Watts SimonHon SIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Well thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's an absolute pleasure to be back in the House and listening to the dreary stories coming from the other side. So what I'd just make you remember go Well actually didn't we just have a Budget 26 days ago?" which actually provided significant relief to hard working New Zealanders. And that is the case. That was the reality 26 day ago. We had an absolutely superb Budget. Well Nicola Willis our finance Minister delivered on our promises to those families across this country. Hard-working Kiwi families are now going to get hard earned tax relief after a decade of waiting. And this coalition Government has delivered upon its promise to make that a reality. I'm proud of that. I'm proud to be part of a coalition Government that is delivering because gee I must say after six long years of non-delivery and neglect we are now having to tidy up that mess. But I'm proud that we are and we are embarking on that process. You know what? The average income household will be $102 a fortnight better off from 31 July. That is a real addition to those families and an average income household is going to make a real significant impact. What's interesting though—right that's pretty reasonable. That's a contribution. Do you think that side of the House voted in support of that happening? No no they didn't. Labour the Greens Te Pāti Māori voted down voted against the tax cuts. Proof that on that other side of the House they are not facing the reality of what households in this country are facing.The Budget analysis also showed that 727000 households will benefit by at least $75 a fortnight and 187000 will benefit by at least $100 a fortnight. That is a significant element of a contribution versus the status quo. And let's remember the status quo is no tax relief and it would have been no tax relief under Labour Greens and Te Pāti Māori. But this coalition Government has delivered upon the promises that we made. $3.7 billion is the amount of tax relief that is going back into the back pockets of hard working Kiwis. And that is real change and real effect for what is an incredibly important part. And I'm pleased to be part of a Government that has delivered that aspect.I also am proud as the Minister of Revenue that the Inland Revenue Department who have responsibility to make this a reality are working very hard to be prepared to do that. They're doing a great job and I am looking forward to a matter of weeks away when that money starts to flow into the back pockets of those individuals in particular and that is going to be great.The other aspect in regard to the relief that we provided was also in the area of FamilyBoost and that is acknowledging that a significant element of the amount of money that families with young children spend is on early childhood education—a significant amount. And again this Government heard and listened in terms of the challenges and pressures that those families were under and took the leadership required to be able to provide relief to those families. And so again they are going to be able to claim up to about $900 or so dollars a quarter to be able to provide relief to pay for those funds. And that is targeted again to families under a household income of $180 grand. And that is real. That is real money going into the back pockets. Again in comparison to the status quo of what was being offered on that other side that was zero. And so that is the reality again for that aspect.The other aspect is in terms of the Budget that has been announced previously as we've noted it was on the backdrop of some pretty significant fiscal mismanagement. I mean it's hard to sort of explain the reality of what we have inherited in regard to fiscal mismanagement. But every corner you turn or one turns there is a significant amount of challenges and issues and there is wastage all over the place. But this Budget is a clean clean-up job. It is a clean-up job to make sure that after six years of New Zealand being neglected financially that we are able to start turning around that economic mismanagement and get back on the tracks to making sure that this economy will grow and prosper. And hard working Kiwis who do that hard work for this country are going to be rewarded as part of that. And that is the right outcome for them. In regard to some of the key elements within this Budget $1 billion for cyclone relief and resilience. I acknowledge the Hon Mark Mitchell for the work that he does in that portfolio—really really important. But I tell you what Minister Mark Mitchell has been on the ground in the regions continuously working with those communities and $1 billion to sort that is significant. And I acknowledge the work that you have done. On my left or on my right we've got the investment of $2.5 billion of investment in roads rails and public transport. And the Hon Simeon Brown has led that and he has inherited a basket case. I think that's probably the most polite way that you could explain what he has inherited. But he has delivered $2.5 billion of investment and I know people in my community of the North Shore I know people in Auckland and around this country are thankful for the fact that they have actually got at long last someone in that seat that actually knows what they're doing are going to deliver for hard working Kiwis and get more roads built for this country to let this economy get ahead. Isn't that great to hear.Law and order. Well again jeez Mark Mitchell is doing a sterling job in that area; $2.92 billion of extra funding to restore law and order; $69 million of youth offending funding; $194 billion in terms of corrections and $226 million importantly—importantly—on 500 additional police. I acknowledge the announcements you've also made this week about more police on the beat because I know my community in the North Shore are sick and tired of the crims working like they run our streets. Well I'm sorry Minister Mark Mitchell is now back. We have got funding of $2.93 billion extra funding—crims we're coming to get you and your period of the happy life is over and Mark's going to deal with that and make sure the funding's there.So those are just a couple of the examples which show the importance. But in my portfolio of climate change I am very proud that we have been able to ensure that we've got additional funding particularly in the areas of climate adaptation. We know the implications of the impacts of climate change in our regions in our provinces in our cities. We saw that last year with the Auckland floods in the aspects around Tairāwhiti Hawke's Bay and Gisborne etc. And $200 million for flood resilience is an excellent start in what is going to be an area that we are going to need to continue to invest in.A $2.6 billion of climate change investment that we have continued. We've done an assessment in terms of what was being spent previously. I'll be clear we did stop quite a lot because it wasn't adding any value. It wasn't reducing emissions. We're actually on this side of the House—we are focused on outcomes and reducing emissions and we've got $2.6 billion to make sure that we deliver on that. We are going to be releasing a clear plan in terms of how we deal with the actions around climate change in a matter of weeks. And we do have a plan and we do have a strategy and that is two things that the other side didn't have.So I can tell you what: who owns climate change and who is taking action and who is going to deliver the outcomes? This side of the House are making the implications and the actions required. And they know it. You can hear them they know this—they know the reality. I am proud to be able to be part of that and the investment in this Budget is making that a reality.So we've covered off a number of key aspects in regards to that. Just a flavour just a sampler a sampler within that Budget—I didn't even talk about education. Education: Minister Erica Stanford what an absolutely—I tell you what $2.93 billion of additional investment to lift educational achievement. Lift educational achievement—my goodness hasn't it dropped over the last six years? But Erica Stanford's back in that seat she is getting into that area and as a father of young children within the education system I am again proud that we are investing in order to lift educational achievements.I'll tell you what what all that sums up what all of that says to me and to New Zealanders no doubt is this Government is getting this country back on track. And isn't that a great thing. Isn't it great to be part of a Government that's getting stuff done getting stuff done that matters to hard working Kiwis and getting our country back on track and that is why I'm proud to be part of this Government."