General Debate

I move, That the House take note of miscellaneous business.

So much for working hard to get ahead. Under this Labour Government, New Zealanders are working hard just to stand still, because they are facing a cost of living crisis: the highest inflation in 30 years; sky-rocketing costs—literally “moon-bound”, in the words of ANZ; prices for everything are going up; and those prices are in a race with wages and they’re running laps around wage growth. It’s there at the supermarket: it’s the price of cabbage; it’s the price of cheese; it’s the price of eggs. It’s rents—up $50 a week in the last year alone. That’s a record rental increase in our country. It’s childcare costs. It’s rates. It’s everywhere New Zealanders look, and it’s going to get worse. ASB predict in the next year the average household will spend an additional $150 each week just to stand still. They will face diminishing living standards on this Government’s watch.

So where is the Minister of Finance? Where is he on all of this? Well, he says, “Let’s blame Ukraine.”; never mind that last year, in the year ending December, inflation in New Zealand was at a record high already—5.9 percent—before Putin was anywhere near invading Ukraine. Far higher than in Australia—only 3.5 percent—far higher than Singapore and just about every other developed country we compare ourselves to. But the Minister of Finance, he says it’s all about Ukraine. Never mind that, when the punch-bowl was out and the money was being borrowed, he was happy to take the credit for the economy, wasn’t he? “Oh I’ve done such a good job.” But now it’s nothing to do with him!

So what’s he going to do next? Well, he’s got a plan to do the record biggest spend up in New Zealand’s history. He thinks this is the time to have an operating allowance of $6 billion in the Budget. Will there be a dollar back to hard-working New Zealanders? Will there be a dollar back to those taxpayers who aren’t eligible for a benefit, who aren’t eligible for Working for Families? No, no, because Grant Robertson says he can afford to spend $6 billion on his pet projects but he can’t afford to give tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders.

What we’re expected to believe is that that’s because he’s going to use every dollar as carefully as possible. What we’re expected to do is judge him by the amount of money he is spending, not by what it delivers. This is the same Minister of Finance who presided over a $1.9 billion boost for mental health that delivered not an extra specialist service, that was poorly coordinated, that didn’t deliver outcomes. But, yet, he says, “Trust me; just give me $6 billion more. I’ll do better next time.” This is the Minister who put billions into housing—and what do we have? The longest waiting list in history. We have thousands of children living in motels. But don’t worry; the officials at head office found $24 million to do up their digs! And don’t worry; Kāinga Ora has enough money to bid against first-home buyers, to buy up State houses!

We’re expected to believe that this Minister will deliver, when his Prime Minister said that her reason for being in politics was to reduce child poverty. Today, as I stand here—today, as I stand here—there are more children growing up in benefit-dependent households than when that Minister came to office, and that is a disgrace.

So that Minister may think that he can pull the wool over New Zealanders’ eyes, but they get it. They know that what is needed for the economy is a Government that knows how to get bang for buck; a Government that will use their money as carefully as they have to; a Government that knows, when you add cost, someone has to pay; a Government that will have the back of those who work hard—of the entrepreneurs, of the innovators, of the people who, right now, I’m worried about. Because they are looking over the ditch and they’re saying, “You know, over there, I’ll earn more, it’ll cost less, and I’ll probably get a tax reduction too.”

And here they are today, and I’ve got a message for them. I say to them: we know the management of this country is suboptimal right now. But there is a new Government coming. A National Government will get it. We get that your money needs to be spent carefully, that the economy needs to be managed carefully, that we should judge a Government by its results, not just by its rhetoric. So hang on; National’s on its way.

It’s a pleasure to follow the member Nicola Willis, funnily enough, just as we did this morning on our way out to the Transmission Gully opening, where the member sped through, at Grays Road, the amber and red light on her way there. It’s the perils of driving in a branded car. Perhaps the member might have considered the option that she took when she became the deputy leader of parking her branded car in the basement, going out somewhere, and coming back in a black Mercedes, because that’s what the member did when she became the deputy leader. That shows you just how out of touch this National Party is.

There was a much better example and, sadly, a much more tragic example of that when Christopher Luxon spoke on Newstalk ZB just last week, and this is what he said: “we don’t just do bottom feeding and just focus on the bottom. We focus on people who want to be positive and ambitious and aspirational and confident. Right?” Well, on this side of the House, the notion that if you perhaps are struggling or if you are perhaps growing up in a household where there aren’t people in work or that there are people who are sick, you are somehow a bottom feeder or that you are somehow a person who lacks aspiration, who lacks positivity, and who lacks confidence is a disgraceful notion.

But what it tells you is that the National Party of today, under Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis, is exactly the same as the National Party of old. Be it Christopher Luxon calling people in New Zealand bottom feeders or be it a tax policy that delivers thousands of dollars to the highest-paid New Zealanders and two bucks a week to the lowest-paid New Zealanders, it’s the same old National Party: favouring those who are the best off and ignoring those who are the worst off. I think Christopher Luxon needs to reflect for a minute, because he tried to explain this away and justify it. But let’s be absolutely clear: he doesn’t think that people in New Zealand who are in receipt of income support or who are struggling at the moment have aspiration. He doesn’t think that they have confidence. He doesn’t think they deserve to be positive.

