Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): That was a fairly solid leadership bid there from the Hon Paula Bennett. Although I strongly advise her not to use the Collins Dictionary—because I think if you look up in the Collins Dictionary the meaning of the word utu" you might find that member's name possibly under there.I thank all members of the House for their contributions to the Budget debate. It is an important part of our system that we have a robust analysis of the Budget in this House. I've heard some magnificent speeches given mostly from this side of the House I have to say but I also do acknowledge those on the other side of the House who have contributed.On that note—just to diverge briefly—I do want to acknowledge Amy Adams for her announcement today. She has dedicated herself to public service for well over a decade was a Minister in the last Government and as I noted earlier on today was part of an historic move to expunge convictions for people who were convicted before homosexual law reform; so I want to put on the record today my appreciation for that and my acknowledgement of her service in this House. I wish her well for the future.This Budget is fundamentally different from every Budget that has gone before in New Zealand. We promised at the outset of this process to focus on the long-term wellbeing of New Zealanders. I have news for the members opposite—that is as I have travelled around New Zealand over the last few weeks talking about the Budget time and time again what I've heard from New Zealanders is finally there is a Government taking mental health seriously. Finally after all these years one of the biggest issues that has faced New Zealanders in terms of their wellbeing is actually being looked after. I want to give credit to Dr David Clark the Minister of Health who at the core of that package has come up with something that will change the lives of New Zealanders that will save the lives of New Zealanders: and that is a new frontline mental health service—Hon Dr Nick Smith: What happened to your suicide target?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: —so that wherever we are in New Zealand we know that if there are issues for us or our whānau or our friends we will actually be able to support those people to get the help they need at the front line. That $455 million investment will pay off time and time again.Dr Smith is yelling out about suicide prevention services—$40 million in this Budget to finally actually begin the process of supporting New Zealanders who find themselves in those situations. But more than that: taking addiction services seriously finding more residential prices for people who need support in that area making sure that we enhance our nurses in schools programme making sure that we actually deal with the addiction and mental health issues of people who are currently in prison. We know that if we can actually get to the root causes of crime we can actually make sure not only that those people don't reoffend again but they come back and join us in society in a way that means they can contribute positively. Minister Kelvin Davis has produced I think one of the big step changes that are in this Budget in the way in which we focus on people in prison being supported to not reoffend again. I want to acknowledge Kelvin Davis for the terrific work that he did.On the priority around improving child wellbeing I do want to acknowledge what Marama Davidson said before. We have in front of us the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. Again this is not a Government afraid to face up to the big challenges that are in front of us; and in this Budget we take meaningful steps to address that. For example we are moving to the indexation of benefits to the average wage—again the meaningful contribution that will make to people's lives is recognised as I go right around New Zealand.So also is the decision to stop so-called voluntary school donations. Actually right across the country those in decile 1 to 7 schools know that they can actually bank on this Government. I want to read what one school principal said: "As a citizen of Aotearoa I want a Budget that is driven by values that result in a quality life for every person who lives here." She went on to say: "The school donation change means that my school will be better off by $40000." The most the school had ever received in donations was $2000. This principal went on to say: "So much in this Budget will start to move us to a country that is more equitable compassionate respectful tolerant and rich—in the widest sense of that word."What that lot over there don't understand is that being wealthy and being rich in a country is not just about money. Yes we want to be prosperous but we also want to be rich as people. We want to be rich in terms of our environment. We want to be rich in terms of our communities. The myopic view of the other side of the House of what constitutes success is going to mean that they stay there for a very very long time because what they're missing is that New Zealanders want a Government that values our overall wellbeing. They want a Government that is investing in children. They want a Government that is investing in making sure that our mental health system works properly.I am also proud of the priority in this Budget that says that we can support Māori and Pasifika aspiration because time and time again when the evidence had shown that we needed to do better by Māori and Pasifika populations the previous Government ignored that. Well this Government's not doing that—nearly half a billion dollars of initiatives to support Māori development a big boost for Whānau Ora and a big boost for languages.I am proud to say that on this side of the House the coalition Government has come together to say that we can do universal funding—and we are—and we can do targeted funding where we know that that works. I know among the Pasifika community as well there's a lot of support for the initiatives that we're taking there too.The priority where I think a lot of New Zealanders will see the long-term benefit is our work to build a more productive nation. I want to acknowledge my colleague David Parker for the work that he did to produce the $300 million fund that is going to lift the prospects of entrepreneurs in New Zealand and make sure that venture capital stays and flows through the New Zealand economy—I believe that will make a massive difference. A huge investment in innovation. A huge investment in transitioning to a new low-carbon economy.Then there are the practical things. I was at the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce—perhaps you might not think of it as the most welcoming of places for a Labour finance Minister but at that event the first thing they were saying is: "What's Simon up to?" The second thing that they were saying to us is: "This is a Budget that supports productive business. This is a Budget that's focused on a 21st century economy."It's the small things in a Budget that can matter. The Business Connect programme: a single platform for business to interact with Government. It has been asked for for years; never came from the supposed party of business over there but this Government is delivering on that. I am extremely proud of the fact that we're doing that.Then there are the big investments in our infrastructure that are contained in this Budget. Today we were down at the Wellington Railway Station with the four tenors: myself Minister Jones Minister Peters and Minister Twyford—thankfully Minister Jones was the only one who sang today. At that announcement we were talking about the practical difference that more than a billion dollars of investment in our rail system will make in this country. On the other side of the House they neglected rail. They didn't care about the decline of our rail system. Today Simon Bridges was interjecting saying: "Oh it's a drop in the ocean." It's a billion dollar bigger drop than what that Government did at any point. We know this will need a sustained commitment—this will need a sustained commitment to rail. But on this side of the House we have three parties in this Government who believe in rail—believe in the importance of it for our climate change goals for improving productivity for creating jobs and for connecting the regions of New Zealand back with the cities of New Zealand.We've made a big change in this Budget to a multi-year capital allowance so we can plan ahead properly. Schools know what they're going to be getting in terms of buildings for the next four or five years. The construction sector knows what they're going to be getting for the next four or five years. In the health sector we've got two $850 million capital spends. The last lot put virtually nothing in year on year.This is a Budget that will transform New Zealand. This is a Budget that is about the overall wellbeing of our population. That means that in New Zealand we truly value the contribution of every New Zealander and we measure our success alongside the values of New Zealand that yes we believe in prosperity but we also believe in making sure our environment is clean and protected. We believe in our people and we will invest in our people. We believe in strengthening our communities. That is what wellbeing is. This is the first Wellbeing Budget and I am extremely proud of it and there will be many many more to come from this coalition Government.The question was put that the following amendment in the name of the Hon Simon Bridges be agreed to: replace the words after "That" with: this House has no confidence in this bungling and incompetent Government because they are overseeing a slowing economy declining job creation a rising cost of living and they are failing to deliver on their promises to New Zealanders."