Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill

Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill Second Reading—Budget Debate Debate resumed from 28 May on the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment) (15:52): I’m delighted to rise in the House today to speak to Budget 2026, and the incredible Budget delivered by our very competent, capable, and confident Minister of Finance, the Hon Nicola Willis. This is a particularly important Budget, because it is the Budget that leads into a very important day and a very important decision for New Zealanders: a very clear choice on 7 November. Let’s just take a look back at what the Government has had to grapple with in its third Budget. So reflect on the time that the Government—the coalition of three parties—came into office when the economy was absolutely wrecked. The damage was substantial. We had inflation—it’s hard to believe, really—at a record high of 7.3 percent. Thank goodness today we are at 3.1 percent. Imagine what it would be like with the current fuel challenge in the Middle East if inflation was still at 7.3 percent. So we saw that mortgage repayments at that time when we came in had absolutely skyrocketed. There were families and households struggling day to day to pay the mortgage because of those incredibly high interest rates. Wages had stagnated. There were hundreds of ram raids a year. Crime was out of control. What we saw was just terrible results in our kids’ education. I think the thing that most New Zealanders worry about the most is “Are our kids doing OK at school?” Because, when they’re not, we know that they don’t have a shot at a great future. Of course, what we saw was the number of people on welfare was absolutely plummeting. What was crazy: some of the time that the previous Government had overseen was when we had record low unemployment, and yet their jobseeker numbers escalated by 60,000 in six years. That was an increase of 54 percent in a six-year period. I want to come to that in a few moments. It’s very clear that our plan to fix the basics and build the future is paying off. Budget 2026 is a really significant part of our work to do that. We are absolutely relentlessly focused on growing the economy. Why is that important? Because a growing economy means— Dan Bidois: Prosperity. Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Absolutely—growing prosperity. When you have businesses that are growing, they are more confident, they take on more staff, the staff they have get the opportunity to work more hours, and wages lift. Do you know what the most important thing is that people must remember from Budget 2026? It’s that wages will grow faster than prices. That’s what means that New Zealanders will have more in their back pocket when their wages are increasing faster than prices. I want to go through a couple of the highlights in the areas that I look after that didn’t get a lot of air time in the immediate days after the Budget, but there are a couple in particular that I think are incredibly important. The first one is our continued work in welfare reform. In Budget 2026, we’re investing $93.3 million to support more sole parents into work. How do we address the number of children who are growing up in material hardship? Support their parents into work. This is a very, very focused campaign over the next two years of investing in sole parents so that 25,000 sole parents will be in case management. We know that case management is the most effective intervention that we can use—and the data and evidence tells us that. That’s why we’re investing in sole parents. What we do know is, on average, sole parents spend 17.5 years of their life on welfare. Now, Madam Speaker, you’ve heard us say on this side of the House that we don’t think that that many years on welfare is a great life. That’s why we are committing, we are investing, we are doing the things that we know work, and that’s case management. Now, talking about doing what we know works, this is the first time ever a Government has put baseline funding into Food Secure Communities. I’ll say that again, because, again, the other side just failed to mention that in all of their Budget criticism. They failed to mention for the first time ever that Food Secure Communities have been baselined. So what does that mean? It means $38 million over four years to organisations who are providing infrastructure and distribution of food to regional and local food hubs. They support about 4.5 million meals a month—we have locked funding in. So no longer are they waiting year to year to see if they get funded. Also, for the first time ever, we have baseline funding for the KickStart Breakfast programme. That currently reaches about 46,000 children. Our side of the House knows what works and we’re investing in it. We’re investing in the areas that we know are incredibly important. On that theme, again, one of the areas that didn’t get a lot of air time in the days immediately after the Budget and that I’m sure the members opposite will be incredibly supportive of is the response that our Government has made to the Dame Karen Poutasi report into child harm. There were 14 recommendations, and we’ve accepted every single one of them. We have delivered three of them already. But, most importantly, we have put money into ensuring we deliver. What happened on the other side? They got the report, sat on it, said nothing. They did nothing and invested in nothing. Unlike this side of the House, we take the protection of children seriously and we are funding across the board. So where is that $90 million going? To strengthen the safety nets. The first: we are rolling out mandatory child protection training to over 20,000 New Zealanders. That is a step on the path towards mandatory reporting. But we know when there is significant change like this, we’ve got to focus on the front line. That is a significant investment in consistent, high-quality training for 20,000 children’s workers. That’s happening over the next two years. We’re also ensuring that based on that additional training, there is additional capacity to respond safely and effectively to more reports of concern, because we expect that will follow. Also, we’re supporting Health New Zealand to increase participation in the Child Protection Protocol. We are taking a phased approach. We know how carefully you must implement changes of this scale. That’s why the funding is over four years and over significant areas that we know will make a big difference. Budget 2026 builds on previous Budgets where we focus the effort and we focus the welfare system on being more active. We are focused on our goals around child material hardship, which is our investment in sole parents and in food programmes that we know work, as well as in reducing child harm. I do also want to talk about disability because, this Budget, $2.9 billion is the largest Disability Support Services annual appropriation to date. So it is an absolute myth that the other side continues to perpetuate that our side don’t care about people with disabilities. We care so much we are fixing the system that they allowed to be broken for years. So is it easy? Absolutely not, but it is the right thing to do, and we have funded more in every Budget: $1.1 billion in Budget 2024; $1 billion in Budget 2025, and this is the highest appropriation ever. But unlike the other side, for us it’s not just about money. You actually need to make sure the system is fair, transparent, consistent, and goes to where it is needed; that the system performs, and it hadn’t been, and that’s what we’re fixing. I also, of course, want to talk about tourism. We had a really ambitious target to grow the number of visitors into New Zealand because for every visitor that comes to our shore, they spend money in our businesses, whether it’s a local petrol station, a café, accommodation, a bed and breakfast, a campground, a rental car. They are spending money in New Zealand and that money goes into local businesses to support local employees. Growing tourism and hospitality supports one in nine New Zealand workers. Suze Redmayne: Second largest. Hon LOUISE UPSTON: So that’s why—second-largest export earner. That is absolutely why we are focused on growing it, and it’s paying off. We are now at 94 percent of the figures that we saw pre-COVID, in 2019. Our goal, of course, is to get to 100 and I’m sure we’ll get there by the end of the year. Let me give you one figure that just shows how rapid the growth has been, very deliberately based on actions our Government has taken. Compare the Chinese visitor numbers in April this year, compared to April last year: a 52 percent increase—52 percent—because of very consistent actions that we have taken to grow the number of visitors. The US market’s grown—it’s over 100 percent—so is Australia, and China is picking up because we know for every visitor, they’re spending money in local business, and that is great for New Zealanders and great for our regions. Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Deputy Leader—Labour) (16:02): The last member who spoke from the National Government wanted to not only talk about the Budget but the National Government’s track record for the last 2½ years. So let’s go over the National Government’s and Nicola Willis’ record. Now, Nicola Willis will tell Kiwis the economy is turning a corner, that things are getting better, but the people I’m meeting aren’t feeling that way. What they’re feeling is the squeeze, working hard while the costs continue to go up. They feel it at the checkout, they feel it at the petrol pump, they feel it when the power bill arrives. Christopher Luxon and National promised to fix the cost of living; it has got worse. They promise to grow the economy; it has shrunk. There are 40,000 more New Zealanders out of work than when National took office, and more Kiwis have left the country than at any other time on record. Christopher Luxon stood in front of New Zealanders and said help was on the way. It never came. Here’s who did get help, though: landlords got billions in tax breaks, the tobacco industry got tax breaks, they found millions for ferries that still have not arrived. But when it came, or when it comes to the things you actually rely on, their only answer is to cut. They won’t even tell New Zealanders what’s on the chopping block. New Zealanders deserve to know because, right now, everything is on the chopping block. New Zealand: you can’t trust National with your job, you can’t trust National with the health service. New Zealand, you can’t trust National with the economy. Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon have given up on New Zealand, basically. Three more years of this and nothing changes except New Zealand; New Zealand ends up worse off. When they tell you the economy is getting better, we all need to ask one simple question: better for who? If the vast majority of Kiwis are not feeling it, that means it’s not working, and three more years won’t change that. New Zealanders deserve a Government focused on what matters. National was elected to fix the cost of living; instead, they have made things worse and there was nothing in this year’s Budget that will provide any reprieve or glimmer of hope that things will get better under their watch. I sat through a 15-minute hearing with the Ministry for Women’s Vote. Not much you can traverse in 15 minutes, but given the way in which this ministry has been minimalised under this Government, it quickly became apparent that there were very few answers on key issues impacting women that the Minister or the ministry were in a position to answer. Even the answers to pre-hearing questions were flawed; the first pre-hearing question: what outcomes does the Minister intend to achieve with the funding in this Vote and when are they intended to be achieved? Their response?” The funding is for improving the lives of New Zealand women, women nominees for appointment to boards and committees, support for the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, providing support for wāhine Māori claimants to participate in the permanent commission of inquiry in the Waitangi Tribunal judicial proceedings.” These are not even specific outcomes; they are largely outputs. How can the Minister purport to improving the lives of New Zealand women, when a year out from being part of a Government that scrapped pay equity, the Minister for Women has said she has still not made any moves to monitor the impacts of the scrapping of pay equity. In fact, she not only has not sought to monitor it, she herself has not even read the well-traversed report from the People’s Select Committee hearing on pay equity. I, like many others in the House, feel a real moral obligation to make sure that we do the mahi to ensure that women in these roles here in Aotearoa are paid what they deserve; they are essential workers. The demand on these women is not declining. When I listen to the Minister talk about increasing the number of women on the list of potential Government board appointments by 20 percent, I was dumbfounded. To what end? I’m a big supporter of more women on boards but what is the point of increasing the numbers of women on boards when they will then be confronted with a Government Minister who belongs to a Government that will not advocate for some of the hardest-working women in this country to get paid what they deserve? With this Government in office, how can they possibly help improve the lives of women? How can they possibly improve the pay and working conditions for them and alleviate the many cost of living pressures they face? As Chris Hipkins said on the steps of Parliament the day that the Government announced their pay equity changes, Labour will reverse the changes that this Government have made to pay equity. Dan Bidois: How will you fund it? Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We are committed to paying women what they deserve and, as the members of the public can probably hear from the shouting from the Government benches, they are not committed to the same things. A couple of weeks ago, I was supporting the Sunday Blessings initiative at the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland City. Social services and food services take turns preparing and handing out dinner parcels on Sunday nights. That week, it was Fair Food from my electorate that were providing the support. We gave out 250 parcels that night, but there were still more people arriving at the end after the parcels had been distributed. Michelle from Fair Foods was reconfirming what many others had said in the health and social service sector: the demand has doubled in the last two years. Those lining up for food parcels were a mix of peoples from a mix of backgrounds, from a mix of communities: Māori, Pacific, Pākehā, Asian, Indian, youth, children, disabled, and senior citizens. I’ll say it again: National were elected to fix the cost of living. Instead, they have made things worse. Many of these people were also homeless. What a slap in the face to all of these people and others that are in similar circumstances to then open the paper the very next day to an article where the Government was celebrating increases in declines to people who were seeking emergency housing. A decline in the rates of emergency housing does not reflect people getting into the housing that they need. What did the Budget hold for them? Nowhere near enough. There was some additional funding to help house some of the people that have been pushed into homelessness, some additional houses for housing, but very little in the way of support for additional public housing builds. This Luxon-led Government made the conscious decision to dramatically decrease the public housing build programme that the previous Government started and then refused to acknowledge that the dramatic increase in homeless Kiwis comes down to the decisions and choices they have made. I can’t speak to the issues of low pay, poverty, and homelessness without touching on jobs or the lack thereof. I participated in the Ministry for Pacific Peoples hearing during scrutiny week. One of the key roles of the population group ministries is to provide advice across Government agencies. For Pacific peoples that surely must include employment, with an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent, double what it is for the general population. You’d think the Minister would be pushing his ministry into overdrive to provide advice to address the desperate situation of employment for many Pacific whānau, but no. You could hear the tumbleweed rolling across the Parliament forecourt when I asked the Minister what advice he and his ministry had given the Minister of employment on the desperate rate of unemployment for Pacific peoples. This is off the back of a successful Ministry for Pacific Peoples employment programme being cut by the millions. Everything has been on the chopping block for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, a reflection of the way in general this Government has dismissed the needs of Pacific communities. I’m not going to shy away from stating on record that the under-resourcing and undermining of the ministry is a cynical attempt to prepare it for disestablishment in the future if the Government were to get another go. The Government will not get another go. New Zealanders do not trust them. They have gone back on what they have promised. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired. RYAN HAMILTON (National—Hamilton East) (16:12): Thank you, Madam Speaker. What a privilege it is to speak in the second reading of the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill, essentially known as the Budget debate. There is so much good stuff to talk about. If there was an award for the loudest speaker on the Labour Party side, I’d have to give it to Carmel Sepuloni. She’d definitely get the “Loudest Speaker” award. If I was to give an award for the silliest comment from the Labour Party, it would be really challenging. If I had to give the “Silliest Comment” award to a member of the Labour Party, it would have to go out for the jury. It would be really tough, because there are so many silly comments that are made, but I reckon Ginny Andersen— DEPUTY SPEAKER: Back to the appropriations, thank you, Mr Hamilton. RYAN HAMILTON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ll come back to that in the education section. We are rebuilding the economy. We inherited an awful mess, with high inflation. With inflation, that is the biggest driver of the cost of living crisis, and we inherited a 7.3 percent inflationary period. We brought that down, with restrained Government spending, to now 2.25 percent. The OCR has continued to drop it down and stabilise the inflation rate, and now, for the first time, we’re seeing job growth and wage growth outstripping inflation—i.e., it is cheaper to buy things than it was when we came into Government. It doesn’t feel like that for many New Zealanders right now, but they can have confidence that we are on track. After three Budgets now, our Minister of Finance has delivered prudent, fiscally responsible, disciplined Budgets. We’ve been able to deliver safer streets, stronger savings, smarter investment, and we’re doing that now with a path back to surplus. In fact, our path to surplus is now one year earlier than we expected, coming back in 2028-29, which is just fantastic to see. The Budget can be quite an overwhelming process for the general public. In fact, the Supplementary Estimates of Appropriations is over 900 pages, and it can be a lot for Kiwis, even us humble politicians, to get our heads around. We’ve got a little blue book here which is actually really helpful, and it’s called Budget at a Glance. Hon Dr Duncan Webb: It’s the Ryan Hamilton Idiot’s Guide. RYAN HAMILTON: Well, Duncan Webb, if you knew what you were doing, you probably wouldn’t retire. There are some bullet points I’d like to go through and talk through the Budget elements. “Secures New Zealand’s future by getting back to surplus and reducing debt as a share of GDP.” For the first time, we’re seeing the debt curve bend, which is just incredible. We’re investing to drive better results in health, education, and law and order. If there was to be one winner out of the Budget, it would have to be health, under the great leadership of Simeon Brown. There are some incredible investments that I’d like to just quickly talk on. In fact, this Government has committed to investing new money in health every year since we came into Government, and this year is no different, with a $5.5 billion investment in health. I have to put my glasses on for this: “A $5.5 billion increase in funding for frontline health services.” One of the special ones was the funding for post-natal stays. I’d like to acknowledge the member for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd, who helped as a catalyst for this, the genesis of this idea, by extending the stays for mums. Rather than getting kicked out one night, sometimes two, after childbirth, they can now have three nights, appropriately paid and managed, which is just fantastic. What a great start for mums and babies coming into this world. The other really special thing was special specialist palliative care, and a new specialist paediatrician is going to be implemented every year around New Zealand. That is a tremendous thing for parents with children who are suffering, inflicted with cancer and other conditions, which are just terrible to deal with. That is really something special. “An additional $54 million for Pharmac”. You recall, when we came into Government, there were these things called “funding cliffs” and Pharmac had a $1 billion funding cliff. Pharmac is one of those things that we take for granted. It’s the bread and butter of medicine for New Zealand. It’s the important, the essential, pharmacological support. We understand the need for time-limited funding sometimes—you have to put things in for a short-term measure; we saw a lot of that around COVID, for example. Maybe for Jobs for Nature—that sounds like a time-limited thing—but, for Pharmac, it needs baseline funding, and so one of the first things we had to do in Budget 2023-24 was correct that anomaly. We’re continuing to invest wisely in that Pharmac infrastructure, which is just huge. And, of course, “$35 million to boost support for road ambulance services.”, a much needed front-line service. They haven’t had a lot of funding, for a long time. They do an incredible job on the front line, and I’m really pleased to see them get the support they deserve out of this Budget. Of course, the fuel crisis nobody saw coming, and we’ve talked about it. Thank goodness we’ve built some fiscal buffer into our resilience. Thank goodness we’ve got a Government that has created resilience around fuel supply and security. We’ve invested $90 million to give us an extra three days’ additional diesel supply in Marsden Point, which is fantastic. Of course, talking about targeted, time-limited support, the $50 per week in-work tax credit for working families—time limited—to help get through this period of crisis around fuel. It’s really important, and, of course, there is “$150 million for additional strategic fuel reserves”. Infrastructure is something which I know we’re all passionate about on the side of the House. Roads of national significance, we love and we invest in, and in fact, we had a lot all set to go in 2017 when the new incoming Government mothballed those. One of those roads was Cambridge to Piarere, one of the most dangerous stretches of road in our country. I’m pleased to say, as a member from that region, that that is now completely funded: $1.7 billion. It’s an extra 16 kilometres of, I’d assume, 110 kilometres per hour, which is always great. It’s safe, resilient roading infrastructure. Roads aren’t just about cars; it’s about productivity, it’s about safety, it’s about building this economy and this country. Our Opposition talks about electric vehicles a lot. They talk about the need to reduce fossil fuels, which we agree with, but the thing is that they still need roads to go on. We’re very much supportive of those sorts of things. Of course, Treasury tells us that for every $1 billion we invest, we’re going to see about 4,500 jobs, and we’re investing $7 billion in capital through the next Budget. Treasury is also saying, not just with the infrastructure investments we’re making but with the complete Budget forecast, with the fundamentals being reset, with the economy growing, that we’re looking at an additional 220,000 jobs over the forecast period. That is what we’re talking about: jobs, growth, employment, savings. It just keeps on going. It’s so good. What about education? We just heard from the wonderful Minister of Education, Erica Stanford. There was a huge investment in packages to support infrastructure. The great thing is that not only do we invest money but we actually work out how we can do it better. The Opposition will spend more money and assume that means better outcomes. We know that’s not true. In fact, with school infrastructure, we’ve now got twice as many classrooms for the same amount of money—twice as many. As the member of Parliament for Hamilton East, I was fortunate to see Hillcrest High School being one of those recipients, with eight new classrooms to meet growth and two new learning support classrooms and, of course, for night and normal as well, four new classrooms. It’s not just about the curriculum, the syllabus, and the way we teach, but it’s also about the hard infrastructure. I was referring to Ginny Andersen earlier when she said, “If I was the Minister, I would not have mandated testing, as important teachers are working within their schools to understand what works for your communities.” In other words, the Opposition thinks that if it feels good, if it looks right, and if the vibe’s good, then they’ll probably be all right. Why would we test our students? To see if they are not learning. Why would we test them? To assess maybe this isn’t working; maybe we could do something better. We test, we measure, we test, and we measure. This side of the House is pleased to see that influence coming through to the education area. Another big area is defence, which is really exciting. When we talk about defence, it’s not just about our battleships and army; it’s about resources. It’s about the state and the conditions which our workforce is living in, down in Waiōuru and Linton and Burnham and making sure that they’re in homes that aren’t cold and damp and wet, and reinvesting in assets which have been sweated and sweated for such a long time. We are investing in our defence force because, as our Prime Minister says, national security is economic security and economic security is national security. They are interlinked. This Budget is just the beginning, but it’s wonderful. Our future is bright. The opportunity is there for us to grab it with both hands. It’s a bright future for Kiwis. The changes coming in KiwiSaver, the changes in education, the changes in our police force, law and order, and education—it’s terrific. We’re fixing the basics and building the future. Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green) (16:22): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I have been itching to get up and offer a contribution to this appropriations debate. My goodness! Budget 2026 from this Government showed absolutely no plan, no ambition, and no vision for our country. There was nothing in it, and we know that was intentional. Actually, they themselves even went on and on and on about—what is it?—no lollies and no scramble. Yep, that’s it—no vision, no plan, no ambition. The Prime Minister and his Government, in the meantime, can find billions and billions of dollars in tax cuts for landlords, tobacco companies, the wealthy and the sorted, and fossil fuel barons; even appeasing a president who is not our own to make sure that we are appeasing his commands to spend up large on military equipment but not actually supporting the actual workers on the ground of the actual defence force. That’s what we’re hearing from the people on the ground: shiny equipment but no actual support for the actual people. I would love to see you answer to that which we’re hearing from the ground. Then we had more slashes of funding for protecting the things that make us who we are—the natural places, our taonga species, the tracks that we love and enjoy, the huts, the rivers, the forests, and the incredible coastlines that we all boast about; slashed funding year on year under this Government because, actually, they do not see, and are moving away from, an actual purpose of conservation in the Department of Conservation—already under enormous pressure. The Budget documents actually show that the Department of Conservation is facing almost $400 million in unfunded cost pressures, but that is on top of the $194 million that this Government has cut from the baseline spending. That’s not careful stewardship at all, it’s not ambition, it’s not vision, it’s not value, and it’s certainly not an enduring solution and looking ahead to the generations coming after us that we are responsible to. It is a structural deficit imposed on the very, very agency who is responsible for protecting one-third of the country. They determine the health of our native species. Our biosecurity programmes are all supposed to be properly resourced because they are there to protect us all, including whether pest control happens at the scale required, and those very fragile and very specific fundamental habitats that are unique not just to this country but to particular places around the country where you can find a plant in the North that does not grow in the South. These are very fragile habitats, and we’re a small country, and the fact that we have species and habitats that are special to specific places around our country just shows you how fragile they actually are. Then this Government is asking DOC—the Department of Conservation—to do so much more with so much less. There are over 4,000 native species that are threatened or at risk of extinction, so what does this Government do? It slashes and cuts the baseline funding to them year after year after year. Biodiversity decline is not actually slowing down. Climate change impacts, including on living systems and habitats, are not improving. Two of the most important areas that have been hit directly by this Budget and all the previous Budgets under National are predator control, which actually has been reduced by $7.5 million, and the asset maintenance, which has been reduced by $20.4 million. These are not marginal programmes; these are essential programmes. They’re the core business of our Department of Conservation, and they depend on the ability to protect native species and keep public conservation land accessible and safe. This is all about balance and correction to the habitat health that we so enjoy. There were lots of cuts in taiao and in protecting our special places and our wild places alone, but I am absolutely wanting to pick up, in my contribution, on the changes that this Government is proposing, which are going to open up and enable development or disposal of conservation lands and shifts the Department of Conservation mandate from conservation towards development. There are plenty of other agencies who have that mandate, but they’ve gone and taken it from the very agency who are supposed to be conserving our special places, moving away from conservation. I’m hoping that this Government and these members of this Government can see the rightful uproar that is happening across the country from communities of all natures who are not going to get sucked in by the lack of guarantee that the Prime Minister and the Minister are trying to sit on the fence about, are trying to gaslight people into saying, “You’re scaremongering.”, yet they offer absolutely no guarantee that these special places will not be sold off to corporations and bulldozers. “Just change and amend the law” is what we’ve been asking for. If the Government members think that people and agencies are scaremongering, then they should rule it out, amend the law, and put them in a safe basket in the legislation. All of those solutions are available to those members if they are upset and using words like “scaremongering”. Put some teeth into it. Show the guarantee to the country that you are, indeed, going to protect those very special places. If leaders in this House had the courage to fix our broken tax system, then they wouldn’t need to be opening up conservation lands to enable development and/or disposal to mega-corporates. But that is because they have handcuffed themselves when it comes to unlocking the resources that we absolutely have—to make sure that everyone in Aotearoa can live a good life, to make sure that we are prioritising the protection of these beautiful taonga species and these beautiful natural environments that we absolutely all adore. I have seen the members of this Government take pride in natural spaces in their own electorates, in their own communities. I have been on fishing trips with the members of this Government who take pride in these natural spaces that we all love. And yet, where is the courage and the voice in pressuring your Minister to stand up and rule out the development or the sell-off of the most special places that are included in the scoop-up of this Minister’s bill? They have that option open to them. It’s still there; it’s not too late. They are able to show the communities who are rallying and organising and advocating right now that, instead of opening up our precious lands, they will, in fact, tap into the resources that we have, because Aotearoa does have enough. We just need to make sure that we can shift the burden of revenue for Government away from the ordinary working person—which is where it has been for a long, long time—and, instead, pay fair-share taxes. The super-rich and the megacorporates can pay their fair share, and we do not leave the burden simply on the shoulders of the ordinary working person. I am proud that we have been showing the solutions that have been lacking in this Government’s Budget and, especially, to show how we can indeed protect and conserve our wild spaces. We do not need to rip them up and tear them open with bulldozers. And if the members think that I am scaremongering, then, again, they have it on their shoulders to rule it out—to amend the law, to put all of those precious lands in a safe legislative basket where they will not be touched, because the people will be with you. They are rallying up and down the country. They are giving these Government members a clear pathway to show some spine and show some spirit for the beautiful taiao that we should all be good ancestors about and protect for generations to come. Kia ora. DAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote) (16:32): It’s a pleasure to rise and bring this back to the debate that we are actually in today, which is the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill. I listened to the previous member and, I believe, at least half of her speech was not even on the Estimates debate. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member was referring to spending on conservation throughout that last five minutes. DAN BIDOIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to respond to the member with a simple statement, because, as I listened to her, something dawned on me, and that is that this member believes that money grows on trees. I wish to say to the Hon Marama Davidson that there is no magic money tree; we either get the money off other people or off future generations. She needs to own up and tell the public of New Zealand how they’re going to pay for their spending commitments. But I digress. This Budget was about securing New Zealand’s future. It is a Budget that continues to enable this Government to fix the basics and to build the future. In this fantastic document called the Fiscal Strategy Report, it outlines the fiscal goals of our Government with this Budget to boost economic growth and, in particular, real wage growth, which is all about real wages adjusted for inflation. The good news is that in this Budget, real wage growth is forecast to be positive. This Budget reduces the role of the State on the economy. For years, since the previous Government, the share of the economy devoted to Government spending ballooned, and we are reining it back and the forecasts indicate that. Thirdly, this Government forecasts a return to surplus one year earlier than forecast, and that is great news for those of you who are concerned about the level of borrowing and interest bill in this country. Fourthly, this Budget puts us on a downward trajectory with respect to our debt. For those of you on the opposite side who have actually read the Budget—and, in particular, the Fiscal Strategy Report—you’ll know that the debt is forecast next year alone to be $216 billion. That’s $216 billion that the New Zealanders of this country will need to repay. We know from the Budget forecasts that the amount of interest on that debt is set to be about $9.7 billion in the 2027 forecast year, and that is unsustainable. This Budget helps close the lid on the fiscal numbers and puts us on a downward trajectory to pay down that debt. I do want to acknowledge the hard-working Minister of Finance, who’s been doing an outstanding job managing the impact of the fuel crisis. We, of course, announced, as part of Budget 2026, a $50-per-week increase in the in-work tax credit, there’s additional funding for front-line services, and $150 million is earmarked for strategic fuel reserves. No one knows how long this is going to go on for and so we best be prepared. My colleague Ryan Hamilton talked about the great news in this Budget for health. I do want to dive down into the specific items that I’m proud of. The first is $35 million in extra support for our ambulance services. Our ambulance services throughout this country do a great job protecting our men and women, and they are delighted to receive this additional support, I know—very much. Second, we’ve got $54 million in additional Pharmac funding for life-saving medicines. We’ve talked about the three-day post-natal stay promise, which we’ve just allocated $34 million for. What we haven’t talked about in this debate is something that Simeon Brown announced, which was the lowering of the bowel-screening age from 58 to 56. That’s actually going to make a difference to well over 200,000 New Zealanders per year. We had really good, targeted support for education at the primary school level to boost reading, writing, and maths achievement, and for more teaching resources for our students to help with literacy and numeracy. But, also, I want to talk about this fees-free, because I have had a bit of feedback about this. We scrapped this fees-free—and, to be clear, why did we scrap it? It was making no material difference to the outcomes on enrolment numbers or achievement— Hon Penny Simmonds: A billion dollars. DAN BIDOIS: A huge fiscal hole and cost, according to Minister the Hon Penny Simmonds. But, as a result, we’ve allocated those funds and we’ve been able to secure 20,000 extra places for the successful trades academy. That is great news for people up and down New Zealand to get into a trade. Remember that quote from years ago: “Got a Trade? Got it Made!” We believe that, actually, to be able to earn and learn at the same time is great for New Zealanders, and this project will and funding allows for that to happen. Law and order was another winner in Budget 2026, with half a billion dollars for Corrections services: funds for new courthouses, new police stations—I understand Whanganui has got a new police station; that’s great news. We’ve got $21 million for tackling crime, as well. There were a lot of other positives in this Budget. The alternative approaches—and talking and discussing this with the Minister of Finance, there were alternative approaches. If we didn’t make the tough decisions in Budget 2026 and in the previous two Budgets, that would have had a roughly $50 billion impact on the Government’s books. Looking at some of the alternative views from across this House around what they would have spent it on, it seems to me like there would have been a huge greater fiscal hole as a result. And so we made some tough decisions around pay equity. The other side likes to talk about reversing that, but they need to be honest and upfront with the public about where they’re going to cut to fund those pay equity differences. We’ve come out with our fiscal hole of $18.2 billion. For those of you who have actually dived down and looked at the numbers, you’ll see it not only includes pay equity but it also includes this Future Fund that the other side talks about. They haven’t even spoken to us and to New Zealanders about where they’re going to cut, to fund that Future Fund. This public transport cap—they’re not being clear with us about that either. We’ve just got to get that on record. I know it’s not part of Budget 2026, but it is a part of what else could have been done in Budget 2026. On this side of the House, we’re clear around our Government’s approach around strong fiscal management, getting the Government finances back to surplus, managing debt well and paying down our debt, and doing whatever we can to grow the economy because that is how we become a wealthier and a more prosperous society. On that side of the House, they seem to think that this pie is stagnant. We don’t believe that the pie is stagnant. Ryan Hamilton: Grow the pie. DAN BIDOIS: You’ve got to grow the pie, as Ryan Hamilton said. In fact, every successful country out there manages to grow the pie. A Budget like this is targeted at making sure we can grow the pie so that all New Zealanders, no matter where they live, where they come from, can get ahead, can earn more income, and can provide for their family. This is a good Budget. It is a Budget that secures New Zealand’s future, provides for growing real wages, a reduced state of the economy, a more prosperous nation; a country where we go out and back ourselves on the world stage, where we do trade with India and Middle Eastern countries, and every country out there, and people can succeed. It’s great for New Zealand. It’s all a part of our plan to continue to fix the basics in health and education and infrastructure, and also to build the future. We haven’t talked about KiwiSaver, but we will talk more in the future about KiwiSaver. We had a great policy announcement at the weekend, and I commend this bill to the House. Hon ANDREW HOGGARD (Minister for Biosecurity) (16:42): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of the Budget 2026/27—or whatever the official name of the bill is. As the previous member was talking about, the Budget isn’t a lolly scramble. It’s not an episode of Oprah. You can’t just hand out free stuff left, right, and centre. You know, that’s not how it works. I’ve come here, to Parliament, from running my own business for 28-odd years, and I’ve always done a budget. The key thing about it is making sure you get the basics right within that budget, making sure you’re balancing, you’re investing in the things that are important. What are the things that are going to grow your business, and. in our case, what’s going to grow the economy? What is the stuff you just have to do? What are the key things that have got to be done year in, year out? That’s the key thing for a budget. It’s not about—and, you know, I’ve heard it in previous Budget debates—this attitude that everyone somehow gets something or their life is determined by what gets handed to them in a Budget. No, the purpose is for us to set up a structure that the economy can run and individuals can make something for themselves in this life, in this country, because they’re empowered to do it because we’ve got the settings right. We have worked on that. We’ve got inflation down—under control from where it was; interest rates back down. These are key things. For any business to be able to flourish, you need those interest rates down, you need that stability; you don’t need out-of-control costs. So that’s key thing that we’ve been doing over the last three years, and, obviously, we’re getting a lot better at it in this Budget now, as well. I think that returning to surplus a year earlier is absolutely so critical because you’ve got to be able to live within your means. Now, I want to touch on three things that I thought were, particularly for me and the ACT Party, really important in this Budget. Number one is something that the ACT Party’s been talking about for a while now, and that is getting spending under control and right-sizing the public sector. You know, we’ve had a situation where the Public Service just exploded and blew out. It’s good to finally see that we’re making more cuts there. We’re looking at consolidation. Obviously, in the ACT Party, we’ve talked about the need to consolidate more, to have less ministries, to have less Ministers, to make sure a ministry is directly accountable to a Minister, to be able to drive the efficiencies and the effectiveness of those Government departments. We hear about that story of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and, supposedly, I’m one of the few Ministers that doesn’t have a responsibility with MBIE. I think virtually every other Minister does have some sort of area where they control in it. That, to me, is so critical. You cannot have good outcomes and productivity where you’ve got a ministry that just doesn’t know who’s in charge, who’s calling the shots. You’ve got to have those clear lines of accountability—so important. Now, we’ll certainly be campaigning on more of that coming up, but, to me, that is really important. I’ve heard some scaremongering out there: that it’s all going to be about cutting the front line—in particular, in one of my areas, biosecurity. No, it is not, because the key thing that people seem to miss is that those front-line services are cost-recovered. When you come back into the country and you pay—or maybe I think it’s people visiting us—that border levy, that’s what funds those people on the front line. So that service is dependent on how many people are coming through. If there’s lots of people coming through, we’ll get more money, we’ll need and be able to afford more people to do that work on the border. That’s how it works. Any cuts that are made or efficiencies that are gained will be in the back room, and there’s certainly stuff we are doing in biosecurity to look at how artificial intelligence (AI) can help to deliver things a hell of a lot faster. Import health standards are taking far too long to develop; AI offers great potential for us to streamline that and make it a lot more effective so our plant breeders can get new genetics into this country so much quicker. The other thing I’m quite keen to talk about, and I think it was probably the really important thing in the Budget that didn’t get the attention it deserved, is the $294 million that’s going into the implementation of the Resource Management Act—oh, sorry, the replacement of the Resource Management Act. That was one of the problems with the Resource Management Act: implementation was never done properly for it. We had all these courts and everyone else trying to decide what it meant and how it worked, and it led to the mess we’re in now. Now, this investment is going to go into ensuring that we’ve got an awesome IT network that sits behind all of these plans. Now, an example that the Minister shared with me was if you want to know how can I do something in my district, my region, wherever? I mean, the example I used was if the neighbouring farm were to come up for sale and I was to purchase it—and, yeah, Mark, if you’re watching, I am still interested. At the moment, suddenly you have got to go and trawl through the regional council rules and regulations and all this other stuff and work out, can I do this? Often, people will go and hire a consultant and spend a whole bunch of money on a consultant to work out what they can actually do with this land or business or whatever it may be that you’re investing in. This system will enable you—assuming we can get it built right and done correctly—just to be able to go online and go, “What can I do? What are the rules? Can I have dairy cows on this bit of land?”, and “Yes, you can, and here are the rules you’re going to follow.” That’s going to make things so much easier for people to get into business, do things, get ahead, and create opportunities, rather than having capital just sitting in bank accounts waiting for consultants and all the rest, and going through rigmarole and process, That money’s doing nothing sitting in a bank account, but if we can speed this process up, then that money is moving through the economy, it’s doing stuff, and spending on other businesses who are also then spending and doing new things. That’s so important. We’ve got so much capital in this country that’s just sitting idle because we’ve got this culture of saying “no” around resource management. So that’s why I think that’s such a critically important piece of this Budget, that just didn’t get the attention it deserved. Now, finally, the final point I want to talk about, and of course it’s my favourite, and that’s the $79 million that’s going to go into controlling wilding pines. So yep, get your chainsaw started—in a safe manner, of course—or whatever works for you. Obviously, I’ve got a sore back, so standing upright works well. But look, this is so critical. We’ve all heard about the challenge that wilding pines play across the high country. It affects 2.2 million hectares—I think was the number, or somewhere around that—could potentially go up to 7 million hectares of land. When it does this, not only is it cutting down the ability for animals to graze pasture, because it’s covered in wilding pines, it’s also impacting biodiversity. The member before was saying, “What’s this Budget doing for biodiversity?” Well, getting rid of these wilding pines is a huge win for biodiversity. I remember visiting the Branch/Leatham station north of Marlborough, and just seeing—there was one valley that was absolutely choked with wilding pines. There was nothing—you could barely move through these trees, there was nothing in the understory. It just looked an absolute desert. Just these spindly little pine trees; everything was dry. Go over to the next valley: native bush, absolutely idyllic New Zealand scenery. That’s what we want more of. It’s not just about the biodiversity, it’s also about our energy sector. You know, these trees can suck up a huge amount of the water that’s in a catchment. They’re very preeminent in the areas where we’ve got our hydro lakes. That’s taking water away from electricity generation, impacting the cost of living for all New Zealanders, but also impacting our irrigation for our agricultural sector and our horticultural sector. You know: they don’t have water, they can’t grow—that impacts food prices. So overall, I think it’s a great Budget. We of course would have probably gone a bit further with some of the cost cutting in terms of getting the right size of Government, but there will be more opportunities for that in the next three years, I hope. I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The next call is a New Zealand First call. I understand it’s a split call. Hon CASEY COSTELLO (Minister of Customs) (16:52): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on behalf of New Zealand First for the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill. I think what I want to highlight first of all is there has been such a clear example in this House today as to the reason we cannot let Labour hold of the purse strings again. Because their deputy leader stood up, and after two years and two Budgets of the “tax cuts for tobacco