I can recall on the night that Justin Lester was elected as the Mayor of Wellington listening to Justin speak, and Justin has talked about this very openly in public—that his family was one that relied on a benefit when he was growing up. That’s a person who went on to start a successful business. That’s a person who went on to become the mayor of a major city. That’s a person who’s now a successful entrepreneur. Here’s what Justin said on election night in 2016 for local government: “Tonight proves it doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got in the bank, it doesn’t matter if you have two parents or just one. It [just] matters if you work hard and stick to your values [and] achieve great things.” On this side of the House, we stand for every New Zealander having that opportunity. We don’t run New Zealanders down and say they’re bottom feeders just because they might not be able to be in work at the moment, but that side of the House, once again, return to their old roots of making sure that they favour themselves, that they favour their mates, and they leave people behind.

Well, on this side of the House, we simply do not agree with that, and this week, on 1 April, the proof is in the pudding, because this side of the House has said that those on low and middle incomes actually deserve the chance to be able to get ahead. That’s why we put in place the largest benefit increase in a generation in last year’s Budget, which gets paid out in its final form on Friday, and that is turning around the 1991 benefit cuts—that’s turning around Ruth Richardson’s legacy of saying that people at the bottom don’t deserve the support. That is the National Party of 1991, and, very sadly, it’s the National Party of today as well. There is no plan from the National Party to support those on the low and middle incomes, and thank goodness that we have our 1 April changes coming through that also include the lifting of the family tax credit, that also include lifting superannuation and student allowances, and making sure that we help people to deal with the cost of living crisis.

We heard from the IMF this week that they congratulated New Zealanders on the fact that we got through COVID-19 not just with one of the lowest death rates in the world but also with an economy that continues to deliver. Tourists are about to come back on to our shores. More workers are about to come back on to our shores. New Zealanders are confident in the future because they know that they have had a Government that has backed them, and they have backed each other. We on this side of the House are about making sure we lift up every New Zealander, not divide as the National Party would have, and that’s why I’m proud of this Government.

I rise today as a Māori woman who is frustrated and saddened by the direction this country is heading. I have watched over the past week as ACT Party leader, David Seymour, has been brave enough to take on a topic that many New Zealanders feel deeply about only to be labelled a racist. Well, I stand here today to say that is wrong and I wholeheartedly support him. ACT says every child born in New Zealand and every legal immigrant has the same rights. Those are the rights of a citizen. Nobody should get extra say because of who their grandparents were and nobody should have to be treated differently because of who they are.

I am not standing here to claim I speak on behalf of all Māori, and I would be so arrogant as to think that this was my place, as others in this House do, but what can I do is speak to this issue from my own life experiences and how it affects me and my family.

I have recently celebrated 20 years of marriage to my wonderful husband Menglin, who is a Cambodian refugee. His parents and family are some of the bravest and most compassionate people I have met. They have faced atrocities that most of us would never be able to comprehend, and they came here to this country to give their children a better tomorrow, in this country where everyone gets an equal chance, and they succeeded.

From this marriage, I have four amazing children who share both Māori and Cambodian ancestry. Today the Labour Party would have us believe that there are two types of New Zealanders: tangata whenua, who are here by right; and tangata Tiriti, who are lucky to be here. Well, how are my children supposed to identify themselves by this logic? Half of them is here by right and the other half should just be thankful to be here? If the Labour Party and the Māori Party have their way, my children would be labelled Māori by default and their Cambodian heritage would become insignificant. As far as I’m concerned, my children have the same one-in-5-million say as all people born in New Zealand, Cambodian refugees, and many other races who have made New Zealand their home.

The Māori Party’s narrow-minded view that we only exist as Māori and Pākehā in New Zealand is damaging and disappointing. When they stand and claim to speak for Māori, I can guarantee you it is not for Māori like me, who dare to have a different view from them. I know what this attitude brings, because I’ve heard it all before—“You’re a whakapapa Māori but you’re not kaupapa Māori.”, “You’re a plastic Māori.”, “You’re a born-again Māori.”, whatever that means—and have even been called a traitor to my race on many occasions, just for daring to be different.

Well, my voice does matter, and my Māori voice does matter, and I refuse to be silenced and shamed, especially by my own people. By ending this obsession with constitutional reform, we can get stuck into the real problems in this country: education, housing, welfare, and crime, which Māori get the worst end of. We would use practical solutions that change real people’s lives for the better. Charter schools were just the start of that, and, by the way, Willie Jackson supported disestablishing these. Something else far more important would happen. People who feel alienated would find a place in the Kiwi identity. Māori culture would be taken for what it is—a rich and essential part of New Zealand’s tapestry that is no threat but there to be embraced along with every other culture that makes up our country. In the words of Sir Peter Buck, “Beware of separatism. The Māori can do anything the Pākehā can do. But in order to achieve this we must all be New Zealanders first.”

This Government has proven in the last two years that the best economic response to the pandemic has been a health response. More than that, in order to secure our recovery, we had to ensure that our health response was the best possible, and we had to do it with a health system that has been run down year after year after year, and midway through the attempts by this Government to rebuild it and build it back up.

I want to acknowledge the incredible work of our health workforce right across the motu. Health workers in our hospitals, in our GP clinics, and in our community clinics—in the full range of facilities that we’ve got—are all doing a tremendous job to keep New Zealanders safe from the pandemic, and often putting themselves at risk, as well. Keeping themselves safe, keeping patients safe, providing the care, often with short-staffed shifts because there was a staff shortage anyway, and having each other’s backs and looking after each other—that’s the quality of our health workforce at the moment. But I’m the first to acknowledge, of course, that’s not sustainable and we have to make change.

