Smith Nick; Tisch LindsayHon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Construction): The problem with that contribution from the member for Mt Albert is that she did not answer the fundamental question about whether these tax reductions these big investments in infrastructure and these improvements in public services would be supported by Labour. She was blank on that fundamental question that we debate in this Budget debate.I would say that this is the best Budget this Parliament has seen in more than a generation. It is a Budget that shows our economy is growing strongly. It is a Budget that delivers better public services. It is a Budget that involves the biggest investment in infrastructure—Carmel Sepuloni: Stuffed up ACC. Stuffed up housing.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —that our country has ever seen and it is a Budget that delivers for 1.3 million New Zealand households $26 extra per week.Kris Faafoi: He's a failure. He got rolled.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The challenge I would give to members who are interjecting opposite is this: let us look at New Zealand's vital economic statistics. Let us look at the level of growth and how it compares: 6 straight years of 3 percent economic growth and for the next 4 years at least 3 percent growth.Let us look at inflation. When we came into Government inflation was running at over 5 percent per year eroding New Zealand families' working base. What this Budget shows on that vital statistic is inflation at only 2 percent and set to stay at that very level.Let us look at one of the most important things. Jacinda Ardern talked about the right to a job. What this Budget shows is unemployment under 5 percent and 170000 more jobs for New Zealanders over the next 4 years and unemployment trending down to just 4 percent.I look at another statistic like interest rates. It matters for homeowners; it matters for businesses that are investing in jobs. Again we see that vital statistic at less than 5 percent and so strong for New Zealand.I look at an issue like debt. I have stood in this Parliament speaking in Budget debates when New Zealand's debt has been over 90 percent of GDP. That is what I came into Parliament inheriting from a Labour Government in the 1980s. I see in this Budget New Zealand's debt level trended down to only 20 percent of GDP and I commend the Minister of Finance for caring about the future and targeting a level of debt of between only 10 and 15 percent of GDP. I challenge people to look at this Budget and line it up with any that has been delivered in this country in the last 25 years and tell me which Budget in the last 25 years has had better vital economic statistics for our country. There is not one.Kris Faafoi: 2004.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I say to the member opposite: tell me a country a country like our own that has had a better Budget than us.Kris Faafoi: He's a joke.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Tell me whether—well I ask the member whether he would rather have the Budget of Australia where they have got substantive debt and increasing unemployment. Would he rather have what you have got in the United Kingdom? Would he rather what they have got in the US? You will not find and I challenge any member opposite to tell me a country right now that is in better economic shape than New Zealand and that is another tribute to the success of this Budget.I have to also agree with the commentators who have said that actually if you look at the families package in this Budget it is big and bold and in itself justifies a Budget. Not only to have the families package but also to have the package that is expanding public services and a budget that provides for massive growth in infrastructure spending—to have all that all three of those components in one Budget makes it truly stand out.I do want to speak about the issues of building and construction. Firstly this is a Budget that provides the billion dollars of funding to support our local authorities to grow the infrastructure—to grow the number of homes that are being built. This is a Budget that provides families under pressure with housing costs with over $600 million a year of additional support. I have heard those silly comments opposite which claim that the accommodation supplement somehow just goes into the pockets of landlords. Well you tell that to my constituents.Denis O'Rourke: Where else could it go?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Well I say this to the member: when the Government this Government increased the benefits for the first time in 40 years—is the member also arguing that when you increase the benefits they just go into the hands of the supermarkets? To those who rent property it is flawed economics.What you see from this Government—it is freeing up land supply through the special housing areas and there is $4.9 million of money in this Budget to support the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity. If you look at the money and funding to support the Resource Management Act reforms that this Budget is providing for no wonder we have been able to achieve the longest and strongest period of new home construction that New Zealand has ever seen—now in its fifth year—and further statistics out today from the building numbers show that strength.It is an appropriate time to also scrutinise alternative policies and this Parliament has heard a lot about KiwiBuild. Well let me just ask those members a few questions about their KiwiBuild policy. Labour says that the KiwiBuild policy of 10000 homes a year is going to be delivered with 5000 workers. That is what its policy says—5000 workers are going to build 10000 houses a year. Which planet is the Labour Party on? If you take the current rate of home construction in New Zealand—we are building over 30000 houses and it is taking 145000 people to build those homes. In other words based on current construction you would need 46000 people to build an additional 10000 houses a year. Labour says it can do it with 5000. That is one-ninth of what anybody in the building and construction says is required.Then you come to the issue of the funding. Labour says you can magically build 100000 homes with $2 billion—100000 homes with $2 billion. I can see the pig flying past right now it is so unrealistic. What Labour is banking on—this is what it says this is what it expects New Zealanders to believe: that if you take the $2 billion and you spend it on getting the resource consents and the building consents and you build the infrastructure and you build the houses and you sell the houses you can do that 25 times over at 4 months per period and somehow you build those 100000 homes.Then you come to the issue and you ask the Labour Party: Where are the 100000 homes going to go? Where is the land?". They are certainly not going to go at Three Kings. They certainly are not going to be at Point England. Those members do not know. They oppose houses adjacent to graveyards they oppose housing in Māngere they oppose housing in west Auckland—they have no idea where the land will come from. They have no idea where the funding will come from. They have no idea where the workers are going to come from. That is not a policy; it is a soundbite. It is an embarrassment.This is a Budget that in my view has gone down better than any I have seen. The fact that the Green Party voted for the families package that the New Zealand First Party voted for the families package—and it spoke volumes that the Leader of the Opposition in critiquing the Budget could not fill his allotment of time. I actually have some sympathy for him. It is damned difficult to criticise such a good Budget. It is no surprise that he could not fill his allotted time with his critique of it.This is a Budget for our times. This is a Budget that builds on 8 years of hard graft by New Zealanders in improving our economy. It improves public services it puts money in New Zealand families' pockets and it reduces debt—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Sorry the member's time has expired."