General Debate

I move, That the House take note of miscellaneous business. On Sunday there will be the final match of the Cricket World Cup, and the Black Caps will make history, and we in New Zealand will all be rightfully proud of that performance. But the curtain-raiser for that match will be played on Saturday, and it will be played in Northland, and it will be played as the Northland by-election, in an electorate that has been held by National for over 77 years—and that, too, will produce a result that will be historic.

Last week I spoke in the House, and I warned this Government that rural, provincial New Zealand has woken up to the fact that it has been taken for granted by National for too long, that it has been forgotten, and that it is becoming increasingly of the view that it is time to send this arrogant Government a message—a message. And indeed, the very next day—after I warned long-time supporters and card-carrying members of the National Party that rural, provincial New Zealand was angry at the cuts to funding assistance for rural roads, at the cuts that are coming through the one-road network, through the forced amalgamation of rural, provincial New Zealand into super-cities—on the front page of the Dominion Post, out came Sir Brian Lochore. And his message, very poignant, very clear, and very fundamental to the National Party, was that they have had enough—had enough. In fact, the message was so profound and so clear that the same day, at a meeting in Wellington of the district councils’ chief executive officers, the chief executive officer of Wellington said: “God has spoken.” Unfortunately, the only people who are not hearing the message are in this National Government.

So on Saturday a very clear message is going to come, because the “Force of the North” will enable Northlanders to send that message. And let us be clear: these are not card-carrying members of the New Zealand First Party. They are not card-carrying members of the Labour Party. They are National Party people. [Interruption] We know that this message is very clear, Gerry—Mr Brownlee, the Hon Mr Brownlee—we know it is very clear because Christchurch MPs have been sent up to Northland to help pull the hoardings down because the campaign has imploded, has it not? It has imploded.

So what has happened up there? I know one thing that has happened is that the National Government said Winston Peters had “zero chance of winning”. Those were its words. John Key said that. National was so arrogant that it said: “We’ve got 16,000 votes. We can’t possibly lose this.” Arrogance—arrogance at its best—supported by the policy of “Simple Simon Bridges Over Troubled Waters”, which in actual fact—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will use the proper terminology when referring to members in this House.

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: Yes, that was hurtful.

There we go. So what does it mean? It means that after 77 years, people have woken up to the fact that the lowest median income in New Zealand is in Northland; that there are over 800 one-way bridges, Mr Bridges—800, not 10—that there are 1,100 kilometres of unsealed roads in Kaipara; that 70 percent of the roads in the far north are unsealed; and that there is a rail line that is so bad that it takes 5 hours to shift goods south to Auckland. Forget 4G because most people up there cannot get cellphone coverage, just like Greytown actually, by the way—try to get cellphone coverage in Greytown. It is a place where the indicators that ought to be good are down and where the indicators that are bad are up. This is a place that, after 77 years of National Party representation, has its indicators upside down.

And the promises—well, they have flooded out of Wellington since the by-election was announced and since Winston Peters entered the race. What is this party not going to do with new roads, new bridges, and broadband? Well, heck, it is only because Steven Joyce has not had time to rewrite the policy and to put it out there.

And what else has National learnt? It has learnt that it has got a candidate whom the National Party people do not actually want. They would have preferred a farmer. It has learnt that it has got a candidate one of whose greatest attributes is that he can lift heavy things—he can lift heavy things. Take all these billboards that have appeared all over the place—billboards with “Hoss Cartwright” on them. And we know what that message says: “Look, he’s a lovely boy and he’s a gentle giant, but he ain’t particularly bright”. How do we know that he is—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

If there is any cricket analogy that does make sense, it is that Winston is probably the twelfth man for Labour, and that means he is good at getting the drinks. Yeah? He would be good as the drinks boy, and that is about it. You have got to say that Labour members have got to be pretty antsy and a bit nervous at the moment if Winston Peters is seen as their saviour. Winston Peters is the man who, you know, strides into town on a bus, and those members throw their own candidate underneath it and hope for the best. But if there is one person who perhaps was a little bit worried about that particular debate from that particular member, Ron Mark—she has left now—it was Tracey Martin, who certainly felt concerned because that was a succession speech if ever I heard one.

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: That’s what that was.

Eh? That was a succession speech if ever I heard one from someone who sees himself ready to step up and take the reins of the great bus that is New Zealand First.

I was thinking about Brendon McCullum and what a great job he did yesterday. I tell you what, there are some weird things that happen in life, and one was me sitting alone watching cricket, totally engrossed, and never believing that I would be that interested in that sport, quite frankly, or to be as absolutely engrossed as I am. But it does bring up the cricket analogy as well. Just to be quite clear, Winston Peters was trying to run for Northland before Brendon McCullum was even born. Yeah? And then he probably has not visited in his aspect as an MP since Brendon actually was born, because Winston Peters goes back only for his holidays and not actually to care about the particular area or about what needs to be done. But we will see what happens there and times will be interesting.

