Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): It's a privilege to take a call in this debate on the Appropriation (2016/17 Confirmation and Validation) Bill and to contribute in this annual review debate focusing on the economic development and infrastructure sector. Looking at the different sectors we're dealing with under this particular heading there are a couple of sectors I would like to make some comments on particularly in the workplace relations and safety and transport areas.Now we've heard a lot of times the mention of the economy doing really really well but what I would like to say is it's not just about having a job. The fact that there has been record job creation is not something to be celebrating just on its own. It's not just about the quantity of the jobs; it's actually also about the quality of those jobs and it's low-paid and insecure work that we don't want people to have.This is not a wonderful economy when we see the productivity going nowhere we see unemployment stuck in a rut and we see insecure work models pretty much becoming the norm. We've seen workers' rights being eroded over the years and as a result what we see in the numbers is that working people and their families are receiving a declining part of the income share. Working people are working harder they are getting less return for their work and what we've seen is the creation of the working poor. We see an increase in the amount of people and families who can't afford to make ends meet—and it doesn't matter how many hours they put in—and an increasing number of people living in cars and tents and under bridges. So this is not a New Zealand that we should be settling for. This can't be the norm and that is why it's so important that we get a change through our employment relations.We need to ensure that we back the Kiwi workers. It's the right to join a union and it's the right to bargain collectively that aren't privileges. They are actually internationally recognised rights and that's for good reason because there is an imbalance in the working relationship and that imbalance has only really been getting worse over the last few years with the passing of legislation. Now with our changes to employment legislation we are stopping this race to the bottom—a race that allows bad employers to undermine the good employers allows unfair competition and makes it harder for our good employers to offer those good jobs decent terms and conditions and fair wages.I also want to talk a little bit about the underfunded infrastructure. Under the previous Government we've seen meagre surpluses and tax cuts taking priority over investment in vital infrastructure. We are seeing New Zealand hospitals—we talked about it today—affected by mould asbestos sewage and power cuts and we see district health boards nationwide that now need billions of dollars put into them due to the significant capital investment shortages that we've seen from the previous Government.We're dealing with a massive under-investment in our regions. The previous National Government has been cutting down on the spending for local roads in the regions just to be able to build bigger and larger motorways. In fact the figures show that 40 percent of the National Government's budget was spent on State highways and the regions have been left behind when it comes to investing into the transport network.So without any thought going into investment in the supporting transport infrastructure with traffic that's already not coping it will only get worse and worse. We're seeing clogged roads we're missing the buses and trains and while the previous Government had a plan it was unfunded and their plan pretty much left us a $5.9 billion funding gap for this Government to resolve.So apart from failing to unlock the economic advantage of so many of these regional areas there's also a very tragic safety record which is getting worse and worse with increasing roading fatalities on New Zealand roads. The previous Government should have been investing in safety on our New Zealand roads rather than focusing on building those massive four-lane highways. So this Government is having to address the neglected problems of the past because things are simply so bad that we cannot go on with the status quo. Thank you.