Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The findings of the latest ANZ consumer confidence survey reflect the uncertain and challenging environment that New Zealanders are facing in 2022. Like all New Zealanders, I am concerned about the impact of nearly 2½ years of the global COVID-19 pandemic, resulting supply chain blockages, and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. We are, however, in a strong position to be able to support New Zealand businesses and households through this time, just as we protected them through COVID-19. It's why we boosted the incomes of low and middle income families from 1 April instead of giving thousands of dollars to the wealthiest New Zealanders. It's why we cut the fuel excise by 25c to help New Zealanders facing pain at the petrol pump. When we see strong Crown accounts and small to medium sized enterprise (SME) surveys like the Xero Small Business Index, which today showed small business growth over the start of the year, with wage growth and job growth, and stronger SME activity than in Australia or the UK, it indicates that as a country we can deal with the uncertainty and support New Zealanders to get through the Omicron peak and this global inflation spike.