Mitchell MarkAPPROPRIATION (2020/21 ESTIMATES) BILLThird ReadingIMPREST SUPPLY (SECOND FOR 2020/21) BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed.Hon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on this Budget 2020—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Five minutes.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Five minutes thank you Madam Speaker. [Interruption] It is. The first thing I would say is that I recognise without a doubt that as a nation we responded and we've managed to put ourselves in a very strong position in terms of how we've dealt with COVID-19. There's no doubt about that at all. And I want to acknowledge you know the Government for the response around their health response. But now we're moving into an even more critical phase and that is the economic recovery. We keep talking about the economy but actually the economic recovery is what's going to drive our social wellbeing. It's what's going to drive our mental health issues in this country for the next two or three years and it's all going to come down to how well the incoming Government is able to deliver a plan—a plan that needs to be clearly laid out and articulated for the country in the coming campaign. I can't believe—I find it extraordinary—that the governing party at the moment the Labour Party has come out and told the country that they will not be bringing any serious policy forward during this election. So they're basically either waving the white flag and realising that it's just too much and it's beyond them or they're going to sit back at best and be complacent about our health response—which by the way was a team of 5 million; it was the whole country that put us in this position—or at worst it's a very arrogant way to treat the country to say that during the upcoming campaign—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I just remind the member that we are actually on the Estimates.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Yes thank you Madam Speaker which brings me back to the Estimates. It is that Budget 2020—it brings me back to the point that I was making. Where is the plan—where is the plan? Where is the investment going? Because I can tell you right now in both my portfolios—the first one being defence and I want to acknowledge our defence forces. I want to acknowledge the work that they've done both overseas in advancing our international interests and protecting those—but especially back home. When the chips are down it's often our New Zealand Defence Force that we call on to step up and take a leadership role. And they had to do it this time as well because we saw very clearly that our protection at the border was not working.The budget for defence forces was OK. It's what I'd call a zero budget. They've adopted our plan which was the Defence Capability Plan and I want to acknowledge the Hon Ron Mark because fundamentally—at the start of this term I said if he can stick to that and you can keep the investment funnel going in terms of our personnel our equipment and our property then we will support that. And fundamentally they have been able to do that with a couple of little slip-ups. I notice that they're just starting to renege a little bit on investment into defence property and that's one of the priorities in terms of defence and where the investment and where the spend has to go.In terms of sport and recreation—and I want to come back to this Budget and say there's been promises made there's been money allocated but there's no detail around it. Sports clubs don't know where the money is going. We know that they're suffering. We know that COVID has actually had a massive negative impact on our local clubs and our grassroots sports. They need to have some clarity. They need to have some certainty in terms of what they can do in terms of what they can deliver in terms of getting our kids back out on the sports field. I come back to the fact that without a clear plan in terms of what we're going to do now as a country in the next three years without you know—Greg O'Connor: Did you sleep in on Saturday morning?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Greg seems to think that it's not important to have—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Full names.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Mr O'Connor seems to think that it's not important to have a plan. If he's got a plan stand up and articulate it for the House. Tell the country what it is because we sure as hell don't know what the plan is. There is no plan. So the Government—it's incumbent upon them in the upcoming campaign to actually stand up and lay out a plan in terms of Budget 2020 and how that actually translates into where the investment is going who can expect to get the investment where it's going to be best spent because I can tell you one thing: the party opposite has got a very proud tradition of splashing money everywhere. It's never targeted. They never actually can show an asset or a result for it. And actually as a country when we've borrowed as much money—Greg O'Connor: Sports fields are full of kids.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —as we are Mr O'Connor you actually need to be able to articulate a clear plan in terms of where that investment's going. So I would challenge one of the members opposite—maybe Mr O'Connor—to stand and take a call and outline for us in detail what their plan 2020 means for New Zealand in the coming general election. Thank you Madam Speaker.