Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): In the 2020 election campaign the then National Party finance spokesperson had a bit of a nightmare: his alternative budget didn't add up. And I mean that literally: it did not add up. It was about $4 billion short of what it should have been and it scuttled the credibility that Mr Goldsmith might have had as spokesperson.But the reality was that there was a deeper problem: the National Party's fiscal Bermuda Triangle. Now being the modest man that I am I won't dwell on the unnamed National MP who said that that was the most devastating lie of the election campaign—I won't dwell on that—because the most important fact is that it was accurate because the National Party tried to claim that it was possible to cut taxes increase spending and reduce debt all at the same time. It doesn't add up the triangle doesn't work and the public understood that at the 2020 election.Well guess what! Today we have proof that the National Party is still stuck in the fiscal Bermuda Triangle. They still can't make their plans add up. And what's worse: their plans are so out of touch they are even worse than when they last proposed them. This was proved today by Christopher Luxon in Morning Report. In the space of 46 seconds Mr Luxon entered exited and sank in the Bermuda fiscal Triangle. Now he started out OK because he said that our economy was in better shape than the United Kingdom—thank you very much Mr Luxon for that. But then he was asked Would you rule out further borrowing for tax cuts?" First he said "yes" then he said "no" and then when confronted with this question for a third time Corin Dann said "So borrowing for tax cuts that's off the agenda?" Christopher Luxon? [Impersonating Mr Luxon] "Well that's a separate issue."No it's not. It is the issue. The issue is how will the National Party pay for their tax plan? Let's be really clear: this is a tax plan that the National Party leader and deputy leader have reiterated time and time again: tax cuts for the highest-earning New Zealanders restoring tax breaks for landlords and speculators indexation and removing the bright-line test. Now conservatively that's $6 billion that the National Party need to find somewhere for their tax cuts.But there's more. Chris Bishop this week said—and leaving aside the astounding gall of this statement—that he wants to get rid of the State house waiting list. That's another $13 billion conservatively that the National Party need to find. But apparently there's no borrowing for that which means the only other answer to that is massive cuts to health to education to housing to all of the social services—or it just means that once again the National Party's plan does not add up.And we are seeing today in the United Kingdom just what can happen when ideology buys into the reality of a constrained COVID world. The National Party's recipes never change: trickle-down economics and giving tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders at the very time where we need to be investing in social services. So come on Mr Bayly you were there—what's happening in the fiscal Bermuda Triangle now? What's happening in the fiscal Bermuda Triangle? Is it more debt? Is it cutting taxes? What is it Mr Bayly? That's the problem with the National Party. They're stuck in the fiscal Bermuda Triangle.Meanwhile on this side of the House we take the balanced approach that got us through COVID. We've got through COVID in as good a shape as any other country in the world—from a health outcome and from an economic outcome. Mr Bayly was a great finance spokesperson; he's left out in the cold now. I still want you back Mr Bayly. I miss you! But Mr Bayly here's the record: 3.3 percent unemployment one of the lowest levels of public debt in the OECD a 5 percent bigger economy than what we had before COVID and massive reason to be optimistic. The tourists are back immigration's coming back and international students are coming back.As New Zealanders look to this summer they know they have a Government that got New Zealand through COVID and has an economic plan for the future. On the other side of the House they are stuck in their fiscal Bermuda Triangle with an economic plan that does not add up."