Sio Hon Aupito WilliamHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): It's amazing that after nine long years of being in Government that side has only now just realised how important mental health is. This Government has identified mental health as one of five key priorities in the upcoming Budget. In 18 months we've recognised and the work has been done and so I would just say hold your horses. It is a priority but I'm amazed that it's taken the previous Government nine long years to suddenly have somebody here in the House recognise that it is a priority.When Sir Bill English stepped down from the office of leader of the National Party there were many people from that side of the House that raised their hand and wanted to be a leader: Paula Bennett Amy Adams I think my friend Mark Mitchell himself had his hand up Mr Simon Bridges and Ms Judith Collins. I remember Mr Simon Bridges walking in front of the House and although I'm not a member of the National caucus in the spirit of parliamentary comradeship I called out I'm supporting you Simon. I'm going to give you my vote". But alas after 18 months there was a lot of expectation—high hopes the slick hairdo and that and the early days of his ministerial role; there was high expectation—but all we are now hearing is that he's failed to support and to provide the kind of leadership that their caucus requires. In fact now there's talk of Judith Collins taking the role and I suppose when a leader starts calling members of your caucus useless behind the scenes I suspect that what they now want is somebody who can tell that to their face. So rather than speaking behind the scenes they want a leader that can be upfront say it to their face and just crush the living daylights out of them.But when I'm listening to the speeches in this general debate it's amazing how suddenly after nine long years in 18 months they've found that they now have a heart. They are raising issues which we raised when we were in Opposition. But in nine years their Government entrenched poverty entrenched hopelessness entrenched unemployment and entrenched low income. In 18 months we've managed to lift the well-being from the package—the Families Package—that was introduced when we came in to Government. In fact on this day today we're raising the winter energy payment. A million people will benefit from the winter energy payment: older people those who cannot afford to pay for power to warm their homes. Those are the people that they're now claiming to have a heart for. But in nine years they never did anything to address the poverty that we are now having to address.So the nine years of neglect is what we are now laying the foundation in the first 18 months to build on to restore confidence in the public services in housing in health in raising income and in education. We know that by and large the citizens of this country the length and breadth of Aotearoa recognise that after the harm and the damage and the neglect and the under-investment they produced in nine years it's going to take more than that to address the neglect. So I'm proud that not only has the winter energy payment gone up; superannuation has gone up.The income levels: this is significant and Mr Willie Jackson identified the fact that we've reduced unemployment to the second-lowest in the last decade. In so reducing unemployment we've also raised wages. Those two things are really really important because in their nine years not only was unemployment high but the incomes of the workforce were low because what they did in their nine years was skewer the system so it benefited the top 10 percent of income earners in New Zealand while everybody else had to figure out how to survive for themselves.So 18 months—lots of work has been done tackling the neglect that that previous Government produced in nine years. But we know that there is much more work to do and it is the year of the delivery and we will deliver for the first time ever the well-being Budget in New Zealand."