McLellan TraceyDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula): Thank you Madam Speaker. I feel very proud to stand in support to stand in support of this Budget Budget 2023. Why? Because it's clear that we are focused on the issues that matter to most New Zealanders.We're supporting people with the cost of living we're delivering on the services that people rely on and we're doing so in a fiscally sustainable way which is important. How were we able to do this? The Hon Gerry Brownlee touched on this earlier: under the leadership of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins we have had a significant reprioritisation and savings have been made. That's allowed us to reinvest in helping to ease the cost of living pressures; it's helped us to reinvest back into health back into education and housing; and to boost our infrastructure including the immediate needs of the cyclone-affected areas.But the particular initiative that I wanted to speak to today was the $5 prescription charge because for some people it's an insurmountable barrier. This initiative is not just about the cost. Universalism—having universal free access—actually removes a variety of barriers. What we know is that people go without their medicines their health problems get worse; some of them even end up in hospital. That's bad for them and it's also bad for our health system.You don't have to take my word for it. Andrew Gaudin who's the CEO of the Pharmacy Guild said Removing the prescription charge is an investment in New Zealanders' health and the wider health system." He goes on to say "It means more New Zealanders will get the medicines they need and help keep them out of hospital. This means there will be less pressure on the health system and will result in savings for taxpayers."I also want to give a shout-out to Des Bailey a constituent of mine in Banks Peninsula who's the president of the Pharmacy Guild who has done a fantastic job of advocating about this issue—although his pharmacy is actually in the Selwyn Street shops which is technically in Wigram but we love Wigram too. He has made sure that this is an issue that has been to the forefront of many of our concerns.This initiative is also a genuine two-for in so far as removing the $5 charge also levels the playing field for many of those community pharmacies who are small businesses. These are professionals who know the people in their community. They're used to managing the medication and the needs and they need to thrive and do what they do best in our communities and I'm proud that we are supporting them. In fact a constituent of mine—a good friend Paul McMahon—texted me on Thursday to say that he was in his local Woolston pharmacy. The pharmacist was "over the moon" and said that customers were talking about it while he was there.But the scary thing is this win might be short-lived should National reach Government—heavens forbid. Because the National Party have explicitly promised to bring it back; they've explicitly promised to put up all those barriers.What we know is that for every dollar that's forgone in prescription charge co-payment we actually save $18 in health costs down the line. So they've done their special maths. Nicola Willis has got out a calculator—probably borrowed Paul Goldsmith's calculator. They've done their very special brand of adding things up and they've calculated that saving $18 by spending $1 simply isn't worth it. Keeping people out of hospital apparently isn't worth it. Making sure that women don't have to pay for contraception apparently isn't worth it—praise be!The other phrase that really hit a nerve today was "Those who can pay should pay." That quote alone should send shivers down the spine of all New Zealanders who treasure our publicly funded health system. It's a sad state of affairs but we shouldn't be surprised. The "coalition of cuts" over there have already said they'll cut super—yes we know that they can't afford their tax cuts without cutting other services. Will that be police? Will it be nurses? Will it be teachers? Who knows? They haven't put their plan in front of people.About the only thing that National have yet to say that they won't cut is this $420 million policy to make Apprenticeship Boost permanent. Let's see how long that lasts having just listened to Gerry Brownlee bag it while Nicola Willis was supporting it earlier on. Who knows?I want to commend the Hon Grant Robertson for this Budget. It's his sixth Budget—his fifth Wellbeing Budget—and he's done a fantastic job. This Government has done what good Governments do and we've leaned in and we've looked to look after people when they need it most.I think that's something that we can all be very proud of and I know that everybody on this side of the House is—hence the fact they've been going out around their electorates and talking to people and finding out what really matters most to people as they do so. So I have no hesitation to commend this Budget and I do so gladly. Thank you."