General Debate

I move, That the House take note of miscellaneous business. We had some discussion about referenda in question time, and it is pretty important to note that the Prime Minister, who obviously is not very impassioned about this topic, had a couple of brain fades. The smacking referendum was held in 2009 and the result was ignored by his Government. He struck the deal with Helen Clark that resulted in the anti-smacking bill being passed, and he and the entire National caucus voted for it. A march against John Key’s decision to ignore the referendum was sponsored to the tune of $450,000 by guess who. “Crazy Colin Craig”—“Crazy Colin Craig”. That has become deliciously ironic because now, 4 years later, “Desperate and Dateless John Key” is turning back to the very same “Crazy Colin Craig”.

💬 Kris Faafoi: He’s Nigel-no-mates.

Nigel-no-mates he is. John Banks is in court, Peter Dunne is in limbo, Pita and Tariana are on life support, and John Key will do a deal with whomever he can to hang on in power, even if it is “Crazy Colin Craig”, the Sarah Palin of New Zealand politics.

In fact, in September 2012 Colin Craig sent 20,000 leaflets to Helensville residents, telling them that John Key was—wait for it—“too gay” to be their MP. Why would John Key want to go into partnership, shall we say, with somebody who thought that that was an insult?

💬 Iain Lees-Galloway: It’s an uncivil union.

Exactly—an uncivil union. Bill English said that he did not understand what Mr Craig’s economic policy was. Well, we have researched this, and we can tell you that Colin Craig is a supporter of—and it is the only sensible thing he has ever said—a capital gains tax. Colin Craig wants a capital gains tax. He also wants a binding referendum. So if John Key wants to do a date with “Crazy Colin Craig”, let us make the asset sales referendum binding, shall we? Let us make the asset sales referendum binding.

Mr Craig has some very interesting views. He has got an environmental policy, all right. He thinks climate change is caused by sunspots and the circulation of the planets—sunspots and the circulation of the planets. It would be funny if it were not for his views on social policy. Here we go. Following a series of items about child poverty on current affairs shows, Mr Craig said that children sent to school without lunch should go without and, instead, their “delinquent” parents should be charged the “cost of rectifying their bad behaviour”.

💬 Sue Moroney: That’ll work.

That will work. He has views on social policy, which is very topical. Mr Craig, of course, thinks that New Zealand has the most promiscuous young women in the world. So John Key has got his work cut—

💬 Hon Annette King: How does he know?

How does he know? How does he know?

Poor Peter Dunne. Imagine how Peter Dunne feels, being passed over for “Crazy Colin Craig”.

💬 Sue Moroney: He’ll go away.

Exactly. Imagine how bad he feels. As if John Banks was not enough. John Banks is in court, facing terrible retribution, and probably being thrown out of Parliament, and he is going to be reinstated by John Key, but Peter Dunne is not. Strike one—strike one. Now John Key wants to go on a date with “Crazy Colin Craig”—strike two. What has Peter Dunne got to do to worm his way back into John Key’s good books? It is very, very hard to imagine.

Of course, the result of this shambles is that Nats are jumping off the sinking ship. In fact, “like Nats off a sinking ship” has become a little bit of a phrase around here. Chris Tremain—hundreds of real estate signs in Napier showcase his name, but even that could not save him. We like you, mate; sorry you are going. But it is a stampede. Chris Auchinvole lost the Coast, now he is a list MP, and now he is gone. Phil Heatley paid for the wine with his ministerial job. Paul Hutchison—one can only wonder “whay”. Cam Calder—one can only wonder who. Kate Wilkinson—apparently, she is going to run in Christchurch East. Oh no, that was Mr Doocey—

The member’s time has expired.

What an admission of defeat that was—the Leader of the Opposition, the party on 32 percent, spending his 5 minutes talking about a party that is not even in Parliament yet. The 32 percent party talking about a party on 2 percent. It may be interesting, but I would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would spend his time putting up Labour’s policies as an alternative to the very good policies of this Government. I was very surprised by that.

It was just 5 short years ago—just 5 short years ago—that New Zealand overwhelmingly elected the John Key - led National Party to lead the next National Government with our coalition partners. We have spent those 5 years repairing, rebuilding, and refocusing our shattered economy—repairing, rebuilding, and refocusing confidence in New Zealand, and trying to build. We are succeeding now, but the work continues with Better Public Services, which is building and bringing in policies that matter to New Zealanders in their homes and in their families. That is not the PC nonsense that just 5 years ago so preoccupied the members opposite, many of whom are still on their front bench.

The National Party, in the 5 years we have thus far been in Government, has been constantly putting in policies to create real jobs and to create real wage growth for families in New Zealand. We must note that Labour and the Greens have voted against every single one of those policies. The National Party is the party of jobs. The National Party is the party for families. Every single one of the policies we have put in place to help their circumstances at their level has been voted against by Labour and the Greens, which are forever preoccupied with their PC nonsense and all sorts of interesting things that may be of interest in the beltway or to their caucuses. It is Better Public Services that has brought in national standards in education, aiming for a better educational outcome for five out of five of our New Zealand children. There are better outcomes in health, with more electives than ever. There are better policies on law and order, which have led to a reduction in crime, particularly in violent crime.

