General Debate

I have to say that what was once characterised as a dirty, filthy, grubby little Government, engaging in dirty, grubby, filthy little tactics—as it tried in Northland—what we now have is a sad shadow of its former self. And the resident Elvis Presley impersonator sits there giggling because he is about to break out in a rendition of “Suspicious Minds” because that is what is governing the Cabinet and the National Party caucus now, as the finger of blame rotates around the caucus room and the National Party wonders who is responsible.

We observe today the stunning achievement of the National Party, which turned what was a 9,300 majority just 6 months ago into a 4,000 deficit. That is unheard of in the history of New Zealand politics—unheard of in the history of New Zealand politics. The Northland by-election will go down in history as one of the worst defeats of a political party in this country. The Prime Minister was right to express so many months ago his concern about the impact on ACC levies of falling off your high horse in Northland. He might not have thought that it would come, but last week it did. Oh, how the mighty have fallen—as they say—oh, how the mighty have fallen.

When we cast the finger of blame around let us remember that it was not a single-handed job; there were many involved. It started with Chris Bishop. Chris Bishop did not so much fall off his high horse as off his rocking horse. They had a man’s job to do; they gave it to a boy to do it. So he did not last that long—actually, he stayed up there for most of the time; we were waiting for him to turn up to Parliament—presumably he has had his $240 a day deducted from his parliamentary allowance, but we will wait and see.

Then they put the maestro—the strategic master, Steven Joyce—in charge, and he knew exactly what to do. This was the man, of course, who gave us great political achievements such as giving $48 million credit to RadioWorks. Then he was given the job of fixing Novopay, and 2 years on, how are we doing? We are down to 11,000 faults each pay period now, but that is better than the 300,000 faults we had 2 years ago. And then he negotiated the state-of-the-art convention centre—the free convention centre that was then going to cost us $140 million, and then when the public reacted against that we now have the less than state-of-the-art convention centre. Who knows what is going to be put up, but it will be something worthy of the talents of Mr Joyce.

So now we have his big strategy, his big offering: the 10 bridges. You know, I reckon what happened is that they sat around a campfire in Northland at one of the great beaches up there, Ninety Mile Beach. They got out the guitars and started singing the great cultural classic “Ten Guitars” and that was the inspiration. That was the inspiration. Ten bridges was going to be the scheme. They thought that having one in Cabinet was not enough, but having 10 for Northland was going to be the answer. Ten bridges, and, of course, all it did was serve to remind the Northlanders just how short-changed they were. That was the great strategic maestro, Steven Joyce—that was his offering.

Of course, what they reminded the rest of New Zealand of was just how poorly served the regions have been under this Government. National still does not get it—it still does not get it.

💬 Brett Hudson: They get it in New Plymouth. They get it in New Plymouth, Mr Little.

When it promised the 10 bridges there was no mention of a global financial crisis—no mention of a global financial crisis then. But to everything that Labour comes up with, National says: “Oh, it’s the global financial crisis. That didn’t happen on Planet National.” Well, it did happen, and 7 years on regional New Zealand has nothing to show for 7 years of a National Government—absolutely nothing.

The colleague across the way there reminds me about New Plymouth. Well, he might want to front up today to the rest home workers at Port View Retirement in New Plymouth, who have been thrown out of their jobs, and the rest home residents thrown out of their homes, because the Filipino owners see no future in Taranaki—no future in Taranaki under this Government. They have thrown the elderly of Taranaki out on the streets. They have thrown the good care workers of New Plymouth out on the streets because they see no future under this Government.

That is what this Government has shown in the regions. Unemployment has risen in every region in this country since this Government took office—every region—because this Government does not care. When it has the smallest opportunity to do something—like lower the ACC levies to a realistic level—what does it do? It does not care. It does not care—that is what characterises this Government. It does not care about the regions. It has been a wake-up call. National has lost Northland and it will surely lose others as time goes on.

It gives me great pleasure to rise to my feet after that diatribe to actually point out to the House that what happened up in Northland at the weekend was that National got a message—quite true. National got a message from the people of Northland. It is one that we are receptive to. It is one that we understand. I might want to also remind the member Andrew Little, who was previously on his feet, that the people of Northland got a message from Labour as well. They got the message that Labour does not care enough to campaign hard for the seat.

