Genter Julie AnneJULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. What that previous speaker David Bennett really exemplified was the extent to which this National Government is all about spin and not about substance and is not willing to debate substantial issues on how we can actually create a fairer greener New Zealand. I know that most New Zealanders want to live in a society where everyone has a fair go where we do not have people sleeping on the streets or sleeping in cars or kids going to school hungry which limits their opportunities in the future. I know that most New Zealanders even the ones who voted for this National Government do not want that and I know that most New Zealanders—probably all New Zealanders—love our precious natural environment as I do. This is the reason I emigrated to New Zealand and made it my home. It is because I absolutely love the native forests the beaches the mountains—it is a fantastic place to live. And I know that—Andrew Bayly: And the people.JULIE ANNE GENTER: All the people who live here want to protect it for the long term for their children and grandchildren. They do not want to see it be lost just to get some short-term economic growth. They want a long-term strategy that protects our people and protects our environment. The reason I got involved in politics is that I was just trying to be a problem solver. You know I focused on urban planning and transport because I could see there were a lot of opportunities to get those win-wins in that area where we could get a better environment save money and get a better outcome for people in cities. Healthier happier cities—what a fantastic opportunity. I had to get involved in politics because politicians in New Zealand were making the calls and deciding to put lots of money into really outdated uneconomic motorway projects. It was such a missed opportunity. In fact this National Government is continuing to do that. So I joined the Green Party because I could see the Green Party was the party with these smart forward-looking policies that will actually deliver a much more successful society and will deliver more jobs for New Zealanders that will protect our environment and enhance the well-being of our citizens. I know it is very easy for the members in the National Party to get up and claim that the Green Party members are a bunch of loonies who do not understand the economy. If there are 59 of them going around saying that I do not doubt that people have the impression that the Green Party does not have a serious economic policy. But when you look at the reality the substance the Green Party is the most economically realistic party in this Parliament and I have to say that some of the Opposition parties are not too bad and we want to work with them.Hon Member: I'm glad we got that one in.JULIE ANNE GENTER: We want to work with them.Although the National Party spin is that it is the best party for jobs in the economy the reality is becoming glaringly obvious. Just look at the Reserve Bank statement today. That was a damning indictment of 8 years of National's short-term approach that has mismanaged the economy. That is its short-term approach to governing. National is unwilling to take the courageous hard calls. National went against popular public opinion and went off and partially privatised the energy companies with asset sales. That was not popular and it was also a fiscal and economic failure. It barely raised any money. We flooded the market with energy shares at one time which drove down the price. It meant we got less revenue. And now the cost of those forgone dividends has almost exceeded the amount that we received from those sales. So it was an economic and fiscal failure. But what could National have done instead? It could have listened to Treasury and implemented a comprehensive capital gains tax back in 2010 when Treasury was begging it to. That would have raised a lot of revenue which we could be using to invest in infrastructure to deal with our population growth. It would have been a fair way to raise that revenue. It would have helped reduce the growing gap between the haves and have-nots. It would not have solved the Auckland housing bubble—there is no question about that—but it would have dampened it a bit. At the very least it was a fair way to raise revenue. It is not fair that New Zealanders—middle New Zealand—go to work collect their pay cheque and pay tax on that but that rich elite class who are able to own lots of properties can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in Auckland not lifting a finger in tax-free capital gains. That is not fair. It is not right. It is not good for the economy. That is why we are pretty much the only country in the OECD that does not have a capital gains tax. It is not economically sensible. So if this Government was really serious about governing for the long term and creating a sustainable economy that looked after everyone it would have dealt with the housing crisis in the last 8 years. But it has not. Government members' statements in this House are pretty much fact free. They do not even really believe in objective reality. If we take the Prime Minister seriously he thinks that he can find a scientist who will give him whatever opinion he wants to hear. I do not doubt that he thinks that. But it is not true. Unfortunately this fact-free approach to politics really undermines the public's confidence in politicians and in our political system. As a result they are less likely to participate. That is bad for democracy and it is bad for our society. This is how we know that things are not going well despite National's protestations to the contrary. They say that GDP growth is great and the economy is going gangbusters. We know it is not working for everyone because homelessness is at an all-time high. For the first time we are getting enormous reports of people having to live in cars and live on the streets. We know it is not working because 62 percent of our monitored rivers are not safe for swimming. That is not right. That is not the New Zealand that we want to live in where the majority of our monitored rivers are unsafe for swimming in. We can do better than this. We do not have to trade away our rivers in order to have jobs. That is rubbish. The GDP growth is not a solution for the increasing number of children who are growing up in poverty and going to school hungry. Although there have been a few tinkering solutions the reality is that this Government has not done everything it could do to eliminate child poverty. There is no reason any child in New Zealand should grow up in poverty without a warm safe dry and secure home to live in. There is no reason they should go to school and be hungry. It is not in our short-term or long-term interests to allow this to continue. The Budget is all about priorities. Budget 2016 did nothing to address child poverty. It did nothing to address climate change. It did nothing—actually it probably made the situation worse when it comes to our rivers by subsidising irrigation which does not make economic sense and will lead to increased pollution in our rivers. Government members shake their heads but the truth is they are in denial. They are unwilling to confront the facts. I am here as all my colleagues are to bring these facts to the public of New Zealand who can see that things are not working for all New Zealanders. We can do better. Even in Opposition the Greens have delivered smart practical policies that are already benefiting New Zealand. There is the home insulation scheme—over $300 million on making homes warmer and healthier. That was only one-third of what the Greens proposed but it was our idea and at least National went ahead with it. Urban cycleways—over $300 million over 3 years to make it safer for people to walk and cycle in towns and cities which reduces congestion is great for health and it is great for our cities. That was a Green Party idea. The electrification of Auckland's rail network has been enormously successful. Now there is the City Rail Link and even though the Government has not committed funding to it it has realised it has to happen after dragging its feet for years. Predator-free New Zealand? What a good idea National but you actually have to fund it if you want to make it a reality. The Green Party has proposed a perfectly logical eminently doable way to fund this predator-free New Zealand goal. We launched it today—the taonga levy" which would be a small amount of money from all the millions of tourists who are coming to our country. It would help to fund protection of our conservation estate and ridding New Zealand of predators. Would it not be great if the Government actually followed its promises through with actual policy that would deliver on affordable housing smart green transport carbon-friendly jobs and protecting our rivers and our conservation estate? We can do this. It is absolutely possible. That is why I am here because I know that it is a possibility. But it is only a possibility if we change the Government."