Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): New Zealand has just seen a Budget of broken promises and there are a number of reasons that people across this land have observed that this last week. First they overpromised in a way that was quite reckless which now leads us all to ask a very important question: is a promise not yet fulfilled the same as a promise broken? Making a promise and not fulfilling it is the same thing as breaking it. Policy of a Government should bear some resemblance to that which the parties making up the Government campaigned upon. In particular a Budget should reflect spending promises again of those particular parties. Return to what was said on the campaign trail" would be my advice to the various parties and Ministers who are now disappointing New Zealanders up and down this land. For example having said that as a result of the first Budget there would be no further need for school donations we find exactly the opposite of that is true this week. Election 2017 should have been about gaining a mandate to govern for whichever party or parties won that election from now until 2020 but again the opposite is true. Funding only some of the extravagant promises of the coalition parties entails a democratic deficit.In my first occasion to speak in this House I made some remarks reflecting on the constitutional nature of coalition formation under MMP and now as I speak for the first time on a Budget that has been presented into this House I'd like to return to some of those themes. I observed that the process in 2017—to be fair as it had been in previous times—had reflected a three-stage process; namely an election which the people of New Zealand were able to participate in then a selection of political parties operating in secret behind closed doors. And finally a collection of policies that those parties between themselves—again without further reference to the people—decided would be in the people's best interest for the next three years. Fair enough to those parties that did form Government. They did it in a way that was legitimate under the MMP rules. But here's the thing: in the formation and presentation of a Budget it is all the more important that being said that the promises that each of those parties made is now kept. And if those promises are not kept—and they have not been kept—then what we have is a democratic deficit. This is—[Interruption]DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Minister colleagues please show some respect to the speaker.CHRIS PENK: Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I believe I was saying although it was difficult to hear over ambient noise—I must confess I sometimes find it difficult to think and speak at the same time but I note that members opposite seem to have the same problem. I was reflecting on the MMP nature of Government formation and how that entails a higher responsibility in the presentation of a Budget such that the promises that each of those parties has made must be reflected in some way if the Government as a whole is to have democratic legitimacy. So each of the times that the Government might say now in response to criticism over their Budget "Well we couldn't do all these things effectively because if you add up all the promises of the constituent parties we would not be able to afford them."—and make no mistake this is exactly what we have been hearing whether or not they acknowledge it openly or not. The fact of the matter is that New Zealanders voted for those parties—again I acknowledge in a way that led legitimately under MMP to them forming the Government—in a way that now sees New Zealanders quite rightly feeling disappointed about the result. They have been disappointed and so have other organisations in the land.Radio New Zealand has received $23 million less funding as a result of a certain breakfast at Astoria. Well that's a lot to pay for a breakfast. That must be the most expensive breakfast of all time. The only way in which this Budget reflects a stable Government is the stable in which the good-looking horses that have been the subject of the only tax cut in the Government are now housed. Like many New Zealanders I am disappointed in this Budget of broken promises."