Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I must say that I'm really proud of the work that my colleagues Mark Cameron and Minister Hoggard are doing in the rural sector.I'm really proud of Budget 2024 and I would say that this is the first of many Budgets to come with ACT in a coalition Government. We delivered in this Budget what we promised to deliver before the last election. We said that we will squeeze our spending we will squeeze Government spending. We don't want to squeeze hard-working New Zealanders like the previous Labour Government did. We have demonstrated that in this Budget. As we can see the financial allowance in this year is $3.2 billion which is less than the previous Labour Government's which was $3.5 billion. And I must also say that this is the lowest in real terms since the 2017 Budget. So we have demonstrated we can deliver what we said. We have also demonstrated that it is not about how much money we spend; it's about how we spend. It's about also valuing each and every dollar that taxpayers pay to Government to spend on their behalf and we are very conscious of that.I am also conscious that the cost of living crisis because of that irresponsible spending of the previous Labour Government caused a lot of suffering to New Zealanders. And this wasn't just on their back pockets I have heard so many stories from people where the financial strain actually caused relationship strains as well in families. That is why I think it's really important to give that kind of financial relief to New Zealanders and I'm really proud to stand here and say that this coalition Government with ACT in Government are delivering tax cuts.Most New Zealanders—today is 23 July and in eight days' time they will see that they will have more money in their wallets because of the prudent financial management of this Government.We are also supportive of FamilyBoost because we know that young families with young children—it's really hard for them and we want to see that they get that support for childcare.I personally believe education is very important. We want to see that education is able to do what it should be able to do—that is to provide opportunities to our children because our children are our future. And that's where we think that there should be opportunities available diverse opportunities available for students to take up education and reach their potential.I'm really proud of Minister Seymour for $153 million that is allocated in this Budget for charter schools. This time what is different is that charter schools are going to come back in a bigger way. Previously we know that the Labour Government got rid of charter schools. We are bringing them back because we really believe in giving opportunity to all children. We want to see that students are at the centre of education not unions—not unions but students children New Zealand children are at the centre of our education system. That is why we are bringing back charter schools.Finally I want to touch on a topic that is of huge concern to me. In this recent recess I went to two protests: one protest that was organised in South Auckland because of that attack that happened in South Auckland at a jewellery store and then there was another protest organised in the city in Auckland CBD and this was because of that attack that happened on a bus. But there were other reasons as well—overall crime—that the protest was organised for. I went there to assure them that we are hearing them that their voices matter and that we are doing everything possible to ensure that we are restoring law and order.Under the previous Government what we saw was that Government was taking the side of criminals. But this side this Government is on the side of victims. That's why $2.9 billion extra operating and capital funding is in this Budget to restore law and order. I'm really proud of my colleagues doing great work in the law and order space. I must say this: this money is going to go to increase the numbers of corrections officers that we have to increase the numbers of police officers we have.I'm really proud to see that Minister Chhour and Minister Seymour launched military-style academies just recently. So this is to give opportunity to those young offenders those who get into offending—but they have the opportunity to come back to normal life. So we want to see that these people those who are derailed can be brought back on track and given this opportunity to succeed in life to do better in life.This Government is definitely on the side of victims. We don't want to reduce the prison population just for the sake of reducing the prison population like the previous Government. We will continue to make sure that our communities are safer. Thank you Mr Speaker.