Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato): Hey well we've heard it all now haven't we? I love that quote from Mr Robertson: We will continue to be careful with our spending." Now let's just do a little bit of fact-checking on the Minister. Do you know that the spending has gone from $133 billion to $150 billion in the last year? That is someone who has been very careful with our spending! And that's probably the issue because the context for the Budget Policy Statement is that in the year to June 2022 we recorded a deficit of $16.9 billion. I'll just say that again—17 billion bucks of operating loss that this Government suffered. That is despite a $17 billion increase in the revenue to the Government—a $17 billion increase in the tax revenue and yet it reported a deficit of $16 billion. So you know that's roughly a $30 billion turn-around. You've got $17 billion and you go backwards $16 billion. That is the issue that the level of spending that this Government has set about doing over the last few years has just been the issue. Of course it's been fuelling the inflation that my good colleague Nicola Willis talked about—it is the issue. To continue to run a series of operating losses at Government account level over the past few years is something that the Government should not be proud of and we continue to hear the Minister talking about how he will continue to be careful with his spending.Obviously the Budget Policy Statement talked about how it was prepared before Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and that has had a significant impact on what's going to come forward into the next Budget. Before I go a little bit further I just want to acknowledge all the people in Tai Rāwhiti and the Hawke's Bay and also in Auckland and particularly in my own electorate of Port Waikato where I've probably now got 100 people without a house without accommodation who are now trying to deal with the issue of where they can secure their living. Of course we've got an issue where many of those properties have been affected and will require earthquake funding. When we had a meeting with the Port Waikato residents as an example recently the Earthquake Commission representative said it would take between three and nine months before there would be any resolution to their claims. Of course that's going to stop them moving forward in their lives.So that is having an impact on the Budget Policy Statement and the Minister certainly covered that when he came before the Finance and Expenditure Committee. But I think one of the big things is how the Government has used or misused the COVID fund. It has been a significant source of funding that the Government has set about using for a whole raft of poorly designed poorly targeted spending. That has been a major issue for a lack of transparency and accountability. We have sought on many occasions even from Treasury to get a better view on the nature of that spending and of course it has just been used on a whole raft of ill-defined programs. It's even been used for the three waters consultation. It's been used for cameras on fishing boats. A big chunk of it was used for looking at the poorly targeted hydro storage scheme down in the South Island—a whole raft of these issues when in fact that money should have been used to help New Zealanders move forward to invest in our infrastructure and actually create a more productive New Zealand society. And of course we haven't got that.That is one of the big issues facing New Zealand and now because we've spent so much—over $60 billion during COVID to support a number of these programs. Some of it has been very well targeted supporting businesses during the COVID period but there is a vast quantity of it that has simply just disappeared into the till and of course what that has done is eked into our debt. We've got much higher levels of debt. I know the Minister likes to talk about percentages but the net debt in New Zealand has climbed quite significantly over the past four years. Of course it means that it makes it more difficult as we move forward into these difficult periods of rebuilding back in those areas like Hawke's Bay and Auckland how we cater for that and how we set about doing the major infrastructure spend.The Budget Policy Statement talked about $12 billion of capital allowances but it is just outrageous that shovel-ready projects—225 of them; 49 of them haven't even started. We've got some that just will not take place and will not be done even though when those shovel-ready projects were announced they were meant to be completed within 12 months. So we look at that and we say "Has this Government got credibility to build back better using their slogan in places like Gisborne and Hawke's Bay?" Right now I don't think I would be putting much hope in it. I hope for New Zealanders' sake that they have a better record of achieving it. I see the Minister of Transport sitting opposite and of course the Government is still committed to the $30 billion Auckland Light Rail project. You've got to say in the context of what's going on why is that such a priority? Maybe that's politics—Joseph Mooney: Minister for Mt Roskill.ANDREW BAYLY: Minister for Mt Roskill of course as my colleague notes. But that is a project that should be put on hold because we have a construction sector that is already at capacity and I know that Madam Chair knows a lot about this issue. Yet this Budget Policy Statement talks about not only those $12 billion of capital allowances but of course now with Cyclone Gabrielle the need to increase the level of spending over time. Just got to ask—the credibility and the capability to be able to do that and that is a very worrying thing particularly if you are living in the Esk Valley how that's going to be done quickly. I'm very very worried about it.One of the things I do want to pick up is in the Budget statement—and the Minister talked about this in the presentation to the select committee. It says the third priority is to deliver a strong Public Service in New Zealand. So that of course is in the context where this Government has overseen during the last 5½ years a 14000 increase in the number of people working in the Public Service. I think the number now is 67000 public servants—some of whom do a very good job I hasten to add. But a 14000 increase is just a phenomenal increase and I think the cost of that is about $1.3 billion extra.You imagine $1.3 billion over the next 10 years—that's $13 billion. Gee what you could do there. That money should be applied to doing things like infrastructure spend where it's really required. Even if you don't do that what about fixing up some of our hospitals? You know there are 80000 people who are waiting for an operation—80000 people are waiting for an operation. You think about it: all those women who are waiting for mammograms—we need their screening to be done because I reckon there's a lot of women my wife included who should be and haven't been able to go and get their screening done. I think that's a travesty for many of the women in New Zealand. When you think about the latency of what may have been occurring over the past three years I think it is an outrage that we've got a health service that is so obviously failing.Then we've got—of course the Minister talked about education. Yet we've got nearly half of our children who are not attending schools and we have got a teachers' strike tomorrow morning that is going to take place across this country. It is a shameful state of affairs particularly when you think about the impact on our children. Crime is rocketing and from a business perspective all they have seen over the last 5½ years is this avalanche of regulation costing we estimate about $3.5 billion of extra costs that have been imposed on small businesses.Look the focus should be for the next Budget and the Budget Policy Statement on hard-working New Zealanders hard-working New Zealand families who have not seen any improvement from this Government either in tax breaks or actually in making their lives easier or actually helping them to move forward financially—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): Order! Your time has expired. Before I call the honourable member Ingrid Leary I'd just like to remind members of resisting as much as you can bringing the Speaker into the debate."