McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): I'm starting to understand why the National Party are polling in the 30s because no one likes a whinger—no one likes to hang around with people that drone on and whinge and that's what we've just heard all day and ever since the Wellbeing Budget. In fact we heard a fair bit of whinging leading up to the Budget because what they were bemoaning then was that we should have delivered the tax cuts. Do you remember that? The tax cuts that they promised New Zealand if they were elected? New Zealand rejected that idea and they've whinged about it ever since. Then they stopped whinging about the tax cuts because they saw that New Zealanders liked a Government that delivered a Budget that looked and focused on the wellbeings of New Zealanders delivering for New Zealanders and they thought Shivers! Actually we can't promise tax cuts and then promise to do what they're doing and in fact criticise the Government for not doing enough. So we're just going to forget about the tax cuts and then just pretend that New Zealanders are dumb and they're not going to remember the tax cuts and then what we're going to do is complain that this Government is not delivering enough." That's what they're doing. They decided "Nah that's it. These guys aren't delivering enough." even though this Wellbeing Budget is world leading even though the IMF and the World Bank and many other overseas organisations are saying to Grant Robertson the Minister of Finance "That is a good idea. We would like to emulate what you're doing because this is world changing. This is going to deliver for people where it matters."But the National Party just can't handle that. They have to whinge. They have to say that it is not enough despite that $1.9 billion has delivered for mental health—not enough. Despite the fact that $1.2 billion has delivered for improving our school infrastructure—not enough. I would put it to the House that the National Party members haven't even read most of the Budget because we wasted time in select committee today in a public hearing—wasted time—when the education spokesperson for the National Party was complaining that it was $1.2 billion over 10 years. Her very embarrassed colleagues corrected her to say that it was over four years and then she had no more questions because she realised that it was the biggest injection of revenue into the education sector to do up the schools—whinging when they don't have any basis to whinge about. Then just take Scott Simpson the last speaker for example. What a rambling mess that speech was. He was talking about the 1970s going on about Prime Ministers of the past and finance Ministers of the past—who are screaming out for relevancy now—and talking about how this Government reminds them of the 1970s and reminds them of this and reminds them of that. Then he criticised our coalition partners in New Zealand First and the Greens and then he bemoaned MMP—that it allows small parties to get some concessions in Government policy. This is despite the fact that before this Government was formed they were crawling to New Zealand First and the Greens saying "Look come with us. We want to form the Government." and now that they didn't they're packing a sad and they're having a whinge. This just sums up this Opposition. What they are not reflecting is the views that I've heard right around the country. In the last week I've been to places like Hāwera and Stratford and Whanganui and Waipawa and Pahīatua and Dannevirke and Hamilton. All of those places are in National-held seats—for now—and so I went out there and I thought I'd talk about the Budget and do you know what? I went there and I thought "These are National-held seats. They will be emulating and copying what the National Party are saying surely." Not a chance—not a chance. They were happy that finally there was a Government that was delivering for New Zealanders in terms of mental health and finally there was a Government that was willing to put aside the old ways and focus on the new and deliver in things like education and health. They told me that whilst they may have voted National in the past they are sick of the whinging and they are sick of the internal inward-looking approach of the National Party that was on display today in question time and during Judith Collins' contribution. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea. When Judith Collins stands up MPs duck for cover over to this side of the House. They didn't want to be part of it and then those ones that thought "Right. Well this is the horse that I want to back." they just crowded around. I've seen it plenty of times before and that's what they were trying to do. The likes of Mark Mitchell and Michael Woodhouse thought "I'm going to sit next to this. This is the horse I want to back." Well I tell you what they must be gutted. They must be gutted because at 6 o'clock on Sunday night they were watching Newshub and they saw a poll and they thought "Right here's our moment." Then they flipped over to TVNZ and they thought "Blast! My moment's gone. I thought we had an opportunity to roll Simon and now Simon is saved." And do you know what Madam Deputy Speaker for a long long—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well I do know that it is a broad debate but you know there is a time when you do have to bring it back to the Budget. KIERAN McANULTY: That's right—dead right. So anyway I reckon these polls reflect the nation's attitude—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please. KIERAN McANULTY: —towards the National Party's poor contribution to this Budget debate. That's what I think. Willow-Jean Prime: And it was after the Budget. KIERAN McANULTY: Absolutely—after the Budget. So anyway what we see in this Budget—Hon Members: Hooray! KIERAN McANULTY: That's right—that's right. That is the most noise that that side of the House has made all night even though Judith Collins tried to get—not even one clap after her speech. Judith Collins' contribution to this particular debate about this Budget—DEPUTY SPEAKER: And actually just saying the word "Budget" isn't enough—good try. KIERAN McANULTY: Righto. You are dead right Madam Deputy Speaker it is called the Wellbeing Budget—thank you very much. The Wellbeing Budget is delivering not only for education and health like I mentioned but it is not even that revolutionary in the sense that it is focusing on GDP. This is what that side of the House want to make it sound like—that we have absolutely moved aside from the fundamentals of delivering to this nation—but it hasn't. What they are saying is that this Wellbeing Budget is moving away from responsible delivery for this country and it isn't. The Government's books remain in good shape because the Welllbeing Budget focuses on delivering a strong economy so that that economy can deliver for the wellbeing of this nation. It delivers a sustainable surplus and strong GDP growth. What have we heard from the other side about GDP growth? Nothing but whinging—whinging. Whinging that it should be higher—everything should be higher if you listen to the National Party including their polling. But what we see is that the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update shows that the Government's books remain in good shape. Net core Crown debt as a percentage of GDP is forecast to be under 20 percent by 2021-22—exactly what this Government said was going to happen when we were elected. We have delivered yet again a strong surplus and we will continue to do so. It is projected to be $6.1 billion by 2022-23—that is exactly what this Government said we would do and exactly what the people want this Government to do. They know that we need to focus on the economy to deliver to people and they also want to see delivery. They want to see things like the venture capitalist fund because they know right across the country—particularly in small areas like those I visited last week where we got a tremendous reception—that small companies get to a point and the investment stops. If they got to a certain point beyond that then the investment kicks in again. There is a gap. That is why this Budget delivers investment for these start-up companies because this Government knows that this particular aspect of the Wellbeing Budget is going to deliver for these companies—companies that are investing in themselves investing in the regions that they exist in wanting to employ people and wanting to give back to this country. Now what this feedback is is a rejection of that side's economic policy and that side's belief in the market-driven trickle-down effect because if the market was delivering these start-up companies would not require the Government to kick in. We're quite happy to do so. That side at the moment are unhappy. Next week they'll probably say that it's not enough because that's the trend that we've seen so far. They are saying one thing one week and one thing another week. They don't know what they're thinking because they don't know who they're following yet here we are. We can ignore all that because everyone else is. We can focus on what we want to do for rural New Zealand for middle New Zealand for those hard-working Kiwis at the bottom and for those that just want to get out and start their own business. This Wellbeing Budget is looking after the basics looking after people's wellbeing looking after their mental health making sure that the education sector is well funded making sure that infrastructure like rail and rural roads is funded and making sure that the basics are looked after. I'm not going to sit here and whinge like the National Party. I'm not going to complain and talk about the old days and try and spend my energy on deciding who to follow. I am very proud to stand here as a member of this Government and say well done to the leaders in this Government—Jacinda Ardern Grant Robertson Winston Peters Marama Davidson and James Shaw—for delivering as leaders in this Government a wellbeing Budget that will be the start of something special in this country. I believe it's something that we can all be very very proud of."