Robertson GrantDEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENTDebate resumed from 8 February.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I am extremely proud to stand today in the debate on the Prime Minister's statement. I am proud of the record of this Government in providing what the Lowy Institute has declared as the best COVID-19 response in the world. That is a COVID-19 response that has been driven by the view that the best response for the whole of society including the economy is a strong public health response. We have stuck to that throughout this period of COVID-19 believing that if we support New Zealanders' lives and livelihoods we will come through this pandemic stronger. I am proud of the fact that we are now going to build on that response to take New Zealand forward to not accept business as usual but to build a high-wage low-carbon economy that provides economic security to New Zealanders in good times and in bad.That is what New Zealanders have learnt over the last 2 years: that this Government is prepared to step forward and give them security. In the face of a one-in-100-year health and economic shock it was this Government that stepped up and provided the support for New Zealanders to stay in work and today we stand here with the lowest unemployment rate in New Zealand's history at 3.2 percent. That means though in turn that there are 2.83 million New Zealanders in work today. We have under 100000 people unemployed in New Zealand and that—at the end of a pandemic that has rocked people and has hurt some businesses and some sectors—is a remarkable result. It is down to the hard work and the resilience of New Zealand businesses and workers that we have got there and the fact that there is a Government that is prepared to stand alongside them.There are no easy decisions in COVID-19. At each and every stage we have been presented with difficult and worse options. We've had to shift and adapt at each stage to try to stay ahead of the virus. Of course we will not get every single decision right but New Zealanders know that we have kept to our word: that we would save lives and we would save livelihoods—and that is what we have done. What New Zealanders also know is that they cannot trust the National Party when it comes to COVID. For two years across five poor leaders they have flip-flopped around with open borders closed borders and were for ever arguing against the very things that are working. Remember this is the party and indeed contestant number five is the leader who said in December as Omicron began to spread around the world that now was a good time to open up invite Omicron in through the door. A petition went up in the name of the National Party and it said End MIQ now." Then when it started to get just a little bit hard and Omicron cases started to pile up at the border they changed the name of the petition on the National Party website to "End MIQ"—no other word. I think we can probably make the judgment that the next step for the National Party's petition will be simply the word "End" and on that I think we could all agree.When National comes forward and puts out ideas and positive solutions people will respond but yesterday we heard Christopher Luxon come to the House with a speech that could've been written by any National Party leader since the 1990s. He came here with the energy of Tony Robbins on Valium a corporate life coach with nowhere else to go and he told us that New Zealanders weren't happy. Well what we know on this side of the House is having got through COVID-19 in the way that we have New Zealanders know that they have a Government that has their back. But the National Party leader went on to say that the cost of living crisis he said in New Zealand is one that he will address but not once yesterday did he say what he would do and then when he was pressed he said "Cameras on boats" representing the major inflationary push that we have seen in New Zealand! He also said though—I want to give credit here—that they were going to get rid of the Auckland regional fuel tax. It was a little bit confusing because when he was asked what he would replace that with he said "A congestion charge."—i.e. a levy; i.e. replacing one tax with another tax which wouldn't actually reduce the cost of living.While we're on the subject of the regional fuel tax and getting rid of it I wonder if he—the Leader of the Opposition—has spoken to the National Party's transport spokesperson Simeon Brown who I believe attended with great excitement the opening of the Eastern Busway a project funded from the regional fuel tax. They cannot have it both ways. Either they support those transport projects or they don't and what we know is they are just playing politics here.On this side of the House our focus when it comes to the economy is the lifting of wages. We do need to do that by investing in the initiatives that will lift productivity and on that I agree with the Leader of the Opposition but that means actually investing in infrastructure—$57 billion worth over the next five years. It means being prepared to look ahead not take the cheap political shots but actually say "What does a plan for transport look like? How do we actually invest in the building of public housing not the selling off of public housing making sure that our hospitals our educational facilities are all being built and turned into world-class facilities?" That's what helps grow productivity.What else helps grow productivity is skills and skills training and one of the proudest things I have of our response to COVID-19 was our move to make apprenticeships free and subsidised trades training free. Over 100000 New Zealanders have benefited from that. It's lifting skills. It's giving people opportunities like that that actually makes a difference when it comes to productivity just as it does when we reach out into the world and I want to give credit to both our former trade Minister David Parker and our current trade Minister Damien O'Connor for the work they have done in establishing the UK free-trade agreement alongside Minister Nanaia Mahuta. We are on the way to a strong agreement with the European Union and we are out there supporting our exporters in a practical way and the Prime Minister will lead trade delegations later this year to support that.All the way through COVID we have had a mind to how we support our exporters to continue to be able to drive the New Zealand economy and here I do want to thank our primary sector. It is a sector I note that the Leader of the Opposition didn't bother to talk about during his speech yesterday. That primary sector has driven those exports and we've got alongside them. We have had an air freight subsidy scheme that has meant that planes have travelled in and out of New Zealand throughout this pandemic which they would not have without that. That has meant that tens of billions of dollars of exports have gone out of New Zealand and imports have come in. That is a practical partnership between the Government and business to make sure that New Zealand has made it through COVID-19.So what we do now is we move forward to make sure that we are producing those higher-wage low-carbon jobs and at this point I want to thank our partnership with the Green Party particularly in the cooperation agreement when it comes to climate change. The year 2022 will be a year when New Zealand finally comes to terms with what we need to do to reach our zero-carbon target. That is a big challenge. It is a massive environmental challenge but it is also an enormous economic opportunity for New Zealand.No one's better at renewable energy in the world than New Zealand. No one's better at sustainable agriculture anywhere in the world than New Zealand. We can do this and we can create economic opportunity and higher-wage jobs out of the way that we approach the climate change challenge and those emissions reduction plans and the new climate emergency relief fund that we have in the Budget will drive us forward to meeting both our environmental and our economic goals. Our industry transformation plan which is being led by the Hon Stuart Nash is vital to ensure that we get alongside business to make sure they have the skilled workforce to make sure that they have the infrastructure that they need be it in agritech be it in advanced manufacturing be it in forestry be it in fisheries—industries that New Zealand is good at but industries we know we must add value to. That is the answer to productivity not old stories and old slogans from the 1990s but actual investment and partnership not only with business but also with workers and with iwi who we know want to be part of driving forward that story of a higher-wage lower-carbon economy that supports economic security.We have a big agenda this year. We are reforming the health system. We are reforming our three waters system. We are making sure that as a country we have the infrastructure that New Zealanders need and deserve to give them the opportunities to be able to achieve their potential. I am enormously proud of the statement that the Prime Minister put out. It is a plan for New Zealand to be able to drive forward to provide opportunities for the next generation to look after our planet and to make sure that every New Zealander has a stake in our future. This is a statement to be proud of."