Woodhouse MichaelGENERAL DEBATEHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. One of the hallmarks of a political party that seeks the privilege of being in Government is that it needs to demonstrate that it is enthusiastic and that it is energetic about leading the country. Last night I thought we saw a very good example of that at the conclusion of the 15-hour Budget debate in what was essentially a vote of confidence in the Government. On this side of the House the benches were full to overflowing. It looked like the north stand at Eden Park on test day whereas on the other side of the House it looked like Maidstone Park No. 4 on a windswept Saturday afternoon. Opposition members looked about as enthusiastic about being there as they would have done on a horizontal-rain day at Maidstone Park.Why would they have that sort of enthusiasm? Not even their leader the Leader of the Opposition Mr Little could be bothered to complete his allotted time in the Budget debate. He could not wait to get out the door. He could not leave fast enough because he knew he was on a hiding to nothing thanks to a very very good Budget 2017.Let us go through some of the many highlights. I want to reinforce the issue of Vote Health which has the highest vote increase in that vote for a very very long time—$3.9 billion over 4 years with $879 million in this year alone. I have got some advice for the Opposition spokesman on health. Dr Clark might know a little bit about existential philosophy but I have to say his maths is absolutely appalling. A very large increase in Vote Health which may nevertheless have been less than what the profligate Labour spenders would have invested is not a cut. It is a substantial investment and it is a targeted investment in the areas that have the most benefit.Mr Robertson caught that bug as well with research and development when he said on the TV that the Budget was silent on R & D—Dr Megan Woods: Oh this is the Rob Hosking article.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: —when he knows—well Mr Hosking actually got the memo did he not because there was a quadrupling—Grant Robertson: He did get the memo because he's definitely with you.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well he read the Budget for a start which was a great deal more than the Opposition finance spokesperson did. There was a quadrupling in the Marsden Fund and a doubling of Innovative New Zealand.On the Family Incomes Package of course Mr Robertson went to great pains to try to slice and dice this and to portray it as a tax cut for the rich when nothing could be further from the truth. Mr Joyce last night summed it up when he said: This is a family incomes package." We have heard examples of where some of our more vulnerable families in high-cost housing areas will be receiving more than $150 a week as a consequence of this Budget. The Greens understood it. New Zealand First understood it and supported the legislation that would give effect to that but Labour did not get the memo.You would think that Mr Robertson after having had so long to think about an alternative tax policy and an alternative incomes package—8½ years to come up with a coherent alternative to this Government's plan and what has he got? Labour is going to give us a review. It is going to go into Government—that is its plan—and it is going to review tax policy. After 8½ years of thinking about it Labour members still come up with no independent thought about what a tax plan could be. I actually—call me suspicious—think they have a plan; they just do not want to campaign on it. It is that typical Labour tax plan: raise taxes and spend more of other people's money.On housing—$100 million for the Crown Land Programme and a couple of hundred million dollars for social housing. We are seeing the benefits of the many things that this Government is doing in respect of increasing supply and reducing house price inflation no thanks to Labour—no thanks to Labour—which opposes every measure that this Government is taking. It opposed Point England. It opposed Three Kings. It talks about housing supply but it cannot bring itself to support this Government's initiatives.I have got some advice I think for that party which aspires to be in Government. My advice to it is this: just do exactly what you are doing now because if that is the case then I think the New Zealand public will know very clearly who has the enthusiasm who has the energy and who has the ideas to continue to lead this country. This side on Budget confidence will always look like the north stand at Eden Park."