1. Public Services—InvestmentMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSPublic Services—Investment1. MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: Ka tū a ia i runga i tana kōrero mō te iti rawa o te mahi haumi i roto ratonga tūmataiti ā nā runga i tērā we didn't know it would be this bad" ā mēnā kua pēnei rawa ka pēhea te nui o te iti rawa o te mahi haumi nei?[Does she stand by her statement on under-investment in public services that "we didn't know it would be this bad" and if so how significant is this under-investment?]Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes absolutely and much of that we could see from Opposition as could New Zealanders in everyday life as they saw individuals sleeping in cars or being unable to access health services. But what we are seeing now is in almost every portfolio I can find other signs of under-investment.Marama Davidson: Does she agree that the state of the books she inherited from National represents a moral and fiscal deficit which we see every day in our homeless and unemployed in our impoverished families and in our threatened species?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes and being in Government obviously is about making choices and about priorities. The last Government decided that the priority rather than investing in issues around unemployment and homelessness was tax cuts—a huge amount of which went to the top 10 percent of income earners. This Government has different priorities.Marama Davidson: How significant is the under-investment in health in light of revelations that there is sewage and mould running through the walls of Middlemore Hospital as a direct result of it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would say Middlemore Hospital is emblematic of a much wider problem. District health boards are telling us that 19 percent of their assets are either in a poor or a very poor state. If you add to that the fact that they're running what will be an estimated up to $200 million deficit I think it's fair to say New Zealanders in every walk of life will be experiencing issues with their health services.Marama Davidson: Has there been significant under-investment in other areas of Government spending and has that impacted on core services as we have seen in our health system?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I say health I think is emblematic of what's gone on in other areas. You'll hear today for instance the Minister of Education talking a little bit more about the under-investment in early childhood education which essentially has meant that parents have been picking up the tab from a lack of investment from the last Government. I'm happy to share the numbers.Marama Davidson: What plans does she have if any to restore investment in public services to urgently help those who are struggling the most such as the 10 to 20 homeless people I spoke with who were sleeping outside the City Mission yesterday morning?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I say we identified from Opposition that this was an issue. We made a very deliberate decision to cancel the tax cuts. The second decision that we made was to run a slightly longer debt track than the last Government because we wanted to prioritise investing in housing and making sure that there wasn't the scale of homelessness we saw under the last Government. As I say Government is all about priorities and ours are very different to the last Government.Marama Davidson: Will the Government consider any new taxes in the future to help solve these problems given that it has ruled out any new revenue streams this term?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As we've said there will be no new tax regimes in this term of office from this Government. Of course we do have the Tax Working Group under way but they may very well produce an outcome that could be fiscally neutral as well. Ultimately we have budgeted and set out a debt track that allows us to make the investment that is the priority and we did things like cancel tax cuts so we could reinvest in health education and housing."