Adams AmyHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn): Thank you Mr Speaker. I can tell you very simply and tell this House very simply why it is that this side of the House wanted an urgent debate on this Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) and that's because for the last few weeks now we've had this big build-up that this was going to be the big reveal when the new Government laid it all bare showed us the plan showed us the costings told us how it was all going to work; it was going to be the mini-Budget in which all would be revealed. We can see that because they've created this whole dog and pony show about today. Not just the traditional briefing over at Treasury—oh no. This Minister of Finance had to move it all to the Banquet Hall and have the full three-hour lock-up because this was going to be the big centrepiece of this new Government's programme. They were so desperate to show some sort of fiscal credibility that they tried to build this into a serious attempt to set up their costings.We heard this afternoon earlier from Steven Joyce about the Public Finance Act responsibilities that require Governments to properly include the costs of commitments they have made. So when Governments commit to making a change it is incumbent upon them to understand the cost. In fact when we were in Government in the Cabinet that I was a part of it was incumbent upon Ministers to know the costs long before they took things to Cabinet not at some point in the months following an announcement to the public. But none the less the Public Finance Act requires Governments to make sure that when a commitment has been publicly made that those costs are included in the fiscal plan.We awaited this Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update with some anticipation. Finally we were going to see some of the numbers around the programmes that the Government had been talking about. In fact all they've done is included just enough in this document to cover off the first 100 days and make sure that the numbers just about make sense—that's it. That is it. There is very very little information in this at all and yet Grant Robertson is happy to stand up and crow about how prudent he's being because Look the numbers add up."The story of this document is what isn't in here. You have a long long portion of the document—and I can assure Mr Robertson we certainly have read into it and for his reference it's pages 63 to 97; 34 pages—that sets out unfunded uncosted fiscal cost pressures and policy risks that this Government hasn't yet worked into the numbers. Every number in this document—this hefty tome that's come out today—covers only a very small part of their 100-day plan. It leaves out 34 pages' worth of real fiscal cost pressures real policy pressures and none of that yet is costed.Former Minister Steven Joyce talked a little bit in his contribution about some of those. He talked about the billion dollar regional economic development plan—not here. He talked about the 1800 extra police which has been announced—not here. He talked about conservation and the like.Some of the ones he didn't highlight which I want to turn to are commitments that this Government has made to the public; formal commitments they've made that remain uncosted unfunded and untransparent. The gender pay gap is a great one and the living wage. So I have taken the opportunity to say to the Minister "Well OK you've made a commitment to remove the gender pay gap in the core Public Service and to ensure that everyone in it is paid a living wage." That is a commitment that this Government has made. So I of course looked to this document to see with interest what it would cost. When I asked the Minister what the expected cost of those was the response that I received was "Well we're just starting a piece of work to figure that out."So here is the story of this Government: make an announcement with absolutely no idea what it's going to cost to implement and then put out a fiscal plan that is absolutely silent on the cost of any of that. Fundamentally we are being told by this Government that they will tell us the cost of things after they've done them—after they've done them. It is an appalling way to manage Government and to manage the public purse. This is a Government that is full of all of the sound bites in the world but doesn't understand how they're going to pay for it or even what it will cost. Now how the public of New Zealand can be expected to have any confidence in any fiscal update that leaves 34 pages' worth of announced commitments completely uncosted and unfactored-in is quite beyond me.This afternoon in question time the Deputy Prime Minister himself acknowledged that the HYEFU is fundamentally a reflection of the state of the economy that the new Government inherited—and I agree with him. I agree with the Rt Hon Winston Peters. This document one of the things that it absolutely does do is reflect very clearly what the economy was that this Government inherited. What it shows us—and even Mr Robertson has been forced to grudgingly and somewhat mean-spiritedly but none the less acknowledge—that he was left with a strong growing economy where incomes have been rising faster than the rate of inflation where 10000 extra jobs have been created and where the National-led Government—every month every month on average for two years—got us through some of the toughest fiscal conditions in the global financial crisis and the earthquakes.The reason that New Zealand needs to have low debt levels is because when those sorts of shocks hit we have to be able to respond. We were in a position—and I acknowledge that we inherited a low debt level and that has been critical to New Zealand's ability to survive those shocks. If I go back to my farming roots—every good farmer knows that when the sun's shining you put hay in the barns for the bad times. That's what this debt picture is all about. It's not some esoteric economic accountants' argument. When the times are good you put the feed in the barn to feed out when times are rough. These are New Zealand's good times—this is New Zealand's sunny season our harvest time where we need to be getting our economic ship in order so that when the next shock comes we're in a position to respond to it.Instead we've got a Government—and I was going to say you know generously sort of two months in. In fact as the Minister of Finance noted we've got 43 days in—43 days in and they've blown the lot. They have blown the lot. We left a strong economy with strong surpluses and a growing economy and already it's gone. What this HYEFU shows us in terms of the Government's plan in just in what they've done already—in 43-odd days—they have blown the lot. They had one idea for how they were going to generate revenue and that was to cancel the tax package; cancel New Zealanders getting a thousand dollars of their own money back to keep to spend it. That was it. And OK we disagree we think it's a terrible idea and we'll have that debate over the course of the next few days. But legitimately a new Government gets to take that approach. But that's it. That is all they wrote for how they will fund their commitments and that as of today is gone. It's gone on their baby bonus and their untargeted fully funded gap year for students while they figure out what to do next.What's really interesting is you've had both the Minister of Finance and the New Zealand First Party getting up and talking about the children and housing and health and education and yet none of that is funded—none of it is funded. They have spent all of the surpluses we left them. They have spent all of the money created from the one idea that they had for generating income for them—which we oppose; but that was their one idea—and they haven't spent a single cent in those areas that they claim to care so much about. That's not in the first 100 days.If this is a Government that's going to be all about putting money back into health and education and transport and more police on the beat—if they really cared about that stuff why isn't it the 100-day plan and why have they left no money for it?Now Mr Robertson in his contribution said "Well that's all right because we've got our out-year operating allowances in the Budget to provide for that." But let's be really clear. The operating allowances are only sufficient to cover the regional development fund. Take that out and there is not a cent; not a cent for the pay rises not a cent for the 10 or 15 percent increase in pay that the social workers at Oranga Tamariki are going to be looking for not a cent to pay for the extra police not a cent to pay for the transport commitments.So again even after we've had the big reveal—even after Labour has had their three-hour lock-up and big dog and pony show—New Zealand is still none the wiser about how they're going to pay for a single one of their promises that wasn't in the 100-day plan or how much it's going to cost. And what we've found out today is that the Government doesn't know. The Government has got no idea what it's going to cost to pay for what they've promised New Zealand or how they're going to pay for it but already we know from the history of the difference in the blowout between their pre-election fiscal numbers and this that they can't be trusted to have any idea of what it will cost where the money will come from or how they're going to do it. New Zealand should be very worried."