I want to talk a little bit about how we’re going to ensure this country’s ongoing economic recovery by having a high-quality, high-class, world-class health system—and that’s what our reforms are about right now. The reality is, as a country, we have under-invested in health for far too long—or at least not invested in the right things; the stuff that can really make a difference. I’m very pleased to be leading a set of reforms that I know, over time, will start to see that shift in what we spend in hospitals and the very expensive end of health into the front end: the primary care, the places where most people go to get the healthcare that they need. The consultation with the GP or the kaupapa Māori health service or the Pacific health service or the community clinic or the youth one-stop shop clinic that they go to for a bit of healthcare—that’s the stuff that stands to make a real difference, and I’m pleased that we are putting in place a system and a set of measures that will see that shift towards that end.

When we have a look and see what’s happened to our health system and the consequences of under-investment: buildings being left to run down, buildings literally with sewerage systems that are not working properly any more. I think one of the worst things is, too, in the nine years of the previous National Government, nurses’ incomes going backwards in real terms. They talk a big game now about wanting to lift incomes; they didn’t give a darn about our hard-working nurses in our hospitals. This is a Government that, in the four years we’ve been in Government, has not only negotiated pay increases worth, roughly, 20 percent on average to nurses but has recently reached agreement in principle on the first pay equity deal for that part of the workforce, and with more to come with other parts of the health workforce as well. We will have a health system that is better coordinated, that is more coherent, and that will lead transformation of the system; better joined-up care, because that is what we have long needed.

Not only that but a system much more focused on equity, and that’s the important role that the Māori Health Authority will play—in the way that we’ve seen with the vaccination campaign, when we asked Māori to lead, gave them the room and space and the funding to do so; they led and did a terrific job. That was rangatiratanga in action. That’s what we need to see more of, and I’m confident that we will. The interim Māori Health Authority and interim Health New Zealand now, with their boards in place, their chief executives in place, and their senior leadership teams now coming into place, working hand in hand together, are about to make a real difference and are making sure that in the future Māori do not miss out any more.

I want to talk a bit about mental health, too, because that’s a very important part of our health services. If there is anything that was completely and utterly galling, it is members of the National Party who literally neglected our mental health services for nine years—not only neglected it but the independent monitor of our mental health services, what was then called the Mental Health Commission, they abolished. They abolished, in 2012, the Mental Health Commission that was the independent monitor of our mental health services. No wonder they thought they could get away with neglecting it, but they can’t any more. It’s interesting now how they claim that they want to work collaboratively on mental health services, but they’ve run them down—they’ve never acknowledged it; they’ve never admitted it.

The contribution that this Government has made—the four- or five-year investment commitment we’ve made, starting in 2019—we’ve added, now, 870 new front-line roles to primary mental health care; 870 new roles that were not there two years ago. And we’ve got more to go, and they’re not just in the GP clinics and the community clinics; they’re in youth one-stop shops, they’re in kaupapa Māori health services, and all over. We will have a health service that will be the envy of the world.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and it’s so good to see you in the Chair, reflecting the gravitas of the position in such a powerful way! This is an opportunity to have a parliamentary debate on a Wednesday afternoon at a time that many New Zealanders are facing a cost of living crisis that we have in this country. The price of so many everyday items is going up very substantially—fruit and vegetables, rent, housing costs, as well as transport costs—at a time that is putting real pressure on families.

And wages are not keeping up. We heard the headline figures: 6 percent inflation and about a 2.6 percent increase in wages—people going backwards. And what’s this Government’s response? Well, it’s typically to blame Vladimir Putin and the tanks going across Ukraine, when this, of course, has been the situation for the last 18 months and has been driven primarily—primarily—by a Government that is addicted to spending; addicted to spending.

Grant Robertson is the leader in chief, pumping and stimulating the economy with all the borrowed money that they have found through the COVID crisis, and continuing to do it well past the point of the crisis. Even now, as businesses can’t get access to workers, there’s these two great puzzles going on: you can’t get access to workers sufficient to keep your business going, and everywhere we go—and everybody in this place has been walking down streets, going to restaurants or whatever, and has found that there’s a little sign outside saying, “We’re closed because we haven’t been able to get staff.” We see those signs everywhere we go.

And yet, at the same time, the number of people on the job seeker benefit continues to increase because this Government has done away with all the effective sanctions in the system to encourage and give people a nudge to get back to work, and, secondly, at the very same time, the Government’s still spending hundreds of millions of dollars on make-work schemes, such as Jobs for Nature, where we’re actually paying people to do things—nice things to have—for a billion dollars, to take workers out of the workforce and give them to a Government make-work scheme. It is absolutely amazing that the Government still thinks this is a good idea to be funding expensive make-work schemes when employers can’t get access to workers.

