Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): For those people who watched the Epidemic Response Committee when the member who resumed his seat the Hon Willie Jackson came before us I said to him—I meant it then and I mean it now—his job is the most important job in the Government because as we know—as the forecasts are showing—300000 New Zealanders will lose their jobs.So what the public of New Zealand want to see in the Budget 2020 is the plan and the detail for how this Government intends to get those 300000 New Zealanders back into work. So where's the detail? Where is the plan and where is the detail? Well let's just crunch a few numbers because there's a bit of a track record and I'm pleased that another member of Parliament is in the House because I want to just start with some figures from the Provincial Growth Fund because I'm sad to say that there are some communities around the country—and as our leader Todd Muller has said the economy is actually our communities. It's the shop that you go to for your bread; it is the shop you go to for your groceries for your fruit and veggies; where you get your petrol and the staff that work there. It is not some thing" out there somewhere. The economy is about communities and it's about people. So when communities that I represent have big expectations around the Provincial Growth Fund or the Crown infrastructure projects it's a bit of a stark reality when the reality is—of the multiple announcements in the Provincial Growth Fund I think it was $2.6 billion as of October last year that had been announced—$330-something million delivered in terms of cash out the door. So if you're a business—and I started my first one at 19—if you have a business you are sitting there today worried about how you're going to pay your bills and staff costs are not your only bills. So yep the wage subsidy's fantastic. That is absolutely fantastic. But if a business wants to keep the doors open and as I look around the room hopefully those members opposite have been visiting their local businesses looking them in the eye and saying "Yes we're giving the wage subsidy but no other support to your business." So back to the Provincial Growth Fund: how many jobs had the Provincial Growth Fund created—because at the end of the day that was all it was about right? All about jobs in regional New Zealand and I'm proud to be a representative of a rural electorate. How many jobs? Any guesses? Hon Member: A thousand?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Oh a bit more: 1900 jobs and 1000 of those were part-time.Hon Member: How many in Wellington?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Quite a few. Quite a few bureaucrats. But of the $2.6 billion—1900 jobs. Now I'm not sure that that actually represents good value for money in terms of taxpayer spend. But you know roll forward. Let's have a look at some of the announcements that have been made in the Budget because the Provincial Growth Fund jobs are actually 550 grand per job. If that was your business you would not be spending $550000 for a job. But let's just look at the figures because it's a bit confusing. If we look at the redeployment plan: $100 million—sorry I can't call it a plan; I can call it an announcement—$100 million. One of the written questions that I did get from that Minister which was helpful was the number of jobs full-time and part-time. If you think $28 million of it actually went to one electorate rather than anywhere else around the country so that was—Hon Member: Which electorate?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Tai Rāwhiti?Hon Members: No. We're not going to help you with it.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: No no. Well it was one. It was one electorate.Hon Member: One?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Yep. So $100 million and for those jobs it was $3100 per job. But bad news if you're in the tourism industry $400 million was the Budget announcement in this Budget 2020 for an industry where in my electorate alone one-third of the workers are in tourism. So a $400 million Budget announcement by the Minister of Tourism who couldn't even define couldn't explain on the Epidemic Response Committee what tourism even was. That's 400000 jobs they're trying to save there. So that's actually only a dollar a job. So I'm sorry but if you're in the tourism industry they don't value your jobs very much. But in the green jobs the Budget announcement there was worth $100000 per job. They actually did the detail of where those jobs were going to be which was helpful—11000 jobs. But my point is the reality is every job lost is a family who struggles and a family who struggles to put food on the table and pay for the roof over their head. So I actually think they deserve a bit more detail from this Government in terms of what actually is going to happen on the ground. But what have we got: zero detail. Zero detail: $150 million that's going to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). But actually what have they been spending the last lot of money on—that was meant to be for work-focused case managers? Oh well actually the number of employment engagements—put it this way: if you were a newly employed person you would hope that you could turn to MSD and get support. Yep they'll help you get a hardship grant which you'll need that's great. But actually what you need more is a job. You need a job to be able to provide an income for your family. So Willie Jackson where is the detail? Where is the plan? Where are the jobs? How many jobs in my electorate are you saving? How many jobs in Rangitata are you saving? How many jobs in Waikato are you saving? No answer. So there's this grand figure. We're going to have—Hon Willie Jackson: Infrastructure.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Oh infrastructure—that's the answer. How many jobs? How many jobs? How many jobs in infrastructure? Are you going to reinstate the road that you cancelled—the road of national significance—the Waikato Expressway extension that both Mr van de Molen and I are championing which is the Cambridge extension through to Piarere. That would bring a few jobs to our electorate. It'd be great to see that commitment from the Government because actually then you could see exactly how many jobs what area who was going to benefit. But no I suspect this Government is going to string people along with big numbers and no detail. Well at the end of the day when you talk about big numbers most people still have a household budget. The Government's Budget admittedly has a few more dollars on the end but you still need to be accountable for how that money is spent because after all it is the income and the tax off that family that pays for everything in the Budget. So any time someone says "Oh the Government was so generous with this." well no actually taxpayers were because taxpayers earned it paid for it and then if you're in need of support you will absolutely get it back. So what do we see? You know a $50 billion response to COVID. Well you know I'd actually want to know where every one of those billions is being spent. Oh but no we're told $20 billion is just you know a figure out there with no detail. Well if there's no detail surely it's not being spent because there's no plan for how to spend it. And the reality is if you have a budget at home you don't just say "Oh well I've got a bucket of money over there and I don't have a plan for it." That's absolutely ridiculous. And I think the Government owes it to New Zealanders some of whom are desperately afraid of losing their job. They want to know the Government has got this handled and they have a plan and they have detail for every single job. And if they think it comes at $550000 per job they'll be pretty concerned. Oh but as I said if they're in tourism it's only a dollar. As I said before there is still no support for the actual costs a business has to keep its doors open. When I visit the local businesses that's what they want. They want cash support. They want it now because yes the wage subsidy covers some of their employees' costs—not all of them—and they want the confidence to know this Government has a plan. And no one's answered it no one's provided it—not the Prime Minister not the Minister of Finance—and unfortunately the person who I said I thought had the most important job in this recovery the Minister of Employment Willie Jackson has absolutely no detail has no information no idea and no plan. The problem is what New Zealand needs right now is a Government who understands business who understands the economy is about local businesses and local jobs so that individuals have a job and can keep a roof over their own head and food on the table—because that's what they're worried about right now.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): The next call's a split call. I call Jamie Strange."