Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): As far back as November 2021, when the Government announced increases to the Working for Families tax credits as part of the package of support to come into effect from 1 April, we were aware of the need to provide targeted support to New Zealanders for the cost of living increases that they were facing. We followed this up with reductions to fuel excise, road-user charges, and public transport fares that were announced on 14 March. I formally requested advice on further support for low and middle income New Zealanders not receiving the winter energy payment on 21 March. Implementing an action like this in response to a cost of living crisis was not something that had been done previously in New Zealand. Officials indicated that there could be a range of issues with such a payment, as has been released within the regulatory impact statement. Officials then went on to determine how to best work through those issues and deliver the payment in a timely way during a crisis period. I stand by our actions to put in place measures to support New Zealanders during this period of time and, in fact, note that members of the Opposition were themselves calling for such measures. We just found ones that were better than $2 a week for someone on the minimum wage. 