We also have a Government that’s addicted to spending other people’s money. Of course, it does that always in the tax sense, but it’s also doing that through applying new and additional costs to small businesses that are struggling. The latest example of that is the so-called—misnamed—fair pay agreements that were introduced; the legislation was introduced yesterday. It will force employers and employees across the country to sign up to a mandatory national award in particular industries or for particular occupations—a return to a rigid 1970s-style industrial landscape—at a time when younger people, particularly in New Zealand, but New Zealanders generally, value their freedom and want to be able to have the flexibility and the working arrangements to sit down with their employers and work out what works for them. Instead, this Government’s going back to more rigid union-controlled organisations. And what does it do? Ultimately, it adds to the cost structure that New Zealand businesses face, and that makes them less competitive internationally, it makes it harder for them to succeed and compete on international markets, and it also fundamentally adds to the cost of living, alongside all the other increases that have been passed on.

So we have a Minister and a Government that just do not seem to accept that basic principle that, if you add a lot of costs into the structure of the economy, and into businesses, those costs have to be paid by somebody, and it flows through to the cost of everything that we pay for in this country. It is contributing to the cost of living crisis that New Zealanders face every day, and that’s why we’ll be fighting that over the next few months. The Government probably won’t listen. They’ll use their massive majority to ram it through, and we’ll have to deal with it, with the support of the New Zealand public when we come to power next year to sort these things out.

Briefly, on law and order, we are seeing again and again the strange contrast between a Government that claims that it’s doing all sorts of wonderful things to hold the gang members to account and an ever-increasing list of gang members in this country and a sense of lawlessness on the streets of this country—and an increase in violent crime. The only point I would make is that the criminal community gets its message from this Government, and the message is that we’ll come up with an excuse for what you do and we’ll explain it away and we won’t hold you to account. That message is coming through loud and clear, and we need to change that message and ensure that the absolute priority of any Government should be the security of its citizens.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Last night, I heard that member, the Hon Paul Goldsmith, speaking, and he argued against the minimum wage. He argued against an increase in workers’ holidays. He argued against increases in sick leave. He wants to get rid of Labour Day. He argued against fair pay agreements. I want to know, what does that member have against good, hard-working New Zealanders? Goodness me, really, you can tell he’s from Epsom, can’t you? The other thing I would say is the Jobs for Nature programme which, again, that member just ran down; what I can tell the House is that programme kept a whole lot of workers and a whole lot of tourist towns well connected to their communities and, without that, they would have moved on. So the Minister of Conservation, the Hon Kiritapu Allan, was partly responsible for that, and I think that was a fantastic initiative that continues to add value to our communities.

We now have dates; no self-isolation, an innovative activation programme, and we are open for business. I have always acknowledged, since my time as a Minister of Tourism, that a number of tourist operators have done it hard over the last two years. I acknowledge that, but now they can gear up for the Australian school holidays. They can gear up for the sensational ski season, and the direct flight from New York. Finally, we have a CEO of Air New Zealand who is opening up new routes, rather than closing down provincial runs. New Zealand is open for business.

In fact, on the day that myself, Dame Therese Walsh who’s the chair of Air New Zealand, and the CEO, Greg Foran, announced the first direct flight from New York, I received this message from one of New Zealand’s legend tourist operators, Dr Gerry McSweeney: “A September 2022 booking came to us today at Wilderness Lodge, Lake Moeraki, West Coast, for a three-day stay for two New Yorkers flying direct to New Zealand, and on the Air New Zealand flight. They booked through an enthusiastic New Zealand / Australia specialist US travel agent. Great that New Zealand is shortly to open. Great work by the Labour Government in keeping us safe, but also allowing international tourism-focused businesses like ours to recommence operations.” That tends to be the sentiment I get from the vast majority of tourism businesses. They know that things have been hard; of course they know things have been hard because they’ve done it tough themselves. But they understand the reasons why we did what we did, what we had to do to keep Kiwis safe—and now we’re about to open for business.

In the last two years, Tourism New Zealand under chief executive René de Monchy and the team have spent a lot of time, effort, and energy building “Brand New Zealand”, building up the aspiration, keeping our brand alive in troubled times—all the while urging New Zealanders to “Do Something New, New Zealand”. And we did; we got out and we saw the country in a way that we haven’t before. In fact, domestic tourism, which actually made up about 60 percent of tourism in a pre-COVID world, increased by over 16 percent. We got out there, and I want to urge New Zealanders to continue to get out there—head up the East Coast, head to Gisborne, head to Napier, head to the Bay. But the other thing I’d like to say is now these tourism businesses can get ready to accept international tourists back.

Erica Stanford: Not for ski fields.

Hon STUART NASH: Oh yes, back into the ski fields, I would say to you, Erica Stanford. They will be back in Queenstown in force. In fact, it’s interesting to note that Australians, more than any other nationality in the world, travel more to ski, and it’s actually easier for Australians living in New South Wales to jump on a plane and fly to Queenstown than it is to travel to their own domestic ski field. So we’re expecting a huge number of Australians to ski Queenstown in this current ski season.

But back to Tourism New Zealand: building aspiration continued to keep “Brand New Zealand” alive. And, as a consequence, we are now viewed as one of the most aspirational tourism brands and destinations in the world. It is now time to turn this aspiration into action. My absolute focus is ensuring our reconnection strategy goes to plan, and letting the whole world know that we are open for business, to ensure that we are as ready as ever to receive international tourists, that our tourism businesses are gearing up. It’s why we have a $49 million kick-start plan for the five destinations in the South Island that have done it the hardest in terms of international tourists.

As I told potential Australian tourists on Australian TV the day we made the announcement we were going to open the borders: apart from on the sports field, we love our Australian cousins; welcome back.

