Stanford Erica; McKelvie IanERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well it's always good to follow the Minister of Immigration in any debate. It's really interesting that the Minister of Immigration had his five minutes today and didn't speak about immigration at all. The single biggest handbrake on our economy—it's not just me saying that but Adrian Orr saying that in his comments last week when he hiked up the official cash rate (OCR) again seeing our interest rates going through the roof again—is our access to skilled labour and there was not a single mention from the Minister of Immigration who sits down after five minutes and absolutely nothing. Well let's get to that in a minute but can I just say again we have this lovely Wellbeing Budget with a picture again of scenery after three years. We all remember that really embarrassing gaffe we had back in 2019 with the woman that lovely model—I think her name was Vicky—on the front cover of the Budget and the embarrassing gaffe was the fact that she actually had already left for Australia. It's worth reminding ourselves why it was that she left for Australia. The Guardian reported that the model on the front page of the 2019 much-hyped Wellbeing Budget had left New Zealand because the cost of living was too high. She couldn't pay her rent in Auckland. She didn't earn enough her cost of living was too high and she left. That was back in 2019. Well since then things have gotten so much worse on that front. Since 2019 we have seen rents shoot up $50 a week in the last year alone the highest on record: $150 over the last four years. The cost of living crisis has been driven by a Government that ignored all of their officials' warning advice when it came to brightline changes and tax changes that officials had provided to them and instead ploughed ahead with those changes and now we see rents going up faster than they ever have before. That's why people like Lisa are—sorry not Lisa—Vicky are still leaving New Zealand.Every single speaker on the other side of the House tonight from the Labour side have trotted out the same pre-prepared lines that no doubt their leader's office have given to them: Don't forget to blame Ukraine. Don't forget to blame gas. Don't forget to blame supply. But whatever you do don't take any responsibility for anything that we've done on this side"—that side—"of the House. Don't talk about our out-of-control spending. Don't talk about our lack of a plan. Don't talk about our lack of outcomes. Don't talk about any of that; just talk about all of those international factors." Never any admission. Never taking any responsibility for their reckless spending. No admission that maybe that additional 10000 bureaucrats weren't the best idea maybe those millions on a cycle bridge to nowhere wasn't the best idea or maybe those giant red zeroes weren't the best idea. Now they crow and they crow tonight. Damien O'Connor crowed about taking more and more of those hard-earned taxes off New Zealanders. Damien O'Connor said tonight that he was proud of taking those extra taxes. They then have the gall to say that National would make cuts to their investments—they like to call them investments. But here's a word of advice to members opposite in the Labour Party: it's not an investment if you don't get a result; it's waste. That's what we have been talking about ad nauseam for the last few months. This is a Government that is addicted to spending without a care in the world for results. We see it in mental health. We see it in education. We see it in the New Zealand Transport Agency. We see it in the social development space with money being pumped in and 50000 more people on a benefit more people unemployed. If we can't get people employed under these conditions when will we ever do that? We see it in immigration: $200 million extra in spending compared to 2017 yet every single visa category is taking much longer. We're spending $5 billion extra in education and everything is going backwards. We need fiscal discipline we need results-driven spending and this Budget delivers none of this. What we're delivered was a bloated Budget with record spending fuelling a cost of living crisis the like of which we have not seen in decades. While the other side can speak ad nauseam about Ukraine and gas and supply they need to take responsibility. These costs that they have imposed on New Zealand are their costs. This is not just a cost of living crisis; this is a cost of Labour crisis.The Reserve Bank is fighting back this huge red flame that sits in front of them by hiking the OCR in a desperate attempt to drive down inflation. We've seen twice in two cycles a 50 basis point increase—the first time in history in New Zealand that this has happened—and homeowners are going to feel the pinch all of those homeowners in the last couple of years who bought houses at record prices. I think in Auckland and my electorate of those first-home buyers who have taken on huge huge debt and are now looking to re-fix this year—60 