Ardern JacindaRt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): What can I say other than that was uplifting! I want to start with going right to the heart of this issue because today we are debating wellbeing. I have to say I find it somewhat galling to hear the Leader of the Opposition say Well every Government does wellbeing." I make the assumption therefore that that member believes that when he was in Government—indeed when he was in Cabinet—that his Government did wellbeing.Why is it then that we are dealing with mouldy leaking hospitals? Why are we dealing with schools that need more classrooms that weren't even funded for population growth where there was a 40 percent decrease in teachers learning to become teachers and we are picking up the pieces of that. Why were we left then with chronic homelessness?—people sleeping in cars and on the street. Not just people children living in cars and on the street.I make no apology for the fact that unlike that Government we have not turned people away from our lists. We have not turned people away. Yes special needs grants have gone up because we told Work and Income to give people the help that they need and I am proud of that.If that was a Government who cared about wellbeing why did we inherit 250000 children living in poverty? Why did we inherit Oranga Tamariki facing cliff-face funding? They weren't funded beyond their out-years. We've had to make sure that they can keep the doors open plus we've added extra social workers. If they really cared about infrastructure why did they let rail go into the absolute state that it is in now? If you want to talk about safety on our roads get freight off it and get it on to rail. If they genuinely cared about the wellbeing of our environment we wouldn't have heard one of the most mentioned things in that member's speech the reversal of the oil and gas future exploration ban. That seems to be his only response to climate change which does worry me.It is just not credible to say that the Opposition somehow have invested in all of their time in Government when this Budget has had to reverse the under-investment that we have experienced. It is not credible to say what they would have done and would be doing when they were here only 18 months ago. If they cared so much about all of those issues why did they not do it then? I'm very pleased to hear about their new-found interest in dental care for instance.But this Budget does something about all of those things—those areas of under-investment that we inherited. It is about genuine wellbeing. But sometimes what is not said gives a bit of an indication about what's going on as well. The member mentioned mental health once. And he mentioned it in order to call a billion-dollar investment in mental health services "Smoke and mirrors." I have to say I don't think I heard the member mention children almost once. If there's one thing I learnt in Opposition sometimes it is OK to agree. Sometimes it is OK to acknowledge that there is a problem and that it's worth facing it and it's worth investing in it. And I would hope when it comes to child poverty and mental health that it might have been one area where the Leader of the Opposition might have just said "I agree."Finally as for the cover image I'd liken it to the situation somewhat similar probably to the Opposition caucus room. Regardless of the smiling faces on the front it's what happens on the inside that really matters.Today we have laid down the foundation for not just one Wellbeing Budget but a different approach for Government decision-making all together and for that I want to thank Grant Robertson. The vision for this Budget started many years ago when our finance Minister was in Opposition. He created this piece of work not because it was an interesting project which it is but because he heard many an economist say that GDP wasn't enough to measure success and he agreed and did something about it. I want to say thank you Grant. This was a first in so many respects and its legacy won't just be a document but the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be changed as a result.I also want to thank our coalition partner New Zealand First and especially the Deputy Prime Minister. There are elements of this Budget including for instance the investment in rail that have been a huge focus for New Zealand First as a party. But there are other elements where your Ministers have taken on portfolios and delivered important agendas that are central to wellbeing like our Minister for Children Tracey Martin and for that we thank you.To our confidence and supply partners the Green Party—in this Budget we fulfil many of our commitments to both you but also to the environment. That includes making sure that the economic transition required to deliver emissions reductions is effective is efficient and is just. But more than that today we further our shared ambition to lift the wellbeing of all New Zealanders and particularly our tamariki.Thank you to all the parties in this Government for your collective commitment to being a Government that is not satisfied with the status quo and is instead tackling our long-term challenges and we've demonstrated that commitment here today.It is here with these words of thanks that I'm actually going to depart from a traditional Budget day speech. Now usual practice would have me traverse over various and disparate initiatives the many areas of need and investment but not today. Today I want to pick up the first thing that I talked about when I took on the leadership in the Labour Party. I want to talk about mental health.Roughly two or so years ago there was an event on the forecourt of Parliament. It was a weekend so we didn't have the usual crowds of onlookers and gatherings of people. Instead