Williams Arena; Salesa JennyARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. This is a good Budget and it's a privilege to speak on it today.But I've joined the House after a quick trip to Manurewa High School and I wish to reflect on that visit because it was very important to me to be able to start my week in Parliament in that way. After caucus committees this morning I went to Auckland and met with the Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern at a high school which is special to her in Manurewa. It was a really special moment to be welcomed into the school hall by the students to celebrate their performing arts of the school particularly the Māori performing arts.They have a student-led production about Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Manurewa the two mountains that have been almost quarried away to nothing—Matukurua—and it tells that story. That is a celebration of New Zealand histories and schools given life by this art that the students put together today. It's on Monday 6 o'clock at the Due Drop Centre if you'd like to check it out. We were also treated to a performance by the hip-hop group and by the choir—who for the first time are in the finals of The Big Sing on Saturday.This is a Budget which invests in the future of those kids. This is a Budget which also addresses the things which matter most to them right now. As the two head prefects Lolo and Paige said to me this morning Keep going." There is so much more that this Government has to do to address the things which matter most to them.Because these kids are affected by the global economic situation right now. Inflation affects them in a way that many of us in here will never experience and have never experienced in our lives. The effect of their parents struggling to put food on the table. The effect on their education when there's pressure on them to—like many of their friends in school—go out and get a second job. The effect of them not being able to play sports on the weekends or as Lolo has been able to do to sing in the choir because he will need to be another earner in their household.That is why this Labour Government is razor-focused on a cost of living package that delivers for these families. That's why things like the scrapping the costs of a prescription make a real difference in South Auckland. Because though for these kids it's free to pick up their prescriptions for their parents it was not. That meant that their mums their dads their kuia kaumātua didn't have the same access to medicines that they did. That meant a continuous cycle of being sick of not going to go to school of not being able to go to work. By removing that co-payment we've made a difference in these families' lives and we've made it better to be a South Aucklander.The changes that we've made by introducing free public transport for kids and young people makes a difference to them. It means that they can get to school for free; that they can travel to Auckland. Some of these kids in Manurewa High School they've never seen the Sky Tower. It is so important to our kids that we give them a mobility and a sense of their place in our city. Can I mention that this Budget also funded an $18 million package of transport investment into Manurewa through the Better Travel Choices package.But on Browns Road the bike lane that is protected that goes to Manurewa High School where young people travel every day on their bikes—and there's a thriving bicycle club at that school—was rejected by the Manurewa Local Board that is held by a majority of National Party members. It is a shame that this Government has invested in local transport solutions—that our high school students are asking for—that our local members have rejected purely on ideological reasons.It's also making a difference to these kids that we're investing to make their energy bills cheaper and to keep their kuia kaumātua—their nans and pops—warm in the winter. It means that these kids will have their grandparents around for longer. It means that they're able to visit and it will be warm and it will be dry and it will be good to be in their homes. It's so important for so many South Auckland families that we have those intergenerational connections and I'm really proud that this Government has invested in superannuation and invested in care for our kuia kaumātua; for our older people. It's important to these kids too.It was an emotional morning for me at the school because these kids also got to talk about those choices that they saw a Government make that was for them. The care that Dame Jacinda Ardern had shown to South Auckland and the decisions about the COVID19 pandemic meant so much to these kids who are deeply involved in the community organising around vaccinating the communities. These kids got on the phones they called their peers they called the families of people in the high school to make sure that they got vaccinated. These kids were leaders during that time and their service to the community cannot be undersold.I'm so proud of Manurewa High School that feeds 2000 people in our community every day because of their free school lunches programmes. It is so important that this Government continues to support the work of that school community and I commend this bill which does so much for them; so much for the school; so much for the kids; so much for the school leaders in the community; so much for Principal Pete Jones who I'm very very proud of; and Manurewa High School. Madam Speaker thank you for the opportunity for me to speak on this bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."