Edmonds BarbaraBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a privilege to be able to take a call in support of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS). I'm going to focus my call on the wellbeing objective of lifting Māori and Pacific income skills and opportunities and combating the inequalities of COVID-19 with specific reference to Pacific peoples.The Budget Policy Statement references the Speech from the Throne and I quote: We have more freedoms are a more open economy and have saved more lives than nearly every other country we normally compare ourselves to. We can rightfully be proud of our success to date as a nation as team but we cannot afford to be complacent nor stand still. We must keep going." And for the sake of our Pacific population here in Aotearoa we cannot stand still. The Lancet a medical journal noted that Māori Pacific and Asian peoples were at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 than any other population. However we as Pacific peoples didn't need a medical journal to tell us that. Our elders recall that with the influenza pandemic in 1918 where 22 percent of Samoa's population was wiped out and then more recently with the measles epidemic in 2019. Our wellbeing objective to lift Māori and Pacific incomes skill and opportunities is critical to New Zealand's long-term success and I repeat: it is critical. That's why submissions on the BPS were overwhelmingly in support of this objective. So I acknowledge the Minister of Finance for recognising this and for making it clear in the Budget Policy Statement that we cannot stand still when it comes to improving outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples.The BPS also references that education health and housing outcomes in New Zealand vary significantly by socioeconomic background and ethnicity. We know the stats around Pacific people. The average material standard of living for Pacific people is around half lower for Māori a third lower than for the general population. Pacific people are typically more severely affected by wage scarring by recessions and are more likely to have poorer health outcomes. The ability for many Pacific and Māori people to achieve their aspirations is impeded when the health education housing and social welfare systems do not address the multi-faceted intergenerational disadvantages. But you know what? Despite these inequalities in housing income and health Treasury in their Pacific Economy report in 2018 found that Pacific peoples contribute $8 billion towards New Zealand's GDP and over 27000 hours of volunteering. The Minister of Finance at the launch of that report stated that there is massive opportunity to invest in the Pacific community looking at the overall approach to wellbeing. These are Pacific values of family culture language and heritage and it's clear in this BPS that the Minister is taking up this opportunity. That is why this Government for the last three years has made it a priority to improve the lives of Pacific peoples here in Aotearoa.The BPS makes reference to previous investment. For Pacific people this included Budget 2018 which laid the foundations for the future with $1.6 billion over four years for schools early childhood education 1500 new teachers and the Families Package which many Pacific families were benefactors of. The 2019 Wellbeing Budget secured an unprecedented amount of new funding of over $113 million over four years to boost support for Pacific communities across Aotearoa to achieve their vision of confident thriving resilient and prosperous Pacific Aotearoa people and Pacific-led solutions in education health languages and culture and community wellbeing. Budget 2020 secured $195 million for the Pacific package to support the recovery and rebuild of the Pacific community. We launched the Action Plan for Pacific Education. We extended the Tupu Aotearoa programme and Mana in Mahi. These are the action plans and investments that underpin previous Budget Policy Statements. So I look forward to what investment comes from this Budget Policy Statement.I finish my contribution today by acknowledging the thousands of students who are participating in the largest cultural music and dance festival in the world. Today is the opening day of Polyfest which was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. We are able to hold this festival and festivals like Pasifika events like the Relay for Life the Pinkalicious Breakfast this weekend at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua because the Government put our people first. We knew that a health response was the best economic response. So I quote again from the BPS and the Speech from the Throne: "We can rightfully be proud of our success to date as a nation as a team but we cannot afford to be complacent nor stand still. We must keep going." There is more work to do but this Government is not standing still. Fa'afetai tele lava."