Leary IngridINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri): Grant Robertson the Minister of Finance said on 14 December 2022 New Zealand's strength and resilience to global forces are about to be tested again". Well by golly that was a very accurate prediction and he had no idea that on top of the things he was referring to—the global economic downturn high inflation here and around the world a geopolitical situation dominated by war trade disputes and ongoing supply chain issues—there would also be the weather events that we have experienced this year. But thank goodness he did do that in this Budget Policy Statement because it means that we are really well positioned with a Budget Policy Statement that is centred on economic security.As the Minister said at the time in his foreword "This requires a fine balance of policy responses." Those responses are around using fiscal policy to ease the pressure on inflation around looking after families providing core services and continuing the economic plan to ensure that New Zealand is futureproofed is innovating and has a productive economy. The submitters to the Budget Policy Statement have agreed with the statement and have been highly supportive of it. The alternative would be austerity and this is what I hear when I listen to the previous speaker Andrew Bayly saying that he wants to provide core services wants to provide targeted support and yet we cannot do that unless there is a budget for that.What it has meant is a reprioritisation and going back to bread and butter and the Minister has alluded to that today in terms of really honing down on the cost of living for New Zealanders and the cyclone recovery. There is little bandwidth for anything else and this Budget Policy Statement positions us well for that. We were already facing economic headwinds. There is a global inflation pandemic and because we have braced into that and leaned into it we are now well positioned for the recovery that needs to happen—as the Minister said in the order of billions of dollars. So thank goodness he had the foresight to see what was coming and we are well positioned to brace it.In terms of how we are going back to basics it's really about getting the 1.4 million New Zealanders who are needing assistance who need a boost to income targeting support to them. Those are pensioners students parents those on main benefits. We see that reflected in changes coming in next month and we've also seen today the announcement from the finance Minister of more business support for the affected areas with the weather events reaching $50 million. Already in Tai Rāwhiti $4.1 million of that money has gone out the door. That builds on work we've already done to target support around cutting the fuel taxes—so that's now been extended. We've got the extension to half-price transport which has made a huge difference to many people in my electorate of Taieri. We have an average annual family income of $26000 a year in parts of my electorate and for those people being able to access half-price transport is critical to them getting out and about to be able to do their shopping and also to have the wellbeing of being part of a wider community. We have also seen successive increases to the minimum wage.The recovery will cost billions of dollars and we're in a strong position to recover. Wages are up we do have one of the lowest debt ratios in the OECD we have an unemployment rate which is still really low—3.4 percent. It will be tough but we are well positioned to do that. The submitters to the Budget Policy Statement come from all over the political spectrum and by and large they agree very strongly with us including the Federated Farmers. I'll just read what they said to us: they said the wording in this Budget Policy Statement around strengthening the economy is "a significant improvement."—and they're referring to 2022. They cite various parts of the report: "Budget 2023 will continue our work to support households and businesses in a targeted manner; "We will continue to work to fight the drivers of high prices by ensuring that markets function competitively and deliver good outcomes for consumers."—we've already seen that with the work going on in the supermarket sector. "Public agencies examining what needs can be met by reprioritising existing funding."—exactly what we've seen with the statements from the Prime Minister one tranche of reprioritisation and then another one this week some of which is about delaying things that we know are essential to building the economy; they just need to be done at the right time. The last one: "Ensure ongoing value for money for government spending."We've also had a strong submission from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists who talked about their support for the work the Government's done on mental health but also on prioritising children. They say "Targeting children's wellbeing as a Budget priority would facilitate one area of need where early intervention strategies are required. … Supporting children's wellbeing is a wise social and economic investment." My colleague the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee Rachel Brooking referred to the multiple references in the Budget Policy Statement where the needs of children are giving the direction of travel to what we will see in this Budget coming up.Another submission which Rachel Brooking also referred to was from the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association on transport. Yes they were asking for free transport but they did say in noting the fare cuts that we have made making it half-price transport "We know that increasing public transport use and re-incentivising mode shifts are key ways in which we can reduce emissions. Reducing fare prices is a sensible step towards a cleaner more carbon-friendly transport system and a better Aotearoa." I'm delighted that just this week we've seen a Supplementary Order Paper on a tax remedial omnibus bill which is now looking to ensure that there is no fringe benefit tax for e-bikes and scooters provided by employers so that we are incentivising responsible and sustainable ways of providing transport.The change I guess since the Budget Policy Statement was produced has been the weather events and it has been the continuation of the global inflation pandemic. What this Government has proven through COVID is that we have got economic security at the heart of what we do but we will not go to austerity. To do that we need a plan and I haven't seen a plan from the Opposition in terms of the things that they're arguing for. I've seen a couple of policies. One which has now been dropped was about tax cuts for the rich tax cuts that would give the lowest paid New Zealand workers around $2 a week and give other earners thousands of dollars a year. The second plan I have seen just today from Simeon Brown who is the transport spokesperson was a plan to produce a plan which seemed to be quite centred on roads. It talked about building more roads. It had very little to do with the futureproofing of our transport and what we need to do in order to lean into a climate-orientated future. I just wonder if that member has been influenced by others on the other side of the House who perhaps don't take climate change as seriously as their leader or the rest of their caucus.A plan to have a plan is not a plan and when it comes to the childcare policy that we saw earlier this week the problem with that plan is a plan needs to be well worked out it needs to be well costed it needs to look at what the risks are and that plan is in grave danger of blowing out because it hasn't been worked through in terms of a cap in terms of whether the savings would be passed on to parents whether they would stay with early childhood education centres that might feel that they need that income. So they haven't really thought through with their plans the targeted support that is going to reach the back pockets of New Zealanders.In summary this Budget Policy Statement that was produced in December 2022 foreshadowed some of the big events that we have seen this year without the Minister actually being able to crystal ball gaze. It's very fortunate that he had put economic security at the heart of his Budget Policy Statement that has been endorsed by the submitters that we heard. It means that we're well positioned to be able to build back better and smarter going forward."