Woods MeganHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): The last 10 minutes has been a chilling Dickensian view window into what the future would look like under a National/ACT Government. We have heard nothing but the coded rhetoric of cuts to core public services from the Opposition finance spokesperson in what she just gave us in the last 10 minutes. Listening to that I'm once again reminded of how lucky this country has been to have six Grant Robertson - led Budgets. It is an absolute privilege to take a call in this debate to talk about that Budget what it means for New Zealanders and what it is delivering for New Zealanders. As the Minister of Finance said in his address in this debate this was a Budget that had to strike a balance and a difficult balance. I want to congratulate our Minister of Finance Grant Robertson; and our Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for threading the needle once again through those difficult times for finding a way for us to provide support for everyday New Zealanders who are finding it tough but never losing sight on the fact that we have to plan and build for tomorrow. That is exactly what Budget 2023 did. We focused on what mattered most to New Zealanders right now like dealing with measures that will deliver on the cost of living. But we did not shy away from facing up to those issues that no Government should take its eye off like dealing with climate change like properly planning for our infrastructure. Sadly that is exactly the lack of vision that we have seen for decades from the National Party and that we are being reminded of again—that their short-term thinking would be delivered in any Budget that they served up. So if we think about what we did to support New Zealanders in these immediate times that are difficult in Budget 2023: cheaper childcare. As my colleague the Minister of Finance said not only is the support for two-year-olds in early childhood incredibly important for our families in dealing with their household budgets but this is also incredibly important for businesses in terms of the women—largely women—returning to the workforce after having children. We also saw Budget 2023 dealing with helping New Zealanders with their health costs. Now like probably far too many colleagues in this House—well certainly on this side of the House—I visited pharmacy after pharmacy in my electorate of Wigram and saw the boxes of unpicked-up prescriptions; or talked to the pharmacists about their customers who have come in and asked the pharmacy staff to help them make the difficult decision about which of their medicines they'd pick up that day. Would they choose their diabetes medication? Would they choose their heart medication? Would they choose their blood pressure pills? These are the kind of choices that New Zealanders were having to make and is why in Budget 2023 our Government saw it as such a priority.Nobody benefits from those left-behind prescriptions sitting in the boxes of pharmacies all around this country—certainly those individuals and their families that are having to make those hard choices and certainly not our wider health system that ends up dealing with the ramifications of someone not taking their medicines that their GP provided them when they turn up at an emergency department with a far more serious health concern. They're the kind of issues that we looked at in Budget 2023—for cutting transport costs for making sure that we are continuing to support New Zealanders and take some of that burden off budgets. Also one that I am particularly proud of: reducing power bills through continuing to roll out our Warmer Kiwi Homes that now not only provides for the insulation of thousands and thousands of New Zealanders' homes to help them cut their power bills but also allows for installing efficient heating sources like heat pumps but also for the first time ever making minor repairs to homes so you can insulate them. You cannot insulate a home properly with rotting windows and holes in the roof; you simply cannot do it. So I was very proud that we were able to do that. What I was also very proud of is that we continued to see an investment in our public services. It is our Government's commitment to supporting our public services that has meant that we have delivered pay rises for nurses that we have delivered pay rises for teachers that we have been able to invest in these professions that are so critical. We were only making up for nine years of absolute neglect in this area from a National Government previously. As the Opposition's spokesperson told us that our Budget exemplified Labour I think what we heard from that member did nothing more than exemplify what a National Government would deliver and what a National Budget would deliver.What we have heard from National and its coalition partner ACT of what would be gone: fair pay agreements gone cut; the things that will deliver wage increases for working New Zealanders gone under a National/ACT Government; cutting free prescriptions gone under a National/ACT Government. Instead we'll see the return of those boxes filled of unpicked-up prescriptions which sit there doing nothing rather than treating the New Zealanders they should be. We also know that a National/ACT Government: cut KiwiSaver contributions. We know that a National/ACT Government will raise the age of superannuation eligibility. We know that a National/ACT Government will cut benefit levels. We know that a National/ACT Government will cut the winter energy payment. We know that a National/ACT Government—despite many of its members picking it up themselves—will cut the clean car discount. We know that a National/ACT Government will neglect to do anything on climate change and try and roll New Zealand back into some kind of 1970s sitcom. They want to restart oil and gas exploration offshore. The rest of the world is facing up to the fact that we have to take decisive climate action and that our future and our prosperity lies in a renewable future. But not this Government that is intent on taking us back to some kind of dystopian past. While we hear the crocodile tears from the Opposition that there is a plan that will benefit working people and put extra money in their pockets through their unfunded tax cuts the reality of that for working people is two bucks a week while the highest earners receive over $1000 a year. So spare us the crocodile tears.The reality for working people is they will have their fair pay agreements cut. They will be back to paying for their prescriptions. KiwiSaver contributions will be cut. The age of eligibility for superannuation will be raised. There will be a cut to benefit levels and that money to help with the power bill over winter in the form of the winter energy payment: gone. Their ability to shift to a more affordable form of transport in the form of electric vehicles through the clean car discount: gone. All of this so the highest-earning New Zealanders can get an extra thousand dollars a year. So the National Government and its ACT mates need to come clean with New Zealand. There are going to be cuts. They will be deep. Make no mistake about it: if this country was to have the misfortune to have a National/ACT Budget delivered next year it would exemplify the coalition of cuts. This would cut deep and this would go to the hearts of working and ordinary New Zealanders who deserve better. I am proud to be part of a Government that has delivered a Budget that does strike that careful balance—that does offer support for today but delivers for tomorrow.