Labour had nothing to offer in the way of policies, so much so that it threw Willow-Jean Prime under the bus. I feel really sorry for that candidate. She worked hard. She worked hard, but nowhere near as hard as Mark Osborne did, as it turns out. How can you be completely committed to the task when you are told: “Pull back, pull back. Don’t say: ‘Vote for me.’ Don’t say: ‘Vote for our policies.’ Say: ‘Vote for the everlasting promises that come out of New Zealand First.’ ”?

💬 Stuart Smith: Can they deliver?

Probably not. The question being put to me is whether New Zealand First can deliver. Time will tell. Time will tell, but a number of people said to me: “Look, we might take this opportunity to give a message, but we understand that it might be a very short-lived message.”

The measures that this Government has taken—and certainly last year’s Budget was a very strong signal to the families of New Zealand as to how important they are in our priorities. Our careful economic management during very difficult times has meant, amongst other things, that we have got 80,000 new jobs on the books. The average wage grew by 2.5 percent, compared with inflation at 0.8 percent. These are the sorts of facts you cannot actually argue with, which is why, in fact, the other side of the House has gone deadly quiet right now. In fact—[Interruption] Oh look, they are alive—in fact, they are alive. The average wage is expected to increase by $6,500, to $62,000, by the second half of 2018.

The circumstances in the by-election gave us a good opportunity to gather our thoughts around what is happening in the regions. Let me tell you that my region, the Rangitata electorate, certainly understands what low unemployment is. Our biggest problem is that we do not have enough people to fill the skill gaps. I forgot to say right at the beginning of my opportunity to speak that the previous member should remember whom to point the finger of blame at when it comes to losses in New Plymouth, given that member has had plenty of opportunity to experience that.

I do want to comment on the 1 April changes to both benefit and superannuation payments. There are more than 1 million New Zealanders who are going to feel the benefit of that. The annual general adjustment is going to see a 0.51 percent increase for those who require benefits and those who are on student allowances, student loan living costs, and foster care allowances, and also an increase in the rate of supplementary assistance. I am sure they will appreciate that, but I am also sure that the work the Government is doing to free those people from reliance on Government assistance is also being felt throughout New Zealand, and I think that is worthy of mention here.

I also want to comment on the difference that today’s rates will make for superannuitants and for those on the veterans pension, as well. It is 2.07 percent. This is our commitment to maintain the married couple rate at 66 percent of the average wage. Remember, prior to this Government coming into office, there was no certainty that it would be at 66 percent. We put that into legislation. Before that it hovered. It could be at 66 percent, but it could go back to 65 percent. We have underlined that in legislation.

We have seen paid parental leave go up on 1 April, from 14 weeks to 16 weeks, but the note I want to finish on is just the changes that we are making to the reporting standards for charities to give New Zealanders trust and confidence in charities, the 27,000 registered charities—$16.8 billion is coming into the total annual income of those charities. They have tax-free status. They are now reporting on their financials. There is much more scrutiny on that. They are disclosing more information to the public, and those changes are coming in as well. Thank you.

National did not just lose the Northland electorate; it was trounced. That was an electorate it had held for 50 years, and it turned a 9,000 majority into a deficit of 4,000—a turn-round of 13,000 votes. To Jo Goodhew, if that is her name, who says that that was because of the Labour Party giving it away, I want to say that Northland was no Epsom. Epsom was a National seat that National gifted to the ACT Party to keep it alive when it had no support anywhere in the country. It gifted a National seat. Labour was never going to win Northland, and, certainly, some Labour voters voted tactically. But a lot of the support that National lost was from people who had voted National last time and who became disillusioned with a Government they regarded as tired, arrogant, and ineffectual.

I want to make this point too. This was not, as the National Party would now have us believe, just a local contest. Northland was covered with electoral hoardings from the National Party with whose face on them?

💬 Hon Member: John Key.

John Key’s. John Key went up there time and again. The only time he did not go up there was on election night, when, just as in the case of the Mt Albert by-election, he left his candidate floundering and did not stand behind the poor, unfortunate Mark Osborne, who caught the flack of an electorate that was disillusioned with National.