Matt Doocey: Mr Speaker—

[Member of the public speaks in the gallery] No, Order! Order! Sorry, I’m just going to address the person in the gallery. Two things: one, you must have a mask on; and, two, you may not use cellphones. [Member of the public speaks in the gallery] I’m going to make it very clear: I am the person who gives exemptions, and I haven’t.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I want to start by giving the House a challenge, and then at the end of my speech I’d like to come back and see who’s got the answer. So we have a health Minister who’s trumpeting the success of his new front-line mental health service, and fair enough—it’s a good service. The mental health inquiry said quite clearly we need to support the mild to moderate for mental wellbeing and illness issues. But we have a Minister who’s trumpeting success when he clearly outlines that he’s employed 870 fulltime-equivalents who are delivering 20,000 sessions a month. Someone go away and put that in your computer or your calculator, and I’ll come back at the end of my speech and we’ll work out how many sessions those workers are delivering a day—870 workers at 20,000 a month.

What we had last week is an absolute damning report into this Government’s performance in mental health. We had the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, the independent watchdog, saying that despite the announcement of $1.9 billion into mental health, there was no improvement materialised. No access has increased. Waiting lists have got worse. Shortages in the workforce have got worse. So you’ve got to ask the question: where has the money gone? Why is it not making a difference? Why is it harder to access a mental health service today than it was five years ago, when this Government came into office? Where has the money gone?

What’s really concerning today—in the Health Committee, when we moved a motion just to ask for a briefing from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission on this report, it was blocked by the Labour MPs. What do they fear? What do they have to hide?

SPEAKER: Order! Order!

MATT DOOCEY: Why can we not ask the questions about why the authors of that report came to the conclusions that they did?

Let’s be clear: this Labour Government initiated an inquiry that led to the recommendation of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission being established. They’ve just passed legislation through the House to set up the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Yet its first report, they block a briefing of it in the select committee. How does that add up?

Of course, it’s important to have this independent report, because the last two reports we had—let’s be frank: the first one was from the Ministry of Health, and Official Information Act documents revealed that the bureaucrats were running a risk lens over negative data as to not embarrass the Government around mental health performance. Then we had the absolute failure in mental health facilities. Andrew Little announces an independent review, and it gets kicked off to Grant Robertson’s implementation committee. He came out and said, “Nothing to see here. All good progress.” Yet out of those 13 mental health facilities announced over three years ago, not one of them has a shovel in the ground. How is that good progress?

The first time we get an independent report produced by the Government’s own inquiry recommendation of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, and the Labour MPs in the Health Committee block a briefing—a briefing on an independent report. They will have to answer to that. Why are they stopping us asking the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission some questions? In fact, what was interesting—some of the comments were, “Oh well, it’s public now, so why do we need to ask a question?”

I know what questions we need to ask. Where is the $1.9 billion announced for mental health? I’ll tell you what—out of that report, parents and mental health professionals will feel listened to, because what they saw in that report is what they’ve been asking the Government and getting no response. As I go round the country: time and time again, mental health groups and services tell me they haven’t seen any of the $1.9 billion for mental health. They can’t point to where it’s gone. This Government needs to front up and answer the questions of why they’ve failed in mental health.

E te Māngai, tēnā koe, otirā ngā mema katoa o te Whare nei, tēnā tātou katoa. As is customary in debates acknowledging those that have recently passed, can I go on record in acknowledging the recent passing of Sir Wira Gardiner and, of course, recently losing Dame June Jackson—and all throughout the country who have lost their ones at this particular time. I want to acknowledge and give my sincere condolences to the Gardiner, the Parata, the Batley, and of course the Jackson whānau at this very incredibly sad time.

It’s also for me to acknowledge yesterday’s announcement from our tuahine, our sister, Louisa Wall after 14 years in this House. I want to go on record to say thank you very much, Louisa; the country is a better place for your contribution in this House.

What COVID has taught us in the last two years is working together helps all. Working together works well. Collective responsibilities benefit all—benefit all. So I was annoyed—not annoyed; I was upset to hear of a member in this House that talked about the rights of the individual and whakapapa doesn’t matter. That’s what we heard. That’s what we heard from Karen Chhour of the ACT Party—that whakapapa doesn’t matter, that constitutional arrangements shouldn’t be the responsibility of any Government, and that we should just get on with housing and health.

Well, that’s exactly what this side of the House is doing. We’re getting on with housing, we’re getting on with health, the Māori Health Authority, the enormous investment that was given to Māori hauora providers throughout the country: in the last two years, $140 million specifically targeted for Māori. And what do Māori hauoras and iwi and service providers—what have they done in the last two years? They’ve looked after all. They have looked after all. There has been no turning away of anybody, no matter what their ethnicity was. They delivered and they awhi’d and they manaaki’d all from within their community. So it’s a bit rich that I have a member in this House saying that it’s time that we leave that to be, that we all just should be equal people.

You know, I want to talk about COVID’s contribution to the make-up of this country that we should never, ever forget, and that is that collective responsibly, but also to acknowledge the strong iwi Māori leadership that we saw up and down the motu who responded to the need of our most vulnerable, who put their lives at risk, and everybody in their whānau and organisation who stepped forward and took up the challenge to look after their own and everybody in their community. Not anybody was turned around.

