Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Madam Speaker thank you very much. First I would also on 15 March like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the victims of the terrorist attack on the mosques in Christchurch and their families and the wider community of Christchurch as well. This is a challenging and difficult day for people and I want all of those in the Canterbury area and all of those in the wider community—especially our Muslim community—who have been affected by this to know that our aroha comes from this House to them.When I think about the Budget Policy Statement for this year I think about how quickly the world moves because we put this statement out on 14 December 2022 and here we are nearly two or three months later having to deal with the impacts of a severe cyclone and the flooding that afflicted the northern part of the country around Auckland Anniversary Weekend. We have become used as we put together Budgets to events occurring as we are doing that and once again we find ourselves in the position of needing to not only use this Budget Policy Statement to put the Budget together but to adapt to what has occurred in our country. This set of weather events is significant. They will have a significant impact on the lives of many New Zealanders over the next few years. Having visited a number of the regions where the cyclone has hit and the flooding has occurred people's lives have been devastated their businesses have been destroyed and communities have been cut off and still remain today in some cases cut off. The human toll of these weather events is enormous and as a Government we have responded rapidly to support people in that regard. And I would note in that regard that today we've extended our support for small businesses in the affected regions by a further $25 million to enable grants of up to $40000 per business to be given out to those who have been impacted and affected. That is the kind of short-term emergency support that we've been able to deliver which I think tots up to a little over $400 million now. But the significance of this disaster is in its impact on our infrastructure as a country. And we will over the course of the next few years face a multi-billion dollar bill to make our infrastructure not only back to where it was but more resilient. And as the Prime Minister said in the days after the cyclone not only do we have to build back better we have to build back smarter. We have to make sure that resilience is at the core of what we do when it comes to our infrastructure. And the Budget Policy Statement indicates that the Government already had in train a massive investment in infrastructure. One of the things I'm particularly proud of is that when we did come into office we started to turn around the infrastructure deficit that we had inherited and we are now spending over the course of the next five years around about $60 billion on New Zealand's infrastructure—a massive increase from what we inherited.The reality of the cyclone is we now have to do more. But that is the right thing to do. But it's also associated with some challenging conversations for New Zealanders about how we ensure that we are resilient to future extreme weather events how we work with communities to be more resilient and in some cases to consider the future of those communities or households within them in terms of whether they can withstand the extreme weather events we're now seeing more of. So that set of events and our response to it now colours what happens with the Budget when we deliver it in May.But the core of what we are doing remains the same and that is to produce another Wellbeing Budget. And it's interesting—even hearing the Opposition spokesperson just now—the change that we've made to Budget Policy Statements over the years that we have been in office because when I came into office I found them to be very dry documents that didn't really tell us a lot about what the Government intended to do with its Budget and in particular what that meant because it's all very well to say the numbers and the amounts of money that we're putting in but a Wellbeing Budget requires the Government of the day to be able to express that and what it will mean for people's lives. And the chair of the committee ran through what are called the capitals. It's a framework created by economists. I like to talk about it as the people the environment the money and our communities—they are the four elements of what make up wellbeing. And so the Budget Policy Statement now reflects that in a way that we haven't seen before and I'm very proud of those changes. What this Budget Policy Statement and the half-yearly update tell us is that New Zealand is one of the countries in the world that is the best positioned to deal with what is going to be a challenging and difficult 2023. We knew when we produced the document it would be challenging and difficult—and all the more so now. But globally we are seeing a significant slowing of the global economy. The IMF in their monthly economic outlooks throughout 2022 reduced their global growth forecasts for 2023. They effectively halved them actually. So around the world those challenges are being faced. We've seen the geopolitical conflicts with the US and China but obviously the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We've seen the COVID hangover of supply chain constraints. We are in a very volatile world but our Government is proud of the fact that we've made sure that we are as resilient to that as possible. We have had strong GDP growth over the course of the last few years. Our economy is bigger than it was before COVID and that sets us up well to deal with the potential of slowdown there. Unemployment is at historically low levels: 3.4 percent. We've got 2.8 million New Zealanders in work—that's 2.8 million New Zealanders going out and earning money and feeding their families and that is a record number. Our levels of debt are among the lowest in the developed world and that's important because it gives us the resilience to be able to deal with the shocks that come and to be able to deal with the challenges of 2023.Inflation is a problem around the world and there would be some validity to some of the concerns that the Opposition finance spokesperson was raising if it weren't for the fact that every other country in the world is facing those as well. We are in fact the 11th lowest in the OECD at the end of the December quarter for inflation. Now that doesn't stop things being tough for families—they are tough—but it is a global phenomenon. And as a country and as a Government we have worked hard to be able to support people as that occurs. I'm also proud of the fact that we are a Government that values making sure that New Zealanders are rewarded well for their hard work. And wages have risen in this country and we heard in the House today earlier the Prime Minister in an answer to a question talking about the fact that since 2017 after-tax wages are in fact up by 2.6 percent. We actually know that wages have by and large kept up with inflation across the time of the Government and are forecast to continue to do so in the documents that we are discussing today. And if people really believe in making sure that wages rise and that we look after New Zealanders a litmus test for that is how people feel about increases to the minimum wage. What we've seen from this Government is a consistent commitment to lifting that minimum wage to make sure that the families who are being raised on the minimum wage can look after their people and look after their communities. Consistently we've heard opposition to it and even yesterday we heard some bizarre stuff about whether or not those people actually are working people actually are working hard which the Prime Minister responded to. So I'm proud of the fact that wages have lifted. This is a challenging time for many New Zealanders but we are well set to be able to deal with that. The remainder of the Budget Policy Statement focuses on what will be in Budget 2023 and the critical priority there is the cost of living because everybody knows that we have to make sure that we look after New Zealanders as we go through this cost of living crisis. Some parties have actions for that; others simply have words for it. In our case even since this policy statement was finalised we have redoubled our efforts extended out the fuel excise duty and half-price public transport and we will continue to find ways to support New Zealanders through this. It's also important that during that time we make sure that the fiscal picture stabilises. We did invest a lot of money during the COVID period to support New Zealanders.I would say to those interjecting on the other side of the House—in fact to one of them in particular—that time and again during the COVID period I heard calls from the Opposition to spend more money than we were spending in our COVID response. We spent that money and we spent that money wisely Mr Woodhouse on making sure we saved tens of thousands of lives and making sure that we kept people and their businesses going. We will continue to be careful about our spending and the Budget Policy Statement indicates a reduction in the overall Government consumption that we are doing in the coming years. The other two focuses within the Budget for 2023 will be on making sure we get the basics right: health education and infrastructure. And I do note the comments of the Opposition finance spokesperson who said that we had already spent a chunk of the Budget. That's the health funding. She doesn't want us to do the health funding. That's what she just told us. The other part of the Budget plan is the execution of our economic plan to have a high-wage low-emission economy that gives economic security and that looks forward to a future where New Zealanders have those high-wage jobs based on our productivity and based on making sure that we give people a fair share. I am extremely proud of our record. This has been a tough time for New Zealanders. They have worked hard to make sure we get to the place we are now. This Budget will continue to support them in that.