Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): It's an absolute delight to rise this evening to speak in this second reading of the Appropriation (2018/19 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (First for 2019/20) Bill. By passing these bills we are starting to give effect to—it is very loud and I apologise but please turn it down—this Wellbeing Budget this globally world-first Wellbeing Budget.Before I turn to the substantive parts of my contribution this evening I want to pay homage and applaud the leadership of the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and our Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson for delivering what New Zealanders have been seeking and they have been seeking for the last nine years.I'll tell you what. Just yesterday it was I was in Whakatāne and I went for a little drive around with Housing New Zealand. Now what those Housing New Zealand staff told me they said that for the first time since the last Labour-led Government was in—for the first time—all around Whakatāne right now we can see house upon house upon house going up the first social housing that has been built in over nine years—Andrew Bayly: Shh!KIRITAPU ALLAN: —is being built right now and we are excited. Mr Bayly there is no reason to be quiet about what we are doing. You know why? Because for so long under the previous Government people had to yell they had to shout to be heard because they were not being heard.Now on this side of the House after community hall after community hall after community hall this side of the House has been tromping up and down the nationside and what the people are saying to us is thank you to this Government. Thank you to this coalition Government whether it be over in places like the Hawke's Bay where some of the members on that side of the House are—they all got to sit just last week in the first-ever trains from Napier to Wairoa. Those lines had been mothballed for 15 years. The people have been calling for those lines to be reopened and this Government has turned its mind to and has invested $1 billion into the likes of KiwiRail and that has been an exciting journey for our regions.But this Wellbeing Budget—we all know across both sides of the House and I don't think that there's any politics to be made of this that there have been significant mental health challenges across the board. We know that there has been a significant underfunding systemic for decade upon decade now. We had the mental health report come out and there were a whole range of findings that that review that was undertaken came out with.Now what our Prime Minister said and what our Minister of Finance has agreed and what our Minister of Health the Hon David Clark and amongst our esteemed senior colleagues in the executive—what they did is they pooled together their heads and their resources and they sat together and they said You know what? Right now there is a call on this Government to deliver a plan to address the mental health challenges that our communities see." whether that be in the urban populations in the Aucklands the Wellingtons the Christchurch or whether that be up in little towns like Ruatōria Minginui or Murupara. This Government put its heads together and made the most substantial investment into addressing the mental health challenges of this generation.Now I want to acknowledge that there is a whole multitude of ways that this Government is going about doing that but the front-line services—Brett Hudson: Really? Raising taxes mainly.KIRITAPU ALLAN: —that will be available to that member's family who just called from across the aisle to our families to every single family in this country—whether you wear a blue cap or a red cap a black cap or a green cap. But right now we know that mental health does not discriminate based on your class your gender your race. We know that there is a systemic and endemic issue that we are having to face as a nation and that's why I know that the Opposition might heckle here and there because they're probably a little grieved that their side of the House never got around to making the substantial investments into this area that our communities have been calling for.I want to pay homage as well to the hard-working women in the rural women's support trust. They to me have been an absolute bastion in regions like mine up in the East Coast but also my colleague Kieran McAnulty—he has a very strong group of women down there in Wairarapa. I look across the House to my colleague the Hon Stuart Nash down there in the Hawke's Bay my colleague in front of me Mark Patterson from Lawrence. Look I just want to acknowledge the women within our rural communities that have been an extremely loud voice calling for a fundamental investment in this area. We spend a lot of time with them—I mean we all do over the course of time but we just spent quite a bit of time with them over at Fieldays and I made the point of making that address there and I want to make it again. They have been absolutely incredible.Now the other significant thing—I mean we're doing a whole range of immeasurably wonderful things for our communities—is in the area of our schools. Our Prime Minister when she came in—and I like I'm sure many others in this House have watched that maiden speech—we saw her undertaking her commitment to alleviate child poverty. It was a big part of her aspirations when she came into this House. One of the things that I guess I've been so impressed with myself with this Wellbeing Budget is the fact that eliminating child poverty has been one of the core drivers of what we're trying to achieve here. There's a whole range of ways that this Government has gone about doing that. I want to acknowledge the work of the Hon Tracey Martin alongside the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern in pulling together a package that delivers for our children. But one of the things that I guess gets me and has gotten me every single time that I go into any old school—yesterday for example I was in a little school in my hometown of Whakatāne Allandale Primary School. The principal there Drew Manning had invited me in to come and talk about Duffy school books. But he pulled me aside and he said "Kiri I just want you to understand the impact of the Government's investment in terms of the school donations. I want you to understand what that's going to mean for a school like ours a decile 2 school like ours in a little town like Whakatāne with a school roll of 344 students." Our Government's policy means that there will be an additional $51000 in that school's operational budget— Hon Ruth Dyson: Wow $51000.KIRITAPU ALLAN: —if they choose to take it up. That's exactly right—$51000. Now for a school like the size of Drew's school Allandale Primary that is going to have a monumental impact. I cast my eyes up to Tolaga Bay. A little school 237 students; they come from throughout the region. Now it might not seem like huge sums to some others but to this school—an almost additional $40000 in that school's operational budget to be able to deliver at the discretion of the principal for those kids. I turn my mind to one of our larger high schools just down the road from me. You know the kids that go to Trident High School come from a whole range of backgrounds. It's a decile 4 school just over a thousand kids at that school. But that's $158000 through the school donation programme if that school chooses not to ask for donations from those parents. That will make an immeasurable difference. I know my colleague here Jan Tinetti was a principal at a decile 1 school and I'm sure she's made a number of contributions in this House to attest to the fact of how monumental that Government contribution will be to all of these smaller under - decile 7 schools throughout our regions. So I want to acknowledge of course the Hon Chris Hipkins whilst I'm on my feet.I guess just in conclusion I want to acknowledge as well that we know that there have been some fundamental disparities in the way that the neo-liberal policies have impacted a range of people but in particular our Māori communities throughout the country. This Budget delivers over half a billion dollars of targeted funding for Māori communities up and down this country. That's no mean feat. I want to say with my hand over heart how proud I am of this Wellbeing Budget and I commend it to the House."