Hayes JoJOANNE HAYES (National): I stand to take a call on the Appropriation (2016/17 Supplementary Estimates) Bill. When I heard that previous speaker Michael Wood's kōrero I thought: Oh my gosh! He has obviously overlooked the $2 billion Family Incomes Package that they never even supported." Labour members talk about supporting those on low incomes and all the rest of it and think that they have a say over that when they cannot even support this $2 billion Family Incomes Package. That was the hallmark of our Budget for 2017 and it actually was met with great admiration out on the street not only by the people who will be receiving this amazing package but also by the organisations that actually work with these people as well. So when I look across at the Opposition and the way that it rubbished the 2017 Budget I think: "Well there is no vision there; there is no aspiration there. There is no going anywhere in that group across the House."I want to talk a little bit about the children young persons and their families Oranga Tamariki the Ministry for Vulnerable Children because this is the second-biggest investment to support vulnerable children over many years—over 30 years actually. A little bit of history about that—in 2016 the Minister for Social Development the Hon Anne Tolley had been working on reviewing the Child Youth and Family organisation and some of the reports that came out from that investigation were found wanting. They found a system that did not place children at the centre of its organisation; it was not meeting the needs of vulnerable young children. The organisation was fragmented. There was a lack of clear accountability and there was not any organised common purpose around the organisation. That therefore bore the start of the Ministry for Vulnerable Children.From 2016 to 2017 the Minister has fastidiously looked at the way the organisation is set up and thereto $434.1 million was set aside in the Budget to be invested in the ministry—that is $424.2 million in operating funding over 4 years for that organisation $2.3 million for the 2016-17 period and $7.5 million for capital funding. When we start to look at that we see this is a Government that is serious about helping young children young youth within the system. Not only was that funding put in for the ministry but also there was the establishment of the youth group. The youth group members were advisers to the Minister and to the researchers who were setting up Oranga Tamariki. These were the young people who said: "We want to have a say. We want to make sure that the new establishment the new organisation that will come forward will be by us and for us." I believe that through the Minister's hard work with her advisers we have actually been able to get there.A little bit more evidence around that—recently we had a meeting with the CEO of the Ministry for Vulnerable Children and she said her scariest time when she applied for the job and went through the interview process was actually the interview with the youth expert panel. She was so very nervous about facing them and showing them that she meant what she was saying and that it was not a false interview. I guess that for that period of her interview she came through and the rangatahi on that expert panel could see that she meant what she was saying.We have also within this Budget put aside or invested $26.4 million to support 4500 caregivers of children. That is really important because sometimes it is difficult when you are looking after young people and your personal budget is very tight and so to be able to support the caregivers of these children through this $26.4 million—it goes some way towards ensuring that the caregivers are actually able to do a good job of looking after these young people.We have also invested $94.4 million to meet some of the ministry's cost pressures through this Budget. It has had a number of them. With the restructure of Child Youth and Family into the ministry and all the other machinations that are going on within the ministry there has obviously been quite a bit of cost pressure. So $94.4 million will actually assist the ministry to overcome those cost pressures.We have invested another $71 million to extend support for youth aged between 17 and 18 years. This was a contention as we were going through discussing this with some of the people who came along to the select committee. But I think where we got to with the 17- to 18-year olds—I think it is a very good place to get to because they seemed to be the young people who were missing out when the age for supporting them stopped at 17. So we are able to extend that by another year and then also to put some support around those up to age 25.There is $28.1 million for Family Start an intensive home-visiting programme. Family Start has been one of those contracts that community organisations have had and it has been quite difficult—I know because I came from that sector—for some of the providers to be able to do a good job around Family Start. There has been some review of the actual services of Family Start and now we are starting to get to a place where Family Start is starting to be embedded a bit better into the organisations. So that is $28.1 million invested in there through this Budget.Finally there is $11.7 million over 2 years to trial and evaluate community-based remand placements. It is all very well having all of these things happening but it is really key to be able to make sure that the investment is actually working and with the remand placements those have been some of the areas whereby an evaluation of those placements will let us know how well things are going with the investment.As I said we had the $2 billion Family Incomes Package to lift after-tax incomes. That was targeted at low-income families. It will increase the $14000 income-tax threshold to $22000 and the $48000 threshold to $52000. This means more money in the pockets of those people who deserve to have it. That is looking at an average of about an additional $26 into people's pockets. Some people might say: "Well that's not enough." Well it is more than what they had yesterday and it will carry on into their future. I can see that through this investment into the Family Incomes Package many many families—we are looking at thousands and thousands of families—will actually benefit from this. That is 20000 households—the household incomes threshold. Those are the people who will actually benefit from that. That is reducing the number of children living in families that are receiving less than half the median income by around 50000. This is what this Family Incomes Package—it is targeted at children. It is targeted at families with children. I am really pleased to stand here and tautoko this particular area of the Budget.I just want to finish off my kōrero by giving a little brief talk about the Canterbury rebuild and the amount of capital investment that this Government has put into the Canterbury rebuild. We are looking at $4.7 billion across health education social housing and more. In my electorate of Christchurch East we are looking at a number of primary schools that are brand new plus the community college Haeata. That school is thriving. Yes it has its ups and downs as all schools do. All schools have their ups and downs. But through the principal Andy Kai Fong—he is doing an amazing job of bringing together ages from 5 years old all the way to 18 years old and being able to deliver educational packages that actually respond to each of those individual age groups. I have visited the school. I have met with Andy a number of times. I have even met with 15- to 18-year-olds. I can tell you the investment we have put in there is paying off. I have no hesitation in supporting this legislation. Kia ora."