Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Budgets are absolutely about choices about values and priorities. We can see very clearly through Budget '24 that this Government made the choice not to listen to disabled people families whānau carers and the disability communities across Aotearoa New Zealand because they have been marching in the streets gathering at rallies writing to Ministers and speaking to the media and to many of us on this side of the House about the fact that their primary call was for flexibility of funding to be reinstated when it comes to disability support services. That is not in Budget '24. What we see instead is $1.1 billion over 5 years which will just about keep the lights on as it stands. There is deep disappointment within disability communities to not see flexibility of funding reinstated.I just want to quote from Chris Ford from the Disabled Persons Assembly in an article published by the RNZ who says and I quote Our primary call was for the return of flexibility because having it gives disabled people and whānau the control to determine what supports work for us as individuals. We know from many years of trials that flexibility leads to improved safety and wellbeing outcomes for disabled people." And yet it is that very flexibility that was removed with no heads-up on 18 March and not returned through Budget '24.The other point that I want to make is the uncertainty that many are feeling within disability communities up and down New Zealand because of the disability services review that is under way as well funded through baselines and therefore relevant to the Budget as well. This flies in the face of the catch cry "Nothing about us without us". There are no strong links that are seen by disability communities between the three people on the review panel who they were hoping would actually bring into the mix the need for flexibility of funding when sustainability of funding streams are considered by them.So I do want to point out that of course there's nothing in the Budget for that but it comes from baselines and it's creating a huge amount of uncertainty or as Chris says that the sector is waiting "with trepidation" at the outcome of that disability support review.The other point is the scrapping of minimum wage exemption. That was something that our Government had budgeted for in Budget '. Policy work was under way. This Government has scrapped that and as Chris says "We are very disappointed to see that the new coalition government will not carry through the previous government's commitment to getting rid of this unfair discriminatory policy by 2025. Its continuation will mean that disabled people can be paid as little as $2 per hour (before tax) while working mostly in segregated sheltered workshop environments." It's about 900 disabled people who will be paid about $2 as a result of this. Scrapping it would have sent a strong message and this Government is undoing that.Finally with the time that I have left I wanted to touch on the environment and conservation because we all know that the Department of Conservation (DOC) is already stretched whether it comes to managing threatened species dealing with animal and plant pests and repairing damage from climate-change-fuelled storms. We know that through the briefing to the incoming Minister through the annual review and in fact in a letter that the Hon Tama Potaka sent to the finance Minister that says and I quote "As you'll be aware the mahi that DOC teams undertake and facilitate is at the thin edge of environmental support for the highest conservation value areas of New Zealand." And then he goes on to outline all the ways that Budget '24 could cut funding to DOC.Why didn't this Minister push back on the 6.5 percent cuts to DOC funding for a department that is already so stretched? Instead and I quote from Forest & Bird "Now DOC and other Government agencies the kaitaki guardians of our land soil water threatened species climate fresh water and oceans face devastating cuts too." They've listed all of the cuts and have basically said and I agree that it makes no sense to do this environmentally or economically during a climate and biodiversity crisis.The Jobs for Nature programme alone in 2023 provided jobs for 11000 people while protecting the environment. That's gone. So much under the knife by a Minister who has no ambition for the environment and has clearly said that he's fine with species extinction and that 30 percent marine conservation protection by 2030 is just "an aspiration". Thank you Mr Speaker."