Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. I echo all the sentiments of my colleague Jo Luxton there. I am absolutely proud and it's a real privilege to be able to take a call in this debate on the Prime Minister's statement today. We heard the Prime Minister outline the work that we have been doing and the very ambitious programme that we have in place to build a stronger and fairer country for all New Zealanders. There are many many things to be proud of in this programme. We are also very proud of the new kind of leadership that we are seeing in this Government. It's a new kind of leadership. It's also a fiscally responsible leadership. This Government is running responsible surpluses but at the same time we are meeting those big challenges by investing in them. One of the previous speakers—I think it was the Hon Judith Collins—made an odd comment during her contribution. She questioned this side of the House when we asked the Opposition rightfully to show us the money. I think it's odd to draw attention to the fact that they obviously are unable to show us the money. I did read it in yesterday's New Zealand Herald article. It said National won't … say if [they plan] to create an independent body to cost political parties' policies before an election." Now of course National cannot support this legislation because it would mean transparency. It would mean they have to tell us how they are going to fulfil all their promises and all of their policies. How could they feasibly pay for something when they are going to pay everybody more and when they are going to build four-lane highways all over the country but at the same time give tax cuts? So it doesn't make sense at all. Now I talked about this Government's ambitious programme because it's a far more positive and uplifting story to talk about. My colleague Jo mentioned the lowest unemployment rate in a decade. We are creating a record number of jobs but as the Prime Minister already told us it is not about the numbers. It's about the quality and it's about the wage level of these jobs. We have seen years and years of erosion of employment rights. Now the Hon Nikki Kaye mentioned that actions speak louder than words and yes we saw under the actions from the National Government nine years of a decreasing share of the economy going to working people. At the moment what we're seeing is that less than 40 percent of our economic growth is actually going to working people. Under the previous National Government they cut the pay and working conditions of hard-working Kiwi people. National by doing so has exactly shown what their view is of hard-working Kiwis. They have undermined and they have put us in a race to the bottom but what we have done—this coalition Government—is we have stopped that race to the bottom. We have changed that employment legislation. We are giving New Zealand and its families who have been locked in this low-wage economy an opportunity to get ahead. We are doing the mahi to tackle the issues and our legislation will ensure that New Zealand will grow and prosperity is divided more evenly. Many New Zealanders—as my colleague Jo Luxton mentioned before me—can't make ends meet. They're doing it tough. So one of the very first things we did was we rolled out the Families Package making improvements and lifting the income of over 350000 families. Now we know from feedback that this is making a massive difference to the lives of so many people. After nine years of neglect it is about time that we made a change and we're getting on and making a difference. We announced in December that the minimum wage is going up from 1 April to $17.70 an hour. Again this is benefiting about 209000 workers and their families and that puts us on the way to increasing the minimum wage to $20 an hour by April 2021. This will mean that hard-working Kiwis on the lowest incomes will share in the growth rather than what the previous Government has done—leaving them behind. A common theme that we've heard from low-wage workers is that they're worried about being able to pay the bills pay the basic cost of schooling buy vegetables and buy fruit for their families and they're having to choose between paying the rent or maybe paying bills or paying for groceries for their family. So this Government is making life better for working people. The Hon Peeni Henare mentioned the beautiful Mana in Mahi programme. I too commend Minister Willie Jackson because this is really looking at the people that have been left behind by the previous National Government. It's looking at the 18- to 24-year-olds giving them a future and giving them an opportunity to gain an apprenticeship and a useful qualification to set them on the road to a future.So our Prime Minister has said it already: we are very proud of the work that we have been doing. There is so much more to do but guess what? We are doing just that."