I will say, though, that the people of Northland at first were a little bit—I have got to say, you know, Winston was there in the bus and they kind of stopped and took stock for a moment and were not quite expecting him. But they really have got a bit sick of being talked down to. So at first they did sort of go—they are a bit sick of him. And did you notice that the members’ debate was all about how awful Northland is, how awfully things are going, how terrible things are, and how bad it is—you know, it is so bad up in Northland. I actually think that it is one of the most incredible regions in this country, as it has more going for it than most of them do and it is pretty damned incredible. So does our candidate, Mark Osborne, and that is what National stands for. So the little rhetoric of talking them down and saying how bad things are, you know, might have initially got a bit of TV coverage, but the people of Northland, they know how great the place that they live in is, they know how great they are, and they do not believe in the negativity from New Zealand First, which, quite frankly, they are hearing all the time.

So Labour really is in a bit of disarray over here. Here those members are, sort of struggling along, and then the person whom they have got to look at as their great shining light is Winston Peters. So they throw their own candidate, Willow-Jean Prime, under the Winston Peters bus. She is actually quite an awesome woman, from some accounts up north, I have got to say. There is quite a bit of respect for her there and they think that she is actually a strong candidate who could do a really good job—those, of course, who do not support our wonderful candidate, Mark Osborne. But under the bus she goes, not even overtly, but covertly. So they have not got the actual chutzpah to stand up and actually say: “This is what we believe, but we will all secretly hope that Winston is our great saviour up there because things are not going so well for Labour itself.”

So let us take the housing policy. Obviously the member Phil Twyford is getting ready for his great debate. He is ready to get up there and give it stick. Those members do not know where they stand on housing. So it is State housing that Labour largely ignored—build a couple more houses and the job is done. It does not matter that they are in the wrong place with the wrong people and are not actually addressing the needs of tenants. That is pretty much like: “Just tick that box and we have done our housing policy, and everything is all right.” The member blatantly gets up and in speeches says that he supports growing community housing providers. He says private sector investment is part of that—local government and central government. He blatantly says it all of the time. He makes up, quite frankly, real stories and untruths about this Government trying to flog heaps off to private developers, which I right now put on the record as saying is untrue. It is point-blank untrue.

What we stand for are tenants. What we stand for, and will make a difference on, is actually people who have been left behind, largely ignored for generations, and who now deserve to have the right kinds of services wrapped around them by the right kind of community providers. That takes leadership. It means standing up for something and backing those providers with the right level of funding and the right level of support around them. That is what we stand for and that is what we believe in.

The last few weeks have been very, very revealing. What the Northland by-election has exposed is a classically arrogant third-term National Government that is mired in scandal, is desperate to hold on to power, and is frantically trying to cover up its own shortcomings—in this particular instance, the Northland by-election and its chronic neglect of regional New Zealand over many, many years. It has basically been like watching a slow-motion train wreck. I do not know what will be the most enduring image of the campaign. On the one hand it might be Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, the hapless Mark Osborne, and a large black pig trying to erect a National Party hoarding—a photograph that appeared on the front page of the Northern Advocate—and on the other hand, it might be the poor candidate Mark Osborne, who had been advised not to go into the studio for the Q+A interview, with his eyes darting nervously from side to side and Steven Joyce clearly there behind the camera holding up cue cards telling him what to say.

So what did National do? It panicked. It panicked after one media opinion poll showed it was likely to lose this by-election. Steven Joyce panicked and he threw $70 million of taxpayers’ money at 10 Northland bridges that the Northland Regional Council had not even been asking for in its regional transport plan. In fact, only three of the 10 bridges were even mentioned, and of those three, only two of them got the lowest possible priority rating. They were not a priority for Northland. But this National Government has never seen a political problem that could not be solved by throwing truckloads of taxpayers’ money at it. And for this Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, his reputation has been one of the great casualties of this by-election campaign because he will never ever have any financial credibility or credibility as a transport Minister in this Parliament again. Simon Bridges’ bridges—his reputation has been permanently tarnished. The hapless candidate Mark Osborne could not even name the bridges, even though he can see one of them from his front window. He claims it was his idea to think of the bridges in the first place, and yet he could not even name them.

Matthew Hooton, who is not exactly a firebrand socialist, has said that the pork-barrel politics practised by this National Government are the worst since the National Government of Sir Robert Muldoon in the 1970s and 1980s. This is the by-election of pork, and it will hang around the necks of Steven Joyce, Simon Bridges, and all the other maestros who have been involved in running the campaign. I have a question: is the pork-barrel politics a sign of how desperate and how panicky this National Government is about losing the by-election this Saturday, or is it an indicator of how casual the Government is with taxpayers’ money and of how willing it is to spend it willy-nilly in the pursuit of power and in buying votes? Or is it both of those things? I suggest it is the third.

Not only have we seen bribery but we have also seen bullying. And poor Shane Reti, who was sent out by Steven Joyce and Simon Bridges to tell the people of Pipiwai in Northland who are simply campaigning to get their dusty roads sealed—a reasonable enough request—he was sent there to bully and intimidate the people of Pipiwai. It is all over the media. He was sent there to tell them that they should keep quiet and that they should keep their heads down for the duration of this by-election, otherwise they would get nothing. That is the National Party in this by-election—bullying, intimidation, pork-barrel politics. He told the people of Pipiwai that he had taken their roads plan to Cabinet, and he was forced to retract that statement. The Minister exposed that for the lie that it is.

