Wood MichaelMICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): That speech had all of the dynamism and energy of a lobotomised sloth and it was still one of the best contributions from the Opposition benches. It took that member Tim van de Molen nine minutes and 30 seconds to get the obligatory mention of support for his leader in there but that's better than many of his colleagues have done. That's a bit of a warning sign speaking from some experience—I'll let the members of the Opposition know that.I want to move not to talking about the past as that member spent most of his speech on doing but to talking about this Budget and its vision for the future of building the foundations for a better and a fairer New Zealand. I want to start off by talking about a small meeting that was held in my electorate office at 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon.Simeon Brown: The member only has small meetings.MICHAEL WOOD: That member may have been lying on the couch at 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon but this member was hard at work in his constituency. That meeting was a gathering of local residents who are volunteering their time to take part in Auckland's Homeless Count. What's happening in September in Auckland is in response to the housing crisis Housing First and other organisations who are deeply concerned about homelessness in New Zealand's biggest city are getting together to actually count the number of people that we have sleeping in cars and sleeping on park benches in our city. If nothing else speaks to the legacy of neglect that this Government inherited and the challenge that we faced in that Budget it is the very fact that in our biggest city we have thousands of our fellow New Zealanders—men women and children who do not—Hon Scott Simpson: There are more sleeping on park benches.MICHAEL WOOD: Men women and children are sleeping in cars and on park benches and that member the member for Coromandel can belittle that if he wants to but I invite him to join me and others on 20 September on Auckland's Homeless Count to see with his own eyes the legacy of his Government because that is what happened under that Government and their failure to do anything about that issue as the problem grew and grew and grew. That previous Government put their heads in the sand and they still continue to do it. They cannot utter the words. They cannot even accept that there is a housing crisis. It is denial and deflection even when the problem is staring us in the face.So that's where we're at. This Budget is about laying the foundations to make sure that every Kiwi family can have a decent safe secure healthy and stable place to live. One of my favourite thinkers and theologians Jim Wallis tells us that Budgets are a moral document. Budgets are moral documents because they go beyond what you're saying: where you put the money actually tells you where your priorities are. One of this Government's top priorities as expressed through this Budget is that fundamental right.Simeon Brown: Tell us about school donations Mr Wood.MICHAEL WOOD: The member can speak and disagree with this the member for Pakuranga if he wishes but this Government believes that it is a fundamental moral duty to ensure that every Kiwi family has a decent safe and warm place to live. That member may just like to reflect a little bit on the way in which his party got into such grief last year because of their failure to recognise that problem—but there is no learning whatsoever.So what do we see in this Budget and these appropriations? We see a range of very very serious measures. We see 1400 new emergency places funded. We shouldn't be having to fund 1400 emergency places. We're having to fund them because of the crisis—because there are not enough houses for people. It is a legacy of that previous Government's neglect that by the end of their term in office as the housing crisis mounted we had 1500 fewer public houses than we did at the beginning of their term. As people were living on their streets as people like Keith Johnson died on a park bench in Onehunga last winter they were busy selling off public houses. That is the legacy and that is what this Budget begins to overturn.So we have the 1400 emergency houses funded—that's a crisis response to that situation. But we're about doing more than just managing the crisis which is the most that that lot ever got up to. We're actually about providing decent and sustainable housing. So one of the things that I am most proud of is the investment in 6400 new warm modern State houses for our families who so desperately need them. Not only have we stopped that shameful sell-off of public housing we're investing in modern State housing for those families who need it and in electorates up and down the country there are families who are going to be so much better off for that.Through this Budget we're investing in building 100000 affordable starter homes for Kiwis who have been locked out of owning their own home under that housing crisis. That's the policy: building those affordable starter homes under KiwiBuild for young couples particularly those living in Auckland where the average house price spiked to nearly $1 million under that previous Government's watch bringing homeownership rates down to the lowest rate since the early 1950s.One thing that I will say about the National Party throughout most of its history—most of its history perhaps until the last 10 years or so—is that the legacy of Kiwi Keith" Holyoake was they did have a vision and they did have a belief in New Zealand as a property-owning democracy. Along with the Labour Party over successive Governments from the 1950s through to relatively recently there was a belief—there was a belief and there were policies to support the belief—that people who worked hard people who saved a bit people in decent middle-income jobs should be able to afford a place of their own. But that has just slipped out of the grasp of so many New Zealanders so I am so proud that in this Budget we are rebuilding the foundations of that dream of a young Kiwi couple being able to afford their own home through KiwiBuild. We are so proud that those first homes are going to be coming on stream this year—1000 built in this first year. That's going to make a huge difference.We're rebuilding the foundations of justice and decency and dignity for our working families. It shouldn't be the case that 40 percent of the children living in poverty in this country are living in working households. How is it that people can go to work in this country and not earn enough to escape the clutches of poverty to not have kids growing up in material hardship lacking the things that they really need to do to be able to thrive in our community and reach their full potential?That is why I am so proud of the Families Package that came in during the mini-Budget late last year and carries through in Budget 2018. It is going to ensure that 380000 of our families are $75 per week better off. That is going to make such a difference to those people who are battling away—hard-working people who try and do the right thing but have just been struggling struggling struggling for nine years to keep their heads above water. That is going to make a huge difference to those families.I'm proud of the cheaper doctor's visits which come through because one of the things that I hear from my constituents is that some of those people are just sort of keeping their heads above water in an ordinary week but when a problem hits—when the car breaks down or when someone gets sick and those unexpected extra costs come in—that is when it gets difficult; that's when people get into debt and problems. So that's going to make a big difference.One of the additional measures I'm incredibly proud of and I know has made a huge difference over the last couple of months has been the winter energy payment. It's a great coalition Government policy that speaks to the values that all three parties bring into this Government about ensuring that none of our older folks and none of our lower-income people who are on main benefits have to go cold over winter. It's been estimated that around about 40000 additional hospitalisations occur every year in this country because people haven't been able to keep warm in their own homes over the cold winter months. That is not right and it is not necessary in this country and that winter energy payment is going to make such a difference to those families.That's been made possible—going back to this point about a Budget being a moral document—because this Government made different choices. We chose not to give members of this House a tidy little tax cut; we chose to ensure that people had the winter energy payment and our families had the benefit of that Families Package because it's those lower- and middle-income battling families who need the support of this Parliament. That has been the priority of this Government in Budget 2018.This has been a Budget which has been about looking forward looking after those issues that we face today but also looking ahead for New Zealand. I am so proud of the fact for example that after nine years of failing to pay into it this Government restarted payments into the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. We're not just concerned with the political circumstances now and trying to make the books look good so we can present them at the next election; we're concerned with the fact that every single New Zealander should have the security of New Zealand superannuation now and into future generations. Restarting those payments is going to make that possible.This is a Budget which has been about rebuilding the economic social and infrastructure foundations of New Zealand. They were badly neglected over the last nine years and there's a heck of a lot more work to do. We can't do it all in one Budget but this Budget has made an incredible start. It's making a difference for New Zealanders and it is helping to make this a better and a fairer place for all of our people. I very much commend it to the House. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."