Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. If there was any doubt in anybody's head about where that particular member Alastair Scott sits in the economy you've just heard it all: Privatise everything. Privatise the schools privatise the hospitals privatise the prisons the army the roads and the hospitals. The roads—privatise the roads. Let's sell the roads off. Let's sell the army off as well and privatise everything—the housing market." He's singing the song of the previous Government who thought that was a really good idea but it was a terrible idea because the market doesn't work for everybody. In fact you just need to come to Rotorua and ask all of those people that are without houses and have been homeless for quite some time. The market has absolutely not worked for them and that's why the Government has to have a hand in actually looking after our people. That's why I'm proud of this right here: He Puna Hao Pātiki. It's an Investment Statement; it talks about how New Zealand is going. While there's one thing that I agree on with the previous member—it is actually a fresh look at how we're doing as a country as an economy—he seems to think that we need to relook at all of those things like privatising it all. I fear that if in the future we change hands again as a Government that privatisation agenda is going to rear its ugly head all over again.What this is is it's actually an investment in the well-being of New Zealanders and that's something to be celebrated. When I sat on the Finance and Expenditure Committee and we welcomed this in I've got to say the first thing that I noticed was the big bold title on the front which is written in Te Reo Māori and then threaded throughout it are translations of Budget documents of balance sheets. But it's an indication that actually we're trying to make Treasury a little more Māori-friendly and isn't that a good thing? So on that note I want to acknowledge Trevor Moeke who actually did the hard yards in making sure that this was a document that we were very proud of and that it reflected the bicultural nature of New Zealand. That's it in a nutshell—it sets the tone for the whole document. So I want to acknowledge him going forward. This is actually a requirement of the Public Finance Act that we release this particular Investment Statement. It talks about the value of the Crown's portfolios all of our assets all of our liabilities and it does it with this new thing that we're bringing in: the Living Standards Framework. Isn't that refreshing that we've got a new idea about how we're going to look at our Budget sheet? When I go out there and I talk to people about how we're doing as a country I say—actually let me refer to one example of a couple that I know in my electorate. They are about to embark on family life. They both have good jobs full-time jobs so on the balance sheet they should be doing really well right? Well wrong actually because the balance sheet doesn't tell everything. The balance sheet actually just tells you what the numbers look like and unfortunately we know that the numbers don't tell the whole story. The numbers actually are just one side of it. The other side of it is how well you are actually doing. I think that if you were to ask this couple they'd tell you that they're struggling quite a bit. So while the Government might think that they look great on paper actually there are some real issues going on out there in the New Zealand society. It's a concern which is why I think that it's important that we've moved our balance-sheet reporting to looking at it through a well-being framework—the investment for well-being.This is Treasury's work to ensure that we're going to have a better understanding of the connection between the decisions made by Government and the well-being of New Zealanders. Both are really good things. Well-being is as I've just said a holistic approach to our balance sheet. It comprises both tangible and intangible aspects of life experience and I'm looking forward to New Zealanders actually wrapping their head around the Living Standards Framework which—on page 72 of this very hefty document here—talks about the four capitals: natural capital social capital human capital and physical and financial capital as well. If people haven't heard of that I encourage them to google it to have a look because that's the direction that this Government is moving in and I wholeheartedly support it too. One of the other things that I wanted to talk about in this particular document is about how we've put in place a few stress tests. It's been referred to by some members in the House today. But what good is a balance sheet if you can't actually test it out and do a few hypothetical tests about how well it's going to cope in the face of some adverse effects? We know that here in New Zealand we live on shaky ground. We know that volcanoes blow. We know that the earth shakes the people move and the buildings fall over. So what this investment for well-being statement has done is it's actually stress-tested against three different tests. One is a severe Wellington earthquake. We don't like to think about that—that scares the children. But actually it's a very good indicator because it's very possible—and very probable too. Also the outbreak of a foot-and-mouth disease—we're saying "foot-and-mouth" in here but as we know as we've been listening closely to for the last month and probably even longer the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis has become a real problem. Actually it's something this Government is sorting out as we speak. But actually that's something that you can have in your balance sheet and say "Are you well-insulated against shocks like that?" Well that was one of the stress tests. Another one was a major international economic downturn—how our balance sheet would stack up against that. Well you'd be pleased to know that the conclusion was that the balance sheet is resilient against those three stresses. I think that all New Zealanders would be happy knowing that we haven't just produced the financial statement here but that we've actually stress-tested it as well and that in the face of shocks like that three of those stress tests were actually going quite well and we will make it out the other side if we do have events like that. I just want to take this opportunity to acknowledge what's going on in Gisborne at the moment as they're trying to clear up their own backyard due to unforeseen circumstances—things that nobody could have ever planned. But actually it is a stress and it is a stress on the Government's books and we have to make sure that we're resilient against those kinds of stresses.So this is a great document. This is an innovative piece of work. I look forward to the development of it over the next few years and even longer as we stress test it and as we look towards measuring up the numbers to the well-being of New Zealanders. I think that it's an innovative document that we all need to make sure that we support. For those that have no idea "he puna hao pātiki" actually refers to a pool for gathering flounder with a net. It refers to the well-being of our people and that's exactly what this Government is prizing itself on—bringing manaakitanga back to New Zealand politics bringing love back to our people because they've been missing for quite some time. There are quite a few things in here that the document talks about. It cuts it up at the end of the document into different Government departments and it puts out the statement very well so that people—well average people; not people that are wrapped up in the bureaucracy of Wellington but actually people out there regular New Zealanders—can actually understand what this document is all about. There's plenty of things in here to be proud of. This is the Investment Statement that this Government in its first term is very proud to be putting forward and I'm very happy to recommend this to the House. It's a beautiful document. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker."