1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSSPEAKER: Members please note that we will have a New Zealand Sign Language interpreter with us in the Chamber to interpret responses in New Zealand Sign Language for question No. 12.QUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes particularly the excellent work of the notoriously modest Minister of Finance to obtain $4 billion in savings and reprioritisations to support our response to Cyclone Gabrielle and meet the ongoing cost pressures in our public services. Hon Dr David Clark: Tell us more. Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Thank you. We owe it to New Zealanders as they are carefully considering their spending and making trade-offs in their lives that we will do the same. Budget 2023 strikes a careful balance between supporting New Zealanders with the costs of today while charting a course for a more productive and resilient economy. Nicola Willis: What did he mean when he said there would be no major tax changes in the Budget and is he intentionally leaving the door open to modest tax changes? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well on behalf of the Prime Minister I meant what I said in my pre-Budget speech in the last week of April. Nicola Willis: How does he define major"? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister as I said in my pre-Budget speech at the end of April there will be no capital gains tax there will be no wealth tax and there will be no major changes to the tax system. I can assure the member for example that we won't increase GST having said that we wouldn't beforehand. Nicola Willis: Can he confirm that there will be tax reductions in the Budget; he's just hoping an element of surprise will make up for their small size? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As the member—on behalf of the Prime Minister I've got to be really careful about this. Is it worth it Mr Speaker? No. What I can say to the member is that as the shadow Leader of the House indicated it's seven more sleeps perhaps not counting some of the daytime naps that the National Party take. Nicola Willis: Who is correct: Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni who in Parliament on 2 May described the clean-car changes for utes as a tax or his finance Minister Grant Robertson who two days later argued black and blue that they were not a tax? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I think both members will be correct in the context in which they gave their answers because they are loyal members of my Government—on behalf of the Prime Minister. It is fair to say that the provisions around high-emitting vehicles did change as part of recalibrating that system. On this side of the House we know that we actually have to take actions if we want to reduce emissions as opposed to words that we might hear from the Opposition. Nicola Willis: Does it meet his standards for a senior Minister to delay important education data for 10 weeks to coincide with a political announcement and would it be reasonable to expect that the Minister of Education would know whose authority her staff were acting under when they deliberately delayed the release of that data? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister I have absolute confidence in the actions of the Minister of Education."