Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South): Well where to start? Seriously where to start? I could talk about how the Wellbeing Budget" moniker is just a great marketing gimmick because what they will have you believe on the Government benches is that they've invented multi-category appropriations. I saw a tweet last night from Marja Lubeck saying this is a revolutionary Budget because for the first time we've got departments making bids together. Well I'm sorry but that was introduced by the National Government 60 years ago through the Public Finance Act. Then she said "Oh well we're taking the long term." Well Budgets from time immemorial have had four-year plans so I'm sorry but this idea that wellbeing is a new invention of the Labour Party and the Labour Government is just not true. I could talk about how it's a Budget of broken promises because it is on education and on health and other members have canvassed that. I could talk about how last year the Māori caucus led by the most incompetent useless Minister in the Government—the Hon Willie Jackson—said that "The way to make Māori get ahead is generic funding." You know we don't need to pick out Māori—we don't need to do anything! "A rising tide lifts all boats" says Willie. Now what do we have under criticism from this side of the House? Now we find that actually we do need targeted funding and we heard Meka Whaitiri the co-chair of the Māori caucus—potentially back in Cabinet in a few weeks' time although I see my colleague in Hutt South Ginny Andersen has decided to promote herself to the front bench already. It may be a bit early—maybe we'll see. But Meka Whaitiri says "Oh no it's all fantastic. We've got all this funding for Māori development."—I could talk about that. Hon Willie Jackson: Māoris can't stand you. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! Hon Willie Jackson: Just thought I'd let you know. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Mr Jackson turituri. CHRIS BISHOP: He can't handle it can he? He really can't handle it. Hon Willie Jackson: Wainui—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Mr Jackson I asked you to be quiet. Thank you. CHRIS BISHOP: Mate I'm willing to put my record up against your record any day of the week my friend. Hon Willie Jackson: Oh any time. Hon Member: Oh good luck with that. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Mr Jackson you're on your last warning. CHRIS BISHOP: Oh "Good luck with that."—well unlike Willie Jackson I've won a seat—says the list MP and Associate Minister outside Cabinet. I want to talk actually about how the Budget fails the Hutt Valley in a couple of ways—firstly when it comes to transport. The Melling interchange project in the Hutt Valley has been delayed for a decade and this Government talks big about transport. They talk big about all the money going into trains—Ginny Andersen: You didn't fund it. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Do not bring the Speaker into the debate. Carry on Mr Bishop. CHRIS BISHOP: This Government talks big on Melling. The Melling interchange was ready to go and the Government changed and what happened? We had a review. Alongside Melling alongside a whole bunch of other projects around the country the New Zealand Transport Agency put them all into the review bucket. So we waited and we waited and we waited and we waited and the Hutt Valley waited and we thought "Well actually it'll probably get over the line." Do you know why we thought that? Phil Twyford came out to the Hutt Valley and stood on the Melling interchange bridge with the deputy mayor and with all the other powers that be and he said "As far as I'm concerned this ticks all the boxes." and everyone went "Oh that's great. It's definitely getting over the line." Everyone in the Hutt Valley thought "Melling? Oh well it's going to happen. That's good." and then in April this year we heard the news. Well it does tick all the boxes it is a good project but what's going to happen? Funding has been delayed till 2028 or later. There are schoolchildren in the Hutt Valley today who will finish secondary school before they even see the sod turned on Melling. It is absolutely disgraceful. Then we come to Pētone to Grenada. Now Pētone to Grenada is a very important road for the Hutt Valley alongside the Cross Valley Link project better connecting the eastern part of the valley through to State Highway 2 and then through into Ngauranga. That Ngauranga triangle—a big centre of economic growth—has been effectively cancelled. That has been effectively cancelled. I want to talk about the State Highway 58 improvements. Do you know what the New Zealand Transport Agency says about this road? They say it is Wellington's most dangerous road—Wellington's most dangerous road. Well Julie Anne Genter—she is the road safety Minister—says road safety is one of the Government's highest priorities. Well two roundabouts that would make that road a lot safer have been delayed indefinitely. It is a disgrace. So the Budget fails the Hutt as it fails New Zealand. I want to talk about housing because the Hutt Valley has a homelessness problem. In fact I would go so far as to say it has a homelessness crisis. What's been the response from the Government? Housing First funded two Budgets ago in Budget 2017. Has it rolled out in the Hutt Valley yet? No and we heard the news from the Government