O'Connor DamienHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): Mr Speaker thank you very much. Firstly I would like to acknowledge my colleague the Hon Kris Faafoi and the Prime Minister and others who are involved in the challenge in Canterbury. I have to say that the Hon Kris Faafoi has stepped in he's stepped up but I would like to acknowledge and I know that the Hon Kiritapu Allan would have done the same and we wish her the very best. Our prayers and thoughts are always with her for her challenge along with the challenges of those people—the rural people in particular—in Canterbury who following a drought are now facing excess water. I was actually emotional when this Budget went through the House. I came into this House a number of years ago as a Labour MP to help people who needed assistance and to give them a fair go and on the issue of gangs this is what this Budget does. It addresses the causes of gangs. This was a Labour Budget if ever we had one to address the core challenges that we face as a nation. Can I acknowledge firstly the fact that we have got to the situation where we can have a Budget that invests in the right way because each and every New Zealander did the right thing through COVID and I want to thank each and every one of them—and in particular the primary sectors—that carried on through the last 12 months continued to produce wealth for this country and adjusted their businesses and their operations to ensure that they didn't participate in any way in the spread of COVID. Thank you for that and thank you for the wealth. This Government is spending that wealth that has been created for the right causes in a Labour Party way—in a Labour way that says those people who need help should get assistance. That's what this country was founded on.The fact that we will put 200000 more people into jobs over the next four years is something that made me proud as a Labour Party Minister. A Budget that will lift 33000 children out of poverty—that's what I came into this House for. We should not have any poverty. We should not have homelessness in this country. We should have people who have opportunities to realise their full potential and to realise their talents but we know that's not the situation. So what we in Government did was step up and invest in the core areas of need. Infrastructure that was run down over nine years of a National Government that ran things into the ground—we're putting over $57 billion into infrastructure over the next row. Sweating the roading assets—the roads that we will fix up in Canterbury had been run down over nine years of National Government and the $57 billion will be part of that rebuild.There are 109000 families who will be on average $175 a week better off. Emotional" was the only description that I had when on Budget night a mother of two children said that the $20 extra that she would be getting would be used to assist her boys to take them on a trip that she could not otherwise afford and those who scoff at the benefits of such small amounts of money over on that side of the House don't understand the real challenges facing many many Kiwis out there. I applaud the fact that they get on and do an incredible job with their families to get them through the challenges and for the most part to turn out and produce and support fine young Kiwis. With $175 a week extra many of them will be able to do the things that they want to do—not all of them but a lot more than they could.This was a true Labour Budget. This $3.8 billion that we have invested in infrastructure for housing will help create not just houses but homes for people—homes and security. The previous Government was happy to sell off all the houses because they don't care about the core values that make this country what it is. Those values are providing access to food access to shelter and access to public education and good health. This Budget invested in the areas of need that will make this country a better place and the fact that we have so many people wanting to come back and live here is a clear indication that we're on the right path. We've got a long way to go but we will invest where it is needed and that is with the people who are most in need."