Dyson RuthHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): If I was Chris Bishop or actually any member of the National Party I'd be pretty despondent too. But I just say to Mr Bishop that it will end. I've been in the same position as that member. I've been in the same position as members of the National Party. Eventually it happens and people start to feel better or leave and I look forward to that happening to the National Party because it's actually quite sad watching it. I personally feel sadder than our 2017 intake. They said It can't be that bad." I said "Believe me we've been through it on this side. It is that bad." So I understand Mr Bishop why you're feeling so bad. On this side of the House I don't know that we could feel much better because we have just had one of the best Budgets I can recall. I heard the Hon Scott Simpson saying that "You know the problem with the Prime Minister is she's like Norm Kirk: she's got vision." Oh you know if that's the worst criticism that can be handed out we'll take it because this is a Budget with vision. It's a Budget that delivers. It's a Budget that will drive intergenerational change and it's a Budget that New Zealand needed and is celebrating. I don't recall a more positive response to a Budget in my time in Parliament and I've seen a couple. I want to congratulate our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern our Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson our Deputy Prime Minister the Rt Hon Winston Peters and the co-leaders of the Green Party of Aotearoa Marama Davidson and the Hon James Shaw. Those people together are extraordinary. With three different parties a shared set of values and a passion to change things for the better for New Zealanders it's awesome to watch. This Budget faces the big issues. It faces them and it tackles them. That's a big challenge for Government. Too many Governments think in a three-year cycle. This is investing in future change that will make a difference not just today but to our children and our grandchildren. So it's a very proud time for this side of the House to be in Parliament. For me the most important and positive attribute for many in the Budget was the fact that we are taking mental health seriously. It's about time. I can remember pre-the Hon Jenny Shipley days when members in this House used mental health patients as political footballs. Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark did a deal that they would lead their parties to stop doing that and it ceased in Parliament. I want to pay tribute to both Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark for that leadership. This Budget builds on that leadership by taking mental health seriously. Most MPs know somebody—it could be a constituent it could be a friend it could be a family member—who has been turned away from mental health support when they've asked for help. It takes a lot to ask for help. It's a big step often outside New Zealanders' comfort zone. We're not great at asking for help. We're not great at saying we're not well. So when people take that big step and when they finally say "I need help." and they get turned away there's not much worse that can happen to them. Some of them have been literally told they can't get help because they're not suicidal enough. That's the state of the mental health system that the National Party left to us in Government where people in our country—people in New Zealand—are told they can't get mental health support because they're not suicidal enough. Those members should hang their heads in shame that that's what this Government is picking up to deliver. Sometimes people begged for help. We know those stories; we've heard them. So our Government is delivering on mental health support taking mental health seriously. The Budget has got a wide range of investments from investments in our workforce development—because we know we don't have enough mental health workers to deliver the service that we envisage will be delivered by this Budget so there's a programme of mental health workforce development. There's investment in new facilities and congratulations to Tai Rāwhiti for being the first to be the recipient of that. That's an area which will really benefit from that—a provincial town that's very isolated in many respects—and those services I know will really benefit that community. Suicide prevention: thank you for the leadership from our Minister and Associate Ministers of Health for saying that not one suicide is acceptable and therefore not having a made-up suicide prevention target that was going to make out to the public that any suicide is acceptable. It's not. So that investment in suicide prevention is amazing. Addiction treatment? We all know how much that's needed in our country and housing for 3000 people. So that package of mental health support is delivering. Improving child wellbeing is another priority of the Budget breaking the cycle of poverty and the cycle of family violence. There's many Ministers that I'd like to pay tribute to but I want to particularly acknowledge the leadership of Jan Logie who brought together so many of our colleagues across different parties and so many different agencies and said "This is a problem we know is real in New Zealand. It's big. It destroys people's lives. It impacts on children in a way that they can never ever reach their potential and we can make a difference in this House." With that sort of leadership backed by the significant financial investment—but it needs that leadership to drive it—I am confident that those agencies will get the fact that they are being led to work together and make a difference so that every child every man and every woman can live a life free of violence. So thank you Jan Logie for that leadership. Supporting Māori and Pacific aspirations is another one of the priorities of the Government. We have left people behind in our success and that is not good enough for any country. We know that Māori and Pasifika have got so much more potential than our current systems allow them to demonstrate. Success should be within the ambit of every New Zealander regardless of the fact that they're Pākehā/European new immigrants Māori or Pasifika. We know what post-colonisation life is like. It's about time that we said we're going to do better here and I'm confident that what we've got in this Budget will do that. One of the critical parts of course is education and employment. Willie Jackson might fall over when I commend him for his leadership but I do. I genuinely do. His passion—Marama Davidson: He's not surprised that you would say that! Hon RUTH DYSON: He's cheeky and sometimes as a whip I have to remind him that it's not good to be cheeky. But his passion and commitment to ensuring that young Māori have a better chance to be the best they possibly can will make a huge difference not just to those individuals but to the future of our nation. This is really investment that makes a difference. The final priorities I want to mention are building a productive nation and transforming the economy. We know that despite working longer and harder than many people in other countries we have a low rate of productivity. The investment in our businesses aims to turn that around. Too many Governments have talked about it and not enough have invested in it and again investment in training and employment is a big part of that. We should have higher-value work than we do currently and training and education will help deliver that. The final point I want to congratulate the Minister of Finance on is the investment in KiwiRail. What a disgrace to see rubbish imported carriages coming into New Zealand at the same time as our workshops in the Hutt Valley and Dunedin were closing. New Zealand tradespeople were losing their jobs and we imported cheap rubbish that lasted five minutes and at the same time investment in our rail just didn't happen. If we're serious about a low emissions future about making our roads safer by getting trucks off them and about investing in quality Kiwi production then investment in KiwiRail is a big part of that. We want to fix our schools and our hospitals. We want to make a difference for the future. This Budget invests in things that will make a difference. It delivers for New Zealand and I'm very proud to be part of this side of the House that has put together that Budget."