It is not the pork. It is not the years of neglect. It is not the dusty roads, the blackmail, the bullying, and the lying. The thing that really sticks in the craw of the people of Northland is that they were kept in the dark by this National Party about Mike Sabin and the police investigation.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member knows that that is not a subject that will be raised in this House.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I want to point out, in relation to that, that 3 News published—

Order! I do not care what 3 News has done. I have made it quite clear, and the Standing Orders are quite clear, that that matter will not be discussed in this House. That concludes the member’s speech, anyway.

After years of neglect by the left, when Winston Peters was off traipsing around the world and Phil Goff was funding hip-hop tours in Auckland, we are back backing the regions. Ron Mark wants to talk about bridges in Northland. They are certainly topical. I really like Bridges. I like them so much I have made two small ones of my own. I probably will not make 10; we will see how it goes.

Through the life of this Government we have spent hundreds of millions—actually, billions—of dollars more than the left building roads and bridges in regional New Zealand.

💬 Ron Mark: Cutting rural road funding.

We know, Ron Mark, unlike the left, that right at this moment, because it is convenient to Ron Mark, his party, “Winston First”, is sidling up to—we know that the way it does roads is that only two or three cities in New Zealand get a look-in. Well, it is not what this Government has done. We have supplemented the regions of this country and made sure they get the good Government investments they deserve. They do not see those investments as—to use the words we have heard—pork barrel politics. They see them as quality investments that are essential lifelines to their people.

We have been backing the regions. We have done that through the National Land Transport Fund. We have put much more into that, really, across all of the categories. We have made sure there are categories in it that appropriately recognise the role of the regions because we know that under the way that Labour used to do things, they did not get a fair go.

Ron Mark says we have cut funding. Well, let me give Ron Mark a few little statistics here in relation to what was spent in 2005 to 2008 and what is being spent in 2012 to 2015 in some of the regions in this country. Basically, almost every single region has gone up, most of them significantly. The Bay of Plenty is up 47 percent, from $322 million to $475 million in the National Land Transport Fund. Canterbury is up 200 percent, to $1 billion. Hawke’s Bay is up 18 percent, to $188 million. Marlborough, Nelson, and Tasman are up 47 percent. Otago is up 36 percent. Southland is up 35 percent. Taranaki is up 41 percent. Waikato is up 50 percent. The West Coast is up 23 percent. We have spent more in the regions because we know they are an important part of this country. We have been backing them.

That backing has not just been through the National Land Transport Programme. It has not just been in other conventional ways. We have also recognised and accepted that sometimes projects that the regions really back and that are vital to those areas need us to come in and make an assessment of what is required. That is why we have done that in the Accelerated Regional Roading Package. That is why in that package we have systematically gone through and chosen many projects all over New Zealand. There is the Kawarau Gorge bridge in Otago, which I know that the member of Parliament there is really excited about. We keep going with bridges, whether they are the Normanby Overbridge realignment in Taranaki, where I was privileged to turn the first sod very recently—my first go in a digger—the bridges in Manawatū and Whanganui; or the one that I know that Anne Tolley has been banging on about for probably far too long. This Government—because the last Government would not do anything, despite the fact that it had been a regional priority—is going to do something about the Motu Bridge replacement in Gisborne. It is going to see it double-laned and improved because this is the party, on this side of the House, that backs the regions.

I say to the members opposite that it is all very well to do Winston and do the hooey; we do the “do-ey”, actually. We are the ones, on this side of the House, who for the last several years, year on year, no matter what metric you choose, have spent more in the regions than the left when Winston was propping it up—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! Refer to members properly.

I have got a little friendly advice for the members opposite. If they want to do well in the regions and they want to back the regions, they could start by actually just supporting the conventional things we do. The member opposite knows this. He knows that the Pūhoi to Wellsford approach is a good one. We do not call it a “Holiday Highway” on this side of the House. We back the regions throughout this country, and we are going to continue to do so.

Yesterday an international research study was published by the American Society for Microbiology on its open access journal mBio. The significance of this report is that it found that some herbicides in common garden use, in common agricultural use, and often in pesticide food residues may undermine antibiotic therapy and increase levels of antibiotic resistance in some disease-causing bacteria. One of the herbicides was Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup, and it is familiar to most New Zealanders, including those over here. That is right—the ubiquitous Roundup, the Roundup in many garden sheds, and on most farms, and many, many vineyards has once again been seriously implicated with effects that could be seriously affecting our children’s health, our health, and that of animals and even bees.

