Edmonds BarbaraBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Faafetai tele lava lau afioga i le Fofoga Fetalai.I'm absolutely grateful to be able to stand and take a call on the second reading of this bill the Budget bill and that those dumb" comments have concluded from the previous member.This is the 14th Budget I've been involved in in some form or another. My observation of this Budget compared to those of others is this Budget has been set against some of the most challenging global and domestic environments any Budget has ever faced. The whole world is facing difficult times as COVID is causing significant supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine is exacerbating this.And yet despite these global settings when our books were opened the economic forecast showed a return to surplus in 2024/25. [Interruption] Yes ah—that's a five-year return to surplus post the most severe economic contraction I've ever experienced and we've ever experienced in our lifetime. That's one year faster than the return to surplus when the National Party managed the less-severe economic constrains under the global financial crisis—six years versus five years. So therefore I commend the Minister of Finance for balancing the books for balancing this Budget against what are severe economic pressures which are felt globally. Our strong economic management means we can invest in critical services and provide help for Kiwis who need it most while keeping a lid on debt.And how do we know whether this Budget will help? Well last week members of Labour Pasifika caucus members of the Māori caucus and members of our wider caucus went and spoke to people: people in our communities people on the ground people right throughout this country.Last Monday the 11-strong Labour Pasifika caucus started its post-Budget engagements in Takanini and Papakura. We spoke to community leaders and we spoke to them about how our cost of living package intends to ease the impacts on households such as excise duty and road-user charges cuts to be extended for another two months about half-price public transport extended and for community services card holders to be extended permanently. Around 2.1 million people will be eligible for the cost of living payment. As I said in the House two weeks ago that is the population of Auckland parts of Wellington and Christchurch: 2.1 million people.Then we move to Kelston Boys' High School and Kelston Girls' College because we needed to know what our rangatahi thought. We explained to them how this Budget will help keep record of their parents' histories through the Dawn Raids historical accounts with $13.7 million. We told them that we are supporting cadetship programmes $18 million for Pacific STEAM futures and $8 million for delivering employment and training services through Tupu Aotearoa.Enabling Māori and Pacific businesses and people to achieve their aspirations is a core component of our strategy for transitioning to a high-wage and low-emissions economy. With the Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash my colleague Shanan Halbert and Camilla Belich we visited in Manaaki at Indigo Studios in Grey Lynn and we met with a number of Māori and Pacific small-business owners. We discussed with them how the progressive procurement project will help to build Māori capability businesses to effectively participate in public sector procurement. That was so important to them because how can we reach Māori and small businesses if our procurement process—as one of the biggest spenders in this country the Government if we do not have rules to support that.I wanted to finish my contribution on something closer to home. The Pacific roadshow finished in Porirua on Monday with a post-Budget breakfast. We spoke to the Porirua community. The biggest highlight for me is a package to build up to 300 homes over the next 10 years for Pacific families in Eastern Porirua with an initial funding of $49 million. This will mean for Pacific people who have some of the highest rates of rheumatic fever in Porirua East that they will have warm dry homes which they will be able to own. That is the fundamental difference between this package and other packages. It means working together with our local iwi and again I echo the sentiments of our Minister before who thanked Ngāti Toa for their partnership with us.This Budget is about securing a future for all New Zealanders Māori and Pacific. I commend this bill to the House."