Amazingly, it takes the National-led Government to bring in better policies for the environment, such as freshwater standards. One would have thought that the Greens would promote that a wee bit when they were making arrangements with the Labour Government last time. National is not only the party for jobs for families; National is also the party for the environment. We do not just talk about it; we do it. We take action.

We are also enabling the regions to invest in their future. We are the party for jobs in the oil and gas industry. We are the party for jobs in water storage projects such as the Ruataniwha scheme in Hawke’s Bay. I note that the Labour Party is against jobs in the oil and gas industry. The Labour Party is against the water storage project in Hawke’s Bay.

Just 5 years ago Labour policies led to the decade of deficits. The best commentary I have seen in quite a while of what 9 years of Labour meant was from John Armstrong in the New Zealand Herald. When commenting on the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update, he said: “The Treasury’s pre-election economic and fiscal update bleeds so much of the red stuff that the document looks like the aftermath of Dracula running amok in the blood bank. The numbers in this horror story are truly awful.” That was commentary from a neutral observer after 9 years of the Labour Government.

The worry is that as bad as that all was, those policies are still unchanged in the Labour-Greens Opposition. The policies are actually unchanged. The only new one I know of is the printing money one, which I have not heard about for a while, but that still seems to be a policy. So the policies of the Labour Party that led to the decade of deficits, the policies that led to rampant taxation, lack of confidence, and a ballooning public sector, are still in its manifesto. It has not changed them. It may have renamed them. It may have re-skinned them.

National is on track to achieve surplus next year. National is on track to achieve surplus in spite of the export recession over 5 of the years of the Labour Government, in spite of the resultant recession for 1 year from 2008, in spite of the global financial crisis, and in spite of the tragedy and the tragic circumstances around the Christchurch earthquake. National is on track to achieve a better, brighter future. The work continues. We cannot put it all at risk.

On Friday I leave for Warsaw for the 19th annual meeting of the climate negotiations. I was at the Earth Summit back in 1992 where all this kicked off. I was at the 16th meeting in Copenhagen and the 18th at Doha last year. It has been 20 years of struggle to save the planet from dangerous climate change.

How have we done? The answer is not well, and the truth is that we are proving to be inadequate to the task. The objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. That year the level of global emissions was 38 billion tonnes. Today it is 50 billion tonnes, one-third higher than when we undertook to reduce it. The UN says that to stay under the 2 degree threshold of a dangerous climate we must reduce global emissions to 44 billion tonnes by 2020. Business as usual will see 56 billion tonnes of emissions. Our voluntary pledges will also keep us way above the target.

The recent Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has four scenarios out to 2100. Only one scenario, requiring a radical mitigation pathway, will keep us below the 2 degree threshold. The other three scenarios project a mean temperature rise of 2.6 degrees, 3 degrees, or 4.5 degrees. Global warming to date has been a rise of 0.8 degrees Celsius. We see around us the extreme weather events associated with a 0.8 degree rise—the forest fires in Russia and Australia, and the severe storms in America and the Philippines. If this is what a 0.8 degree rise does, imagine what a 3 or 4.8 degree rise will do—yet a 4.5 degree rise is business as usual. Can we imagine what this will be? Why are we not factoring in the magnitude of this threat in our political discourse?

Well, the people who are suffering from a 0.8 degree rise are doing just that. The Philippines’ chief delegate at Warsaw had a few comments: “What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. This climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw. … We cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate. It is time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway.”

So Warsaw next week will test whether we manage to get negotiations for a global agreement back on track following the train wreck of Copenhagen and whether we actually agree, as an international community, to reduce global emissions from 50 billion tonnes to 44 billion tonnes by 2020, just 6 years away. If we do not, then, very simply, we shall be committing our children to a catastrophic future.

How are we doing down here in New Zealand? Are we doing our fair share in this unprecedented and titanic task? New Zealand has the worst emissions record of all OECD countries. Our net emissions have grown from 32 million tonnes back in 1992, when we signed the convention and said we would start reducing them, to 57 million tonnes today, a 78 percent increase. In 2020 they will be 70 million tonnes, and in 2028 they will be 96 million tonnes.

Does this bother our Prime Minister? No. When queried on the projected emissions he offers a relaxed view of the future. Science, he says, will be “our friend” when it comes to climate change. Science could “quite possibly solve the problem of our agricultural emissions”. Besides, New Zealanders, he graciously observes, do not wish to change: “I have never been of the view that people are going to dramatically change their lifestyle. They are not going to stop eating protein. They are not going to stop wanting New Zealand to produce that protein, but science can actually help us.”

It is wilful negligence of this kind that will earn us, once again, the fossil awards at Warsaw. This will enable Minister for Climate Changes Issues, Tim Groser, to jeer at the global civil society, as he did in Doha, on the grounds that they are unrealistic idealists who cannot perceive the real world for what it is. The truth is that the real world is what the scientists, those friends of the Prime Minister, are describing it to be: catastrophic climate change in the course of this century if we continue business as usual in the manner that his Government, for incomprehensible reasons, wishes.

