Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): New Zealand is going backwards under Labour and it is causing great fear for many Kiwis. I spoke to a woman in Birkenhead recently who said to me with tears in her eyes and anguish on her face How will I convince my daughter to stay here in New Zealand when it is getting so much harder to get ahead; when the cost of living is so high; when people feel unsafe; when there are ram raids every day; when the health system is falling apart with longer waiting lists; when education standards are falling?" She said to me "They all want to leave for Australia because it looks better over there right now doesn't it? The Government books are in surplus. The economy grew last year at the end while ours shrank. They're delivering tax cuts to middle-income earners. There are lower interest rates. What I want is a Government that will fight to keep New Zealanders here at home that will fight to show them that this is a country that can deliver them a better future a country where there will be a lower cost of living where a Government will bring discipline to spending where it will let people keep more of what they earn and where it will grow the economy."But the members opposite have given up on that. They have completely and utterly given up and it is deeply sad to see that not only has Labour given up on giving people reasons to stay here in New Zealand; they are now actively encouraging New Zealanders to stay in Australia and not come home. I'm holding in my hand two advertisements that the New Zealand Labour Party has paid for with $10000 of taxpayer money—advertisements paid for by Parliamentary Service and authorised by Chris Hipkins. What these ads do is target some of those bright talented hard-working New Zealanders currently living in Australia and they say to them "Here's how you become an Australian citizen." Well I find it sad. Because here is the news if you'll stop and listen: it is not your job to convince people to leave; it's your job to convince them to come home. So what kind of a Government prioritises using $10000 of taxpayers' money—hard-earned—to advertise to Kiwis that they should stay away they should become Australian citizens? That is how upside-down things have got in that Labour Government and Chris Hipkins has signed off on it. As if the current brain drain isn't enough; as if it isn't enough that we've got 4000 nurses short in our hospitals; as if it isn't enough that New Zealanders feel so oppressed by inflation by rising interest rates by their wages falling behind the Labour Government says "Well actually we're going to use your money that we've been overtaxing you with to tell the Kiwis who have jumped the Ditch to stay right there."That is how badly Labour has given up and you can see it. You can see it when Grant Robertson is sitting here in this Parliament making excuses for why New Zealanders should simply tolerate the fact that their real wages have gone backwards; they should simply tolerate the fact that the Government is spending at record levels and yet isn't delivering better outcomes; they should simply tolerate paying more tax paying higher prices paying higher interest rates—because in the finance Minister's world it's all too hard!Well I say it is time for a National Government who will have as a driving mission our desire to make this a country that more New Zealanders want to stay in. We want to say to that mother "We'll give your daughter a reason to stay here because she will see a growing economy where she can get ahead with safer communities with better health services and with education standards that are climbing not falling."This country is better than Australia. The only people who don't think that are the members opposite who are telling New Zealanders that they should make their life there. Well I'll tell you the difference between Chris Hipkins and Chris Luxon: Chris Luxon won't be advertising to New Zealanders telling them to leave; he will be giving them reasons to stay."