SpeechHon NIKKI KAYE (Deputy Leader—National): I am pleased to speak on the Budget but what I am sad about is when we look back in history and we compare this Budget to previous Budgets of previous Governments dealing with major financial crises. I think it is important to look back. Under the last National Government when we dealt with the global financial recession when we were staring down a decade of deficits what we did was when we were in that situation we left New Zealand a legacy of some world-class infrastructure whether it's ultra-fast broadband which connected every school in New Zealand to uncapped fast data for every school across the country whether it was the Victoria Park Tunnel or whether it was the huge number of roading projects that occurred. So when we look at this Budget and we look at this situation that we find ourselves in it is important to understand the feelings of many New Zealanders—but also of this side of the House—to be disappointed. The reality is that we are in the largest economic crisis of a generation and it is not good enough to turn up in this Budget and have a bucket of cash but not have detailed plans. What we have seen on this side of the House is that despite the largest economic crisis in a generation and 150000 projected job losses the linchpin of this Budget should have been job retention and job creation. The reality is we've just heard from Willie Jackson about Mana in Mahi. This Government's plan in this Budget but also from Willie Jackson himself is 729 jobs. So when Megan Woods stands up in this House and tries to give the Opposition a lecture on what our plans are I'm very proud that our leader Todd Muller announced on Friday a plan for 50000 jobs; not 729 Willie Jackson. When we hear in this debate a lecture about building public houses it is important to consider the backdrop in which this Government promised 100000 houses via KiwiBuild. So it's not OK to be turning up with tens of billions of dollars available and then not to be meeting the mark in terms of a large-scale project like KiwiBuild. The reality is this is a Government that is very very good at press releases but actually when it comes to the detail and delivery on every major measure this Government has failed. In the area of transport and infrastructure this Government has delivered very little. In the area of housing this Government again by its own standards is nowhere near what its targets were on KiwiBuild. So as we travel around New Zealand we believe that this election will be fought on who is able to best power up and power New Zealand out of the largest economic crisis of a generation. Again what that requires is some form of plan. What we saw in this Budget was again a contingency which enables members opposite to put out press releases of initiatives that are highly likely to never be delivered because that is their record of 2½ years in office. On the alternative side our party is very focused—very focused—on the 480000 small businesses who need a few things. The first thing they need is certainty. That is why we are asking questions about level 1. It is our view that we should be able to move there. It's not just the view of the Opposition; it's also the view of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is incumbent on this Government to be able to turn up into the small businesses—the butchers the factories the other shops and retail areas of New Zealand and hospitality—and tell those businesses why we're not in level 1 now because that matters and it's relevant to the debt that will occur for generations. If the Government spends every additional day with restrictions then it will cost us more. So it is our view that we should be in level 1 now. The second area of our economic plan is absolutely ensuring that we do what we can to save these businesses. The wage subsidy has been great but it is not enough. That is why on this side of the House we have put up very comprehensive plans around GST refunds. We understand that there are people now who are being let go and we understand that there are many businesses in my electorate and in other people's electorates who are shutting their doors because the Government has not been able to provide direct cash flow and the Prime Minister has continued in this House to obfuscate and to put up a whole range of other things except for actual policy that will ensure that these businesses survive. That is why the other prong of our plan has been around job creation. On Friday we announced the JobStart package which is about $10000 to enable an additional hire to really ensure that for those potential 150000 people that find themselves unemployed they actually have a hope of getting another job. This is the side of the House that understands the economy that has a leader that has business experience and that has the capacity to ensure that people are in work and that they are helped through this very difficult time. I turn my mind then to areas like education. Again this is a Government that promised a huge amount. We know there are more than I think 40 promises in education that have not been delivered despite tens of billions of dollars in this Budget. So the question for Ministers in the education area alone is where is the package around the viability of schools to get through COVID? The number of principals that have messaged me that are dealing with huge bills due to the loss of international students at their schools or due to a lack of fund-raising. There was not a package in this Budget to deal with those issues of financial viability for the schools across New Zealand. What about the tertiary sector? Again it was a huge hit around international students. In this Budget there was $20 million for students for hardship. Again that is nothing compared to the huge hit that the tertiary institutions of New Zealand have faced. So where we find ourselves in terms of this Budget is that it is disappointing. We are going to be dealing with a more worse situation. Every day we are talking to businesses across New Zealand and we're talking to families. They are in extraordinary hardship and what we have is a Government that does not have the team to deliver. It does not have a record of delivery in the best possible times and it doesn't have intelligent plans to be able to deliver and ensure that the 480000 small businesses of New Zealand survive and keep families in work. It doesn't have a record of delivery across infrastructure. So what we find again from Ministers is that they go across the country issuing press releases but they fail again to actually deliver when it comes to execution and this Budget is a classic case of that. We know that they will spend probably $10 billion in the next three months and the reality is when I talk to people in their 20s and 30s and 40s they say this: This is the rainy day. We want to invest in infrastructure. We want to invest in people and training. We want to invest in people and skills. We want to build houses. We want to do all of these things." but what they expect is that we spend this money wisely. What they know is that if we don't there will be no legacy as a result of the greatest financial recession of our history. They will be working longer. They will be paying higher taxes. So we have a moral obligation in this House to scrutinise this Budget to acknowledge that members opposite—despite some amazing conditions until COVID—have failed to deliver and to acknowledge that in one of the worst periods of our history from an economic perspective the heroes of this recovery our small businesses have been left high and dry. It is only National that has the plans whether it's job creation in JobStart whether it's GST refunds to keep those businesses afloat or whether it's our infrastructure plan of which Todd has said we will deliver the largest ever infrastructure plan in our nation's history. It is only National that has the team of people to execute that and that has the plans to deliver and this Budget is a disappointment."