Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Over the adjournment break Māoridom lost one of its iconic leaders: Dr Ngāpō Wehi affectionately known as Uncle Bub. E te rangatira me ngā mate katoa o te motu haere haere moe mai rā![Esteemed one and all the deaths of the nation farewell depart rest there indeed!]This Budget has failed to deliver for middle New Zealanders. This Budget shows that we have a Government that has lost touch after 8 long years in office. It is too often focused on the few at the top and has completely forgotten about everyday New Zealanders. This is a Budget that demonstrates that National does not know what is going on and that it has no answers to the problems that our people are concerned about. This is a Budget that continues to underfund and put pressure on our health education and housing systems.In the adjournment Hawke's Bay played host to the Minister for Social Housing the Hon Paula Bennett where of course she expressed what was good about this Budget. But at that meeting hosted in Hastings things turned quickly for the many attendees there to the real issue of housing confronting people in the Hawke's Bay area. I took the opportunity to remind the Minister at that meeting that Hawke's Bay had lost some 377 State houses since 2011 and it had built seven. Do the maths: we have lost 377 and we have built seven homes in Hawke's Bay. That has dislocated over 300 families in Hawke's Bay. And of course we did the decent thing and asked the Minister what her plans were for addressing the real issue facing many people in Hawke's Bay and I want to quote the Minister's response. When asked We need more housing—what are you going to do about it Minister?" her response was well clearly we need them "right now". But then she added: "It's kind of where's the line of it being enough. I'm sure for some it will never be enough." Well the message is really clear to that Government through the Minister that there are not enough houses in Hawke's Bay. We do not have the supply to meet the need.Dr David Clark: Seven is not enough.MEKA WHAITIRI: Seven is not enough. But further the question was asked "When will new housing be provided in Hawke's Bay?" and Mrs Bennett said this—Carmel Sepuloni: Miss—it's Miss.MEKA WHAITIRI: —Miss Bennett apologies—"I don't want a country full of State houses." That is what she said at the meeting: "I don't want a country full of State houses." What people said was that if it was good enough for the Minister and if it was good enough for the Prime Minister in their time of need to live in a State house then why is it not good enough for everybody else?I want to talk about the sharp end—the over 1648 Māori families on the waiting list according to the social housing register. This is 100 more than in the previous quarter and a whopping increase of 21 percent of Māori who have been waiting since last June. In the Waiariki electorate of the Minister for Māori Development there are 422 people waiting for homes of whom 261 are in very serious need. In late 2014 his co-leader of the Māori Party Marama Fox called National's plan to sell off State houses "disappointing" and "an abdication of Government responsibility" yet just 3 months later the Māori Party changed its mind and voted with National to flog them off. This is a disgraceful move especially in the middle of a housing crisis. But Labour has a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem. We will build more affordable homes. We will end National's State house sell-off and stop using Housing New Zealand as a cash cow. Whānau camping in cars or garages will be helped into temporary accommodation through extra funding to emergency housing providers.During the adjournment I constantly heard this catchcry: "Change the Government. Change the Government. Change the Government because it has got out of touch and stopped listening to ordinary New Zealanders." This is what we need to do. We need to present Labour's comprehensive housing plan. It will make a difference to many of the people throughout my electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. All I say is bring on next year's election."