Opposition leader Phil Goff has given his reply after Prime Minister John Key delivered his first Parliamentary speech of the year, outlining his Government's policy programme.
nzherald.co.nz has brought you the latest updates.
3.12pm: "I want to finish with the question of the vulnerable," Mr Goff says.
Mr Goff says members of his electorate have told him they feel they have been let down by Mr Key.
There has been no indication in today's speech by Mr Key that there has been no plan to move forward "as was promised by all the hyperbole that was managed at the time of the election campaign".
The four percent growth expected this year must be shared among all New Zealanders, Mr Goff says.
"They talk about it and that's all they do. They don't do anything to help the people on the ground who genuinely want to help themselves and get ahead ... This statement by the Prime Minister fails on every count," Mr Goff says, wrapping up his speech.
3.07pm: Mr Goff has begun a criticism of National Standards. He says New Zealand's expert on educational reform says National's plans for National Standards is fundamentally flawed.
National Standards will only apply to mainstream schools and not Maori schools - a double standard, Mr Goff says.
The House has quieted down a little.
3.03pm: "The Government has just discovered that science, research and development are important things," Mr Goff says ironically.
Mr Key's Government had cut research's fund last year even as Australia was increasing theirs, he says.
The gap is not closing, Mr Goff says.
Unemployment has grown by 30 per cent more than Australia's since the recession.
"We have a Government that does nothing - no that's not right. We had a job summit last year," Mr Goff says to laughter from his party.
3.00pm: Mr Goff is shouting to the House now, his voice getting coarse, as he says GST is regressive.
The winners of National's tax package will be the Prime Minister's best mates on their high incomes and the losers will be average New Zealanders, Mr Goff says.
"We needed a speech and a plan that showed the Government had some idea of how to move New Zealand but it lacks substance it lacks conviction and it lacks something new."
Everything that was said in Mr Key's speech had already been said, he says.
2.58pm: The Speaker has to bring order to the House again.
Mr Goff mocks Mr Key for being timid - "we're only considering it," Mr Goff quotes Mr Key as saying.
Mr Goff says the record shows Mr Key's taxes aren't fair to all New Zealanders. The last tax cuts gave 30 percent to the top 3 percent. No New Zealand family under $40,000 got any tax cut at all, he says.
The Prime Minister will do well out of the tax cuts with $509 extra a week, Mr Goff says.
The head of Telecom will get $2600 a week from tax cuts, he says.
Minimum wage gets 25 cents (from a rise in minimum wage), he says.
A person the average salary of $48,000 would get 35 cents a week in the proposed tax cuts, Mr Goff says.
The tax package is not fair, he says.
2.54pm: Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Phil Goff, stands up to give an opposition to Mr Key's speech.
"Alan Bollard 1, John Key 0," Mr Goff says.
Mr Key's speech proved Mr Bollard right, Mr Goff says. There was nothing in Mr Key's speech that could close the gap with Australia.
"No bold plan, no plan at all." - even though the speech had been hyped to be Mr Key's most important speech of the year, Mr Goff says.
Mr Goff opposes a rise in GST because it will not be fair to all New Zealanders, he says.