There is a strange smell that is starting to permeate across the Chamber. It is the kind of smell one gets when you walk across the high tide mark after a big storm. It is the kind of smell you get as you walk through a forest. It is that smell of decay, of rot, of dead wood. Today the Leader of the Opposition got to the heart of that. He backed up the rejuvenation that is going on on this side of the House, as eight to 10 of our MPs make the decision to move on to other things. We allow fresh, bright ideas to come into this party. On the other side, though, the smell is permeating—that dead wood.

What we are seeing 5 years on from the start of this Government is rejuvenation, change, and new policy happening on this side of the House. And on the other side? Dead wood—dead wood policies and dead wood politicians. When we come to the election in just a few months’ time, towards the end of next year, the public will be sitting there, saying: “What is on offer here? A party that after 6 years is bright with new ideas and fresh people, or one that after 6 years has not changed. It is still full of dead wood politicians.”

On that note I can say I was proud to attend the policy day up at Premier House, just last Friday. We walked into Premier House—a caucus full of a huge vibe of confidence and a resetting of our policies going forward. In that regard we talked long and hard about the four key objectives that we set as a party when we came into office: firstly, to return the Government’s books to surplus; secondly, to create a more productive and competitive economy; thirdly, to build better public services; and, fourthly, to rebuild that beautiful city of Christchurch, which I do not think anyone in the House would oppose. But in every one of those policy areas it was exciting to be able to talk about the future, about new policies to add to those ones that have been implemented to date.

Let us have a look at some of the results that we have achieved over the last 5 years in regard to those key policy areas. There is 3 percent annual growth. That provides our country with a huge future for children like mine, aged 17, 15, and 13, who are looking to get into tertiary education and to go forward. An economy now with 3 percent growth going forward is absolutely fantastic.

On top of that we are also going to set a pathway to return to surplus. It is wonderful to see the Labour spokesman on finance supporting that, and actually predicting that we were going to do better than we ourselves thought. I have got to say that that was actually really good—a fantastic situation. Returning to surplus, getting our accounts back in order—a great thing. It is also good to see the IMF endorsement of the way we are tracking. The accounts are in a good position moving forward.

Business confidence is strong, consumer confidence is really high, and immigration has turned round from where we saw it. Net positive migration—in September alone an additional 2,700 people moved to New Zealand. More people are arriving than departing. That is positive.

But what is best of all is that we are seeing the trend of unemployment continuing to fall. This time last year unemployment was 7.2 percent. It got down to 6.4 percent, and just in the September quarter it was down to 6.2 percent. We have still got work to do; I accept that. But if we see that trend in economic growth continuing, that 2 to 3 percent—it is one of the best economies in the Western World—then I predict that next year we will see that unemployment number go down to the 5 percent range. So that is absolutely fantastic.

Put that together with the new ideas that we were creating at Premier House last Friday, and put that together with the rejuvenation of our caucus, strong new faces coming in, with fresh, positive ideas—what that presents is a party that is going into the next election with a spring in its step. Compare that with the Opposition—a bunch of dead wood politicians with dead wood policies, going nowhere and offering no future in any capacity to New Zealand. If I was the Leader of the Opposition, I would be worried, with the polls going nowhere north anytime soon and with a caucus full of dead wood politicians.

We understand that we are in a great position heading up to that election. It is going to be a fantastic time and I cannot wait for it. Thank you.

The previous speaker, Chris Tremain, is so full of ideas that he could not even fill a 5-minute slot in the general debate. He sat down before his time was up. Well, he is one of the members who are deserting the National Party ship. He does not want to be a part of any potential future “coalition of the crazy”, which Prime Minister John Key is currently out there negotiating.

I want to quickly touch on Minister Groser’s performance in the House today. He is off to Warsaw on his international speaking tour. I am sure he will be charging a hefty appearance fee to appear at the Warsaw 19th conference of parties negotiations. He said he believes that New Zealand is doing really well. We are doing really well on climate change! This is a Minister who has gutted the emissions trading scheme, has sat by while our carbon price has utterly collapsed, has devastated our carbon forestry industry, has made us a pariah on the international stage when it comes to climate change, and has had enormous criticism from our Pacific Island neighbours about the inaction of the New Zealand Government on climate change. He thinks he is doing really, really well. But we need to acknowledge that we are in the presence of a genius when Minister Groser is in the House. Of course, he was involved in Closer Economic Relations and said it actually should be called “Groser Economic Relations”. No one else said that, unfortunately. That is what he said.

I say to this Government that it has been utterly negligent in its duties in the area of climate change. It is an embarrassment to go from being a country that was clean, green, and proud, that was seen as a leader in that area, to being seen as a pariah and getting awarded the “Fossil of the Year” award for international climate change negotiations. My concern is that when I look at where John Key is taking the National Party, I do not have any confidence that we can trust the National Party to take climate change seriously at all in the future.

