Genter Julie AnneHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green—Rongotai): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. As my colleague Chlöe Swarbrick laid out the Green Party will not be supporting this bill and we have serious questions about the relevance of the bill to the situation we find ourselves in.Now I know it is a common habit of the National Party and your colleagues in the ACT Party—I haven't really heard from New Zealand First on this—to blame decisions that were made in the last two terms on the global economic circumstances that affected New Zealand following the global pandemic. So I do think it's important to inject some facts. I like a little visual aid. I'm going to hold it up so members can see. [Holds up graph] So Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation comparisons right across the world—you can't really make out the New Zealand line because it follows the shape of the United States Denmark Ireland Australia. Now if it were the case that the economic circumstances and CPI inflation that we experienced here in Aotearoa was entirely down to the fact that there was a dual mandate how does that explain all of these other countries experiencing the same CPI inflation? If the inflation we experienced here in Aotearoa was a result only of Government spending as a result of the last Labour Government why is it that the United States Denmark Australia and virtually every other economy in the world experienced the same shape of inflation? Why is that? Do members opposite have any curiosity about what it is that is causing the situation? Or do you blindly repeat the talking points handed down to you from the party elite? Ask yourselves that question because we've got the data right here that shows us New Zealand's inflation did not go as high as many other countries in the world. Here it is under many other countries and it didn't fall as fast as in some places.Another consideration is whether or not the Reserve Bank's decision to engage in funding for lending in December 2020 was a good idea and I would say it was a terrible idea. It was a mistake. Was it the result of the dual mandate? We have zero evidence that it was but most central banks in most countries made similar mistakes because they overestimated the impacts of the COVID pandemic particularly here in New Zealand where we had a lockdown which meant that we lived without COVID for 18 months longer than most parts of the world and our economy immediately bounced back. Why is that? Because the economy is not a machine. The economy is not something that is separate to us. What we call the economy just describes some of human activities just some of them just the ones where we trade goods and services for money. There's a whole lot of other things we do in the world that are the foundation for our wellbeing and how it is that we're able to succeed how it is that we're able to thrive. And all of that depends upon a healthy environment. Without water without healthy air without sunshine without soil we've got nothing.So the Green Party will continue to stand here and offer a constructive critique of the Government's approach to economic and fiscal policy. And I would say that we have a much better understanding of the economic context and the factors that are driving inflation here in Aotearoa. Now it is the case that many prices are starting to drop. A lot of the inflation we experienced here in New Zealand was a result of global inflation and global oil prices. Oil prices are starting to drop back down. But if we truly want to support people to achieve their aspirations which for most people is to have enough healthy kai; to have a warm healthy home; to have some secure activity whether that is a job in paid work or an unpaid job that is equally important like raising children or looking after sick relatives or volunteering in the community—if we want to achieve all of that for our people we cannot go back to the 1980s as the ACT Party would love us to.I think we all know that the economic reforms of the 1980s did not lead to a giant increase in productivity. They did enrich a tiny number of people many of whom donate now to the ACT Party and to the National Party. But if we want a truly equitable society that gives people equality of opportunity then we need a much more holistic approach to the economy one that respects our people—that looks after the dignity of people and supports people and the essential need that we have for a healthy planet.