Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Madam Deputy Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kia ora. Now Budgets are always a big deal in this place. I mean there's so much pomp and ceremony and grandeur. The finance Minister's got a special speech tied up in a ribbon. There's the lock-up the debate—you know what type of tie is the finance Minister going to wear? What's the meal he's going to have to celebrate? Is it sausage rolls or pies? But I think for many people out in the public it doesn't resonate as much. What they want to know is What's the Budget going to do for me?" and that's what I want to touch on in this speech because that's what I think Kiwis really want to know.Sitting there hearing the finance Minister and the various speeches I thought about the people whose homes I've visited where families have literally opened up their doors to invite me in to tell their story. Now I was thinking of those families—one in particular in south Wellington where a family didn't use most of their house. They all slept—the whole family with I think three or four kids—in the lounge because that was the only room they could afford to heat. This was a room covered with black mould on their roof. I think of other people I've visited such as students down in the South where literally you could tear chunks of wood off the timber framing around the windows because it was so cold so damp and I think of talking to people who literally were salting the toilet at night because their house was so unaffordable to heat they were scared their pipes were going to freeze over in the middle of winter. What I was thinking about those people is this is a Budget that delivers for them. I'm proud to stand here today as part of a Government which has brought back the home insulation scheme one of the most successful Government policies we've seen in the modern time.Now this was the Greenest Budget in New Zealand's history with wins for conservation for our threatened animals and our beautiful treasured threatened places and wins for the green investment and cleantech sector. A Budget that invested in research and development where family and domestic violence was actually addressed and special education saw a big boost—the Greenest Budget in New Zealand's history. Insulation was one of those areas where I think it really epitomises good Green solutions because it's great for the environment it's great for the economy and it's great for society. It's got huge health benefits for those families who benefit huge educational benefits for those kids when they go to school. This isn't just a win-win; this is a win-win-win-win-win. This is why it's so great to see in the Budget $142 million extra for insulation because look this House should be able to say that every New Zealander deserves to live in a warm dry well-ventilated house.Now I'll do an acknowledgment to the National Party. We worked with them back in 2009 with Jeanette Fitzsimons on insulating 180000 Kiwi homes. It made a huge benefit to hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders. The tragic thing was though the job wasn't finished. The funding was cut before all the houses that needed it could be done. We know we had about a million substandard houses in New Zealand. In probably one of the greatest myopic acts in New Zealand's history we didn't even have insulation in our building code until 1978. The job was started but the job wasn't finished. Under this Government the job will be finished and that's why I'm proud to say that the $142 million for home insulation is going to make a huge difference to those Kiwis who suffer from black mould and whose kids are getting sick and missing school and the workers who can't go to work because they're suffering from the health impacts. It's going to be one of those win-win-win-win-win schemes.So I'd like to acknowledge our coalition and confidence and supply partners in the Government that have rolled out this home insulation scheme. I'd like to acknowledge the Hon Megan Woods the Minister of Energy and Resources who's rolled it out. What this new scheme the Warmer Kiwi Homes scheme will deliver is two-thirds of the cost for underfloor and ceiling insulation and for a clean heating device. When you work with community partners you can see up to 100 percent of the costs of insulation covered. When you couple this with the new winter energy payment that the Government's instigated we are going to solve energy poverty in New Zealand.What we've seen is some of the fastest growth rates of energy poverty in the developed world. In fact our electricity prices rose the fifth-highest in the entire developed world. The only four countries above us were ex-Soviet countries coming out of communism. This is a major problem facing our country. It's been estimated that a fifth or 20 percent of New Zealand families are suffering in energy poverty so this Government is making a clear statement: every New Zealander deserves to grow up in a warm dry ventilated home but also no New Zealand family should be suffering in energy poverty. Home insulation and a winter energy grant are going to make a huge difference.Another area that I'm incredibly passionate about is the state of our environment and every New Zealander can see it with the "Closed" signs on rivers and the scientific reports that point out that two-thirds of our lowland streams and rivers are considered unsafe for swimming in. Even the National Party now acknowledges the rise of pollution and the impact on our environment. The problem is that for nine years they didn't do anything about it despite seeing the clear evidence. In fact what they did was throw taxpayer moneys at subsidising intensive agriculture to promote more pollution entering our environment. We saw plenty of talk the talk under National but none of the actual walk the walk and our waterways are suffering as a result. So that's why I'm proud to stand here as part of the confidence and supply partner of the Government rolling out additional funding for the Sustainable Farming Fund.Now the Green Party's always acknowledged those good farmers and there are heaps of them out there doing fantastic work. In fact just a couple of weekends ago I was in the Hawke's Bay talking to great farmers there about the work they're doing to protect the environment because what these farmers want to do is pass on a farm to their kids to future generations. They have a special relationship with the land and they want to protect it for future generations. It's great that this Government's announced an additional $15 million for the Sustainable Farming Fund. These projects some of the leading edge of sustainable farming practice and research and development will then flow through the entire farming sector cleaning up our primary industries.Ultimately for me the Budget in this place is all about the ceremony which we get wrapped up in but we should focus on what it means for everyday New Zealanders. What this Budget means is warmer drier homes and insulation under the roof. It means our waterways are going to be cleaner and our farms more sustainable. So look it's a great Budget and it's going to make a huge difference for this country. Kia ora."