We have got our Prime Minister, who is on record as saying that he is suspicious of climate change. He then said: “Well, no, no, I’ve always believed in climate change.” But when he was caught in a moment of honesty, he said: “Well, if you believe in climate change—and I am somewhat suspicious of that.” We have his new BFF and favoured political bedfellow, Colin Craig, who believes that climate change is caused by the circulation of the planets—the circulation of the planets. Then we have Jami-Lee Ross, an up-and-coming National MP, one of the young MPs in the National Party, who yesterday, when he was doorstopped coming out of question time, refused to state on the record that climate change was real. It is a pretty simple question to be asked as a politician: do you believe climate change is real?

💬 David Bennett: No.

Jami-Lee Ross refused to comment. I am a little bit nervous—

💬 Hon Annette King: David Bennett just said no.

Oh, David Bennett just said no. But that is David Bennett. He is not one of the young up-and-comers in the National Party, to be fair. But that is interesting—we will add him to the list of the “coalition of the crazy”, which does not believe that climate change is real and which is suspicious of climate change. I am very worried for the future of our planet and the future of our country if this Government is re-elected in 2014—as it will not be.

Going back to crazy Colin Craig, the future lead coalition partner in the “coalition of the crazy”, his views on climate change are not the only interesting views he holds. He came before the select committee hearing on marriage equality and announced a new Conservative Party policy that none of us had been aware of in the past, which is that the Conservative Party opposes unisex toilets—opposes unisex toilets. It is one of those hot political issues that no one else wants to touch, that political parties shy away from. His logic was that it is OK to treat people differently, so men’s and women’s ablutions should be separate. He thought it was absolutely appropriate that men’s and women’s ablutions should be separate, so the Conservative Party opposes unisex toilets. This is a future coalition partner of the National Party if John Key has his way. That begs the obvious question: does he have separate toilets at home? Does he have men’s and women’s toilets in his own house? I think that when that is the kind of tripe that is coming out of the mouth of the preferred political bedfellow of John Key, voters in this country have every right to be very concerned about what a National-led Government, a “coalition of the crazy”, would look like in 2014.

I say that the choice is clear: a coalition on this side of the House, which has sound, evidence-based policies—it always cracks me up to hear the Prime Minister referring to science. He is very selective in his choice of science. He has ignored every single report the Chief Science Advisor has provided to him, but when he thinks he can get out of doing something, he will refer to science. You can have this side of the House, which is evidence-based, which respects science and research, and which wants action on the environment, action on climate change, and action on the economy, or the “coalition of the crazy” on the other side of the House, which is going to ban unisex toilets.

It is a pleasure for me to take a call in the general debate this afternoon. I want to talk about the issues that matter to my constituents in Maungakiekie, as well as to the people of New Zealand. But before I do that, I want to just talk about my dad. He was my hero. He was a migrant to this country. He passed away recently, and I just want to acknowledge him this afternoon. He passed away playing golf last week.

I also want to mention Papaliitele Peter Fatialofa—last night I also attended his funeral—and say just what a man of courage he was. He was a man who stood for values of community, of service, and of loyalty, not only in the Samoan community but also in the communities across New Zealand, and he is being buried this afternoon.

Last Friday was 8 November, and it was 5 years since National took office. It was also my mum’s birthday and the day we buried my dad. I just want to say that this is not going to be an overly political speech here today. It is about some of the things that we have done in the last 5 years and that the Government has delivered on. It has been a tough time, not just for my family in the last week but also for our country in the last 5 years. I think that is something that we can all agree upon. The financial crisis did hit, and regardless of assigning blame to whatever party or whatever person, things needed to be done in this country, and I am proud of some of the things that we have done to address the issues around the economy, around jobs, and around the education system.

The recent household labour force survey for the September quarter did show that over 2,270,000 people are employed in this country today. That is a large number. It is a large increase on the corresponding figure for last year, and on the corresponding figure for the previous quarter, to 30 June. What it means is that there are over 2.27 million people who work in this country, who provide for their families, and who are able to better clothe their families, and that is a good thing. That is a good thing, regardless of your politics. It is good to have people independent of the State. It is good to have people with the ability to look after their families, and it means that there are children out there and there are families out there who are being cared for.

Unemployment is down. It is at 6.2 percent. That is a good thing, relative to what is happening overseas—yes. Could it be lower? Of course it could. I think we, as a Government, are trying to address some of the things that will bring the unemployment rate down and to produce jobs in the different industries that New Zealand has competitive and comparative advantages in. Whether that is in the mineral sector, whether that is in the high-tech sector, whether it is in my local electorate, or whether it is in high-value, value-added manufacturing, that is where our future jobs lie and that is where I see our economy growing. Certainly, I am hugely supportive of those local businesses in Maungakiekie that contribute to jobs and contribute to our economy, especially the businesses of the local families in my area.