Sitting opposite me is Simon “10” Bridges—Simon “10” Bridges—who reflects the fact that this Government, in a way I cannot remember in 30 years, went out to pork barrel Northland to try to buy votes. Ten bridges, $70 million, no cost-benefit analysis, no prioritisation—an absolute bribe. National thought that the Northland people would be stupid enough to buy that bribe. Well, Simon “10” Bridges should not have the cheek to be speaking up and interjecting now. He was part of the failure of this National Government, as was John Key, and as was the maestro Steven Joyce, who masterminded National to its worst ever defeat in a by-election. The killer blow was not delivered by anybody but National members. They shot themselves in the foot. They reminded Northlanders how long they and the other regions had been neglected, and they thought that Northlanders were stupid enough to fall for the bait.

Well, I say that New Zealanders have had enough of the game-playing, they have had enough of the lack of transparency, they have had enough of the sense of entitlement, and they have certainly had a gutsful of the arrogance. This is the beginning of the crumbling of the foundations of this National Government. You can tell by the agitated state of those backbenchers in the National Party that they know they will not be here after the next election.

We have seen cynicism after cynicism. New Zealanders support having a Security Intelligence Service to deal with terrorism and to deal with economic crime. They do not support a Prime Minister who rorts the Security Intelligence Service for party political purposes and who colludes with Cameron Slater. They do not support a party that lies to the country about what it was doing. They do not support the Security Intelligence Service being misused to get a person elected to the World Trade Organization. The Government is losing friends all across the world because it was using the Security Intelligence Service for the wrong purposes. Finally, they do not support a National Government that starves the country of money for education, for health, and for policing—for all of the good things—but that has money to bribe, that has money to subsidise a casino making a profit, and that has money to splash out on a local charter school at Whangaruru that is failing, while it is denying kids from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to have a full stomach and learn in the classroom like everybody else.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. I am pleased to stand in this debate. What a load of rubbish that was from the previous speaker. Let us talk about bribes, shall we? Let us talk about free student loans, eh? That was one of the biggest bribes of Labour, was it not? [Interruption] Oh yeah! Let us talk again about New Zealand First’s bribes in the Northland by-election. Let us talk about that port. How on earth is the Rt Hon Winston Peters going to deliver on a port? He is not going to be able to. Ten bridges—we are going to be able to deliver on 10 bridges. That is what we have put into our plan, and that is what we are going to do, because we are a Government that delivers on its promises. We are a Government that when it says it is committed to doing stuff, it does it. That is what I need to put across.

I have just arrived back from a wonderful conference overseas, in Ethiopia. It was the Women in Parliaments global summit. I can tell you right now, it opened up my eyes to many things. I looked around the places that we were fortunate to visit, and one of the things that I saw was the treatment of old people there. I looked back at New Zealand, and I thought how lucky we are to have such a great welfare system looking after our elderly. It has been said many times and it has been heard across the world that New Zealand, when it comes to its welfare system, has one of the best in the world, especially with regard to looking after its elderly. Over 1 million New Zealanders are on superannuation and will receive an increase in their payments—that is a 2.07 percent increase in their payments. That is 66 percent of the average wage for married couples, as opposed to the average wage.

When I say I was shocked about the elderly, I noticed there were old women in Ethiopia who were carrying bundles of eucalyptus sticks down the hill. That was what their job was. When I say I was shocked, I was shocked because once they retired from that, they retired into town and there was nothing for them—there was absolutely nothing for them. Every time I looked around the places that I went—I went to some of the poorer areas in Addis Ababa—I was reminded of that great philosopher Fred Dagg, who said: “We don’t know how lucky we are.” We do not know how lucky we are.

💬 Tim Macindoe: He was a great philosopher.

He was a great philosopher. Then I turn and I look at something that is close to my heart, the veterans pension.

💬 Tim Macindoe: He taught Labour that we can borrow a few million more.

Ha ha! Then I look to the veterans pension, and I see that it is a $60 million package for veterans—to support the new Veterans’ Support Act, which the Hon Michael Woodhouse is responsible for and which came into force on 7 December 2014. That is great, because I have two grandfathers who fought in the Māori Battalion, in the pioneer battalion in World War I, and I am sure that as they lay there listening to their mokopuna standing in this House talking about supporting the veterans package and all the other things that we do within the veterans sector, they would be very proud of me as they sit on my shoulders and look across the House.

