Davidson MaramaHon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence): Madam Speaker I rise to speak on the report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) in looking at what we should expect and then I'm going to focus specifically on climate change and climate action how this relates to what the Minister of Finance has laid a path down for and what the Greens' aspirations are in the economic transformation that is essential—that is essential—to an economy that can reduce our emissions in a way that makes sure that everyone has what they need to live good lives. That is the key to climate change: that it is actually system transformation economic transformation and that it is interconnected to all of the issues that I know we all care about. So it is refreshing to see a Minister of Finance who is prepared to even use the words climate change" in the Budget Policy Statement. We know that previous National finance Ministers seemed happy for Governments to sign up to international climate change targets but didn't put any backing behind reaching those targets didn't have a plan or resourcing to actually meet those targets. So this report from the select committee on the BPS is a refreshing change. It is also important to see that a just transition—and I think these are the very words—to a climate resilient sustainable and low-emissions economy is a specific objective in the Budget Policy Statement. Likewise it is important to see that we have a whole section of the select committee report on the Budget Policy Statement on climate change.It is about time. It is long past time in fact because scientists tell us that actually 2030 will be a tipping point and 2030 is not that far away. If we don't get our emissions under control and if we don't have an economic transformation that can reduce our emissions well before then then we are actually going to lock in a high-emission climate future where we have more violent storms more extreme weather patterns more devastating droughts rising seas swamping our coastal communities in Aotearoa and in the Pacific.David Seymour: It's like the Bible!Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: It's not like the Bible; it's happening right now. It is already happening. For those of us who understand the planning that is going to be required to actually protect our planet and her people then we need the planning right now. So 2030 we have only eight harvest cycles left to change the way we farm to change the way we use land to change the way we grow and produce food. We only have eight winters to make sure that the way electricity and the way that we heat our homes is clean and from wind solar and hydro not coal and gas. We have eight years eight school years to allow parents and whānau safe clean affordable alternatives to driving their children to school. This means that we must get serious about actual economic transformation and the Minister for Climate Change is working across the Government to get these very things happening.The urgency of the climate crisis means every part of Government—and I had some colleagues over here yelling out "What about housing?" This is our point and this has always been our point. Every part of Government—the parts that are responsible for housing the parts that are responsible for making sure everyone has enough to live the parts that are responsible for our health system the parts that are responsible for our water—needs to work together to ensure that we are addressing the climate crisis. The BPS report shows—and this is the important part—actually that the Crown's books are in better shape than was expected that the deficit and core Crown debt are less than what was expected and that revenue is more than what was expected. So we do continue to weather the COVID-19 storm and the report on BPS shows that right now money is cheap. The Government's borrowing costs are low right now and likely to stay low so now is the time—now is the time—to invest in a just transition. A just transition is the transition that will ensure that we are not leaving people behind who are already struggling living in poverty; that we are not leaving behind people who are struggling living without a dignified long-term healthy quality home. So that has always been the understanding and the position of the Green Party. Now is the time to invest in how we actually plan ahead. What if we connected homes and communities together with electric buses that come every 10 minutes and are free for kids to catch to school lowering our emissions? What if we built thousands of State homes that have solar panels to be able to also lower the costs of people being able to heat their homes? What if we empowered community groups to grow gardens feeding their communities locally and all around in the year? What if we invested in our people by raising incomes so that everyone has enough to live with dignity?I think the Minister of Finance is already on this journey to the economic transformation that is needed for climate change. The question is though how big a step will Budget 2021 actually take on that journey? Now I'd like to remind the House that it was in fact Jeanette Fitzsimons who said in this very House many years ago that our nation's wellbeing is not a number on a GDP chart. She said GDP mainly measures the rate at which resources are turned into trash. The long-before visioning of the late Jeanette Fitzsimons is the vision that we still hold to today in the Green Party. We welcome the spirit of the Government's wellbeing approach to Budgets which is finally moving beyond the narrow restriction of what the GDP actually measures and starts to answer: what do we really value is this enduring and are we putting our investment where we have a long-term enduring sustainable plan to look after our planet and her people in a way that benefits everyone and not just a few in a way that stops exploiting and pulling dirty fuels and dirty energy from our earth that contribute to the higher emissions of our current economic framework? This is what we are wanting to see in the upcoming Budget 2021 this year. So having a formal organised way to look at the spending decisions that Government makes in terms of the impact on people nature and communities is a good thing. It is an essential thing.We also welcome the development of He Ara Waiora as a way to supply and ensure that there is a Te Ao Māori lens to the wellbeing approach and the Treasury's Living Standards Framework. And just before I start to wind down at the end of my time I wanted to acknowledge the thousands of young people across the country who rallied for climate action to address the climate crisis. One of the signs—one of my favourite signs that was held that day which is relevant to the economic transformation that we are seeing some hope for in the BPS—said "Indigenous people must thrive for Papatūānuku to survive." It is those very values that will return us to an economic framework that properly does want to look after the planet and our people for many generations to come not just a short-term fiscal outlook that is going to continue to shovel the benefits mainly into the hands of the few on the back of exploiting the many. That is the vision and kaupapa of what the Green Party are proud to support and that we are here in this Parliament to continue to pressure for that very economic transformation that must take place for the long-term enduring good of everyone our planet and nature. Tēnā koe Madam Speaker."