In terms of education, in 5 years—and I am glad our former Minister of Education Anne Tolley is here, in terms of the work that she has done in the education sector—I am very proud, particularly of the amounts that are being spent in early childhood education. Yes, members in this House can differ as to how that money is spent, but that money is being spent on children—on children, toddlers, and young kids—who need an investment in education, and $1.5 billion does contribute to parent-led centres. My own daughter attends a playcentre in my local electorate, where there are also kindergartens and other early childhood facilities that provide a really good start for kids to grow and develop in our country. You know, compared with other countries in this world, New Zealand does offer one of the best education systems in the OECD and across the globe. Thank you.

Can I say at the beginning of my contribution that I acknowledge Sam Lotu-Iiga and acknowledge the passing of his father. I say to him that he has the sympathies and condolences of members on this side of the House. I lost my mother 3 years ago. It seems incredibly unfair, does it not, to lose someone so close to you at such a young age, and it can be challenging to come back into the House and engage in the cut and thrust of politics.

Although I listened closely to what the member said and what he had to say about his Government’s record over the last 5 years, I have to say that we do have a different point of view on this side of the House, because we are actually out there in the streets listening to what New Zealanders have to say, listening to what people think about this Government, and listening to the litany of dodgy deals that this Government has engaged in. The National Party is the party of dirty deals done dirt cheap. It will do a deal with anybody, especially if it is a deal that gives preference to its corporate mates, and especially if it is a deal that will get it back into Government.

Let us look back at the long list of dodgy deals from National over the 5 long years it has been in Government. It started off with Warner Bros, the American corporation that came to New Zealand and created a phoney crisis. It created a phoney crisis, and New Zealand’s Government turned round and changed its laws. National prevented workers from having the right to bargain collectively in the film industry because Warner Bros, an American corporation, came along and demanded it. That was a deal that John Key was ready to do.

Shell, another foreign corporation, came to John Key and said: “We want you to get rid of protesting at sea.” National has never liked protesting at sea. Those members did not want to get rid of the nuclear submarines, and they took the first opportunity they could to ban protesting at sea—a New Zealand tradition. And they did it because a foreign corporation wanted to do a deal.

Then there was Skycity. National is prepared to increase the harm caused by gambling, to increase the social costs that New Zealand taxpayers and consumers will have to face, in order to do a deal that benefits its mates in the Australian corporation at Skycity.

It was ready to pay $30 million to Rio Tinto. It was not just a deal for its mates in that foreign corporation; that was a deal to prop up its failed asset sale programme. Let us think about some of these policies that this Government is promoting: selling off our assets—assets that are profitable, assets that every single New Zealander benefits from—so that just the privileged 1 percent get the benefits from those profit-making assets. And there is NZ Power, a good solid Labour policy, which this Government is dead against. Why? Because it would benefit the consumers, the taxpayers, and the workers of New Zealand, and it would not benefit National’s mates—the people who have bought up those assets and bought up those electricity companies.

Every deal this National Government does is in the interests of the few, the interests of the 1 percent, and the interests of its mates. That is what those deals are all about. But now it is about political deals, and it is about political deals to build the “coalition of the crazy”. National wants to do a deal with Colin Craig, the man who thinks that climate change is all down to astrology. I do not know whether it is because Mercury was in Venus, or what the story was, but something is changing our climate and Colin Craig does not want to face up to the fact that it is man-made climate change. It has got nothing to do with sunspots; it has got nothing to do with the alignment of the planets.

Then, of course, there is John Banks. The Prime Minister is always ready to do a deal with John Banks. It does not matter how long he is before the courts and it does not matter how many donations he received that he did not declare, the Prime Minister is ready to do a deal with John Banks. The Prime Minister is ready to do a deal with Peter Dunne, the man he cannot even trust to be up front about whom he did or did not leak documents to.

This is a “coalition of the crazy” and New Zealanders have a real choice. They can go for a solid, Labour-led Government, which is working in the interests of taxpayers and consumers and hard-working New Zealanders, or they can stick with the “coalition of the crazy”, which is working for John Key’s crony capitalist mates. Those members are not working for New Zealand; they are working for somebody else.

It is interesting that the member Iain Lees-Galloway brings up the Skycity convention centre, because for decades the tourism industry has been asking various Governments and itself how it can get an international convention centre in New Zealand. It is true that as part of that convention centre there will be gaming machines. The New Zealand public in some way have found comfort in the fact that the number of gaming machines throughout New Zealand has decreased substantially over the last 5 years. Across New Zealand in bars and pubs the number is gradually coming down, and, furthermore, even though there are going to be gaming machines in the new convention centre, the number of gaming machines throughout New Zealand is going to continue to decrease, which is good.

I am not necessarily pro-gambling, but I think it is important to put into perspective that this convention centre, worth about $400 million in private investment, is going to be built in Auckland. It is going to attract international conventions, which we have never held in New Zealand before. During the construction phase there might be up to 1,000 people involved and during the operational phase many hundreds of jobs, and that is what this International Convention Centre is all about. So here is a convention centre that produces jobs, and the Green Party and the Labour Party are against it.

