Sittings of the House

I move, That the House do at its rising adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 12 February 2008, and that the sitting days in 2008 be as follows:

February 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21;

March 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20;

April 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17;

May 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29;

June 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26;

July 1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, and 31;

August 5, 6, 7, 26, 27, and 28;

September 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11;

and that the House do, at its rising on Thursday, 11 September 2008, adjourn until Tuesday, 23 September 2008.

I want to start with the traditional responsibility of the Leader of the House, which is to thank all those who have contributed to the smooth functioning of this place over the last year. I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, Madam Speaker, the two Assistant Speakers, the Clerks of the House—we have had two this year, David McGee, who is now an Ombudsman, and Mary Harris, who is now confirmed as the new Clerk of the House. We have a female Speaker, a female Clerk of the House, and a female Prime Minister, and some members may feel slightly threatened by that and potentially redundant if they are not careful. I also thank all the Assistant Clerks, the clerks of select committees, the Table Office staff, messengers, the security staff, the secretaries, the research units, the ministerial staff, and the rest of the very large number of people who work in this complex of buildings, without whom it would not function at all.

Part of this motion provides for the sitting timetable for next year. I have no doubt that some journalists—and maybe one or two characters opposite—will draw certain conclusions from the timetable. They should not do so. The election has to be held no later than, I think it is, 15 November, and therefore a timetable has to be provided that can go to the latest possible point in relation to that election date. It is not to foreshadow when the election date must be, because an adjournment motion still has to be moved at some point before the House can rise and subsequently be prorogued and dissolved. In this motion there are up to 23 weeks available for sitting before the general election has to be held. If a general election were held as late as 15 November there would be relatively limited time for sitting after the election before Christmas.

By and large—and I may surprise people by saying this—this has been a very measured year in the House. There has been a certain level of hysteria over the last week or so—and some people got themselves very thoroughly excited—but the reality is that this House has sat under very little urgency in 2007. By historic standards there has been a very small amount of urgency, indeed. A major legislative programme has been completed during this year. The reason for that, I think, is that MMP is slowly transforming the style of debate in this House, in terms of reducing the amount of time spent on delaying tactics on relatively non-controversial or non-controversial legislation. As a result, a great deal of legislation, even more than in the past, is going through relatively quickly, and a small number of pieces of legislation are being concentrated on for a great deal of attention. That means it is possible to complete a legislative programme with considerably less urgency than would have been required 5 years ago, certainly 10 years ago, and, even more, 20 years ago, when the House sat under considerable amounts of urgency.

I particularly note the passing of the Income Tax Act—the largest statute on the books, inevitably. We are the only developed country to succeed in completely revising its income tax legislation. Many other countries have tried, but none has actually succeeded in doing that. I also note that the new electronic system will finally be going live some time over the summer vacation—not on time, and certainly not within budget. I have to say that somewhat unwillingly, as Minister of Finance. That will raise some interesting questions for future Parliaments about whether we should adopt the procedures of some legislatures around the world, where the electronic version of statutes is now the authoritative version of the statute. The reason being that it is very much easier to update the electronic version with amendments and to produce a clean copy for people to use, as opposed to something that looks a bit like the leftovers from the fish and chip wrapping of older statutes, with little bits of paper tacked in all over them, and where one tries to work out what the statute is actually saying.

To turn to the wider political scene, the year has been marked by a number of very strong characteristics. The most important is a continuation of economic growth—the longest, strongest phase of economic growth in over 30 years in New Zealand. Even the Business Roundtable is starting to wonder whether in fact this can continue—this kind of death-defying, gravity-defying act, where, against all principles of the far right, the economy continues to grow despite not adopting any of the far right’s policies. It has been a year in which we have seen significant business taxation reform, with legislation passed to cut the corporate tax rate—the first significant cut in that rate since the mid-1980s. Indeed, as I pointed out to someone ungently earlier last week, I cannot find a year in which the National Party, in office, ever cut the corporate tax rate—and I have gone back 40 years in the records to discover that. The National Party is great in Opposition promising things that never seem to happen when it is in Government.

It was a year in which we also introduced major charities tax reform by lifting the cap on charitable donations—something which New Zealand First took somewhat amiss and misinterpreted in some recent activities in that respect. But I notice that when the National Party did not pay back its GST, it gave it to a charity, if I remember rightly. That might be why Mr Key was so careful in his response to what Mr Peters was actually proposing in that particular regard. It was a year in which we saw both the launch of KiwiSaver and massive enhancements to it, and now we have probably something like 350,000 New Zealanders signed up to KiwiSaver. And still, today in a specially called press conference the Leader of the Opposition could not tell us what the National Party policy was on KiwiSaver. I think he is counting slowly until he gets to the point where he decides that he will have to do another U-turn in that regard.

It was a year in which the Government announced its plans for an emissions trading scheme—the most comprehensive emissions trading scheme being introduced by any country in the developed world. It was a year in which sustainability came to the fore, in terms of economic policy and supporting policies. It was a year in which we passed 350,000 new jobs since this Government came into office at the end of 1999. It was a year in which the participation rate in the labour force continued to be maintained at very high rates—very high rates by New Zealand standards, but also very high rates by the standards of any other developed economy. We maintained the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the developed world. It was a year in which we saw the number of people on the unemployment benefit drop to less than one-eighth of what it was when we became the Government only 8 years ago.

It was a year in which the National Party, the New Zealand Herald, and a few others colluded to mount a campaign against 20 hours’ free early childhood education. Eighty-three percent of 3-year-old to 4-year-old children are now in that 20 hours’ free early childhood education. Steve Maharey is the man whose fingerprints are all over that policy, and he will carry it with him to his new job as vice-chancellor of Massey University. I have to tell him that we have no plans for 20 hours’ free education at Massey University; they will not get that one out of the next term of the Labour-led Government. It was a year in which we have now completed the provision of more than 5,000 additional teachers over and above roll growth since we became the Government. It was a year in which we introduced major tertiary education reforms, and only the Southland Institute of Technology seems to be really upset. It was a year in which we developed a major skills strategy to be released soon. It was a year in which we have seen significant improvements in literacy and numeracy achievement at primary schools.

It was a year in which we have completed cheaper doctors’ visits and cheaper pharmaceuticals. It was a year in which we have seen elective surgery up in hips, knees, and cataracts, and in which we have seen a continuation of a major hospital building programme. We have seen the introduction of 4 weeks’ annual leave actually coming into force, and extensions to paid parental leave. And it has been a year, I have to say, of major progress in Treaty negotiations, made on the foundations laid by yourself, Madam Speaker, and by the Hon Mark Burton. Next year we will have a programme of tax cuts for the next term of Parliament that will address the issues around fairness in that regard.

I will finish on one small, minor note. I have been listening to this debate over the electoral finance legislation, and I have to say that I have never heard so much codswallop from the Opposition in all my life. I particularly enjoyed Mr Finlayson’s speech just now, when he said we must have a bipartisan approach on this legislation, and if National were the Government it would repeal it before Christmas. I do not know whether he thought about that before he made that statement—no select committee, no consultation with any Opposition parties. No, it will go before Christmas, he said.

I just want to touch on this issue of money spent under the Parliamentary Service. I hold in my hand a box of chocolates. I will table this box of chocolates. It says “Best wishes from Gerry Brownlee, MP, Ilam, Christchurch.”, and it has on it the parliamentary crest. I want to know whether Gerry Brownlee is using taxpayers’ money to give out free chocolates to the people of New Zealand. If so, why have I not received a box of chocolates from the member? Why have the members on this side of the House not received their boxes of chocolates? I seek leave to table Gerry Brownlee’s box of chocolates, and I invite the Table staff to eat them subsequently.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I take the opportunity to explain to the Deputy Prime Minister that had I given him the box of chocolates, I would be terribly fearful he would want to kiss me.

