SpeechHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn): Thank you Mr Speaker and I am pleased that I have a chance and get to take a call in this appropriations Estimates debate. While this is of course the Budget debate I don't think anyone would disagree that it's been delivered it's been put together and it's being debated in the context of the biggest economic crisis that any of us certainly in this House will have dealt with and quite likely any of us in our lifetime. The scale the intensity and the size of this challenge really render you know all of the normal rhetoric and analysis and debate around Budgets somewhat obsolete. The focus of this Budget really is that it encapsulates the Government response to how this country is going to approach the COVID crisis.In that regard it was eagerly anticipated. Right across the country irrespective of politics everybody understood that we were in an unparalleled crisis and that the thinking and delivery that would be required to get us through it would be set out in this Budget. And I don't mind admitting it myself: I may be an Opposition politician but I'm a New Zealander too and I was looking to this Budget to understand and have confidence that New Zealand had a clear path ahead and could have some confidence in its future.The Government of course had three months from the time the severity of this crisis first became apparent—about the middle of February—to work with tens of thousands of public servants very highly paid very highly skilled and millions and millions of dollars in consultants to ensure that this document could set out the very best of thinking that they had around how they would respond to the crisis. It was a chance to show that they got it that they understood what was going on and what we were going to face and that they had a plan to get New Zealand through this that they understood the scale they understood the support that would be needed and that they understood the adaptation that would be needed right across our country to a post-COVID world. But what did we see? We saw no plan whatsoever. After three months and hundreds of thousands of man hours from our civil service and consultants and all of the minds on the Treasury benches coming together we saw no plan no direction nothing at all that was going to reassure communities that this was a Government that held their livelihoods in safe hands that the country could look at this and say OK I can breathe a sigh of relief. I've got real confidence that my job is going to be safe and for those who do need new jobs that those jobs will come to pass."What we saw instead was a Labour Party that has reverted completely to type and just assumed that if you talk about big numbers that's the same thing as having a plan and that if you talk about spending a lot of money and really big numbers and lots of billions people will think that they know what they are doing. That is just not enough. I was just reading actually an article in The Australian today where a former Labour treasurer described this Government's response as having "no idea whatsoever except to throw money around." That is exactly right. If you don't have a plan in Grant Robertson's world just talk about billions and billions of dollars and let's hope that's enough.What we got in this Budget was a $20 billion slush fund. And you know in this House billions—and Michael Cullen famously said "A billion here a billion there. Pretty soon it's real money."—$20 billion; that's a 20000-million-dollar slush fund that the Government either can't or won't tell us what it's going to be used for and that's just not OK. Either they've got no ideas they've got no concept at all of what that money is going to be spent on—Hon Maggie Barry: That's quite likely.Hon AMY ADAMS: —or even worse though Maggie Barry—even worse than that bad scenario they know exactly what it is and they're callously sitting behind a frame of it being a COVID response to chuck a whole lot of money around to support their election chances. We will see won't we? But to tell New Zealanders who've by the way paid for that money that "We're not going to tell you what it's for. We don't know what we're going to use it for but we're going to take it off you." is simply not good enough.I think it's very easy for Governments to forget that this is money—whether it's borrowed or taken in taxes it's all money that comes out of the pockets of New Zealanders. Those New Zealanders deserve the respect of knowing what it will be used for what impact it will have and is it going to be spent carefully. You've got to know surely as a Government—as a competent Government—not only how much you can spend but what difference will it make. I've always said in this House and I stand by it that the test of a good Government is not how much you spend; it's what you achieve with that money. We've seen time and time again in this House that this is a Government that wants to get rid of targets and accountability for outcomes and wants us to judge them on how much money they spend. Well if that's the contest—how much money they can throw around—they can take that one. I would far rather that our side of the House is judged on the difference we make for New Zealanders and that's certainly what we stand for. If a Government truly wants to be kind to New Zealanders don't take money out of their pockets unless you know exactly why it's needed how you will use it and what difference it will make. That is a kindness.It also shows—this Budget—to me that this is a Government and more worryingly still a Prime Minister and a finance Minister who I don't think are actually appreciating the true scale and severity of this crisis. Let's look at the Budget and of course Budgets are put together—and I've certainly been in the room when Budgets have been put together and I understand the process. Budgets are put together based on a set of Treasury forecasts which go through a range of scenarios—best-case worst—well you know a sort of a high-risk case a low-risk case and a likely middle line. The Treasury forecasts in this Budget are unbelievably in a time of such fast-moving crisis a month old at Budget day—a month old. This is a crisis that is evolving by the day. We're seeing a thousand people a day—isn't it Louise Upston—go into just the job seeker support and Treasury stopped taking the mood of the economy a month out from the Budget. So we get a picture of things looking unbelievably rosier than they are or that they will be. I would say it's Pollyanna-ish but it's far too serious. If you cannot appreciate the scale of the severity you cannot respond appropriately. And this is not just an Opposition view of the world. You've got the Reserve Bank today coming out and saying actually unemployment could be twice what Treasury said. You've got significant and well-respected commentators saying unemployment could be 24 percent and yet we've got Grant Robertson just a week ago or less than a week ago saying he thought unemployment had plateaued. That to me tells me that we have a Government that is either duplicitous or entirely out of touch with the severity of what's going on in communities around New Zealand. The businesses I talk to are quite clear. We are nowhere near the worst of this economically yet. And yet we've got Treasury and the finance Minister singing from an "It's All Fine" song sheet and that's simply not right.I want to come back to that same article in The Australian today where they referred to this Government and I quote "pushing our economy off a cliff. Public finances are in tatters its biggest export sector obliterated." That is the true reality of the economic management of this Government. That is the true state of affairs. And Mr Robertson's comments that he thought unemployment was plateauing and businesses were confident now that we were back to level 2 shows an unbelievable naivety and failure to understand business. Just because a business can reopen—and I wouldn't have thought I would have to spell this out in the House but let me do so—just because you allow a business to reopen it doesn't mean it is suddenly profitable again and if it's not profitable it won't keep its staff. Those unemployment numbers are going to continue to rise up. And that is people it is livelihoods it is security it is everything they have worked for. The very first thing this Government should do is acknowledge the true picture of what has happened to New Zealand and show them that they have the germ of a plan any idea how they're going to get through it and if they don't know how to get through it then they need to step aside for those who will get New Zealanders through this. We need to support communities in this time of crisis. This is not about keeping money in the tin. We agree with that. It is about supporting New Zealanders in getting the help that they need and it is also about adapting New Zealand to a post-COVID world. That needs a clear plan. It needs a team capable of delivering it. If National has the privilege of being re-elected in September I can promise everyone in New Zealand that that is exactly what you will get."