the other day in a pre-Budget announcement—the Budget we're talking about—that Housing First will be expanded and it will include Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Two years have gone by and the social housing waiting list in the Hutt Valley is at record levels. What about KiwiBuild? Members on my side of the House laugh and they're right to laugh. Well there's one KiwiBuild project in Lower Hutt. It's an apartment. I asked Phil Twyford a month ago when it was due to be completed. He said to me "It's going to be complete by 30 June." Well I went down to that apartment building on the High Street the other day. Do you know what I found? I found big signs outside saying "Hazard. Do not enter"—do not enter. Is there any construction under way? No. Will it be completed by 30 June which is in what 18 days' time? No of course not and now we find it's 30 December 2019. Well I venture to guess that we may be looking at 30 June 2021. So the Budget fails the Hutt Valley but I want to turn to my responsibilities as the National Party spokesperson for police. What does the police do about getting 1800 new police? Well there's a big commitment from these guys—a big commitment from the Government—to having 1800 new police within three years. Well three years comes around pretty quick actually and three years is in October 2020. How are we going? There are 496 new police. OK that sounds like a good number but you do the math and you think "OK 496. Round it up to 500—1300 still to go." Do you reckon we'll get 1300 net new police in the next year? I don't think so. Do the math—it's not going to happen. Look there's not even enough money. The hilarious thing is Stuart Nash was told by Treasury "If you want to deliver 1800 new police you need $515 million." This was in the last Budget: "You need $515 million." Do you know how much he got? He got $298 million; this Budget he got another $110 million. Again do the math: $400 million and he is $115 million short. But don't worry he's going to go his to his great mate Grant Robertson and get more cash—well we'll see. He does not have enough money and the 1800 new police will not be delivered in three years. What about 24/7 police stations? Well the previous National Government had a plan to roll out 24/7 police coverage to 20 police bases around the country including in Stuart Nash's own patch of Wairoa and now we find that 13 of them will not be upgraded to 24/7 coverage. In Balclutha the mayor down there is crying out for 24/7 police coverage and my colleague Hamish Walker is doing a fantastic job campaigning for 24/7 police coverage which the police were funded for in Budget 2017 and they are not delivering. Stuart Nash is not delivering on his promises. Well what is he doing? I'll tell you what he is doing. His latest grand plan to crack down on gangs—I kid you not; this is his grand plan to crack down on gangs—is to tell shopkeepers to ring the police when people come in and buy whiteware items. I kid you not—I kid you not. This is his grand plan for cracking down on gangs. He says that when a shopkeeper thinks that someone might be a gang member and they buy a flat-screen TV call the cops—that's his plan. That's his plan for cracking down on gangs. What a joke. What else is he allowing? Well now we have this awful situation as my colleague Lawrence Yule knows of the Mongrel Mob doing gang patch and association ceremonies at the top of Te Mata Peak—at the top of Te Mata Peak—Todd Muller: A very special place. CHRIS BISHOP: —and cutting off the access for members of the general public to a very special place as Todd Muller says and that's OK in the Government's books. Well on this side of the House we do not regard that as acceptable and we'll be taking steps when we get back to Government to make sure that does not happen. What else is he overseeing? Eleven guns were stolen from Palmerston North Police Station—11 guns stolen from the back door of the Palmerston North Police Station. Only eight were recovered; three are still at large. This is a police Minister who is not on top of his brief not on top of his portfolio. It will be interesting to see—won't it—where the Government goes on the wider law and order picture. There is money in the Budget for law and order initiatives and actually some of them are quite good. Actually all of them were started by us including alcohol and drug treatment courts—making a serious investment in making sure people can break the cycle of addiction. That's funded in the Budget. It was started by us. The Integrated Safety Response service which Jan Logie talks a lot about—well she made a big announcement about it. Jan Logie made a big announcement about the Integrated Safety Response but when you burrow down into the fine details they're not actually expanding it. It started under us in Hamilton and Christchurch and there's more money in the Budget for Hamilton and Christchurch. They're not rolling it out around the country. It's the same with the Te Ara Oranga programme in Northland the meth-addiction cycle-breaking service up in Northland—a fantastic programme. They've lauded it. Is there any more money in it? No. So all the initiatives that they've talked about that are good started under us and actually there's not much more money for them and on the things that really matter—the stuff they committed to—they are failing. This is a botched failed Budget."