Chocolates, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

That speech from the Deputy Prime Minister was remarkable on several fronts. It lacked any of the one-liners, vitriol, grunt, or vigour that we normally hear from the Deputy Prime Minister—and, frankly, it lacked anyone from the Labour Party listening to it. There is no one there. They have packed up and gone for the year. They did not realise we were coming back on Tuesday.

As is traditional at this time of the year, I take this opportunity to thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank all those who make this Parliament function the way it does. Madam Speaker, I rely on you for your sense of humour at times and for your indulgence. I thank the Deputy Speaker, Clem Simich, and the Assistant Speakers, Ross Robertson and Ann Hartley. I thank the Clerk of the House, Mary Harris, and I congratulate her on her new job. I acknowledge the great work of David McGee when he was previously in that role. I thank the select committee staff; the Hansard reporters, who I am sure have much joy in writing down what we say, more joy than we do sometimes when we read it back; the Parliamentary Library staff; the Parliamentary Service staff; the travel staff and the security guards; the messengers; the VIP transport staff; the Bellamy’s staff; and my colleagues, who pound for pound are the best political team by some margin in the country. I thank my staff—my life would not operate properly without them—Emma, who looks after me all the time, Wayne, Kevin, Grant, Nicola, Phil, Sarah, Rhiannon, and anybody else I have forgotten.

The year of 2007 has been a good year for National, and 2008 will be a great year for National and New Zealand. That is more than we can say for Labour, which is rapidly becoming about as popular as a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean. That is hardly surprising, because the only thing that spends more time in the dock than a New Zealand frigate is a Labour Party Cabinet Minister. They are there all the time. Some months ago we announced a policy that we wanted DNA testing for convicted criminals. I have decided we should drop that and just jot down their Bellamy’s account number—that would be a lot easier.

This is a Government that is unravelling before New Zealanders’ eyes. We have Ministers who are publicly disagreeing with each other. We have a Government that has become so arrogant that it is arrogant to the marrow. We are seeing people leaving the Labour Party left, right, and centre. We have a Government that will do anything and say anything to win an election. We know one thing: Labour thinks it is everybody else’s fault but its own. That is the interesting thing. The Labour members do not get the mirror out very often. They have spent years blaming the National Party, and now they have moved to blaming the officials. It is the officials’ fault that New Zealanders do not go into Christmas with a tax cut, despite the fact that Michael Cullen once famously said of Treasury: “I’m elected and they’re not.” That is what he said, but now it is the officials’ fault. He says it is the officials’ fault that people will maybe get only a $15 tax cut under Labour after almost a decade of a Labour Government—if Labour gets that chance. Of course, if the polls go down a little bit more, then the tax cuts will go up.

Last week, according to the Prime Minister, it was the media’s fault. She said the two senior political editors on both TV channels are too young to understand history. That is the reason: too young to understand history. I predict that by next year Labour members will have moved on and it will be someone else’s fault. It will be the voters’ fault by next year. That is whose fault it will be.

All the time, the Labour members are not really worried about what is going on with the big issues. They do not care about the 750 Kiwis who leave every week for Australia. They are not bothered about the fact that there have been no tax cuts for 8 years. They do not care about a failing health system or a failing education system. They do not care about any of those things. They do not even care that much about the 14 finance companies that have gone broke, the four interest rate hikes the Government has delivered to New Zealanders this year, or that when we look at how much New Zealanders’ wages have gone up, then take off inflation, take off interest rates, and take off rising prices, we see that New Zealanders have gone backwards over 8 years. The Government just does not care.

Next year Helen Clark wants to win a fourth term, but not because of what that power will actually achieve. Helen Clark wants another trophy in the trophy cabinet. She wants to buy just one more election. That is all she wants. If she can buy one more election, she can keep Phil Goff out of the leadership for just a little bit longer—that is what she wants. The National Party wants a step change for New Zealand. According to Labour and Michael Cullen, success is to be despised. That is the message from Michael Cullen—success is meant to be despised. How interesting that is when one contrasts it with the National Party. The National Party is out there promoting a DVD at the moment called Ambitious for New Zealand. That is what we are, and New Zealanders absolutely love it. There are 20,000 downloads on YouTube, and on our own site.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: How many?

There are 20,000 downloads. Let me say that we had one small problem with the DVD. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, do we not? Last year I said the Government is a Walkman Government in an iPod world. Actually, it is not; it is a video Government in a DVD world, and next year it will get clocked big time. That is what will happen to it next year.

When one looks at the year Labour has had and looks at the problems, one really wonders when the people will work out who is to blame. It is Helen Clark, but I will come back to her in a minute. Is it not an interesting culture that has developed under Labour? Just last week we picked up the Dominion Post, and on the front page was a story that the Capital and Coast District Health Board, which had a cash crisis, was going to sack 50 doctors—not 50 bureaucrats, but, under Labour, sack 50 doctors. This is a country where crime is recorded on a time-line basis in the Sunday Star-Times. This is a country where the bail laws see New Zealanders out on bail, despite the fact they are charged with horrendous crimes. Under Labour, they are fit to be back on the streets. This is a country that did not go up in the OECD; it went down. This is a country that will go into Christmas with the Government’s wallet fat, but with New Zealanders struggling to make ends meet, struggling to afford the niceties of Christmas, and struggling to get any further ahead. This is a country where one in five New Zealanders leaves school completely lacking literacy and numeracy skills, and where one in two Māori boys and girls completely lacks any qualification at all. In the New Zealand Herald the Prime Minister stated that she was shocked that over 300,000 New Zealanders could not read the instructions on a fire extinguisher.

All of this leads us to a Government that has spent the entire year worried about the Labour Party, worried about its own Ministers, who are constantly in trouble, and worried about itself. It is so desperate to stay in power that it has had to force through the electoral finance legislation. It has not been good.

💬 Hon Phil Goff: Oh, come on, John, we’ve got 10 minutes left.

I am happy to take an extra 10 minutes if the Labour Party wants me to. I do not think a Leader of the Opposition with as much material as I have should be limited to 10 minutes, but if Phil Goff wants to give up some time there is no problem—I am happy to take it. It is all getting so bad that the last time Phil Goff was spotted was at the BBQ Factory on Sunday night. He saw the polls, he headed off to the BBQ Factory, he whipped down to The Mad Butcher, and he said “My time will come. The waiting, waiting, waiting is finally over.”

I do not have a lot of time left to talk about the great things that the National Party will do next year. I have a whole year next year to talk about those things. I want to say what a great year 2007 has been for National in New Zealand, and what a cracker 2008 will be. Merry Christmas.

Madam Speaker, before I get to the subject, could I just extend my party’s appreciation to you, the Deputy Speaker, Clem Simich, and Assistant Speakers Ann Hartley and Ross Robertson, the outgoing Clerk of the House, Dave McGee, the new Clerk, Mary Harris, her staff in the Office of the Clerk, the select committee personnel, library staff, the people at Bellamy’s, the Hansard writers, the security and parliamentary travel staff, the VIP Transport Service drivers, my colleagues and our families, and, of course, the messengers who keep this place going.

I can recall when there was a woman called Shipley leading the National Party, and they used to clap her. Then they had a man called Bill English leading the National Party very recently, and they used to clap him.

💬 Ron Mark: They are the same people.

Oh, the same people! Then they had a man called Don Brash leading the National Party, and they started to clap him. That is three, so when I hear the fourth person being clapped, I do not get carried away or get too excited. Madam Speaker, if you will give me some indulgence, I wish to quote words from a song made popular by a group called Talking Heads:

Well we know where we’re goin’

But we don’t know where we’ve been

And we know what we’re knowin’

But we can’t say what we’ve seen

And we’re not little children

And we know what we want

And the future is certain

Give us time to work it out.

