Davis KelvinGENERAL DEBATEHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. Thank you Mr Speaker. I'll just hold up the Mānawatia a Matariki again. [Applause] Thank you thank you.There are only 11 weeks until the House rises for the election and tomorrow the Minister of Finance delivers his sixth Budget. Even in the difficult circumstances that the country faces he will be able to deliver a Budget that is appropriate for the circumstances and the times. On this side of the House we look forward to the delivery of that Budget with some anticipation.But compare that to the negativity that emanates from the other side of the House. That negativity started in 2017 under Simon Bridges it ramped up under Judith Collins and it's just continued on under the negative National Party's current manager. Negative Chris Luxon constantly talks down New Zealand. You see he called beneficiaries bottom feeders". What a term to use to describe New Zealanders who are having difficulties. He heads over to the UK to some right-wing thinktank and talks to businesses over there and he says that New Zealand's businesses are soft. His social media is always attacking others.I'd just say lighten up Chris—lighten up. Things are tough at the moment but we will get through this time by being pragmatic and by being focused. And I just say bro your negativity is dragging you down and then tell that to all your other negative National sidekicks over there. Even on a sunny Wellington day like today a dark cloud just hovers over the top of them. It just hangs there. I hear they have even set up their own civil defence emergency management group to deal with the flood of negativity that emanates from their party.On this side of the House though we aren't wasting time complaining; we're getting on with the job supporting Kiwis today and building for tomorrow. While the "coalition of cuts" over there plots to slash our public services and send New Zealand backwards we're investing in Kiwis through things like our cyclone recovery package which will fix roads it will rebuild schools and it'll support our mental health in cyclone-impacted regions. And while the "coalition of cuts" sticks their heads in the sand over climate change we're taking action through things like the Clean Car Discount. You know they go on about the utes—having to pay more for those high-polluting things—and yet at the same time they complain about the cost to farmers when the farm gets washed out when the fences get flooded and all that sort of stuff. But they complain about the things that we're doing to mitigate climate change. We're also phasing out things like coal boilers in schools and partnering with businesses to stop burning fossil fuels. As New Zealand heads towards a general election it couldn't be clearer what is at stake. And what is at stake is equity what is at stake is investment in wellbeing and what's at stake is the focus on supporting New Zealanders not tearing them down. We've supported low-income New Zealanders and families and brought 77000 children out of poverty. We heard both the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister talk about the raft of things that we have done to help New Zealanders. We've built more public housing as the Minister of Housing Megan Woods said. We're building new hospitals and we're building more schools as the Minister of Education has told us. We've introduced fair pay agreements and pay equity. Imagine that pay equity: paying people what they're worth. We've introduced that legislation to make sure Kiwis get a fair pay for a fair day's work. We've introduced the first uniquely—let me find it again—New Zealand public holiday in Matariki; and again look at the negativity that emanated from the other side of the House towards something that is so positive and so inclusive. It's a holiday and they're upset about having a day off—well mind you maybe between a holiday and a day at work they can't tell the difference.So these projects are all at stake under a Government led by the "coalition of cuts". We don't know what National's financial plan looks like; we'd like to know what National's financial plan looks like. But if it's anything like ACT's it'll include a plan to slash taxes for the rich while cutting essential services which everyday Kiwis rely on. Also what's going to go is Te Puni Kōkiri Te Arawhiti the Ministry for Women the Ministry for Ethnic Communities the Ministry for Pacific Peoples and the Human Rights Commission. It's disgraceful what's at stake with the "coalition of cuts" over there."