Curran Clare; Tisch LindsayCLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): You know when a Government is actually very nervous. It is when its members start delivering election bribes instead of true reform. That is what this Government is doing. The Labour Party is certainly not nervous. The Labour Party is very disappointed in the Government. It is very disappointed with this Budget. After 9 years this is all the Government can come up with—a tax cut that increases inequality. There is a bit more for people at the top and bugger all for those at the bottom.At a time when we have got a housing crisis sweeping the country—not just in Auckland but sweeping the whole country—and our health and education systems are under severe pressure why is it that this Government throws out some poorly targeted tax changes that will not address the big issues and gives those who are struggling the most a very small amount if anything at all? In fact many people will be worse off. If you are single and on the minimum wage you will get $1 a week. If you are a family with one child you will be worse off. If you are a family with teenagers you will be worse off. This is a Budget that gives with one hand and takes with the other and it does not address the big issues.Finally though the Government has acknowledged that there is a housing crisis. The Government is calling it severe housing stress. But how is the Government addressing it? It is addressing it by bumping up the accommodation supplement from $890 million to $1.5 billion. The frightening thing is that it is as though the Government is using those who are suffering severe housing stress as a conduit to hand landlords an extra subsidy.Housing agencies and private landlords demand proof of income when you let a house. They know how much you get. What is to stop a raft of rent increases next year just before 1 April? In fact almost all of the myriad of housing cases that are coming through my electorate office at the moment are as the result of people who have lost their houses because they could not afford them any more. The lease had run out the landlord had not renewed the lease and the rent had gone up. Therefore they are in a position—I have got case after case after case where people are unable to find rental accommodation that they can afford.And in health—60000 people throughout the country have been denied elective surgery and 500000 cannot afford a GP. No big-picture approach—no addressing the $1.7 billion that needs to go back into health; not even catch-up funding.Here is what is happening in Dunedin: I will give you an example of a mother with an 8-year-old daughter. Last week she received $478 made up of income assistance accommodation allowance and family support. She was homeless for 8 weeks before securing a two-bedroom private rental for $325 a week. Why am I telling you those numbers? Because that is 68 percent of her income with electricity at $45 a week and a car that costs $65 a week. Because she is a seasonal worker and needs transport to her job she has no choice but to take her car. This leaves her with $43 to provide for her daughter and herself to live on.How is she expected to survive? Currently she can receive up to 75 percent a week in the accommodation supplement. This may rise by $30 a week. What happens when she needs to go to the doctor? What happens when the education fees go up for her daughter? What happens when all of the other costs in the systems—the housing system the education system the health system—that are not being addressed impact on her income? That is paltry; it is not addressing the real issues and it is time—it is time for a Government that takes a fresh approach that will deal with the systemic issues in housing health and education. It is time to change the Government.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I call Adrian Rurawhe—5 minutes.