But this study is not on its own. Just 5 days ago we heard that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified glyphosate, the principal ingredient in Roundup, as a probable carcinogen. We need to take this exceptionally seriously. There are numerous other reports that show evidence is mounting that there are health risks associated with Roundup, from babies to bees, yet we are not seeing evidence that this Government is taking these real risks seriously. There are residues, including those in Roundup or its breakdown chemicals, in many of the foods we eat and Roundup is widely used on people’s backyards, driveways, footpaths, roads, and, increasingly, whole paddocks and hillsides. We know that the folklore about drinking Roundup is absolutely dangerous rubbish. Roundup is increasingly seen as dangerous, right up to the United Nations. It is a probable carcinogen and now linked to antibiotic resistance. Those are just this week’s entries on the list. There are many more effects, including birth defects and very concerning effects on the environment, including on bees and on the soil biology of our productive lands.

Considering the evidence of pesticides affecting human health, typically we find that the Ministry for Primary Industries’ total diet survey is done something like every 5 years. It is only a relatively small sample of foods as well—so when will this Government increase monitoring of foods and residues? Unfortunately, the Ministry for Primary Industries spins the results of those residue tests and it quotes many, many compounds in multi-residue tests that are not even relevant. It does that to statistically inflate its testing effort, but it plays down the fact that most fruit and vegetables and imported corn and soy products will have some pesticide residues in them. That is right—most of the foods have some pesticide residues in them.

So when will this Government get stuck in and address the fact that consumers want no pesticides in their food? They want no carcinogenic ones, none that increase antibiotic resistance, none that are endocrine disruptors, no neurotoxins—they want none. When will this Government get pesticides like Roundup out of New Zealanders’ food? Almost all the 600 Ministry for Primary Industries samples analysed in the Safe Food Campaign’s dirty dozen list contained pesticide residues. They are impacting on human health, even at low residue levels, and the Government needs to lift its game to get pesticides out of New Zealand’s food.

Other studies are much more direct. Among New Zealanders, I am sick of hearing of friends being taken to the hospice—including one of mine today—and hearing of friends and family dying or suffering from cancers, significant allergies, and ongoing health issues. We all have friends in that situation. It does not have to be that way, and it was not, once. When will this Government care about our babies and the bees and stop relying on single-ingredient chemical safety tests, when we know that the chemicals in each of the compounds also have adjuvants that are not being considered by our food safety experts and that have been shown to increase toxicity by up to a thousandfold? Roundup is far more than its principal ingredient, glyphosate. Let us test food—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired.

In just 1 month from today we will be commemorating 100 years since the New Zealand Anzac troops came ashore at Gallipoli. In just 1 month today it will be the centenary. As everyone in this House knows, the Gallipoli centenary is a hugely significant event not only for New Zealand and for our good Australian mates but, of course, for our friends in Turkey as we all commemorate, evaluate, and have another look at the conflict of 1915.

I will be attending the Gallipoli commemorations along with our Prime Minister and 2,000 other New Zealanders. I actually was there about 2 months ago and I can categorically state that it is a very special, personal experience and place for any New Zealander—and I am sure for any Australian and Turkish person as well. It is an extremely special place for understanding who we are as a country, why we are the people we are, and why we have this great relationship with our friends the Aussies. We can give them a hard time, but when push comes to shove, we stand side by side with them in times of conflict and when necessary. The building of, the learning about, and the beginning of our nationhood—about just what it means to be a Kiwi—that comes through louder every year as we see more people, more younger New Zealanders, at Anzac commemorations around our country. I personally think that as well as respectfully looking at the sacrifice made by so many New Zealanders at the time, many of whom were about the same age as many of the schoolkids who go to these commemorations are, it is perhaps a bit of a search as to who we are as a nation and what formed us.

I have had the absolute pleasure today of hosting Ahmet Cinar, the Governor of Turkey’s Çanakkale Province, who is currently visiting New Zealand. I spoke and met with the Governor as he hosted me in Çanakkale, Gallipoli, a couple of months ago, and I can assure you that we have friends in Gallipoli looking out for and looking after and treasuring that very, very special part of the world. I cannot stress enough the cooperation, collaboration, and the desire for a very successful Anzac service, particularly this year, that will enjoin the cooperation and hard work from the Turkish authorities, both central and local, and, of course, from our Australian friends.

I also had the pleasure this morning of laying a wreath with the Governor at the Atatürk Memorial, which—if you do not know it—is at the southern end of the airport on the right-hand side as you fly into Wellington. You can actually see it there. If you do not mind, for the record, for Hansard, I really want to put the quote from Atatürk, which just sums up better than anything or any words I have seen where we are today with Anzac Day. The quote, which is the inscription on the memorial at Gallipoli and here in Wellington, reads: “Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

Those are prophetic words and also just humbling words. Every time I read them I have a shiver down my spine. I have been quite humbled as I have been getting more and more involved in my veterans’ affairs portfolio, which was given to me by the Prime Minister late last year. There are good Kiwis, good people involved in our services. They have been involved in our services, they still are, and they will be involved in our services.

Many New Zealanders seem to somehow take for granted the sacrifice and the price that many paid—and continue to pay—for the freedoms we enjoy to contest and to vote in democratic elections and to enjoy our way throughout the world with our friends throughout the world. I hope many Kiwis, particularly this year—some who, perhaps, have not paid as much attention as they could as to who we are and what we are as a nation—will perhaps take some time to reflect on this very, very special centenary and commemoration. Thank you.

