Adams AmyHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn): Well the Opposition has named the Budget this year The Botched Budget" and it's not hard to see why. We are spoilt for examples of why this is the botched Budget. Certainly you can look at the chaos of Budget week can't you? From Tuesday morning through Wednesday through Thursday—the utter shambles incompetence and duplicity we saw from the Government that alone would make it a botched Budget wouldn't it? But actually far more importantly than that it's a botched Budget because it shows that this is a Government that has failed to deliver on its promises to New Zealand. That's why this is a botched Budget because this is a Government that has failed New Zealand it has failed to keep its promises and it has failed to live up to even a quarter of its own hype.The Government has failed to deliver on their promises around the economy. They have failed to deliver on their promises about living within their means. They have failed to deliver in health in elective surgeries in cancer treatment in maternity care. They have failed to deliver on education when they can't even manage to keep teachers in our classrooms. They have failed New Zealanders when New Zealanders are facing $50-a-week-higher rents and they are facing more and more petrol taxes. They are looking desperately to this Government for something that gives them better job prospects and something to help them with the rising cost of living. In this Budget all they saw was a failure to deliver in the Prime Minister's so-called year of delivery.I want to talk a little bit about those economic promises that this Government has failed on because you can talk about wellbeing all you like but every sensible commentator makes the point that the economy is what pays for wellbeing. The economy is what gives Governments the ability to do anything at all. Now Labour might think it's somehow lost trendiness or somehow it's not en vogue anymore to talk about the economy but understand this: if you don't have an economy New Zealanders don't have jobs they can't feed their families they can't pay the rent and the Government has no money for health for education for roading for policing for the things that New Zealanders care about. So we do care about the economy and what we saw in this Budget was that the economy that was growing up to 4 percent a year under National is now down to basically 2 percent growth. Hon Scott Simpson: How much? Hon AMY ADAMS: It has halved—2 percent growth the latest Treasury estimates tell us. In just 18 months this Government has destroyed our economic growth plan halving it from 4 to 2 percent. That's the equivalent of about $5 billion in lost revenue because of the economic mismanagement of this Government. The proof is right there for us to see: 13000 more New Zealanders on unemployment benefit under this Government because of that economic mismanagement. What the last speaker didn't tell you when he waxed lyrical about the Budget and spent a lot of time talking about trains is that he's had to fund $100 million annually—every year $100 million blowout on the cost of emergency housing because more and more people are in their cars under this Government and under that Minister in particular. I didn't hear anywhere in the Minister of Finance's Budget speech him crowing about the fact that the number of new jobs in this economy has gone backwards. Not only is it not growing it has gone backwards; there are fewer jobs for more people. I simply say to the Minister of Finance: how can you talk about wellbeing? How can you put a wellbeing sticker and a pretty picture of a woman—who's gone to Australia because things are so bad here—on the cover when New Zealanders can't get jobs? When there are fewer jobs for more people? More people in cars more people on benefits—that is not wellbeing. On the economy: this is a Government and a Budget that is all talk but absolutely no plan. How do we know that? Well you look to the economic priority in the Budget document—as I did and I know my colleagues did—and what was the big-ticket item on the economic growth plan? KiwiRail; that's it! Subsidies for KiwiRail is the Government's economic plan. Well that is not going to help rural New Zealand which can't get workers which can't get staff to their regions where families are finding it harder and harder to pay the bills. That shows us exactly how little this Government gets economic growth that they don't understand its importance they have no plan to grow it and frankly they seem to think even having to talk about it is somehow a bit distasteful. Well I've got news for them: there is no wellbeing without a strong economy and this Government and this Budget is butchering it. This is a Government that has shackled our economy with uncertainty with higher costs with red tape and with more taxes. If we know anything about Labour Governments it's that when they run out of their money they come after New Zealanders for more of theirs. This is a Government that has already brought in seven new taxes—seven: fuel excise tax three rounds of that; regional fuel tax; GST on online goods; brightline extension ring-fencing of losses; GST on mobile roaming; WorkSafe levies; and tourist taxes. This was from the no-new-taxes Government. They have already spent all of the billions of dollars in surpluses left to them by the last National Government. They have run out of money they have blown out the debt obligations and promises they made to New Zealand and now they're coming after New Zealanders for even more tax from New Zealand families who are struggling to get ahead. This is a Government who has failed to deliver on their promise of being economically responsible. Do you know when they took office one of the first things Grant Robertson did was put out his Budget Policy Statement in December of 2017 and he laid out the spending track for the Government. "Look at me look how prudent I am" he said "look at how we're going to manage everything we've promised New Zealand on this spending track". Well here's what he didn't talk about on Budget day: that spending track from December 2017 has now blown out by $9.6 billion. That's just on operating—$9.6 billion is how much more this Government is already having to spend just to try and keep pace with the things that they said they would do and even then they're not keeping pace. Now Nikki Kaye has done a great job highlighting all of the broken promises in education. So with $9.6 billion more operational spending $20 billion more debt this is a Government that is still failing to deliver on their promises. Let me repeat that: $20 billion more debt from this Crown than when they took office. When they took office—Hon Shane Jones: Repetitious tedious boring.Hon AMY ADAMS: Well I know Shane Jones finds the economy boring because it doesn't make him any better off. But I'm sorry Mr Jones $20 billion more for my children and grandchildren to have to repay does matter. Now I know it's not a roundabout outside your house but this stuff matters to New Zealanders and $20 billion is what this Government has loaded up on the credit card for New Zealanders because they cannot manage an economy.You can't trust Labour with an economy. You can't trust Labour with your taxes. You cannot trust them to live within their means. Now in National one thing we understand is that you've got to earn money before you spend it and earning money is a hell of a lot harder than spending. Labour knows how to spend we know that. They don't do it well they don't do it effectively but they have completely given up any pretence of knowing how to earn it. That is why you're already seeing them spend $9.6 billion more going straight on to the credit card bill of future generations.Now I just want to close by talking a little bit about their failure to deliver in health because when I see constituents in my office the thing they talk to me about is they can't get elective surgeries. They can't get cancer treatment drugs. They can't get midwives particularly in the rural communities that Jacqui Dean and Hamish Walker and others represent in the South Island. This is a Budget that has completely failed to deliver maternity services. It has failed to give any hope at all to cancer patients. Pharmac's budget went up by less than the population increase. In real terms they've gone backwards. There is less money for more people to provide lifesaving medicines.I don't know how Grant Robertson can talk about wellbeing when he is failing to provide even keeping pace with population growth in our Pharmac budget. I don't know how we can talk about wellbeing when he is saying to cancer patients and pregnant women in the South Island "I'm sorry there's nothing here for you. But don't worry there's a billion dollars for KiwiRail". Well maybe the pregnant mothers in Lumsden can wait for a train and hope that gets them to Dunedin Hospital. In my own electorate important road-safety projects cancelled just in the last two weeks because of this Government's failure to provide for the health and safety of New Zealanders. They want to provide rail but in my electorate roading projects have been cancelled—Hon Julie Anne Genter: Rubbish—rubbish. Where are they?Hon AMY ADAMS: —we're not getting maternity services. Absolutely true—absolutely true I say to that Minister. I'll put it to you in writing and you can apologise to me when you realise I'm absolutely right. They have cancelled road-safety programmes. This is a botched Budget that does nothing for the wellbeing of New Zealanders."