1. Budget 2017—Health Education Housing Police and Tax CutsANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterWEDNESDAY 31 MAY 2017Mr Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.Prayers.ORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSBudget 2017—Health Education Housing Police and Tax Cuts1. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Did the Minister of Finance tell him that Budget 2017 invests less in new initiatives for health education housing and police combined than it spends on tax cuts?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance) on behalf of the Prime Minister: No because if he had he would have been wrong. The new initiatives highlighted by the member include $3.9 billion for health; $1.2 billion for education including tertiary; $1.5 billion for housing including the accommodation supplement; and $400 million for police bringing the total to $7 billion against the total cost of the personal income tax changes of $6.25 billion over the 4 years. This is of course only operating expenditure not capital and these figures do not take into account the clawback on the tax changes nor the rather large $130 billion - odd in baseline spending over 4 years on these particular portfolios that the member identifies.Andrew Little: In light of that confirmation of my original proposition why did he give a tax cut of a thousand dollars a year to himself and me but not put one cent of new money into insulating cold mouldy homes owned by either homeowners or landlords?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Because we have now made a law change to make it compulsory for rental homes to be insulated. We went through a long and large period of assisting landlords and people with the insulation and now we are actually offering a law change that will ensure that landlords are required to do the insulation. In terms of the tax cuts I note that the member at least recently was in favour of threshold changes. Andrew Little: Given that paediatrician Dr Innes Asher has told the Government Administration Committee today that we need to improve home insulation to reduce the number of kids going to hospital with a respiratory disease why are more sick kids the price he is willing to pay for tax cuts?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I agree; we need more insulation. That is why this Government has changed the law to ensure that it takes place. The member can try to ignore it—as he tries to ignore many things as he desperately searches around for something not to like about the Budget—but that is the reality of it. We are very focused on increasing the amount of insulation in homes.Andrew Little: Why did he give the members of this House—including Maggie Barry who has just arrived—a total of $130000 a year in tax cuts while cutting funding for elective surgeries?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member needs to stop saying that things are being cut when they get more money because he has no credibility when he does so.Andrew Little: Why did he think it was more important to give a tax cut that puts $20 a week into the pockets of MPs than it was to end the freeze on per-pupil funding for early childhood education?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Again the member is wrong. He needs to stop taking Grant Robertson's advice to questions because the data is wrong. Actually this Government does believe that it is important to adjust the tax thresholds for hard-working Kiwis around the whole country. This Government does believe that. Up until quite recently Mr Little believed it too. He recently quoted that thresholds should be adjusted from time to time and that he is supportive of it.Andrew Little: Why should he and I get a tax cut given that funding for Computers in Homes a programme that helps close the digital divide for our poorest families has now been ended?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member's tax situation was not uppermost in the Government's mind when it was considering making sure that people on the median wage and on the average wage did not have to pay 30c on the dollar in tax at the same time as it was considering very large investments in public services—$7 billion over 4 years—and very big investments in infrastructure. Those are the decisions that this Government made and we believe that it is a very balanced Budget.Andrew Little: Does he see that the cost of $2 billion of tax cuts $400 million of which goes to the top 10 percent of earners is that we do not have the money for health education housing police and infrastructure that Kiwis want and need?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I do not know what planet this member is on. There is $7 billion—$7 billion—for more public services in this Budget and he tries to pretend it is not there. No wonder those members are not getting any cut-through. You know they have had more positions on this Budget than Sean Spicer has on Donald Trump. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Less interjection please from both sides of the House.