Meager JamesJAMES MEAGER (National—Rangitata): Well if that was the future ticket of the once-great Labour Party this country really is in trouble. What a sad sad day for the once-great party of the workers; the great socialist party who fought for decades and decades for workers' rights and are about to vote against tax relief for working New Zealanders for the first time in 14 yearsIf that there is the future of the Labour Party I think we've got a lot more to worry about than Rachel Brooking's dodo ticket that she held up. Well I know what Chris Hipkins is getting for Christmas: he's getting that dodo ticket because after they vote against this Budget—after they vote against tax cuts for working New Zealanders—his leadership will be dead as a dodo as will the Labour Party. Bring on the resurgence of the great Te Pāti Māori bring on the Green Party. They're nipping at their heels. They know that they are now competing to be the great party for the workers as are the parties on this side of the House because it is the parties of this coalition Government that are delivering tax relief for working New Zealanders across the country.A great man once said it is a great day for Mount Roskill. Well it is today a great day for Mount Roskill it's a great day for Banks Peninsula it's a great day for Kaikōura it's a great day for the people and the giraffes in Ilam. It's even a great day for Wairarapa and for Mount Albert and for Manurewa. Because finally after 14 years the people of this country—working New Zealanders—are getting tax relief under a Budget which will pass imminently with support of this coalition Government.So can I say to the inspirational Minister Nicola Willis who is shepherd of this Budget through: congratulations Minister what an excellent Budget that she has delivered for New Zealanders. We campaigned on a Budget which would deliver tax relief to working New Zealanders; New Zealanders like those in my electorate in mid-Canterbury and South Canterbury who get up every single day and go to work in the supermarkets and the freezing works and the pack houses and driving trucks and working in mines—yes the dirty m" word: the miners which were of course Blackball home of the Labour Party—long once remembered lost and forgotten. The workers in New Plymouth who get up every morning to work on the rigs out there to deliver economic growth to this country. They are the ones that are going to be receiving tax relief under this coalition Government and under this Budget.If I talk about those great constituents in Rangitata and share with you a few home truths. About those great constituents in Rangitata and share with you a few home truths because of course ⅕ of those working in Rangitata list their occupation as a labourer; 16 percent work in the manufacturing sector; and then we've got the hundreds and hundreds—if not thousands—of people who work in our agricultural sector who work tirelessly every day to serve our community; serve our economy; serve our regions; and keep this economy going.Finally they are getting the tax relief that they deserve. They work hard. They work hard to put food on the table for their families. They work hard for their communities. They deserve to keep more of what they earn and I'm looking forward to the final speaker of the Labour Party joining this side of the House crossing the floor voting for tax relief for working New Zealanders which is long since overdue.Can I just once again acknowledge Minister Nicola Willis on this excellent Budget? She has been faced with fiscal cliff after fiscal cliff and she has climbed the fiscal mountain. Much like Tenzing and Hillary she's ascended to the top—triumphant—with this Budget. But she knows as we know the job is not done; the job is not over. There is much much more to be done. There is the descent down the other side. There are some storm clouds on the horizon as we find more and more about what has been left with us—big red dogs of fiscal cliffs in the health budget in the education budget.I point to one in my electorate at Ashburton College: underfunded for their rebuild by $23 million; promised a three-stage rebuild cut off at the knees in November—just after the election actually. Just after election day the Government comes out and says "We can't fund your build anymore. Oops sorry. We'll have to leave it to the next guys." Well Minister Stanford with her education budget isn't leaving it to chance. She is doing a full review of the property portfolio and she is making sure that the rebuilds that are needed in our schools around our communities are fit for purpose are not gold-plated and are exactly what is needed to protect and enhance the future of our country.So I want to go back to our hard-working members of the Rangatata electorate. Because the other one you might not know is that we are ranked number one in the country for share of workers who work between 50 and 59 hours a week—50 and 59 hours a week they are ranked number one. They are the hardest-working by definition people in this country and it is about time they get the tax relief that they deserve.Now I want to point to a couple of specific initiatives in the Budget that have been very very beneficial for our electorate down in Rangitata. I want to point out to Mr McAnulty who talked about funding for flood resiliency and stopbanks. Well actually Mr McAnulty there was $200 million set aside in the Budget under the Regional Infrastructure Fund. Maybe he needs to whirl up his own fact-check machine but I don't think there's enough solar-powered panels in the world to