Wood MichaelMICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): Thank you Mr Speaker. As the rain trickles down on the roof of the House this afternoon isn't it great to be here one day out—one day out—from the first Budget of this coalition Government a Budget that is going to rebuild the social and infrastructure foundations of our country that have been let go so badly over the last nine years. In my address I actually want to speak to the future. I don't want to speak to the past which is what we've heard a lot of from the members on the other side of the House in this debate; I want to talk about the plan that this Government has to rebuild those social and infrastructure investments.Even though we have to wait one more sleep until the Budget tomorrow we already have a very very clear indication from the coalition Government about what our priorities are through the series of announcements over the last couple of weeks. Let me put some of those concrete things on the table and let's hear what those members opposite think.How about the $81 million investment to rebuild New Zealand's investment in our forests and our birds to make up for the underfunding of the Department of Conservation over the last nine years to make up for the fact that rangers have been walking away from the Department of Conservation because they have been so utterly depressed about the rundown of that department over the last nine years? When that Government put up a target—admittedly a good target a bold target and an ambitious target—of making New Zealand predator-free by 2050 this Government actually has a plan to do something about it by putting the resourcing on the table: $81 million of funding to expand the extent of the conservation estate that we actually fund to be free of predators.What about the $21 million announcement earlier this week to help 8000 preschoolers with their learning needs? These are the kids who need extra support who might have special education needs and once again if any member in this Chamber in a constituency goes and speaks to the specialists in our schooling system they'll tell you that over the past nine years they have been crying out for resources crying out for support unable to meet the needs. Even before this first Budget the coalition Budget is here investing $21 million in preschools so that those kids get the assessment and get the support that they need to succeed at school. That is rebuilding the foundations of a decent education system which gives every single child—every single child in our country—the ability to learn and reach their potential as Clarence Beeby said our education system should.How about that $700 million investment in overseas aid in the Pacific and rebuilding our foreign service? We had a very confusing exchange across the House because of course Mr McClay stood up before and he was singing its praises. He was saying that investment was good. But of course if you've listened to members opposite over the last couple of weeks since that announcement you'd think it was the worst and most wasteful and profligate thing out. The arguments they put forward were those typical inward-looking myopic conservative world-view arguments that forget that we are actually connected to the region around us that forget about the fact that the ability of New Zealand to make its way in the world rests on the relationships that we build and rests particularly on the strength and the resilience of our Pacific partners. So while those members make fun of that announcement we welcome the comments from the Hon Todd McClay—or Roger McClay as the Speaker referred to him—in favour of that $700 million investment.SPEAKER: Order! Order!MICHAEL WOOD: Thank you Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: Don't bring me into the debate and bringing my mistakes into the debate is foolish.MICHAEL WOOD: I apologise Mr Speaker. What about the $80 million investment in family violence services—those critical services—the women's refuges and those other grassroots organisations who look after women and children and families in desperate need escaping awful situations who have more or less had their funding frozen over nine years. They have welcomed with arms wide open that $80 million investment that this coalition Government has put into rebuilding their ability to care for the people and the families of New Zealand.And how about the $100 million package to rebuild the foundations of a housing sector to mean that every New Zealand person should have a decent and safe place to sleep at night—$100 million to make sure that that stain of homelessness in our communities starts to be worked on because we say that in a wealthy and prosperous country in New Zealand with the values that we have people shouldn't be sleeping out in the cold this winter.This is a Government with a plan—with a plan to rebuild the social and infrastructure foundations of New Zealand. We believe that New Zealanders deserve more than a trickle-down from the rich; they deserve a Government that gives every person in this country a fair go and good health education and housing so that all people in this beautiful country can reach their potential. That's what this coalition Government is going to deliver tomorrow. Thank you Mr Speaker.