Korako Nuk: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 27 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4049. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National): Kia ora e te Mana Whakawā. Talofa lava. Kia ora. E mihi atu ana ki te whanaukatanga ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ā huri noa te Whare kia ora.[Thank you. I acknowledge the relationship with the Great Sea of Kiwa.And throughout the House hello there.]First of all this is a split call. Obviously it is my first timestanding and speaking as a member of the House in a Budget debate. The last speech by Mr Davis epitomises for me what has actually happened since the announcement of the Budget last week called “A plan that’s working”. I have listened very carefully to the debate which started last week and I understand now that that people across the other side of the House have selective memories and that in some ways they have selective hearing as well. I just remind Mr Davis of the fact that when Bill English took over as Minister of Finance in 2008 what he accepted was possibly one of the biggest hospital passes that was ever given to a Minister of Finance. What happened there was that the Labour Government had squandered 9 years—9 years—of good economic conditions and over the last week we have had constant reminders from the other side of the House that Labour ran surpluses for 9 years.But at least let me ask those members opposite what they have to show for it. What do they have to show for it?It is all very well boasting about making surpluses but you did absolutely nothing for children living in hardship nothing for Māori and nothing to support our most vulnerable people. Labour had 9 years of spending up large yet it did not increase benefits one bitin real terms. It took a National Government with the support of the Māori Party to give our most vulnerable whānau a $25-per-week increase as part of a $790 million package of support for children and whānau living in hardship. There is also some targeted support and that is what I want to concentrate on—two major ones particularly for Māori. The first one is the Te Ture Whenua Māori network where we are investing almost $13 million in supporting Māori landowners improve the productivity of their land along with a timely review of the Māori Land Act—under the Māori Land Act if you take into account that 11 percent of land in the North Island is under that legislation 80 percent of that land is underdeveloped. We could see $8 billion injected into the Māori economy along with 5000 jobs created over the next 10 years. That is part of this innovative situation that we have actually put into this Budget about starting to review all of that legislation.Today the New Zealand economy continues to grow and so does the Māori tribal economy. This Budget also appropriates $1.4 billion over the next 5 years for the settlement of historic Treaty claims—and I want to talk about Treaty settlements. The Government’s commitment to its programme of Treaty settlements is more about pumping money into the Māori economy if we look at that and think about those Treaty settlements and if you look at the work of Minister Finlayson and what he has done over the last two terms—over 40 Treaty settlements. In doing that that is actually linked to regional economy. When we look at the largest iwi Ngāpuhi it has just begun negotiations with the Crown. But all we have heard on that side of the House is negativity—a lot of negativity. We heard it last night about whether a settlement would really change things up there. I say to my Māori colleagues on the other side of the House just look at Waikato-Tainui just look at Ngāi Tahu. All of that the references to the scourge of property developers and all of that that we have heard from that side of the House—Ngāi Tahu are the largest property developers in the South Island and those properties are being invested in the future of our people.