Edmonds BarbaraHon BARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Thank you Mr Speaker and I do want to acknowledge Nancy Lu the previous speaker from the Government. It is a really hard decision to put your children into early childhood education (ECE) and I support the decision making that she had to make for her children because as a mother of eight one of the most difficult things was making that decision as to whether I'd put them into ECE. We were really fortunate that we could do 20 hours' free because our children were three and four—but I just want to acknowledge her bringing her personal story to the House in a reflection of her values and what she stands for. But I'm going to stop there with the compliments because actually there's been a bit of what's called an ear worm—an ear worm. There have been a couple of songs that have been playing in my head over the last few days and perhaps it could be—I'm not going to sing them just in case I get a Sony cease and desist notice. Also I'm a couple of weeks post-COVID so there's a little bit of a cough. But actually one of the songs that keeps coming into my head is an Ashford and Simpson song called Solid as a rock". Now—Shanan Halbert: "Solid". Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: Yeah that's the one—"Solid as a rock". The reason why it keeps coming into my head is because last year the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance continually stood by their statements that their numbers were solid as a rock or rock-solid. They consistently said that they were going to be rock-solid. They've made a lot of promises—a lot of promises—and have doubled down on them since they've come into Government. They said that tax cuts were going arrive from 1 April 2024 it was their first priority  and there would be no new taxes for working people. There would be no cuts to front-line services then fuel tax increases would be cancelled and the app tax was not here and was going to push up prices. "Nek minnit" what we have seen is an incredible—an incredible—U-turn. Even just this morning a tax bill passed in this House that had two brand new taxes—two brand new taxes. What we saw was that fuel taxes are going to go up by twice as much—admittedly six months later—and I must have missed that part of the fine print of the National fiscal plan. Far from no new taxes we've seen a $50 tax on every car up and down New Zealand with National's drivers' tax with the Prime Minister speculating there could be more and again just this morning two brand new taxes. But actually the biggest double down and the rock-solid of their numbered-ness comes down to their promise and their commitment around tax cuts and the Budget Policy Statement today still reaffirmed their commitment to tax cuts but yet at what cost? I think that if the members across the House don't believe me they could probably look at "Police pay offer from govt 'insulting' - Police Association" "Cutting sorely needed supports for carers is cruel and harmful" "Families 'hung out to dry' by new restrictions on disability support"—these are just small examples of what is going to pay for the tax cuts. The most abhorrent thing is that the Budget Policy Statement has been botched. For the first time in my public service history there is no clear indication of what the operating allowance is for the Budget. They said that it's going to be less than $3.5 billion. This is the first time I have seen this in my public service career and so to me that only points to one thing: there are negotiations happening in the Government and they cannot come to an agreement. Another song comes to mind that's by Eminem and it says "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?"—so will the real Prime Minister please stand up because we know there's a coalition agreement. We know having been in Government with the Rt Hon Winston Peters that they are absolutely solid in what their coalition agreements are. So I think this Government needs to allow Winston Peters and New Zealand First to get what they asked for and what they committed to do because it'll be your vote of no confidence—it'll be your vote of no confidence. It is quite clear from the Budget Policy Statement that those negotiations are still happening. Then what other key things have been removed from this Budget Policy Statement? All the wellbeing objectives. There's nothing around climate change. Some of the objectives to help Māori and Pacific people who are in the lowest statistics across the board are gone—absolutely gone. So I absolutely believe that this Budget Policy Statement goes back to—maybe it's a break-up song for their marriage. No? Maybe it's a bit of Beyonce—maybe move "To the left to the left" because actually that's what's actually happening because they can't come to an agreement. That's why there's a botched Budget Policy Statement. So do you know what? We're going to "walk five hundred miles" for all these people of New Zealand that need our support."