Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): Mālo e lelei Mr Speaker. It's great to be in the House and supporting the Appropriation (2021/22 Estimates) Bill and the Imprest Supply (Second for 2021/22) Bill this afternoon. Can I first do what I traditionally do after we've been in lockdown: acknowledge all the recent deaths that have occurred during this recent lockdown. E ngā mate kua wehe atu ki te pō haere haere haera atu rā.[To those who have recently passed may you rest in peace.]This Budget which I'm proud to stand in support of acknowledges the long-term challenges that this Government's been facing particularly around housing infrastructure and climate change. Also it's regarded as a recovery Budget in terms of COVID which we all know is still very much a part of us. On that point can I acknowledge our team of 5 million and all our essential workers—our border workers; our health professionals; our food producers; and government—and regional iwi and Pacific leadership all throughout the motu who are working really really hard. Can I simply say thank you.Budget 2021 while dealing with long-term issues like housing like inequality and like climate change also has a stimulus package around the economy and our economic recovery. This is what this Budget does: it does balance the fact that COVID is still very much a part of us while also recognising that there is much more work to do.I was hoping that former member who got up would have a please explain" note when he came in here talking about the COVID response in his recent remarks around Waipareira Trust. Can I acknowledge all our hauora providers and our Pacific providers who are doing an amazing job in getting Pacific and Māori communities across the country vaccinated. Comments like that seriously undermine the great work that our Māori and Pacific providers are doing. I want to acknowledge in this Budget two areas that the tailored part of the Budget talks about—both economic stimulus as well as issues around housing inequality. Nowhere else in this Budget of 2021 do we need to look to other than the infrastructure and of course the Māori budget. I want to talk on both those two parts of this Budget.In terms of infrastructure you'll see the Government is investing $57.3 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. This is around long-term investment in building our houses our schools and our hospitals and meeting our transport needs. It is the continuation of last year's Budget. As a regional MP I can tell you now that seeing works on State Highway 35 up the East Coast and on State Highway 2 is an absolutely welcome sight not to mention the work that is going on in our schools and in our hospitals. This $57.3 billion investment will help create jobs grow jobs in a time of great difficulty facing many New Zealanders at this particular time.Can I put a bit in for rural broadband. As the Associate Minister of Agriculture having spoken to a lot of our agricultural and rural communities the need for better connection is definitely echoed in their delegations to myself. Let's hope that that budget will absolutely bring our rural communities into what city folk enjoy.The other area I wanted to touch on importantly in Budget 2021 is the Māori budget. I want to respond to the previous speaker the leader of the ACT Party when he talks about the COVID economic response—or the COVID response. I'm proud that this Government has acknowledged the significant importance of both Māori and Pacific not only in ensuring that we've got the tailored tools and the resources for a response but also in terms of coming out of it economically. That's why the Māori budget in Budget 2021 needs to be underscored. Almost $1.1 billion has gone in the Māori budget. There is $98 million to establish the Māori Health Authority—and of course much of that work is getting done now under the leadership of Minister Little and Minister Henare. There is $126.8 million for hauora Māori—and of course they're all working so significantly hard on the front line now as our vaccination numbers continue to rise. There is $17.8 million towards iwi Māori partnership boards. I mentioned housing in my opening statement as an indication of long-term challenges which were here before this Government and is something this Government is acknowledging and addressing: $380 million in housing across Aotearoa for Māori; 1000 new homes for Māori including papakāinga housing transitional housing and owner-occupied homes; repairs of up to 700 Māori-owned homes—again led by Te Puni Kōkiri—$30 million towards building future capability for iwi and Māori groups to accelerate housing projects; and of course $350 million ring-fenced in the Government's Housing Acceleration Fund which will target investment in infrastructure support and build homes for Māori funding. Big investment by this Government—over $700 million towards housing specifically to help Māori. In terms of education we see a $20 million package supporting Māori boarding schools. These are iconic boarding schools of which there are only four left in this country. Many who actually filled these halls of Parliament came through boarding schools. Three of the four are in my electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. We see $32 million to address inequitable funding of wānanga that will improve pay of kōhanga reo teachers; $77 million in property building—again to help deliver better Māori-medium education putting more money into Te Reo Matatini and Pāngarau and Marautanga programmes.And of course there are our tamariki. We've seen this during this particular lockdown around the impacts of being in level 2 in terms of ensuring that our children's education and their wellbeing is well looked after. In this Budget of 2021 $23.4 million is set aside for the wellbeing of Māori children. But it doesn't end there: $50 million for Māori tourism $10 million to Corrections and $70 million in Justice. Sexual violence gets and injection of $12 million. And of course broadcasting: $14.8 million to further supplement the Māori language strategy for our basic reo speakers up into 2040 and of course $42 million into Māori broadcasting to help sustain the Māori-medium sector and investing in programme content. One that I'm particularly proud of is $14 million to Māori data sovereignty. It is no surprise to this House that in 2018 and 2013 the census let down Māori. We have a very poor database but this $14.1 million goes a long way to supporting good data when it comes to Māori—the Treaty partner—if all Governments are to ensure that we are working alongside them and more importantly are accountable for our deliverables and our programmes that are meeting the needs of our Treaty partner—so $14 million in Māori data sovereignty. Having shared the suite of programmes in Budget 2021 in terms of the Māori budget and of course infrastructure we on this side of the House know we cannot do it alone. We know we can't do it alone which is why relationships are really really critical and these are just the beginning of many more investments over the coming years. As we have said these are long-term issues that one Budget will not fix. These long-term relationships I want to underscore with the last few seconds that I have—the partnerships that we need to build and have built with local government with iwi with our Pacific communities and with our primary sector. If we work alongside those that know our people better then we are going to get better gains for this nation as a whole.As I did in opening in acknowledging our 5 million workers can I again please acknowledge the Māori and Pacific hauora providers up and down this country who despite unnecessary fearmongering around what they are doing are working hard. I want to acknowledge all the hauora providers and iwi providers and Pacific providers throughout my electorate and throughout the entire country who continue to turn up to encourage and get as many of our people over the line to be vaccinated. They need to be acknowledged; they need to be thanked. As the saying goes: "Be a doer karawhiua! [go for it!]""