SpeechMARK PATTERSON (NZ First): Madam Speaker thank you for the opportunity to speak on this Budget 2020—and just opportune timely coming on behind the new agricultural spokesman for the National Party. I congratulate him on his new role. I agree with his sentiments actually. We do need to show our farmers the respect that they deserve. We will be relying on them incredibly heavily—as we have for the last 150 years actually—to see this economy on the way through. But the National Party have had a habit over these last three years that I've been in here in talking down the efforts of this Government in terms of supporting our farmers. I will be putting that right in a second. But I think we do need to acknowledge that we will be relying very heavily on our agricultural sector. But I think before we do that we also just have to take stock and acknowledge that this Budget has been delivered against the backdrop of a once-in-100-year global pandemic. The response of the team of 5 million that has been referred to often has been nothing short of magnificent. We are now in an enviable position compared to almost all our international comparators of being able to focus almost totally on our economic recovery. This Budget—I would describe it as a kitchen sink affair. We have thrown the absolute kitchen sink at this situation that we find ourselves in and I will give credit to Cabinet. The Budget process is six to eight months of grinding meetings and detail and that would have been torn up on about 1 March and we would have had to go through a whole new process—well they did have to go through a whole new process—against a fast-evolving backdrop. I think under those circumstances we've seen a Budget that delivers much of what we need which is to keep the wheels on the economy as much as we can in the short term but also deliver some long-term investment into our economy that'll pay back over the long term. So we do have a plan.I'd note the Opposition have mentioned ad nauseam that we don't have a plan. But when they've been challenged on their plan they're yet to show that they've had any plan—apart from pulling the knife out of Simon Bridges' back. They don't seem to have been able to articulate anything else apart from a change of face. Well Todd Muller is respected on this side of the House and is liked and I will acknowledge the previous speaker has done a good job of lifting the profile of agriculture in the debates around this House. He certainly is an example potentially of be careful what you wish for. It does look to be a bit harder than it seems from the backbench being the leader. So we came into this with strong books which is absolutely key to this. We have managed this economy well. We have run surpluses. We did have a debt to GDP of 19 percent and yes that will blow out to somewhere around about 54 percent under Treasury forecasts. But let's put that into some context. The G20 which is the 20 richest nations on earth—they went into this at an 80 percent debt to GDP. So we're starting this on the front foot and the Government has stepped up. I will acknowledge the commentary around small business and particularly in the tourism. I was out last week. I managed to get on the road out through Central Otago Queenstown drove up to Franz Josef and it is a very grim picture in a spectacular part of the country. They are doing it incredibly tough. Just to flesh that out a little bit I stayed in Franz Josef—the Scenic Hotel there—one night. It's probably about a 200-bed hotel; I was the only occupant. So we've got a lot of work to do there. But we do need to get that trans-Tasman bubble. While we can support these small businesses with wage subsidies and the like essentially what they need is tourists and that trans-Tasman bubble will be key. It will be key actually that we all get out there and explore our own country.So this Budget does I think as I said strike a balance between keeping the wheels on in the short term and those long-term investments in infrastructure. Included in the total package: somewhere around about $15 billion in infrastructure which is off the scale compared to what we'd been investing in recent times; and of course the $1.2 billion in rail which we're very proud of here in New Zealand First—to have been a champion of that in the long-term future of our multimodal transport system where rail will play a key role. But I do want to get to the agricultural sector. Despite the grim protestations from across the floor the sector has been doing incredibly well: record exports over the last couple of years and actually holding up pretty good through this COVID situation as well. I note the red meat sector for the first time ever last month topping a billion dollars of exports and that's incredible under the circumstances. I will acknowledge too the meat works the fruit packers the shearers during that initial period of lockdown—those essential services. I would like to acknowledge them because in the dozens and dozens and dozens of calls I was making into those industries I never once heard anyone from any industry push back on the need to react—the imperativeness of looking after their workforce and wanting to comply with whatever rules the Government was asking for from them. In some respects they were pretty tough—particularly in the meat industry where you've got a lot of workers side by side—but they all did their utmost to comply and on most occasions they actually commended the Ministry for Primary Industries on the way that they worked to make and enable that to happen. But in terms of the Budget the previous speaker David Bennett minimised the work that has been going on within this Budget to support agriculture. We've got $193 million in there to continue the Mycoplasma bovis response which is a world-leading initiative. No other country has attempted to eradicate this disease. We're on track—Minister O'Connor announcing those updated figures the other day of just 17 live cases at the moment and another $193 million committed to that total package that is approaching $1 billion. So we are out there supporting our farmers. The $1.1 billion environmental package had significant money that will help farmers. The wilding pines which are sweeping over large parts of our country and our back country—they are getting a significant $100 million investment and the cost of doing it actually goes up 30 percent each year so we need to get in front of this. We're well behind the eight ball and this will help incredibly. Wallabies possums—that sort of pest control—once again we're behind. So this is an absolute opportunity to put some money into some hopefully short-term jobs that will allow people to be in a transitionary phase between careers but still have a job to go to that's absolutely meaningful and will have long-term payback. The money invested into fencing of wetlands and waterways—significant money being invested there and another $100 million into that initiative announced yesterday by Minister Jones out of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). So these are all expenditure lines that will benefit farming and agriculture greatly. Of course it's not about just keeping the wheels on; it is actually about growing the pie. The one thing that hasn't got a lot of traction or visibility in terms of the wider debate is the $216 million that was invested in New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in terms of an increase. We have to grow the pie. We have to be able to export and grow a value-added component and we are now giving our exporters even more support out in the world markets to be able to do just that so we can return those valuable export dollars and the primary sector will probably benefit most of anyone out of that spend. I do agree with the previous speaker that we do need to do more in water storage. The PGF has made a number of announcements. I was in the Hawke's Bay on Monday. I've seen the drought up there firsthand. It is absolutely stark when you see it going into winter. With the paddocks brown and with water storage options on the table there we do have to look much more seriously. Aquaculture is an area that we need to do more in. We need to be growing the pie and we have made some starts but we need to do more. So I am proud to stand behind this Budget. I think we have got those dual imperatives there. We have looked to hold up what we can of the current economy but we have also looked to invest in New Zealand's long-term future and I and New Zealand First are very proud to stand behind this Budget. Thank you.