Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBudget Debate[Sitting date: 02 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11643. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Budget DebateDebate resumed from 1 June on the Appropriation (2016/17 Estimates) Bill.Mr SPEAKER: I call Tim Macindoe and I understand that this is to be a split call. I will ring the bell at 4 minutes.TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Back home in the tropical paradise of Hamilton my constituents are full of praise for the outstanding stewardship of our economy over the last 8 years by the Hon Bill English and for his excellent eighth Budget. I have had the privilege of being a member of this House for every one of those eight Budgets—in fact I have sat behind him as he has delivered four of them. I have to say that each time he has hit the spot superbly.Back in late 2008 National came into office after this country had already plunged into recession. That was in no small part because of the reckless explosion in public spending that we inherited from the previous Labour Government. There is no question about that. Labour members boasted that they had spent the lot they had squandered the good times and had left an incoming National Government facing Treasury predictions of at least a decade of deficits and Crown debt of eye-watering proportions. That was a horrendous record. The wonderful thing if you are in the National Party is to note that they have learnt nothing in the 8 years since.Through it all this National-led Government has made the tough calls. We have turned things round dramatically. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of New Zealand and in particular with the people of Canterbury as they have gone through the dreadful ordeals that they have suffered in that region. So all of those things have had a devastating impact on Crown accounts and in every respect Bill English and this Government have stood up to the plate and delivered what is expected by New Zealanders.That is why this Government has achieved this staggering feat of retaining the same support in the polls that it had on the day it came into office 8 years ago. I will go further and say that I will go to my grave proud of the record of this Government proud of the actions that this Government has taken to get us through those tough times and proud to defend that record in any public forum across the country. Our lacklustre opponents opposite continue to demonstrate how totally out of touch they are with public sentiment on the reality of the position. After nearly 8 years in Opposition they still have not grasped the fact that irresponsible spending sprees are not what the public are asking for. Hard-working New Zealanders have to pay for them—not Governments. Governments simply take the money from the pockets of those hard-working New Zealanders. Until the Opposition learns that simple fact of life its members are destined to stay there in ever-diminishing numbers.Over the last week we watched the wonderful civil union emerge between the Green Party and the Labour Party—well that was on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we watched civil warfare break out led by the Cosgrove-Nash-O’Connor faction as they took aim at the rest of the Labour Party and said: “We don’t want to go there and we know damn well the public of New Zealand don’t want to go there either.” It has been a sorry spectacle and it shows just how desperate the second-largest party of this Parliament is—that its members find themselves in the position where they know they have not got any credible options for forming a Government and so they are scrambling around desperately even to the point where they are having to say: “Well you decide what you’ll do on this one we’ll decide on this one and let’s go to the public and see whether they think that’s a credible option.” I can tell them right now that the public do not like it and they will not like it any more when we go to the polls next year.The Minister has made it very clear that this is a Government focused on social investment. Theirs is the side of the House that says: “Just throw more money; all that you need to do to be a successful Government is to throw more and more money at things.” On this side of the House we believe in the social investment strategy. That is why we are seeing more people in jobs. That is why we are seeing more elective surgeries. That is why we are seeing higher rates of achievement in National Certificate of Educational Achievement than ever before. That is why we are seeing crime rates down to record levels—by over 40 percent for youth crime. These are the best results in more than a generation.That is why this Government continues to be in touch with the public of New Zealand to understand what they are requiring and that is why when we go to the polls next year we will continue to campaign proudly on our record. I look forward to hearing whatever Opposition members think they are going to come up with because after 8 years they have learnt nothing more than they knew on the day they left office.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the next member there is the habit developing particularly on the right-hand side of the Chamber of people thumping the desks. It is a very annoying noise. I am also the landlord and am concerned at the damage that is being done to the desks. I have got to then make a Budget bid to a mean Minister of Finance to get the repairs undertaken. Applaud enthusiastically by all means but we are not going to have the thumping of the furniture.Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Local Government): That was the speech of the day from the senior whip on the Government benches. After 7½ years on the Government benches that is the sort of enthusiasm and passion and excitement that this Government brings to bear. I am just glad that Dr Coleman is in the House because I thought Mr Macindoe was about to collapse under the weight of that speech.This Budget is Bill English’s eighth Budget. It is a Budget that focuses on the issues that matter to New Zealanders. What are those issues? In Maungakiekie where I come from the issues that New Zealanders want to hear about are not the de facto relationships between parties across the aisle;they want to know about jobs. So here is the Government’s record on jobs: there are 2.4 million people who are employed in this countrytoday—2.4 million. That is more than at any other time in our history. I am proud of the fact that there are 130000 Pacific people employed today. That is the most of any time in our history. In the last 3 years we have created 200000 jobs. That