Radhakrishnan PriyancaPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. As I sat last week in this House listening to the Prime Minister's statement I was filled with incredible pride and joy all of which was dispelled as I sat listening to the previous National members speak.Kieran McAnulty: Weren't they bitter?PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: They were incredibly bitter and talked about neglect. But actually the National Party member who resumed her seat just before we rose in her capacity as the Minister for Ethnic Communities did absolutely nothing that was noteworthy for our diverse communities. There was not one Cabinet paper in five years in that portfolio and that gives us an indication of how much our diverse ethnic communities were neglected under the previous Government regardless of the rhetoric that we hear from that side of the House.However what I wanted to start with was that regardless of where we might come from—whether we were born here in Aotearoa New Zealand whether we've been here for three to four generations or we've migrated here—I think we can all agree on the fact that we want New Zealand to be the best place to live. That when I think about it and reflect on it is the role of the Government and that's how I look at what this Government has done over the last two and a bit years since the Government took office and the vision that we have for New Zealand's progress. That's why I'm proud. I look at it in terms of the facts of looking after our people the fact that we have a responsibility to look after the environment and to ensure that we have sustainable economic growth as well.A huge part of looking after our people is to ensure that we reduce the cost of living. I want to address that because the previous speaker the Hon Judith Collins touched upon it and claimed that not enough is being done in that space and yet wages have increased 4.4 percent. We've increased significantly the minimum wage which has seen a boost of about 200000 people.Kieran McAnulty: They're going to stop that.PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: That's right. That's right—they want to stop that. Then I think about the elderly Indian woman I met some months back who had worked for a company for 26 years and in all those years she had been on the minimum wage. How do people like that survive if we don't significantly boost the minimum wage?Reducing the cost of living through cheaper doctors visits for about 540000 New Zealanders—people are actually picking up prescriptions because it's cheaper to see their doctor. They're not having to make decisions like Do we see the doctor or put food on the table?"—basic decisions that should be the right of all New Zealanders as well. We've scrapped NCEA fees and increased funding to schools so that the pressure on parents has been decreased as well.Housing: Housing First places have increased and that sits alongside a massive increase in the number of State houses that have been built. We stopped the State house sell-off. That party when they were in Government had actually decided to sell off all our State houses when we were in the middle of a housing crisis. How does that make any sense?Looking after the environment: phasing out single-use plastic bags. We've started investing in cleaning up our waterways working on standards to improve the health of our waterways and stop degradation and passed the historic zero carbon bill. We have an historic agreement with our primary sector to make sure that collectively we address emissions.Looking after the economy: the economy is strong. It's resilient. Our fiscal position remains stronger than countries we often compare ourselves to. Our economy is growing faster than the economies of Australia the UK and the EU. As I mentioned unemployment is at an 11-year low at under 4.4 percent.Infrastructure spending: we're boosting infrastructure spending by $12 billion to upgrade New Zealand investment in road rail schools and hospitals.Finally I want to touch on the changes to the Office of Ethnic Communities where the fund which was static—started in the last Labour Government at $500000 increased by the National Government by $20000—has now gone up to $4.2 million per year for our communities to access. It's open all year round and it shows that we have a Government that truly believes that diversity is our strength and that all our communities have a right to feel safe to feel valued and to be able to thrive. I want to acknowledge Minister Salesa the Minister for Ethnic Communities now. I have seen her bat for our communities day in day out and get the wins that we've wanted to see to see our communities thrive and that's been acknowledged by our communities. Thank you Madam Speaker."