White HelenHELEN WHITE (Labour): I had the privilege of going to several events with our finance Minister last week. The first was a business breakfast. It was the day that in fact the news broke that we were growing as an economy and it was a very collegial event. He obviously had the respect of the people at that meeting and they shared a lot of the optimism. They also shared a lot of the values that were coming through in the way that he's leading in this area. The businesses involved—places like Westpac—are looking forward and they're looking to sustainability and they're actually part of a process which demonstrates the leadership of the Government because actually we're changing the way we're thinking we're changing the way we're investing and we're changing the way that we're building this country.This is the fourth Wellbeing Budget and that word wellbeing" is something that I don't think the Hon Grant Robertson gets attached to as much as perhaps our leader Jacinda Ardern because Jacinda epitomises a lot of that caring philosophy. But actually it is absolutely clear when you read this Budget that that's Grant's philosophy too because that is where you can see the devil in the detail and that's the difference between one side of the House and the other.What I just heard from Michael Woodhouse was very interesting. It was a playback to the idea that actually what he thought essentially was the same as what David Seymour thinks: essentially that hard work is equated with high income. I have lived as an employment lawyer for 25 almost 30 years and found that to be utterly untrue. It's just not correct. Yes people work hard and they can earn a lot of money and in my profession that's a really good story for them personally but actually the fact is it's really really important that the Government lead in a way which focuses on those across our economy and makes sure that everybody is supported in the economy because actually it's really important to the wellbeing of everyone that the people in our lower and our middle incomes are actually supported well because they're our brothers they're our sisters even if we are fortunate enough to earn a high income. They are our people too. That was absolutely essential to the way that this economy was managed during COVID and it's essential to the way I want to see it managed into the future. And it's absolutely hard-baked into this Budget.I just want to talk about some of those things because I think this Budget makes a really interesting decision. It tackles root causes. It isn't afraid of systemic change where that's necessary but it also deals with detail so it catches people before they fall. Examples of that are things like health reform. Yes we might all be tired after COVID but boy did we learn a lesson. Our hospitals need to be better. We don't need leaks in our roof—and yes Mr Woodhouse there were leaks in those operating theatres in Dunedin that I was hearing about when I was campaigning the first time and National was the Government back then. So those leaks were there. They needed to be fixed. We needed a health system that was fit for purpose and we did not have one. This Budget cements that change but it also does things like provides for ambulances and it provides for emergency helicopters.The same is true of something like the cost of living. Yes it's very important that we gave people a payment in the right brackets to actually support them with buying cheese while it goes up but it's also important that we actually look at the duopolies that have been making it much much harder for all New Zealanders for a long time. Apparently a million dollars a day is coming out—that's above and beyond any justifiable kind of profit in those supermarkets. So we need systemic change and we can't be afraid of it and we can't be afraid of actually tackling an issue like that. That's not hard-working New Zealanders earning more; that's actually not OK because it impacts on everyone. It makes those blocks of cheese more expensive it makes our groceries more expensive and it actually hurts ordinary New Zealanders who are working hard too. They just happen to be our nurses. They happen to be our teachers. They happen to be our fish factory workers—oh I would never want to work in a fish factory; really hard job—so is working as a meat processor. One of the most horrible jobs I've ever come across is meat processing—worked for a lot of those workers over the years wouldn't want to swap it; would rather be a lawyer quite frankly even if they were paying me the same money. So in that circumstance we need to make sure that our system supports those people.The police force: our police force has got more police than it has ever had. That is very important in this time. Our $94 million for gangs is a specific thing specifically being done for getting rid of the problem of gangs—$94 million's been put in but so has the broader issue of big money to support our police force.Climate change adaptation: $2 billion. It's a lot of money. It's a huge part of a speech and I apologise for not giving it more time. I'm pretty sure I've got a colleague who's very passionate about this who may cover that in more detail.Our crisis is of course in our transport sector. So one of the things that I'm proud of the Ministry of Transport doing is actually the electric car subsidies. I was pretty sceptical at the beginning; actually it's been incredibly useful—totally sold through the process. It's actually worked so well. It's going to transform our fleet over the next little while. The uptake has been through the roof. We're going to actually get all those cars transferred over because it's really really valuable once those cars become second-hand and ordinary people start to be able to buy them.For all the whingeing about utes we have some coming on the market because we're demanding them. It turns out that all the naysayers who want to say something like "Oh we're just at the bottom of the world; they'll never give them to us."—it turns out that's not true. You actually have to create a demand and then you get these things and that's what's happening. We're transforming that fleet and it would not happen under National.We have also got something like the winter energy payment. Now that's actually a Labour invention and I am really proud of it. You know my dad is 91 and the other day he said to me "You know it's not going to cover all the bill but it's so nice to have the support that somebody actually has noticed it." My daughter she gets the half-price public transport and she also got the cost of living payment. She's on a low income. Those two things are actually going to her and actually that helps me. It helps me because I don't have to support her in the same way.Hon David Bennett: You are supporting her—you're paying your tax—where does the money come from off a tree?HELEN WHITE: She stands on her own two feet and she's dignified and she is using public transport in a way that perhaps Mr Bennett never would because actually that's her culture now and she's proud of it. We've moved her into the public transport mode for a long term and so I am very proud of that.I also talked to some girls at Auckland Girls' recently who told me that that half-price transport makes a huge difference to them because their families are out in South Auckland and they travel to school and their families are quite large. All of those kids in that family get half-price transport and they get to school at half the cost they used to and guess who that affects! It affects their hard-working parents—their hard-working ambitious parents who've sent them to Auckland Girls' for all the right reasons. We're giving them support and I'm so glad we are.We are also feeding a whole lot of kids who need feeding in the schools and that is a hugely important thing. I don't know why Mr Bennett's sniggering because I'm pretty sure that National was quite into the idea of lunches in schools too. I am a total convert to that—Hon David Bennett: They go into rubbish bins.HELEN WHITE: —and I don't think they're going in rubbish bins at all Mr Bennett. I think that those lunches are making a huge difference in terms of supporting our poorest families and it's no laughing matter. It's something that actually makes a difference out there. You might hate it but it's true. I commend the bill to the House."