Willis NicolaHon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance): When New Zealanders look back at New Zealand the passing of this Budget will mark a turning point. It will mark a return to responsible economic management a return to showing respect for taxpayers in the way we invest their money a return to driving value for the dollars that the Crown uses on behalf of everyday people. And all of those thing are well overdue because as I stand here today we have an economy which is damaged. It has been damaged by several years of frankly fiscal vandalism and economic mismanagement which has driven a cost of living crisis which is hurting people still today a cost of living crisis which has gone on for three years with inflation well outside of target meaning that prices have been rising so quickly that many New Zealanders simply haven't been able to keep up. Their household costs have been rising faster than their incomes and they have faced massive financial pressure all while the Government taxed them harder and harder and harder.That was a legacy of a Government who chose at a time of extraordinary inflationary pressure not to take their foot off the spending gas but instead to throw spending fuel on the inflation fire who embarked on an extraordinary programme of spending expansion at a time of extraordinary inflation. And the result of that is that inflation in New Zealand has been both higher and has persisted longer than it needed to than it should have than it did in other parts of the world. Not only that—and the harm that that did that high inflation and that pressure on households.But New Zealanders I think will reflect on that period of time and look back and say Well what do we have to show for all that spending?" Because billions upon billions upon billions were spent and what do they have to show for it? Well there are the plans for light rail which graced the front pages of the New Zealand Herald probably dozens of times but never was a metre of track laid. There was $1.2 billion that was invested in the entirely wrongheaded three waters proposal. There was wasteful spending across the board.So in this Budget we have laid down a line and we have said it is time for careful priorities. And I am proud of the things we have chosen to prioritise as a Government. Because here's the place we started: every dollar that we use is a dollar that mum or dad at home or the small-business person could really do with right now. So if we're going to take it from them and use it we better be able to look them in the eye and say we're treating it with respect and we're driving the maximum value for it. When I look people in the eye and I tell them about how we are spending their money they say to me "These are the priorities I have." They say "I want to see investment in our health system I want to see investment in our education system investment in law and order our police our military personnel and infrastructure to drive growth for the future." And here's the other thing they say they want and good on them; they say: "I'd like it to be just a little easier to get ahead to have some money left in my own bank account at the end of each pay cycle."On this side of the House we say "Those priorities that New Zealanders have are our priorities and our Budget reflects them." Because in this Budget we have made a record investment in front-line health services. And no we haven't chosen to prioritise new bureaucracy new layers of management and administration as the other side of the House would have us do; we've chosen to prioritise funding for nurses for doctors for Gumboot Friday mental health services—we have chosen to fund real things that will drive real results for New Zealanders.We have prioritised education because we know that this economy doesn't actually have a future unless we start educating our kids better. And it should be to the shame of the members opposite that they were part of a Government that despite spending millions on education oversaw a decline in achievement not just by the average student but most importantly by those who had the least to begin with. Because when the education system fails our vulnerable we are cancelling cycles of opportunity. I'm proud that in this Budget we are investing in structured literacy we are investing in training teachers for the front line we are investing in better classrooms we are investing in special schools for children whose needs are complex. We in this Budget have put education first and we've got the policies to match that.Then we've said after years of disorder on our streets and in our communities and a Government who thought its role was to make up new excuses and apologies for that to make the gangs out to be some cuddly friendly society to take away the tools that police need to go after hardened criminals to release people from prison even when they threaten the safety of others—we are a Government that says "Enough of that. Our first obligation is to keep our fellow citizens safe." And that means actually backing the police starting with 500 new front-line officers who I saw just this week walking down Lambton Quay in their vests and I felt proud of them and what they are doing—equipping them so that they can have a pay rise. We found a quarter of a billion dollars extra. On top of the pay provisions that the previous Government had offered we said "Actually those police officers on our front line deserve quarter of a billion more." and we put more funding in so that they have the tools.We acknowledge that there are some people in our community who have committed some crimes that are so grievous so unacceptable that in order to keep people safe those people do need to be incarcerated. And we've done away with the pipe dream that was the previous Government's position that if they just stopped building prisons everything would get better—if they just stopped building prisons magically things would solve themselves. Well that little experiment failed and so in this Budget we have provided for new prison places.We want this to be a growing thriving country in which New Zealanders look forward to better jobs higher-paying incomes more choices. And for that to be the case we need to build the infrastructure that supports that. So over these next five years our Government as delivered through this Budget will oversee a record amount of investment in the infrastructure needed for a thriving economy. Not only will Simeon Brown be fixing every pothole he ever met but we will have roads of national significance built to link our regions and our productive sectors and our cities to transport New Zealanders from their place of work to their place of home. We will see a significant investment in school property in flood protection schemes. In a world of more extreme climatic events we are going to work alongside local government to deliver those projects. We are going to prioritise social housing for those in need but not via simply the monolithic Kāinga Ora provider with all the failings it has yet to completely account for but by actually backing community housing providers in the grassroots of their communities to get on and build houses for people in need.In this Budget we haven't just set out a framework that forecasts lower inflation—3.3 percent by the latest number; lower than it was forecast to be on track to allow Mr Orr to do his magic with those interest rates. Not only have we set that better framework for growth but we've actually set in this Budget I think a new message about the way we will spend New Zealanders' money. That message is this: we won't just hold ourselves accountable at Budget time for seeing if we can find a little bit of value there drop a little bit of cost there. We'll do that every day every week every month. Because there is an opportunity cost for every dollar wasted on a bureaucrat that isn't delivering on a project that doesn't get finished on an idea that is never realised. That opportunity cost is more hip operations and better education standards. So we will continuously be looking and this Budget signals that direction at how we can better put New Zealanders' money to good end.In just a week we will deliver 3.5 million New Zealanders the overdue tax reduction they are owed. We've done it through careful budgeting careful management—they deserve it. New Zealand: relief has arrived."