percent of mortgage holders are looking to re-fix this year. They are going to be in a serious amount of trouble and it's going to be really tough all because Adrian Orr the Reserve Bank Governor is like I say desperately trying to fan out this giant red fire with the only tool that he has in his tool box.Grant Robertson can use Ukraine he can use oil prices and even the lack of Gib—remember when he talked about Gib; that was a good one—but Kiwis aren't stupid. They know that he has an addiction to spending. They know that he's thieving from future-year Budgets because not content with the $6 billion that he had he had to reach his grubby hands into future years. Damien O'Connor said earlier tonight that Grant Robertson is visionary and I'd have to agree with that. He's so visionary he looked to next year he grabbed $2 billion he looked to the year beyond that and he grabbed another $0.4 billion. But what I'm worried about is not his vision; it's his hindsight because when it comes to next year when he's sitting there going "What am I going to do in an election year when I don't have enough money just to keep pace with the cost of living and inflation?" what's he going to do then? Is he going to cut costs? Unlikely. Is he going to tax more? Well Damien O'Connor would like to see that because let's not forget his comments earlier this evening about how proud he is of taxing hard-earning Kiwis more. The most likely scenario is that he is going to borrow more money. Someone give this man a patch—this guy is addicted to spending. He is out of control. It's fuelling inflation it's driving up costs for Kiwis and the real pain will be felt by those homeowners in the next 12 months.Like the woman back in 2019 Kiwis are voting with their feet. They are leaving because of the cost of living crisis in this country. They are seeing opportunities overseas. Moving companies in Auckland are fully booked. Flights are full. The stats don't lie: 7300 net migration at the moment—a loss. We need to get back on top of inflation and part of that is making sure we have access to workers to skilled labour. There is a global war on talent. We have a declining birth rate an ageing population and a brain drain that is set to get worse. Grant Robertson said in answer to oral questions today that the immigration rebalance—or reset or whatever they're calling it now—and the opening of our borders will accelerate growth. Well Adrian Orr said last week in the media and on breakfast television that scarcity of labour is the number one constraint on our economic activity right now. He doesn't agree with Grant Robertson. So the question has to be asked: if scarcity of labour is the number one constraint on the economy right now and if we can't get workers because the Minister of Immigration can't gear up immigration processing to open the borders to let workers in is it not true that actually the Minister of Immigration is the number one constraint on the economy right now: $500 million extra in spending; 500 additional staff; every category going backwards; five months to process a work visa; five months to process a visitor visa; three months to process a student visa; 20000 workers promised at the beginning of the year and we got 6000 to the end of March; 10 percent of the 5000 student visas have been filled because of bureaucracy the last-minute process; we've only seen 700 working holidaymakers arrive in the country when we normally see 73000 a year; and then we get this pre-Budget announcement of the immigration rebalance reset which created a green list which put nurses—which we need 4000 of—on a two-year track to residence when in Australia they can go there and get residence straight away and get better pay and better conditions. Why would they come here? The Minister of Immigration right royally screwed that one up. He didn't need a two-year list; he just needed to give these people that we desperately need residence on arrival.What they haven't realised is they can't take their ideological policy from 2018 to drive down migration plop it into 2022 when we've had a global pandemic there's a war on talent and we desperately need access to skilled workers. All they're doing at every single turn is making it harder for people to get here: restrictions on work rights for partners restrictions on work rights for students no pathway to residence unless you're on that green list still. So I don't know what he thinks is going to happen come 4 July when he thinks all these workers are going to suddenly apply for work visas when there is no pathway for them to get residence and processing times that are frankly a joke. We need to compete on the world stage and in order to do that in the immigration space we need to be the best.This is a backwards band-aid Budget that is not supported by a Minister of Immigration at a time when we desperately need skilled workers to fire our economy.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): For the benefit of those members waiting to take a call I'm back in order."