it contained a group of bereaved people—family and friends who had lost loved ones to suicide. They brought with them pairs of shoes to represent the number of lives that had been lost in that year alone. I knew one of those pairs of shoes and who it belonged to just like every single member of this House will know someone. We in New Zealand have two degrees of separation to each other but there is no separation when it comes to New Zealand's experience of suicide. It affects all of us.But suicide is only one part of the story. The issue of mental health and wellbeing more generally is a challenge that the World Health Organization says will be the world's biggest health problem by 2030 and we can't wait or afford to wait for that to happen. Today we take mental health seriously and that means starting right at the beginning. Now let me share with you today the end-to-end journey that this Budget will create for mental health and wellbeing in this country and what better place to start than at the very beginning with our mothers.Some years ago I visited a programme in the Hawke's Bay that had been started by a Plunket nurse called Nicky. She was a passionate believer in the power of good strong relationships between nurses and new mums so she started a trial. She paired up a well-qualified nurse who related well to young people with a group of young mums who were considered to be vulnerable. That nurse met them before their babies arrived and she didn't just see them for her contracted visits; she connected them with other services and whatever they needed. The result: higher rates of breastfeeding immunisation and the uptake of other support like dealing with the consequences of trauma or family violence and even budget advice. She helped these women not just survive for those first 1000 days.I absolutely believe in early intervention. I believe in the power of relationships and I believe that when mothers are supported and given the best chance possible their children will thrive. So in this Budget we begin the journey by putting $10 million into extending Nicky's programme across three sites in New Zealand which I hope is just the beginning.But what about our next generation children who are already in school? How do we build resilient kids in a day and age when there are so many pressures on them and even at the youngest of ages? Thankfully this question has already been asked and answered in small pockets around the country with programmes that have an evidence base behind them like one called Sparklers. Sparklers is about helping educators to improve children's emotional and mental health at school. For instance a teacher can go online and download an activity that helps a child to manage their stress and to relax. We know that these resources make a difference to children's mental health and that's why from now on as a result of this Budget those resources will be available to every school and every teacher across New Zealand.But even the most resilient kids can experience difficult times and that's why as of April this year we finished rolling out Mana Ake a programme that puts a mental health support team in every primary school and intermediate school in Canterbury and Kaikōura. It already has helped 2000 kids and will keep doing that this year.For older children who we know experience additional stress through the years of adolescence—in the last Budget we started the roll-out of nurses in schools. Evidence tells us that these health teams are often the front line for mental health issues and that's why in this Budget we continue the roll-out into more schools taking the total number of young people covered by this programme to almost 83000 young people.Now not every child or young person—in fact not every person generally—will want to reach out to someone face to face. Some would prefer the phone. Some would prefer a text service or some can't reach services quickly such as those who are in rural and isolated communities. That's why we are making an investment into tele and digital health of $21 million this Budget. This will be a service for everyone no matter what age you are or where you live in New Zealand.I said before that during the election campaign I had a number of people share some really personal stories but there was this really common theme in all of them. For all the work we do to build resilient young people and communities there will always be a need to help people in times of distress or at the beginning of dark clouds rolling in. Yet I constantly heard the message: "We don't know where to go for help." That became one of our key tests this Budget. Will someone in the very early stages of a mental health issue be able to get the help that they need? To create a network like that where would we possibly start? With this Budget we start in people's neighbourhood in the health services they use most often.A few months ago now I visited a medical centre in South Auckland. It was your usual GP clinic but with a twist. It didn't just house doctors; it was also a home to mental health workers and for a very simple reason: GPs were discovering that in their very short 15-minute appointments patients were opening up. They'd share issues that often went just beyond their medical expertise but they never had the time or necessarily the experience to help so they'd do what they could. They might give a referral to another service and hope that they would go and see them.I spoke to one of the patients at the clinic that day. She had a good job she had good friends she was part of a close family but she suffered from deep and dark depression. She told me she had been one of those patients that came to see her GP in a moment of distress when she struggled to leave the house but when the doctor referred her on to