The Government is also providing $300,000 in grants to the RSA, and all of this has come through on 1 April. We have also increased the veterans travel mileage rate by 20 percent. That is really important because a lot of veterans like to catch up with each other and travel from one place to the other—and some of them have long distances to travel. I am based out of Christchurch East and they have a very strong group, especially the Māori veterans, which means they do not need to travel that far. But when I first arrived in Christchurch East there was a tangi on, and the tangi was in the North Island. So they all gathered together at Ngā Hau e Whā marae and worked out how they were going to travel north. So this increase in travel payments will help other veterans throughout New Zealand too, to travel to either tangi or to hui with each other.

From superannuation in the Veterans’ Support Act, I move to employment. With regard to employment, in terms of the places I went to in Addis Ababa, there were groups of women who had been funded by their Government to set up their own businesses within the markets. Those businesses would start on the smell of an oily rag, and they would grow into big business in Addis Ababa. Some of these were actually wood-carrying women who carried wood from the top of Mount Entoto all the way down into Addis township. That wood was used for housing, it was used for fences, and it was also used for burning.

One of the things I was also quite amazed at was the innovation in that country. Steel was at a little bit of a premium for them, especially when it came to building the big concrete buildings that they are putting together. It is a city that is developing as it goes. I see the Speaker’s finger circling, but one of the things I just want to say is that I am really pleased to speak about this. Thank you.

I just want to say that today is a clear indication that the Government has lost its way. It has been so on message the whole time that it has been in Government, but now Government members are all over the place. You can see they are in disarray. We can see they are disarray, and they are in disarray because Northland was the beginning of the end for the National Government.

I want to start by actually congratulating the awesome candidate we had in Northland and that was Willow-Jean Prime. She did a fabulous job. Despite whatever that side of the House might say, we are very proud of our candidate Willow-Jean Prime and we are looking forward to seeing her in here in 2017. I do not know whether the National Government can say the same about the candidate that it put up in Northland. I am not sure whether National is looking forward to seeing him run again or even being in the House in 2017, 2020, or any other time moving forward.

Northland was the beginning of the end for the National Government. Northland showed very clearly that the regions have had enough of being taken advantage of. They knew when National went in there, promising them 10 bridges and all of these other things, that actually they had been neglected for a very long time. Here was the pork-barrel politics being rolled out by the National Government. They did not appreciate it, and National lost because of it.

What we are seeing here today from that side of the House are really the five stages of grief. Because we like to support our parliamentary colleagues, I thought that in order to be able to assist with the counselling of that side of the House I would look up the five stages of grief. What we are seeing is that all of them are at different stages of that kind of grief model. We have got the first stage being denial and isolation. And we hear the denial and isolation—

💬 Hon Nicky Wagner: Tony Ryall did this speech.

—screaming out from Nicky Wagner over there, denying the fact that National has done anything wrong, denying the fact that the regions have given up on the National Party. Nicky Wagner is clearly still in the denial phase.

The second phase of the stages of grief is anger, and we saw that very clearly today with Simon Bridges screaming at Phil Goff—screaming because he is struggling with the realisation that he has been tainted by the 10 bridges. He is struggling with the realisation that he has been made to look like a fool by his leader and his National Government. So Simon Bridges is clearly going through the stage of anger.

The third stage of grief is the stage of bargaining. I have heard many of the National Party MPs talking so nicely, off the record, about Winston Peters and his win. It is very interesting. We are starting to wonder whether the bargaining is actually beginning between National and New Zealand First—well, an attempt at bargaining by National as it tries to woo Winston Peters and New Zealand First, knowing full well that National no longer has the numbers to push through things like its Resource Management Act reforms.

The fourth stage of grief, and we have seen a lot of this today—I think it is really the stage where a lot of the National MPs are at—is that stage of depression. We have been watching from this side of the House as they bow their heads in depression, looking very sad, sitting there quietly, unsure of what to say, no longer able to even laugh at the Prime Minister’s failed attempts at jokes. Many on that side of the House are clearly going through the stage of depression.

The last stage of grief that we hope we can assist the National Government with getting to is the stage of acceptance—the fifth stage of grief. That side of the House needs to accept that Northland was the beginning of the end, that the regions have lost faith in the National Government, and that in 2017 New Zealand will be voting them out. Thank you very much.

Kia ora e te Mana Whakawā. Huri noa i te Whare e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa. I want to bring a bit of decorum back into the House, particularly because I think we have had enough of Northland. What I would like to do is just bring it back to two things around Anzac Day and then also the effects of the announcements made today that National has announced.

