Wood MichaelDEBATE ON BUDGET POLICY STATEMENTMICHAEL WOOD (Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee): I move That the House take note of the report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Budget Policy Statement 2018. I am delighted to present the Finance and Expenditure Committee's report on the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) 2018. That committee worked extremely hard on the report and I want to acknowledge my fellow members. It is the hardest-working and most dynamic select committee of this Parliament I am quite convinced. The reason that this is an important debate is that Budgets are not simply dry textual bits of parchment. Budgets are—as one of my favourite theologians Jim Wallis says—moral documents. You see when this House approves a Budget—and we'll get to that a bit later on in this year—it's not just a bunch of numbers and text on a bit of paper. Budgets are documents that shape real people's lives. It's Budgets that ultimately determine whether our people do or don't have jobs. It's Budgets that determine whether they have decent and dignified housing whether our people have the healthcare that they need when infirmity strikes and whether our kids and our young people have the education that they need to reach their very fullest potential in life. This Budget Policy Statement is a document that this new Government is very proud of because it points to a new Government that is energised that is ready to lead and that is determined to turn around the social and the infrastructure deficits that have arisen over the last nine years. I want to refer to the Salvation Army's recent state of the nation report and it describes this very well. It says this: it is clear that the benefits of this recent strong economic growth have not been shared across the board or trickled down as the theory would have it." What that tells us is that it is perfectly possible—Chris Bishop: There's no such theory. MICHAEL WOOD: —to have economic growth and it is perfectly possible to have fiscal surpluses and let me just put on the record for the benefit of Mr Bishop that those things are good things. We can acknowledge that by the end of its term the previous Government having piled up record debt did achieve those things. Well done—good work. But it's of no benefit to the kids who are living in cars; it's of no benefit to the 75000 young people not in education employment or training; it's of no benefit to the people who can't get the healthcare they need; and it's of no benefit to the people who are battling away on minimum wage and simply can't see a way out. So this is a Government that does aspire to having good fiscal surpluses. This is a Government that does aspire to having good economic growth but we aspire to so much more. We aspire to dignity and respect and a good standard of living for all of our people and that is exactly what this Budget Policy Statement—which precedes the Budget later in this year—points to. Let's just speak a little bit more about some of those deficits—those social and those infrastructure deficits that have arisen and that were highlighted through the Budget Policy Statement process. Well the very first one I believe is housing because no society can be said to be successful when its people want for one of the most very basic human needs. What do we need as human beings? What are the most basic things we need? We need food. We need clothing. We need shelter. But right at this moment we have 40000 people who don't have decent and stable housing in this country—40000 people who are homeless or who have insecure housing. They don't know where they're going to sleep next week. That is not the mark of a successful society and that is something that this Government will turn around. Is it a successful society when we have a health system that is so overstretched that last winter Middlemore Hospital had to put a sign out the front saying "Sorry we're closed. Don't come in if you're sick."? Is it a successful society when we have the principals in Auckland telling us that because of the low pay rates and because of the housing crisis we're going to be short of something like 3000 teachers in the years to come? That is not the mark of a successful society and that is something that this Government will turn around and that we have talked about in the Budget Policy Statement. And perhaps most seriously of all can it be said to be a successful society when we have our children—the most vulnerable members of our society and the source of our greatest potential as well—living in poverty in our communities in every single community up and down this country? I put it to this House that this is a wealthy country. This is a country of limitless potential and we do not need to accept any of those things as that last Government did over the past nine years. This Budget Policy Statement talks about a different and better way of doing things.Let me refer to one of the very good submissions given to the Finance and Expenditure Committee around the Budget Policy Statement. It was from the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. They said this: "We see the core role of any representative Government is to foster the common good of a 'fair go' society rather than encourage exploitative personal gain. To this end we welcome the Government's intention to ensure every family has a warm home good health care education opportunity and an adequate family income." Those are the things that we are absolutely focused on. I'm pleased to report that in the Budget Policy Statement and in the report from the Finance and Expenditure Committee those are exactly the things that this Government is very busy implementing.But here's the good news: this is also a Government that is focused on those fiscal bottom-line issues. We say that we can balance the two. We can balance the books and we can have a strong economy at the same time as making sure that people have dignity respect and hope. In fact I would say that those two things are interlinked because when we give people opportunity when we give our kids good education and when they have stable housing then we will be a more prosperous country. A child that is brought up with good education and stable housing is more likely to succeed is more likely to go into the workforce is more likely to start a business and is more likely to contribute to the future economic success of this country. Those things are not indivisible.So the good news is that as reported in the Budget Policy Statement and also the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) I might mention the Government's books are in good order and the Government's Budget responsibility rules which are confirmed in this statement are very very clear.This is a Government that is going to reduce net Crown debt to 20 percent.Andrew Bayly: After you put on another $10 billion of debt.MICHAEL WOOD: This is a Government that is going to prioritise—oh here we go Mr Bayly. Here we go.Andrew Bayly: $59 to $69 billion.MICHAEL WOOD: Mr Bayly's getting very excited. He is the Scotch terrier of the New Zealand Parliament. He's so excited—it's like a van has just pulled up on the driveway outside the ranchslider.This is a Government that is committed to fiscal responsibility. We're going to get net Crown debt down to below 20 percent. This is a Government that is going to manage those books very prudently. What we hear in the HYEFU is that growth is projected to carry on at around about 3 percent over the coming years. Wages are forecast to grow at over 3 percent on average over the next five years and that is good news for the workers of New Zealand who for so many years have been struggling under that previous Government which held wages down as much as it could.The news is good and I want to finish by going back to those original points made by a number of submitters—that we have got to have a focus. We've got to have a focus on the well-being of all New Zealanders. The Salvation Army said this in their submission: "In particular we support the commitment to put child wellbeing at the heart of what we do and to lift the wellbeing of all New Zealanders and our environment. We are encouraged that Treasury"—and you might say the Government—"is developing a holistic living standards and well-being framework".And that is probably the most significant shift that is referred to in this Budget Policy Statement. This Government is going to set clear goals not just for the fiscal bottom line but for child poverty. And you know what we're going to do? We're not just going to talk about it; we're going to embed those targets in the Budget. We're going to say that the state of living of our children is just as important as those figures on a piece of paper.This is a Government that is going to develop and embed a living standards framework so that we're measuring our natural capital because we say that every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local stream or river. We're going to measure ourselves against our success with human capital. We're going to measure the skills knowledge and physical and mental health in our community because those things are just as important as a fiscal surplus or deficit. We're going to measure our social capital—that is the connectedness of our people the success and the vibrancy of our communities—because those are the things that make life worth living. And we are going to measure our fiscal and physical capital.And I might say on that—and it's mentioned in the BPS report—that we're going to invest in New Zealand's infrastructure. I am very proud to stand here as a Government member with a Budget Policy Statement that commits to lifting our infrastructure investment from $32 billion to $42 billion over the next four years. A lot of that investment is going to go where it is really needed—to our neglected provinces which are crying out for a Government that will listen to them and invest in that infrastructure.I tell you what—and I'm proud of this as well Mrs Collins. We're going to invest in a First World public transport network for Auckland because that is what a growing successful and dynamic city needs.Hon Judith Collins: Great! Is it going to work?MICHAEL WOOD: Oh Mrs Collins Mr Bridges was very quiet when you were slagging off the public transport before. I think we've got a note of tension there. I am proud to stand up and present this Budget Policy Statement to the House. I very much look forward to whichever National Party front-bencher stands up to respond. I'm not sure who it will be."