HELEN WHITE (Labour): It's a privilege to rise and speak about the Budget Policy Statement, and I thought I might actually do it—we might actually talk about that right now. So the first thing that I want to talk about is the fact that I want to acknowledge that it's been a really, really hard year for New Zealanders. It's been very hard in Auckland Central, and it's been very hard in my area of work prior to politics, which is that I represented both employers and employees. It's been a tough year, and we are still weathering a crisis. It is not over. 