actually power that machine given what come across the aisle.So I'd just like to point out to Mr McAnulty that in that Regional Infrastructure Fund we have funded in Rangitata stage two of the Rangitata Flood and Resilience Works; there is of course the regional structure upgrade and adaptation programme up in Canterbury; and then the long-awaited Waitarakao Washdyke and Seadown Flood Works to protect the productive land the industry the lagoons the wetlands that are inland from Seadown in South Canterbury. And that is all thanks to funding in this Budget.Can I also move on and talk about our approach to delivering services locally? Because in this Budget we also see that local catchment groups will be receiving funding—additional funding—and I'm very proud to see that in Budget 2024 $950000 is going to be given over four years to the Ōtūwharekai Ashburton Lakes catchment group. That fits incredibly well with this Government's approach that services are best delivered by those who are at the coalface who know what's fit for their community that we are about local solutions to local problems. So we are going to be supporting and funding groups like the Ōtūwharekai Ashburton Lakes catchment group to deliver the change that we need to better protect and enhance our environmental systems in balance—in balance—with the need to continue to grow our economy and put food on the table so that we continue to thrive and prosper as a country and as an economy.The other thing that our electorate is very hot on is potholes. If you've ever driven along State Highway 1 between Christchurch and let's say Dunedin—Miles Anderson—very very long road between south of Timaru and Dunedin you'll see the roads are littered with potholes. Potholes and cones. Can I congratulate Minister Simeon Brown for his excellent initiative in taking to the streets and taking on those road cones one by one; knocking them over; kicking them down; grinding them up—grinding them up—reusing reducing recycling; using them to fill the potholes in the road. Whatever we can to find to fill those potholes we will be doing it. Very very glad to see the initiative of 24-hour pothole recovery programmes being put in place.Of course we've got a 51 percent increase in funding for State highway pothole prevention and an extra $186 million for pothole prevention in Canterbury. I'm very certain that on those long cold lonely midwinter drives between Dunedin and Christchurch Miles Anderson and I will be very glad to see fewer road cones on the road more holes being filled and that's all thanks to the stewardship of the Hon Simeon Brown and this Budget.It would be remiss to get up and talk about roading and potholes and infrastructure and Government Policy Statements and Budgets without talking about the second Ashburton bridge. Of course the long-awaited second Ashburton bridge which was signalled in the draft policy statement on transport—well signalled by the Minister—we have committed to funding and building that bridge and we will be in there in our high-vises with our shovels with our very sensible reasonable balanced road safety management plans and a few traffic cones here and there pulling gravel out of the rivers putting the piles in the ground and getting that bridge connecting Tinwald to the rest of Ashburton. There is a lot more to be said in this Budget and it would be remiss of me as the chair of the Justice Committee not to touch on some of the excellent law and order initiatives. One I want to focus on was an initiative driven by our coalition partners and that's the initiative to deliver 500 more police on our roads. I congratulate Minister Casey Costello for driving that new recruitment. Members opposite have been asking where are they going to recruit these police from? What are we going to do? Well in 2026 I can see a few job vacancies up for grabs on the other side of the road so get your applications in. We take all ages all stages. You don't even need your full driver's licence anymore. So sign on up make sure you fulfil the commitment to serve your community.Because we are committed to restoring law and order in this country; we are committed to keeping New Zealanders safe; we are committed to investing not only to prevent crime from happening now but to prevent it from happening in 15 years' time. That is why I'm very very proud to see that Nicola Willis is taking her social investment approach to this Budget taking a lens on what are the drivers of crime.I think we're actually all agreed on this approach: that the number one way we are going to reduce crime over the long term is to invest in what causes crime invest in our health invest in our education making sure that where programmes do not work we throw them by the wayside and we invest in things that actually do deliver outcomes for young New Zealanders. Because if we want to be having this conversation in 20 years' time about how to stop ram raids about how to keep our young people out of prisons about how to reduce refining rates we must start now; we must be investing now—and that is what the social investment approach is all about.So if anything the members of the Opposition can do: if they can support one thing in this Budget I would implore them to support the social investment approach. It is about identifying what works and what will deliver outcomes for our communities for our young people into the future.In this final word I would like to commend this Budget and I'd like to wish the parliamentarian rugby team all the best of luck this week as we face off against Rene Ranger up in Russell."