Rosewarne DanDAN ROSEWARNE (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is my pleasure to be speaking in this Budget debate. This is actually my first Budget debate and I'm honoured to have the opportunity—Matt Doocey: And your last—your valedictory.DAN ROSEWARNE: It won't be today though—not today. It's fantastic to celebrate the success of this Budget a Wellbeing Budget that provides support for today while building for tomorrow. This Budget does a lot of good things. My colleagues have made that clear. I could easily spend the next five minutes on the positive impact of the removal of the $5 co-payment. And like many here I've received a lot of emails from pharmacists just highlighting how successful that is going to be for their local communities. I can also speak about the Apprenticeship Boost initiative that has supported 57000 apprentices already. It's a good policy that will help our businesses and our economy and provide a viable career path for our young people. But there is one aspect of the Budget that has not really been mentioned much and that is defence—something the Opposition has barely mentioned and I'm assuming that's because they think that Budget 2023 delivers for defence. This Budget represents an unprecedented investment in our armed forces and this Labour Government has consistently delivered for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and continues to increase its commitment to the wellbeing of our armed forces with this year's Budget. This year's defence Budget will represent an overall increase of around about 6 percent on last year. The Government is tackling the attrition that the NZDF has been facing for quite some time now and to be fair it's been an issue since the global financial crisis. This Budget will deliver the biggest pay increase in over a decade for our Defence Force personnel. In the past 77 percent of military personnel have been paid between 5 and 15 percent less than what they would get in equivalent civilian jobs. Thirty-eight percent of Defence Force staff say that remuneration is a key factor in leaving and this pay increase is essential so that the NZDF can attract and retain some of the best people that Aotearoa has to offer.Our Government addresses this issue by investing more than $419 million to increase the pay of Defence Force personnel. Many NZDF personnel including new recruits and skilled lower-ranked service personnel will see an increase of between $4000 and $15000 from 1 July. Now 90 percent of the NZDF personnel will be paid at or close to the market rate after this year's Budget and this will go a long way to attracting and retaining the skills and expertise that are vital to the operational effectiveness of our Defence Force and allow it to deliver on its outputs for the people of New Zealand. This Budget also invests in the ageing infrastructure and buildings available for our soldiers sailors and aviators. This Government will invest more than $85 million to improve NZDF housing in Waiouru Linton Burnham and Ōhākea. And this is one of the main advantages of life in the NZDF—your accommodation is subsidised so you are better able to save to buy a house and that's a good thing. So it's important that we invest in the Defence housing estate and being deployed on a ship being on training or operations or living on a camp or base it creates more fluid boundaries between people's work and personal lives. So housing is an important part of life in the military. These investments are even more crucial as they come at a time when the pressures and demands placed on the NZDF are only increasing. And we saw that with Cyclone Gabriel where the NZDF mobilised nearly 1000 personnel along with vehicles to reach cut-off communities. With the increasing number of emergencies that climate change will bring the NZDF will keep playing a crucial role to keep Aotearoa safe. So this Budget is about restoring the meaning and worth of military service. Labour is the party the only party with a consistent record in providing the armed forces with what they need to do the job. So in that vein we are delivering for defence.