Genter Julie Anne: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGenter Julie Anne: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11497. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): I moved to New Zealand in part because I love the land. I love the mountains the forests the beaches. But I also love the people. What I noticed about New Zealand compared with America is that New Zealanders really care about fairness and they care about looking after those who are the most vulnerable in society.My parents first came to visit me here in New Zealand 10 years ago. They remarked how they did not see any people sleeping on the streets. Coming from Los Angeles they were used to seeing the impacts of horrendous inequality and a lack of a social safety net. It is very common there for people to be living under bridges in cardboard boxes and people are regularly bankrupted because they cannot afford to pay for health care. My parents thought it was wonderful that homelessness was so unusual in New Zealand because New Zealand had a social safety net and provided homes and shelters for those in need. When my parents came back to visit this year they could not believe how much had changed since this National Government has been in power. After 8 years there is an ongoing housing crisis. There is a two-speed economy that is leaving the most vulnerable behind and a growing number of people without homes who are left with no choice but to sleep on the streets or in cars.The Budget should have addressed both the housing crisis and growing inequality. It should be upholding that core value of New Zealanders which is fairness. A fairer tax system would tax the capital gains from investment properties the same as any other income is taxed. It is not right that people who go to a job have to pay tax on their income but people rich enough to own multiple investment properties pay no tax on the capital gains from that income. That is not fair. A simple change like that would help reduce the growing concentration of wealth in a smaller and smaller group of people and it would mean that more homes would be available to first-home buyers.The Budget could have introduced protection for renters which is something that is common in every other OECD country. There should be security of tenure. There should be a warrant of fitness on rental properties that ensures that every child has a warm dry house to live in even if their parents rent instead of own.Most important this Budget should have invested more money in building State houses. If we have a supply shortage the Government needs to step in and fill that gap urgently. The number of State houses per capita is at a record low here in New Zealand and that is part of the reason for the rise in homelessness—that is part of the cause. If we do not do something about it more people will be on the streets and living in cars. If we build more houses we can end homelessness. It is really that simple. It is housing first; it has been demonstrated around the world.This Budget could have made real strides towards tackling climate change by putting a price on climate pollution and that is fair. Polluters should pay for the costs that they are imposing on society. It should not be left to taxpayers and the rest of us to carry the weight while they make profits on our losses through polluting our atmosphere and our waters. Not only would it be more fair to put a price on that carbon pollution but that revenue could be recycled into a tax cut returned to families from the bottom so that everybody benefits. That would make our tax system fairer and it would help transition towards a low-carbon economy and green jobs. That is what is needed for the long-term future of New Zealand.The Budget could have introduced much more logical investment in transport infrastructure which would result in not only safer roads and cheaper transport but also a massive reduction in climate pollution.The National Government does nothing but give us excuses about why we cannot afford to solve the housing crisis why we cannot take action on climate change and why we cannot protect our rivers or get kids out of poverty. The National Party is the party of protecting the status quo. It is protecting the elite it is protecting the rich and it is making sure that the rich keep getting richer while the rest of the country is left behind. It is leading to a more unequal New Zealand. That is not fair. It is not smart. I do not believe that is in line with the values of most New Zealanders.The truth is we can be doing something to address all of these issues. We can and we must. The Green Party has shown how we can do this through a wide variety of policies that are entirely practical simple and sensible. We need your help to make this happen. Thank you.Steffan Browning: Mr Assistant Speaker—split call.