So first of all is Anzac Day. Anzac Day is a day of remembrance, it is a day of thanksgiving, and also this year it is acknowledgement of the 100 years since the battle of Gallipoli. I have been over there a number of times. I have been to the Gallipoli peninsula and to Çanakkale on the Dardanelles, which links the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea. I have travelled through with many people to Chunuk Bair and to a number of those battle sites all the way through.

I would like to bring it back now, though, particularly to Rāpaki, the small ancestral settlement on Lyttelton Harbour. Every year in that ancestral community we celebrate Anzac Day first with a dawn ceremony, and that has gone on for quite some time. The reason for that is that when the call-up came for World War I, there were five who left from that small village of Rāpaki and only three came home. So in 1916 the Gallipoli wharf at Rāpaki was constructed as a memorial to those soldiers who never came home but also to those who did, not just in Rāpaki but right across the spectrum of those tragic events of World War I.

Every Anzac Day the old, the middle-aged, and the young from Rāpaki come down to the Gallipoli wharf and then at dawn we do our memorial celebrations. We go to the marae for breakfast and then after that we do a hīkoi of 6 kilometres from Rāpaki to Lyttelton. On the way we pick up a number of people who live in the various towns and villages en route to Lyttelton. To us that signifies that when our men went overseas there were no political affiliations; there was no race. What they did when they were there, they did as New Zealanders. That is very significant for us as well, the fact that that continues today. We are proud of the fact that in proportion to population there are more who went away and there are more who passed away and were killed over there compared to almost any other village, town, or city in New Zealand. We are very, very proud of that. That is the first thing—the acknowledgment. I do acknowledge all of those on both sides of the House who today have spoken about the remembrance, the thanksgiving, and the commemorations that are to come.

The next thing is I want to stay with Rāpaki because Rāpaki to me is a great example of how the National changes that have taken effect today are helping whānau and, in particular, Māori whānau to get ahead. When we look at HomeStart, when we look at paid parental leave, and when we look at ACC levies, family tax credits, and superannuation, a cross-section of the people of that small village are affected. That to us is actually about having a hand up as opposed to a handout. That was the village of Ben Couch, and so it is great that National can forge forward and be a party that does help all New Zealanders, but in particular Māori. Kia ora.

It is time the Government levelled with the public on the question of spying. It is time the Government gave an honest account of how much, in what circumstances, and with what moral and legal justification it undertakes electronic interception. All the public has been getting lately is a stylistically shallow assurance from the Prime Minister that he has been advised by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) that everything it is doing is within the law. That is demonstrably lame, to a point of self-contradiction. It is like releasing a murder suspect on the grounds that he told the police not to worry as he is innocent. On something as important as the nexus between civil liberties and State power, we deserve something better than this.

The Green Party recently laid a complaint with the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security regarding revelations that the GCSB has been undertaking mass surveillance through electronic intercepts of people in the Pacific region. There are two target categories. The first is foreign Governments, and the second is New Zealand citizens. Spying on Pacific neighbours is offensive. Spying on New Zealanders is, essentially, illegal. The Prime Minister characteristically parsed the issue, acknowledging mass collection of data but denying mass surveillance.

Setting aside semantics and confining ourselves to logic, we would not do mass collection unless there was a contingent intent to do mass surveillance. So the distinction is meaningless. Certainly, the distinction is lost on the National Security Agency and also on New Zealanders. It is only the Prime Minister who is impressed by his own reasoning. Avoiding his resignation required a public soliloquy in the fashion of Hamlet.

In addition to spying on Pacific friends, the GCSB has extended its services on behalf of individual Ministers—spying on the Hon Tim Groser’s rivals for the World Trade Organization job. This included candidates from South Korea, Indonesia, and Brazil. That too is on the edge of the law or beyond it, as well as being offensive to those Governments. Were they doing the same to New Zealand? In some cases, perhaps; in others, perhaps not. Either way, it is irrelevant. We are talking about our own domestic law and political integrity, which has nothing to do with reciprocity. The Prime Minister has tossed off these actions, in that vapid, blokey way we have come to know and disown. He beamed, somewhat inaccurately, into the cameras recently, after two sessions with the Korean President, claiming the matter had not been raised, thereby displaying an ignorance of normal diplomatic protocol.

