Yule LawrenceLAWRENCE YULE (National—Tukituki): I want to thank Tracey Martin the former deputy leader of New Zealand First for her contribution because while it was energetic and it stood up for everything in the coalition Government it actually didn't say much about the Budget. For me as a new MP and with this being the first Budget I'd have to say the Budget that was delivered by the people that sit across from our side was completely underwhelming. You know despite a lot of promises in the election campaign not one new house has been built yet and this winter people will still be sleeping in cars—all the things they said they were going to fix—and do you know in this Budget hardly a move was made on that dial. I do want to reiterate what Bernard Hickey said which is that this is a fundamental opportunity lost. They might reflect on the other side on how this Budget was delivered because at this time we have record job growth. We had economic confidence at a record high. It's dramatically plummeting under a lot of the policies of this Government but none the less we have had confidence in this country that we haven't seen for a long time. There are surplus funds in this Budget of over $2.3 billion for this Government to play with and there are massive trade surpluses. There has never really been a time in the last 15 years where the economic conditions have been so good. As well as that what's happened is this Government has increased a whole lot of taxes—a new fuel tax a brightline test that's brought in extra revenue an Amazon-based tax. At the same time—and I think this is the thing that particularly galls me—the projections of net Crown debt are set to increase by $17 billion. So not only is the income at a record high but the Government is going to borrow and spend like we haven't seen before. My view on this Budget—and the core competencies of what this Government has stood on—is that it's actually delivered very little. It's given a lot of free fees for the students—$2.4 billion worth or thereabouts—but the actual increase in the Budget for education has gone up by only about 1.6 percent which is actually very similar to what our Government when the National Government was in power used. All the promises about doing away with compulsory donations and all those things were just conveniently parked as though they never existed—We never said those in September—don't go back to that. We've just ignored it." If you look at health there are massive claims being made by this Government. They have all been refuted by the Hon Simon Bridges in his reply. Where have the $10 doctors visits gone? Oh it got a bit hard. But actually I remember in the campaign on national TV: "We are going to make doctors visits $10." Not six months later; that is too hard. I consider that is actually a broken promise. It was a really simple thing to do and it hasn't been done. Around $100 million has been taken out of the mental health system based on what was promised at the last election. Those were promises that were heartfelt and well made on the campaign trail and they were simply walked away from. In my own district health board (DHB) the increase in funding for the Hawke's Bay District Health Board this year is 3 percent—exactly the same percentage increase as under the National Government. So you cannot say to me in Hawke's Bay that my people are somehow way way better off. In fact the chair of the Hawke's Bay DHB said that because of that little amount of funding they're likely to have to look at making $12 million worth of savings in the next financial year just to break even. That doesn't even account for all the claims and the expectations of nurses right across New Zealand including in my own community. So the people I represent I consider have been fundamentally ripped off by this Budget. Not only have they lost a tax cut of a thousand dollars a year; we have lost the four-laning of the Napier to Hastings expressway which was $300 million or $400 million. Hon Stuart Nash: Oh it was never funded Lawrence. You know that. LAWRENCE YULE: We're actually going to have to pay 12c a litre extra for fuel tax. All of that's going to go to Auckland. And actually something that really matters—and the Hon Stuart Nash should listen to this—is around biosecurity. You know under the Ministry for Primary Industries' budget despite the significant risks of M. bovis and the brown marmorated stink bug actually the amount of money increase in biosecurity only went up by $9 million. The National Government put it up by $18 million last year. So I think this is actually a tax and spend Budget. The Government is relying on Shane Jones spending about $3 billion over 2½ years in the regions to make it right but what we're doing is borrowing and spending. There's little confidence in this Budget. That's why this side of the House doesn't support it."