Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): This is a Budget that shows a Government that is failing to deliver—a Government that is failing to deliver on its own promises the promises it campaigned on and the commitments it made to New Zealanders. This is a Budget that shows a Government that is failing to deliver a plan for economic growth a Government that is failing to ensure that businesses make the investments needed to give Kiwis jobs rising incomes and certainty about their futures. This is a Budget that shows a Government that is failing to deliver lower living costs for everyday New Zealanders but a Budget that instead as its very first action has a Government passing an extra petrol tax for every single New Zealander. That shows the priorities of this Government. We've had a lot of talk from the other side of the House about what is in this Budget. I want to talk a little bit about what is not in this Budget because what is not in this Budget is any dedicated funding for Wellington transport. There is no dedicated funding to get Wellington moving because what's happened with the Labour-led Government with their friends the Greens is that for 18 months the Government has sat around talking about what might happen in Wellington's transport future. We were told to wait—Wait patiently something's coming. Something's coming." but nothing ever came. Instead what we had was the spectacle of having Minister Twyford outside our railway station saying that some time in the next decade the Government might like to do something around rapid mass transit—no commitment to whether that would be light rail no commitment to whether that would be trackless trams. Actually no decisions had been made. We had a Minister who when asked about the project that matters a lot to those of us who have to wait in traffic every weekend and every day in Wellington—when asked "Will you be doing something about the Mount Victoria Tunnel?" he said "Oh sometime this decade or maybe next. It just depends." Then when asked the question by me: "When you do duplicate that tunnel will cars be able to use it?" he said he wouldn't make a commitment to that at this stage. I'll tell you what people sitting on Cobham Drive trying to get into the city in the morning for work and mums and dads from Karori trying to take their kids to sport in Kilbirnie each weekend have a very clear message for Mr Twyford and that is to build another lane in the tunnel and let cars use it. There were no dedicated dollars for Wellington transport in this Budget nor was there a rescue package for the district health boards in deficit up and down this country. They've been told to struggle on. There was no funding beyond inflation adjustment for Pharmac so the people waiting for cancer drugs will continue to wait and continue to wait. In this Budget there was no tax relief for everyday New Zealanders. There was no desire from the Government to say "Actually you can keep a bit more of what you earn because we recognise you work really hard for it." There was nothing in this Budget to relieve pressure on rents because I'll tell you what here in Wellington we have experienced the absolute brunt of that. On 1 May 2018 under this Government's watch the median rent here in Wellington was $455. On 1 May 2019 what was the median rent? It was $510. That's a $55 increase in rent in a year under this Government and what is there in this Budget to address that? Absolutely nothing because we know that the Government is failing to deliver on its central policy KiwiBuild. "KiwiFail" means that New Zealanders who were promised that this Government would sort out housing for students who live in Wellington and who are looking for accommodation—"Oh it's all going to be sorted under Labour." They have had no delivery. In fact they've watched their rents climb and climb. New Zealanders looking for affordable housing are having ongoing struggles and this Budget has nothing to deliver on that. This is a Budget that has no funding for a number of the promises that Labour campaigned on and I want to take a moment here to talk about the area of early childhood education. New Zealanders know what they heard in the election campaign and they know what they hear from the Prime Minister and various Ministers. They know the rhetoric. The rhetoric is that this is a Government that cares about children. Well actually what we're seeing is that this is not a Government that cares about early childhood education. We have had confirmed at select committee last week that while the Government forecast spending a certain amount of money on early childhood education in the past year in fact it spent $75 million less than that—$75 million less went into early childhood services than the Government forecast it would put in. So then you say to yourself "OK well what would you do with that $75 million for early childhood education if you had that unexpected underspend?" Well surely the first thing the Government should have considered is delivering on the promises it made. I remember Mr Hipkins standing on the steps of Parliament standing outside the Beehive with a megaphone in his hands pledging to the New Zealand primary teachers and to the kindergarten teachers that he would ensure there was a new funding rate to provide 100 percent qualified teachers for every early childhood service in the country. He pledged that. He pledged it was a priority. Then he went on to pledge that smaller class sizes in early childhood services and smaller ratios of teachers to students was a priority and that it was something that Labour would deliver on. Now were either of those promises delivered in this Budget? Absolutely not—failure to deliver. What makes it worse of course is that people actually believed them. People believed that when they went out and made commitments and campaigned they would prioritise expenditure accordingly—Hon Tim Macindoe: They feel deceived. NICOLA WILLIS: —and they feel deceived. I have visited dozens and dozens of early childhood services across this country and what they tell me is that Labour is not delivering for them. Actually Labour had every opportunity to do so in this Budget because as I say there was a $75 million underspend in early childhood education (ECE) that could have been reallocated to priorities. It was not because Minister Hipkins failed to prioritise ECE. Actually the rich irony of it is—Hon Shane Jones: Rich—rich? It's an equity Budget not a rich Budget. NICOLA WILLIS: —that the reason the Government says that it wanted to have more teachers have this additional funding rate is that it wants more qualified teachers in services. Well under National in 2016—and you should listen to this Mr Jones because some of your colleagues could use a few tips—70 percent of people in early childhood services had qualifications. That number—you'd expect it would have gone up under Labour given the amount of campaigning that went on but actually no the proportion has reduced. It's now only 68 percent of people working in early childhood services having qualifications. It's an absolute failure to deliver. What's happened to the number of parents complaining about the quality of early childhood services? Well that's increased dramatically too because more people are concerned about the quality of care that their children are receiving more people are complaining. Standards in their eyes have dropped. So we have an absolute failure to deliver. The list of failures is huge but the one that I really want to emphasise and the one that concerns me most is the failure to deliver a plan for growth because New Zealanders are sensible people. They know that the Government doesn't have a money tree at the bottom of the garden that creates additional funds into the future so that a band-aid can be put on every problem. They know that the only Governments who can continue to deliver increasing services in health increasing services in education increased investment in infrastructure and all the things here that we in the National team want to see for New Zealanders—those things can only be sustained and delivered if you have an economy that is growing. What has actually happened to growth under this Government? Well it went from 3.7 percent down to 2.3 percent—so it essentially went from 4 percent to 2 percent. That is meaningful because it means that there is less money coming in that is able to be spent on the things that are a priority for New Zealanders. The problem in this Budget is there is a gaping hole where a plan for growth should be and in fact what there is is increasing levels of discontent from business—and Mr Jones if you're going to interject this would be the time because a lot of it comes down to you. There are a number—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! Don't bring me into the debate thank you. NICOLA WILLIS: Sorry not to you. Mr Jones would know because the businesses have spoken to him and they've spoken to the Prime Minister. They've said "We don't feel confident about investing under this Government." because one minute it's employment laws that are being added the next minute it's people being told that all the dairy sector does is whine and the next minute it's businesses being told that they're to blame for every problem. Well actually what New Zealanders understand is that the people who employ them the people who create jobs and the people who invest and who are able to pay bigger wages are businesses. We need them to be confident and we need them to be operating in an economy that is based on a growth plan and that is not here under this Government. So this is a Budget that fails to deliver on the core promises of the Government. It is a Budget that fails to deliver for Wellingtonians here in this city who are expecting things from this Government. It is fundamentally a Budget that fails to deliver a plan for economic growth and come 2020 New Zealanders will remember. You're running out of time. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): And don't bring me into the debate thank you very much."