4. Budget 2017—Health Education Housing Police and Tax CutsGRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of FinanceBudget 2017—Health Education Housing Police and Tax Cuts4. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Why does Budget 2017 invest less in new initiatives for health education housing and police combined than it spends on tax cuts?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance): As I explained to that member's leader only minutes ago the member's calculations are wrong.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a question on notice that required authentication through your office. You would not have accepted this question had the calculations been incorrect. The question asks why for a matter that had to be authenticated.Mr SPEAKER: No authentication is required for me to accept that the question is valid enough. Having then accepted the question it is certainly in order for the Minister to then dispute it and that is exactly what the Minister has done.Grant Robertson: Does he believe that he has dealt with the housing crisis such that it is not as high a priority to deal with as giving tax cuts?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Well firstly I do not agree with the member's characterisation but in terms of housing the Government is making a very big investment in housing. Minister Adams for example has just announced a $2.2 billion investment in building 34000 houses in Auckland over the next 10 years. The Government is investing hugely in increasing the accommodation supplement. It is investing in the Housing First programme and in emergency housing. On top of that this Government believes it is time to reward hard-working Kiwi families and allow them to keep more of their own money. I appreciate that that is completely anathema to Mr Robertson. He would see no time ever where that was the right time to do that but this Government believes now is the right time.Grant Robertson: Why are tax cuts a higher priority for him than addressing homelessness as a crisis in New Zealand?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I just explained to the member if he had listened that addressing homelessness is actually something that a good Government with a strong economic plan can do alongside providing more income to Kiwi families. I have to say the member seems alone in his protest against tax changes. The Green Party voted for it New Zealand First voted for it and his own leader on 27 April this year said: They have indicated they might move thresholds. I think that's fine because that should happen periodically."Grant Robertson: By how much were the tax changes greater than bracket creep for inflation since the last tax changes in 2010?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I think the member refers to the process by which the thresholds would be increased if you responded to inflation. The lowest threshold is ahead of that inflationary change; the middle threshold is less than that. I do not have the exact numbers for the member but the middle threshold is less than the inflation adjustment and the bottom threshold is greater. I appreciate that the member would not want to see any change under any circumstances but his leader does.Grant Robertson: Does he believe that New Zealanders care about their fellow citizens such that they would rather see investment in health and housing and education than in tax cuts?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member needs to get some more talking points because this Budget invests $7 billion in all those things over 4 years. Last week the member was pretending that Working for Families did not exist he then pretended that accommodation supplement changes did not exist and now he is pretending that the Government is not investing in public services. He needs to look at the Budget as a whole and then come up with some talking points that respond to it."