Sio Hon Aupito William; Williams PotoHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): I want to commend that last speaker Ian McKelvie. As I listened to him hold up and congratulate the Government about the focus on mental health in this Budget as I listened to him recognise the importance of planting more trees as I listened to him acknowledge the need to tackle some of the challenges that the rural areas and our young children are facing I thought He's got a conscience and he's found his voice." unlike the rest of his colleagues who in the last nine years—year in year out of those nine years all we got was tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts to the extent where it fuelled greed in this country.But what we ended up inheriting from that lot was a decimated system of public sector where the workforce was beaten year in year out—they were too afraid to ask them for anything—where our schools our hospitals were under-invested and frankly could not deliver the services that people in need required where they refused for nine long years to acknowledge that there was a housing crisis. So that's the inheritance that we've had to pick up from that previous lot and I want to acknowledge the previous speaker because he at least has found his sense of empathy. He at least has found the recognition and acknowledgment that this Government is on the right track.Our first Budget the foundation Budget was about addressing the neglect of the nine long years after that last Government. This Government—I stand in immense pride with all of my colleagues here with the coalition Government with the support partner. All three parties are united. This is the first wellbeing Budget in New Zealand. In fact it is the first wellbeing Budget in the whole world. Yes others have talked about it—yes others have talked about it. But for the first time ever we are prioritising wellbeing. We are putting people at centre stage of all of our policies.At the outset I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister. I want to thank her for her leadership in driving and delivering this Budget on behalf of the coalition Government. You see when she first took office as Prime Minister she started demonstrating by word and action that what was required in this nation of ours was leadership that recognises the responsibility—that it was important to be fiscally responsible that it was important to be responsible stewards of our economy but also to start talking about the values of compassion aroha kaitiakitanga.That's what our Prime Minister led from the outset. I remember that first year as we went out into the community into the maraes her voice was as somebody said to me "akin to the sweet melody of sparrows in the early morning of a new dawn." I said "It's a real shame that the people feel that but in the House when you listen to the Opposition their speeches are akin to the screeching and croaking of vultures." And that's what we continue to hear from them time and time and time again. So I want to thank the Prime Minister.I want to acknowledge also Grant Robertson the Minister of Finance because this is landmark policy. This is legacy policy. This legacy policy means that the work that we have begun this year will endure into the future. I want to acknowledge Winston Peters the Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of New Zealand First because I hate to say it as the senior member of the House he's provided gravitas. He's provided sound advice and counsel in any which way and I acknowledge that we would not be here delivering this Wellbeing Budget if it were not for the support of New Zealand First. Similarly for the Green Party I think the wonderful support that they have given has enabled all of us to begin anew with laying the strong foundations to begin not only to deliver on the basic day-to-day needs in health and education and housing and support for families with young children but also to lay the foundations to start tackling the long-term challenges that our country faces. As my colleague on the other side nobly made mention of mental health—the first time ever that mental health has been recognised and we're taking it seriously. It is long term but the long-term foundations that we're laying down for mental health mean that nobody who needs support will be without support after we've completed rolling this out.To be frank in the Pacific communities sometimes when we talk about these issues these issues are swept aside and for the first time ever I am feeling a sense of confidence in our community that these are things that we should be talking about and that help can be made available to anyone and all peoples who are needing that particular support. So we've laid out the priorities for this Wellbeing Budget to make it absolutely clear about the direction that this country needs to head in: taking mental health seriously with a focus on those under 24 years old and improving child wellbeing something where we inherited over 300000 young people—children—living in poverty after the previous lot had finished. We know children don't live alone; they live with parents they live with whānau they live with aiga and if these children are not receiving the basics it means those families are also not receiving the basics. Building a productive nation looking to the future restoring the infrastructure that was under-invested in by the previous Government transforming the economy to look at just transitions so that we're taking climate change seriously—we're showing them the "what" and the "how" but importantly if people who are still doubters about the reality of climate change need to understand the whys they need only look to the Pacific to understand why we need to be united in tackling climate change.Also one of the priorities which I am really especially grateful for which the Minister of Finance has been very adamant about right from the outset is improving Māori and Pacific skills incomes and opportunities because for so long—for so long—as Willie Jackson and many others of my colleagues on this side have known there has been so much need and in order for us to address those needs we need firstly to acknowledge the value of cultural values: the way that things are done in Māoridom the way that things are done by the many diverse communities of the Pacific. I think for so long nobody has actually dug a little bit deeper to acknowledge that the world view of Māori and the world view of Pacific is just as important as the world view of others and so this Wellbeing Budget gives us an opportunity to begin the work now firstly to base all of our solutions on Māori values and Pacific values but it's Māori-led solutions and Pacific-led solutions because only Māori and only Pacific can tell what their wellbeing is.How do you define wellbeing for a Pacific person? The work that the Ministry for Pacific Peoples started last year in engaging right across the region and picking up from the young people in particular and identifying what those goals were—of thriving Pacific languages of a prosperous community of a healthy resilient population and with a particular focus on the next generation a generation that I often proudly promote throughout New Zealand and around the Pacific. That generation of 6Bs—the rising Pacific population that this New Zealand country will rely on in the years to come; the rising Pacific population that I've referred to as people who are "brown beautiful brainy bilingual bicultural and bold" because they have an interest in what happens to this country not only to Aotearoa but across the region as well. When that lot is long gone when we are no longer here it is that generation that will inherit this country and inherit this region and they have an interest in knowing what is left for them. They have an interest in knowing that they have every opportunity to prosper in Aotearoa.One of the fundamental things that the young people told me was the value of languages and culture and I want to thank the coalition Government for the $20 million that will be invested in establishing a Pacific language unit within the Ministry for Pacific Peoples with specific functions. That's going to require the ministry working across the board with the Pacific communities of Aotearoa but it also means that we link up with the Pacific so our languages are valued—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I apologise to the honourable Minister but your time has expired."