Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): We have today the spectre of band-aid economics for an economy that is broken for an economy that is sending New Zealand backwards that has New Zealand households struggling with a cost of living crisis that is not only the deepest that's been experienced in 31 years but a cost of living crisis that we learn in the Budget today is set to continue for many years to come. This is not a temporary cost of living crisis which you might believe while you listen to David Parker talking about a three-month measure. This is a cost of living crisis that is set to have inflation outside the band that New Zealand has accepted for 30 years above 30 percent well out to 2025. If you think it's bad this year New Zealand with inflation meaning that everywhere you go the groceries the petrol every price you pay is going up each month then don't think it's getting better under Labour. Today the Treasury confirmed that next year inflation is going to keep pumping hard. It's going to be at 5.2 percent. Then the year after that in 2024 are we going to see it come back then? No. It's going to be at 3.6 percent. So what does that mean for hard-working New Zealanders? It means under Labour every dollar buys them less. It means that their wages will not go as far. It means that their household budgets will be going backwards.Do you know who else is going to be hit hard? That is every New Zealander who has a mortgage. We have not had a situation in this country for many many years where inflation continues outside the band that the Reserve Bank is meant to accept as acceptable for three years. What that tells you is the Reserve Bank is going to be hiking interest rates high and fast and New Zealanders are going to be paying thousands more for their mortgages. So every New Zealander needs to know right now that this cost of living crisis is not temporary; it is the permanent gift that Labour is giving New Zealand and it is set to bite very hard. It is set to take many people backwards. Not only that but we have an economic picture where growth is starting to stall where we have growth out in the future years falling off a cliff and we have the prospect of greater incomes in the future falling away. So what is the Government's response to this permanent set of challenges? Are they doing what we believe would be sensible and bringing some discipline and rigour to their own spending? No no. Instead what they are doing is the biggest Budget blow-out in New Zealand's history. Fresh from having the highest levels of spending that we've ever had to get us through a pandemic are they winding it back—are they winding it back? No they are not winding it back. In fact what we have is a finance Minister who is not content with the biggest operating allowance in New Zealand's history at $5.9 billion. No that's not enough for him. So ill-disciplined and careless has this Government become about its spending that he's raiding next year's Budget kitty as well. That's right. He's taking $2 billion from next year and he's allocating it this year. That's not enough either. He needs more. His thirst for New Zealanders' money is insatiable. So he's taking half a billion from the year after that Budget and he's allocating that in the Budget this week. You would think that at $8.4 billion that might be enough to satiate the thirst that this Labour Government has for spending New Zealanders' money but no. On top of that they're going to spend the money that they get through the emissions trading scheme. They're going to spend it on a whole bunch of climate change initiatives including ribbon-cutting ceremonies for big business. Then what they're going to do is they're going to keep spending COVID money on top. So we have the biggest blow-out in Budget history being presided over by this Labour Government in a time of record inflation with a cost of living crisis biting in.So what should they do? Should they take a band-aid approach and pretend that this is just a temporary thing? Should they say to New Zealand Hey look it's only going to hurt for September October and November so we've got a little payment just to make it OK."? Well we say that is disingenuous in the extreme because New Zealanders deserve to know that this cost of living crisis isn't temporary. It's not a three-month thing. It is going to go on for years. In November we will christen Grant Robertson "Mr Christmas" because do you know what the Grinch will deliver for Christmas? He'll take away the temporary payment. He will say—Mr November will say—"Now now. Labour's done all we can. We gave you back a little bit of your own money for a little while and we didn't like how it felt. I've got more spending to do. It all stops now." Will New Zealanders be better off? No they won't because they'll be looking forward to more inflation higher prices. They will be looking forward to slipping further behind each week. So what is the alternative? Well actually what New Zealanders need is a disciplined Government that will get more bang for their buck and not a Government that thinks it's OK to just keep hiring public servant after public servant spending more and more money on strategies and plans that don't get results that don't get outcomes—a Government that will be more disciplined about its spending. Then what they need is a Government that will give them permanent tax reduction because it is not acceptable for Grant Robertson to let inflation be his stealthy tax his silent tax increase that pushes more and more New Zealanders into higher tax brackets and forces them to pay more tax. They deserve permanent tax reduction. That is why National has put forward a package that would give every taxpaying New Zealander some tax relief by indexing their income thresholds. Our package would be more generous to more people. Anyone earning more than $50000 or more is better off with our tax reduction plan. For those on the median wage $55000 a year listen in to this: National thinks you deserve $800 per year not just this year but every year. What does Labour think? They reckon all you're good for is 350 bucks. Well I know what New Zealanders are saying right now. Some of them are saying "350 bucks—you know what I could do with that? I might be able to get a cheap ticket to Australia and if I buy that ticket to Australia then I might find a place where I can get ahead once more." So we say choose a tax plan that is more generous to more people. Don't choose a plan that says to some of our skilled experienced teachers police officers some of the doctors in our community some of the social workers in our community—don't say to them "You're excluded from the plan." because that's what Labour's saying today. They're saying to all of those teachers who are on the high step "If you're a teacher and you've got a partner at home or you're a single earner and you earn over $70000 nothing for you." Because at the heart of this idea is a principle and the principle is this: Grant Robertson believes he can spend New Zealanders' money better than they can and he intends to confiscate growing amounts of their incomes so that he can waste it and then redistribute it to them and expect them to be grateful for it. Here on this side of the House we say it's not working. If New Zealanders felt that the extra spending the 67 percent in extra spending was making them 67 percent better off then they might have something to listen to but they're not seeing it. They're are sick of the big promises with no delivery. They're sick of people who stand up and say "We're going to give $2 billion—$2 billion—of your taxpayer cash to KiwiBuild and it's going to solve the housing crisis and there's going to be 100000 houses." Then what do New Zealanders actually get out of the end of that? They get 1300 houses. That's all they get. They get a housing crisis that worsens with rents up the most they've ever gone up—up $150 a week—with a situation where housing is more unaffordable than it's ever been where the State house waiting list has quadrupled and where last night around 4500 kids were forced to sleep in a motel room. So they know not to trust this Government. They know not to trust Grant Robertson when he says he can spend their money better than they can. We say to New Zealanders: you deserve better than band-aid economics and a knee-jerk reaction because Grant Robertson realised he was out of touch and that there was a cost of living crisis. You need a Government that will actually get on top of the cost of living crisis reintroduce discipline to spending make sure that inflation is pushed down with a Reserve Bank who actually focuses on price stability—a Government that won't let interest rates go through the roof a Government that will give you the permanent tax reduction you deserve so that anyone earning $50000 a year or more who works hard for their money will be better off. When the band-aid gets ripped off in November New Zealanders can look forward to the smiling face of the Grinch: Grant Robertson."