Who does that remind us of? I say that 2008 is going to be a year of disclosure, and we believe it is time to work out what the National Party stands for. Democracies need alternative policies. It is the essence of a democracy, because for the first time in the history of our parliamentary democracy there is a party that does not know where it is, where it has been, does not know where it is going, and does not know what to do when it gets there. When the member came to the end of his speech, he said: “Oh, I’ll deal with that next year.” He got to the last half of his speech and he said he could have gone on for ever but he had not started on that part of the speech, at that point in time.

The National Party wants to be the Government but does not say why. What do those people stand for? Tell me one policy that it has come up with in the last year—just one policy. Tell me one policy that would make the world or New Zealand a better place—just one policy. I look at the National members and even they cannot answer me; even they cannot answer the question. I ask them to name one policy they have advocated in 2007 that will help anybody in our country. I cannot hear a word.

💬 Hon Member: Tax cuts.

Do not say tax cuts; what percent? They do not know. No one knows.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: You first.

Please do not tell me that getting rid of Don Brash counts. That is not a policy. That was a wise decision, but it is not a policy. Firing Gerry Brownlee from the deputy leadership is not a policy. It is a sound move, but it is not a policy. In fact, it harmed his family, so that is not a very constructive policy. So it should be a special project of this Parliament next year to find out what the National Party stands for and what it wants to do. It is time for questions to be asked, and answers to be given. New Zealanders have a right to know.

The National Party is like an octopus with tentacles spread throughout society and its institutions. Mind you, it is not as big as it used to be; it once had, under Holyoake, 245,000 members. Today it is just big business and cash. It has a very small party membership, just big business and cash. But this week we learnt, to our dismay, that some of those individuals will place personal politics above everything. Some weeks ago we offered to donate some money to a children’s hospital. The background was fully explained over weeks. We went through all the details, the reasons, and everything else. The money was given and accepted in good faith, and everyone was acting in good faith, including the woman at Starship Children’s Health. And then, out of the woodwork, came a voice and name from the past—Mr Bryan Mogridge from the murky waters of the National Party and the Tourism Board. He made a unilateral decision to give the money back. Did he hold a board meeting with the Starship hospital board? No, he did not. Members should ask themselves this question: he is a man who heads a board, and apparently he does not know what the staff are doing over many, many weeks. I would fire a man like that, because it shouts incompetence. I would fire somebody like that, who comes back from overseas, and does not know what has been going on while he has been away.

R Doug Woolerton: He’s a National Party man.

A National Party man, oh yes. He is a good mate of Murray McCully. He had the audacity to challenge New Zealand First’s philanthropic views. Well, let me tell the House about Mr Mogridge. He tried to keep an illegal payment of $200,000 from the Tourism Board, courtesy of his mate, Murray McCully.

💬 Hon Members: Ah!

Ah, yes! When I heard that name, I thought: “That rings a bell. There is a certain smell about that name.” Then in a burst of generosity Mr Mogridge agreed to accept half that amount—$100,000—but this payment had to be tax-free.

💬 Hon Members: Ah!

Ah, yes! This Dale Carnegie of the hospital board kept it tax-free, but that is not all. He wanted his legal bills, $30,000, paid as well. I am sorry, but it sounds like Mr Mogridge should resign. It sounds like he has done his organisation in. It is a magnificent organisation, but we remember him very, very well.

But how typical: he is overseas, this donation is made, the National Party contacts him, and, all of a sudden, forget the poor children, forget the halt and the lame and the maimed, and the suffering, and those kids who need operations to fix themselves up, and all the research. They could not give a tinker’s damn, as long as they could stop someone doing their duty, because it might embarrass them.

R Doug Woolerton: It’s the truth.

That is the truth, all right. Just like that! New Zealand First has had a great year.

💬 Hon Maurice Williamson: Ha, ha!

Oh, yes we have. Up in Tauranga, piles are going across the harbour; a new bridge is being built, which is the envy of Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington. It all happened because we said we would keep our word. I saw “Bob the Builder” try to take credit for that himself. All Bob can do is fight off a whole lot of nominees—young lawyers out of Auckland and everywhere—who want to take him on, because they reckon he is hopeless. Thank God they have had a chance to work that out. Name one thing Bob has done, other than sell his white-elephant stadium back to the council, so it has to pay for it. It needed 35 nights to be full, before it could be paid for, and when he realised he could not fill it, he flogged it back to the council. The poor ratepayers have to pick up this white elephant.

Bob, as in the film The Shawshank Redemption, even made himself seem magnanimous while he did it. I say: “Ha, ha! Sorry Bob; I got the due diligence. Next year you’re going to find out exactly what you did.” The first thing we did, of course, was to keep our word. We built a bridge, we got a better deal for superannuitants, the minimum wage is being increased, we brought in extra police to fight crime, we poured another $400 million into elder care, the racing industry is awash with optimism and ad excitement. It is all happening. Those members know that that is the truth. There is one more promise we have kept. The SuperGold card is taking off.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: 2.2 percent.

We will do in 1 year what it took 15 years to do in Queensland. I say to National that they can laugh now, but let them wait for the 2008 Budget and cry later. We have also stemmed the flow of social engineering. We have done hundreds of things, unlike Tau Henare opposite, who has not done a darn thing all year. I bet he has not been to one clinic.

💬 Ron Mark: He welshed on Brian Connell.

Oh, that is right. He has done one thing: he welshed on Brian Connell, who was the one guy who stood up in the caucus and said: “Hey, the leader is not a good man. He should go.” What happened? They fired Brian and kept the leader on. But eventually—

R Doug Woolerton: They are having a rerun for MPs in Rakaia.

Yes, just one thing before I sit down. I am glad that our disclosure in the House last week about Rakaia has seen the National Party forced to reopen the nominations, so David Carter could not buy his way into the nomination in Rakaia. Just like that! I say to the National Party people in Rakaia who wrote to me: “Come on; come the next election, pay it back in your second vote.” That is what transference is all about.

I want to finish by saying to all my parliamentary colleagues, good and bad, loud and intellectual, and even Tau Henare, to have a happy Christmas and a good January 2008, because when they get back they will need to have had a decent holiday, because there is a war on, and it is called “the people’s interest, versus your elitist ones”.

There are still several party leaders who are to speak to this motion, and the Labour Party and National Party have an additional speaker, as well. We have consulted the other parties, and on that basis I would seek leave for the House to continue sitting beyond 6 p.m. and then to lift, once this motion before the House has been put.

💬 Madam SPEAKER: Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is no objection, so that course will be followed.

The year 2007 has been a great year for the Greens. It has been a year of achievement rather than bravado, filibustering, or pointless points of order. And I am proud of the fact that we have had a record number of members’ bills in front of the House this year. Three of them have passed into law in just one year. With those three bills we have given young workers the dignity of equal pay for equal work with older people. We have given workers juggling work with responsibilities as carers the right to seek flexible working hours. We have changed the law to make it unacceptable to beat children.

We have five more bills still before the House. The Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill, which has the support of the Government and select committee, is the first ever bill in this Parliament to deal with the 1 tonne a year of waste that every man, woman, child, and baby produces in this country. We have a bill that will strengthen the bonds between mothers in prison and their babies—a powerful influence to prevent reoffending. We have a bill to allow people in chronic pain to avoid the pharmaceuticals that have awful side effects or do not work and to take instead medically prescribed cannabis, where the doctor believes that is the most appropriate medicine. We have two bills on climate change. One of those is to reinstate greenhouse gas emissions in the Resource Management Act, which should never have been removed from it, when considering air-discharge consents. We also have a bill on transport funding, still awaiting its first reading, to enable us to change the balance of spending to go to a more sustainable transport system with less money going on new motorways and more on alternatives to roading.