I say to the Prime Minister: “Are you not concerned by the fact that, despite your dignified assurance to the world that nations do not give a monkey’s, the Government of Brazil called in your ambassador for a ‘please explain’ meeting; the Solomon Islands is undertaking an investigation into who is spying on them; and Tonga has expressed its disappointment at New Zealand’s actions? You should be.” Moving from the purely offensive to the potentially illegal, does the Prime Minister stand by his statement earlier this month that “The law forbids us, other than in very minor circumstances, from gathering information on New Zealanders.”? Can he assure the public that the GCSB is not using a broad definition of the words “private communication” in the Act to spy on New Zealanders without a warrant?

If the statutory responsibility is on the parties themselves to display a reasonable expectation that their communication will not be open to an interception, will it be sufficient if, in every phone call and email from Kiwi holidaymakers in Rarotonga, they preface their communication with the words: “I do not expect that our communication is or should be intercepted.”? Will that be sufficient for the GCSB to click off the intercept? If 71.6 percent of New Zealanders now believe their private communications are being intercepted, is that opinion poll in itself an instrumental factor in the way the GCSB would infer what a reasonable expectation must be? Is that not an indictment on poor legislative drafting?

If I am within the 28.4 percent of Kiwis who like to believe they are not being intercepted, how do I convey that reasonable expectation to the GCSB? The utterances by this Prime Minister on the issue are, in truth, not Shakespearean; they are Orwellian.

Mr Speaker, it is great to be able to stand up and speak for a few moments. Firstly, as you know, I have been away for a couple of weeks, up in Northland. It is important to acknowledge our Northland candidate Mark Osborne. He is a man of tremendous character and integrity. We have seen an incredible effort from that man to get from 30 percent to 40 percent. Mark, you are an awesome legend.

I also acknowledge Rose May and Neil Clements, and those local volunteers who have worked tirelessly for the National Party. We are a party of volunteers and supporters, and I want to acknowledge them here today. They did a fantastic job for us. I want to say to those who voted for us, and to those who did not, that this National Government will continue to deliver for Northland. We govern for all, regardless of whether they voted for us or not, and we will continue to deliver. But, ultimately, we lost, so I do have to acknowledge Winston Peters.

I have known Winston Peters for 26 years. He came to Waikato University when I was a young fella, to set up the Young Nationals branch. We had 600 people there. I have to admit that over the years I have admired his charm and his humour, but I have never admired his vituperative attacks on people as opposed to policy. A great test now will be whether he has it in him to be collaborative and constructive, or is the destructive, rock-throwing, negative Opposition MP Winston Peters going to be the man who represents them for the next 18 months? Well, if it is the latter, it will be a short 18 months and we will welcome back Mark Osborne in 2017.

With regard to messages, I have one for the rabble, the insufferable shriekers on the other side, who, I have to admit, are currently revelling in our moment of discomfort. This National Party has the capacity to check and adjust. It has the capacity to listen and respond. Underestimate our ability to do that at your peril. Provincial New Zealand needs to see the benefits of our programme in a more tangible way. That was the clear message that we got.

But I will tell you what is real for New Zealand: paid parental leave increasing from 14 weeks to 16 weeks—that is real; increasing the parental tax credit for lower income families from $150 a week to $220 a week—that is real; increasing the adult minimum wage by 50c, to $14.75—that is real; and reducing ACC levies—that is real. The $218 million HomeStart package; lifting minimum family tax credits, benefit payments, and superannuation payments—the latter at twice the rate of inflation over the last 6 years—is real, and we can make that investment because we have a strong economy. We are focusing on the issues that matter.

What I have noticed over the last 6 months is that with every single thing that this country has done over the last 6 years, and with single advance we have made, there are shrieks and sneers from the Opposition. We improve the lives of New Zealanders—we get a shriek and a sneer. There are 80,000 more jobs—sneer, sneer, sneer. We reduce unemployment and we get the same thing. We have the greatest result in crime statistics for basically 10 years—same thing; sneer, sneer, sneer. Well, it is the people of New Zealand who are creating this momentum, so sneer on if you want to, but on this side of the House we will succeed on for New Zealand. That is happening particularly in Tauranga. It is an incredible momentum that we have got over there and it is phenomenal to be able to represent that area along with my colleague the Hon Simon Bridges.