companies” they still cannot comprehend the fact that you actually allow for reduced excise if you want people to stop smoking. That is the point. But that side of the House cannot seem to understand what is the difference between a tax cut and a responsible Budget. A responsible Budget allows for those conditions that you need to meet within your fiscals to deliver a Budget. Therefore, I just think we need to get rid of this despair, get rid of this idea that we are in doom and gloom times and actually start thinking about—we all left the Budget debate and went to Mystery Creek. We stood in that space talking about our economy, talking about the hope, the opportunity that exists because this Government has done what’s needed to invest in growth. I think that is a fantastic message. But I just want to use my few minutes to actually talk about some of the really positive things. Yes, we came in with a commitment to fix the cost of living, but we also came in with a commitment to get law and order back in control. That is exactly what we’ve delivered. We continue to deliver it, and this Budget did exactly that. With the $70 million investment into Customs to strengthen our border, to actually ensure we’re doing the things that matter to front-line services, to make their jobs easier and better. That is about upgrading X-ray equipment, strengthening security of Customs facilities and Customs controlled areas, new defence equipment and enhanced training for the protection of the customs staff, and increased capacity to store and manage seized illicit goods. These are the practical things that this Budget delivered that seems to get lost in this discussion. It is fantastic to see those initiatives being delivered. We also touched earlier on the boost to ambulance services. Now, there will be the contract negotiations and the costing uplifts of the contract terms for ambulance services, but this was an additional $35 million delivering practical things. This is about establishing two ambulance hubs in Auckland—essential for those workers working in the front-line to be as efficient and effective as possible. Deployment of electronic patient clinical records, additional training and support for ambulance communications centre staff, and additional clinical resource to improve safeguarding of patients. That is what this Budget does. This is the delivery of practical things that make a difference in our everyday lives of our hard-working Kiwi battlers that are out there making New Zealand the great country it is. Then, just recently, we’d also announced the investment of an additional $75 million to the aged residential care providers. This is another uplift that has been delivered to the care sector to ensure we have a sustainable system moving into the future, as well as the work we’re doing on totally reviewing. But one of the other practical things that I think is a really positive step for recognising the importance and value of our older New Zealanders is about changing the SuperGold card into a primary form of legal ID—something that is practical, something that is usable by all of our seniors to make their lives just that little bit easier and a little bit safer. Those are the things that I think this Budget really is important to deliver. We’ve also just a really small investment that is about this front line, about our communities, about our people that are out there making our communities safer and stronger. That is the investment that was being delivered by police into Community Patrols of New Zealand, Neighbourhood Support, and our Pacific Wardens. That investment is about those regional and small communities that actually rely on those volunteer services. It is fantastic, proactive stuff that makes this country what it is. We are tight-knit communities. We go in and we rally for each other. This investment is exactly that. We are investing in infrastructure—we’re building our police stations in Greymouth and Whanganui. There is great stuff in this Budget, and I am—without hesitation—commending it to the House. Hon MARK PATTERSON (Minister for Rural Communities) (16:57): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First in this Budget Estimates debates. Looking at it through my lens of Minister for Rural Communities, and, actually, as one of the many Members of Parliament that has just come back from the Fieldays—and if you want to see the recovery in action, you should have been at the Fieldays. The buoyancy there, the prosperity there that was on display through the incredible uplift in our exports from that critical primary sector, our rural communities, absolutely thriving. If we look at I think 6 percent up above even what we thought back in December, the last time when the SOPI report—the Situation and Outlook for the Primary Industries—came out. So it’s absolutely fantastic. New Zealand’s economy is under way; it is coming over the hill in Red Bands, as it always does. Look, in terms of the Budget, it was great to see us with a number of initiatives supporting rural New Zealand. A few were actually announced post-Budget at the Fieldays through the appropriations, some of them big. There was a $140-odd million land use change package where we’re going to work very closely with various sectors to look at how they can sustainably change land use into higher values while still protecting our environmental sustainability. A really smart, targeted investment to help us in our ambition to actually double our exports. You know, it’s great that we are up to $64 billion, we need to get that up to around $100 billion to fulfil that goal. So there’s still work to do, the trajectory is really encouraging, but we know that we’re going to have to keep investing strategically to help these sectors along the way. Some of the smaller ones, though: the emergency management package—there was some funding in there for Taskforce Kiwi, and anyone that’s been in the involved in emergency response has seen the evolution of this new group of volunteers, primarily from a services background, Armed Services, Police, Fire, that are organising themselves into groups to help with the response to our severe weather events. So some funding for Taskforce Kiwi to help them in those endeavours, I think, was a really, really good spend. As was, as part of that package, our rural advisory groups that advise in the response and recovery: funding to upskill them to get them forward planning—to give them the capacity to forward plan as more of these events seem to be occurring. Some of the bigger stuff within the Budget, in the time that I have left: the rural resilience; the roads—those six highways that we are upgrading: Awakino, the State Highway 2, the Tākaka Hill Road, State Highway 6 down in Haast, and a couple of others. That’s absolutely critical. They’re key choke points; they’re being hit by these weather events and are really impactful for our rural communities. So I’m very pleased to see that funding. The 10,000 new jobs for the skills and trades academies, the pivot away from fees-free into actually building the skills that we need, particularly in our rural communities and our primary sector—things like chainsawing, so that Andrew Hoggard does know how to properly start a chainsaw. Tokomairiro Training in Milton is a great example, and I know—Minister Hoggard and I have actually been there, so I know he does know how to do it properly. But those sorts of initiatives are going to get increased funding and an extra 10,000 places. I know my colleague the Hon Shane Jones was very instrumental in bringing that forward. But my very favourite investment was the $8 million from the Primary Sector Growth Fund that got invested into the Wool Source pigments, particles, and powders. I know tomorrow—oh, it’s the 25th actually—everyone’s on tenterhooks to see the next bull auction. We’re going up, by the auction , 8 percent last week. We’re all on tenterhooks to see how it’s going to go tomorrow, but we have to get out of that commodity space. It’s a great trajectory we are on, but the pigments, particles, and powders is a game-changer for the wool sector, where we take it into a high-end bio-agent to go into dyes and inks and nutraceuticals. That’s in the hundreds of dollars a kilo opportunity. This could transform the wool sector and get it past our ambition of returning to a billion dollar industry for New Zealand. So much to be grateful for in the Budget. Thank you very much. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): This call is also a split call. NANCY LU (National) (17:02): I stand to support and commend the 2026-27 Budget announced by the National Government at the end of last month. Particularly this Budget, as noted on that cover, is securing New Zealand’s future. I think this is the important part, that, particularly given the condition we are in, the global uncertainty and also the major disruptions that we have experienced domestically in New Zealand, we, as a country, need to look forward. And we, as a mature Government, the National-led Government, need to be able to provide to New Zealanders that vision of security and a prosperous future. This is exactly what Budget 2026 is doing. Budget 2026, announced by the National Government, is fixing the basics and building the future on many, many fronts, particularly, overall, the Budget is fixing the basics by returning the Government’s surplus one year before the forecast by Treasury. Budget 2026, and, in fact, the two Budgets beforehand, also led by the National Government, has, overall, $50 billion of savings across the three Budgets. Budget 2026 also has borrowing down by another $6 billion. This, in my professional work as a chartered accountant, is what I call fixing the basics for the books at the Government. It is also building the future. It’s already seen in the work done by the National Government in the last 2½ years, particularly noting the latest GDP growth number issued by Stats New Zealand of a 0.8 percent growth in quarter one in 2026 before the oil crisis in the Middle East. This is a Budget delivering for the security and the prosperous New Zealand future, but also by delivering investment projects and capital projects that would offer 220,000 new jobs for New Zealanders. Now, that’s 220,000 new jobs for all New Zealanders with the forecast that the average wage growth will outpace the average inflation for New Zealand. So that means, New Zealanders are getting better security in having new jobs and a career path to grow, but also having better prosperity in future wage growth that would outpace the inflation. Now, this Budget is also fixing the basics and building the future in health by investing an impressive amount of capital Government budget into front-line healthcare. That includes something that is very personal to myself, which is extending to new moms of newborn babies, a three-day post-natal care. As someone who has had the lived experience of a very horrific birth giving birth to my daughter, this is a very practical Budget policy and Budget investment that a caring New Zealand National Government is delivering for all new mums and new babies. That also includes the new capital invested into, for example, expanding or developing or redeveloping different wards for hospitals across New Zealand. Now, this Budget, Budget 2026, is also fixing the basics and building the future for infrastructure. Like I said a bit earlier, the Budget, invested and committed by the National Government, will create 220,000 new jobs in the next four years and that is from ready-to-go, shovel-ready projects—in fact, for some of them, the construction has already started—in new roads, in new bridges, and like I said a bit earlier, in the hospital wards, as well as solar panels for schools, and as well as, for example, building resilience upgrades and also upgrades to New Zealand rail. Now, that is what I call a Budget that is building for the future that New Zealanders need. Now, this Budget is also fixing the basics and restoring law and order for New Zealanders by already exceeding our Government’s target of reducing victims of crime by 46,000 victims—that is 46,000 individual victims as well as their families and friends in the communities that they’re in. That’s what I call fixing the basics. But the Budget is also invested into building the future for a safer and more secure New Zealand in terms of better front-line policing, so they have the funding and the tools to continue to provide a safer community for New Zealanders; and expanding and building into more courthouses and also Correction services. Now, very quickly: fixing the basics for education. As a mum of two young children, this is the most proudest moment that I see from this Budget, which is building the future for the younger generation in New Zealand by giving them extra classrooms, better classrooms, better teaching materials. So I commend this Budget to the House. TOM RUTHERFORD (National—Bay of Plenty) (17:07): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on Budget 2026 and follow on from the great contribution from my colleague Nancy Lu. Budget 2026 is about securing New Zealand’s future. It’s really easy to come to this place and spray money around, particularly when it’s not your money, and to promise the world and put lots and lots of funding behind it. But sometimes you have to be the adult in the room and sometimes you have to make the difficult decisions. Just like every New Zealand household is experiencing, we, as a Government, have to live within our means, and that’s what this Budget this year has focused on. It would be really easy to promise the world and to increase our taxes, increase our borrowing, but guess what? It’s my generation and the next generation that would have to pay for it. That would make us an Afterpay Government, and that’s simply not what we are. Because decisions we make today impact future generations, if we increase our debt today, it’s my generation and the next that would then have to fund the borrowing that comes with those decisions and the repayments required on the interest associated with that. We, as a Government, have said, “No. We will put future generations’ interests at heart in preparing and delivering this Budget by making the right but tough decisions so that we can set our country up for success in the future.” One example included in this Budget is the redevelopment of the Tauranga Hospital. We are now New Zealand’s fifth-largest city, and our hospital is in urgent need for an upgrade, and I’m delighted to be part of a Government that is delivering that redevelopment for our community. For so long, many people across Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty have cried out for the redevelopment of our hospital, and finally, our community has got a Government that cares and is doing something about it. The Budget focused on four primary things: create jobs with a growing economy, and lift wages. In this Budget alone, wages will grow faster than prices, making life more affordable for everyday Kiwis. Our second focus was to keep taxes low by restoring fiscal discipline, so we avoid further borrowing and tax increases. We’re cracking down on crime; 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime across our communities. That’s 49,000 families who don’t have to put up with the disrepair and destruction that that violent crime has impacted on them. In our Budget— Hon Dr Deborah Russell: Not counting domestic violence, of course. TOM RUTHERFORD: It is part of this Budget, because we’ve increased funding for our front-line services. If we just think about one example, we are increasing the funding we’re giving to upgrade police stations in Greymouth and Whanganui, but, additionally, $34 million to go to St John and to our ambulance services across the country— Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Oh, man, you’re giving me more material! TOM RUTHERFORD: —the men and women who, every day, put on their uniform and run towards the danger—run towards the danger. The other side laugh—they laugh at the expense of our ambulance services across the country. They think it’s a joke—they think it’s a joke—that those men and women who put on their uniform every single day is a laughing matter. That is a disgrace from that side, that our men and women who work in our ambulance services are a joke to that side. They should hang their heads in shame—they should hang their heads in shame that they think it is a laughing matter. Finally, the fourth priority of this Budget was to improve outcomes in health and education. Hon Willie Jackson: Oh, you’ve done nothing there! TOM RUTHERFORD: If we want to make the greatest investment in our future generations, it wouldn’t be for Willie Jackson to resign; it would be for us to invest in our education sector. It would say to our future generations, “We care about you, and we’re going to set you up for success.” This Budget was fiscally responsible. Many will say, “Where were the sweeteners? Where were the lolly scrambles?” But many Kiwis are saying, “Thank goodness we’ve finally got adults in charge—those who know how to fiscally manage our country’s finances and keep us on the straight and narrow.” Not tax and borrow our way to prosperity, but actually live within our means and bring us a brighter future. This Budget is securing New Zealand’s future. We’re fixing the basics and building the future. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) (17:12): Well, when it comes to healthcare, the one measure that matters in this Budget is whether it makes it easier for New Zealanders to get the care that they need in a GP clinic. The fact is that the answer is no. In fact, since the Budget has been announced, there have been more cuts announced to health services in the central North Island. Thousands of jobs have already been laid off by this Government—particularly impacting those who look after the health data and digital systems—but now we’ve moved on to front-line cuts in the Te Manawataki part of the central North Island, where over 126 clinical jobs are set to go. This Budget does not set New Zealand up for sustainable healthcare delivery. No, it is cutting healthcare delivery, and people are losing their jobs right now because of it—psychologists, cancer care workers, physiotherapists, social workers, counsellors. The Government promised no cuts to the front line, and that was a lie. They can find millions of dollars for tobacco companies and for landlords, but they can’t find money to make it more affordable to see the doctor or to make sure that our doctors and nurses in our public hospitals can continue to work there. We’ve had women’s cancer care cut in the lower North Island. Women from this community are having to travel to Christchurch in order to get cancer treated. We’ve had efforts to cut maternity beds; we’ve misled mothers about the three-day stay policy—we absolutely have—and that is why the bill is going to have to be amended by the other side of the House. You’ll recall that the three-day post-natal stay proposal was for a three-day post-natal stay, but now that’s going to be amended so that it’s clear that they can’t deliver on their promise in the first two years to anyone except new mothers, and after that, only half of the eligible women will be actually funded to have a bed. If more than half want it, they won’t be able to get it. I’d like to take my colleague’s points up about ambulances. Well, that was an unimpressive delay by the relevant Minister at Estimates hearings. She could not explain how on earth the small contribution—less than $10 million a year—was going to meet St John’s deficit between their operational costs and the amount they’re funded for, which is more than $100 million. She could not explain it, and yet that same Minister, Minister Costello, had made statements in the press, gloating about this announcement because it was more than 95 percent of St John’s costs covered. Absolutely not true. You might have noticed that Christopher Luxon has stopped talking about the cost of living. He’s given up on fixing it. Well, Labour has not. We’re focused on what matters. Affordable healthcare: we know it’s got more expensive to see a doctor in the community under this Government; we know that costs of maternity scans are going up to $90 across the country—quite a lot when the average woman needs five scans throughout her pregnancy. We know that the cost of prescriptions means that 155,000 New Zealanders are not getting their prescription, and we know that cost remains a barrier to women getting their cervical screening. What did the other side decide to do about it? Nothing. Nothing but write mean things about Labour’s policy on the internet. By the way, they are obsessed with Labour—they are obsessed with Labour, absolutely—but what they can’t justify is the fact that healthcare is getting more and more expensive. A lot of people are missing out. Before we get lectures from the other side about the fact that they want to see healthcare better targeted, well, go ahead—do it! You’re the Government. Go make sure that the 650,000 New Zealanders who can’t afford to go to the doctor, can’t afford to go to their community GP—go make sure that they actually get care. But you’re not: costs have gone up under your Government. Make sure that the 155,000 who can’t afford their prescriptions get it: you’re not doing that either. You implemented a complicated policy that meant many working New Zealanders cannot afford their medicines. We know that when people cannot get these basics—ambulance call outs, pharmacists, their prescriptions, access to cervical screening, to their general practitioner—looking after them gets more expensive down the line. That’s the problem with this Budget: it’s all short-termism, under-investment, kicking the can down the road—and I should add, by the way, that for the first time, there’s no money in the out-years for increases in health cost pressures. This Government is underfunding the health system. Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour) (17:18): We’re debating the Budget in the House, and I think it’s worth stepping back just for a minute to say, what is the Budget? Well, it’s the summary of initiatives, the economic and fiscal update—it’s numbers [laying stacks of Budget documents on desk], after numbers, after numbers, after numbers, after numbers. It’s all about the Government’s plans for the future, and it’s a dense set of numbers. The Government has talked numbers. It’s talked about—and this was in a speech today from the Hon Louise Upston—getting inflation down. They say that they got it down from record highs. It’s worth remembering that when that Government took office, inflation following the pandemic had come down. It had come down by then, to a number that was still high—4.7 percent—and it was on its way down. Under their watch, inflation is now going back up, thanks to the decisions that that Government has made. They’ve talked about their record on jobs and what they want to do for jobs. But under that Government, since they took office, 40,000 New Zealanders have lost their jobs—40,000 more people on their watch, when they are responsible for the books. There are 40,000 more people out of work. On their watch, when they are in Government, business liquidations are at a 15-year high. This is the Government that touts itself as being a responsible manager of the economy. What kind of manager is it when there are 40,000 more New Zealanders out of work and when business liquidations are at a 15-year high? There was one very salient thing that one of the speakers spoke about. That was the money that was being put into the food distribution system. This is, in some ways, a good venture. It is money being put towards helping organisations gather and then distribute food to food banks. As I’ve said, when I visited Fair Food in Avondale—which does exactly that job, gathering food from supermarkets, from hotels, and from producers and then redistributing it to food banks—what it shows is that we have now industrialised our system of food banks. When food banks first started appearing, they were a temporary thing. They were run by churches to help out people in temporary need. They were small and low scale. These days, we have become so wretched in this country that we cannot feed our own people and we have industrialised the system for helping food banks to run. That is a huge shame. While that Government might tout the numbers it’s put in to supporting the food distribution system, it ought to be a mark of shame for our country that we have done so little to support our people and they must rely on an industrialised surplus system for food banks. The figure that was given was 4.5 million meals a month being assisted through the money that this Government is putting in there. That is a mark of shame. That is not a good thing at all. What we need in this Budget was some signs of a vision for New Zealand, some signs that there was a plan to help New Zealand get on its feet again, and some signs that there would be assistance for ordinary everyday people to deal with this cost of living crisis. Was it there? It was not. They say two things when we say, “What are you going to do to grow the economy?” One is they say they’re going to reform the RMA, but that just ignores the fact that they chucked out the five years of work that we had done on reforming the Resource Management Act and said, “Oh, no, we can do it better.”, and that it is still not being done. They wasted all the work that had already been done. Then they say, “Well, perhaps you could support the fast track.”, but we had a fast-track Act. If they didn’t like it, it was up to them to change the bits they didn’t like, instead of chucking it entirely out and bringing their own one in. That is a wasteful Government. It’s a Government that has wasted the time and effort of this House, that has thrown out good work that was already done because it was done by Labour, and that has gone its own way, ensuring that New Zealanders are doing it tough. CATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki) (17:23): Look, we secure New Zealand’s future by growing a stronger economy This is what this Budget delivers, a responsible Budget focused on growing our economy and lifting wages, investing in the things that matter—health, education, and law and order. Budget 2026 forecast the economy to grow and shows that wages are growing faster than prices. What does this mean? This means that New Zealanders will have more to spend. It also projects 220,000 more jobs. On this side of the House, we have an economic plan, and that member, just then, spoke about plans. Well, on that side of the House, all we’re seeing are more taxes promised, more spending, and more debt. On this side of the House, we are all about fiscal management and responsibility, and that is what this Budget delivers. Look, a personal highlight of this Budget for me was the funding for better post-natal care, supporting my three-day stay member’s bill, so that we get better outcomes for mums, families, and babies across New Zealand. Look, it was really disappointing to hear that the Opposition members are not in support of this, because it is really important that we do support better post-natal care for mums. This Budget invests $34.4 million over four years to expand post-natal care, maternity beds, and workforce support. This is a good thing. This means mothers matter. We want to support our mums and babies because having a baby is one of the most special moments in your life. But, hey, it can also be really overwhelming having to grapple with so many things when you have a new baby, and mums deserve that support. I was thrilled to see our Government supporting new mums and babies. As a new mum, you shouldn’t be forced to leave the hospital or a birthing unit when you aren’t ready. Having a baby is a really special time, and you need that support. This is what Budget 2026 does. It puts more support towards post-natal care, and I encourage members on the other side of the House to get behind this, because it means that mothers have choice and it means that we have better support for mums, families, and babies across New Zealand. Let’s talk about the Budget’s record investment in health, especially health infrastructure. This is particularly exciting because Hawke’s Bay Hospital finally has the investment committed for the first stages of its upgrade. Our Government is the Government of infrastructure, and, wow, are we seeing roads, hospital buildings, and classrooms progressing at pace across the country—on time and on budget, I might add. In fact, it was wonderful to visit the Hawke’s Bay Expressway yesterday and see this project driving forward at pace, because this is the project that’s been talked about for years and years and years but no one has delivered it. Well, construction is well under way, it’s happening, and our Government is delivering it. Now, we have the commitment to our Hawke’s Bay Hospital, another project that’s been talked about for years that, finally, we are committing to. We’re already seeing a wonderful upgrade of our radiology department. We opened that. Of course, the radiology department is the beating heart of our hospital. Then we’ve seen the construction of a 28-bed ward, which is also progressing at pace. It’s going to be so exciting to, very soon, be able to have a new linear accelerator cancer treatment machine in our region, which will mean that families do not have to travel to Palmerston North for their cancer treatment. We’re seeing a real investment in health from our Government. We’re putting patients first, and we’re wanting to see better outcomes for patients. Education is also another huge area that we’re laser focused on—lifting performance in education—and it’s great to see a real focus on classrooms, on new infrastructure. Just this week, we’ve announced three new classrooms for Raureka School, which is going to be fantastic, a school in Hawke’s Bay. On this side of the House, we’re committed to fixing the basics and building the future. Hon Willie Jackson: Mr Speaker. MILES ANDERSON (National—Waitaki) (17:28): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You’re a bit early there, Willie. Look, I wanted to talk about a couple of initiatives from this Budget that really impact the Waitaki electorate. In the Waitaki electorate, we have the Otago Central Lakes region, and the Otago Central Lakes region represents 70 percent of the people who live more than two hours from a hospital, and they have been missing out on health services for quite some time. We’ve announced $180 million going into public health services in the Otago Central Lakes region. Phase two of this will be full maternity care, which is really important. Forty-nine percent of expectant mothers leave the area to have their babies because they don’t have the emergency care required when something goes wrong in the birthing process. Over the next three or four years, there’s going to be transformation in the Otago Central Lakes region. It’s going to make a big difference to Dunedin Hospital, which takes all those patients currently, and that’s going to have a knock-on impact for South Otago and North Otago, and they’re going to be able to get access to Dunedin Hospital much faster. The second initiative that really pleased me is the announcement of an extra $79 million for the wilding conifer elimination and eradication process. In New Zealand, there are 2 million hectares of wilding pines. That’s an enormous area. Most of the wilding pines are on Crown property, and the bulk of them are on Department of Conservation (DOC) land. It’s estimated that 1.995000 hectares are on DOC land. They currently spread at 90,000 hectares a year, which is an enormous amount. They are problematic in so many ways. Not only are they gobbling up land, changing the landscape, but they also are water hungry. For example, the catchment of Lake Pukaki, which represents 43 percent of New Zealand’s stored hydro water: at the current rate of spread, it is estimated that anywhere between 30 percent to 50 percent of that water will now be gobbled up by wilding pines. That’s going to lead to some major hydro challenges just for the Pukaki catchment—and that’s just one lake: Tekapo, Ōhau, Hāwea, Wānaka, and the Waitaki hydro schemes are all at risk from wilding conifer. There’s also a fire risk that is posed by wilding pines. We had a sneak preview of what the fire risk is like a few years ago when we had the Ōhau fires. Because of the topography of the country around where the wilding pines are spreading, it makes it very, very difficult to fight those fires. Access is difficult, the topography is steep in most cases, and a fire has the potential to burn for months and months and months. The other area that wilding pines are really causing issues in is indigenous biodiversity. There’s a photograph—an iconic photograph, I’d call it, because I took it—that’s been in a number of publications, showing the difference between a fenced-off area of land, probably 400x100 metres square— Hon Willie Jackson: Get to the point. MILES ANDERSON: I’m getting there, Willie—I’m getting there, Willie. Outside of that area, the area’s grazed. Within the fenced-off area where the wilding pines are taking over, there’s only one native species. Outside of that area, there are 18 native species. So that’s an indication of what the wilding pines are doing, not only to our— ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The member’s time has expired. Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour) (17:33): That’s a hard act to follow. That was riveting stuff from that member. I want to thank you very much for the brilliant speech. It’s sad, as we’ve listened to some of the speeches today, how naïve this Government is in terms of the damage that they’ve been causing in terms of our Māori, and not just Māori communities—I’m going to talk about Māori development, obviously—but in terms of our communities right across the country who have suffered because of the terrible, terrible Budget. In terms of Māori, things couldn’t be worse. We’ve got 11.5 percent Māori unemployment at the moment; we’ve got record Māori youth unemployment at the moment; 60 percent of the homeless are Māori; homeownership in terms of Māori is at a record low; Māori health outcomes are getting worse by the day. So it’s a sad state of affairs that, when we turn and we look to who should be supporting us—and it surely has to be our Minister for Māori Development, our Minister for Whānau Ora, the Minister of Conservation, the Minister for Māori Crown Relations, Minister Potaka. But what have we found in terms of Minister Potaka? He’s trying to sell off as much conservation land as he can before anyone notices. It’s as simple as that. He’s taken the self-interest of Shane Jones’ Fisheries Amendment Bill and applied it to our conservation land for the mining interests and property speculators. It’s sad what’s happening. The Government’s coalition policies have negatively affected all Māori institutions, our te reo, and every Treaty-related issue. Funding decisions have disproportionately harmed Māori communities, so much so that Minister Goldsmith’s previous Minister, Chris Finlayson, is now hanging his head in shame at the work of this coalition Government. He came out very clearly the other day— Hon Paul Goldsmith: You always blame me. Hon WILLIE JACKSON: You know this is right, Minister Goldsmith. Chris Finlayson was very clear: the Māori-Crown relationship is at an all-time low. Why? Because of this useless Minister Goldsmith over here and Minister Potaka, who’s been a disgrace in terms of what he’s been delivering for Māori. It’s all culture-war politics, and Tama Potaka has sat there while his fellow Ministers are watering down Treaty causes, and while his fellow Ministers are taking funding away from Maōri in the housing area and the house area. The question’s got to be asked: what has Minister Potaka and these other Ministers delivered in terms of Maōri over the last three years? The reality is virtually nothing. Yes, maybe $12 million for the next 12 months—$12 million from the Minister for Māori Development for the interests of Māori. Absolutely disgraceful. Where is the money for Māori housing? Transferred out to the mainstream fund. Where is the money for Māori health providers? There’s nothing happening. All that’s happening from this Government is constant attacks, in terms of Treaty clauses, watering down Treaty clauses; attacks on the Waitangi Tribunal; attempts on the language, te reo Māori—and we have a Māori Minister, aided by Minister Goldsmith, aided by useless Māori MPs on that side who sit by and do nothing in terms of these attacks on Māori. It is a shameful state of affairs. The books may balance, but families and the whenua don’t. That’s just the reality. The Government has money for roads but not for people. This coalition is spending billions while delivering less. You have to ask the question: what are you doing for Māori? Rather than supporting Winston Peters’ nonsensical strategies with regards to te reo and Māori words, how about supporting Māoris in their communities? Shane Jones had to dump his Fisheries Amendment Bill because it was so full of fish-hooks that it was just nonsensical. How long will Minister Potaka’s privatisation of Department of Conservation land last before he is forced to do the same? That’s the reality. People are denying it out there. The reality is, in terms of a Māori development budget, it has been virtually zero. Māori people are rising up, Pākehā people are rising up, communities are rising up. Look at the polls; look what’s happening. They’re going to get rid—we’re going to get rid—of this useless, rotten Government. Kia ora, Mr Speaker. CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti) (17:38): [Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.] [Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.] Aotearoa are warming up to Matariki. Like Matariki—the promise of a new year—Budgets should also promise new hope. This Budget is absolutely bereft of hope. All we’ve heard is numbers straight out into the air—ideas, promises. We already know this Government promised to fix the cost of living. You only need a stroll through your electorate to see you’ve failed. This Government have not fixed anything, in spite of all the ideas thrown out there, all the promises. Just to add to the list of broken promises in the last 2½ years, you know what we haven’t heard? People. We haven’t heard how this is going to impact whānau; grown families who are moving back in with mum and dad, with their children, in spite of working. There are whānau in Wainuiōmata who are taking their growing families and moving back in with their parents because, in spite of working, they cannot afford to live in the Aotearoa governed by this National-led coalition. We’re not hearing about whānau in the Hawke’s Bay who are watching services close and leave their communities, whānau who are telling us that when costs increase, so does domestic abuse, and yet they are seeing services close and leave their communities. We’re not hearing about whānau in the Wairarapa who are noticing an increase in homelessness. We are not hearing about the support for farmers still devastated by the recent weather events in Tairāwhiti and Wharekahika. We’ve heard ideas and promises that allude to all these things, but never people-centric policy or people-centric spending. Katie Nimon: I just don’t think you were listening. CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL: Oh, no, don’t worry, I was listening and so was Aotearoa. Worse than listening, member for Napier, people are living it. People are living the broken promises of this National-led coalition. They are listening with their hearts and their souls because they are suffering. Now, you know why this Budget is also flawed, further to the fact that it is not people focused. I’ll give you an example, and that is the Māori economy, which is often lauded in this House, an economy modelled No. 1 on whānau, people, whakapapa, longevity. Not just three-year ideas about projects for now and for another three years, if you get that far. It’s focused on whenua, and our connection to it. In this Budget, you hear a lot about land use—the use of land. You don’t hear about the connection and the value beyond financial outputs in this Budget. That’s why it’s flawed. That’s why people around Aotearoa are hōhā, and that’s why I’m so proud to stand with the many across Aotearoa who opposed the potential sale of bits and bobs of whenua around this country—whenua that may seem like bits and bobs to members opposite, but represents significant value to whānau. And of course, there’s whairawa—whairawa. Naturally, people can make money. The Māori economy has proven that—$126 billion—it’s probably actually worth more. We need to measure the value that our Māori businesses and iwi put into our economy more effectively. The point is that’s why whānau across Aotearoa are hōhā—they’re exhausted—because every promise that we hear from this National-led coalition is bereft of hope, and it is not focused on the people who actually build and sustain an economy. [Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.] [Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.] and I would like to welcome Te Maringi Haerewa, the newest member of the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti team, servicing the Tairāwhiti from Pōtaka to Ūawa. Tēnā koe e te Māngai. KATIE NIMON (National—Napier) (17:43): Look, it’s a great opportunity to speak to this wonderful Budget on behalf of the people of Hawke’s Bay and northern Hawke’s Bay. Following that performance from the member opposite, I can talk about the things that are in here for everyday families and people in Napier, Wairoa, all the way up to Poverty Bay. This has been what I think is a really substantial, back-to-basics Budget. No frills, not saying, “Oh, we’re going to do this big spandangled Budget.”, and then not deliver it, which we’ve had from previous Governments. We have got an extra $5.5 billion of funding into healthcare. We don’t hear that from the Opposition because that’s not convenient for them. Let me take you through some of the amazing things that we are seeing for everyday people. Look, on the surface, it might sound like this is for councils, for property developers—they build houses for people; they build houses for people and family to live in. So look, I’m going to take you through some of these highlights. Financial incentives for council to consent more housing growth. Who benefits from that? Everyday Kiwis looking for homes in their communities. We are going to incentivise development and growth in our regions. This is a big deal. Another one that I think is key, especially for the people— Cameron Luxton: Grown-up thing to do. KATIE NIMON: Yeah, I know, isn’t that nice? I want to see more spending in education in Hawke’s Bay, and look at that. We’ve had it. A huge increase in funding for education across New Zealand. And in fact, that is the future economy for our entire country. The better educated our Kiwi kids are, the better that we succeed. Now, this is a massive spend in secondary achievement, but also across the entire sector. We’ve got primary as well as secondary, but we’re having the roll-out of the change from NCEA to the New Zealand Certificate, which is going to make a massive difference. The better we have a global benchmark for our students, the better they can achieve. But one thing I’ve been saying, and I really think is important, is we want global standards for our kids, but we want those global opportunities to be in New Zealand, and more importantly, I want those global opportunities to be in the Napier electorate. The other thing that’s going to make a big difference for everyday Kiwis is pushing the banks to pay more for financial regulation. Now, on the surface that might seem like a sort of bureaucratic financial change, but that is one less thing for everyday Kiwis to have to pay for. We don’t want to put up taxes. We are the party of less taxes. So guess what? We see banks making profits. We make them pay for the services that they benefit from. More changes across social development and employment, across healthcare. Now, part of that $5.8 billion of extra funding into health—let me talk about the redevelopment design for Hawke’s Bay hospital. Cameron Luxton: That’s not for people, is it? KATIE NIMON: It is for people, Cameron Luxton. Now, Hawke’s Bay hospital— we’ve actually had a really contentious conversation over the last wee while as to whether we redevelop the current site of Hawke’s Bay hospital, which is on Omahu Road, or whether we go for a greenfield option. While greenfield sounds like a really exciting option, the best value for money for everyday Kiwis, and the best promise of constant—sorry, continuity is the word I’m going for, thank you very much—is expanding the site that’s there. We have a wonderful footprint. We have just invested in the radiology department that has recently been opened by Minister Simeon Brown. We have got a 28-bed inpatient unit being built at the moment which is being delivered on time, under budget, which is really exciting. All of these things are part of that master plan and that programme. This Budget saw money for the redevelopment design for the Hawke’s Bay regional hospital. This is a big win for Hawke’s Bay. We’ve got a additional funding for resilience work. Now, access to— Hon Member: Very important. KATIE NIMON: Yeah. Access to Gisborne, the Poverty Bay flats from Ōpōtiki, the Waioweka Gorge State Highway 2 is incredibly vulnerable; we’ve seen that under recent weather events. The Government has committed more money to ensuring that the resilient access to infrastructure, to economy in Gisborne prevails. Now, that effects the entire region, but, of course, we saw an immediate impact when those weather events shut down access to that area. We want to make sure that people can get places, access education, access healthcare, access business, and move food around the country. Another thing we did was double the trades academy places for high school access to industry. Now, this is massive. We’ve been to the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) a number of times and EIT is a huge part of Hawke’s Bay, and we have schools— Hon Penny Simmonds: Great polytech. KATIE NIMON: We do, Minister for Tertiary Education, Penny Simmonds; a fantastic polytech that is really delivering outcomes for our regional industries. They want to see more trades places at trades academies. We are delivering that as part of our Budget. In my final few seconds, as a new mum, there is a 1.5 percent increase to early childhood education (ECE) subsidy rates, which means a lower impact on young families putting their kids through ECE so they can get back to work. Dr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill) (17:48): Budget 2026 is about fixing the basics and building the future. It is a Budget to support New Zealanders at every stage of life, from birth through to retirement, while investing in the services and infrastructure that will strengthen our country for generations to come. It begins with giving every Kiwi the best possible start in life. This is why Budget 2026 funds three days of postnatal care for new mums and their babies. Those first few days are critical and this investment ensures families receive the support they need during one of life’s most important moments. As our children grow, education becomes the foundation for their future success. This Budget continues our education reforms, including changing the NCEA—reforming NCEA, building more classrooms, ensuring young New Zealanders leave school with the knowledge and skills they need for success in a changing world. We are also investing $69 million to double trades academy places to 20,000 alongside free trade training, creating more pathways for young people to gain critical skills and build rewarding careers. Of course, skills and qualifications must lead to opportunities. This is why Budget 2026 forecasts the creation of 220,000 new jobs over the next four years. These jobs will be driven by major infrastructure investments in roads, rail, hospitals, and other projects that not only strengthen our economy but improve the lives of everyday New Zealanders. At the same time, vocational and skills-based—[Interruption] ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Members down the back, if you’re going to have a conversation, please leave the Chamber. Dr CARLOS CHEUNG: At the same time, vocational and skills-based pathways will ensure young Kiwis are ready to take these opportunities. As people build careers, raise their families, and contribute to our economy, they deserve access to quality healthcare. Budget 2026 delivers an additional $5.5 billion for front-line health services, helping reduce pressure on our healthcare system and improving access to care. We are also investing an additional $54 million for Pharmac to purchase medicines, ensuring more New Zealanders can access the treatments they need. Looking to the future, this Budget also includes capital investment to support planning for a potential fifth public hospital in Auckland to ensure our health infrastructure keeps pace with our growing population. Besides health, a strong society also requires safe communities. This is why Budget 2026 provides an additional $50 million for front-line policing, helping to keep our streets safe and supporting the officers who work every day to protect New Zealanders. These investments contribute to New Zealand being recognised as the second-safest country in the world. Let me repeat: the second-safest country in the world. As we move into middle age, preventative healthcare becomes increasingly important. This is why this Budget extends eligibility for the bowel cancer screening programme to the age of 56, helping detect illness earlier and improving health outcomes for thousands more New Zealanders. When New Zealanders reach retirement, we continue to support them. Budget 2026 invests another $36 million to make the SuperGold card an official form of identification, making it easier for seniors to access services and participate fully in their communities. This Budget follows New Zealanders through every stage of life, from birth through to retirement, from supporting mums and babies to educating our young children, creating jobs, strengthening healthcare, building safe communities, improving preventative health, and supporting our seniors. It is a Budget that fixes the basics while building for the future. It is a Budget that invests in people. Like the previous speaker said, “It’s all about the people.” This Budget is about the people. It’s about creating opportunities and it helps ensure that every New Zealander can look forward to a brighter future. We are here to fix the basics and build the future. I commend this Budget to the House. Hon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) (17:53): I would like to know if there is just one thing in this Budget that helps Kiwis with the cost of living—just one thing. Because I’ve listened to all of those speeches, all of those points from that side of the House. I’ve been listening really clearly, and I haven’t heard one single thing that would help New Zealanders struggling right now with the cost of living. Not one thing to help with buying food at the end of the week when there’s not enough money to buy bread for the school lunches, to pay rent or go towards your accommodation costs. There’s nothing in there that helps Kiwis pay for their rent and their accommodation costs that continue to go up. There’s nothing for transport, at a time when transport costs have got higher. Nothing to help New Zealanders pay for getting to and from work, to and from school, to and from training—nothing in there for those New Zealanders. And