Smith DamienDAMIEN SMITH (ACT): Thank you. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party on the Appropriations (2022/23 Supplementary Estimates) Bill. The key thing with a bill of this nature is the key word appropriate". That's what it's about and this mechanism allows the Parliament to authorise Government expenditure and expenses of Government. But is this actually appropriate given how it's being done? We accept that the goal of a Budget and this bill is to change things—no Budget is perfect but jeez there's some spin going on today about what's actually happening and we wanted to punch a few holes into that. We are in a background today where Minister Woods Minister Parker keep talking about labour and unemployment. Westpac today published that the dream is coming to an end where unemployment rates are going up and job ads are going down. We just aren't moving and we have a situation where now we have to interpret a 1200 page document—the Robertson Da Vinci Code. Then we've got the—and I've always wanted to say this—the "pickety pocket or two" approach by our Minister of Revenue who seems to tax us further and harder and deeper and the harder we work the more we're going to get taxed. There isn't a lot of empathy or sympathy on that side of the House for rising costs and rising interest rates. You know if you look at this amount of cash it's big bags of cash. If you took it as US$100 bills I just wonder on those three planes that are going to China like some sort of narco deal would you be able to fit this cash in the plane and get it out of here and then just drop it on the economy and add to inflation? But let's look at those bags of cash: $30 billion of expenditure in advance of the appropriation bill to many departments' operating expenses. Another $9 billion in capital expenses is what we're facing. It's essentially to keep the lights on for the months between the start of the financial year until the appropriation bill is eventually passed. It shows the impact of inflation under Grant Robertson. In 2017 and 2018 the similar imprest bill was only for $7 billion and capital spending of $5.5 billion. It shows how this Government is so spendthrift and how Minister Robertson is one of the most extravagant finance Ministers in New Zealand history. The sheer margin of this bill is notable. We've just had a Budget and already its estimates and assumptions are incorrect. How does that work? And as an example of that the 20 hours free for two-year-olds was a promise that looked good for the media only no policy work had been done before they rushed out with it. If the Government had spent half as much time doing the policy work and engaged in the early childhood education (ECE) sector as they did on the political communications then the Budget announcement wouldn't have been such a debacle. So really we don't know how much that 20 hours of ECE policy would cost because the Robertson Budget was just numbers on the back of an envelope. Since the Budget we've had another big hole a fiscal hole in the Government's finances with the collapse of the second emissions trading scheme (ETS) auction. At least half a billion dollars down the drain because the Government got the ETS estimates so bloody wrong not once but twice. Labour said that climate change is the challenge of our generation but they've crashed the ETS not once but twice. To crash an auction once is a sign the seller got the market wrong; to do it twice requires a special level of incompetence. But because the credits unsold will transfer over to the next auction it's likely that this crash as well will have within five weeks of this Budget a likelihood of a billion-dollar hole. How can we have within five weeks of this Budget a billion-dollar fiscal hole?The falling student enrolments as mentioned earlier and efficiencies of many New Zealand universities have been known for a while. It was obvious that some New Zealand universities were under financial pressure yet within five weeks of the Budget the Government runs out with a $128 million bailout—and it is a bailout. Let's call it what it is. This was on top of a massive $180 million initiative for new enrolments to 2025 and $521 million for tertiary tuition fees for providers. Thankfully we're not being expected to undertake further funding of the disastrous public amalgamation which has already burned up another $220 million in the Budget. There's another billion. The Budget just five weeks ago forecasted the economy would grow. I would like to put it on the record in the House today because it needs to be said we now have the "Robertson recession". With what appears to be long-term stagflation because of this Government's addiction to spending and debt the Budget's predicted that the Government would be $7 billion in deficit. It's safe to say that this estimate was wildly optimistic and that debt levels are already looking to go well past that.The Government is now planning to borrow more than $10 million—more than forecast in the half-year update to December just seven months ago. Unemployment's rising. Job ads are going down. Inflation is going nowhere. And housing rates are happening for longer. Meanwhile we've still got the problem children that are inside this Budget: Auckland Light Rail KiwiRail our health system our COVID response and the tail end of that and this is having an effect on our coffers. How much "Mr Piketty Pocket or Two" can bring taxes in it's not going to balance the books—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Smith this is a broad-ranging debate relatively but you have gone beyond the parameters. Could you come back please to relating it to the appropriations.Camilla Belich: Point of order Mr Speaker. This is the second time the member has referred to the Minister of Finance as a "pickpocket" which I think is out of order. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Look this has been a relatively robust debate. I will ask Mr Smith—I've now brought you back to the bill please and so if you just reflect the comments that have been made today and just reflect back to the bill please. I won't order on that but just—decorum of the House.DAMIEN SMITH: Point of order. I would like to clear up that I did not call the finance Minister a pickpocket.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well rather than get into who said what can you just continue with your speech please under the parameters that I've laid out.Matt Doocey: He just steals it from the front; he doesn't bother hiding it in the pocket.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Doocey I'm ruling on a point of order. You will stand withdraw and apologise.Matt Doocey: I withdraw and apologise. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Right has everyone had enough? Right Mr Smith under those guidelines could you continue your speech please. DAMIEN SMITH: So with the appropriations bill ACT will not support this bill but it will support the expenditure in the Supplementary Order Paper to provide certainty for those affected regions. The Government can have confidence in us from that point of view.Back to my earlier point which is that an appropriations bill is about appropriate spending. Within five weeks of this Budget the whole spending profile has been thrown out the window and it's not over yet. We would like to see some fiscal discipline injected into this Government's approach in the next six weeks to really ensure that New Zealanders can be confident in the expenditures of the Government—that it's all appropriate and that it's not just a Budget for the sake of it; it's a Budget that actually means something because it has been a Budget that has let the nation down."