is 200000 families who have been looked after clothed fed and educated.This economy is growing and it is growing at the rate of 2.8 percent per annum year on year. That is the sort of growth that New Zealanders want that is the sort of growth that New Zealanders expect and that is the sort of growth that will support our communities out there in New Zealand. This growth appears not just by accident; it appears through the careful considered approach by the Minister of Finance alongside the other economic Ministers and it is done through trade agreements. We know that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is an agreement that will benefit all New Zealanders but the Labour Party will not support it and the Green Party will not support it because they know that they will argue against what is good for New Zealand. They are the parties of “no”.As we grow the economy we also grow the ability of our Government to support those in need. That is why over the next 4 years—and I am proud of the work that the Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman is doing because the spending on health will go up by $2.2 billion. But it is not just about the increase in spending which is over $4 billion more than the Labour Government ever put into health under Annette King. It is about the quality of spending. It is about the quality of spending on things like disability support services. I am proud of the fact that there is $169 million more being put into that.We also know that bowel cancer screening is a really important thing for New Zealanders. That is why we are investing $39 million—that is right $39 million—into bowel cancer screening and it is taking effect in the coming years.As Associate Minister of Health I am proud of the fact that we have raised taxes on tobacco by 10 percent for the next 4 years year on year—10 percent. What that will do—and we have seen it over the last few years where over the last 5 years we have got 37000 fewer people smoking. That is 37000 fewer people smoking. That is saving lives—that is saving lives. It is promoting the health of all New Zealanders. These are the sorts of measures that as a package are improving the well-being of New Zealanders.Hekia Parata is in the House and we know that the continued investment into early childhood education is good for our children. We know that these are the issues that matter to New Zealanders. We know that these are the things that make a difference in our communities. That is why we stand by the Hon Bill English in supporting this Budget and that is why this Government continues to be a popular Government. Thank you.Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): What is that old saying? It goes something like “full of sound and fury signifying nothing”—and that is exactly what we got from the senior Government whip where all he could do was bellow and be bombastic.There was so little in the Budget the Government members have taken to splitting their votes because they cannot fill in the whole 5 minutes. They are struggling to fill in 5 minutes so what do they do? They spend the 5 minutes that they have got talking about us. Well thank you very much; we are very happy for you to talk about the Opposition because we are doing such a damned good job. So carry on—devote all your speeches to the Opposition. The Labour Party is very happy about it. I know the Greens and New Zealand First will be. We have no problem with you talking about us.There is another saying I think it goes: “There are statistics damn statistics and lies.” Well I have to say there are none more so than in the health portfolio.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is unparliamentary to imply that lies are being told.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do not need any assistance with this. Please take your seat. [Interruption] Please take your seat Minister. The honourable member gave a quote. If he wants to apply that to himself he is welcome to but she was completely within the Standing Orders.Hon ANNETTE KING: Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you very much. Week after week the hapless Minister of Health stands up in this Parliament and he denies he denigrates and he ducks questions put to him about the Government’s performance in health. You know he is brilliant at statistical gymnastics: he is great at the backflip he is very good at the forward roll he is a contortionist and he is the con man of health. And you see—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You know what it is about.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do not need any assistance there. If it has escaped the Minister that this is a fairly robust debate then you know I feel sorry that he is at that loss. But to suggest that you are a con man—as the Minister obviously did—you may well take offence at that. If you have taken offence you may well seek a withdrawal and apology. I would suggest that you are a little bit more robust than that.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Sorry I take offence at terms such as “liars” and “con man”. Yes I do. [Interruption]Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have ruled on the lies. If you take offence at the veiled accusation re a “con man” no doubt the Hon Annette King will withdraw it.Hon ANNETTE KING: I will withdraw Mr Speaker. I have to say I take offence—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: It had better be a good point of order.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: It is. The member has been here for a long 30 years and she knows it is “withdraw and apologise”. You do not just get up and say “withdraw”.Hon ANNETTE KING: Speaking to the point of order Mr Deputy Speakeryou did not ask me to apologise; you asked me to withdraw. I withdrew.