Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): My pleasure to speak on this bill—although not a great pleasure in the sense that we are not supportive of this bill and we're not supportive of this Budget. Fundamentally we don't think their plan for dealing with the cost of living crisis that New Zealanders face is any good and our plan would be a lot better. That's why we're standing up for our plan which is actually about leaving more money in the hands of New Zealanders not using inflation that has been partly created by Government activities partly by global factors to sneak more taxes out of the hands of New Zealanders.So if this Government had adopted National's policy of just simply adjusting the tax rates for inflation Kiwi households on the average income would be $1600 a year better off. So they've taken that extra money from their pockets and then they turn up at the Budget and say Oh you should very grateful because we may give you a cheap bus fare for two months and possibly a cheap railway fare for a couple of months and some people will get a winter payment but if you're on the average wage tough luck—you're not getting anything."So if we go back to what this Budget was all about: Labour I think up until about a month ago had their clear plans that the Budget was all about climate change and health restructuring. They're going to spend a lot of money—billions and billions of dollars—restructuring the health system just as we're coming out of a COVID crisis which nobody thinks is a very smart idea but there's billions of dollars being spent on all that and unbelievably no measures of actual outputs of what we're going to get which is better for all that money. That doesn't seem to be an issue at all.So they were going to talk about climate change and health restructuring and then I think about four weeks ago they woke up and thought "Aw heck—aw heck. The issue of the day is actually a cost of living crisis and we haven't done anything about that. Maybe—maybe—people aren't so focused on those issues right this moment when they can't afford to buy a block of cheese and they can't afford to pay the rent and they're wondering how they're going to feed their family and have an opportunity to get ahead. Maybe we might have miscued and maybe the $6 billion of extra spending—the biggest amount of extra spending in the history of New Zealand all focused on other things and not to help New Zealanders deal with this cost of living crisis. Maybe we may have miscued!" and so what we see is on top of the $6 billion they suddenly came up with an extra package. I think they scrambled it in very late in the piece—that's partly why there's no great deal of information backing up this piece of legislation. So they scrambled it in added it on top with a little bit of cherry and cream and said "There you go New Zealanders you should be happy because we'll give you an extra two months of cheap bus fares and if you're very lucky you'll get a short-term bit of help with winter energy payments."Well New Zealanders deserve a lot better than that. New Zealanders deserve better than a backwards Budget that is taking this country backwards back into debt back into slow growth and also New Zealand families going backwards where the cost of living and inflation is going forward faster than wages so that New Zealanders are going backwards. The only thing going forward in this country right now is those stolen vehicles driven by 11-year-old kids ram-raiding shops up and down the country. That's the only thing that's going forward!This Government has just missed so many opportunities to help New Zealanders. You don't see anywhere in any of the Budget material is a plan to get the country growing more quickly to actually generate more money; it's all about restructuring and redistributing money from those who work. Nowhere do you see—apart from a slimmed-down version of Shane Jones' original growth plan which I have no confidence will be well thought through or anything like that—anything about the regulatory reform the plan for growth that New Zealanders need to get ahead. The recipe for that is pretty simple it always has been the same which is to provide a stable predictable environment where people feel confident to invest where they know that the rules aren't going to be changed underneath them all the time and where they're not overtaxed and over-regulated so that New Zealanders can get ahead and actually back themselves to succeed globally.All we hear in this backwards Budget is more costs lots of money being spent and no accountability for the outcomes. That's why this bill is not what we need. National has got a better plan which would leave more money in the hands of New Zealanders' pockets."