other specialists and gave her referral letters—quote—"I knew I would never go." and she never did. So her doctors brought the service to her. They brought in mental health workers who were trained and could take appointments right away due to the flexibility in their working day. The doctor would hear their story then walk them down to someone who could support them right then and there. Now that woman who had previously ignored those appointments didn't ignore the service. She told me how it literally changed her life. In fact she had brought family members to that clinic for the same life-changing support. That is why today we will ensure every person in New Zealand will be able to access the support they need by rolling out a new workforce of trained mental health workers in doctors clinics iwi health providers and other health services across the country. It is a new service targeted specifically at the mild to moderate mental health support that so many in the middle miss out on. It is for all of us and it will be a game-changer.Now we also know from the mental health inquiry that we need services that meet the needs of Māori and Pasifika. Kaupapa Māori services will receive $62 million to ensure that the primary mental health service is offered in kaupapa Māori providers and we will do the same for the Pacific health workforce as well. In total it will cost $455 million. It will take us a full five years to get the workforce we need to have the service running at full capacity. But I absolutely believe that when we do this new layer of early care will transform mental health services in New Zealand.But even with early intervention care we still need more investment for those cases where intensive services are needed. That's why the Wellbeing Budget again delivers a three-pronged approach. We're increasing mental health capacity of staff already working in emergency departments (EDs). We're putting additional staff into those departments who help people who present with mental health issues and we are providing further follow-up services for people who are in ED in crisis because we know that's when many come. And for those who have lost loved ones we know more care is needed and a result of this Budget is it will provide a free counselling service for up to 2500 bereaved as a result of suicide.This Budget is not just about mental health support. Thanks to the mental health inquiry we also know about how vital and under-resourced our addiction services are. Now I still remember hearing first hand about that last election and those who work with me will probably know this story—I've shared it a few times since. I was in Gisborne with a group of front-line workers and volunteers from the social sector. Included in the room was the mother of a young man who had experienced methamphetamine addiction. There's a lot that stood out from her talk but there's one thing I remember the most that in an area that was experiencing such huge need there was not one residential drug treatment facility available and one bed available in Tai Rāwhiti—not one.Well today in this Budget that changes. A total of $200 million has been allocated to build further facilities across the country and that will include Tai Rāwhiti. Of course in order to tackle mental health issues we have to look at the complex and interwoven issues that contribute to them. There is no point in targeting mental health if we don't also invest in drug and alcohol addiction which this does without investing in homelessness—which this Budget does—family violence poverty and issues that contribute to stress in life. We do all of that in this Budget.I have to though focus as the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction on a particular area that means a huge amount to me. There is no ignoring the stress and strain that material deprivation causes our families. We've already made a huge dent in child poverty in this country as this first child poverty report in the Budget shows. Through family tax credit changes accommodation supplement changes the Best Start programme the winter energy changes changes to abatement rates and initiatives in this Budget we are projected to lift between 50000 and 74000 children out of poverty but there is more work to do.Today we make a systemic change. This Budget acknowledges the work of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and those who have stood and campaigned for a long time to make sure that we index benefits to wage increases. Now we already Consumers Price Index adjust but it hasn't stopped families falling further behind. The last Government knows that. That's why they had a one-off benefit increase when they were in Government. This Budget whilst making a modest change this year will make a significant long-term difference in relieving a major stress on low-income families in the future.There is so much more to say about this Budget but I want to repeat just this. I've said this before: Budgets are all about priorities. You have limited budget and limited money but we need to make sure that you balance the economy grow the economy balance the books create jobs look after your people and look after the environment. This Budget shows that you can do all of those things. We said we would deliver this Budget and we have. We have delivered a surplus. We are delivering low unemployment. We have delivered low debt. We've delivered a plan for addressing mental health challenges. That means every New Zealander will get the help they need when they need it. We've delivered cheaper education for families. We've lifted tens of thousands of children out of poverty and we are delivering housing to the homeless. That is what a wellbeing Budget looks like. That is what we came into politics to do and we are doing it."