Mitchell Clayton: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4129. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to take a split call with Fletcher Tabuteau to talk about the Budget. I think I will start by asking: what is the difference between God and Simon O’Connor? It is that God does not think he is Simon O’Connor. Simon O’Connor certainly did suck the life out of this room in the last few minutes. It is a little bit towards the end of our Budget debate so everybody is feeling a little bit tired but I fear to say that that just about drowned us in sleep and woeful thoughts. It was certainly a debate that will come up later in time. We would certainly love to have it with you with regard to the right to die.I thought I would also start by coming up with something thought-provoking and provocative with regard to the Budget because we have heard so much over the last week or so listening to everybody. The only thing that I could think of that comes out as remotely profound and provocative was just: “Wap-wap-wap-waah.” I think this Budget has failed in just about every sense and certainly on a decent scale. I will actually give this Budget a 10—out of 40. I think there has been so much misplaced with this Budget and it has been irresponsible of the Government to take away the future of New Zealanders by taking away the $1000 kick-start programme—the Government members have all got their heads down now pretending not to be interested—and to give it to the—Todd Barclay: We’re not interested.CLAYTON MITCHELL: Oh Todd Barclay is interested again. Todd you are like a sneeze waiting for a mouth to shoot out of.Look at the end of the day this Budget giving $25 to beneficiaries is the one good thing that I think this Government has done. It is certainly a step in the right direction. I would like to spend my time discussing the emergency services which did not feature in this Budget. I think that everybody in this House would agree that those people add probably some of the best value to our communities from Cape Reinga through to Stewart Island. They are the volunteer fire brigades the people who are actually completely underfunded for their role. Their role over the past several decades has been changing more and more for the simple fact that there is less funding available and they are actually going on community support and fund-raising measures to be able to give that support to their communities. I am talking about the likes of the ambulance service which again is suffering from a lack of funding and the Fire Service which is actually providing a lot of that care.Around the country at the moment we are talking to the volunteer fire brigades and the rural fire services which are going out there and shaking the bucket—to use the terminology—to gain funding for their organisations. One outfit in the north had to shake the bucket because it did not have a defibrillator and it was regularly being called out to first aid response. It needs to get that support from this Government and this Budget but it has not featured. It is certainly interesting to know also with regard to the lack of funding that since 1994 when the current situation with the way the Fire Service is funded—which of course is through the Fire Service levy which is through your insurance—was looked at it has been looked at 16 times for new funding arrangements. It has been looked at 16 times over 21 years and most of those reviews have come out and said that the current way we are funding our Fire Service is inadequate. It is not fit for purpose. Something that this Government keeps talking about with its Budget is that it is fit for purpose but whose purpose is it fit for? We seriously need to get back to our grassroots.Something else I would like to touch on is the number of fire brigade volunteers we have. Currently in the country we have got 1700 career firefighters out there doing a fantastic job. Many of them are my friends and I think that in terms of the high regard that they have within the community those Fire Service providers are No. 1. [Bell rung] Five minutes goes so fast—I had better not waste any time.I would like to tie this into Surf Life Saving New Zealand which is another very important organisation around the country which again has got no funding in this Budget. To recognise Surf Life Saving New Zealand as an official emergency service provider one that comes under the umbrella of our emergency service providers—considering that it performs some 350 search and rescue operations around the country and several thousand lifesaving exercises—we need to look at the search and rescue services our Fire Service and Surf Life Saving New Zealand being put into a package that this Government supports and looks after in a much better way. I will hand you over to Fletcher Tabuteau. Thank you.