Little AndrewHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well in the face of that tirade there's only one response really: Oh dear!" I might go on to say "How sad." and "Never mind." It is a pity that that member Paula Bennett cannot see the incredible benefits of this incredible Budget produced by an incredible finance Minister the Hon Grant Robertson under the stewardship of our incredible Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.I just want to help that member to cast her mind back and remember a few important things because she talks with great relish about how even when they were elected at the time of the global financial crisis and very shortly after had the Canterbury earthquakes they were able to borrow money and prop things up. Well they were able to borrow money because the Government balance sheet from the previous Government was so strong. The Government balance sheet meant that that Government was in a position to fund through the things that they now complain about being funded oddly enough. But I don't get the other side's argument about this Budget and even within that last speech we heard "They're spending too much; they should be putting some aside and saving it." and then it's "They're not spending enough; they should be spending more."Now what is it—what is it they want? Well the truth is that this is a transformational Budget and I say to this House: welcome to the beginning of the transformation. This is going to be incredible this is going to be great and of course this is the second instalment within six months of this transformational Government. Just before Christmas we had the Families Package and we had the commitment to the first year fees-free for post-school education. This Budget continues the progress. This Budget lays the foundation for an ambitious package of change for the better and the years ahead.You see the thing is this: there is a fundamental difference between the members opposite and the members on this side of the House. You see the members opposite when they are in Government they are concerned about numbers; they are concerned about the big end of town; they are concerned about being cheered on by the banks the finance houses and the incredibly wealthy. They live in hope and they lived in hope for nine years that the fast-rising wealth of the few would start to benefit even just a little bit of the many but it never did. Trickle-down doesn't work and it's not going to work which is why this Government is committed to a better way.You see our way starts with people—not some people but everyone—and a sense of fairness; a sense of equality of opportunity; and a sense that we are in a country where everyone can do well if we steward the nation's resources manage our environment and look after people in the better way that we've been doing. We are a Government that says everyone must have a chance: that everyone must have a chance to stand on their own two feet and that everyone must have a chance to get ahead in life and make their own decisions and make their own choices. Ours is a Government that believes in everyone enjoying the safety and security of a peaceful stable country; one that is at peace with its past. That's what we're about. That's our vision. It starts with people and so this Government has very quickly focused on people. It has enacted the poverty relief measures: the Families Package last year that's already started to kick in with more to take effect from 1 July.With our incredible education Minister the Hon Chris Hipkins we are starting to transform education. We're not lurching into a whole bunch of changes and pulling things out of mid-air like charter schools but we're engaging with people—engaging with parents the communities the teachers and the principals—and actually talking about what a modern 21st century education system looks like and starting to prepare the way. The money in this Budget allocated to education is just a phenomenal achievement particularly around those operations grants because we know what schools have been struggling with. They've been struggling with the fact that operations grants have been frozen for three years with no extra money put in in spite of rising costs for education. So that is a great achievement.It doesn't stop at education. I'm going to come back to education because as justice Minister actually what we do in education is vital if we're going to continue the programme that we've got which is about having a justice system that makes sure that we do our best to keep people out of prison.Let me turn to the other thing about people. We know that the last Government presided over one of the worst housing crises we've ever seen—40000-plus people homeless. That's a 2013 figure; just imagine when we get the figures from the latest census—but 40000-plus people not in their own home most of them in overcrowded housing. Now we have a commitment under the incredible housing and urban development Minister the Hon—Hon Members: Phil Twyford.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Our man Phil Twyford is now embarking on a plan to transform our housing market and the availability of housing and make housing more accessible including for first-home buyers. Long overdue—addressing that core social need to have a roof over your head a place that you can call your own. That's what Governments on this side of the House represent. That's what this coalition Government in joining its forces together with our three parties is doing and is achieving and it's going to make an incredible difference. Already the commitment is that this winter we will significantly reduce the number of people going without a roof over their head during these ugly winter months—what a great achievement.We don't stop at just building houses. We've also got our commitment to health and I know the previous speakers defend what they do—that they had to spend an extra $2 billion on health to pay for a pay claim that they spent five years resisting and rejecting and finally because they lost all the options they had to do something. They cannot claim credit for that. That was the work of some incredible people and incredible unions who brought that together.But now we have under an incredible health Minister the Hon David Clark a commitment to rebuild our health sector and to make health available to those who need it with an emphasis on primary healthcare and increasing the number of those who will get access to free GPs visits—what an achievement. We have a commitment to doing something about the crisis in our mental health system—not lurching around reacting but actually talking to the sector talking to people talking to the families of those who are afflicted with mental health issues and talking to the mentally unwell themselves about what is needed to fix that system up. What a commitment. What a change from what we've had for the last nine years.I want to talk a bit about justice because that's the area that I'm responsible for. We are embarking on the discussion the planning and the debate that is going to transform our criminal justice system so that we stop having a rise in violent crime—which had started under the last Government—we stop this massive increase in our prison population and we actually have a criminal justice system that takes people and says "You've done wrong you're going to be called to account and because for most of you we know that your wrongdoing is the consequence of a bunch of other things in your life we're going to work with you to fix you up so you can return to being a productive citizen again. You can return to make your contribution to live your life in safety and in peace." and says to the rest of the community "This is the way we build safe communities." We'll add the police that will keep our communities safe we'll work with victims and provide better victim support and better victim services than we have now and we'll work with offenders to turn their lives around and make them good again. It won't affect every offender. There are some hardened offenders who will never change and they are the people for whom the prison system is there.But the reason why I celebrate this Budget is because of the commitments that we are making in things like education and in housing. We know—in fact the members opposite know because they had a great MP once upon a time: an MP called Paul Hutchison who chaired the Health Committee and chaired an inquiry into the first thousand days of a new person's life and the importance of those first thousand days and the things that a Government should be doing to make sure the best is provided for new people—new arrivals newborns—to make sure they get a good start in life. That was a National MP who led that amazing project and I had the privilege of sitting on that select committee when Paul Hutchison led it and wrote an amazing report that is the basis of the thinking of this Government and of progressive parties around the world. That's how good it was.He said if we get it right in education if we get it right in early childhood education—as this Budget does—we get it right in the primary schools—as this Budget does—and we get it right in the secondary schools—as this Budget does—then we can do a whole lot more to prevent young people slipping through the cracks and to recognise that a lot of young people need a different style of education a different style of learning to make education relevant to them. Make sure they leave school with good literacy standards and good numeracy standards—that is not just the start of an excellent education system but a start to making sure we reduce future numbers of offenders in our system."