Here is the common thread: they are not against just the convention centre, which will produce jobs and growth; the Green Party and the Labour Party have at every turn opposed the dairy industry expanding in New Zealand. The Labour Party and the Green Party oppose oil and gas exploration. They oppose the exploration of minerals—that is more jobs and growth out the window. So the Labour Party members, who are all for jobs and the workers, apparently, are against the convention centre. They are against oil and gas exploration, which has occurred in Taranaki for 100 years with no problems. They are against mining, which has occurred on the West Coast for 100 years without any problems. They are also against irrigation—for example, the irrigation of land in the South Island. They are concerned about that. The Labour Party is railing against that—more jobs and growth. Marine farming, aquaculture—every time some business person wants to employ people and create a business and an income for himself and his family or herself and her family, every time they propose a marine farm, the Green Party and the Labour Party are against it—more jobs and growth that they oppose. Of course, in the film industry they railed against Warner Bros, which tried to stop the unions closing down the Hobbit movies in New Zealand. Gerry Brownlee and John Key stepped in, in a way that was above board, and made sure that the Hobbit movies were actually filmed in New Zealand. The Labour Party and the Green Party were against that.

What I am saying to the New Zealand public is this: where once we had a Labour Party that was all for the workers and that supported the beneficiaries, there is now a Labour Party that will be only for the beneficiaries, because it opposes work. At every opportunity to produce jobs—the convention centre, marine farming, irrigation, oil and gas exploration, the exploration of minerals, the film industry—the Labour Party is against that. There will be no work. It will be a party for beneficiaries, whereas the National Party, as you know, has worked over the last 5 years with New Zealanders, with businesses, with public trusts, and with all sorts of community organisations to create jobs, to circle the wagons, and to work ourselves out of the recession.

We have gone through quite difficult times to a point where we now see unemployment dropping and employment increasing. We are seeing interest rates being held. We are seeing the best mortgage interest rates for 50 years. We are in a position where we do not want to put it all at risk. We will not want to put the Labour Party, which apparently is all for jobs but against all sorts of investment, in Government. I am very proud to be part of the National Party, which has managed this economy over 5 years, and I cannot see why the New Zealand public would put all that at risk.

Actress, advocate, human rights activist, international icon, social worker, trailblazer, JP, a friend to many in this House, the name behind two questions in world trivia, and role model for the three Ps—politician, prostitute, and public servant; roles that she felt were often interchangeable and sometimes all played at the same time—Georgina Beyer first burst on to the scene when she won Miss Personality in a drag queen contest. Her bubbly and straight-talking persona made her an instant celebrity, from which she launched a long and tempestuous career as a film and television actress—her modesty does not permit me to say when it all begin, although her dazzling demeanour suggests that there is more to come—featuring on numerous television shows, including a starring role in Dancing with the Stars, and earning a best actress nomination for her role in Jewel’s Darl.

But, undoubtedly, Georgina’s greatest influence came through her political career, beginning when she rocked the pundits to become the world’s first ever openly transsexual mayor in 1995, in Carterton, one of the most conservative towns in our country, defying the odds and overthrowing many long-held stereotypes in the process. More important, though, Georgina went on to earn the trust and respect of her community with her straight-shooting and no-holds-barred approach to her job and her public profile.

Always quick to latch on to a star on the rise, Labour encouraged Georgina to enter national politics, and on 27 November 1999 she again made history as the world’s first openly transsexual member of Parliament, unseating the National candidate in a landslide, and, again, in one of the country’s whitest and most conservative rural electorates, Wairarapa. Georgina says that it was all much of a surprise, uttering a phrase that was heard all around the Commonwealth: “Am I really the first transsexual MP? What about Maggie Thatcher?”. And yet despite winning one of the most conservative seats in Parliament and representing its interests well enough to waltz back in at the next election with an increased majority, Georgina was also the flag-bearer for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, and led the House in promoting prostitution law reform and civil unions. It was a pioneering and multifaceted role, which turned her into a sought-after media commentator and international keynote speaker on human rights.

In 2005 Georgina considered resigning from Parliament, disillusioned by the impact that Labour’s foreshore and seabed legislation would have on Māori, but she stayed on to oppose what she called the homophobic rhetoric of groups like Destiny Church. She eventually resigned from the House in February 2007.

In her time in this House Georgina served her many constituencies with passion and with vigour. She is a knowledgable and forthright advocate for human rights, who teaches us all to be strong in our beliefs, to be true to our history, to never back down from a challenge, and to respect all those who want to be positive contributors to our society, regardless of sex, race, creed, and gender. Georgina stared down all examinations of her competence. She rose above the interrogations about her sexuality. She handled the public perception with aplomb. She enjoyed a public profile that most MPs could only dream of. And she did it all while holding the title of best-dressed woman in Parliament for every one of her 8 years in the House.

Georgina recently became unwell with kidney failure, and so tomorrow we celebrate her achievements at a special tribute evening here in Wellington, organised by Louisa Wall and hosted by Tariana Turia, where Georgina will be surrounded by friends, past and present. And for those of you who can remember Georgina’s strident and powerful opposition to the Destiny Church march on Parliament, please know that Brian and Hannah Tāmaki’s presence at the tribute to Georgina signals just how wide and powerful has been the influence of this amazing woman.

