Radhakrishnan PriyancaPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. Today is the 11th consecutive day that we've had no new cases of COVID-19 here in Aotearoa. There is just one active case remaining and no one in hospital receiving treatment for this virus. The Government has taken decisive action over the last few months. It's been an absolute privilege to see that up front and to be able to support that. But equally as the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern has often said we as a team of 5 million here in New Zealand have also taken collective action collective effort which has meant that we've saved lives and we're in a good position now to have a chance of eliminating COVID-19.I too just want to pause for a second—as the previous speaker Andrew Falloon did—to acknowledge the sacrifices that many have made whether it's those who have stayed home during the higher alert levels or those who were at the various front lines that we've seen across New Zealand helping to contain initially and then to stamp out the virus as well. I also want to acknowledge that it's been an incredibly turbulent time for many. Those who have lost their jobs those for whom their futures are uncertain as a result of the virus and those who have seen the loss of lives in their families and amongst their friends as well—I just want to acknowledge that in my contribution here.It's in the midst of this pandemic the midst of this turbulence and uncertainty that Budget 2020 was delivered and that's what the focus was on. So it's a little surprising when the member who resumed his seat just now talks about the fact that there was an absence of job creation and protection in the Budget because that's exactly what Budget 2020 was all about. It was about ensuring that those people who were on the front lines those people—New Zealanders who stayed at home—can actually have their jobs protected. That's what the wage subsidy scheme was about.We went hard and we went early. We've heard that a few times but what does that mean? It means that just on 20 March when we had eight cases and jumped 28 we closed the borders because that was a significant risk to the spread of COVID in New Zealand. That was—and I acknowledge we've heard this word many times—unprecedented because we've never done that in the history of New Zealand. It was a strong measure but it was needed. We progressed up alert levels to lockdown and I watched as the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Health communicated clearly what was expected to people as well. I saw the Government was agile in terms of considering feedback and acting on it as well.The Government's initial economic response package which included the wage subsidy scheme that we've seen extended in Budget 2020 was one of the earliest in the world and one of the largest compared to the size of our economy. The focus there was on ensuring that we got money to employers so that they could maintain that connection to their employees; so that when we went back to some semblance of normalcy people had their jobs; so that businesses had their workers and that workers were able to put food on their tables. The focus there was on getting money quickly into their pockets and ensuring that there was support for them to pay their bills because this is a Government that believes that everyone has the right to live with dignity.The Government's plan of which Budget 2020 was a part was to respond to recover and to rebuild together—and to rebuild better. I'm paraphrasing here a little bit but as the finance Minister said as he introduced the Budget If your house had burnt down would you just rebuild it exactly the same or would you use that as an opportunity to look at the changes that you could have made and to do it in a way that's better?" And that's what this Budget does. There will be job losses though. That has always been acknowledged. It has also always been acknowledged on this side of the House that the Government will continue to do everything that we can to support businesses and families.I heard the new leader of the National Party ask the Prime Minister at question time today about five six seven times the same question about whether their one policy that they have announced recently will be incorporated into the Government's programme. But that one policy with all due respect is not a plan. A plan for small business—Kiritapu Allan: It's two pages!PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: It's two pages? Still not a plan Kiritapu Allan. But a plan is what this Government has done. To support our small businesses the plan that we had as part of Budget 2020 was a targeted extension of the wage subsidy scheme to protect jobs incomes in businesses that were in the hardest-hit areas; the income relief payment for those who have lost their job since 1 March because of COVID-19; the investment specifically to support our tourism industry; interest-free loans for small businesses and to date about 55000 small businesses have applied and about 95 percent of those have been approved for loans as well; supporting small businesses to grow digitally via e-commerce. I just want to point to the fact that Manaaki—which is a platform for small businesses in mentoring specifically for small businesses—conducted a survey and I was really interested to note that the one thing that they pointed to that would make a huge difference for our small businesses was actually e-commerce and being able to project themselves in a digital world. Of course once again the pandemic has shown us how things are changing in the way that we do things and the importance of being able to connect digitally as well.Practical assistance to help our exporters to seize international growth opportunities which is an area I'm also particularly interested in—that's a $216 million package that actually looks at how we can transform trade. That goes back to the point that I made previously in terms of how this Government is focusing on doing things better and doing things together with those who are at the forefront. This particular investment in terms of trade will significantly increase the number of exporters that receive quite an intense form of support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) tailored support that allows them to develop their capability and to connect with overseas markets and global partners both for those who want to expand those connections and also for those who are venturing into that space of export. We all know that trade for us as a trade-reliant nation is incredibly important.The other interesting bit that I wanted to focus on as part of that package was a very practical boots-on-the-ground approach that NZTE will be able to take and grow through this investment as well. So what they're able to do is to grow their team of in-market business development managers to provide that support to New Zealand exporters at a time when travel is particularly problematic. This investment in their capability growth means that we are able to have in-market teams that can work with our businesses here to meet customers to vet new employees to select distributors all without our businesses having to travel—which of course is quite difficult at this point in time. This of course sits alongside a whole suite of initiatives that have been announced earlier as well to support our small and medium enterprise sector.Job creation—very quickly; I'm running out of time. The Government's plan of course is to work alongside the private sector specifically in areas of housing and infrastructure investment so that we look at where we've got the need what we've got to do and how we create jobs in order to deliver those which I think is absolutely brilliant.I want to use the remaining time that I have to point to the fact that it's not just about economic support which of course at this particular time is critical as we all know but so is supporting our communities and through this Budget we've seen a $79 million boost to social service providers $36 million in grants for community groups and $22 million for the family violence sector. As someone who has worked in that sector for most of my life I was incredibly thrilled to see that this is part of an ongoing package of support in every Budget to boost that sector and ensure that we close the gaps and we have an integrated system so that people don't fall through the cracks and become victims.Finally adult community education funding—very quickly. The previous Government cut that which then meant that some of our lowest-paid families could not access the community education that they needed. It also specifically affected new migrants for whom it was a place they went to combat social isolation and make their own support networks. We reinstated that through our Budget and I'm incredibly pleased to see that.All said and done I am incredibly privileged to support a Government that is so focused on rebuilding our community and our economy with the wellbeing and enhancing the mana of our people at the centre of all it does. Thank you."