Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I appreciate that. The Prime Minister's statement—I just want to start by quoting a couple of phrases that he said. He started obviously by acknowledging the people and the properties in the North Island that had suffered but he went on to say that we would need to set a new direction for the Government and that we would have our focus squarely on the basics including the cost of living that affecting New Zealanders" and went on to say "We … need to make some tough calls and we will need to prioritise carefully." And just yesterday when questioned in the House he went on to defend the massive blowout in consultants' costs. It's a massive $1.7 billion and counting. Now if you combine this with the fact that the Government has engaged and we've heard it today an extra 14000 public servants one could be forgiven for thinking that there was in fact enough collective wisdom among that staff to do most things that need to be done or researched or perhaps employ staff that have the skill sets that are needed. But no not this Government. There will always be occasions when there will be a need for specialist skills—no question about it—but $1.7 billion? And as the leader of the National Party in his response to the PM's statement said under he said that under a National Government this gravy train will stop—or as John Dutton might say "Take it to the train station." So rather than opposing Chris Luxon has proposed a much better spend for some of that $1.7 billion and that is to invest $249 million into the families of hard-working low and middle income earners and he's going to do that by giving up to a quarter of their childcare costs back in the form of a rebate. That is if a family is earning up to $140000 a year they will get back $75 a week and that will reduce up to a maximum income of $180000 a year. And that's on top of the existing subsidies and benefits such as the 20 hours of free childcare for kids over three. So this is the type of direct benefit to families that we can achieve when we stop the wasteful spending and direct it where it really counts—into the pockets of those hard-working Kiwis. And as I said much of the PM's statement rightly acknowledged North Island families businesses and assets that had suffered as a result of the flooding and the cyclone and we agree that there does need to be a massive investment to rebuild and to clean up. But the residents in West Coast - Tasman know only too well the impact of losing lives homes and land because of weather events. And day by day they clean up they clean out and they start the process of rebuilding their lives and properties. But at the same time they live in hope that the essential works that have been promised will be delivered to them. Now my concern is that this Government has started to allocate funds and give us a broad outline of the type of work that's going to need to be done in the North Island. But what we need to remember is this Government's abysmal track record on delivery. So in Franz Josef in March 29 a storm caused the Waiho River to burst its banks and it took out the Waiho River Bridge and it cut off the only road State Highway 6. The council successfully negotiated with Labour and New Zealand First for $24 million to help protect that land below the Waiho River and they said in late 2021 that there will be a plan in the new year but didn't say what year that was going to be so they still wait. And again in Westport July 21 Westport was inundated. Cabinet is still to consider the $56 million protection scheme that was submitted to the Government. So this is time to prove us wrong and deliver for the North Island communities but I want the Government to also remember the West Coast communities that are still waiting."