Under our cooperation agreement with the Government, we have led the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, which is making the homes of New Zealanders warmer and healthier and our vehicles much more fuel-efficient, is improving our alternatives to cars, like public transport, and cycling, and is expanding the use of solar water heating. Our Buy Kiwi Made programme has inspired New Zealanders with TV and print ads to support and nurture our local manufacturing businesses and their workers. We have secured budget funding for environmental education and organics advisory services, for healthier food in schools, and for increased overseas aid. And we have secured an independent prison inspectorate. I cannot say that the Greens are punching above their weight these days, because we must not use such violent metaphors, but there is no doubt at all that our six MPs have contributed way beyond our numbers. We have received multiple awards in the last few weeks for politicians and backbenchers of the year, as we have in some previous years.

Most important, we are changing the culture of politics. When I came here 11 years ago the environment, let alone climate change, was hardly mentioned in Parliament. It was a struggle to find any opportunity to raise those issues. Now they are on everyone’s lips. The repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act was bitterly contested in the House and in the community. Now the balance of public opinion is that it is wrong to beat kids and there are much better ways of disciplining them and helping them grow up to be good citizens. There is now a greater tolerance of personal lifestyles and relationships, which are nobody else’s business, and we have contributed to that.

We have shown that the MMP parties, despite their very different policies, can work together to challenge behaviour in the House, to develop shared codes of conduct, to stop a massive eyesore on the Auckland waterfront, and to get repeal of anachronistic sedition laws. We have stood up along with only the Māori Party and ACT against the Bush agenda of terrorism suppression laws that seriously suppress our civil rights. We have condemned police tactics of invading homes and communities with armed officers when there is no real evidence in many of those homes of any offending, and there have been no charges laid. We have stood up for the right of people in New Zealand not to be imprisoned indefinitely without charge, and worked for the eventual release of Ahmed Zaoui who was held at the behest of other countries without a shred of evidence of intended harm to our community.

We have continued to challenge the assumption that our oil-devouring way of life can continue unchecked, the assumption that we will need more vehicles, more roads, and to attract more international tourists, when all the evidence is that the era of cheap oil is over. We have documented and graphed the absurd predictions of oil prices where for 4 years Government agencies have forecast price reductions, when in fact prices have just continued to rise. Even today in the half-year Economic and Fiscal Update Treasury again predicts a price collapse for oil, based on the same futures market that has been so wrong for so many years.

We are looking forward to another great Green year in 2008. We will continue to show the way to real sustainability while the Government takes delivery of its new ministerial cars with a fuel efficiency that hugely exceeds its own standards for other people. We will continue to challenge the Government to stop subsidising the coal industry by not requiring it to meet the cost of its coal seam methane emissions under the emissions trading scheme and to stop subsidising the dairy industry by exempting its greenhouse emissions for 5 whole years. We will challenge the Government to clean up our polluted waterways. We will challenge it to put in place a proper strategy for peak oil. We will continue to campaign on food safety and on the consumers’ right to know with country-of-origin labelling laws.

We look forward to the passing of our Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill, the equivalent in its effect to the first Green members’ legislation, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, passed in 2000. We look forward to the passing of the Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill, and our two climate change bills. And we look forward to returning here towards the end of the year with an increased number of MPs so that we can do even more in the next Parliament.

Madam Speaker, may I thank you on behalf of all the Greens for your management of the House this year and wish you, the Deputy Speaker, the Assistant Speakers, and all members a restorative holiday and the enjoyment of family and friends. I thank my extremely hard-working and committed Green colleagues, our amazing staff, who go far beyond the call of duty, and all those who support us in this place: the Clerk’s Office, with particular congratulations to Mary Harris on her new appointment, the library, the travel office, the messengers, the cleaners who come in at the dead of night, and the Bellamy’s staff. I wish all of you the joys of a Christmas season not cluttered with stuff and frantic consumption but blessed with the people you love and the places you treasure.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. As we cast our memory back over this last year, we think of those, especially in Māoridom, who have passed away. They include the Most Rev. Whakahuihui Vercoe, the legendary activist Syd Jackson, cherished kuia of Te Arawa waka Wītarina Te Miriārangi Parewahaika Harris, veteran actor Don Selwyn, Atareta Maxwell, a kapa haka expert, and many more loved leaders and whānau members. We think also of our Pasifika whanaunga, who still grieve for the loss of their late Prime Minister, Sir Thomas Davis, Pā Tūterangi Ariki of the Cook Islands, and, of course, the head of State of Samoa, Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili. There are many more who fill our thoughts and who have left their mark on various members of this House.

But this year, 2007, is also a year of horrific deaths of children and young people. There has been a loss of lives cut short by violence, by street fighting, and by savage and senseless assaults on humanity. We remember those who have suffered in such brutal violence, and we say we must all make an ongoing commitment that their lives were not in vain. The Māori Party supports the people in this House in that area. We make a stand not only in our speeches but also in our activities outside of the House to restore whānau and families so that they can come and support each other, especially where a violent member is identified in their family. It has not been an easy time with all the violence around, but at least everyone in this House is on the same track. I would like to acknowledge Sue Bradford’s courage in respect of the bill to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act, and to acknowledge all those who contributed to the final form of the legislation when it was passed.

Also this year there was activity in Australia that Hone Harawira exposed to the world, when the Howard regime imposed its own activity on the Aborigines. It has been a year in which the Taser was called a lethal weapon by Amnesty International, and it called for the Minister of Police and the Commissioner of Police to think about withdrawing that weapon. But I guess that one of the most traumatic things that have happened for Māori this year has been what they have called “Black Monday”, 15 October, in the Tūhoe community. That was a day when Rūātoki was turned inside out by a police campaign of terror, a day in which the nation was brought to fear that bush survival camps, tribal wānanga, etc., were terrorist activities.

Other events, other crises of confidence, have shaped this year in our reflections as the Māori Party. We think of a lot of errors in the settlement process, especially in the Te Arawa settlement and in the Tāmaki-makau-rau one—the adverse impact of overlapping claims, and the way in which the Government has been able to play favourites in making choices. It has made decisions in isolation, based on, at times, inadequate information, and generally acted in ways that breached the principles and duties imposed by the Treaty relationship. Other claims are coming in the future—the future Crown forestry claim and the Wai 262 flora and fauna claim. Those issues will no doubt come to light next year, and, of course, the big question will be, what will happen to the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill? Will it be the first settlement bill not to be passed by this House?

This year, 2007, was also a year in which the Government felt the might of the Māori Party with regard to the performance of Landcorp in trying to sell some of its land, and on the lack of consultation with Māori over fishing issues, especially over the shared fisheries programme.

But there have been many moments of joy and events of enormous significance to Parliament, as we have seen MMP in action. We have witnessed the strength of the MMP parties, with ACT, the Greens, United Future, and the Māori Party working together to establish a code of conduct for all members of Parliament. We saw the archaic laws on sedition disappear from the statute book as a direct outcome of four MMP parties raising the heat. And we also appreciated the impact we could make on other legislation, such as the births, deaths, and relationships policy. The Māori Party celebrates all those initiatives. We acknowledge, too, the varying degrees of interest that both National and Labour have expressed in working with us this year, and we have every confidence that that interest will no doubt increase in the next 12 months.

Madam Speaker, the Māori Party congratulates you on your management, your wisdom, and your leadership in the House. We acknowledge, too, the expert assistance of your able team: Deputy Speaker Clem Simich, and Assistant Speakers Ann Hartley and Ross Robertson. We have a whakatauākī in te Ao Māori that is key to this adjournment debate: “E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari, he toa takitini.” Those words, attributed to Tūhotoariki, remind us that our strength is not as individuals, but is as a collective effort. As our rangatahi would say: “True, that!”

