Robertson Grant; Williams PotoHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Madam Chair Williams thank you very much for granting me the call. Part 1 of this bill does several extremely important things. The first of those is it creates a brand new tax credit the Best Start tax credit—a tax credit that is fundamentally based in the best evidence that we can find about what will make a difference in the lives of children. The Children's Commissioner expert group recommended that there be a universal payment for all newborns—that's what they did. The reason they did that is because every single family faces costs at that time; every single family has to balance up the needs of looking after their newborn children with other parts of their lives.Then the expert advice—not only from the Children's Commissioner's group but also from things like the longitudinal study in Dunedin—tells us that the first three years of life are the most important in a child's development. What Part 1 of the bill does is actually take action on that. Sixty dollars per week will make a massive difference to families especially low and middle income families. Around 65000 newborns every year will benefit from this from 1 July.In earlier parts of the debate the genesis of this idea was raised. It may have been the Hon Tracey Martin who did so. There was once upon a time a thing in New Zealand called the family benefit. There was a time when New Zealanders said We're all in this together." It doesn't actually matter whether you're rich or poor we think that children deserve the best start in life. We think that families can be given strength by being given support by a Government that thinks that they are all equal so that is the basis of this kind of payment. I am very proud that Part 1 of this bill says it's time to bring that back—it is time to have that kind of support for all of our children. And then yes as we go on that begins to be targeted more and it's targeted more because low and middle income people raising children in New Zealand are struggling.I do want to respond to the contribution from Amy Adams in this regard. It is vitally important that we understand that Part 1 and indeed Part 2 of this bill do focus on children and we make absolutely no apology for that. We have done this package on the basis of evidence. We have done this package on the basis of what will help child development because we want New Zealand to be the best country in the world to raise children and this is a step in the right direction for that. So I am extremely proud of the fact that Part 1 of this bill introduces the Best Start package. But I can respond to Amy Adams' question about why we're doing this: because yes we do want to focus on children and support for families with children.Part 1 of the bill also goes on to implement the Working for Families changes and also repeal the Taxation (Budget Measures: Family Incomes Package) Act 2017. I do want to say to this committee: we have made a deliberate choice to repeal that Act because that Act did not deliver the fair outcomes we wanted. It did not deliver that because it gave over $400 million to the top 10 percent of earners. On this side of the House we're proud to have put up a bill and a piece—The CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): I'm sorry to interrupt the honourable Minister—[Interruption] Order! I'm sorry to interrupt the honourable Minister. The committee is suspended until 9 a.m. tomorrow when we will resume. Pō mārie.Debate interrupted.Sitting suspended from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. (Friday)"