Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Talofa lava Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise to speak on this appropriations 2022/2023 Estimates debate known as the Budget debate. First of all I just wanted to say congratulations e hoa to my friend and colleague Grant Robertson for this Budget. It is an immense amount of work that he's put into it and I think that Grant has shown himself to be one of the great Labour finance Ministers alongside the Hon Michael Cullen who I know people on both sides of this House recall fondly and respect.First of all before commenting on the details of the Budget as I see them I just wanted to respond to some of the comments made by the other side in relation to Labour's history and whether in fact we stand up for women. Now I don't want to use too strong language in this parliamentary debate as we are covered by the Standing Orders but I do want to say: how dare the National Party criticise the Labour Party on our history of standing up for women. The National Party is the party that repealed the first piece of legislation that would have fully introduced pay equity into this House. The National Party are the party that used their veto when there was majority support in the House to vote against 26 weeks for babies for paid parental leave. And in this Government they have said again when they had the opportunity to support pay transparency measures in select committee that they don't support those being mandatory either—the one thing that would increase women's wages. So I stand by this Government and the Labour Government's record on working for women. We stand up for women and we have the actions to show it.Speaking about those things in relation to the health issues that were also brought up in relation to COVID we are fixing those. We are doing the mahi to make sure that women get their mammograms that they get their cervical screenings. That work is under way and we are making good progress.Back to my comments that I prepared earlier in relation to this Budget. This is an excellent Budget that recognises not only the challenges that we face today through the cost of living payments that will reach 2.1 million New Zealanders and also the half-price public transport which will be permanent for community service card holders. I'm particularly proud of that. That is a permanent change that makes emission-reducing transportation affordable for the people who need it the most—an excellent excellent measure to bring in in this Budget.It's a balanced Budget that secures our economic security now and into the future. This Budget was the first Budget that I had the pleasure of being in the House for as an MP. I'd previously gone to some lock ups in previous roles in previous years. However as I was on parental leave last year I first experienced the Budget day during this 2022 Budget. It was very exciting as a new MP and I think the Budget was really warmly received generally. However it's not how the Budget is really received on the day—although I think this Budget was received very very well—it's how history sees Budgets in terms of the projects and initiatives that are developed over time and how they impact and effect New Zealand and New Zealanders and—this is really important—in the context that this Budget was given. Obviously we've had this period of time through COVID which has been extremely difficult—a global pandemic some of the resulting toughest economic conditions that we've had for decades and then also these challenging geopolitical times including the war on Ukraine. So against this backdrop this Budget not only addresses the current situation that I have just touched on in relation to the cost of living payment and initiatives like cheaper public transport; it also looks to the future through doing things like reforming our health system.Now you talk to any New Zealander and you will not find anyone—no matter what their political beliefs—who does not understand now the fundamental importance of our health system. This Budget reforms the health system to make it more effective to make better use of taxpayers' money which I know is important to everyone. And it really does that through making sure there's no wastage and cutting for DHBs. I just touch on in my last few seconds the climate fund that we have developed—$2.9 billion for the Climate Emergency Response Fund. One of the first things as an elected MP that I did in this House was vote that there was a climate emergency and I'm so proud that this Budget takes action on climate to make sure that we are addressing this climate emergency. It's not just rhetoric that we said at the beginning of this term; we are addressing it through this Budget into action. Thank you.