps us going "Old Naughty" is population increases from immigration. That's what's keeping this economy going at the moment. Where is the plan to grow our economy? We need one and this botched Budget isn't it.The Budget's a bit like a fairy tale I read my children: The Emperor Has No Clothes. That's what it's like. Underneath the gloss and the spin it is a naked botched no real wellbeing no delivery for New Zealanders and no economic plan—"Wasn't me" says Grant Robertson but we caught him red-handed.Our plan would ensure we did away with wasteful spending and failed spray and walk away policies. That would mean less debt. We would prioritise health education and infrastructure. And it's Kiwi families—middle New Zealand—that have got nothing in this Budget. In fact all they've got is a couple of taxes higher rents and the like that take more money out of their pocket—we would make sure they get to keep more of what they earn.We'd ensure business confidence and certainty. In our first 100 days we would provide for tax relief for business-friendly employment laws and overseas investment rules bold Resource Management Act and planning reform the repeal of the oil and gas ban and public service targets that actually held officials accountable and delivered real performance for New Zealanders. We'd do Lumsden Maternity Centre—Hamish Walker—and greater maternity care for mums and dads all around New Zealand. As the hardest-working Opposition New Zealand has ever seen we will be ready to go with wider plans as well.Don't worry New Zealand. In less than 18 months this bungling incompetent Government will be gone and we'll be ready to lead."