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is entirely over to the Speaker as to what he requires. There was no suggestion that she apologise. The instruction was that she withdraw and she did that. We will not have any more frivolous points of order that are aimed at breaking up a speech. I recall that the Minister himself got a pretty good go.Hon ANNETTE KING: Thank you very much Mr Deputy Speaker. I have to say that I am offended week after week day after day at the performance of the Minister of Health. Dr Coleman has just picked up where Tony Ryall left off. You see it works like this: blame blame again and then blame some more. But 8 years on the blame game has become National’s shame. It has become National’s shame. They have run out of excuses they have run out of places to hide because the truth is out. After 8 National Governments—their National health budgets—$1.72 billion of cumulative underfunding has occurred; $1.72 billion. And in this Budget $50 million is missing from the overall health budget. To make it worse when you drill down and look at the district health board (DHB) budget $140 million is missing in real terms.Those are not my figures they are from Infometrics’ updated report replicating the Treasury model from its fiscal strategy model. It takes demographics and inflationary cost pressures and uses these to calculate the real growth in core Crown health expenditure. So if Dr Coleman does not like the figures then he should produce his own model and tell New Zealanders what is really happening in health. You see what Infometrics does is take the demographics calculated by using the 2009-10 health cost weights and apply this to the population data from the Budget 2016 fiscal model. Then when it looks at the average inflation growth it is calculated from the previous year and the forecast from the Budget 2016 fiscal model. So that means that the Treasury calculation used in the demographic growth is extremely extremely conservative. What you get out of that when you put it together in the same way that Treasury does is that the real growth in core Crown health expenditure is only 0.4 percent.Hon Member: How much?Hon ANNETTE KING: It is 0.4 percent—and that is why health does not have sufficient money. [Interruption] So every day when the hapless backbenchers along with their Minister come in here and read out their skite sheet of health achievements they are increasingly laughed at by the public of New Zealand—the ones who live in daily pain and disability and who are missing out on health services.But I do feel a little pity for the Minister of Health because the well of excuses is exhausted and he is now resorting to tinkering around the edges of truth. Take mental health: he claimed that DHBs have $568 million allocated to them so part of it could go to mental health. Did health get $568 million for DHBs; would the Minister of Health not know his own budget? No health did not—it got $400 million. Take off the $11 million it must put into Pharmac’s budget and you are down to $389 million. Now we hear that they are going to have to pay part of the cost of the bowel-screening programme roll-out. So you can see why our DHBs are underfunded.The Government has no idea what is happening in mental health. Many of those members opposite are constituency members and I cannot believe that they have not had people come to their constituency offices telling them about problems in mental health. If they have not then they are not performing their role as constituency MPs: their doors are not open to listen to what people say. All of us—including members who are list members from the Opposition—have heard these stories day after day of the crisis in mental health. So if you do not want to believe your constituents have a look at the recent reports on mental health failure: Northland DHB—a report into a terrible failure in mental health; MidCentral DHB and Capital and Coast DHB are under review right now because of the number of suicides; Waikato DHB Canterbury DHB—these are major reviews and reports showing failures in our mental health system.Let us look at the major announcement in the Budget: the bowel-screening programme. Everyone knows that we have one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world—3000 cases registered every year about 1200 deaths every year. In 2007 the then Minister of Health and David Cunliffe announced the roll-out of a bowel-screening programme that would start in 2008-09. The Minister in an answer in the House today said: “Well Labour announced it in 2007 and they didn’t implement it in 2008.” We lost Government in 2008 so why did this Government not pick up the roll-out of the bowel-screening programme and implement it? The Minister said today that 700 lives a year would be saved if this programme was in place. In other words 6300 lives could have been saved if the Government had rolled out the bowel-screening programme when it was announced.Did it start where the highest incidence and the highest death rate is for bowel cancer in the southern part of New Zealand? No. Within days of the Budget announcement—with a quick phone call or two to two little DHBs—the Minister announced a roll-out. Had it been to Cabinet Cabinet Ministers? Has the case for the bowel-screening programme gone to Cabinet? No it has not. I have not before heard of an announcement where there is a big-ticket item and dollars attached to it that has not gone through a Cabinet process. That is not Cabinet government to make such an announcement—National was desperate to make an announcement before the Budget.So you have now got what I call the “McColeman announcement”—that is the announcement you have when you do not really have an announcement. There is a problem with it: Treasury has given it a red flag; it is very worried about the implementation. So what does the Minister do today? He goes on radio and slags off all the Treasury officers—the very Treasury officers whose forecasts the Minister of Finance stands up in this House every day and tells us that we have got to believe. It had “decades of deficits”—we were meant to believe that.Brett Hudson: Thanks to you Annette.Hon ANNETTE KING: We were meant to believe those Treasury forecasts but we are not meant to believe Mr Hudson that Treasury said the roll-out of the bowel-screening programme is a crock at this stage and gave it a red flag. You see you would like it both ways I think Mr Hudson.So where in this Budget is the funding to honour the promises that were made to our older people? Where is the money to pay for home care? Where is the money to pay for the minimum wage increase for all those wonderful women who look after our old people in their homes? Do you know that for 7 years—7 years—the providers of home-care services have not had funding to account for the increase in the minimum wage? I have got their report—these are not my words—for 7 years they have not had funding to pay for the increase in the minimum wage and that has eroded over $7 million a year from their provision of services for our old people. They deserve better do they not? Our old people deserve the best possible care in their own homes.This Budget is a flop and a failure and that is why the Government cannot talk about it.Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā ā huri noa i tō tātou Whare i tēnei ahiahi tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and acknowledgments to us all throughout our House this afternoon.]Our John Key - led Government is investing in a growing economy. It is a growing economy that is able to generate more jobs higher wages and a future that is based on a modern approach that is about science enterprise and entrepreneurial behaviour. It is also based on a hallmark of National Governments which is to have a compassionate heart for those most in need and to do something about it rather than talk wring our hands and cry crocodile tears; it is to do practical things. And we get to do those practical things when we have an economy that supports that. So it is pretty important that we grow the economy—that we invest into it and that we do so in a futureproofed way.The Budget is an important mechanism for telling the country in a comprehensive way what the business of Government is. It is important that we do tell the country what the business of Government is because it makes up still too big a part of our economy. It is not the economy—which is something we understand although the Opposition clearly fails to understand that almost pathologically. The Opposition thinks it is the Government that creates jobs. The Opposition thinks it is the Government that earns the income. It is not. The Government’s responsibility is to ensure that it creates an environment in which New Zealanders can be successful and through which we back New Zealanders to make good choices and to be powerful actors in their own lives so that they are not dependent on Government. That is our long-term vision and that is what this Budget—the eighth Budget of the Minister of Finance—continues to invest in.I want to acknowledge the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English for the magnificent job he has done over 8 very challenging years. Yes we have heard already about the very parlous legacy from the Opposition and I am not going to rehearse that because as the Opposition has rightly pointed out we are not here to talk about it because there is not much to talk about. So I am going to talk about us—I am going to talk about this Government. I want to acknowledge the Minister of Finance for the fine work that he has done because not only are the appellations “prudent” “conservative” sometimes “pessimistic” totally apposite but also they have occurred within the context of a strategic framework. We have a very clear vision of how we ensure that we grow a productive economy of how we ensure that there is prosperity available to all New Zealanders and of how we invest in an economy that is based on science and on knowledge and that is future-focused and not backward-looking. We can see within our Budget that we now will have choices that would otherwise not have been available to us.The Government’s business makes up about 30 percent of the economy and it is really important that it is both efficient and effective given that size. We need to make sure that we get every bang for the taxpayer’s buck that we possibly can and that we can measure the impacts—that we are actually getting results. We are not simply saying as the Opposition keeps wanting to argue that the more money you put in the more it shows you care. Actually the more practical the results are and the greater the impact is shows how much we care.On that basis this Government has a very good record. It is by no means enough but that is the direction of travel and it is comprehensively set out in this Budget. We have a plan and our first aim is to have an innovative New Zealand. We are a small country—4.5 million and growing. We are small smart and sassy. We punch above our weight and we continue to wish to do that.I have recently returned from Crete where I went along with the Governor-General to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Crete. The point of that was that New Zealanders—7700—went all the way around to the other side of the world to fight for the principles we believe in: of democracy of fairness and of looking after those who cannot look after themselves while also growing the possibility of prosperity for all.We are seen by the rest of the world as very credible international players and the more that we invest into our own science our own skills and the growing of our economy—through leveraging off our primary industries and through growing our information and communication technology areas—the more we continue to have weight in that regard. We have continued to invest in infrastructure. It does not sound very sexy but getting from A to B to C on really good roads as we see around the country is pretty critical to the businesses of New Zealand and the flow of that work.In the education area we have benefited from that enormously because we are the single biggest investment in this Budget at $882.5 million for new schools for roll growth classrooms and for redevelopments. Places of learning really do give substance to this idea of growing the economy and in education we have a plan that supports what I have talked about generally in terms of our approach to Government. And the plan is that every kid is educationally successful.We have not just talked about it. We are overhauling the 27-year-old Education Act; we are reviewing funding. This is the single biggest amount that has gone into education ever: $11.04 billion. Education is bigger than police bigger than foreign affairs and trade bigger than roads bigger than conservation—and that shows how serious this Government is about how we build our kids to have the skills they need the qualifications and the technological capabilities to participate. We want to make sure that we have successful and effective teachers. We want to make sure that they have a very independent profession which again is something the Opposition seems incapable of understanding. When I say the Education Council is independent it is independent. It gets to make its own decisions about how it raises the quality of teaching and leadership.We are configuring communities of learning because we understand that the whole pathway of the student is critically important. We have provided more pathways—applied learning as well as academic learning—so that every New Zealander has the opportunity to go into the trades which of course we need more of because we have an economy that is growing. In this Budget we have invested in infrastructure in science and innovation in health and education. I do not need to talk about health a lot because we will hear later in this debate about the comprehensive investments we are making in health.In addition of course we have the social investment approach which is very specific: how do we change the trajectory of young people who otherwise might lead a very poor life? How do we invest early with impact to make the difference? Not only do we cut down the liability of