We come every day to this House knowing there is an invisible swarm of bees that makes up the sweet honey, and we recognize the talents and consistent dedication of our Parliamentary Library staff, who make our speeches sound so wise and our kōrero so intelligent. We think of the Office of the Clerk, which keeps us on track and is always there to remind us of what we can and cannot do. We particularly congratulate Mary Harris—kia ora, Mary—who has taken on the enormous legacy left by David McGee. We are delighted with this appointment, which recognizes the many talents and the institutional expertise that Mary brings to the role of Clerk of the House. We acknowledge the legal eagles, who helped us to draft two members’ bills put forward by Māori Party MPs and a raft of Supplementary Order Papers. Their proficiency and professionalism have been demonstrated in the quality of the two members’ bills we have on the Order Paper: Tariana Turia’s bill to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act, and Te Ururoa Flavell’s bill to ensure that former owners of Māori, or even general, land taken or acquired by the Crown for the purposes of public works are given first right of refusal to purchase that land.

We thank the interpreters—kia ora, bro—for their support and expertise, and also the ever-enthusiastic messengers out there, and the reception staff who keep us in such good communication with the constant stream of supporters and whanaunga who come through the rubber door. We understand the pressure of the role that our security staff face every day, and the demands placed upon the cleaners, the building staff, and the information technology helpdesk—the many people who keep this place humming. We thank the drivers of the VIP cars—oh, no, we do not have any; that is right, sorry—and of course we know that our team is the envy of this Chamber: our one researcher, our one media adviser, our one chief of staff, and each one of our executive assistants. We know that our electorates are in fine shape because of the incredible commitment of our teams out there, and that we are only ever as good as our amazing membership, our dedicated president, and our awesome party structure. It is very humbling to be part of the mighty Māori Party, and we know every day the absolute privilege we have in bringing an independent Māori voice to this Chamber.

Finally, we mihi to each and every one of the honourable members of this House—kia ora koutou—and through them to all the New Zealanders who place their trust in us, in the people of Parliament. We have an amazing opportunity to make a difference to the lives of the people who call Aotearoa - New Zealand home. It is our calling, it is our responsibility, and it must be our greatest commitment together, to bring about the changes necessary to truly do our best to leave a legacy our mokopuna, our grandchildren, can be proud of. We extend to all members our respect and our best wishes for a very restful break with their whānau and loved ones, and say “Roll on 2008!”. Kia ora koutou; Meri Kirihimete.

Madam Speaker, I begin by congratulating you and your fellow presiding officers on your year of stewardship over the House in sometimes difficult and testing times, but always with strength and dignity, and a quality we admire. I acknowledge too and congratulate Mary Harris on her appointment as the new Clerk of the House of Representatives. I think you will honour that role, Mary, and I look forward to working with you over the next few years.

I pay tribute to all of the staff: messengers, security people, Bellamy’s people, library staff, the information technology people, our secretarial staff, and the myriad of other people around this building who help to make it function. I acknowledge the contribution they make during the course of the year. I acknowledge too the work of my own office: my immediate political staff, my departmental seconded staff, my party staff, my departmental officials, and the others who have helped to make it possible for me to function effectively this year—my out-of-Parliament staff, my regional staff, and so on.

I pay a special tribute to my deputy, Judy Turner, for her loyalty, consistency, and friendship, and for her warmth and calming advice in so many stressful situations. Judy, you are a treasure, and you are a treasure to this Parliament and this country, and I appreciate being able to count you as a friend and a colleague.

This has been an extraordinary year. United Future has had its ups and downs, but despite the fact that we are somewhat diminished in size, we are actually better for it and very happy to have been through the process we have because we were able to reassert ourselves as a genuine centre party and not be sidetracked by other issues as we might have been previously.

It has also been a year in which United Future has been able to make very significant progress. The business tax review, which the Minister of Finance referred to earlier on, arose as a direct consequence of the United Future confidence and supply agreement. I was very proud, as Minister of Revenue, to bring in the legislation that gives New Zealand business its first tax cut since the heady days of Roger Douglas in the 1980s. I was proud, also, to deliver on our promise of removing the cap on charitable donations, in order to make that a much more attractive proposition. I was proud, too, to see that we are moving down the path of introducing a payroll-giving system.

I was delighted to work with my colleagues in the Green, Māori, and ACT parties, and occasionally with my friends from New Zealand First, on other issues. I think about our joint press conference and the action we succeeded in bringing to bear on the repeal of the sedition laws. I think about the work we did on a code of conduct, and I will be making some announcements in the next few days in relation to my annual list about how parliamentarians have behaved. I will be reflecting on how that list might have been different had everyone in this Parliament signed up to that code of conduct. But I know that that is something Madam Speaker has an interest in, and I am sure we will have more discussion about it in the future.

A lot has been said about the political year 2007, and at this late stage of it I do not propose to rehearse too many of those arguments. Everyone says at the end of every year what an extraordinary year it has been—“It has been one of the longest and toughest I can remember.”—but I suspect that that is more a reflection of our ageing process than of the challenges we face. But this year has had some particular aspects to it that were unusual. We have had two very high-profile public debates on issues quite varied, from the one we have just dealt with in terms of electoral finance, and earlier in the year it was the issue of the smacking of children.

What concerns me at the end of this year—and I will just inject a moment of seriousness into this debate for a little while—about both of those debates is not so much the issues themselves but the way in which we as a country now seem to handle those issues. Everything seems to be a crisis these days. Reason has gone out of the window. Common sense and a quiet, persuasive way of dealing with issues is secondary to seeing everything as being the greatest crisis to befall our nation at this particular time. Opinions become remarkably polarised, abuse flies, and argument, rationality, and debate go out the window. I suspect, with a great deal of concern, that as we embark upon election year next year, we will see that trend become more and more entrenched, and it is bad. It is bad for our Parliament, it is bad for our people, and it is bad for our country. We ought to be able to engage in good, healthy debate that is about issues, but we have to get away from seeing everything as being the greatest crisis for Western civilisation that is imaginable.

The media has a part to play in this. The march to sensationalism—this determination to trump the other outlet by making one’s version of the story bigger, bolder, and greater than everyone else’s—is contributing a lot to this. So much more is coming also from this vastly improved web of international and internal communication we have, but I do not think that, as a people, we are any better for it, because we have lost our capacity to listen, we have lost our capacity to engage, and we are in danger of losing our capacity to debate. As we embark upon election year next year, with all of the issues that that will give rise to, my earnest plea is that we just think a little bit about reason.

I note that this is not just limited to New Zealand. I recommend to members that if they want to do a little serious reading alongside the light holiday stuff over the next few weeks, then they should read Al Gore’s latest book, The Assault on Reason, because that really sets out a lot of these arguments in a very compelling way. It brings the issues that we all care about back to a respective, philosophical base, and I think that all of us need to think about that as we embark upon the election campaign next year.

But before that happens a lot more will happen. There is the festivity of Christmas, there is the time with family and friends, and there is the ability to unwind, to relax, to relive the great battles of this year—always with the glory that we put on them after the event—and just to recharge the batteries. As members do so, I invite them to reflect upon one thing: we will have a longer summer this year, because United Future, working with Mark Holmes from the Nelson City Council, was instrumental in having daylight saving hours extended. So those summer barbecues—and I heard reference made to Mr Goff’s plans a little earlier—will be able to occur with greater frequency. With the La Niña weather pattern around I am sure that there will be more stability and long evenings for the conversation, the plotting, and all of the encouragement that goes on around them.

