Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): New Zealanders are in the midst of a cost of living crisis. We wouldn't know it from listening to the speeches Labour members give in this Chamber because they seem to live in an alternative reality in which there is a money tree at the end of the Government's garden that can keep paying for announcement after announcement after announcement with no results no outcomes and an endless queue of New Zealand taxpayers lining up to pay for it. It couldn't be further from the case because the New Zealanders I speak to and the New Zealanders we speak to are struggling. Food is up: 18 percent more for fruit and vegetables in the past year alone. Petrol looks set to go over $3 a litre again. Rents have gone up by the most in one year in New Zealand's history: up $50 more a week. Mortgage-payers are looking at paying thousands more in interest on their loans. People are falling behind their wages are not keeping up and they look to this Government and they say to them to come down from their Beehive offices and talk to the people and understand what they are going through. Talk to people like Anna who shared on National's cost of living website this insight. She said We struggle to make ends meet and keep food on the table for our kids due to the increasing cost of food petrol etc. We earn too much for assistance but not enough to get by." and that is the story in thousands upon thousands of New Zealand households right now. Grant Robertson may think it's OK to get up and say "Well it's all fine. I've increased benefits. I've put in some more Working for Families." but he needs to remember that it is taxpayers that are funding that generosity and it is taxpayers who are finding that they are falling behind. We on this side of the House say "Please do help the vulnerable because you have pushed inflation so high that if you don't they and their children will fall behind but prioritise tax relief for the squeezed middle who are struggling." But what does Labour do instead? They are embarking on the biggest Government spend-up in New Zealand's history. In the Budget that Grant Robertson announces next week he is planning to spend more and bake it into future years than has ever been spent before because he's collecting $15 billion more in tax from New Zealanders than was the case when he first became the Minister of Finance. "What is he doing with that money?" New Zealanders say to me. They say "Just tell me it straight Nicola. Where's it all going?" because they're not seeing the improvement. They're not seeing more hip operations. They're not see more kids getting better achievement at school. They're not seeing that actually the housing crisis has been sorted; in fact they're seeing four times as many people waiting for a house. They say "Please Nicola can you just urge the Government to give us some tax relief because we're doing it hard." but will they listen? No because actually on the other side of the House there is a smug belief that this Government can spend New Zealanders' money better than they can and there is no plan. In fact the plan is spend more dream up new ways to tax people for it and then cross your fingers and hope it all gets better and that is not good enough. It's not good enough for David Parker to wave around Thomas Piketty and say "I'm dreaming up a new wealth tax." It's not good enough for Grant Robertson to say "I'm just going to keep on spending and hope for the best." because actually New Zealanders are worried. They are worried that the debt levels in this country keep getting higher. There's no plan to put the books back into balance but all there is a plan to do is to keep taxing them more. There is a danger now that the wheels will well and truly fall off and we have bank economists and we have thought leaders telling New Zealanders that it's time to prepare for the worst. So next week when Grant Robertson puts down his Budget I will judge it by this: does it respond to people like Anna and the thousands like her around the country struggling with higher mortgage payments higher rents and higher costs who work hard every week and who pay their tax? Does it respond to her? Can the Minister promise her that every extra dollar he is spending will result in better outcomes than she would get for that money in her household budget? I would put it to you that that is a grave responsibility and one that this Government has fallen short of again and again and again and New Zealanders deserve better."