Government and free up money to resource more in the productive side of the economy but also we help support better lives for individuals. That is what this Government is about. We want better lives for all our kids for all our young people for all our middle-aged people—for those of us who are in that young middle-aged category—as well as for those who are older. So this Government is about quality opportunities for all and education is a core part of that.We provided in this Budget nearly $400 million for early childhood education. Those of you who have been able to see in a distilled fashion Professor Richie Poulton’s Dunedin study will understand that if we can invest early identify those kids most at risk and make a change for them they will lead better lives. So we have seen in this Budget that rather than provide a universal operational grant to schools we have taken what that would otherwise have been and targeted it to those kids who have spent 75 percent of their lives in long-term benefit-dependent homes because we have heard and understood that we need to prioritise those who are most at risk of educational underachievement.We are not in the process sacrificing the rest of New Zealand students; not at all because the first $10 billion goes towards that. We want kids who are doing well to do even better but we also because this is the nature of this Government want to pick up those who are falling behind. We want to give them the same chance of better life outcomes—real kids real results real time. That in a nutshell describes education but it also describes this Government: real New Zealanders real results in real time. Bill English’s eighth Budget delivers the economic and the business approach that will ensure that next year we will be able to report—because we have a transparent means of reporting because we are prepared to be accountable—that we are making progress. But there is still a way to go. Thank you.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: A 5-minute call on behalf of New Zealand First—Fletcher Tabuteau.FLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): I think I see the strategy: bore us into oblivion—Tim Macindoe: No that’s your job.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: —and hope that we cannot drive the energy to reply to absolute nonsense like that. It is painful painful. Mr Macindoe while you were giving your speech—and it was better than your usual contributions to the House—were you worried as you looked back at the backbench National members there who were so enthusiastic that it was mind-boggling? It was not that good a speech.I have coined a new phrase in respect of Mr Macindoe’s contribution today. I have coined a new phrase. I have called it the “sycophantic bobble-head syndrome”. It is a syndrome. What we have seen over 8 years is a National Party membership sitting there nodding away agreeing with everything that their members say. It is a beautiful sight. It is usually in sync and it is quite entertaining. The sycophantic bobble-head syndrome means that those poor members have come to believe their own spin. Therein lies the problem. If you believe the spin you cannot prepare yourself for when someone actually holds you to account on logic and content.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Let us try some of that then. Back to the bill.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: All you can do is go: “It’s good. It’s good.”Another member—I cannot remember who because that is the summation of the contributions this afternoon—spoke about this Budget reflecting a supposedly strong leadership from the Prime Minister John Key a Prime Minister who is slipping perilously every day in terms of popularity numbers. This was a “Get Stuffed” Budget. This was a Band-Aid Budget that even New Zealand big business could not find much to say about. They struggled to find positive words. I think the most positive contribution I can think of off the top of my head was: “It’s a good start.”We are 8 years into National’s supposed leadership of this country and we should be well passed a good start. In fact the banks and the academic and financial experts of New Zealand have gone so far as to say that the Government has lost its way and the Budget is simply a symptom of a National Party that is living in an anachronistic past. It is trying to move forward by looking in a mirror from the past because Government members do not know and do not have the skill set to move forward and to solve the problems that everyday New Zealanders are living with.This is a Government that stands up and tells us about positive GDP numbers every single day. We dispute those numbers but let us assume we believe them because one might concede that 0.5 percent over the last 8 years is still slightly positive. It is still slightly positive. If we believe those numbers it does not belie the fact that the rhetoric from the Government is not matching the reality that New Zealanders are seeing more and more every day—Brett Hudson: More jobs you mean?FLETCHER TABUTEAU: —outside in the real world which Mr Hudson has so carefully blinded himself to.The evidence is right in front of us: house prices and homelessness and yet wage inflation is static as we move forward into the future. People are not making more money from their incomes. There is exponential growth in inequality in New Zealand and this Government does not know how to deal with it. This Budget is a symptom of a Government that has lost its way. Thank you.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: A 5-minute call on behalf of New Zealand First—Mahesh Bindra.MAHESH BINDRA (NZ First): I am afraid my speech is going to be less entertaining than my colleague Fletcher Tabuteau’s. It is about a more serious matter.