6. Budget 2017—Government PerformanceGRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of FinanceBudget 2017—Government Performance6. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with the Prime Minister that the Government doesn't do that good a job with people who have really serious needs and needs to address New Zealand's long-running social problems"; if so can he confirm that his Government has been in power for nearly 9 years and will shortly put forward its ninth Budget?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance): Yes I stand by the Prime Minister's statement that Government agencies struggle with people with really complex needs. They have done so for decades and that is because these are very difficult and complex needs. However the good news for the member is that we are making good progress on a huge number of social issues. For example the proportion of the population relying on a main benefit is now down to 9.6 percent which is the lowest it has been in a March quarter since 1997. It is great. I think it is a tribute to Minister Tolley. However there are some people with really serious needs. That is why we are developing the social investment approach which is tackling those needs in a new way and $321 million has been allocated in this Budget to help those people with those issues. To the second part of the member's question I do congratulate Mr Robertson. It is indeed the ninth Budget—well done—and indeed National's ninth year in Government. His arithmetic is improving. Grant Robertson: After 9 years and with the lowest homeownership level in 60 years what credibility does he think his Government has on housing when the best this Budget will do is create 2000 more affordable homes in Auckland when tens of thousands are needed?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am glad the member raises that because the former Government which was under the Labour Party was responsible—[Interruption]; no listen because you will learn something—for a long-term decline in the building of new houses in Auckland that started in 2003 and went all the way through to 2010. Since that time it has been growing strongly under this Government. So if the member wants to worry about housing—and I think he should—he should look squarely in the mirror.Grant Robertson: Supplementary question Mr Speaker—coming back to this decade.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Supplementary question—Grant Robertson.Grant Robertson: After 9 years will he and his Government take some responsibility for the more than 40000 children admitted to hospital every year with preventable diseases caused by the cold damp housing that they live in which his Government has done nothing to fix?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: One of the difficulties Mr Robertson has with getting any cut-through is that his lines bear no relationship to facts. This Government has invested so strongly—so strongly—in insulation for houses. This Government has passed a new law requiring rental houses to be insulated and this Government has had a public service target that has reduced the number of children being hospitalised for these exact diseases. That is the trouble with Mr Robertson's lines and why he gets no cut-through—he makes them up with no relevance to reality. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I need less interjection across the House.Grant Robertson: After 9 years in Government will this Budget finally give schools the operational funding they need or will it be a continuation of the per-pupil cuts that have seen parents asked for more and more money from their pockets to fund the basics in schools?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: This Government has invested more and more in education. It has developed a whole new programme to support our best teachers to be teaching instead of administrating as they used to under the previous Government. This Government is investing more every year in education. When the Budget happens on Thursday the member will find out exactly what we plan to do in education for the next year and with the will of the people for the following 3 years after that.Grant Robertson: After 9 years does he not realise that it is his Government that is not doing a good job and not dealing with social problems and why does he not just get out of the way and let a Labour team take over and start sorting out the job of the shortfalls deficits and half-baked schemes that he has come up with?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I tried to make an obtuse reference to empty rhetoric before but there we have empty rhetoric demonstrated for the House. This is a member who not only refuses to offer any questions that are in relation to the facts but also has absolutely no policy to stand on in this House. Here we are less than 4 months from an election and on all these social issues the Labour Party has nothing new to say—so 9 years in; absolutely nothing to say.Grant Robertson: I seek leave of the House to table Labour's detailed policy in the areas of housing health education police jobs—[Interruption] Well he wanted them.Mr SPEAKER: Order! That information is available to members if they want to see it."