As we come to the end of this year it simply remains for me to wish every member of the House a very happy Christmas and a peaceful time with family and friends. Believe it or not, I enjoy most members’ company most of the time—my good friend Mr Harawira over there springs to mind immediately. We have our differences, but I think one of the things that marks this country out as great, and marks this Parliament out as special, is that there is a bond between us. We can actually talk and joke, and move on to the next issue without holding any long-term grudges. So, Madam Speaker, I offer my best wishes to you, and I offer my best wishes to my fellow members of the House. I wish everyone good luck for the festive season, and may 2008 bring each and every one of us our true and just desserts.

It is Christmas, which is a wonderful time for everyone, but it is a particularly wonderful time to be a New Zealander. Let me begin by congratulating you, Madam Speaker. The Speaker often has a tough time in the House, but you have had an especially tough time in dealing with the wake of the Auditor-General’s report and in achieving major change, and, hopefully, the change in the way MPs are financed will continue. The work that you have done on that matter often goes unrecognised and is not thanked, because it goes on behind the scenes. I know, having observed it up close, how difficult it is. I want to put on record our sincere thanks for the hard work you have done and for the good cheer with which you have done it while working and trying to achieve a consensus with all the parties on something that touches us in a manner that is near and dear. So I thank you for that, Madam Speaker.

I also thank all the messengers and the Serjeant-at-Arms, who, amazingly, stay awake right through to the wee hours of the night, sometimes through the most dreary speeches, when MPs cannot. I thank the messengers for the good cheer with which they go about their job and for making our job so much easier. I thank the clerks. I especially thank the security guards, who again show such good cheer towards us as MPs. I might add that they have such great discretion in the way in which they keep what they see and observe—particularly on the video cameras now—to themselves, because I think it is a better Parliament for the fact that some things stay out of the public arena. I also thank the library staff, who work assiduously to prepare material for each and every one of us.

I thank everyone, but I especially thank the MMP parties, because I think we are achieving something that is new. I think most particularly of the ACT party and the Green Party. We disagreed with the Green Party’s position—in fact, with most of Parliament’s position—on the smacking legislation. We were able to disagree with Sue Bradford and the Greens on that and still be able to disagree with good cheer and be able to work together. I feel prouder about that than I do about anything we have achieved in this House this year. Hopefully, we showed the way in which we can disagree on policies and not descend to personal attacks, to questioning people’s motives, and to saying that people are stupid, ignorant, or do not understand the issue. We were still able to stand up for our position, explain our position, let the other party speak for its position, and then have the vote. I think we would have a much better Parliament, and a much better country, if the other parties could take a small leaf out of the book on the approach of United Future, New Zealand First—sometimes—the Green Party, the Māori Party, and the ACT party to debating the issue rather than the person.

In reflecting on this year I particularly thank Minister Lianne Dalziel for her help and work on the Regulatory Responsibility Bill, about which, I have to say again, the ACT party is very proud of the progress we are making. I thank Gerry Brownlee, who has been chairing that Commerce Committee in a bipartisan way, and who is doing a good job in respect of the Regulatory Responsibility Bill. I thank Maryan Street, who helped us with that bill when she was on the committee, and now Paul Swain, Gordon Copeland, and also Richard Worth and Lindsay Tisch.

It is hard sometimes when a party has just two MPs, but to have a bill of such magnitude and importance, which aims to get a better legislative framework by which laws travel through this House and become the law, is important. I think we should all have an interest in it. I think that the members of the committee acknowledge that. I think that they appreciate that the bill that went to the committee was not perfect. We have heard submissions, we are doing work in the new year on that, and, hopefully, a good bill will emerge from that committee, it will be something that has the support of the House, and it will make for a good legislative environment and better law for New Zealand.

I thank the great staff of the ACT party here in Wellington—Sandy, Sally, Chas, and Andrew—who do a fantastic job, and in Auckland we have Priscilla, Brian, Willie, Stu, and Marg, all of whom work hard for a small party. Hopefully, it will not be small after next year, but at this time it has been tough for them. I also thank the party’s board and the president, Garry Mallett. They have done an outstanding job.

I congratulate Mary Harris on taking on the job of Clerk of the House, and I say that it is well deserved. We have worked with Mary for many years at question time, and we hold her in very, very high regard. We hold Mary Harris with the same regard, trust, and affection that we had for Mr Dave McGee, which was totally unblemished and unparalleled, and I know that that is the case right around this House. I congratulate Mary Harris on her promotion. It is no mean feat to achieve that level of trust and integrity in this House, but both Dave McGee and Mary Harris and the clerks that they oversee and have overseen have achieved that, so thank you.

I would like to thank all the good people of Epsom. I have enjoyed being the MP for Epsom and getting to know the electorate well. It has been a great pleasure to go from being a list MP to representing an electorate. It has been a great pleasure to have a place, to find oneself integrated into a community as an MP, and to meet people from right across the political spectrum who need help, and as an MP to be able to help them. I certainly thank them for the good cheer with which they have regarded me as a member of Parliament. I have worked hard, and I hope that hard work will be returned with a vote in 2008.

I would like to thank, at this time, all the ACT members and supporters who have stayed true to the ACT cause, and to say, yes, we have had a good year and the best is still to come. I would like especially to thank my caucus. I have a remarkable caucus. It is not easy being the caucus in the ACT party in this parliamentary term, because it has had to put up with me, but Heather Roy as caucus has always done so with good cheer, good humour, and a positive outlook. I very much appreciate Heather Roy’s help and support, and her friendship.

It is Christmas, and I wish each and every MP of this House the best Christmas. It is a great time to have a rest and to relax, and to reflect, and to spend time with our friends and our family. It is a great time to be reminded of what a great country we have here in New Zealand, and to recommit ourselves, each of us, in our ways in this House, to making this great country even greater in the new year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

As we adjourn for 2007 I join with others in acknowledging the staff who work around this building; our ministerial staff, who are incredibly hard-working and loyal; our electorate staff, who work so hard on our behalf around the country; and, indeed, all of those who work in the Government area. I think, overwhelmingly, we are very well served by the integrity of our civil servants and the way that they perform their responsibilities. I attribute to them and to our system of governance the fact that this small country is first equal for enjoying the least corrupt system in the world. I travel widely and I have learnt to appreciate the integrity of the system that we have. I attribute to them also the fact that the World Bank regards New Zealand as one of the two top countries in the world for ease of doing business, and that is something else that we should celebrate.

In terms of my portfolio areas, I acknowledge the New Zealand Defence Force personnel, and particularly the more than 400 men and women in the Defence Force who will spend their Christmas representing our country overseas in some harsh and difficult environments. I pay tribute to the professionalism of those people. For my new portfolio, I acknowledge the work of the Department of Corrections staff. It makes me feel very bad that too often our staff on the ground—within our prisons, and working in the probation service outside of our prisons—bear the brunt of criticism from people who are too often ill-informed. The staff work with others whom most New Zealanders would not want to have any relationship with whatsoever, and they do their jobs well. I hope that all of those people have some time off over Christmas to enjoy with their families and friends.

Secondly, I would like to reflect on some things that are really good about the country that we live in, and where we have come from. Too often it is so easy to put New Zealand down, to say that Australia is better, or somewhere else is better. There are things that have happened in this country during the last 8 years of which I am really proud. I am proud of the fact that we have secured a rate of economic growth that is higher, on average, than that of other OECD countries. I am proud of the fact that that period has been the longest sustained period of economic improvement in more than 30 years. I am particularly pleased that that is reflected in the area of employment. The creation of more than a third of a million jobs is really important to New Zealand, economically and socially. Our unemployment is down to the lowest level in 28 years, at 3.5 percent.