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Speak within the rules and we will be happy.MAHESH BINDRA: Last month about 200 members of the South Auckland community mainly small-business owners got together in South Auckland and it took a radio station to bring those people along because the Government was not worried about their safety. These people were actually angry and frustrated and their frustration and their anger were really palpable at that meeting. We hoped at the meeting that we would be able to take some of their concerns to the Government and we were hopeful that the Government MP present there would also contribute towards it. That does not seem to have happened because after the Budget was announced those hopes were shattered. The hopes of that community were shattered because there was nothing in that Budget to address the crime situation—the law and order situation—particularly in South Auckland.In this Budget we have noticed that a paltry $8.5 million has been allocated for police primary response management. The police response as it is at the moment is appalling. The police response time is appalling. A particular incident I knew of because I had visited that victim and that victim was also present at that meeting. Although he has started back at work he is still scared and he is worried about his safety. His concerns have not been addressed in this Budget and there are many more like him.What actually happened was that a few months ago three offenders raided and burgled a liquor store in Takanini at 7.30 in the evening. The store owner’s friend followed the offenders when they escaped. The closed-circuit television cameras had the evidence. The store owner’s friend then followed those offenders to their hiding place took the car registration number took the address of that property and gave it to the store owner who in turn then informed the police. This was at about 7.50 p.m. which means that within 20 minutes of that incident the store owner informed the police that he had the evidence he knew where the offenders were and he said that he wanted the police to act then. So the police replied: “Look we don’t have enough staff numbers to go with you and search that property and besides that we don’t have a search warrant for that property.”The same offenders at 9.50 p.m.—that is 2 hours later—went to a Manurewa address another liquor store and stabbed the store worker there. They stabbed him five times. Those were serious wounds and I have personally seen those wounds. So the police reacted then at 9.50 p.m. Had they acted on the previous complaint which was at about 7.30 p.m. the second incident would not have happened. The second victim could have been saved. But that did not happen and nothing has happened in this Budget to correct that situation. That will happen again because there is no mention of police numbers being increased in this Budget.On the contrary as we know our population has increased by 6.5 percent since 2012. However taking into consideration the inflation rate—4.7 percent—there has been an increase of only 1.8 percent and that is not going to help the 6.4 percent crime resolution rate that we have at the moment—just 6.4 percent resolution of violent crimes. That is not good enough and neither is this Budget.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: A 5-minute call on behalf of the National Party—Parmjeet Parmar.Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Budget 2016 is a great Budget. Yes it is about 8 years since National came into office and no one can forget that. There are several reasons for that and one of these reasons is the Opposition—yes the Opposition—because every single time we announce a new significant and practical policy even on Budget day all those members do is count the number of years we have been in office as if counting the number of years is some kind of worthy counterargument. It truly is a testament to the hard work of this National Government that the Opposition does nothing else but just count the number of years we have been in Government.Year after year Budget after Budget election after election we have overcome challenges and it is because of this that the people of New Zealand have more and more confidence in this National Government and the confidence of the people of New Zealand in this National Government is more than ever before. We are one of those handful of countries that enjoy a very positive economic outlook and this is because of the leadership of the Rt Hon John Key.I want to congratulate our Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English on such an awesome eighth Budget. This Budget is focused on the economy. Our GDP growth is expected to grow by 2.8 percent over the next 5 years.Hon Member: How much?Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: By 2.8 percent over the next 5 years. In the past 3 years there were 200000 new jobs under this National Government and it is forecast that there will be 170000 new jobs by 2020. Over this period unemployment is expected to drop to 4.6 percent—yes all this in just about 8 years. And this is despite the global financial crisis the devastating Canterbury earthquakes and a series of finance company failures; 2016 is already proving to be a very productive year for families and businesses all around New Zealand.Budget 2016 is focused on all the important areas. Coming from a scientific background I am really delighted to see $411 million over 4 years for science and innovation. This includes the commercialisation of high-tech ideas that our New Zealand scientists develop. I am also really happy to see $97 million for health research funding. Coming from a health research and life sciences background I am really happy to see that commitment from our Government. Through the Health Research Council of New Zealand the funding is going up by 56 percent from $77 million in 2015-16 to $120 million in 2019-20. This shows that we are really committed to our health research sector.I am the National list member of Parliament based in Mt Roskill. In Mt Roskill social housing and emergency housing are important issues. I am really delighted to see $258 million put towards that which includes 750 additional social housing places and 3000 emergency housing places. We are working hard. We are investing to ensure that people have a roof over their heads when they need it the most. We are not doing propaganda like the Opposition trying to run press conferences outside houses that are not even overcrowded—yes trying to run press conferences outside houses that are not even overcrowded.Budget 2016 is focused on the economy. It is focused on low-income people and homeless people yet Opposition members will try to enforce a stereotype that we work for the wealthy and they work for low-income people. But who increased the benefit for the first time in 40-plus years? It was this National Government. Who is working hard for homeless people? It is this National Government. Who is creating opportunities for low-income families? It is this National Government. The Labour and Greens combination stands for no opportunities low job security and more financial burden on families and businesses. This National Government stands for success prosperity and opportunities for families and businesses all around New Zealand. Budget 2016 is a great Budget. Thank you.Hon Phil Goff: Mr Deputy Speaker.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Did you say “Point of order.”?Hon Phil Goff: A call?Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: No sorry. A 5-minute call on behalf of the National Party.BRETT HUDSON (National): New Zealand is in great shape and Bill English delivered another great Budget—his eighth. Look at New Zealanders; New Zealanders are achievers. They go out they greet the world they compete with the world and they win. And back home they know that they have got a Government a National-led Government that backs them all the way that supports their aspirations and that puts the frameworks in place that mean they can go and compete offshore—I know Mr Goff supports that; it is a shame that none of the rest of his caucus does—and supports them competing in the world. This is a National Government that backs Kiwis and Kiwi kids to be successful that puts an education system around them and is about each one of them achieving their potential. This is another great Budget from Bill English.What is this Budget telling us that New Zealand’s future is? New Zealand’s future is bright—with 2.8 percent growth over the next 4 years on average. That is going to be right up there with the very best countries in the OECD. A further 170000 jobs and average wages climbing to $63000 are great results—a great set of figures by any comparison with the developed world. Kiwis embrace these figures—they like the way New Zealand is travelling. It did not actually come as too much of a surprise to hear that in the Budget though. Why? This is because they look at the record of this National Government and what have they seen? Well 200000 jobs over the past 3 years and an $11000 increase in the average wage since the National Government has been in office. This is a Government that understands what is important for Kiwis and it is a Government that continues to focus on delivering those things.Let us just look back and remind ourselves what the things that matter for Kiwis and their families are: it is a growing economy and one that is delivering more jobs and higher incomes; it is a Government that is focused on delivering good education so that your children are going to be ready for the future that awaits them; and it is a country where you feel safer in your communities and one where you know that should you get sick you have got a great health care system that is going to help you to return to health as soon as possible. Kiwis know that that is what this National Government is delivering for them.I came to this Parliament from a 20-year career in the ICT industry and I am delighted—delighted—to see a continued investment in innovation from this Government. In this Budget there is $761 million—$761 million—for helping to continue to diversify our economy not only to focus on adding value to our traditional core strengths in the primary sector but also to support burgeoning industries including the ICT industry and also our creative industries that are very strong and growing here in Wellington our capital.When we do this when we look to support innovation—unlike some who would choose winners—we know that New Zealanders can be successful across sectors. We invest money for instance in research—$63 million into strategic science research; research for instance that will look into the likes of freshwater management and research. This will help us to deliver our primary sector strength with a smaller environmental footprint. But if we look at what the Opposition says in these areas all it wants to do is shrink what we do—to cull the dairy herd and do less of what we do so well.This is a Government that is very balanced in its approach. It is a Government that supports our traditional sectors while also adding support to the newer ones. I look at Ōhāriu the electorate that I am based in and I see for instance Taylor Preston meatworks. It exports everything it produces—$250 million worth of export receipts into the Wellington economy every year. At the height of the season it employs 700 people. It is a very very important business in Wellington creating value locally from a traditional core strength of New Zealand. On the other side—in fact almost across the road; just down the road—you have a company like 4RF which works in telecommunications. It is a company that does research and innovation—a company that creates new technologies—and it also exports them around the world. It is a company that for instance has made use of our research and development growth grant programmes through Callaghan Innovation.There we have a great example even in Ōhāriu of a Government that is balanced in its approach that supports what Kiwis do so well and supports growth in new and more value-added intellectual property - based areas which are a big part of our future. It is that sort of balanced and pragmatic approach that has the New Zealand public continuing to support John Key and continuing to support this National-led Government. It was a great Budget and I look forward to more.Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill): I think that I have spoken to more and more diverse audiences across Auckland over the last 3 or 4 months than I have in 30-odd years in a political career. I have spoken at meetings organised by the National Party the ACT Party the Labour Party the Green Party and New Zealand First. I have spoken to business groups I have spoken to Rotary groups I have talked to ethnic communities and to Māori and Pasifika. I am saying this because what I have found in talking to those audiences is an amazing unanimity amongst 35 percent of New Zealand’s population about what they expected from the Budget and what Auckland needed.I have got to say—and I say this with some regret because I thought that with the massive debate around housing need and around transport congestion this would have been a Budget that delivered some relief from the problems of housing and transport gridlock—not only was I disappointed in the Budget for failing to deliver in these areas but so too wasa broad cross-section of Aucklanders who were looking for something better. The argument generally goes like this: the Government wants to increase the population of the country. And maybe that is OK; immigration is good for a county. But we are now seeing migration at the highest level in decades: 70000 more people coming into New Zealand. How is that impacting Auckland? Auckland is growing by 800 people a week. People say: “Well that would be OK if the Government was providing the infrastructure needed to cope with that growth the transport system to stop the roads being gridlocked and the housing so that New Zealand’s first-home buyers could still afford to buy a home in their own city.”The Budget offered no relief at all in either of those areas. I even read the press statements of the Minister of Building and Housing and the Minister of Transport and they are usually skite sheets saying: “This is what we are doing.” I read it line by line and the word “Auckland” did not exist there—it just did not exist. The truth of the matter is that those are really serious problems. They are not only holding Auckland back but also holding New Zealand back. We now have a situation where our roads and our motorways—not only at peak hour but also even outside peak hour—are becoming gridlocked. We have got the Productivity Commission and the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development saying that congestion in Auckland is costing $3 billion a year—$3 billion. Aucklanders say to me: “Well aren’t we just pouring that money down the drain?”