Russell Deborah; Salesa JennyDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn): I'm delighted to have an opportunity to speak about this excellent Budget that has been prepared by Grant Robertson as Minister of Finance. He really has done a fantastic job dealing with some of the problems we have to deal with. However before I start talking directly about the Budget I do wish to commend to the House and to anyone who is watching the Prime Minister's speech at Harvard's commencement ceremony last week. It really is worth watching and it addresses a critical problem in our world: that of misinformation. However back to the Budget. And back to the Budget I want to go talking about misinformation. And the misinformation that's coming out is around inflation. Now we know that our economy like economies around the world is experiencing a peak of inflation at the moment. It's happening everywhere in the world. And we know that inflation worldwide is being driven by the problems with global supply lines and demand here in this economy is running up against the problem of those supply lines. And we know it's being driven by the war in Ukraine putting pressure on energy and energy supplies in Europe and driving up energy supplies everywhere. It's flowing right through into inflation. And yet the members on that side of the House would have it that it is New Zealand's Government's spending that is driving inflation in this country. Let me quote some of the words that eminent commentators have said about that view that it is New Zealand Government spending alone that is driving inflation: Shamubeel Eaqub said it was economically illiterate"; Adrian Orr the Governor of the Reserve Bank said it was "simplistic and frankly wrong". So straightforwardly the problem is not caused here but whether or not the problem is caused here whether or not Government spending has driven it here—and frankly it is "economically illiterate" and "simplistic and frankly wrong" to say that—it is our job as a Government to help people through. It is our job to do that and this Budget addresses that problem.I want to talk initially about what we have already done to help out. Now on 1 April we had a significant package which helped people on benefits. So at that stage on 1 April benefits were adjusted upwards superannuation was adjusted upwards and family tax credits were adjusted upwards. So we've already made some adjustments for people on benefit and on superannuation. From May—so it's already kicked in—the winter energy payment kicked in to help those people as well. So there's extra money going into households and low-income households right now which will help them to cope with inflation. We've also carried on with our lunches in schools programme a programme that is directed at low-decile schools to ensure that children are fed every day. And not only does it ensure that children are fed every day it takes a load off household budgets. So that's another way we're helping out low-income families. The minimum wage has gone up helping families out again making sure that more money is coming into households. So that's all the work that is already being done to address the needs of low-income households to help them get through this inflation peak. But we know that families who are in work—so not on benefits not getting superannuation—need help too and that's what we've done in this Budget. That is what our $350 cost of living payment is about. It is not designed to pay an entire household budget. It is designed as a contribution to help out. And I want to talk a little bit about it because it's important that people know about this payment so that they can make sure that if they're entitled to it they do get it. So here's how it's going to work. It's a one-off payment but it comes in three instalments. So three instalments—$350 spread across three instalments. So that's about $116 for each instalment. Those instalments will come in about $116 on 1 August another $116 on 1 September and another $116 or $117 or so on 1 October. So that's when those payments will arrive. The criteria for it are very straightforward: if a person earned $70000 or less in the year to 31 March 2022 if they are aged 18 years or older and if they are a New Zealand tax resident and they're resident here then they can get that payment. It's tax exempt so it won't be taxed in the recipient's hands. And in order to get it the best thing that a person can do to make sure they get it is to get online at IRD and update their bank account details make sure their tax return is done for the year ended 31 March 2022 and get their bank account details updated.I have an ask of everyone who's watching today—hi Dad because I know you'll be watching. I have an ask of people who are watching today: let other people know about this payment; let them know that they might be eligible to receive it; if you're competent if you're able to manage getting into the IRD website help someone out to get in there and get their payment. Now there's some really good information available about it on the IRD website. It's available at ird.govt.nz/cost-of-living-payment. So it's sitting there on the IRD website and I invite people to go and have a look at it. Students can get it as long as they're aged over 18 and earned some income last year. So they can get this payment too and it will help students out as well. So it's very straightforward. That's all you have to do. So it's for people who are not already getting the winter energy payment who earned $70000 or less last year who are aged over 18 and in order to get hold of it make sure you get on to the IRD website and update your details there. So that's the cost of living payment.But wait there's more. There is more in our Budget to help out low-income families. Now we've had a problem because of the world-wide problem around the price of energy. Of course we've had petrol prices going up significantly and in order to help out with that we had a 25c cut in the fuel excise and an equivalent decrease in road-user charges. To go alongside that—because of course those measures help people who drive cars—we also had a measure to help people who use public transport: half-price public transport. Now initially those measure were in place for three months. In Budget 2022 we extended them for a further two months so that half-price public transport is going to be in place for a while longer. Now that will come to an end—all good things do—but it will stay in place for community services card holders. So people who have a community services card can continue to get half-price public transport. Now again there's something here that's not all that widely known: students can be eligible for a community services card. So if you have students in your family if you know someone who's a student if you're a student yourself look into it and check out whether you can get that card. Perhaps Mr Speaker you might not personally and I certainly won't either any more but I've got people in my family and my daughters' friends who could get that community services card and as students get half-price public transport. So that's an enormous help for those lower-income people.So you can see that in our Budget we have had a big focus on helping people get through this inflation spike. We know it's a spike. We know that inflation is predicted to spike in the first half of this year and then to go down again. I know that many people find it a bit frightening. After all we haven't really had inflation in the economy for a good 25 years or so but it's back and it's back because of world-wide conditions. It's back and as a Government our job is to help people through and that is precisely what this Budget does. Why? Because as a Labour Government we are doing the best we can to deliver a balanced Budget that addresses the needs of people with lower incomes and that secures our future. We've put money into issues that really matter like health and climate change education—all the usual things. This is a big Budget on health this time which helps to secure our future. But at the same time we have tried to help out with the short-term needs which are being driven alas by inflation. So our cost-of-living package—it's a good one and I commend this Budget to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): The next call I understand is a split call. I call Damien Smith—five minutes."