3. Question No. 3—FinanceNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement from May 2022 that Even if the inflation spike is expected to be temporary this doesn't take away from the significant impact it is having" and given inflation has now persisted outside the Reserve Bank target range for 21 months does he now regret his decision to increase new Government operating spending by $38.7 billion in the 2022 Budget? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I stand by my statement in its full context. In answer to the second part of the question the member is well aware that rising inflation has been a global issue. The Government needs to maintain that balanced approach to be fiscally sustainable whilst also supporting New Zealanders. I can say to the member that I most certainly do not regret putting in $11.1 billion of funding for a new multi-year funding framework for a nationwide health system after years of neglect of funding; I do not regret putting in place $2.85 billion of operating and capital funding for education to make sure that our students our teachers and their wider whānau have resources and schools that they can be proud of; I do not regret putting in place $2.9 billion for mitigating and adapting to climate change and reducing emissions after years of cheap talk rather than action in that area; and I do not regret putting in place $1 billion of cost of living initiatives so that low and middle income New Zealanders can be helped through a difficult period of time. Nicola Willis: Does he stand by his decision to embark on a Government "spendathon" in Budget 2022 and can he seriously claim that New Zealand taxpayers have got value from every dollar he added to the inflation fire? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It's interesting to note and I'll take the member back to April and May of 2022 where her leader—and indeed her—committed to spending the same amount of money that the Government was spending. But—but—in the middle of doing that they committed to $11 billion worth of tax cuts that would target the wealthiest New Zealanders the most inflationary thing they could possibly think of. Nicola Willis: Why has inflation in the United States Canada and Singapore fallen heavily from their peaks last year but inflation in New Zealand has barely budged? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Currently on the latest numbers which are consistent at the end of the December quarter New Zealand has the 10th-lowest inflation rate out of the 38-odd OECD countries. This is a global issue. As the member noted in the quote that she helpfully put in the question whatever debate we might have about comparisons I accept that for New Zealanders right now the cost of living is tough. That's why this Government has prioritised it that's why we've got increases in place right across the board for low and middle income New Zealanders and as the Prime Minister has pointed out those increases and that support to actually help people with the cost of living has been opposed by the National Party. Nicola Willis: Does he think the Prime Minister agrees with his characterisation of Budget 2022 in answer to his first question that every dollar was well spent and if that is the case why has he wound back on so many of the extravagant spending promises that that Minister committed to? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: If the member listened carefully to the answer I gave the examples I used for example in health spending are ones where I know the Prime Minister is extremely proud of the investments we've made. He's already indicated in his answers today how proud he is of the fact that when we came in we inherited a massive deficit in our education infrastructure but we actually invested in repairing that. So I know that this Government had to come in and had to spend to make up for what National did for nine years to deal with the COVID pandemic. But I come back: if the member wants to go back to May 2022 she was committing to spending the same amount of money with a worse inflationary impact. Nicola Willis: Is he aware that the official measure of mortgage arrears has hit its highest level since the 2020 lockdown and how many more New Zealanders does he expect to go under as they switch to vastly higher interest rates this year? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I have indicated the pressure of the cost of living on New Zealand households is something that we are acutely aware of. That's why we are prioritised to act to support New Zealand households through this period of time. The member knows that inflation is a global problem and in this country we are managing it to support New Zealanders through this difficult time. Nicola Willis: Why does he continue to defend his big-spending economic management approach when it has led to prices growing faster than wages and growing faster than exports employment and GDP and why should New Zealanders trust a Government that has only taken them backwards? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The reason that I believe in what we're doing is because it's contributed to making sure that New Zealand is in one of the strongest positions of any economy in the world to deal with the challenges of 2023. We have unemployment at historic lows we have one of the lowest levels of public debt we have an economy that's 6 percent larger than it was before COVID that many other countries can't do. I thank the member for her belief in my great powers to control all matters to do with inflation but I would point her to her mentor in 2016—Bill English—who when asked similar types of questions to this made the point that it's actually the Reserve Bank's job to keep inflation between 1 and 3 percent. Perhaps the member might like to listen to her former boss."