Nash StuartHon STUART NASH (Minister of Revenue): Thank you Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Sorry I'm just going to—[Interruption] Order! I am on my feet. I do apologise to the member again and I reiterate my assurance that he will get a chance to stand up this time. I do want to make it clear though Mr Joyce—I probably didn't make it clear—that that will be on the first and second readings and on the third reading. Of course when we're doing the committee stage at that stage it is a very narrow technical debate. The Hon Stuart Nash.Hon STUART NASH: Thank you very much Mr Speaker—finally. The speech you just heard from the Leader of the Opposition versus the speech you just heard from the Minister of Finance is the reason why we are in Government and they are not. Yet again you heard a speech putting down the people of New Zealand—putting down the families putting down the students—whereas over this side—Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I don't mean to interrupt the member either—I do apologise to him—but I do need to correct him. The reason they are in Government is because that's what Winston wanted.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you Mr Brownlee. We don't need any further points of order of that nature.Hon STUART NASH: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. The reason we are in Government is because that member and his cohort spent far too long in their ivory towers. What we on this side of the House did is we went out and I'll tell you what we heard Mr Brownlee in the street corner meetings and the town halls and the cottage meetings up and down this country: that you know what it's just not time for a tax cut—it's just not time for a tax cut. It's time to once again reinvest in our communities in our schools in our health system in our police force and in our housing. It's time to give those who need a little bit of help a hand up. That is what the people of New Zealand want.This is the reason why I got into politics. This bill is the reason why I got into politics—the long hours the mountains of readings the street corner meetings in the pouring rain in the middle of winter and in the hot summer of Hawke's Bay. To really make a difference—this is what politics is about to make a difference to Kiwi families and this is what this bill does.The sort of families we're talking about are those that work hard. They pay their taxes. They get out there. They coach their kids' sports teams. They look after themselves. They play with their mates. They enjoy a beer every now and again. They have dreams. They have aspirations—both for themselves and for their children. They don't often take a holiday. There are no expensive presents for birthdays or family trips to Fiji because you know what? Despite everything else and all the work they do life is tough. Life is tough—not necessarily bad and not without love and support but tough.They want to believe that we as politicians as their elected representatives are here for them are standing up for them and are going hard for what they believe in. And you know what? Then what they hear is that the last Government's tax cuts give $440 million to the top 10 percent and they come to a street corner meeting and they go—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I'd appreciate reference to the bill.Hon STUART NASH: —yes but this is about families Madam Assistant Speaker—how can this be fair? How can this be fair?As New Zealanders we actually don't ask for much; we really don't. All we want is a fair deal—all we want is a fair deal—and this is what this bill is about. Under a Jacinda Ardern Government they see that in fact the New Zealand First - Labour coalition is about making a difference in supporting our families—New Zealand First Labour and Green MPs working together really hard to make a difference. This is what this Families Package does. It really makes a difference.This Families Package is transformational in a way that will make life just that much easier for 384000 Kiwi families by an average of about $75 a week. This includes those on a pension as well but don't worry it's not those who are going to go over to the Gold Coast and spend it there. That's been sorted Mr Brownlee. For some listening I know that $75 a week might not seem like a lot of money but for nearly 400000 families it makes a real difference. It determines what sort of food they eat if their children can afford to play sport if there's something under the Christmas tree. Of course these families are still going to have to work incredibly hard; they're still going to have to make sacrifices. No one's retiring on these payments at all but they know that this Labour - New Zealand First Government has got their back.For me this is what this bill and this Government is about—about lifting 88000 children out of poverty. Seriously how can you knock that? Hon Gerry Brownlee: Slowly.Hon STUART NASH: Eighty-eight thousand children out of poverty—and Mr Brownlee's right; slowly". You can knock that slowly but I think the vast majority of New Zealanders understand that living in a country where poverty is rife is just not right and this is why this package is going to help 88000 kids get out of poverty. I don't know how Mr Brownlee you can disagree with that.The question is of course: how can we afford this? How can we afford this? Well what we did is we rolled back the tax cuts to those who didn't really need them. Again this is the message I heard right across my electorate. You know what that message was? "Mr Nash instead of a tax cut we would rather this money went into our core infrastructure like our schools like our hospitals like our police force but most importantly into the families in our communities who are working really hard but who are struggling." We all know them. Those of us who are electorate MPs we see them in our offices because often they're at their wits' end. They just don't feel as if they're getting a fair deal. The thing is that these are Kiwis who are working hard—they're working hard they've got kids they just can't make ends meet and this is what this is about.This is the New Zealand way. This is the Labour way. This is what a great coalition Government believes in—families. This is what this Government believes in—standing up for families. And what that actually looks like—Ministers from all parties collaborating in a way that makes a real difference. That's what coalition politics looks like and that's how you make it work really well.Our Families Package—I just want to reiterate—is going to lift 88000 children out of poverty. It is going to make 385000 families better off by an average of $75 a week; 710 Kiwis on the pension will get help to pay their winter power bill—in fact a million Kiwis are going to get help to pay their power bill. There are 40000 children every single year who end up in hospital during winter with respiratory diseases and ailments—40000 Kiwis end up in hospital with respiratory diseases and ailments. That is not the New Zealand that I grew up in and not the New Zealand I believe we can be.The orphans benefit the unsupported child's benefit and the foster care allowance are going to increase by $20 a week. It mightn't sound like a lot of money to some of those members but to the people who are looking after our orphans looking after these kids who are foster parents it makes a difference—it really does.The independent earner tax credit will be reinstated. That Opposition over there when they were in Government got rid of this. Five hundred thousand Kiwis are going to be better off. Again it's not a lot of money but it makes a difference. This is where that Government lost touch. They forgot that—you know what?—for a whole lot of Kiwis this makes a difference. We're going to increase the Working for Families non-abatement period to $42700 because we know this is important.This is a Labour - New Zealand First Government that's got the backs of our families and has the back of New Zealand families. This is a Government that cares about our families. We know there's a lot more to do. We know there's a lot more to do over the next three six nine and 12 years and this is just the start of it—this is just the start of it. Imagine—this is what we can do in our first 100 days; imagine the first 100 weeks and then 100 months—Hon Grant Robertson: And then 100 years.Hon STUART NASH: And then 100 years. But this is the thing: we're setting this up for 100 years. I believe that the Ardern Government is going to be the most transformational since the first Labour Government. I also believe because I've sat in a number of meetings with our finance Minister Grant Robertson and boy this man has a feel for the facts. He knows where the money is and he knows how to drive the economy in a way that is going to create meaningful growth and meaningful change.I have never been more excited about being in politics than I am now. We are making a difference to New Zealand families and that is what politics is about."