. That is money in lost productivity and other costs and we are getting absolutely nothing for it. If we were investing $3 billion a year in a congestion-free transport network we would have something to show for it and Auckland could move forward. But we are not and there was not a dollar in capital investment in Auckland to relieve that congestion.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: So what would Phil Goff do if he was mayor?Hon PHIL GOFF: Then it comes to housing affordability. Now if the Minister of Health listens—you listen through your ears not your mouth Dr Coleman—I will tell him what some of the problems are including those in his own electorate. The problem is that housing prices in Auckland went up by over 15 percent in the last year on top of the 15 percent the year before. Do you know what the average cost of a house in Auckland is now? It is $955000. God damn it—I bought my first house in Mt Roskill for $64000; it was 1½ times my annual salary. Today my kids are paying 6 or 7 times their annual household income to live out in places like Papakura and Pukekohe because they cannot afford to live closer to town than that.I have got to say that I have heard all sorts of blame being attributed to why people cannot get into homes of their own. You know it’s their own fault; if you chose your parents wrong and your parents cannot pay your deposit to get into a home then you cannot buy a home in Auckland today. That is the truth of it. That is why we will have growing inequality in our city because those who come from reasonably privileged backgrounds can be on the housing ladder and those that do not will miss out. That is not the New Zealand and that is not the Auckland that I want Dr Coleman. I want a New Zealand where the Kiwi Dream of owning your own home can survive and people can have that stability and security and they can have a chance in life.I am telling those members that there is nothing in this Budget that helps those young people towards the dream of homeownership. I am saying to those members that each year in Auckland with the population growth we are falling 4000 houses further behind what we need. That means that 4000 people lose out on getting any form of what we would call reasonable housing. It means that people are sleeping in garages and cars and are doubling up in homes. And that is not the New Zealand that I want Dr Coleman. That is not the Auckland I want and nothing in this Budget will alleviate that. People who are renting their homes have seen their rents go up at seven times the overall rate of inflation. These are massive problems and there is nothing in this Budget that addresses those problems.I want to say that it is not good enough just to blame the council—that seems to have been what some members of the Government have been doing recently. The council does have its responsibility. It must make sure that sufficient land is available for the growth that is happening in the city. If the council does not accept that the city needs to go up and out it will not be doing its job. I do not have a problem with the national policy statement other than this: the problem that I have with it is that it deals with one aspect of the problem but not the others. I want to know: where is the policy that will see affordable homes being built? Do you know that affordable homes are about 5 percent of the homes being built at the moment? It used to be about 50 percent. We will not get affordable homes unless the Government is prepared to partner with the private sector to make sure that homes are developed that are affordable. That is the time-honoured way in New Zealand of providing for people to have decent warm and healthy homes.I am saying this too that you can make the land available through your planning but if the council does not have the capital to provide the infrastructure needed to build homes on it then the homes will not be built. Dr Coleman as a member of Cabinet will know that Treasury reported to Cabinet that Auckland Council can neither use the rates base nor borrow to provide the infrastructure. So I am saying to the Government why not have infrastructure bonds? Why not have either the Government raise the money itself and on-lend it to Auckland or allow Auckland itself to raise that money so it can provide the infrastructure? If you do not do that how is that infrastructure going to be provided if you cannot borrow to pay for it or rate to pay for it? And I do not want to push the rates through the ceiling.I want to know from the Government why there is not some sort of restraint on demand when 40 to 50 percent of the houses are currently being bought in Auckland by investors and one house in the paper the other day was onsold five times in a year. Each person clipped the ticket for $30000 did not add anything except to the price and the price goes up and it becomes unaffordable. I want to know why we do not do what the Aussies do and say to foreign investors: “If you want to buy property in New Zealand build a new house. Add something to New Zealand. Don’t just push the price up on existing houses.”There is a lot that can be done. I look forward interestingly to working with the Government not squabbling with it but it needs to be a Government and a council that puts Auckland first and is determined to do something to address those pressing problems. I want to say it again and I want to say it very clearly: if Auckland cannot succeed then at 35 percent of the country’s population and productivity New Zealand is not going to succeed. The Government cannot close its eyes to those problems; it needs to be prepared to work with the elected members of the Auckland Council after October to do something that will really make a difference for a better future for Auckland and a better future for New Zealand.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): I move That this debate be now adjourned.Motion agreed to.