Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement

Is it not great to be back here in the House for the start of election year, and what a time it is for New Zealand and for the National Party—with GDP growing faster than Grant Robertson’s self-regard, an economy more diverse than the range of Labour caucus factions, and an unemployment rate heading in the same direction as Andrew Little’s approval ratings. But do not take it just from me. What are others saying about the National-led Government in New Zealand? Well, I would point you to The Economist of 10 December 2016, which says the Government is “popular, with a wide lead over the … Labour Party. It is not hard to see why. On a long list of yardsticks [New Zealand] has been a striking success.”

But, to be fair, I have taken a wide range of soundings. I was in the Northcote Tavern on Friday afternoon, speaking to a long-term Labour Party supporter. I said to him: “What is it like watching your party perform under Andrew Little?”. And do you know what he said to me? He said: “Mate, it’s like watching your favourite pub being burnt to the ground.” So what is the Labour Party leader to do when the fight against National is getting so tough? Why, turn on his colleagues, of course. It is the only natural thing to do: focus on internal Labour Party politics, look on which candidates you can take out, look on what you can do to upset your own caucus members, and then focus on upcoming electorate events.

So here are a few headlines: “Andrew Little: No formal deals with the Greens in run-up to election”; “Labour and Greens won’t cut deals in marginal seats”; and, finally, “Little denies electorate deals”. But then yesterday, there was “Andrew Little’s U-turn on dirty deals”. So he has had a lot to say about that. He is just determined to get gun-crazy Greg O’Connor into Ōhāriu and on that basis a deal is OK, and the Greens are not running.

But I can tell you what: Andrew Little will do deals with absolutely everyone—everyone, that is, except Poto Williams. I must say we have got to commend the bravery of that lone Labour MP; the only support she got was from disgraced King’s College old boy Iain Lees-Galloway and serial list-seeker Sue Moroney. But where were the rest of them when they were needed to speak up and support her, as unpopular candidate Willie Jackson came in to start taking their list places?

I tell you what, it is going to be pretty interesting there, on 23 June, when the Labour list is announced. There are seven list places available if they keep on polling 28 percent and they will be scrambling to get on that list lifeboat. I tell you what—there is not a lot of room there, so they will be doing the calculations. They will know which one of them is going, and there is going to be very little room for new talent in there.

But anyway, on this side of the House we are focusing on the important things—the things that matter to New Zealanders—and I would urge you, I would urge the public, to read the Prime Minister’s statement, because that lays out the agenda and the progress of a busy National-led Government. We are backing New Zealanders; we are not talking them down, like the Opposition. We are backing people who are prepared to take risks, to get ahead and grow this economy. We are about aspiration and backing Kiwis to spend their own money in the best way possible, to do the right thing in terms of making decisions about their own lives. But at the same time we are there to help those at the most vulnerable end of the spectrum.

The Prime Minister has spoken extensively about social investment, about making sure that we are investing for the long term, to help those who are the most vulnerable in society to build a decent life here in New Zealand. And actually, as the Prime Minister has said, it is working: 40,000 fewer kids are living in benefit-dependent households than 3 years ago, and that is real progress.

The thing behind that is that there is a philosophical base. We are actually doing something that we believe in, something that is going to work. We are not just talking about it; we are taking action. But we have taken a long-term sensible approach to fiscal management in New Zealand, and you can see the way the books have gone over the last 8 years. We are in a great position now.

The Government has got some real choices around what we invest in, to continue to make the lives of New Zealanders even better. GDP growth is up 3.5 percent over the last year and is forecast to grow at a rate of 3 percent over the next 4 years. Unemployment is under 5 percent. There will be 140,000 new jobs over the next 4 years, to complement the 130,000 jobs grown in the last year. The average wage is predicted to go up by $7,000, on top of the $12,000 it has already gone up, under this Government. Wages are growing well ahead of inflation, and that means the average New Zealander is better off than ever before. When we have got that prudent financial management approach, and the $8.5 million of surpluses forecast, that is a signal to New Zealanders that the books have been in the right hands.

But that is not just what it is all about. ACC levies are forecast to drop by $126 million, with $2 billion in reductions over the last 5 years. The Business Growth Agenda is focusing on the infrastructure that we need. It is focusing on supporting our regions. Legislation is making it easier to do business at the board, and, of course, Paula Bennett, Deputy Prime Minister, is taking steps on climate change, to progress that target of 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The economy is diversifying. Tourism is now bigger than dairying.

