Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister of Justice): Fourteen years—14 years since the tax thresholds have been changed in this country. We've had 40 percent inflation since 2010 and that has forced people into higher tax brackets with a result that for people on the median income their average tax rate has gone from 15 percent to 21 percent and that takes a lot of money out of the pockets of average-income earning New Zealanders because of inflation. And so it's 2010—and tomorrow in the Budget we're going to be changing that and restoring some realism to the tax brackets that we've had no changes to for 14 years. You've got to go back to 2010 since they were last dealt with. Look 2010 is a different era entirely think about it: Lorde was still at school on the tennis courts—she hadn't written Royals" in 2010; Netflix hadn't been streamed in New Zealand for another five years—it would be five years; Phil Goff—Phil Goff was the future of the Labour Party in 2010 and Shane Jones was a member of the Labour Party in 2010. It was a different world. Since that time since 2010 we still haven't had any changes to the tax thresholds.That's going to change in the Budget because the help is on its way. And why? Because Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis have that fundamental core principle of the National Party and all the parties across our coalition which is reward for effort. The New Zealanders who are working hard day in day out to look after themselves and their family—opening their businesses running their retail shops trying to find a living—deserve some relief from the ever-increased tax take that has flowed from inflation and that's why we're going to change it. That's why there's a sharp division across this House because on one side of the House we want to reward hard-working New Zealanders by letting them keep more of their own money so that they can afford to deal with the increasing rising costs of living to be able to buy the groceries that they need for their consumption be able to fill their car with petrol to get around and do their stuff. This side of the House are about putting extra money in the hands of New Zealanders that they have earned. On that side of the House they will fight tooth and nail never—never—to yield a cent of tax revenue and that's what we saw from Chris Hipkins; it's what we're seeing. It's an interesting period of course—everybody out there is like peacocks trying to stand up for the next contest for the leadership of the Labour Party. We've got Willie Jackson even going to Oxford in order to strut around in order to increase his credentials as potential Leader of the Labour Party. We've got Megan Woods I think she'd be good; her only response to any issue is to tax more—it's a wealth tax it's a capital gains tax. Even the doyen of tax policy over on the Labour side David Parker who always looks a little bit dishevelled but David "Piketty" Parker is the guy that sends all the thinking over at the Labour Party about yet more taxes to the solution. Now the problem is—the problem is—that ultimately it's all about spending because tax policy follows spending policy. And what we saw over the last six years was an 80 percent increase in spending. I defy anybody in this country anywhere to be able to point towards an 80 percent improvement in the delivery from the Government over the six years under Labour. That is why this side of the House spent six months going through every department trying to get some discipline back into spending. In my areas in justice and all areas that we've been looking at we're trying to restore some discipline to spending because ultimately it's New Zealanders that have to pay. And it's been made much worse by the fact that the previous guy Grant Robertson concealed a lot of the size of the deficit because they refused to actually fund a whole lot of things past one or two years and so we're having to deal with that in the Budget. So it looked like we're in deficit but actually we're in a much worse deficit because things like basic pharmaceutical funding hadn't been funded into the future and we had to find that extra money. So in this Government it's about rebuilding the economy restoring some discipline to spending as well as the key areas that we're also focused on for New Zealand which is restoring law and order and actually delivering top-quality healthcare and education—those are the core things that will make a difference to New Zealanders' lives. Tomorrow New Zealanders will have some hope again. They'll have some hope that the Government is not all about taking more and more from their pockets and using the sneaky little tax of inflation to take more money out of their pockets but actually to give some money back to New Zealanders so that they can spend it on the things that they want to spend it on for themselves and their family. That will make a real difference to New Zealanders tomorrow. It's about helping the squeezed middle get back on track. Thank you Mr. Speaker."