Hudson BrettBRETT HUDSON (National): Thank you Mr Chair. I want to talk about the muddled—quite frankly—elements of unfairness in the targeting that is in Part 1. Before I move on to that I'd just like to make a comment on comments my colleague the Hon Gerry Brownlee made when he suggested that Mr Robertson had plucked figures for Best Start out of the air. Well I'm very sorry Mr Brownlee but I don't think it was the air that Mr Robertson plucked those numbers from.Also Mr O'Connor was making a comment about—which I think was a scurrilous accusation but none the less. He was making allegations that through rebates at university the rich were getting a far better deal for their kids and were rorting the system. Well if that is the case—and I don't actually believe it to be the case but if it is the case—how could that member in good conscience and in supporting and representing the good people of Ōhāriu and if he actually believes that how could he possibly stand with a Government that's going to give one free year of tertiary education for everyone irrespective of income and circumstances? I suggest that that man have a single standard for his behaviour not multiple standards.This bill does some targeting in some areas and lacks targeting in others. For instance the Best Start payment itself is not income tested for the first 12 months. So whatever you earn if you are Bob Jones—and he may well be still capable of fathering another child—you would get the Best Start payment. The Rt Hon Bill English I'm sure is capable and he would also get that payment. So that in that sense is universal. All you have to do is have a child. What your individual circumstances are don't matter. But then in Part 1 the Government is making some targeting choices that I want to talk about because I believe very strongly that they are deeply unfair and quite frankly unfairly discriminative between people in different circumstances.So the nature of Best Start is that even within that first 12 months if a parent is receiving paid parental leave they will receive the paid parental leave instead of the Best Start credit. At the end of paid parental leave the Best Start credit will then continue through until three years of age but after 12 months is subject to some income testing. Well not all new parents are in circumstances or are desiring to take leave. Some of them see work as part of the appropriate circumstances for themselves and for their families when they have a newborn child. For some years the parental tax credit has been available for those families. It was some years ago that it was eight weeks; the National Government changed that to a 10-week eligibility. Well this Best Start is going to replace that entirely. So we increased the value and the duration of that—it's now worth $220 a week for up to 10 weeks as a credit. This Government—this mean-spirited Government—are replacing that completely with a $60 a week payment.So basically if you are a new parent or a family and you determine that what is right for you or right for your family is to remain in work then the Government is saying you get almost nothing—that you are of less worth to them than a parent or a family who chooses to take Government-paid leave. I think that's absolutely disgraceful quite frankly. I think they are passing judgment on the circumstances that are for individuals and families to determine and they are effectively saying that your choice for one set of circumstances makes you more valuable and worthy to this Government than if you remain in work for that period of time.Clause 17 makes a very simple change to the Income Tax Act 2007 which basically says that if you have a child after the end of June next year then you are not eligible for parental tax credit. So they're basically saying that Best Start will replace it—you'll be on 60 bucks a week instead of 220 bucks. That is quite significant for families in those circumstances. It's only a 10-week period so I have questions for the Minister of Finance that I want to ask—and I'll seek another call—and that is: why? Why do you treat these—[Time expired]