This Government is a bit of a shambles. It is stumbling from scandal to fiasco, and back to scandal again. Let me just list a number of the fiascos and botch-ups that it has made. It has botched up the Northland by-election. The by-election, which is for an electorate that National has held for decades and decades and decades, is slipping through its grasp as we speak. It has absolutely mangled that. It has mangled the roads issue. It has mangled the bridges—the “Simon Bridges” bridges. It has messed up that announcement. It has messed up housing. What about this one: does anyone remember the cycleway—the cycleway that was going to bring jobs to Northland by the thousand? It was going to stretch from the Bay of Islands across to Hokianga—80 kilometres of cycleway. Let me tell you now that if you get on your bike and ride from Ōpua, you can ride 7 kilometres. Then you have to get off your bike, you have to put it on the back of your truck, and you have to drive about 30 kilometres to meet up with the next part of the cycleway. There are no jobs that have been created.

💬 David Shearer: How long did that take?

It has taken 7 years for a 7-kilometre long cycleway.

What else has it botched up? It has botched up Tim Groser’s job application for the World Trade Organization. That is part of the scandal that this Government has been involved in. And then there is the reason we are having the by-election in the first place. This by-election should never have happened. I have always wondered why it is that most ambitious policemen get a job in, say, Kaitāia, then they get promoted and go to Whangarei, then they get promoted again and they go to a bigger station in Auckland, and then maybe they get promoted again and they end up down the road here in Wellington. Instead, Mike Sabin started in Whangarei and then his career went in reverse; he went from a big police station down to a small police station. And if the National Party had done its due diligence, it would have seen that there were some issues with Mr Sabin.

Then there comes the candidate selection. We have heard from Ron Mark over here that National has gone and selected “Hoss Cartwright”—just give the man a stetson and he would look like his twin brother. Not only does he look like Hoss Cartwright but there has also been a bonanza in Northland. There has been a bonanza of bridges—10 double-laned bridges that we have not asked for. Those members would have had a bit more credibility if they had just given us three bridges—but, no, they are treating us like we are fools. They say: “Here are 10 bridges.” We are all asking: “Ten bridges? Wow, that’s fantastic.” We are not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but their own candidate cannot even name the 10 bridges. He could not even name the one that is a hundred metres from his own home. It is not even going to take 5 seconds off the trip from his front door, across the river to the Taipā bakery—it is not going to take any time off that. By the end we were thinking: “My gosh, after 1 week he’s making a $70 million, 10-bridge announcement. Wow, this is fantastic! Imagine what he’s going to announce after his second week—maybe an international airport in Te Kao, a stadium in Hōreke, or a tunnel through the Mangamuka Gorge!”. Anything was possible with this candidate. We even expected him to announce that the capital was going to be moved back to Northland, where it started—but no.

What Northlanders actually want—if they had bothered to ask us—is stability of roads. In the time of this National Government, $36 million has been taken from New Zealand Transport Agency road funding. That is 29 percent of the funding gone. We actually want stability of State Highway 1. If I get in my car at the start of Northland, at Wellsford, and drive for about half an hour, I get to the Brynderwyns. The Brynderwyns are windy on the south side and they have banks that slip down in adverse weather conditions. On the north side they have long and straight curves with passing lanes. We want the south side of the road through the Brynderwyns to be fixed. What does this Government go and do? It has just started to fix the north side, which is not broken. Then, if we are lucky enough to get over the Brynderwyns to Whangarei, there will be a slip at Maromaku on State Highway 1. You now have to go through a little detour. If you get past that detour, you get to Kawakawa. When it is raining and stormy, Kawakawa gets flooded out, and you have to wait for a couple of hours to get over the three bridges. If you get over them, you will get to Moerewa and the bottom of Turntable Hill, and there will be another flood going on there. It does not matter which road you take up to Kaitāia, whether it is State Highway 1 or State Highway 10. There is the Kaeō bridge that gets flooded. There is the Waihou Valley bridge on State Highway 1 that gets flooded. If you double-laned the Kaeō bridge, that would be great, but it is not going to fix the 500 metres on the north side of that bridge that is flooded.

That member, Kelvin Davis, had 5 minutes to set out his vision, and he squandered it. I learnt more from Steffan Browning’s speech than I did from that member’s speech. Steffan Browning’s speech was more coherent.

It does not seem that long ago that I attended the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup opening in Christchurch. There was a sense of excitement, there was a sense of optimism, and there was a sense of hope. I would like to acknowledge the fantastic win by the Black Caps over South Africa. Like many New Zealanders, I was tucked up in bed last night enjoying a cup of tea and watching a fantastic game. I wish the Black Caps all the best for their game on Sunday. Watching Grant Elliott hit the six on the second to last ball reminded me of the cricket heroes that I grew up with: the big-hitting Lance Cairns; the international all-rounder Richard Hadlee; the talented Crowe brothers, Martin and Jeff; and the jovial wicketkeeper turned commentator Ian Smith. It is great that the young people of New Zealand will now grow up with their own cricket heroes.