there’s nothing in there for those parents who are struggling to even buy clothes for their kids in winter as it gets colder. There is nothing in this Budget at all that helps New Zealanders with the cost of living. It goes dead silent over there, because all we’ve heard so far about what this Budget has evidently done for New Zealand is somehow make the economy better. But it hasn’t—it hasn’t. Because, if we look between the forecast for 2023 and the forecasts that we’ve got right now in 2026, we can show a stark contrast in the economic deterioration that has occurred under this Government’s watch. GDP growth went from 2.8 percent in 2023 to 1.2 percent in 2026. GDP per capita growth: 1.5 percent to 0.6 percent. Unemployment: from 4.8 percent, now to 5.5 percent under this Government’s watch. Inflation: 2.2 percent to 4 percent. All the while, debt $4 billion higher than forecast when this Government came into action. So not only did this Budget not give Kiwis anything to help with the cost of living pressures that they’re currently struggling with, but it didn’t even do what they promised, which was to make our economy better. It has actually deteriorated under their watch. What I think has occurred is National’s actually given up. They’re walking away. They’ve given up on actually even trying to address the fact that the cost of living is a problem for New Zealanders. That is really sad, when there are so many families out there who are just struggling to try and get by. There is no actual change to what’s happening right here in the Wellington region, where we have seen record numbers of liquidations. Businesses that actually withstood the global financial crisis, businesses that withstood the shocks of COVID, have folded under this Government’s watch. In my main street in Jackson Street, I’ve visited businesses that cannot any longer survive the economic downturn that has occurred in Wellington due to cuts and the downward spiral of our local economy. People know that. People know that that has happened under this Government’s watch. It has detrimentally impacted, whether it’s a hairdresser, a restaurant, a cafe, a nail technician—all of those small businesses that rely upon Kiwis having a bit of money in their back pocket have had to close their doors permanently because there is nothing here to help New Zealand get going again. When I think about whether or not National has given up, we only need to look at their conference that happened on the weekend that was held in the Hutt. When Chris Bishop himself was asked about the seat of Hutt South, he said, “Well, that’s traditionally a Labour seat.” Case in point, they’ve given up—they’ve given up. They’ve even conceded in this own area. National has not given one piece of evidence of how they are delivering on the cost of living crisis for New Zealanders. That speaks for itself. Because when we meet people in the street, when we talk to the mum trying to make lunches out of no food, when we meet with the kids who need an extra pair of shoes but mum or dad can’t afford those things, when we see those elderly seniors who can’t afford to buy anything except a can of soup and some crusty bread that they’re eating day after day because that’s all they can afford to purchase and their nutrition goes down because that’s all that they can afford to buy, this Budget gave nothing to those Kiwis that are struggling to be able to just feed themselves, to be able to make basic repairs on their homes after a weather event, to be able to get on a bus and get into town, to be able to keep themselves warm in winter. This is a heartless Budget, because at a time when New Zealanders are suffering more than they have ever done before, there is not one scrap thrown out to those people who have got their hands out waiting for something. What they’re waiting for, I think, is a change of Government before they will ever get a decent cost of living response from people who care. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Members, the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7.30. Sitting suspended from 5.58 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Good evening, members. When we broke for the dinner break, we were debating the Appropriation (2026/27 Estimates) Bill. The next call is the second half of a split call. ARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa) (19:30): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ve been thinking about the way that New Zealanders have trust and confidence in Governments. Today, we’ve spent our time in the House talking about the Public Service coming along to Parliament and giving answers that New Zealanders can have faith and confidence in, and at a time when around the world elections feel increasingly tilted and major parties aren’t speaking to the concerns of people, it is incumbent upon not only public servants but all of us in this House to maintain the trust of the people and make sure that we are governing in their interests. That is why it’s hard to sit on this side of the House and listen to backbenchers on the Government side reading their speech notes about all of the good things in this Budget that they say will change New Zealanders’ lives. Ordinary New Zealanders are pretty reasonable people. They will give you a fair go if you are defending your Budget and the idea that austerity will be the thing that will help them, because that is part of a story which we also, as New Zealanders, are telling ourselves, which is that we have to pull up our socks in times of global uncertainty but that things will be hard. There are New Zealanders out there who are working harder and longer hours to pay for their bills, and they believe in having this Government deliver for them because they are told that if they work hard, they will be able to afford the groceries and the power bills and they believe that they will be able to save enough for their families to get ahead and for their children to buy houses. We hear these speeches that tell us that small, incremental change for things like maternity care will make up for the deep and lasting cuts to our Public Service, and for the most vulnerable people in our society who need it the most right now, it’s pretty hard for them to stomach that, and it is pretty hard to look at our Government and find that trust and confidence that we need people to have in Aotearoa. This was a Budget that was balanced by shifting cost on to the people who are already three steps behind. Young people are out of work in record numbers, one in five of them—100,000 New Zealanders are out of work, most of them young. There is nothing in this Budget for those working people who are putting in hundreds of job applications now that they have been laid off, or who are paying to go to job interviews with petrol that is more expensive or buses that are more expensive because of this Government’s choices. There is nothing in there for the disabled people who will lose access to the vital care and support that they need in our community, and the Government has responded by putting up rents for social housing tenants. Who is that? That is the man I met on Sunday who was in a wheelchair, living in a social house—a Kāinga Ora house—with his disabled son. The Minister has said that this Budget will make it easier for him to get a house, and so he is earnestly looking to Government MPs to tell him how, when a Government Minister is cynically making that comment, knowing that he has put up his rent by $31 a week, and that will make him worse off. Just to win the argument, and just to make a good speech, the Minister has said that 30 percent of these tenants in social houses can afford to pay more. That is a cynical assessment based on one night of census data. When we need people to have trust and confidence in Government and to fill in the census truthfully, he has used that data at an aggregated level to make decisions about what he thinks people can afford. This is the same Government with Ministers who have said that these people had “effectively won the lotto”, and it is shameful. Youth homelessness is at an all-time high, and those things are connected. Last week, there were two brothers who were dropped off by one of their family members to sleep under the eaves of the Methodist church. There is nothing in this Budget that helps them. We were lucky to have LinkPeople assist them and reach out to them, and they saw this as being urgent because, they told me, it was a matter of days before they would be injecting meth. Meth because it’s cold and meth because that is the best thing in their lives, if you are 17 and 20 and you are brothers who are sleeping, homeless, on the streets in South Auckland. There is nothing in this Budget that will help them. What could this Budget have done? It could have addressed rising grocery prices, which we know are a problem in our economy. They’re a chokehold on small businesses, as well as on the people who rely on the grocery duopoly to get by. It could have addressed petrol price shocks, which are hurting workers and manufacturers. It could have addressed insurance costs, which are rising. It could have addressed personal debt, which is papering over the cracks for too many families. Is anything in our economy more affordable now than three years ago? From a Government that stood at the election hustings and said, “We will fix the cost of living.”, this is one more thing where ordinary New Zealanders, who are doing what they have been told to do—they are saving as much as they can and they are working more hours—look at their institutions and say that it’s not true any more. The deal is being broken, and they’re the ones who are being asked to pay for this Budget. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I understand that this is a split call. Dr LAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green) (19:35): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Budget 2026 by this Government is a far cry from what the people of Aotearoa truly deserve. On one hand we see a Government that is pandering to the super-rich by their tax cuts for landlords, their tax cuts for tobacco companies, their tax cuts for offshore oil and gas companies, and by their selling off Aotearoa one piece at a time with Investment NZ. This is not just us saying it. As we saw in the National Business Review just last week, the wealthiest in Aotearoa, collectively, have added $27 billion to their assets in one year. What does that mean in context? Minister Nicola Willis has said that we need to tighten our belts and we need to have austerity measures, and, therefore, the net operating package in Budget 2026 is $2.1 billion for the entirety of the country, while the wealthiest, who own more than more of half of the people in Aotearoa New Zealand, added $27 billion—more than 10 times this Government’s operating budget—in one single year. That is disgraceful. Those are the decisions—and they are political decisions—that this Government has made. Those are the political decisions that this Government has made, on one hand pandering to the super-rich, and, on the other hand, punching down on those who need support from this Government the most. We have seen them punishing our beneficiaries over and over and over again while giving tax cuts to the super-rich. We have seen that in Budget 2026. To give a specific example in one of my shadow portfolios, if we are looking at education, we have seen further centralisation and further politicisation by this Government when it comes to education. We have seen that, once again, the budget for the operational fund for schools has not met inflation. For schools, they received a 2.5 percent increase when inflation in the Government’s own fiscal strategy is going to increase to a peak of 4 percent, not to mention that it’s even higher for schools when you’re looking at a fuel crisis. When looking at the previous year, the Budget had an increase of 1.5 percent for operational funding when the forecasted Consumers Price Index (CPI) was 2.3 percent. This year, for early childhood education, the increase was 1.5 percent while the CPI was 4 percent, and so we continuously see that the Government has undercut, underfunded, and, effectively, cut our education budget—not to mention that to match operational funds with the CPI was a National Party election commitment in 2023, and they couldn’t even meet that. That is disgraceful. We have seen that the changes that this Government has made with KiwiSaver have meant a $700 million fiscal hole in its Budgets both last year and this year. This was confirmed in this year’s Budget when it did not factor the KiwiSaver cost pressures for teachers as part of that, and so another $160 million needed to be added in this year’s Budget for that fiscal hole by the Government changing the KiwiSaver settings. We have seen that this Government, effectively, has punched down and has screwed over teachers, nurses, doctors, public servants, lawyers, academics, workers, students, women, migrants, Māori, young families, disabled communities, and rainbow communities, not to mention the environment. So who is this Government really here for? Hon Matt Doocey: The working people. Dr LAWRENCE XU-NAN: Apparently not, because what we are seeing is that this Budget does nothing for the working people. We are not seeing any of those benefits going to the working people. What we need to see—and the Green Party has developed it—is, therefore, a tax system that is for all of us. We need to have an education system that is for all of us, a health system that is for all of us, and public infrastructure and digital infrastructure that are there for all of us. We’re not seeing any of that in this Budget, so the Green Party will not be supporting Budget 2026. SCOTT WILLIS (Green) (19:40): Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have seen further evidence, from this Government, through the Budget, of the chaos, the confusion, and the clear incompetence of the Government, and I don’t say that lightly. In line with this Government’s fascination with fossil fuels, the Government decided to reallocate funding from the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund to ensure we funded the liquefied natural gas (LNG) procurement process. The high spot prices from 2024 revealed clearly to the Government something that they simply weren’t aware of before—surprisingly, that we have a dry year occasionally. Their first response was to say “hard cheese” to industry and to manufacturing. It was to say “hard cheese” to those people in the regions losing their jobs. It was to say “hard cheese” to those people facing unemployment. Little by little, it seems to have clicked that this is not a winning strategy for votes. It’s not a winning strategy for votes in the region. It’s not a winning strategy if you want to get re-elected. That’s when LNG became the solution for a Government bereft of ideas and unwilling to lead, for a Government tied to the fossil fuel sector, and for a Government that campaigned on electrifying New Zealand but is actually seeking fossil fuel molecules instead of our renewable electrons that are available if we only went looking for them. The Budget tells us where we’re going with this Government, but you can’t drive to the Rapture in an SUV. During scrutiny week, the Minister for Energy clearly stated that, whether the power companies wanted it or not, the Government will require them to buy LNG—no ifs, buts, or maybes. It’s guaranteed. You’ll be required to do it. When they are compelled to pay, they’ll pass that cost on to ordinary Kiwis, who are already struggling with the cost of living. We’ve heard from the big power companies that they don’t have any need for LNG. They have firming secured till 2035. There is no need for our LNG. The Sapere report by David Reeve, Stephen Batstone, and Corina Comendant has also rubbished the LNG proposal for the electricity sector. It’s a rushed response by this Government, who really doesn’t know what it’s doing. The Concept gas market outlook report says that the electricity sector is in good condition with the forward curve indicating no expectation of dry-year stress at least until 2029. And yet the Minister is seeking to force the gentailers to pay for LNG when it’s not wanted and it’s not needed, at a time when the orange narcissist who squats in the White House continues to cause chaos with his warmongering, threatening fossil fuel deliveries. Kiwis aren’t fooled by this Government’s claim that the power companies will somehow not pass on the LNG cost to consumers. Kiwis aren’t fooled by that. If the Government forces them to take LNG, of course that cost will be passed on. This Government seems to have become high on the fumes from a gas well. Winter is hitting hard in the South, and those working at the front line report more energy hardship than anywhere else. Sumaria Beaton-Sikisini, the general manager of Awarua Synergy in Invercargill, said that “showing up in cold homes, constrained budgets, and tough choices between heating and other essentials”, that’s where hardship is shaping up. I have been into numerous homes in the deep South. I’ve been into homes where the black mould was like paint in the bathrooms. I’ve been into homes where there are holes in the floor where there needs to be repairs done. I’ve