Georgina, it is an honour to have you with us in Parliament today, and I am sure that I speak on behalf of us all when I say thank you for your wonderful contribution to this House, to this country, and, indeed, to the whole wide world. You are truly a remarkable woman, and today it is my honour to honour you on our behalf. Tēnā koe e te tuahine. Tēnā tātou katoa.

I just want to acknowledge Georgina Beyer from this side of the House as well. When I first came into Parliament I remember your smile and your face around these premises. You are a friend to all sides of the House. We wish you the best. It is good to hear that things are happening tomorrow and that things have progressed well. Best wishes for that. I also acknowledge my colleague Sam Lotu-Iiga, with his father passing. It is very difficult to come into our House and to express your personal circumstances at the time. I think everybody in this House can recognise and understand that. We appreciate the approach the Labour Party took, and especially Iain Lees-Galloway for his comments afterwards. I am sure Sam appreciates that, and we certainly do, as anybody in this House would.

Getting beyond the personal, I guess, there is the politics that this place involves, and a big part of that is the nature of the battle you see between the main political parties that this room represents. Today we are in the general debate, which is generally a time where we have a good fight and attack each other. But it is a bit more subdued today because of those earlier reasons.

💬 Sue Moroney: And they’ve got the B team from the National Party.

But it is good to see Sue Moroney here, my opposition from Hamilton. When we think of the last 5 years, it is important to think of, taking Hamilton, for example, what this Government has achieved for the people of Hamilton. I remember that when I came into politics the big thing for Hamilton was to get the Waikato Expressway completed, the road of national significance—

💬 Chris Auchinvole: Did you get it done?

Yes, we have got that through and we are getting it built.

💬 Sue Moroney: Are you just announcing it today? You’re announcing it again.

The Ngāruawāhia section is due to be open soon. Sue Moroney is saying that we are announcing it again. Well, we actually announced it, we are building it, and we are doing it, unlike whatever Labour tried the last time it was in Government.

💬 Sue Moroney: How are the jobs at Ruakura going?

Jobs at Ruakura—there will be more jobs at Ruakura as the Tainui developments go ahead there. That major inland port that you will see there will be a major part of the development of Hamilton East going forward. Another thing for Hamilton is that Hamilton has had a huge investment in its hospital, in the development of the Waikato District Health Board’s main campus in Hamilton. Over $400 million is being spent on the Waikato District Health Board. That is big money being spent on the redevelopment of that hospital. I want to thank my colleagues from around the Waikato who have lobbied for that over the years. I know that it is in Tim Macindoe’s electorate, and he is very keen to see that money spent at that institution.

And then we go to education and we see the great developments at Wintec with the new buildings being built in Hamilton. We see the new schools being proposed for the north of Hamilton East, and that shows a growing area that is being resourced and the infrastructure coming in from this Government.

💬 Sue Moroney: You promised that 5 years ago, David. What happened?

Sue Moroney was asking where it was 5 years ago. Well, Sue Moroney, the Labour Party would not do anything 5 years ago. It is only since—

💬 Sue Moroney: You promised it 5 years ago.

Five years ago. What happened 5 years ago? The Labour Party went to a piece of land and said: “This would be a great place for a school.” It never promised any money, never promised any process, and never did anything. It had a photo in the paper with Sue Moroney on a piece of land, saying: “Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a school here?”. And then she comes into this House and says that Labour promised it 5 years ago. What a load of rubbish. That is a load of rubbish. The reality is that the Labour Party did nothing. It deceived the people of Hamilton, telling them that there would be a school there when there was never an intention to build it. [Interruption]

Pardon? What did you say, Sue Moroney?

💬 Sue Moroney: You promised it 5 years ago and it’s still not being built.

Yeah—5 years ago she was nowhere to be seen.

Broadband in Hamilton City—we are seeing broadband being put through that city. The ultra-fast fibre network being put through first in Hamilton and being delivered through that city shows a Government investing in that city. I want to introduce Hamilton today as an example to show what this Government has done in 5 years. Roads—we have built the Waikato Expressway and we are building the rest of it. The inland port is going to go ahead under National. We have got the internal ring route, which is the road linking Hamilton North to the university. We have got schools coming into Hamilton North. We have got the university and Wintec having developments on their premises. We have got Waikato Hospital being redeveloped.

First, I must recognise Georgina Beyer. It is always a pleasure to see former MPs return to the House. We in this House need to keep up with the times that we actually live in and be aware of what is actually happening. People expect us to be aware of what is happening around the country and to take some action. The area of body art—tattooing, for some of us—is very popular today. The Government has basically got a role to play in ensuring that everyone who has a tattoo is safe. If it does not, it is very costly to the health system. Other countries are actually moving on this front, and it is time that New Zealand followed their example.

We have got a total lack of regulation in this area. Many of the licensed operators want action, and they are contacting me to ensure that some action is actually forthcoming. What have we got now? Importation of tattoo equipment, including ink with high levels of lead. Who cares? No one cares. We have got the onselling of tattoo equipment to anyone and everyone. Who cares? Again, no one cares. Of course, to add to this, we have got unlicensed members of the public actually practising their art on unsuspecting members of the public.

