Russell DeborahDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee): Thank you Madam Chair. We are living in extraordinary times which requires an extraordinary response. We have had an extraordinary health response in this country and on the back of that extraordinary health response which has been so successful we are now building an economic response to the extraordinary times. That was the story that we heard in the Estimates hearings in the Finance and Expenditure Committee.We went into lockdown on 25 March and at that stage the Government had been engaged in making Budget decisions—making Budget decisions for ordinary times. But in that time in an extraordinary time the Government had to move very quickly to make different decisions. It was those different decisions that we examined in the Estimates hearings. We heard about the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update. In terms of the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update we heard some worrying news that because of COVID-19 there would be a fall in GDP there would be a rise in unemployment and there would be a contraction in the economy. At that time according to the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update when it was printed unemployment was predicted to rise to 8.3 percent and perhaps peaking at 9.8 percent in September 2020.As it turned out by the time we actually had the hearings—so between the time when the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update was promulgated and we actually spoke to Treasury and to the Minister—we heard in fact that we were doing a little bit better than had been feared; that jobseeker benefit numbers weren't as high as had been forecast; that a peak of 8 percent unemployment might be the most likely scenario; and that in fact because of our extraordinary health response our economic response economic conditions would now be better.We heard from the Minister that part of the reason that we were looking better was because our economic response was focused on people; that we were committed to in a simple word jobs jobs jobs keeping people in employment keeping people in touch with employment and keeping businesses going. So the wage subsidy was used first of all to keep people in employment and it was used as a way of supporting businesses. For small businesses some of the most difficult bills to meet are the wages and following that other expenses. By helping small businesses to meet their wages expense we helped them to stay in business.Some of the programmes we heard about are quite interesting in that they also help people to stay in employment. The school lunch scheme which we discussed in relation to Flaxmere—it was an example that the Minister gave us—obviously provides healthy food to children in schools but it also provides an employment opportunity in the regions an employment opportunity that helps people to stay in contact with their jobs. We heard that Māori would be disproportionately affected by the virus by the pandemic and recognising this concern the Budget allocated $900 million to Māori economic development in order to ensure that Māori in particular are served by the Budget.We heard from the Minister of Revenue about the small business loan scheme a loan scheme the objective of which was to get cash into businesses quickly. It was quite a straightforward and simple scheme; people could access it very quickly. At the time that we heard from the Minister of Revenue about $1.4 billion had been rolled out for the small business loan scheme. About 85 businesses have accessed it and about $16500 per business. The whole objective there was to keep businesses going.This is an extraordinary Budget but what it is is a Budget that is supporting people it is supporting jobs it is supporting the economy. It is a responsible Budget; it is a focused Budget. Above all this Budget and the things that are being done in Vote Finance and Vote Revenue show that this is a Government that can be trusted with the economy and is trusted with the economy. It is a Government that is doing extraordinarily well because it is focused on people—a responsible grown-up mature Budget for extraordinary times. I commend it to the House.