I remind Bill English what he told us in a press statement in October 1999: “Labour’s claim that it can bring the unemployment rate down to 3 % is also a hoax on all the people who think if they voted Labour they would get a job.” I say to Bill that he was wrong. He should swallow those words. He should acknowledge that it is fantastic that the number of people registered as unemployed in New Zealand is down from 161,000 at the end of 1999 to just 21,000 now. That is a brilliant achievement.

I also acknowledge what has been happening for families. Those of us here who are fortunate enough to have families know that there are great rewards in having families, and also big costs in a whole lot of ways, but one of the costs is the sheer economic cost—the cost of raising children. When we sit around this House and say that things are a bit tough and we would like to do such-and-such but we cannot afford it, we should think of those families on modest incomes that are trying to do their best by their kids and to bring them up in an environment in which they can achieve their potential.

I give personal credit to Michael Cullen for Working for Families. The fact that a family on $35,000 a year, a pretty modest income, gets $199 in its pocket each week to help it with the task of raising its kids is just tremendous. No tax cut could ever deliver that, if it were delivered in an orthodox way. Even a family on $62,000—coming up to the middle-income area—gets $91 a week, and that sort of help is really important in meeting the cost of raising kids. Working for Families has made a real difference for the battlers, the people who struggle for their existence in this country.

I also acknowledge the other things that have happened to those struggling families. We have halved the cost of going to a doctor. It is terrible to think that families out there could not afford to take their kids to the doctor, and that, therefore, whatever they were suffering from—in terms of illness—got worse. Often now, people are paying $3 for a prescription item, and that gives people across the board access to health, which is so important.

I think of the people with preschool children, and the attacks on the 20 hours’ free preschool education. Now I see that 83 percent of New Zealand preschool kids are covered by those 20 hours a week, and I say to Steve Maharey: “You were right, Steve. Your opponents were wrong. Congratulations on what you have achieved.”

I think of the old people, and I think of my parents, who are in that bracket. They are now on 66 percent of the average wage, with superannuation, rather than 60 percent—a promise delivered and a difference made in the lifestyle and in the standards of living of those families. Those elderly folk were bitterly cynical about politics after the 1990s. They were let down at the start of the 1990s—“No ifs, no buts, or maybes”, a promise broken. They were let down again in 1999 when Bill English cut the rate of superannuation yet again. Now they have the dignity of growing old with a reasonable income having been restored to them. That is a fine thing.

But if I look at what deserves the award this year for progressive policy, it has to be KiwiSaver. Everybody in this House is in a superannuation scheme—and good luck to us; we get a good return on it—but so many hundreds of thousands of families out there never had that opportunity. In just 5 months, 316,000 New Zealanders joined KiwiSaver. It was great for them for homeownership, great for them for saving for their retirement, great for New Zealand because we need to save more, and great for New Zealand because New Zealanders, by saving, are retaining ownership of their own country. For all of those reasons we should applaud the KiwiSaver scheme, and in the true spirit of Christmas bipartisanship I urge the National Party to come clean and support the scheme.

So much else is happening that I do not want to talk a lot about the Electoral Finance Bill, other than to say that a decent democracy is not a democracy if votes can be manipulated by the spending of millions of dollars by secret groups representing narrow, sectoral, vested interests. I do not have to mention The Hollow Men. I do not have to make the accusations. Members have read the book. National members were in the caucus. They know what happened. And they know why that was done.

Finally, on leadership, I say that I think Colin James got it right about Helen Clark when he said that “she does an outstanding job abroad”, “she is always formidably well briefed”, “she is everywhere, tirelessly”, “she is amazingly accessible to journalists”, “she navigates by a clear value-set”, and “she has got some regeneration in her party”. I applaud Helen Clark for 8 years of excellent leadership, and my caucus and Cabinet colleagues for joining in that leadership and taking this country forward.

One thing I have to say at the end of 2007 that is rather sad for me personally is that I lost my nephew 4 weeks ago. He was killed in fighting in Afghanistan. We have battles in this House and I enjoy them. I never make it personal—at least, I hope I do not. This is a place where we should have fiery arguments over policy. But I say to all of my colleagues in this House how deeply I appreciate their expressions of condolence and support over the loss of that young man, who was so important to me and my family. I really do appreciate that.

I wish everybody in this House a happy Christmas, peaceful New Year, and some well-deserved time with their families. Thank you.

Despite the fact that Phil Goff ended his contribution this afternoon on a fairly solemn note, I acknowledge that the expression he gave to the House is appreciated. When it comes to families, we are all somewhat vulnerable when we experience personal tragedies like that. In this case, it was a particularly sad death. He knows that the condolences from this side of the House have been thoroughly expressed to him.

Now we will go back to the bit that he spoke about where we have the robust debate. Phil Goff has to be the happiest man in the Labour Party caucus, because for the first time in his political career he has his colleagues phoning him up and saying: “Can we come to the barbecue?”. The reason for that is that he is now part of a party that has completely disconnected itself from the aspirations of ordinary New Zealanders.

It has been fascinating this afternoon to hear Labour members speak in very soft and measured tones about the achievements of the Government. There was an extraordinary speech from Dr Michael Cullen, who simply put aside the usual rhetoric that one would expect from him and started to try to list some of the achievements of the Labour Government. He was almost saying: “It’s incredible, isn’t it, that we’re in such bad shape in the polls when we’ve done so much for these ungrateful people out there.” On the very day that the Electoral Finance Bill was passed, I could not help wondering, when he started talking about the sitting days next year and telling us not to jump to any conclusions about an election date, whether the idea of a “Let’s Not Have an Election This Year Bill” is rattling around inside his head.

Similarly, we heard from Phil Goff the soft list of all the wonderful things the Labour Government is doing for New Zealanders. It was particularly interesting to hear him mention the figure of some $9,000 extra, apparently, over and above the salaries that are heavily taxed, going to families on reasonably middling incomes. The interesting thing is, firstly, that there will be people in this country earning in excess of $60,000 a year who are not getting any wealthier at all. It really shows how far incomes have slipped as far as purchasing power is concerned.

The really amazing thing that Mr Goff chose not to mention is that if that family is average, if they are just ordinary New Zealanders and they have an ordinary mortgage, then his Government’s excesses, spending, and hoarding of the taxpayer funds have seen interest rates rise to a level where that $9,500, I think he said, that is given to them as a benefit has about $7,500 taken from it each year in additional interest, over and above what they should be paying in an ordinarily dynamic economy.

I get very, very cynical when I hear that sort of soft approach coming from the Labour Party about how good it is. There are many things that he did not mention about this year. The first is the extraordinary outburst of public reaction over the anti-smacking bill. One might say that it has not been as bad as was expected. I do not think that is actually the case.

💬 Hon Phil Goff: The member voted for it.

I think there are still a lot of people in their homes who wonder what will happen if they get themselves in a situation where their neighbour or school reports on them, or some other thing. I think what we saw from the country was an expression of concern about how easily a Government can get into the lives of New Zealanders and rip them around. The member over there said “The member voted for it.” Yes, the National Party did extract some compromise from the Prime Minister, and we supported the bill. Let me say that had we not done that, then the consequences for ordinary families would have been far worse than they are under the current law. If there is a lack of consequence from this bill, it is because of the leadership of John Key, because of the pressure that was put on by the public, and because of the pressure exercised by the National Party. What it really spoke of was the fear that New Zealanders have of their lives being controlled.

We also did not hear from any of the Ministers about their two ministerial colleagues who were lost during this year—the two ministerial colleagues who got themselves in so much hot water that they had to take off, resign, or go, either for a short period of time or, in the case of David Benson-Pope, forever. We did not hear about the issues that led to those resignations. We did not hear about the bad behaviour of those Ministers, the lying in the House, and the misleading of the public. We did not hear about the blatant politicisation of the Public Service. We heard Mr Goff stand up and say how wonderful our civil servants are and how much the Government relies on them.

