Edmonds Barbara; Salesa JennyBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Mālō e lelei Madam Speaker. It is really good to have you back in the House. Unfortunately there is no mute button when you're in the House. So unlike the contribution from the member before it would have been good to be able to press the mute button.So it's great to be able to take a call on the Budget Policy Statement and to recommend that the House note the report. As a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee that reviewed the Budget Policy Statement again can I add my thanks to the 46 submitters who came and provided submissions on the various points within the statement. As members will be aware the Budget Policy Statement commences the Budget cycle and sets out the Government's strategy and policy goals for Budget 2022 which is on 19 May this year. I think though what is most important about this year's Budget Policy Statement is the very first sentence in the forward by our Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson. This forward was written in December 2021 and I quote Budget 2022 is being written in the continuing shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around the world as countries seek to open up a fourth wave of the virus is taking hold and the Omicron variant has emerged. In New Zealand we are managing our transition to a new framework to minimise the effects of COVID-19 and protect our population as vaccination rates increase and we seek to reduce restrictions."The Minister is certainly showing his Nostradamus qualities very strongly on many platforms having successfully picked the Opposition leadership and finance spokesperson change in his speech on this debate back in April 2021. Yes in April 2021 he picked Christopher Luxon as the Leader of the Opposition and Simon Bridges as the finance spokesperson. But perhaps it is less about being psychic but actually more that the Minister is a careful and prudent Minister of Finance having carefully drafted the Budget Policy Statement that reflects the Government's strategy and has proven to be a successful approach to managing the health impacts of this virus whilst still keeping the economy going.Budget 2022 will make progress towards the goals the Government set at the start of the current parliamentary term and the submissions received on the statement support these goals. Briefly they are: continuing to keep New Zealand safe from COVID-19; accelerating the recovery and rebuild from the impacts of COVID-19; laying the foundations for the future including addressing key issues such as our climate change response housing affordability and child poverty. As noted in the statement we are lifting the operating allowance to a one-off $6 billion per year for Budget 2022 to invest in major programmes. The allowances will then reduce to $4 billion at Budget 2023 and then $3 billion in Budgets 2024 and 2025. This increase is designed to ensure we forge ahead with the major reform programmes that will have long-term benefits for New Zealand. The remainder of the allowances will cover significant cost pressures and fulfil our manifesto commitments. I'd like to spend a moment on one of these key reforms and that is the health reform. There is need for substantial investment to ensure that Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority are established on a secure and stable footing and are able to address the pressing health sector needs. For Pacific people the greater focus on primary and community care will serve us well. There is longstanding evidence that the DHB-based system has not delivered equitable outcomes across the country for Māori and Pacific peoples and particularly for those in rural areas. Māori and Pacific people are twice as likely to die young from conditions that could have been treated and being Māori or Pacific determines what sort of treatment you receive. The establishment of a new Māori Health Authority to drive hauora Māori and commission health services directly in the creation of a dedicated public health agency are the steps that we're taking to reduce fragmentation address the challenges caused by historic underfunding and support the structures that will enable the health system to improve outcomes for New Zealanders.The healthcare service that a person receives should never be dependent on where you live. In our future health system instead of that postcode lottery which determines the care that people can access we will have a better balance of national consistency for hospitals and specialist services and local tailoring of primary and community care. This will improve care quality and equity while ensuring the services you receive close to your home reflect the needs of your community.But what concerns me the most is the alternative as argued by the opposite side of the House. The Opposition has proposed tax cuts to the top rate but the maths to pay for this doesn't add up. Now that they want to spend the operating allowance the problem is they have not accounted for future years. The $3 billion cost expected in 2024 and 2025 for their tax cuts would eat up all of the $3 billion of new operational expenditure for future years which I set out earlier in the speech. This would leave no room to increase expenditure on the likes of health as our population ages; education; or salaries for nurses and police.And yet unlike the other side of the House that sees the mentioning of the cost of living as a KPI for their MPs as noted by Chris Penk yesterday in one of his speeches we on this side of the House though have worked consistently to increase and focus support for low and middle income earners since we came into this Government in 2017. That's why we've seen a $5 increase in the minimum wage benefiting around 300000 workers. That's why we've increased Working for Families changes that would lead to 346000 people better off by an average of $20 each week. That's much more than the $2.15 proposed for those on lower-income rates. We've created the winter energy payment starting again on 1 May benefiting over a million New Zealanders during the winter months. We made the largest across-the-board increases in benefit income since the 1940s. And probably something for the ACT Party who noted that we haven't done anything for primary school teachers well since 2017 there's been a 16 percent increase for primary school teachers. We've increased the pay of new police officers by 19 percent since 2017 and 21 percent for new nurses. The Government's plan is providing targeted support to New Zealand families to deal with the cost of living while also investing in critical services and importantly keeping a lid on debt. So I summarise my contribution: Budget 2022 is being written in the continuing shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government's strategy has proven to be a successful approach to managing the health impacts of the virus while keeping the economy going. This will be our fourth wellbeing Budget and the Labour Government is committed to achieving its policy goals using an approach that's designed to drive investments to improve New Zealand's living standards by tackling longstanding system challenges as well as addressing the pressures immediately in front of us. Wellbeing means giving people the capabilities to live lives of purpose balance and meaning to them. As the Minister of Finance has said earlier today there are no easy choices when you're in Government and we believe we've got the balance right. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call the Hon Louise Upston."