So, I’m standing on this side to recognise the importance of our Treaty partner and I haven’t even gone down that route because what I wanted to share in this House is the importance of when we work together, when we trust each other, and—to be honest—when we trust Māori iwi. Iwi Māori, they know the community like no one’s business and they will deliver and they have delivered and will continue to deliver as we come through this pandemic, as we come through Omicron, and then we start rebuilding our lives because it is in the housing and it is in the health and it is in the education, and it is in telling our stories that I’m proud about this side of the House—telling our stories of what happened, telling and sharing the stories of what happened in our communities so that we were informed, in our schools.

I want to talk about celebrating the Matariki bill that we have introduced in this House to again go to the developing of our national identity where Māori are at the centre of it. There is nothing to be afraid of here, people—absolutely nothing to be afraid of. There are only good lessons and learnings and there’s everything along the way that iwi Māori have contributed to this country, and that is why I’m standing in support of this side and the mahi that we continue to do. It’s not over. We’ve all acknowledged that we have gaps and there is much more for us to do on this side of the House. But I can totally say with hand on heart that we made a great start.

But we need to do more and this side will do more around engaging with iwi, hapū, and the partnerships around housing, particularly in Rotorua—a one-stop shop. I’m very proud of that. I’m talking about the Māori Health Authority, which will turn around some uneven health outcomes for our people, and that is what this Government’s done. And this is why I’m proud to belong to this Government and this side of the House, who have put their words into action and are delivering and are making a benefit for us as Māori indigenous and as Treaty partners. But what I’m mostly proud of is the ability to deliver for all.

Order! Before I call a member I am going to—there’s a person in the public gallery with no mask on. Thank you.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. I’d like to begin by paying tribute to the many communities holding us together with radical love and care. The communities who have been doing the mahi because successive Governments have left them behind. I’m talking about the volunteers at the front lines checking up on their neighbours to make sure that they’re holding up OK when they’ve got COVID, and people delivering food parcels because they know that people around them simply do not have enough to make ends meet.

The right side of the House keeps talking about how the cost of living crisis is a new thing, but people have told us for many years that we’ve been living in an inequality crisis. So it’s a bit rich to suddenly talk about inflation, to talk about communities struggling, as if it was something new. Since before this Government came into power, families were already doing it tough. Children were living in motels, and the number of hardship grants were growing. This is because Governments had accepted that people should get by without livable incomes. And in the words of Brooke Stanley Pao, “Livable incomes are people’s birth rights.”

I want to question my colleagues: how much are we willing to accept? Are we willing to accept children going without? Are we going to accept people being put through dehumanising processes at Work and Income, having to justify every purchase to get the help that they need to survive? Are we going to recognise the toxic stress that families are experiencing, as a result of this hardship, that leads to ill health? Because when I hear the National Party talking about “bottom feeders”, I hear them talking about dehumanising the communities that they themselves have been complicit in putting them through hardship. They were the ones who introduced those punitive sanctions that we are just starting to roll back.

While I commend the Labour Government for starting to do some of that work, it is clear so much more needs to be done, and we shouldn’t just sit with excuses, that, for example, in April we’re going to see the biggest increase to benefit. Because in the context of just how low incomes are, we need to do far more. We need to do more than just pat ourselves on the back and say that we’ve done more than the previous Government, because the bar is deeply low. What I want to see is an Aotearoa where people are not put in debt because they were seeking help from Work and Income; an Aotearoa that says that we’re going to give you unconditional support no matter who you are, where we’re not going to question the difficult decisions that people have had to make in order to provide for their communities.

The people that the National Party want to demonise are also the caregivers, disabled people, and actually some of the migrant communities who have been without a safety net. As we talk about going back to normal, are we going to normal as in people continuing to struggle, in a system where many workers continue without income support when they lose their job? Or, when we say return to normal, are we looking forward to an aspirational future where everybody has livable incomes?

Just this week, we saw amazing research by Fair Futures, who were calling for far more substantive benefit increases than what we’re going to see on 1 April. They recognise that some families need an additional $300 a week to simply participate in their communities. And if we do not do this, what we are accepting, again, is that people deserve to have that toxic stress that many communities have been talking about.

It’s almost is as if in every electoral cycle, people have to explain to politicians the hardship that exists in their communities. How many more people on the benefit will have to go on the news to explain that they do not have enough; t go to the breakfast shows to talk about their lived realities? How many more lived experiences and time are we expecting from people on the benefit, so that Government finally commits to livable incomes?

We’re calling for Labour to scrap all benefit sanctions, to lift benefit levels to allow people to thrive, and to provide a high-trust model at Work and Income. That is the absolute bare minimum we should be expecting from Government, and it is the bare minimum that the many communities that we’re supposed to serve have been calling on for years. It’s time to truly commit to the transformative change that many politicians talk about. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This morning, I was very privileged to be at the official opening of Transmission Gully, and for those of us who were there, for those of us who got to drive on the road, it was something to behold. In an ocean of criticism, an ocean of bad news, I think it’s important as New Zealanders to look and see that we do do a lot of good in this country.

Now, I know there’s a lot of New Zealanders listening to this general debate because if they don’t really watch much other Parliament, it’s a time they feel that many issues are being covered. Listening to the debate, each side goes into their polar corner and argues that corner, and it can leave those watching a little confused. But I’d just like to assure those that are watching that New Zealand’s actually in pretty good shape and that we’re actually in a lot better shape than you would think, listening to this debate.