We have to stop these products from coming in at the border. We do not know who is importing these tattoo kits, how many are coming in, or who is actually buying these tattoo kits. The only way to prevent these unlicensed tattooists—often called “scratchers” around the industry—is to limit their ability to get a tattoo kit. The only agency that can make this happen is the Government, and it is time that action was carried out.

I have got an email here from a tattooist, and he believes—and I totally agree with him—that there should be some laws about this. He said: “Resellers of skin penetration equipment and pigments should be licensed in some way as responsible resellers, so they themselves are accountable. Resellers should not be allowed to onsell their equipment to unlicensed practitioners. The purchasers’ information should be required on invoice statements, as well as their skin penetration licence. We do this for doctors and we do this for dentists, so it is timely that we did this for tattooists. We do not want to see licensed studios that import their own equipment hindered by this law. They need to carry on as they previously were.”

Does anybody in this House believe that the buyers of the kits that are advertised on TradeMe and other internet sites with a reserve price of $1 for one kit with two guns are actually going to be licensed? No, definitely not. We do not know who is going to actually buy that equipment. What has happened? The internet has become a way to bootleg off these substandard products and inks to unsuspecting buyers. So what have we got? We have got unknown quantities of gear coming in and gear of an unknown quality coming in, and a vast amount of ink. Ironically, you cannot buy inks off TradeMe, but if you buy a tattoo kit, the seller will ask you “Do you want ink with that?”. And, of course, it is far easier to get the ink. I know of people who are going to the $2 Shop to actually buy the ink. How safe is that ink? It is not.

What we have got here—allowing unlicensed people to tattoo—is actually dangerous to the population at large and, of course, to the industry, those people who are legal, who are licensed, and who follow and carry out all of the requirements. I know for a fact that many licensed tattooists spend their time fixing up the botched jobs that the unlicensed tattooists have carried out. Usually, the initial cost is pretty similar, but the quality is shocking.

What sorts of health risks have we got here? We are looking at infections, we are looking at scarring, we are looking at nerve damage, and we are looking at hepatitis C and even HIV/AIDS. Urgent action is required by the Government.

Wo hen hao xiexie. I am very proud to be part of this National-led Government. Under John Key’s leadership and after National’s first 5 years in Government, New Zealand is in a much better economic position. Five years ago National inherited an economy from Labour with a current account deficit at almost 9 percent of GDP. Inflation was at 5.1 percent. Homeowners were crippled by high mortgage interest rates averaging 10.9 percent. The Labour Government’s spending was up 50 percent and the economy was going nowhere but backwards.

Five years on, and how things have changed. The current account deficit is now 4.3 percent of GDP and inflation is now only 1.4 percent. Mortgage interest rates now average 5.9 percent, so homeowners have been able to pay off their debt earlier. We have reduced Government spending, despite the global financial crisis and the devastating Canterbury earthquakes.

Five years ago the economy was shrinking under a Labour Government. In the past year our economy grew by about 2.5 percent, which is one of the highest growth rates in the OECD, and we are on track to return to surplus by 2014-15. Business and consumer confidence is at its highest levels. Over the past 2 years more than 65,000 jobs have been created, and unemployment is lower than in most developed countries. Our economic programme over the past 5 years is clearly delivering for New Zealand.

The National-led Government has achieved this positive economic momentum by responsible fiscal management. We have not had to make major public sector cuts, as seen overseas, and we have actually increased our spending in key areas such as health and education. We have put in place plans that have made steady progress in delivering more jobs and higher incomes for New Zealanders, and we have a busy agenda to ensure that this progress continues, as our good work is not done.

Five years ago our trade with our second-largest trading partner, China, stood at about $8.2 billion. We have worked hard at continuing that relationship. Now our trade volume with China has reached $17 billion. China is now our largest trading partner. More important, New Zealand’s exports with China have more than trebled in 5 years, from just $2.2 billion to over $8 billion. The National-led Government has also worked hard to grow New Zealand’s tourism, which contributes almost 9 percent of our GDP. The number of visitors from China has almost doubled in 5 years, from over 120,000 in 2008 to about 230,000.

As I am speaking, Minister Steven Joyce is visiting China to boost New Zealand’s education profile. Currently, Chinese students account for 27 percent of our international students and inject about $800 million into our economy. Education is now our third-largest export to China, after dairy and wood.

Needless to say, I am very proud of what our National-led Government has achieved in its first 5 years, and I am confident that we will achieve more in the coming years. You may be aware that last week the Prime Minister launched the New Zealand Story project to help firms leverage off a strong narrative about New Zealand’s uniqueness. This will further enhance our brand in the world.

Before I conclude I would like to say that as a Chinese National MP I am very proud of our Government’s continued support for New Zealand’s ethnic communities. We recognise that New Zealand is increasingly diverse and we want to build a strong and inclusive country where hard work is rewarded. We also want to ensure that our migrants and their families have access to information that would enable them to integrate more easily, get ahead, and help them have better lives in New Zealand. That is why we have—

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.