I think it is fair to say that we have very, very capable and competent people inside the bureaucracy. There is no question about that. They serve Governments very, very well. But why do we have a Minister who has to insert his own people inside the ministry in order to get the right political message coming out? We know full well that the Government is sitting on a report from the State Services Commission over the Clare Curran and Erin Leigh incident. We know it will probably be released some time on Friday afternoon, or even late on Monday afternoon, in order to try to avoid the certain scrutiny that it should receive. How do we know that? Because this afternoon Trevor Mallard, who for some 7 weeks now has refused to apologise to Erin Leigh for besmirching her reputation, came sneaking down to the House, quietly apologised, and is now hoping that it will all go away. I do not think the apology would have been given in the House if Mr Mallard did not know what is in the report of the State Services Commission.

Also in this debate, we are looking towards next year. What will next year bring? Well, the first thing for the Labour Party, apparently, is a little bit of renewal, because we are saying goodbye to Dianne Yates and Ann Hartley. The problem is that the people Labour is getting in on the list will not have a very long political career at all. They will join some of the others who will wake up in the new year and realise that their political opportunities are rapidly coming to an end. Charles Chauvel will be one of those; it will be back to the law for him. I do not know where Sue Moroney came from, but she will not be coming back. Moana Mackey is finished. Darien Fenton can go back to wherever she came from. And, of course, Rick Barker can too. They are the certainties.

💬 Hon Phil Goff: It’s this sort of arrogance that will get you into trouble.

No; they are the certainties who will go. I remember well in 1998 Trevor Mallard standing in this House and pointing across to various members—pointing right at those members—waving his finger at them and saying “You are gone.” I say to Mr Goff that I would not be as arrogant as that, but I can tell the member that there will be a wholesale turnover inside the Labour Party.

The other thing we can look forward to next year is the Phillip Field fraud case. The member over there, Mr Goff, might tell us now whether he has been subpoenaed to appear in that case. That is what will happen—there will be a civil case. Mr Damien O’Connor will be there in the dock with Mr Goff and Mr Swain—

Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith: And Ross Robertson.

—and Mr Ross Robertson. All of them will be appearing.

💬 Hon Phil Goff: Unlike you, I’ve never had the experience of being in the dock.

I can tell the member from personal experience that being in the dock is not a pleasant thing. But being in the dock in an election year is an extremely stupid thing. None the less, that will happen.

We are also debating the sitting times for next year. It will surprise New Zealanders that in the whole of the 2008 year, leading up to the election, we will see just 60 parliamentary days at the most—just 60 parliamentary days. That is only 2 months. When we take out all the set pieces, we will have, next year, a Government doing 2 months’ work over probably an 8 or 9-month period, and we can guarantee that very little will be done at all.

I take my last couple of minutes to affirm the thanks Mr Key gave on the part of the National Party to the very long list he had, and I also congratulate the Clerk, Mary Harris, on her appointment. It is a historic appointment, and thoroughly deserved, and we are very pleased to be able to support that. I thank the Assistant Speakers, Ann Hartley and Ross Robertson, who have filled in for you, Madam Speaker, adequately throughout the year. I thank also our own member, Deputy Speaker the Hon Clem Simich, for the work he has done.

I particularly thank you, Madam Speaker, for your work. It is not an easy job being the Speaker of the House. There are fraught moments. I know you appreciate that they are just moments, and that they do pass. We wish you, the presiding officers, and the Clerk a very happy Christmas, a restful break, and a good New Year. I also wish a very merry Christmas to our political confrères in this House. Mr Peters wished us all a very happy January and said it would be all downhill from there. I think that Mr Peters is the one who will find the slide under him for most of 2008.

As the 2007 parliamentary year comes to a close, I wish to pay tribute in the traditional manner to all those people who contribute to the efficient functioning of the House. First, I must acknowledge the support of my colleagues the Deputy Speaker, Clem Simich, and the Assistant Speakers Ann Hartley and Ross Robertson, who have been great to work with and who have never failed to perform when asked. I also acknowledge the tireless work of Parliament’s kaumātua and kuia, John Tahupārae and Rose White. I say thank you to you, because frequently you are overlooked.

Once again, I formally record my thanks to the former Clerk of the House, Dave McGee, and wish him every success in his new position as Ombudsman. I record my congratulations to Mary Harris, who has been appointed the new Clerk of the House. I also thank the staff of the Clerk’s Office for their professional and administrative skills in servicing the Table of the House; compiling the Hansard records; processing legislation, questions, and petitions; and serving select committees.

Thanks go also to George Tanner, the former Chief Parliamentary Counsel, and a welcome is given to David Noble, the new Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Without the support and professionalism of the Parliamentary Counsel Office it would be impossible to deliver the quality of service for which this Parliament is known.

Although the Chamber is, of course, the focus of parliamentary activities, the activities of the House are supported by the staff of Parliamentary Service. It has been a year of much change for the service, and I record my thanks for the work that staff have undertaken to improve the quality of that service to members of Parliament and to the public. I formally record my thanks to the former General Manager of Parliamentary Service, Joel George, and his senior managers; members’ support staff, including their executive assistants; support staff of the various parliamentary parties; staff of the library; research units; the Chamber and gallery officers; interpreters; security staff; building services staff; telephonists; travel office staff; and reception and visitor services staff. I also welcome our new general manager, Geoff Thorn, who joins us next year.

I record a very special thanks to the Serjeant-at-Arms, Brent Smith, and to all those who support him to uphold the traditions and propriety of the Chamber and to welcome visitors to the parliamentary galleries. They are an essential part of the running of this Parliament, and events such as the highly successful open day at Parliament in October are testimony to that. Others who work hard to ensure that guests and visitors to the parliamentary complex have an enjoyable experience include Beverly Cathcart and Michelle Janse.

Thank you to all of you who have worked to support the committees that I chair: the Business Committee, Parliamentary Service Commission, Standing Orders Committee, and Officers of Parliament Committee. It has been a busy year, as most of you know, especially for the Parliamentary Service Commission, which has worked tirelessly to produce the new determination and directions.

I also acknowledge the work of the officers of Parliament. I offer a special thanks to the Leader of the House, the Hon Dr Michael Cullen, and to the shadow Leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee, and also to the leaders of all the parties in this House, their deputies, the party whips—a special thankyou to the party whips—and their deputies. You have all contributed to the smooth operation of the business of the House.

I acknowledge and thank the members of the press gallery, who are a necessary part of a democratic Parliament. I acknowledge also the work of all members of Parliament, who, despite enormous workloads, serve this House well. I extend very, very heartfelt personal thanks to my own staff—Pam, Roland, the two Roses, and Nina. It would be impossible to do my job without you.

Although people can now see how hard we work, through the televising of Parliament—late into the night, as was witnessed last week—I would like to reinforce that impression of our hard work with a few statistics. These are the sitting hours for 2007, as recorded to 14 December. We had 88 sitting days and 91 calendar days—you could put in a quiz a sort of trick question as to why they are different. The sitting hours were 523 hours and 58 minutes. The bills passed were 110 Government bills, three members’ bills, one local bill, and one private bill. Of the questions asked there were 20,772 written questions and 1,059 oral questions, excluding supplementary questions. There have been 413 select committee meetings this year—comprising 1,044 hours and 20 minutes—which produced 302 reports.

After that, and as I draw this session of Parliament to a close, I wish for you to join your families and friends for the coming break; to eat, drink sensibly, and have a break during that time; and to come back refreshed to the House, where we start all over again in February 2008.

Motion agreed to.

The House adjourned at 6.49 p.m.