We have our own regional development heroes in the Government: our team captain, the Prime Minister; our all-rounder, Bill English; our fast bowler, Steven Joyce; and, a pair of safe hands, our wicketkeeper, Gerry Brownlee. Not only have we seen the rise of the Black Caps recently but we have seen the rise of another powerhouse: Canterbury regional development. After the devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, Canterbury regional development is getting back on its feet. We saw the Hagley Oval—what a great example of the first completed anchor project. Cantabrians are realising that not only are we building a new city but our infrastructure and our facilities will be the best in New Zealand, like the Hagley Oval. Coming up we have the bus interchange, the retail precinct, the Avon River precinct, the justice and emergency precinct, the health precinct, the innovation precinct, and the performing arts precinct.

Recovery is not easy; it takes time. Earthquake recovery is a key focus of mine. We are not just talking about bricks and mortar here. With a background in health—and, specifically, mental health—we know international research tells us that years 3 to 5 post-disaster are the most problematic for social and psychological recovery. I would like to remind people of the Canterbury District Health Board’s All Right? campaign. It is worth repeating that if people are still needing help, it is all right to ask for help. I would ask my parliamentary colleagues to ensure that we continue to focus on the Canterbury earthquake recovery in 2015 and provide the support that Cantabrians need, but the signs are encouraging. The 2014 Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority well-being survey reported that 77 percent of Cantabrians rated their quality of life as “good” or “very good”. These are the highest results for this survey in the last 4 years.

We do need to remind ourselves that it is not the Christchurch recovery; it is the Canterbury recovery. In my electorate of Waimakariri, the town of Kaiapoi was hard hit in the first earthquake in 2010. But this year, 2015, is the year of milestones and new beginnings in the Canterbury earthquake recovery and in the recovery of the Waimakariri. It has been an honour and a privilege to speak at the opening of the new Ruataniwha Kaiapoi Civic Centre, the opening of the Rangiora Town Hall, and the opening of the Ashley Bridge, and it was an honour and privilege to host the Prime Minister for the reopening of the Oxford Town Hall. These community assets are not only symbols of our recovery but of where we are going in the future. I am proud to be part of a Government that believes in community facilities for strong families and in caring facilities.

We are looking forward to another great year ahead, and I am looking forward to an open day for affordable housing in my electorate on Saturday, where affordable housing is being provided for under $450,000. Many of my constituents are looking forward to the KiwiSaver HomeStart loan package. Thank you.

Well, what a show of “third-term-itis” we have heard in this House today. Opening the batting today, we had the Hon Paula Bennett, who was out for a duck trying to defend a failed housing policy that is lying in tatters. But it was not just one duck because next up we had the “Minister of Bridges”, Simon Bridges, playing a defensive game, caught on the back foot, and unable to make any runs.

This is a Government that has run out of ideas. This is a Government that is playing defence and a Government that is severely out of touch. We are seeing arrogance, we are seeing bullying, and we are seeing a Government that is desperate to cling on to power, whatever the cost and whatever it takes. Did we hear speeches today from Ministers sketching out a brave new vision? No, we heard speeches trying to play patch up, and speeches that did not work in trying to play patch up.

Then we had the last contribution, from new member Matthew Doocey across the way. This was desperation at a new level. He had said in his office: “Oh, I know. It might make us sound a bit better if I can compare us to the winning cricket team. That might make it sound better.”, but that just did not work. It was desperation. He talked about the rise of a new power. Well, given the state of this Government, we have to ask whether that new power is Paula Bennett, Bill English, or Steven Joyce. Which one are you backing?

This is a party where the wheels are coming off. National is about to do the unthinkable—that is, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory—and possibly turn a 9,000 majority into a loss in Northland on Saturday. This is a Government that really is playing off the back foot. We have got John Key’s increasingly bizarre outbursts, which show that this is a Government losing control of its agenda and trying to protect its own neck. This is a Government in disarray, as my colleagues have said. It is about scandal, about botch-ups, and about fiasco. It is making a complete hash of things in Northland and it is making some very, very strange statements in the House.

But there are some very serious issues that underlie this. We have been seeing for a period of time now the abuses of power that this Government is willing to commit in order to hold—and desperately hold—on to power. It is a Government that is riddled with controversy and a string of these abuses. There is the smear machine that has been run out of the Prime Minister’s office. The Prime Minister himself was shown to be on late-night text terms with his bestie, Cameron Slater, on the eve of the release of the Chisholm inquiry. We have a Government that is willing to use the resources of our security intelligence agency for its own political ends—first of all, against Phil Goff in the 2011 electoral campaign, and now we have the Government willing to use our security intelligence agency as a recruitment agency for one of its Ministers. That is not a sign of a Government that deserves to be in power. That is not a sign of a group of people who have a positive agenda for our country and want to implement it.

