Smith DamienDAMIEN SMITH (ACT): This is the ghost Budget" with loads of manoeuvres and rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic but here's what's going to happen. Consumers Price Index inflation is currently at 6.9 percent. This Budget has ignited it further and for that party over there to be telling the public of New Zealand that inflation's going to go down precisely at this time is misleading and unfortunate and is going to be a very painful statement.The Budget announced $6 billion worth of new operating spending plus the cost of living package. Next year there's another $5 billion. And if you look at the Green Party they just think we should tax everybody more. There's no fiscal responsibility with regards to actually cutting our cloth. So I will make a prediction here. Mr Orr will have to raise the official cash rate (OCR) to 4 percent which is going to cause serious household pressure. It's going to cause people to have to have 60 to 70 percent of their disposable income going to repayments and it's going to affect renters on a weekly increment rise. So I'll make a prediction now that next year the Government will be tempted to spend more to win the election and on the $850 million cost of living payment the Minister still believes that he's better qualified to tell hard-working Kiwis how to spend their money. If he looked at the actual timing of the Budget this was the Budget to give people back a tax break. We will make sure next year that that message comes across even further. He thinks that taking money out of the back pockets of those struggling with the cost of living crisis is the right thing to do. Does he even agree with Treasury's advice that a broad-based one-off payment is poor mechanism for supporting households with longer-term problems? It's definitely going to add to inflationary pressure. It is a PR stunt. It was decided in record time when the Treasury recommended against it and it can't even be implemented by the Inland Revenue Department—they will have to find another 750 people and it's in nine weeks' time.So two million New Zealanders—some economists say "Is that a broad base?" It is a 96c per day cost of living payment. Now let that sink in. Why is the Government opposed to letting Kiwis keep more of their hard-earned money? He also forecasts that in this environment we're going to be taking on an extra $12.7 billion in taxes. It's a tax grab a greedy grab by this Government over the next five years. Maybe it should be called the "greedy Budget". Maybe that's what should be in the headlines now. What difference does he expect the cost of living payments which are 0.6 percent of the median salary to make for Kiwis struggling with inflation which has risen over 10 times to 6.9 percent on his watch? Can you actually believe that fiscal managers on that side of the House actually believe that to be a relevant contribution to the people of New Zealand? I will rephrase that: 0.6 percent of the median salary and inflation's gone up 10 times to 6.9 percent on his watch.The other thing that people seem to forget—it's an inconvenient truth—is that $50 billion has been pumped out into the economy with Mr Orr and Mr Robertson and that's increased the money supply and that's why we've got the inflation problem and that's why now we have to suffer the pain of OCR increases and it will go over 4 percent. It will have to be reined in."