Allan KiritapuHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Mr Speaker this is the first time I've appeared before you so I'd be remiss if I didn't say: congratulations the member of Parliament for Ōhāriu for your ascension to this role. We are very very proud of you and we can see by your conduct in this House how you command the respect of both sides of this Chamber. So tēnā koe e te Kaiwhakawā.Turning now to the debate at hand. Listening to the contributions this afternoon and I feel like I'm living in a twilight zone to be honest. Because when I woke up this morning I looked at the rising sun there were three little birds and they were smiling at my doorstep. They were smiling because Budget 2022 has provided a case for optimism. Do you know why? Because our Government is building the most houses in Aotearoa since the 1970s. In fact 220 homes in Gisborne 100 in Whakatane over 10000 across the country.More homes have been built in this past year than since records began. Budget 2022: an additional $20 billion was invested in housing initiatives and those three little birds singing sweetly at my doorstep reminded me that today is a day to be optimistic. It sounds like a cloud of doom has descended upon this House if you are to listen to the trite contributions from the Opposition.But returning from the mighty East Coast this weekend and coming in to Wellington I can tell you: in an electorate like mine that isn't all paisley red—it's an electorate comprised of hard-working New Zealanders from all walks of life—the sun is out. The masks are off and people are smiling. You can hear those little birds tweeting at our doorsteps. And I think that's because our Government has supported the most New Zealanders into jobs. We've heard the contributions this afternoon: 50000 New Zealanders—what a milestone for Aotearoa—have been supported by this Government into apprenticeships.Here in Aotearoa on the back of an economic crisis—a pandemic—there's doom and gloom as far as you can look if you have only looked at the economic times in the early 2021s or the late 2021s or earlier this year. But nevertheless and despite those storms 50000 New Zealanders partnered with the Government they partnered with private enterprise they pulled up their socks they got upskilled and they are working hard all throughout our country. We have as a consequence one of the lowest unemployment rates in the OECD: 3.3 percent.Again if you listen to the trite contributions of my friends on the other side of the House you would think that we were heading nose first into a deep recession. But—and I can say this as a proud rural member for the mighty East Coast—this year record agricultural exports $53 billion came into New Zealand's economy; $53 billion.Now you know I actually watched the spokesperson on finance from the opposite side of the House last week. She obviously had her pre-prepared lines as what she was going to say when the GDP figures on all of her estimations would come out and showed that we had entered into a technical recession. They were all ready to go but that's not what the books showed. GDP had lifted.We're experiencing growth and albeit it is modest. You know when you look at the backdrop that we've had over the last couple of years I don't think that many people could have anticipated where we'd be as a country right now.I'm not trying to say that everything's all perfect—of course it's not. There is an inflation crisis across the world. We can look at the war in Ukraine; we understand the impact that that war the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had on oil prices and consequently to electricity prices across the globe.I sometimes look at the backdrop to what we've been operating in here in New Zealand in the last couple of years. To use a word—and I'll take it from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance: he used the word to describe the backdrop as being a little chaotic" and I think that that's fair. But where we've gotten to today I just want to be really clear—and we've heard expressions actually Hon David Parker gave a good example earlier and contributed to this House a ray of numbers that showed the state of New Zealand's economy. And the state that we're in—with the backdrop that we're in—is not as a consequence of an accident; this is a consequence of design.Budget 2022 is the fourth Wellbeing Budget that has been introduced into this House—[Interruption] I hear groans from across the House. Why is it important that we measure more than just mere GDP? Because what matters is how people—we need to assess it whether it's the environmental outcomes whether it's the educational outcomes whether it's the cultural outcomes. New Zealand is more than just a buck in your back pocket. Because the economy doesn't measure how New Zealanders are faring across the world. [Interruption] So I look on—I can still hear them—they're so disturbed by the fact that we're just not where they had anticipated we would be as a nation.I watched our Minister of Finance diligently—and I call him an ardent student of former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Dr Michael Cullen. He is a diligent student of his and what he did—and also in the relative high time of 2017 2018 and that period of time when we see GDP year on year on year was growth growth growth: 2019 until we got to COVID.And he would say to all the naysayers who were saying "Spend more spend more spend more" and he did it. He refused to put his hand into his pocket any more than was required because he said there will be a rainy day. We went into this environment—and that we are still sort of coming through—with books that were balanced and steady and stable. We saw a Government that could invest because it had the flex within its balanced books to be able to make the investments that kept business afloat through COVID. And now here we are.Budget 2022 had to walk the tight balance to find economic security for now—and like we said let's be fair inflation rates through the roof across the globe. So we had to find that balance for economic security for now. That's when we saw those measures like the Cost of Living Payment: $350 for 2.1 million New Zealanders. We saw the pause on gas—on the petrol excise rates—25 cents for every litre at the petrol pump. We saw things like the extension of public transport knowing that it was real costs like those that were hurting everyday New Zealanders.So you saw some interim and temporary measures. But as my friends from the Green Party just alluded to we also know that whilst we are holding the line and doing what we need to to wrap around New Zealanders today we have to focus on the future as well.We saw over $2 billion to decide to combat climate change. I always lead into the mighty East Coast because in my world the be all and end all—I'm sure my friend Willow-Jean might try to tussle me out with Northland and up north there—but you know what we are seeing in real time are the consequences of climate change playing out in our home towns. Climate adaptation isn't something of tomorrow; it's something that's right now. So we are seeing the investment through our climate change funds—over $2 billion that has been set aside to enable that climate change adaptation.We looked to all of those areas that New Zealanders are looking to for us to respond. I want to put on very briefly—oh look it's too late—just in the Justice portfolio one of the biggest commitments that we make was access to justice for all New Zealanders. The New Zealand Law Society showed that we had been failing New Zealanders particularly through legal aid and that goes back to the Bazley report. Something I'm very proud of is that we've lifted those rates for legal aid and it's something that we'll continue to do. This is part of securing New Zealand's future. We've done that on the backdrop of incredible grey clouds but when I woke up this morning I smiled at the rising sun because those three little birds were chirping merrily away."