Then we have got the panic—the absolute panic—that is setting in over Northland. I think the National Party are in desperate need of a Corporal Jones within their midst—someone to make the clarion call of “Don’t panic!”. Maybe it will be its whip Tim Macindoe. He has just heard Matthew Doocey shop himself by saying that he goes home early to watch the cricket rather than staying on until the end of play at 12, but it might be his time to rise up and be the Corporal Jones and tell us “Don’t panic, don’t panic!” because panic has set in on the benches opposite.

Whether Mark Osborne gets over the line or not on Saturday, National has already lost in Northland. National has already shown that it is a Government on the way out. It is a third-term Government that people are losing faith in quickly. The people of Northland, like people all over New Zealand, are showing that they are sick of being taken for granted and of having their needs ignored, and they are going to punish National at the ballot box. Whether that is a win or a close call, a close call is a loss for National in Northland.

Well, New Zealand got off to a cracking start in 2015, just like the Black Caps last night against South Africa. We are wishing them the very, very best for this Sunday, because I can tell you that for New Zealand Kiwis and their families, under this Government, the success continues to roll on.

For the benefit of the aspiring Green Party leaders, I would like to point out that in 2014 the New Zealand economy grew 3.5 percent, one of the highest rates in the developed world. In the calendar year of 2014, inflation was merely 0.8 percent, which was well below average weekly wage increases of 2.5 percent, and over the last 12 months, 80,000 jobs were created and labour workforce participation rates reached a record high. That tells us that businesses have confidence—confidence in what this Government is doing, confidence in the future. They are looking to expand and to employ more people. It tells us that the people of New Zealand have confidence. They know that the work is out there and they know that they can improve their prosperity and their livelihoods by seeking it. It all means more work, more income, and better prosperity for Kiwi families. It is the heart and the start of better times for Kiwi families.

This continues under this Government, with our Business Growth Agenda creating more opportunities for Kiwis to succeed such as by opening new markets. This week we signed a free-trade agreement with Korea. Korea is currently our sixth-largest export market and contributes $4 billion to our economy each year, but under this free-trade agreement we will remove $65 million in duty costs for Kiwi exporters in the first year alone.

💬 Todd Barclay: How much?

$65 million. That makes our exporters more competitive, and if we are more competitive in Korea and other countries we are seeking to have free-trade agreements with, that translates into more exports, more jobs, and higher incomes.

Along with this we are also opening up channels of investment through things like our Financial Markets Conduct Act, which passed recently and places a higher cap on funding mechanisms such as crowdsourcing, which businesses such as Renaissance Brewing and Invivo Wines have used very successfully. We are also making enormous investments in quality and much-needed infrastructure.

Our roads of national significance are improving productivity and unlocking economic potential throughout New Zealand. And we are seeing the benefits of that in Ōhāriu as well. We have got our own road of national significance. We are finally seeing Transmission Gully under way and that is a much-needed infrastructure investment in the Wellington region that will terminate in Ōhāriu. Along with that road, we are also investigating a Pētone to Grenada North link road, a road that could shave as much as 7 kilometres off the trip from the north through to Pētone and better link the communities of Porirua and Tawa with Pētone. That is good, sensible investment.

Along with that investment, in Ōhāriu we are also seeing a network of highly successful and capable schools that are preparing our children for their brighter future and contributing to the Minister of Education’s goal of five out of five children having success in education. It is a great news story. Ōhāriu is the place to be. Everyone wants to be there, and we are helping them with special housing areas, which we have agreed with the Wellington City Council, in Johnsonville, which is the heart of the electorate, and in Churton Park, a very popular suburb just to the north.

Our economy is flourishing along with Wellington’s. Wellington’s economy grew 4.4 percent in the year to March 2014, and Ōhāriu is playing its part. We have got beef and sheep farmers in the valley, and they are now farming wind; we have got technology companies that are hugely successful; and in traditional business, the Taylor Preston meatworks contributes $250 million of exports to the local economy each year and up to 700 jobs—much-needed jobs–in Wellington. It is a huge player in our local market. Ōhāriu is playing its part and it is reaping rewards. This Government is focused on the things that work with the things that will actually lift livelihoods and incomes for families. This Government is working for New Zealand.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. I just wonder whether I am in the right place, because for the last 3 weeks all we have heard about from the other side of the House was Northland and what National was going to do for Northland. And yet here we are in the last week of a “buy-election” and all that those members can talk about is Anzac, and that is important; cricket, which is important too, but Ōhāriu, Korea, Johnsonville, Japan, Wellington, Korea—I am not saying that that is not important, but, gosh, if I was a member of that party, I would certainly be wanting to do my best for the people of Northland.

The Northland electorate is currently experiencing a political phenomenon that has never ever been seen before in the last 10 years. The political party that Northland people have pledged their faith in has deserted them, and what is National doing about it? It talks about Northland being important and about what it is going to do for Northland, but Northland is an example of regional New Zealand—forgotten. However, that has all changed. Why has it changed? Because the “Force of the North” has arrived, with a simple byline “Send them a message”. We are 3 days away from an election, but the Government has already received the message, so that is very good. The people of Northland are certainly taking the opportunity to send their message, and the reaction from that side of the House certainly indicates that they have. It is great to note the members who are present in the House. Obviously, they are the favoured few because the rest of the team are all up in Northland getting ready to pull down the hoardings.

