SpeechHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to follow the Hon Grant Robertson in speaking to the alterations of the 2022-23 appropriations for Vote Audit Vote Ombudsmen and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. And at the risk of repeating almost word for word what the Hon Grant Robertson has already said yes the Officers of Parliament Committee did examine and receive submissions from each Officer detailing in their words the proposed alterations to the 2022-23 appropriations but also their budgets their draft budgets for 2023-24 and out-years. We did receive advice and thank you to Treasury officials who came to the committee on three separate occasions and provided advice by way of answers to questions and also offered their expertise and assistance with the committee.We did recommend to the House and do recommend that the House commend these alterations essentially which have been already outlined to the House and also—so alterations and Estimates—to the Governor-General for inclusion in the main appropriation bill for the coming financial year or as it may be in the appropriation bill dealing with the Supplementary Estimates for the current financial year. So turning first to the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General I will focus my comments on their draft Budget request and a couple of comments on the context by which these requests were made. The Office of the Controller and Auditor-General as is common with so many other Government agencies were disrupted by COVID-19 and the Auditor-General's work programme was significantly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. As well as that there has consequently been an increase in public expenditure and also in the complexity of audits as a result of the pandemic alongside that for them issues such as staff turnover have caused audit delays and also they acknowledge inefficiencies in Audit New Zealand. So there are a number of deficits which Audit New Zealand and the Controller and Auditor-General are facing. And so the proposal by the Auditor-General is to increase audit fees at the rate of 8 percent per annum across all sectors and contract cycles until 2025-26 when increases will reduce then to 5 percent per year. I was particularly concerned and I did ask the question around how that increase in audit fees will impact on local government because all of us in this House are aware of cost pressures on everyone but also on local government. However it is what it is and that is the proposal that was put forward to us and perhaps we might not like an increase in audit fees—in particular for smaller councils—but none the less we feel compelled to support that. Turning to the Office of the Ombudsmen I won't go into the budget transfer I don't have time. However I will note for the Office of the Ombudsmen that part of the response to COVID-19 included the establishment of managed isolation and quarantine facilities throughout the country. These facilities now fall within the Ombudsman's Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment oversight role. This of course consequently imposes a cost and timeliness. The Office of the Ombudsmen also seeks additional resources to maintain remuneration levels. He too or the office as well is experiencing a period of wage growth and the need to be competitive in today's job market. Turning finally and briefly to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton told us that no he didn't want a budget increase which is laudable and quite frankly Simon Upton is a commissioner—the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment—who works within his budget and works well and produces good works. None the less he did signal to the committee and therefore to the Crown that he would in future be seeking a budget expansion. Again the committee supported this request as do I.