What I really am looking forward to is New Zealanders now travelling again—we have become a little insular by necessity. And what that means is that we sometimes, as New Zealanders, travel and as we arrive back, as we get off that plane, in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Queenstown, as we’ve heard from before, we think: actually, this is a pretty good country. Because what we do is we actually have something to relate it to. And what New Zealanders will now do—as someone who has just been to Sydney and rang me this week said, “Oh, actually, from what we had heard, Sydney was thriving; it’s one big party. Actually, Sydney is much quieter. There’s much more downtown carnage in commercial activity than there is in New Zealand.” I suspect that’s going to be the case as New Zealanders go around the world. We’re going to actually come back, get off that plane and say, “Actually, we did it pretty well.”

I’ll just look to, in this House, something that happened here that involved us all relatively recently, which was out the front where we had an invasion, where we had the streets around Parliament, including Parliament grounds, taken over. It was an affront to democracy, and the world did watch as our police came here, the same police that have been rubbished today—unfortunately, for political gain. But when our police were asked to stand up, as much of our Public Service have, they stood up. That operation, for anyone that understands the need to have a well-disciplined, well-commanded group of men and women in order to achieve what was achieved out the front here today—they will actually understand just what was achieved. In fact, it’s not just been recognised by New Zealanders; there has been overseas recognition of how well done that operation was compared to what is being done in many other capitals.

One thing that was reflected on by those watching was the fact that the people out the front here—we had a really good mixture of races in our police, we had a really good mixture of cultures, we had a good mixture of genders out there, and that became very obvious. That has been reflected in a lot of the commentary that has been received from those overseas who watched it. That’s apart from how well planned it was. And without just reflecting on the police—and I think New Zealanders who are watching, who are looking to see how we do things, we do do things pretty well here. We only have to look at what transpired during our COVID response—an excellent response.

Also, yes, we have to acknowledge that things have got tougher for a lot of New Zealanders. Again, we now look at what is happening overseas that has brought that about. The supply issues were a major problem. Our select committee had our shipping companies in, we had our local ports in, and all of them were looking at what’s happening around the world that is impacting on prices and supply issues here. Supply and demand; it’s quite simple. We’ve had, obviously, the fuel issues, the fuel price issues—all these things that anyone who will take time to simply look at an overseas paper, look at an overseas website, will see these are issues that are happening everywhere. It’s the response that’s important, and it’s the response that New Zealanders can look at now: that we do do it well. And you’ll see, particularly this weekend, when we’re going to see something in New Zealand that we do well—we trickle up. We’re going to give more income to those who need it, who will actually spend it, and the result will be better businesses in New Zealand. So for those watching, have faith in New Zealand. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Before I call Jo Luxton, who is participating remotely, I’m going to indicate to people in the gallery that this is the first week back, or the second day we’ve allowed people to be in the gallery, and, as part of our kawa, masks are to be worn and they’re to be worn not as chin straps. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call in the general debate. Can I firstly say that I am extremely grateful that we’ve had a stable and united Government that has led us through some of the most difficult times in the last few years that New Zealand has actually ever experienced. As the Hon Andrew Little mentioned today, the best economic response has been the health response that this Government has taken.

I take issue with some of the comments that the Hon Paul Goldsmith made with regard to the Government’s “addiction” to spending, and he referred also to the amount of money that has been borrowed. I would say to Mr Goldsmith that that money that has been borrowed, that has been spent, has allowed businesses to continue to operate during this global pandemic. That is not to diminish that many businesses have done it extremely hard. That is happening without a doubt, and some have also even closed up. However, that money that has been provided to business has allowed some to continue operating. It has allowed them to continue to employ New Zealanders, to keep New Zealanders in jobs during what has been an awful time globally and nationally.

He also referred to the Jobs for Nature scheme—about how it was taking people that were workers away from jobs where there were job shortages into this Jobs for Nature - type programme. I also take issue with that, Mr Goldsmith. I met two young, intelligent, outstanding women at the beginning of this week who were employed by the Jobs for Nature programme. One had been an outdoor guide whose job had been affected by, obviously, tourism and the fact that tourism was no longer happening so much in this country. She is absolutely loving and thriving in this role in the Jobs for Nature programme.

I also spoke to a gentleman who oversees some of these young people coming into this work, and he talked about the benefits, the increase in confidence that he was seeing in these young people, who may have been unemployed for many years: the confidence that he was seeing come through this type of work; the improvement in their mental health. So I think it is wrong to diminish the Jobs for Nature programme in any way, shape, or form. I would encourage Mr Goldsmith to actually get out of there, get out of the area that he lives in, and talk to some of those people that are undertaking that work. I commend our Minister Kiritapu Allan for the work that she has undertaken in that area.

But I would like to move on to some of the things that this Government has continued to do throughout the pandemic. It has continued to focus on things like housing, child poverty, improving health outcomes, and climate change. Yes, there is more work to do in that respect, and we are going to see some huge improvements as we move through the rest of this year, starting on 1 April. We are going to see one of the biggest increases in our main benefits here in New Zealand. We’re going to see an increase in our superannuation payments, student allowance payments, and other such things—a huge increase in the minimum wage.

