Bridges SimonHon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga): You know it's been a relatively amusing debate I have to say. Grant Robertson gave a good speech; Chris Luxon's was better I have to say. But I would reflect on this: while Grant Robertson is over there sitting in comfy class" I think over the next year or two he's going to start getting very very uncomfortable as interest rates and inflation start prodding him in that seat and he starts actually hearing about the real pain that New Zealanders are going under.He's also going to be grumpy and I'll tell you why. That's because under Chris Luxon's fresh clear resolute leadership we're going to be resolutely focused on the economy and what matters to New Zealanders. Because we know on this side we're not complacent. We're not patting ourselves on the back while wage growth is 2.5 percent but inflation is 5 percent sending New Zealanders backwards. No. We understand what it takes and what you need to have a strong economy in this country.This austerity nonsense scare tactics from the finance Minister is just that: it's nonsense. We understand the importance of health of education of police. I'm delighted to be finance spokesperson for Christopher Luxon's refreshed New Zealand National Party. I know the value of health and education. I said in my maiden speech they are the meal tickets. They were the meal tickets for me; I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have had an education if it wasn't for the public system in this country. I want to acknowledge what an amazing job Starship Hospital has done for my son Harry in the last week or so.We get it. But the problem is while $70-odd billion is being pumped like steroids into this country by Grant Robertson—it may have been OK at the start may have had some COVID purposes at the start—right now it's at the point of ridiculous. Right now it's at the point of Grant Robertson over-cooking the Christmas turkey that is our economy. It's a burnt bird actually is what we've got right now. He is turning up the heat on that bird and poor old Adrian Orr. I haven't always been particularly kind about Adrian Orr. Poor old Adrian Orr—he's vigorously trying to turn it down. You know we've got fiscal and monetary policy going at each other because of the reckless wasteful spending by Grant Robertson that's coming to fruition in this country right now—wasteful spending which is leading not entirely but in large part to a good degree of inflation in this country making New Zealanders poorer and interest rate rises that Adrian Orr actually has to do because Grant Robertson's doing what he's doing. It's fiscal and monetary working against each other.I actually feel sorry for Adrian Orr given where we're at on these things. And if you don't believe me look the ANZ just today has said how overheated the New Zealand economy is and the spending from Grant Robertson is just going to make inflation worse and make the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) do much more work than it needs to do. The RBNZ have said that "The economy is working above its current potential." Well you wouldn't want that on a school report would you—"above its current potential". I wouldn't have thought so but that's what they say.Angie Warren-Clark: I would. I'd want that.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Inflation four point—well the member opposite is at above her current potential but we won't go there; that's just cruel. Inflation 4.9 percent wage growth 2.4 percent. That means New Zealanders right now under Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern are doing it tough. Look forget the Christmas turkey. Actually as I asked him today fruit and vegetables are up 9 percent this year right? That will bite at Christmas. Petrol's up I think I heard Chris Luxon say $90 a week; housing 30 percent.These are the components that with wage growth not nearly as high as it needs to be to combat that fuelling that injection of fiscal steroids that Grant Robertson's overdoing that burning of the turkey is making things worse that fuelling of Government spending. And of course it's not just inflation I made the point but it's the interest rates that are going to rise and rise and rise given what Grant Robertson is doing. That is hundreds of dollars a month for many New Zealanders for those Aucklanders. Not just Aucklanders; people in Tauranga people in Wellington people actually all over New Zealand now with hundreds of thousands of dollars of mortgage.New Zealand needs Chris Luxon's National Party so we've got a more productive country that invests not wastes and that's going to deal with inflation and interest rates and get them under control."