Upston Louise; Rurawhe AdrianHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to take a call in the appropriation Estimates debate and of course this is about how the Government of the day chooses to spend taxpayers' money and they talk a big game. They've always talked about being a more kind and caring Government. But the reality is this Government—Labour the Greens and New Zealand First—are failing to deliver for hard-working New Zealanders. I think it's actually quite appalling because what they've done in a whole range of areas—whether it's in housing whether it's in child poverty whether it's in the wellbeing of Kiwi families—is they have actually you know built up these incredibly false hopes and unfortunately many Kiwi families now are starting to see the emptiness of those words. And whether it's KiwiBuild—and my colleagues I know have traversed this in detail so I don't intend to cover it much. But 100000 houses—that was a big promise and a promise that was made back in 2012.We've seen also in terms of families an increase—15500 more people on jobseeker benefit half a million hardship grants of which nearly 50 percent of those are for food. We've seen an increase—8000 more children living in benefit-dependent homes which we know means that they are having a much harder life than we on this side would like them to. The other side said No one should need to be accommodated in a motel". At the time that National introduced them Labour said they were appalling and they were disgusting. So what do we have? Three thousand people now living in motels. We've also had the Minister Phil Twyford say that no one needs to live in a car this winter. Well guess what! They're all living in motels and actually there are still people living on the streets and there are still people living in their cars.So Labour have absolutely failed to deliver on their promises. So actually you know the majority of people want to be able to look after themselves and their families. They want to be in work. They want to have a roof over their head and they want to be able to afford to put petrol in their car and food on the table. Unfortunately two years into this Government they've realised they can't be trusted. They've realised they cannot be believed because they are not delivering. So what is some of what's going on? Some of it of course is what we've seen in terms of the increase in the cost of living the fundamental basics around the increases in rent. It's pretty hard to escape an increasing rent. I heard unfortunately a story just recently where both a landlord and their tenant were begging not to have to get the extra insulation standards because they knew it was going to be an impact directly on rent. That was a landlord who didn't want to have to put the rent up and the tenant who didn't want to have their rent increased.So we've seen some very perverse results for families. Petrol; increase again in petrol tax. The Prime Minister says oh well she's appalled about the price of petrol right now. Well actually the Prime Minister tomorrow could reduce excise tax and relieve that burden for Kiwi households. In terms of the number of jobs we've also seen a significant reduction in the number of new jobs being created and that has a massive impact on people who want to be in work who can work who are able to work and can't. That's incredibly frustrating for them and frustrating for their children. Again if you think about the expectations and hopes that have been created there's 27000 New Zealanders between the age of 18 to 24 that are currently on the jobseeker benefit—18- to 24-year-olds. The Government have dreamed up this initiative called Mana in Mahi. That was originally for 4000 places. They kicked off with 124 and unfortunately a third of them dropped out in that first period of time. Now the Government's reduced that number to 2000 and that's over four years.So it's about building up all these great expectations only to have the Government of the day absolutely prick that bubble; it bursts and what are people left with? They're left with less hope and more frustration at a Government who said and promised they would look after them. Actually the most vulnerable New Zealanders are doing it pretty tough right now—and this is a Government that's supposedly kind and caring. So what are some of the things that were promised? Well there's a whole raft of them. The doctors visits were going to be $10 cheaper per doctor's visit. For those families where they have rare disorders there was going to be greater access to medicines for those rare disorders. Annual health checks for seniors; not delivered. There was going to be funding for early childhood education to have 100 percent qualified teachers; that's not there. All students were going to have access to digital devices; again not delivered. Increasing breast screening—that would be free up to the age of 74. There's a whole list of things that were not delivered that were promised and that's a hell of a lot of people that are now feeling ripped off by this Government because they have failed to deliver in so many different ways.I do want to acknowledge the Government though for a couple of things because they've seen sense in a number of National initiatives that they have continued to fund whether it's the transition support service for young people in care He Poutama Rangatahi—which is for young people who are not in education employment or training—the Integrated Safety Response work for family violence Housing First for those who are homeless. So I am pleased that all of those National initiatives the Government has continued to fund. But there's no secure funding for KidsCan and KidsCan as we know have provided critical food for thousands of children across New Zealand. But no; that funding wasn't delivered for a four-year period.A lot of people say "Well you know if this was National's Budget what would have been in it?" Well I can tell you what would have been in it; National would have continued to make sure through its Better Public Services targets that the focus on Government agencies and taxpayer spending is on the things that matter—whether it's reducing welfare dependency because we know the number of children who live in benefit-dependent homes have the poorest outcomes over their lifetime; child hospitalisations; child harm and abuse would be minimized; crime victimisations were counted; the waiting times for social housing had targets; reoffending rates. These are the things that New Zealanders say matter to them and yet not one of those things the Government is now measuring. If you look at health for example not only do they not measure it but they don't report on it. As we've seen with the measles outbreak the very people—the very children—that the Government of the day should be protecting the most are being let down and that's appalling. This Government is failing to deliver for the most vulnerable New Zealanders. Now National recognises through its social investment work that actually you've got to change lives often individual by individual whānau by whānau and you've got to deal with the cause not the symptom. This side of the House is not interested in servicing misery. Our side of the House believes absolutely in the ability of New Zealanders to deal with the challenges that they are thrown in life. We do firmly believe that when people experience times of difficulty they do expect others and the State to help to give them a hand up. But the important thing is we also recognise the need and responsibility of those people to work with the Government to help themselves to get back up on their own two feet as well and that those who can work should and that is because fundamentally we have a belief in New Zealanders' ability to rise up. Unfortunately the other side of the House has talked a big game in terms of people's wellbeing and talked about being kind and caring and over the last weeks and months we've seen absolutely the opposite: big talk small results very little action lots of working groups and at the end of the day some of their policies hurting the most vulnerable New Zealanders the most. Child poverty numbers are going up suicide rates have gone up homelessness has gone up the number of people on benefit and jobless has gone up—these are statistics and results that I don't think the Government should be proud of and it's fascinating that they are silent on these matters because unfortunately they know. They know that they have failed to deliver to the most vulnerable in our communities and it's a shame. National believes in the opportunity for people to get ahead. Our social investment approach to change lives and actually improve outcomes for every New Zealander—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! This is a split call. I call David Seymour—five minutes."