Smith NickHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): I want to highlight in this Budget debate how this Government is unnecessarily costing New Zealanders their jobs because where I agree with Mr Fletcher Tabuteau is this Budget and the upcoming election is all about jobs. When I first came to this Parliament unemployment was 10 percent. Can I tell you as a constituency MP the cost of that level of unemployment is horrific on the communities that each of us represent. I'm proud of the record in the 1990s when we got unemployment down from 10 percent to 4 percent and I'm equally proud of the effort in the last decade. Here are the numbers for the members opposite: every year from 2010 to 2017 the number of people that were unemployed in New Zealand came down—it came all the way down to a level of 124000 in late 2017.Now in this Budget in which we debate jobs we should reflect on the fact that in this Government's first year they inherited a very strong economy and the number of jobless went up by 13000. And in the next year 2019 unemployment went up another 10000. We are in the best of economic times and even before COVID-19 hit we had unemployment rising. Then we come to this year's Budget that forecasts unemployment to rise to 9.6 percent or 240000 New Zealanders—that is horrific. That's why every member of this House should be focused on how we can protect New Zealand jobs.That's why I want to bring a story to this House of the business that I visited this morning in Nelson which is a classic example of this Government's recklessness and incompetence in costing New Zealanders jobs. I am hugely proud of New Zealand's and Nelson's marine engineering industry. In the time that I've been the MP it's grown up to 500 people employed—I'm talking about steel workers I'm talking about marine painters I'm talking about marine carpenters I'm talking about marine electricians. They maintain vessels from all over the Pacific—jobs worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year.Yet this Government's policy right now is costing those people jobs and let me tell you how. The Government has been approached—and I've been working with Government officials over the last three weeks just a little example trying to get the Capt. Vincent Gann vessel into New Zealand. Now it's come from American Samoa. American Samoa has not a single case of COVID-19—absolutely zero. They closed their borders even before us on 23 March. The vessel has been at sea for more than three weeks. The company shipping agents and myself have written to immigration Ministers to customs Ministers to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to officials to plead for that vessel to be able to come into the port of Nelson for repair work. The vessel did come to Nelson two years ago—$6.5 million of work. Do you know what the Government had to say to Aimex and those that wanted to bring that vessel into New Zealand? I have the email in front of me: The vessel should go to Hawaii or someone else for repairs."Now how is that consistent with the statement by the Prime Minister and the words that we have just heard from others that somehow they are protecting New Zealand jobs? They are not. They are actually costing companies like Aimex jobs. Aimex has already lost millions of dollars of work and contracts during COVID-19 and they have already had to lay off staff and if this decision stands they will continue to have to make people redundant.Here's the other insulting part. Why is it that the Government has provided an exemption for film workers from Los Angeles for the Avatar movie but not for the marine engineering firms in Nelson that want the $600000 of work to repair this vessel? How many cases are there of COVID in Los Angeles as compared with American Samoa? Answer I've checked: 24000 cases of COVID-19 in California; zero in American Samoa. Can a Minister or a member opposite please explain why you are putting my Nelson constituents out of work by denying access for those jobs in Nelson?I also have to say: where has the Government's interest been—and I challenge Mr Jones who's in the Parliament. Where is the guy who claims to be the "Champion of the Regions" when it comes to the loss of 100 aviation engineering jobs? I say it's bad enough that the Government has been absolutely silent and missing in action over those aviation engineering jobs and now equally so with respect to marine engineering. Members ask: how is it relevant to the Budget? The Budget provides for $900 million of support for Air New Zealand. Why has the Government that claims it's the champion for the regions not tagged that $900 million of support to jobs and services to the regions? The embarrassment of Shane Jones on this issue has been appalling.Hon Shane Jones: Physically impossible—physically impossible.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Here's what Nelsonians say Mr Jones: "If it was 100 jobs being lost in Whangārei would we expect Mr Jones to be silent?" I have an invitation to Mr Jones: come and visit Aimex engineering in Nelson and front up to the workers whose jobs are disappearing because of your daft policies in respect of Customs and Immigration in refusing vessels being able to come here for work. I invite Mr Jones and other members of the Government to come to Nelson Airport and explain to the hundreds of families that are affected by the redundancies that are a product of this Government's lack of responsiveness to the jobs crisis that is part of COVID-19.The Budget also provides for $6.3 billion of support in Government business guarantee—a programme that was announced at the beginning of April: $6 billion. We're two months later how much has been paid out? Less than $60 million—less than $60 million. That's less than 1 percent of what has been announced. What this Government is great at is big flash announcements big sums of money with no follow through. Can I give another practical example? Everybody knows the hospitality industry is struggling. I've got a restaurant in my constituency in Richmond called Armadillo's. It was provided with a very generous $35000 grant from IRD under that scheme. But can members explain this for me: two days after receiving the bank money from IRD the IRD demands it be paid back. It demands two days after paying it that it be paid back—an issue I'm trying to work through with Stuart Nash because there's another 14 jobs being put at risk.The fundamental part is this Government does not have a clue about how to protect jobs. I say that based on their track record. How could any Government in 2018 and 2019 inheriting one of the strongest economies in the OECD over those two years push another 23000 people on to the dole queues? New Zealanders in the 1990s when we faced unemployment of 10 percent turned to National as the party that could rebuild the economy and get people back into work. When New Zealand hit tough times with the global financial crisis where did New Zealanders turn to restore the strength to the New Zealand economy and to get unemployment down? They turned to National. The reason that National is so important whether it be producing the Budget whether it's practical policies associated with the marine engineering industry or the parts of the New Zealand economy is we get business. Giving Government grants and demanding them back just costs jobs. Blocking vessels that can come to New Zealand and provide jobs and employment the Government says "Send the boat to Hawaii." We say "Bring it to New Zealand. Let New Zealand have those jobs." It's those sorts of practical policies that this country needs if it's going to recover from the challenges of COVID-19."