Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): Kia orana. Thank you Madam Speaker. Well as everyone in this House has been saying today we as a country—as a world—have come through a time. So I stand to give the Greens' support for the Appropriation (2020/21 Estimates) Bill.Yes while we have come through COVID while COVID did absolutely shine a massive light on existing crises and problems and challenges that we have long had we also recognise that this Government's Budget 2020 was also a response to some of the new challenges that we have been made aware of that we have a responsibility to confront face on head on. So in my summary of the appropriation bill today I wanted to remind the House that we have been hearing from the people from the world from movements around the whole planet and certainly here in Aotearoa that we need to recognise now more than ever that actually right now is the latest possible time that we can recognise taking all action towards having a stable climate making sure that we have a thriving environment and making sure that everyone has what they need to live decent lives. So the Greens were pleased and worked hard with Ministers and as Ministers across Government to see some of the outcomes and some of the appropriations that we saw in Budget 2020.I also did want to recognise and acknowledge that as a global pandemic came upon us and came to our shores a lot of quick work was done to pull this Budget back together. There was a lot of going right back to the drawing board that very urgently many of us and across our parties had been working on for a year at least—plus—and had been carefully planning all sorts of ideas about how we were going to make good spends with the people's money. Then very quickly we had to change tack quite a bit. We had to step up very quickly; we had to respond. We also realised that due to the global pandemic we were spending up to 10 times more than what we normally would in any one Budget. So this was mammoth work—this was mammoth work.For example I was really proud of the quick work that the Greens were able to work with Government Ministers to announce the $1.1 billion appropriation for Jobs for Nature. I just would like to mention that I heard a bit of pooh-poohing going on from across the Opposition benches of the House tonight just now about these important jobs. So I just wanted to talk a little bit more about what these jobs and what this appropriation actually entails. It will make sure that we are restoring our wetlands and improving—they are the lungs of our earth as well—the health of rivers and estuaries and waterways.The Jobs for Nature fund: that also works and supports councils tourism businesses iwi and hapū and communities to provide these nature-based jobs. It included an appropriation for enhancing nature and indigenous biodiversity something that the world has been tracking downwards on and the amount of indigenous species and the amount of biodiversity that our world has been destroying for decades at an alarming rate. We have to celebrate $154.3 million towards restoring and enhancing indigenous biodiversity. Really pleased to see $147.5 million for pest control and eradication including advancing the Predator Free NZ vision.What is not important about all of this work? That is crucial not just as momentary jobs and employment—especially in the face of COVID-19 job losses—but it actually sets up our country for generations to come. That actually is able to provide decent jobs to provide people with the ability to look after their families and feel like they are in control of deciding what they want to reach from their own lives and their own communities. At the same time making sure we are protecting the most valuable asset that our country has ever had which is our whenua our waters our soil our ngahere our place.That wasn't all. It includes $100 million for extensive wilding conifer control something which for years many good people in our communities around the country have been battling and not always successfully in light of the massive challenge. So putting more support towards doing that work—$40 million for pest and weed control on Crown land as well and $27.5 million to get the ballooning populations of wallabies in the Bay of Plenty Waikato Canterbury and Otago under control.I did want to spend a bit of time in my reply on this Budget appropriations bill speech because we cannot underestimate the infrastructure that these types of jobs are providing including in our regions where yes for some decades if not centuries we have neglected to see the potential for how our regions and our rural communities—which I have had the privilege of growing up in and belonging to—could actually be leading a modern response a modern economy a response to be able to help us all to confront the massive crises of climate change environmental degradation and inequality. It can absolutely come from the leadership and the enduring solutions that our people in our regions and our rural communities have long understood and know best about what their places are able to offer.It didn't stop there. In this appropriations bill we also saw a focus put on housing to make sure that we in this House understand housing to be a core public good and a fundamental human right and not simply just a tradable commodity to increase the wealth for those already wealthy while the majority of this country are finding it hard to put roots down in an affordable warm healthy secure home where they can keep their families and their children connected and forming relationships in their own communities because people can feel stable and secure in the place that they live. So I was very pleased to see $570 million set aside to support the delivery of 8000 new homes—6000 of which will be public housing and 2000 which will be transitional homes—and making sure that we are responding to those families and those people who at this moment are unable to find affordable and permanent housing.We also made sure that there was significant investment in making sure that everyone has warm healthy homes. So we put $56 million towards the Government's insulation and heating programme. We know that around 600000 households are unacceptably damp and cold that that should not be a reality in this country that we have enough to make sure this isn't a reality. So I wanted to highlight just briefly there a couple of the initiatives that we were very proud to have worked on and supported this Government to be able to deliver.I also will mention the extra funding boost for family violence services led by our amazing MP Jan Logie and how we will continue to support the Government to work towards its commitment to end family and sexual violence in Aotearoa in a way that works with people that collaborates across agencies business communities NGOs whānau Māori tangata whenua. This is a world-first way of working from a Government perspective. So I wanted to acknowledge the extra funding and the massive injection of that funding to support the essential family violence services those at the front line who have been doing so well for a long time with barely enough at all.So the Greens are very proud to have supported these initiatives coming through Budget 2020. We also know that there is a lot more to be done. So our first idea and plan out the door was our Poverty Action Plan which provides a guaranteed minimum income so that everyone in this country not in full-time paid work has an income that they can rely on and that we have what we need to be able to provide this security for everyone. It just simply needs to be shared better. Thank you Madam Speaker.