I just want to give you some examples of what we have achieved collectively—the people of Tauranga, the Bay of Plenty, and this Government—over the last 6 years. GDP has lifted 25 percent, and consumer confidence has increased to a 10-year high in the Bay of Plenty, topping the regional rankings for the first time in 2 years. A lift in sentiment has propelled household spending up. The number of electronic transactions is up by 10 percent. The value of building consents issued last year in Tauranga was the highest for 7 years, and that has driven 200 young people in the Western Bay of Plenty, in particular, into construction apprenticeships in the Bay of Plenty. Sales volumes are up 26.7 percent.

The kiwifruit industry—the backbone of the Bay of Plenty—has recovered, and we are expecting a 70 percent increase in exports, with 4,000 jobs required over the next 6 years. The latest TradeMe statistics show jobs have risen by 26 percent compared with the previous quarter. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has said that skilled vacancies in the bay grew 20 percent, month on month. These are real benefits, real outcomes, for the people of the Bay of Plenty, and it is an absolute privilege to be representing them and to be part of this Government. Thank you very much.

I would like to start my contribution today by congratulating the workers at the Cotton On distribution centre who today concluded bargaining with their employer, the Australian retail giant Cotton On, which tried to take away their tea breaks. What those workers did was stand up against it. The public stood up against it and said: “No way—we don’t like the idea that those workers should lose their tea breaks.” So not only were the rest and meal breaks reinstated in the collective agreement but they also got a significant pay rise, and they got a redundancy clause included in their collective agreement.

This tells us a few things. First, it is good to be a member of a union. It is good to join a union, because joining a union makes sure you get far better terms and conditions in your collective agreement than the Government would wish you to have. Second, in the age of social media, I say to employers who actually want to make use of the changes to the employment laws that this Government brought in: be very careful, because the people do not like them. The people of New Zealand do not like the laws that were brought in; they do not like the idea of workers having their rights taken away from them. If you are an employer whose business is vulnerable to public opinion, then you will very quickly feel the wrath of the people of New Zealand. Third, it is important to know that union membership makes a big difference in public opinion. The Government was completely out of touch with the people of New Zealand when it took away their right in legislation to a tea break.

We know that this Government is completely out of touch, because of the by-election result up in Northland. It went from a 9,000-vote majority to a 4,000-vote loss in the space of 6 months. It is the most phenomenal turn-round. And it is because that Government over there does not pay enough attention to the regions. If you look around the country, regions like Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, and, sadly enough, Manawatū-Wanganui, Wellington, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, and West Coast all have fewer jobs today than when this Government came into office. Today, after 7 years of National Government, there are fewer jobs in my region, and in regions like it around the country, than when National came into office. My region—Manawatū-Wanganui—and also Taranaki, Wellington, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, and Otago all have over 50 percent more people unemployed than when this Government came to office 7 years ago. Those regions, including, sadly, my own, have unemployment rates of over 6 percent after 7 years of this National Government. Today regions like mine, the Chatham Islands, Gisborne, Taranaki, and the West Coast are all receiving less Government funding for roading than when this National Government first took office 7 years ago.

This Government takes the regions for granted. It expects regional New Zealand to vote for it but it does not actually do anything to improve the economies in those regions. The sad thing is that there is massive potential and there is massive opportunity in every single one of those regions. I appreciate that this Government has embarked on a project to identify what those opportunities are—although if it just came and asked, we would be able to tell it—but what is it actually doing to help us harness those opportunities, to make the most of them, to get people working, to get people off the benefit, and to make our regions productive again? Nothing. The most useful thing that the National MPs in my part of the country—Ian McKelvie and Nathan Guy—could do would be to resign. Resign today and let us have a by-election.

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: You’ll lose those ones, too.

I will tell you what: Simon Bridges would find the money for the Capital Connection in a heartbeat—in a heartbeat.

💬 Jono Naylor: It would be better to find some passengers for it.

Jono Naylor would have somewhere to stand. Jono Naylor could go and stand in the Rangitīkei. He might have a chance in the Rangitīkei, and the Government might just fund the Capital Connection if it had a by-election in the Rangitīkei or in Ōtaki. That is how we could get the National Government to pay attention to our region and to regions like ours, because it is a sad story of under-investment and missed opportunities by this Government, which knows that there is potential in the regions. But it takes the regions for granted, and hopefully the message that it takes from Northland is that the two-speed economy has got to come to an end. Pay attention to the regions, National.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.