1. Question No. 1—FinanceRYAN HAMILTON (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—FinanceSPEAKER: We come now to oral questions the first in the name of the Hon Carmel Sepuloni. [Interruption] Oh sorry; my apologies I've got the wrong—no there's actually something wrong on my sheet. So we'll call Ryan Hamilton. My apologies for that. [Interruption] I'm not without fault but I'm happy to table the sheet. 1. RYAN HAMILTON (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister of Finance: What recent announcements has she made?Hon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance): Today I delivered a speech to the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce setting out the approach that the coalition Government will be taking to Budget 2024. It will be a different approach to those seen in recent years because the country simply cannot afford another Budget that is long on good intentions and short on delivery. As the OECD survey released earlier this week confirmed the economy is ailing and there has been a substantial deterioration in New Zealand's fiscal position in recent years. This Budget can't provide an overnight fix but it will lay the ground work for improving New Zealand's prospects.Ryan Hamilton: Does this mean the Government is pessimistic about New Zealand's economic outlook?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: No not at all. There is no country in the world in which I would rather live and raise my family. But the fundamentals need to be sorted: getting Government spending under control; delivering better value for money; and creating an environment in which businesses want to invest innovate take risks hire people build things and make things. The Government is doing that and things are going to get better.Ryan Hamilton: Did the Minister make any announcements in her speech?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: Yes. I announced that the Government is establishing a new stand-alone Social Investment Agency to deliver positive change for the most vulnerable New Zealanders. I would like to congratulate the Opposition member Ginny Andersen who has already taken the title of social investment spokesperson in respect of this change. The Government currently invests more than $70 billion a year in social services. But despite that investment many people are not getting the help they need when they need it and we see evidence of that in increasing welfare dependency declining school attendance and achievement poorer health outcomes and rising rates of youth and violent crime. What this demonstrates is that good intentions are not sufficient to change outcomes. Just chucking money at problems doesn't work.Hon Carmel Sepuloni: Will social investment include investment into effective and valued social services that are struggling to meet the demand of hardship they are seeing and expecting to continue to rise under her watch?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: Social investment will use an evidence and analytical approach to invest in those services which will have the biggest impact for dollar spent.Ryan Hamilton: What difference will taking a social investment approach make?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: Taking a social investment approach as I just said means using data evidence and modern analytics to direct investment where it will actually make a difference. The data is already being collected and it gives us a pretty good idea but not absolute certainty about which children are likely to be in greatest need of help. There is an opportunity to intervene early to break cycles of dependency and despair. Doing so will involve taking some risks. Not all interventions will prove successful. But if the Government redirects investment away from programmes that are not delivering and into programmes that are achieving it can materially improve the lives of some of New Zealand's most vulnerable citizens. The Government is resolved to do exactly that.Hon Ginny Andersen: Will her social investment approach overlay data with people's lived experience and what works to build resilience or will it revert back to what National did before: deficit-based data that treats people as numbers?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: In answer to the first part of the question yes. Social investment is about doing the right thing. I would encourage that member to ask herself: who wouldn't if they could invest to give a young child the opportunity to live a productive rewarding life rather than a life of dependency and potentially crime? Data matters.