Ardern Jacinda: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: General Debate[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17581. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): I think it is pertinent when we come to a Budget to ask a really simple question. It is a question that I think we should ask every Government when it is in office and it is whom the Government is here for. When judging a Government on a question like that actions will always speak louder than words or the rhetoric that we have had from that side of the House this afternoon. Let uslook at the Government’s action. Let us look at its record since it first came into Government.It may brush over this but one of the first things that it did was reorder our tax system so that tax cuts—significant ones—meant that 40 percent of what it redistributed went to the top 10 percent of New Zealanders. When this Government claims that it is moving back into surplus we need to keep in context that it is borrowing up to $10 million worth of interest a day in order to pay for tax cuts like that which went to people who just did not need them. That was the trade-off that the Government was willing to make. At the same time it cut things like the training incentive allowance. It scrapped adult and community education. It has poured $40 million into private schooling and established charter schools. Whom is that Government here for? Actions speak louder than words.It is not just about policies; it is about the way the Government acts when it comes to individuals who are in positions of wealth or power. We have seen some examples in recent weeks of this Government’s attitude towards certain New Zealanders. We have seen it with Judith Collins. We have seen it with Maurice Williamson. In fact we have seen it from almost all of the Government members with their exclusive Cabinet clubs because what the Prime Minister did not acknowledge today when he tried to bandy around that these were just simply innocuous forms of fund-raising is that the people who belong to these clubs are not told they are part of a fund-raiser; they are told they are part of a club. They are told they are part of a club. A Government should never be elected to serve for the exclusivity of the few or for the members of a club.For the Labour Party our driving force has always been very very simple. Our ethos has been simple. It has always been very clear. We have always been here because we believe in serving on behalf of people. It is always what we have been about and we are proud of that. I do not care if the National Party members want to mock us for having a value set. I am proud of it—ever since Kirk was in this House and he simply articulated it as all that people need is something to do somewhere to live someone to love and something to hope for. If you want to distil down what we fight for every single day on this side of the House it is exactly that.I have had from that side of the House questions over some of the policy ideas we have raised. I am happy to outline all of them. Starting in January was Best Start. Best Start is a $600 million investment in children acknowledging that if we want to move forward as a nation the best thing we can do is invest in the early years of those children by giving their parents choices by ensuring that they have access to early childhood education and by increasing support for parents who need it most. That is what that package was about and that is something we are really proud of.Secondly what about housing? That simple issue of somewhere to live is not a simple issue in New Zealand any more. It is increasingly unaffordable for families and particularly families with newborns are moving more and more often. That impacts on children’s education. That is why we have boldly said we will build 100000 houses. We will introduce a capital gains tax. We will introduce monetary policy that is focused on families interest rates and employment. That is why we have boldly said we do not care if we are having to be world leaders in monetary policy if it means doing things on behalf of people and putting people first in a market economy.We have always been proud of our history. We are proud of our ideas because they are positive. They are about focusing on what matters most. It is not about a club. It will always be about people.