McAnulty KieranHon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much. You might think that if it was so wonderful the Government members would like to use the entire time available to them—Hon Member: Especially the chair.Hon KIERAN McANULTY: —especially the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I would have thought that he of all of them given how rowdy they were today during the Budget speech here in the very first bill that arises from that Budget would actually spend the time available to talk about how good it was. I think the reason that they haven't is because deep down they know it's actually not that great and deep down they know that it actually doesn't deliver what they promised. This bill doesn't meet up to the promises that the Government has made. They clearly don't know the numbers because Stuart Smith has just yelled out some numbers as part of his two-minute speech that were inaccurate. They weren't right. They did not match what the finance Minister said. When you've got the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee who doesn't actually know what's in the bill standing up and saying the numbers—I think that says a lot.At the end of the day this bill takes away from New Zealanders. Because if we just actually dive into the detail the question has to be asked: what cost is coming with the tax cuts this bill is bringing? For the many many people in this country that are renting the $2 the $4 the $6 or whatever they get is going to be swallowed up almost immediately by the increase in rents that the Budget which these changes are part of is bringing in. It's in their own documentation. It says very clearly that the $2.9 billion tax cut that this Government is giving landlords by reintroducing interest deductibility by scrapping the brightline test and scrapping initiatives like emergency housing and transitional housing and maintenance on Kāinga Ora homes—all of which is in the Budget—and scrapping the First Home Grant—all adds up to one thing: higher rents. We know that the growing proportion of renters amongst the over-65s when they look at this Budget and they hear the Government members crow—and many of them have huge proportions amongst their constituents over 65—and they look at this and they see that they're getting $2.15 if they rent they're soon going to get a rent increase significantly higher than that. What are the—Mike Butterick: Whatever.Hon KIERAN McANULTY: Oh whatever. Yeah whatever. Let's just say whatever" to facts. Let's say "whatever" to their own documents. It's in your own documents. I tell you what go back to Hamilton and invite the over-65s to come to your electorate office. And when they come to you and they say "I've only got $2 a week out of this but my rent's gone 20 bucks." will you say "whatever" then? Will you say "whatever" to their face? I bet you don't. I bet you don't have the guts. He'll say it quietly off to the side but he won't look his constituents in the eye and say what he's going to say here in the hope that no one hears.But we did hear because that is the attitude of this Government—they don't care. When they are presented with the damage that this bill is actually going to do to working people and to retired people their reaction is "whatever." They don't care. They do not give a jot. And this is supposedly a Government made up by a party that was formed to look after old people. New Zealand First is supposed to look after old people and with the possible exception of Mark Patterson—who is a friend of mine and so I'm not going to pick on him but I'll pick on the rest of them—they don't court the old people's votes now. It's almost like unless they're wearing tinfoil Winnie don't care. That's their constituency now: they're after the cookers and they've forgotten about the old people. And this Budget sums it up.It's not just the old people though because of course the "average" wage means that there are many people in this country earning underneath that and they don't get the figures that the finance spokesperson talked about in this Budget. They get bugger all and that is not fair. That is not fair when people like me—in fact every member of Parliament is walking away with 80 bucks a fortnight that we don't need. I don't need 40 bucks a week. I don't need it. Here we are arguing that this legislation is supposed to be helping those that need it and yet those that don't need it are benefiting the most. That is a choice that this Government made and it just goes to show what their priorities are. So when New Zealanders look at this bill and they look at what they're supposedly getting look at what the Government's also taking away."