Webb DuncanDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Kia ora Madam Speaker. Thank you for that. Can I just say what a real pleasure it is to stand up here and have the opportunity to reflect on the Prime Minister's statement and I would commend anyone to give it a really good read not only because of the plan that it sets out but because of the values which underpin it. It's that consistency of values and of approach which has stood us in such good stead—the idea that we put people first and that the wellbeing of our people across the board is the primary objective of the Government—and the Prime Minister in her speech and in the statement that's on the Table makes that abundantly clear.It's always troubling to me when I hear other politicians in other parties say Turn the spending taps off. It's all going to go terribly wrong." and have these cries that come from decades ago cries for austerity in a time of need. I think it's absolutely right that we should be looking now at the really significant challenges that face us—the climate challenges the health challenges the infrastructure challenges—and investing now because it's prudent to do so. Now we know that debt is rising but debt should rise. When your children are sick or when your roof is leaking you do not stop spending. You fix what needs to be fixed so that you're strong and resilient for the future and that's what we have ahead of us.If we look at what we're doing—the focus on health for example—we inherited a health system where there had been no capital spending for years—Hon David Bennett: Oh that's rubbish. What a lie.Dr DUNCAN WEBB: —and where DHBs had been underfunded year on year. Well it's—Kieran McAnulty: Point of order Madam Speaker. I'm very sorry and I apologise to my friend and colleague Duncan Webb but there is one word that you cannot accuse a member in this House of being. The Hon David Bennett just used that word and I will use it if I have to but I think he should apologise. He cannot accuse another member of being that.Hon Todd McClay: He didn't. He said it was rubbish.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): He also said—and I heard it—that those are lies. So I will ask the Hon David Bennett to apologise.Hon David Bennett: I withdraw and apologise but note that the Waikato District Health Board was rebuilt under the National Government.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): I will ask the Hon David Bennett to withdraw and apologise and leave it at that.Hon David Bennett: I withdraw and apologise.Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Thank you Madam Speaker. The point being of course that the time for genuine investment in health is here and it's now and the health restructure ahead of us is of pivotal importance so that we have an equitable and efficient health system not the rundown broken and underfunded health system of prior years.The Māori Health Authority—Todd Muller: What nonsense.Dr DUNCAN WEBB: —is a huge leap forward and you Mr Muller may call it rubbish but they're inequities that have been systemic. [Interruption] You can chip away Mr Bennett but only the other day I was reading on an entirely different topic Kemp's Deed and do you know what that is? That's when Ngāi Tahu had 13 million acres wrested from them on a promise of reserves being set aside and what's more hospitals and schools being built. They got a trivial 6000 acres in reserves and what did they get in terms of hospitals? Nothing and that party over there would now chip away and say that we shouldn't address the systemic inequities of years that the Crown and the Government year in year out have failed to address. So come to the table and come and be constructive. Where is the proposition? Yes you're in Opposition. You're going to be in Opposition for a long time if you take that attitude.What's more we need to invest in our climate infrastructure as well. Year in year out we've had the Opposition saying "Not now it's too early. It would cost too much. Industry can't manage it." but we know that if we take that approach not only will it get harder but the catastrophe will be larger and that's what we are going to address. So we've got a $4.5 billion fund from the emissions trading scheme—a scheme that they put on hold—whilst we had to reinvigorate and redesign in the last term of Government so that can actually spend the money we need to get to a low-emission economy and also address the adaptation issues.Maureen Pugh: Stop burning coal then.Dr DUNCAN WEBB: You would do nothing Maureen Pugh. We know your views on all kinds of things. You'd be building new mines on the West Coast for a couple of votes. Well good luck to that.We're here for a low-emissions economy one which has clean energy and absolutely investing in the New Zealand Battery Project. The idea that we're going to be innovative and try things and do things that that party on the other side never dreamt of doing. Absolutely our Minister of energy is going to make all kinds of explorations because it's the right thing to do.Look I'm going to also talk about housing. We know there's a housing crisis but I want to tell you the things not only that we've done and there are many but all the things that we are also going to do of which there are many. Do you know what? We are making real progress. A housing crisis that was nine years in the making and we've turned the corner. Only today—only today—figures have come out to show that not only have prices stabilised but there's been a small drop in prices across the country and that is indicative of the progress that we have made.How many houses did that lot build when they were in Government? Well they sold some but I don't think they built any. This Government in the four years it's been here has built 8000 new houses. We have turned the Housing Corporation into a renter a property developer and a responsible landlord—2400 in the last year and do you know what? The Prime Minister said in her statement that we would have 2000 more built in the next year. We will absolutely address these issues.Forty thousand building consents were issued in the last year. For the first time in a long time we're building more houses than there are people needing them. The Resource Management Act (RMA) fast-tracking legislation is being able to open up whole new developments so that we can have more housing development and of course the RMA reforms—the Natural and Built Environments Bill—is going to progress that. I give the party on the other side credit because they have come to the table and talked about housing intensification and that's a good thing because we need neighbourhoods which are compact walkable livable and effective. So good on you for that. There's one little feather you can have in your cap there.Building Act reforms: Poto Williams has pushed those Building Act reforms for new and innovative building materials. The Māori infrastructure fund so that Māori can build papa kāinga houses and a whole lot are on track there—thousands of houses there.Progressive homeownership for people who might not otherwise be able to get together a deposit for a house. The ability to get into an ownership situation where you own a little bit of the house at the time and there are up to 4000 people who will be able to own their own homes when they wouldn't have previously been able to.Warmer homes the idea that we need to go and make houses not only livable and warm but healthy as well and our Residential Tenancies Act reforms and Healthy Homes reforms as well—awesome. On top of that there's $3.8 billion set aside for infrastructure funding so that we can unlock the potential of areas of land to make new strong communities with housing for everyone.This is a Government that doesn't sit on its hands and say that the problem is difficult. It is difficult but we will try everything we can because we know what's good for New Zealand. This is a wellness approach. It's an approach which puts equity first as well to make sure that everyone across the board is looked after.So this is a Government which cares and which tries. I must say listening to Michael Wood's speech was really good because I was really proud of his approach to the Auckland light rail seeing it not just as a big money spend but something which was about communities and also something that was part of a wider plan a plan that wasn't just transport—transport across the whole of Auckland to North Auckland and West Auckland as well—but also something which was about linking communities together and unlocking the potential of that great city that is Auckland. Of course I was very excited to hear him talk about the Christchurch light rail as well. I know there are a lot of proposals there and I'll be talking with him about that in the not too distant future.But on top of that whilst we've been doing all this and whilst we've got low unemployment and whilst we've got one of the strongest economies in the world we've raised incomes. We've raised incomes for those that need it most. So the benefits have been raised across the board: 109000 families our most needy families now have $175 a week more or at least they will on 1 April. That's a huge amount for a lot of people and one of the net effects of that and a whole range of other initiatives is 43000 children who have been lifted out of poverty—43000 children. We are making real progress on child poverty. When the National Government was in place it went backwards it went behind—200000 students receiving school lunches.I'm so proud to stand up here and talk about what we've done what we're going to do the values that underpin it and the approach taken by the Prime Minister. Kia ora Madam Speaker."