We know that the people of Northland have been promised 10 two-laned bridges. I am from the north and I am really sad. Although it may be good news for some people in the north, I am really saddened that the bridge in Mōtatau, the bridge in Opahi, the bridge in Pokapu, and the bridges at Matawaia, Pipiwai, Otiria—all within the Ngāti Hine boundary—have not even been included on the Government’s list. Those people who are living in those communities certainly do not believe that they have been considered. However, once the New Zealand First candidate put his name into the hat, all of a sudden the fruits, the baubles of office, started to fall down on Northland. That is just an indication of the pulling power of our candidate, whom Northland people will certainly provide their support for.

Talking about history, was it the National candidate who said that he would take the Government back to Northland? Well, I just want to let you know that the New Zealand First candidate has already beaten him to that. He has established his headquarters in Russell, just down the road from Ōkiato, the original capital of New Zealand. So not only is he preparing himself to represent the good people of Northland but also he is indicating that there is a sense of history in all this, a history that will see that 70-odd years of representation by one political party in this House for the people of Northland will come to an end.

I have just one final thing to say. The Government had the opportunity to show how sincere it was towards the people of Northland. In Northland there are 71 schools with a decile rating of 1 to 3. Last week the Government had the opportunity of supporting two bills that would see assistance given to families who were having difficulties feeding their children. What did the Government choose to do? Ignore it—ignore it. And the history of this country will show that all the filibustering that the National Government has done towards helping Northland has been just that: filibustering. Kia ora.

I have got to say it is fantastic to be associated with a Government that is assisting New Zealand families to get ahead. We are doing better, and there is more on the plate that is coming. On 1 April we are going to see paid parental leave increase by a further 2 weeks. This is great news for families. We are going to see, again on 1 April, the parental tax credit for low-income families increase from $150 to $220—more great news for families. The HomeStart scheme is going to be up and running, and we are going to see more and more first-home buyers being able to access the market. We are going to see free doctors visits extended, not just for those who are under 6 but for those who are under 13 years of age. This is great news for New Zealand families. This is great news for our country as we build on our successes of the past and continue to do more.

This is not a Government that has run out of steam. This is a Government that has got energy. This is a Government that has got vision. This is a Government that wants the very best for New Zealand families. Although we are making great progress in these social areas in terms of the assistance we are directly providing to families, there is more we can do and there is more we are going to do, particularly to empower families to be able to provide for themselves, because that is ultimately the outcome we want to see. We are going to do this by continuing to grow the economy. We are going to continue to do this by growing jobs, and we have got a good record in that over the last little while. That is something that is happening right across New Zealand.

I hear constantly on the other side of the House people talking about a two-speed economy where if you are not in Auckland or in Christchurch, then you are forgotten. The regions of New Zealand have not been forgotten. The regions of New Zealand, in fact, are doing very, very well. We see the recent growth statistics that have come out about regional development in New Zealand, and we see that things are going incredibly well, things are growing at a greater rate, and we are in good shape.

If we are going to continue to grow the economy in the regions, it does take a little bit of extra effort. Over recent times we have seen that extra effort go into regional growth studies that have been occurring right across different parts of New Zealand—particularly, so far, in the Bay of Plenty, in Northland, and also in the Manawatū–Whanganui area, where I come from. These regional growth studies are working very hard to identify particular areas that will be great opportunities for those particular regions. I know that in Palmerston North and in the Manawatū, in particular, we know we do some things better than pretty much anyone else in the country. We are developing and working alongside this regional growth study to enhance those opportunities further. We are seeing great expansion in the area of food research and development. With the help of the Government, through New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in cooperation with local authorities, we are starting to see more jobs grow in our region in this area. We have been able to attract overseas companies to come and set up in the Manawatū, creating more jobs for locals. We are seeing New Zealand companies like New Zealand Pharmaceuticals expanding their operations. They are exporting more, and the region is going to do better, as well, because of it.

We are also the best place in New Zealand—the Manawatū—out of which to operate logistics-type operations. The investment this Government is putting into the MacKays to Peka Peka diversion around Waikanae and Paraparaumu is well on the way and is going to increase the connectivity between the Manawatū and Wellington. Transmission Gully is not too far away either. These particular roading projects are absolutely connecting the region I live in to the capital city of Wellington. We know it is going to have good pay-offs for us in this region and is something we will be very proud of.

Also, in terms of regional roading funding, the Foxton trestle bridge is due for an upgrade. Unfortunately, at the moment it is unable to take high-productivity vehicles along it, but when that bridge is done up, we are going to see high productivity from the produce that is grown right around New Zealand getting better access to the markets.

I want to finish by reiterating that this is a Government that is going forward. This is a Government that is very keen and committed to growing jobs, growing the economy, and seeing better outcomes for New Zealand families.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.