Russell DeborahDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn): I am absolutely delighted to take a call on this excellent Budget that builds real foundations for the future and that expresses the values of this coalition Government.I just want to address some of the points that the Opposition have raised and I'm particularly perturbed by what Mr Alastair Scott said about our tertiary fees policy having no new students. That is a mistake Mr Scott and the mistake is this: the mistake is not about whether or not there is an immediate increase in the number of students; what matters to us on this side of the House is relieving the debt pressure from students and what matters to us is education and the value of a free education. Labour Governments have always been Governments of education and we have expressed that through our values—our value of a free education. We're making a start on getting back to a fees-free education in the tertiary sector for university students for polytechnic students for apprentices and for anyone who is undertaking post-school education. That's the value we're expressing. That's what we're going to be counted by.I want to talk about the values of that Opposition. In the last few days they told us a lot about the Stand Children's Services facility in Roxburgh which has closed down. They said Why?" They challenged us: "Why is this cruel heartless Government closing it down?" Well we are going to provide those same services through other facilities. The services to children will not cease. But let me tell you why that particular facility the Roxburgh Stand Children's Services has closed down. Let me quote from an Otago Daily Times article from 6 April: "The charity had not had a funding increase since 2009 … It had met operational shortfalls in the past by dipping into its own reserves". Let me quote Bryan Cadogan's writing again in the Otago Daily Times on 18 May: "[The charity] have been put in this impossible situation of having Government funding frozen since 2009." That's the values of the Opposition: freeze the funding and then blame the Labour Government. If those charities have closed down it's because of their values their shallow values of cut cut cut.I see this expressed no better than in housing. The market will provide in housing—that's the ethos of the Opposition. And what has happened in the market over there? House prices have skyrocketed rents have increased families are living in precarious housing there is increasing homelessness—that is the market solution. The market solution—and it betrays a terrible failure of government by the previous Government a Government that has failed to attend to the basic needs of people for secure housing. On this side of the House we are rebuilding after years of neglect. We are rebuilding the foundations of a secure society where people have a decent warm dry and secure home to live in.I think about my own electorate of New Lynn where we have a chronic homelessness problem. We have a group of homeless people who travel around the electorate living in various places. We've been working with them talking to them and getting the resources around them. Some of those people who have been homeless are now ready in themselves to move into homes. We have put money into helping them: $100 million into homelessness and a huge chunk of that is going into the Housing First programme where we will simply put people into homes. The Lifewise Trust in New Lynn and VisionWest in Waitakere area will be working on this Housing First programme to do what a decent Government does.We do not accept homelessness; we do not accept that market outcome. We will step in we will step up and we will fix the problem of homelessness in this country. Those are the kinds of values we have on this side of the House. We actually care and when there is a failure we will take action. That is why I am so proud to be part of this coalition Government which has the heart which has the values and which has the capacity to address this terrible problem. I commend this Budget to the House."