Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): New Zealanders are in the trenches. They are battling a prolonged cost of living crisis waking up each day worried about money and what does the Minister of Finance have to say to them? What does he have to say? He says Hey look the economy is going great. Don't complain. You have me to thank for having a job." That is what the Minister of Finance did today on this very day when we have been warned by the Reserve Bank Governor that more and more New Zealanders are failing to make their mortgage payments; that we risk a self-reinforcing negative feedback cycle as a result.On a day when we have learnt that around half of New Zealanders are now worrying about money on a daily and weekly basis when we have learnt that more than 400000 New Zealanders are now in debt arrears we have a Minister of Finance who thinks it's a good time to crow about the economy. I say that right when New Zealanders need a Government focused on them and fixing the cost of living instead we have a Government that is falling apart beset by distractions and division and internal fighting right when New Zealanders need leadership and strength. We have nurses leaving in droves. We have violent crime increasing. We have more children truant from school. And instead of dealing with all of this Labour are preoccupied with stopping their own party from falling apart.Let's have a look at the distractions we've had these past few days. We've had the "Minister for More Tax" David Parker out there with his academic theoretical Piketty project—his little fantasy about all the new ways he could tax people if only he was allowed. He's there and he's thinking up these cunning new taxes and how he might slip them through. Never mind that talented entrepreneurial people are already leaving this country in droves! Never mind we have the biggest current account deficit in decades! Never mind we actually need more investment not less! No David Parker is doing everything in his power to scare them off. And I'll tell you who he's scaring off at the same time: every New Zealander with a KiwiSaver account. Every New Zealander who has worked hard in their life to build a small business to invest in their hairdressing salon to make sure that their mechanic business could expand; every New Zealander who thought "I'm going to do the right thing and create a nest egg. I'm going to build a rental property."—David Parker is out to get them.And what does Chris Hipkins do about it? He says "Oh look yeah the economy is pretty fragile. It's absolutely turning into trouble but don't worry; I'll just leave the door wide open for more taxes." "I'm not prepared to rule a single one out." he says. Well I think that is irresponsible and creates uncertainty at a time when New Zealanders need confidence. It is wrong.Then we have Grant Robertson not only crowing about the economy today but yet again telling us there's not enough money for New Zealanders to get the tax reduction they deserve. Yet this is the same week we learn he has happily given Michael Wood more than $80 million to subsidise Teslas. This is at the very time he's happily signed off on more than a billion dollars being spent on highly paid consultancy reports for Government departments. This is the same Minister of Finance who has found tens of millions of dollars for more communications advisers policy advisers working groups but he won't let New Zealanders keep more of their own money.And then we have Meka Whaitiri. We have the people in Hawke's Bay still digging up silt from their homes and businesses. First they had to deal with the indignity of the Stuart Nash scandal and now they learn that the Minister put in charge of recovery in their area has so little faith in this Labour Government that she's quit it altogether. Well I say to the people of Hawke's Bay: National has got your back; you know which way to vote this year.And then we have Ayesha Verrall. While nurses are leaving in their droves she wants to have a petty debate about just how many instead of confronting the problems. Labour has sprayed the money hose around; they've created a mess. It's time for a new Government to come in and clean it up. That is what we will be elected to do. We will stop the Government eating your lunch. We will get New Zealanders back on track."