SpeechTONI SEVERIN (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. Much appreciated for your guidance on that. It's a pleasure to stand on the appropriations and this imprest bill to oppose it. Now just before in the House we were informed that this is the fifth Wellbeing Budget this Labour Government has presented. My question is: how many people out in New Zealand listening to this will feel that it has been a wellbeing Budget? We're in a cost of living crisis and people are feeling it in their pockets every day they go to fill up their vehicles at the service station and when they go and buy their groceries. Most people are really struggling today and this Government is saying that this Budget is bread and butter and wellbeing. I don't think so. Most people that I speak to in the community are struggling too hard to just do these things. Now the biggest thing they say is OK we have electric cars. Most of us don't mind too much about electric cars or hybrid cars but we still need roads to drive them." So who's going to pay for these roads? That comes back at the moment to those that have got petrol or diesel. Is that fair? No. So there you go. Is that wellbeing and feeling that people are being listened to? What results has this Government shown for this large amount of spending that they have put here? Do we have more kids going to school every day? No. Do we have a better education system? No. Do we have a better health system? No. I'm talking to family in Invercargill and they are talking about possibly losing their hospital because they can't get staff there. I understand that not everybody wants to move down to the deep South but there are lovely friendly people down there and we'd love people there. Now the other thing is around health. Everybody talks about doctors and nurses—what about the laboratory scientists that helped us through COVID and how well have they been treated through this Budget? No they are going on strike again. Now that's very unusual for that to happen. So where are they being looked after in this Budget around health? All we see is more and more spending with very little improvements on anything. Now ACT put out a fully costed alternative budget and we found that there was up to spending—was it 61 percent over the last five years? Now if I could do that in small business gee I would be very happy. But no when you're in small business or a ma and pa you tighten your belts when you need to. You look at where you can save some money. But this Government doesn't seem to be wanting to do that. There is so many more bureaucrats—and I call them bureaucrats because they're working in Wellington. To me the public servants are your doctors your nurses your teachers the people on the ground that we need to look after more. But we are not looking. We have got far too many people here in Wellington that also are being hired against the private sector. In the private sector the small businesses can't keep up with the wages that this public sector is offering them as well.So this is it. What are we getting for this Budget really the average person? That is very little. We have not got any improvements in any of our key education health—even corrections: crime is up under this Government. You wanted to reduce crime but it hasn't; you put less prisoners out. Now this is just going to inflate more and more because the more crime we get the more people are going to be struggling especially those small businesses that have to pay for this. This Government hasn't given too much to most people.Now we also said that if you earn $70000 in this alternative budget we say we can give you a tax cut without affecting the front-line services. Now this Government over here Labour will scaremonger everybody but we can afford to do it; you've just got to watch where you are spending it because you're just throwing money around to people that don't. We oppose this."