been in homes where people are really suffering, and yet this Government claimed $8.5 million of savings from the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme in this year’s Budget. That’s $8.5 million taken from the people most at risk. That’s $8.5 million taken from our most vulnerable. Not only are we condemning Kiwis to greater hardship; we’re going to push more hardship on them. Dr VANESSA WEENINK (National—Banks Peninsula) (19:45): Thank you, Madam Speaker. This year’s Budget is a credit, I think, to Nicola Willis, who has delivered a very sensible Budget at a time where it could be tempting to offer some lollies and some excitement for the general election. This has been a very careful Budget, and when I say “careful”, it’s because this is a time in the world where there is uncertainty and national security is at risk all around the world. Our Prime Minister has explained our strategic plan to make sure that we are playing our part in the world, that we are securing our own future, fixing the basics in our own place, and securing our place and building our future so that we can contribute further. One of the ways, actually, that we need to be self-sufficient and secure in our future is in our energy sector. The previous member speaking claimed some strange things about the energy sector, but it is important that New Zealand is aware that this Government is delivering more renewable energy projects than has been delivered in the last eight to 10 years. It has, in this Budget, committed to co-paying and funding more electricity generation through Genesis Energy. We have committed to the Solar on schools programme, reprioritising some funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority on to the schools so that they’ll have solar panels and batteries or other ways of redistributing electricity within their own schools to reduce their bills but also to improve the security of the electricity in their communities. For them, across the country, having a wide, distributed solar system is very important. We’ve got more investment into geothermal, into wind farms. It’s how you set up the system to be able to enable those that is very important and practical. In this time of uncertainty with fuel supply, we’ve also put aside money just in case more disruption occurs; $450 million has been put aside as a contingency in case we need to extend and fund more initiatives because of fuel insecurity; $150 million is for families who are getting the in-work support payment. That’s continuing on until we get to a point—and we’ve been very careful to define a time and a targeted population of people who get this money, and we’re being very careful to explain when it will come to an end. Once fuel prices get below $3 a litre for more than four weeks, that subsidy will end. We’ve also funded for more fuel to be landed in New Zealand, so we’ve got an extra nine days, I think it is, with 90 million litres of diesel that’s onshore. All of those things that we are doing are creating security of our energy supply, whether that be for driving our industries or for heating and warming our homes. Energy is the absolute core of our security as a nation, but also so is our defence force. That’s why we’re increasing our budget, looking after our people within our defence force, looking after them by making sure that they stay working for us. I’m hoping that that will mean better working conditions and pay—but also where they live, the homes for them, and their working conditions and where they work on bases. We’ve already had a process of updating facilities within our bases. Glad to see some of those happening, including some in Burnham Military Camp where I used to work—the medical treatment facility has been upgraded there, not from this Budget but from previous. So these are continuing on and it’s important that we fix these basic requirements within our energy sector and our Defence Force so that we can continue to be safe and secure here at home, and develop our industries, but also contribute overseas. That’s another way that National is fixing the basics and building the future. SAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga) (19:50): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s great to be able to stand on behalf of the Government and support the Budget that was sent through the other week. It was a good Budget; a confident Budget from a party and a Government and a country that is turning around and fixing the basics and building the future. It was a sensible Budget. It’s always tempting at this time of the cycle to go spraying money around, and we’ve seen that happen. But we are a sensible Government and we know that that isn’t the way to fix things. The consequences of that sort of recklessness will be incredibly, incredibly damaging. We’re about fixing the basics, Madam Future—we’re about building the future, Madam Speaker. My apologies. It was a good Budget for Tauranga—and that’s a confident region, if I’ve ever seen one. It reminds me every time one of our Ministers from Wellington comes up and he says, “Sam, this is a fantastic electorate. I can just feel the positivity—people out there building stuff and getting ahead.” We saw the Tauranga Hospital redevelopment—desperately needed for a growing city. People keep coming because it’s so good. You’ve seen the GDP growth in Tauranga almost double the national average since 2000. Significant population growth as well. We saw $1.8 billion into the Cambridge to Piarere, which will connect it to State Highway 29. We need to keep going, and I can promise you I’m going to keep pitching for a tunnel through those Kaimais as well, because we need to boost our productivity. We’ve got the best port, the biggest port in New Zealand, and we need to be able to get those goods from the port out to the rest of the country, and more importantly, our world-leading primary produce from the Waikato and from our horticulture regions into the port and out there to the world. We are New Zealand’s gateway to the world, and frankly the Port of Tauranga also needs its berths approved. That needs to be extended, and I’m getting pretty sick and tired—I know a lot of people are too, and it’s having a significant economic impact on us at home and it’s holding up our country. But I was back in Tauranga on Friday, I got back to see the Young Grower of the Year awards. You want to see how good positivity looks? You get into Tauranga and you go and chat to young people working in horticulture. They are smart and they are innovative and they are the next generation. We’re up at $6 billion now, kiwifruit, as an industry. It is going from strength to strength, and its industries like kiwifruit that are going to help us double our exports by 2035. Now, what was in this Budget for health? I can tell you what was in there: a significant amount. Building on record investments from previous Budgets, a $5.5 billion increase in funding to front-line services from a Government and a Minister. Thank you, Minister Doocey, as well, for all your work and some incredible mental health statistics coming out there from our first mental health Minister. We are making sure that we focus the money on the front-line services, we’re delivering for patients. That is what we are focused on. A number of new hospital rebuilds and redevelopments; I’ve already mentioned Tauranga, but there’s a few others in there as well. I know Dr Reti was instrumental in the Whangārei Hospital redevelopment upgrade, and he’ll be very proud of that legacy as he is soon to depart this House. Thank you, Dr Reti. Law and order also got significant investment, and you don’t see it in the news anymore like you did three years ago because the problems are nowhere near substantive as they were previously. That’s the main—if you don’t have a country with law and order, well, what happens? It slips away; people don’t want to be there anymore. We’ve got that under control. I also want to give a brief mention, in this short five- minute speech, to our wonderful education Minister Erica Stanford, and all that she has done. She was up in Tauranga recently, and everyone loves her wherever she goes around the country. She continues to invest, and we’ve seen it through this Budget—$131 million in teacher and learning support, a $74 million package to support the implementation of refresh curriculum. And frankly, Minister, if it wasn’t you, it wasn’t our Government in charge of education, my wife and I would be seriously considering where we send our kids to school. Our kids are all at State schools; we’re very proud to have them there. But I wouldn’t have that confidence if it wasn’t a National-led Government and Minister Stanford in charge of it, because we saw the mess that we had previously, the horrid declines of a future of New Zealanders, a generation of New Zealanders’ potential left to waste because the Government didn’t care and didn’t fix the basics, didn’t lay the foundations. Well, our Government is laying the foundations, whether it be in the economy, whether it be in the export space, whether it be in health, law and order, defence, education, the National-led Government is fixing the basics and building the future. VANUSHI WALTERS (Labour) (19:55): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I often think it was one of my greatest privileges to start my political journey when Grant Robertson was the Minister of Finance. He understood the value of Budget documents, that they are more than the numbers on a page. He called them “moral documents”. He said that “A strong economy is important, but we must not lose sight of why it is important, and it is most important for us all to have better lives.” It’s not just an accounting exercise; it’s a statement of priorities and values. The inverse is also true. When we see what isn’t funded that tells us what’s being devalued, what this Government does not value. Today, I want to talk about priorities, because the Government is making decisions here. They are continuing to support some questionable priorities at the cost of other expenditure. There is an ongoing choice to give tobacco companies a 50 percent reduction in excise on heated tobacco products. So that’s lost revenue—lost revenue which I believe is in the millions of dollars—that could otherwise be spent on areas to address the cost of living. It is a choice to prioritise the tobacco industry. Members of the Government benches talk about lollies being given out or not, and say they’re not giving out any. There are lollies being given out. This is simply a choice. One of the things that the Government has, unfortunately, very sadly chosen to devalue is our natural environment. Now, I’m an MP based in Waitakere. It’s beautiful. We live in the Waitakere Ranges; it’s an area that Bob Harvey refers to as “the lungs of Auckland”. In New Zealand, we’re extremely fortunate to have such a rich and diverse natural environment. But what we know in the area, in the Waitakere Ranges, is that you cannot just assume environmental protections. They need to be legislated for, they need to be budgeted, and our community champions on the ground need to be supported to continue those protections. But sadly, we’re seeing the opposite—in successive Budgets, and now in this one. We’re seeing the disestablishment of the Ministry for the Environment. Government members will argue that that function is being rolled into the superministry and that we’ll see better outcomes in terms of housing and transport and environmental outcomes. But that claim, I would argue, is hollow after more than two years of sustained cuts to environmental staffing, funding, and programmes. It’s also quite revealing when we have Ministers who will use the words that “the pendulum has swung too far towards environmental protections”. What happens when budgets are amalgamated is we have a budget blur, and what I will be watching very closely is what happens to the allocation of spending on environmental priorities versus other spending of that “mega ministry”. As Forest & Bird have already pointed out, this year’s Budget delivers an additional $38 million in baseline conservation cuts. Now, that’s following a $1 billion cut in the previous Budget. This affects specific programmes, including things like the National Predator Control Programme. Our environment is suffering. But as are our social services, as are the people who are doing it worse. I visited Haumaru Housing in Green Bay, and these are people who have served the community well, as teachers, as engineers, as people in our community who are struggling now, who the Government is asking to pay an additional $30 in their social housing. These are not people who already buy cheese and have to cut that out of their budget. They talk to me about the very real costs that this means for them on their weekly grocery bills. They are suffering now. They see that this Government is not considering the cost of living issues that are very much hitting them and their whānau, and they know that an election is coming up around the corner. What they want is a Government who are focused very squarely on addressing cost of living priorities, and that is what a Labour Government will do. REUBEN DAVIDSON (Labour—Christchurch East) (20:00): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m standing to take a call on the Budget debate, and I think it’s worth remembering, at the beginning of this call, that this is a Budget that was delivered by National, who promised New Zealanders they would fix the cost of living. That was the promise they made, and the reality is that they have made it worse. The further reality and the further insult is that they’ve done it consciously. The choices they’ve made in this Budget will make the cost of living harder for New Zealanders. Now, I want to start by talking about one person, because it’s very easy when we talk about Budgets for us to talk about hundreds of millions or billions of dollars that have been spent on one thing or the other. It’s also very easy for us to forget about the individuals in our community who are deeply impacted by the choices we make in Budgets and by the choices that are made in this House. One of those people is a woman called Mary, who came to a street-corner meeting I had in Linwood. She brought her power bill with her, because she wanted to show me her power bill and she wanted to ask me how she could be expected—or anyone could be expected—to be able to afford to pay for their power bill with all of the other costs that she has every week, every month, coming into her home. She also wanted me to know that it’s not just her that struggles with her power bill; that there are people in her street who can’t afford to keep their homes warm, who can’t afford to heat their homes, who will go to the library down the road and sit in the library for the day because the library is heated. She wanted me to know that there is a woman on her street who will get on the bus and spend hours a day on the bus riding around Christchurch because at least, on the bus, she knows that she’s safe and she knows that she’s warm. That’s the New Zealand that we’re living in at the moment. That’s the New Zealand that this Government promised that their pain, their challenge with the cost of living, was going to be solved. Then was delivered the Budget that we have seen, and the deep cuts to many of the supports and services that people like Mary and hundreds and thousands of others rely on. We’ve had a big game talked up by Christopher Luxon and by the National Party and about this Budget. At the same time, in this term of Government, we’ve seen business liquidations at a 15-year high. We’ve seen 40,000 more people out of work since National took office. And to come back to Mary, who bought her power bill to me, we’ve seen power bills go up by 18 percent. If I ask members on the other side of the House, who brought this Budget to the House and who supported it, to find me the line items in that Budget that support people like Mary who are struggling with the cost of living, which is the issue you promised to fix going into the election and the issue you—not you, Madam Speaker, but the Government, the National-led coalition Government—have made worse, then I find it unbelievable that anyone from the other side of the House would choose to support this Budget. But you have—you have. Not only did you come into the last election promising to fix the cost of living, you have now, in fact, instead—not you, Madam Speaker— ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I was just about to remind the member. REUBEN DAVIDSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I must be getting used to doing that, because I was able to remind myself on that occasion. But not only did the Government come into power at the last election on a promise to fix the cost of living, and not only has the Government made it worse, but in this Budget there are more cuts and there is more pain and there is less action on addressing the cost of living for hundreds and thousands of New Zealanders. Hon CAMERON BREWER (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) (20:05): I move, That this debate be now adjourned. Motion agreed to. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): This debate is adjourned and is set down for resumption next sitting day.