We have members opposite disagreeing with the increase in the minimum wage, saying it’s going to hurt businesses. Yes, there will be a cost to businesses. However, those people, we know that when they have an increase in their wage, they spend it locally, and they spend it locally at a time when our businesses are screaming out for customers to come in and purchase from them and spend with them locally.

We have an Opposition who is simply like a stuck record, reverting back to tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. It’s like they are stuck in a time warp and cannot think of anything better to improve the lives of New Zealanders other than tax cuts, which will actually only benefit those that are higher income earners—unlike this Government, who wants to see everyone benefit, particularly those who may be doing it a little bit harder than others at this time. They are the ones that need our support the most and they are the ones that will see some real benefit from 1 April. We are going to be opening our borders very soon, and the whole country will be seeing the benefit of that tourism right across New Zealand.

It’s been a tough couple of years. This Government has a plan and they are putting it in place and continuing on as they intend to.

Fa‘afetai tele lava, Mr Speaker. As a Samoan woman and a member of this House, I wanted to take the opportunity today to pay tribute to Ngāti Toa Rangatira, the iwi that are tangata whenua in my electorate of Mana.

According to their Treaty settlement Act, “By 1840 Ngati Toa … had established a powerful position in the Cook Strait region with settlements in the lower North Island and upper South Island … Several Ngati Toa Rangatira chiefs, including Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata, signed the Treaty of Waitangi. … In 1839, Ngati Toa Rangatira signed the Kapiti deed with the New Zealand Company for approximately 20 million acres between Taranaki and north Canterbury. The oral translation of the English deed [like the Treaty] did not accurately convey its meaning and effect.” This led to the opposition of the New Zealand Company surveys in Wairau. “In 1843, an attempt by an armed party of Nelson settlers to arrest Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata resulted in a violent clash and the deaths of twenty-two Europeans and up to nine Maori.”

Most know of this battle as the Wairau Affray. “During 1845, Te Rangihaeata and his section of Ngati Toa Rangatira supported the claims of their allies living on disputed land north of Rotokakahi in the Hutt Valley. These tensions led to several violent incidents between Maori, settlers, and Crown troops [including in Battle Hill, which is in Pāuatahanui in Mana]. The Crown subsequently took political and military action against Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata in order to establish its authority and reduce the power and influence of the senior Ngati Toa Rangatira chiefs. In July 1846 the Crown seized Te Rauparaha and several other Ngati Toa Rangatira chiefs at Porirua. The Crown detained Te Rauparaha without trial for 18 months. Crown forces pursued Te Rangihaeata who withdrew into [the] Horowhenua. … By 1926 most of the Ngati Toa Rangatira reserves at Porirua had been alienated.”

At the time of their Treaty settlement, in 2014, Ngāti Toa Rangatira were virtually landless. The summary of these events are from the agreed “Summary of historical account” in the Ngati Toa Rangatira Claims Settlement Act 2014.

Fast forward now to 2022. In less than 10 years, Toa Rangatira, through housing, through the Te Āhuru Mōwai community housing arm, manage over 900 social houses and have acquired the final stages of Kenepuru Landing, Porirua’s newest suburb.

In health, Ora Toa are one of the few primary health organisations in this region. They are the lead for the COVID response—that is vaccinations, testing, and community care in the Porirua area. Together with Te Ātiawa and Raukawa, they are part of the joint-governance group which will help lead the region in health initiatives as part of the new Māori Health Authority.

In education, Toa lead the Mana in Mahi programme for our region and lead The 502 Rangatahi youth hub out of Whitireia Polytechnic.

In infrastructure, just this morning, Ngāti Toa Rangatira gifted the name Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata, meaning “The Great Pathway of Te Rangihaeata”, their ancestor who was fierce in the battle in the area we have come to know as Transmission Gully. Today, I observed current and past chairs and CEOs of Ngāti Toa Rangatira—Tā Matiu Rei, Dr Taku Parai, Callum Katene, and Helmut Modlik—and nannies and aunties of the Māori Women’s Welfare League stand side by side with representatives of the Crown—our Prime Minister, our Deputy Prime Minister, and our Minister of Transport—to open a 27-kilometre highway that runs the stretch of the Mana electorate from Paekākāriki in the north to Linden in the south. This road represents the largest Government investment in New Zealand’s infrastructure in a generation. We have invested a record $24.3 billion into transport initiatives—that is 74 percent more than the previous Government.

So what does Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata, Te Āhuru Mōwai, Ora Toa, and Mana in Mahi have in common? It is partnership. Unlike the members of the ACT Party, who are too scared to see a modern and sophisticated constitutional framework, Ngāti Toa are an example of what only eight years post their Treaty settlement can achieve. Ngāti Toa CEO Helmut Modlik once said to me that Ngāti Toa know what their obligations are to tangata manuhiri, like myself, a Samoan woman who lives in Porirua. The member of ACT who spoke today said that the Government should focus on health, education, and welfare, rather than constitutional frameworks. Like the Hon member Meka Whaitiri said today, “We are.”, and so is Ngāti Toa and iwi alike throughout the country, in housing, education, and infrastructure. I absolutely thank the strong iwi leadership throughout the country. Together we work better. Collective responsibility helps all.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.

I don’t recognise the people standing up there as being diplomatic protection people, and if they’re not, they’re going to have to find themselves some seats. There are quite a few other seats around. They look the right shape, but are not wearing the right clothes.