Twyford PhilBUDGET DEBATEDebate resumed from 30 May on the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Bill.Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Thank you Mr Speaker. I am very proud to take a call on the world's first wellbeing Budget. Our Government is not afraid to tackle the long-term issues the difficult issues the issues that were neglected for the best part of a decade. The Wellbeing Budget took immediate action on a raft of different issues coupled with long-term systemic change.One of the most important issues that the Budget tackled was mental health. During the last election campaign I was taken by the very strong feelings that were evident out in the community. Everywhere we went around the country people were talking about the state of our mental health services. And no one—no one—that I met and talked about mental health with said that they were happy with the adequacy of mental health services in our community. Last year after the Government announced its inquiry into mental health and addiction in my electorate in West Auckland I ran a couple of workshops designed to get feedback from the local community that we would then channel into the inquiry in the form of community submissions. I want to say that there were some incredibly heartfelt concerns that were raised by people in our community in West Auckland. I'm very happy to say that after the Wellbeing Budget the people of West Auckland can rest assured that the Government has listened and we now have a Government that is at last taking mental health seriously. It was great to have the Prime Minister in West Auckland last week debriefing the local community on what the Budget meant for our people. One of the big initiatives of mental health in the Wellbeing Budget was to put trained mental health workers in doctors clinics iwi health providers Pasifika primary health organisations and even in tertiary education institutions so that people can get care when they need it. For example when a GP identifies that a person is in need of support for a mental health or addiction issue under this policy as it's rolled out they will be able to physically walk with the patient through to see a trained mental health worker to help out.This new layer of services will be rolled out over the next five years. We wish that it could all be done straight away but it's important that we take the time to train up more qualified mental health workers and build the facilities that are needed. We're also expanding access to addiction treatment centres and I think everybody's well aware of the close connections between substance abuse and addiction on one hand and mental illness on the other.The other really critical item in this part of the Wellbeing Budget is expanding the nurses in schools programme. It's been stunningly successful. We rolled it out in Budget 2018 to all decile 4 high schools and in Budget 2019 it's now being extended to a further 5600 students—so a good number of decile 5 schools.We're also investing in homelessness. Again the connections between homelessness between mental health and addiction are very well documented. Research by He Kāinga Oranga at the University of Otago in conjunction with The People's Project the Housing First provider based in Hamilton has shown that homeless people have very very high mental health needs. They found for example that of a sample of 300 long-term homeless people that they had helped to house in the five years prior to those people being helped they had had more than 10000 inpatient nights at mental health facilities—10000. That's 10 times greater than the general population. That same sample of 300 long-term homeless people over that five-year period had had 50000 prescriptions the great majority of which were for antipsychotic or antidepressant medication. That shows the incredibly strong connection between mental illness addiction issues and homelessness. So we announced in the Wellbeing Budget $197 million to house another 1044 people experiencing long-term homelessness.I want to say this about Housing First: it's an internationally acclaimed way of dealing with people who are experiencing long-term homelessness. It's all about breaking the cycle. It says to people We will put a secure warm dry roof over your head and then we will help you deal with the other challenges and the other issues that you have in your life." which are often mental health issues addictions and other things. Housing First has already in the last two years housed 720 households including 431 children in Auckland alone and that's all in the last couple of years. It's now helping to house long-term homeless people in Auckland Hamilton Christchurch Tauranga and Rotorua. I want to acknowledge the former National Government who picked up a pilot project and put some $20 million into it. I'm very pleased that our Government in the last two years has invested more than $260 million into extending Housing First across the country.I want to also talk about one of the other big announcements in the Budget and that was the billion dollars that we are investing in getting rail back on track. The previous Government took a hands-off approach and left the rail network in a state of managed decline. It was one disaster after another under that Government because they simply wouldn't give KiwiRail the money that it needed to maintain and invest in a rail network that could do the job of moving people around efficiently through our larger urban centres and moving freight around the country. Budget 2019 makes the first critical step in turning that around and building rail as the sustainable backbone of our 21st century transport system.This issue the future of rail in New Zealand is supported by all three parties that support this Government. Labour New Zealand First and the Greens all believe that rail has a critical role to play unlike the former Government who actively suppressed a report by EY—a report that had been commissioned by KiwiRail—that showed that the rail system delivers $1.5 billion of economic value to this country every single year. That Government suppressed the report. One of the first things that I did as transport Minister was give KiwiRail the green light to release that report so that the public of New Zealand could see how much they had been missing out on under the last Government.In the Wellbeing Budget we have allocated $375 million for new wagons and locomotives $331 million to invest in the track and other supporting infrastructure $35 million to begin the process of replacing the Cook Strait ferries that are nearing the end of their lives and $300 million allocated by the Provincial Growth Fund—thank you Shane Jones—for investment in regional rail initiatives. This Government understands with the support and the leadership of New Zealand First that actually the rail network has a critical contribution to make to prosperity in regional New Zealand.Hon Ron Mark: Make the Wairarapa come alive.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I thank the member for mentioning Wairarapa because it was our Government that recently invested $200 million out of the National Land Transport Fund in upgrading the Wairarapa line which is a lifeline—an economic lifeline—for the Wairarapa taking visitors and tourists as well as moving freight from the region down to the port of Wellington.Hon Ron Mark: And workers from Wellington.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: And workers from Wellington going to the Wairarapa. It is a great example of supporting our regions by investing in a modern rail system.We also included in the rail allocation the Crown's share of the cost reforecasts associated with the City Rail Link in Auckland after the former Government failed to take into account inflation and normal cost escalations. The City Rail Link I'm very pleased to say will carry the equivalent of 16—one six—extra lanes of traffic in and out of Auckland CBD every day during peak hours. It will double the number of people who live within 30 minutes' travel of the Auckland CBD.This Budget shows our Government's focus on wellbeing. We're taking mental health seriously we are breaking the cycle of poverty and despair by tackling homelessness and we're investing in a sustainable modern rail network that can contribute economic value to the whole of New Zealand. I am proud to be part of this Government and to have a chance to serve in a Government that will deliver something as significant and visionary as the Wellbeing Budget."