In terms of infrastructure, $18 billion has been spent in the last 5 years. You can see it, I can tell you, in Auckland. Cranes are everywhere. Building is taking off. It is happening around the country. Five more roads of national significance are to be progressed over the next 5 years. There will be $32 billion of infrastructure spending over the next 5 years across transport, hospitals, defence, and housing. We are just getting on with it. We are tackling the issues that are important to New Zealanders. And, of course, that broadband roll-out—we are spending $300 million, and over 400,000 extra New Zealanders will be connected over the next few years. It is all positive.

In terms of health, we have spent 8 years improving services, and in over about 100 services across the country you would struggle to find one that has not improved. That is the big picture—an extra $4.3 billion has gone into health. There are 150,000 more specialist appointments per year, 50,000 more operations, and 6,000 more doctors and nurses. We have been building extensively across the health system. A billion dollars has gone into Canterbury hospital infrastructure; the West Coast hospital is well under way; Dunedin is next. We have been left with some tough challenges in the health area but the system is responding and, at the same time, New Zealanders are getting access to the new technology they need. In the last Budget there was $39 million to roll out a national bowel-screening programme over the next 4 years in Waitematā, Hutt Valley, and Wairarapa, and next off the block is Counties-Manukau.

💬 Hon David Cunliffe: 10 years late.

The member over there says it is 10 years too late. The fact is that the Labour Government talked about it but it did not put one dollar into it. It did not save one life. Labour just stood around, talking about it.

There are 1,100 extra police coming forward, with National. So that is going to mean 95 percent of New Zealanders will be within 25 minutes of 24/7 police help. So we are tackling the issues that really matter to New Zealanders, and they are law and order, health, and education. There is massive building going on across the country in terms of schools’ infrastructure. I look at my local school, Northcote Primary—a fantastic 10-classroom block is going to be built there by the end of the year. We are focusing on the infrastructure that this growing population needs.

If you look at it and put all that together, there is a strong 8-year history of sensible economic management, and we are reaping the dividends. You have got to look at the wider picture and see how New Zealand is comparing on the world stage. Economic growth is faster than in just about any other country in the OECD. We have growing surpluses and balanced books. We are providing the social services that New Zealanders need and demand, and, very importantly, we are responding to those issues that are really important to them. One of the very important things that this party believes in, of course, is free trade. The public will be very aware of the Labour Party’s stance on that particular matter. We believe in a free and open economy. We believe in welcoming people from overseas and bringing in the skills and the capital that we need, to continue to build this country. So in summary the outlook for New Zealanders in 2017 and beyond is a great one. Kia ora.

Jonathan Coleman wanted to be the leader of the National Party, yet he could not even fill a 10-minute speech telling us about what the Government’s plans are for this year. But he got one thing right: it is good to be back. It is good to be on this side of the House, taking the real issues to this Government—the real issues that this Government is failing to deal with.

We have had a wonderful start to the year. We have had the traditional start to the year, with visits to Rātana and visits to Waitangi, and we have got something a bit different, of course. We have got a by-election happening in Mt Albert, and we have had one of those new political set pieces, or something that has become a political set piece, and that is the Big Gay Out. They are all opportunities for our new Prime Minister to present himself to the public, to demonstrate that he has a plan, and to demonstrate that he is prepared to front up to the difficult challenges that New Zealand faces.

So what did he do at Waitangi? He ran away. He did not even show up. OK—he did not want to show up to the political bit. He was too scared to face up to the kaumātua at Te Tii Marae. Fine—but did he even show up for Waitangi Day itself to celebrate with people at the Treaty grounds? No. “Run-away-Bill” ran away from our national day. What about the by-election—a fantastic opportunity for National to take its record to the people of Mt Albert and talk about what a good job it is doing for New Zealand. What did Bill English do? He ran away again. “Run-away Bill” cannot face up to the real challenges. What about Rātana? Well, he did go to Rātana. He even spoke at Rātana. And what did he say when he got to Rātana and spoke to the people at Rātana? He said: “We have reached the limits of what Government can do. There is no more we can do for you.”

Well, Bill English, I think that is a sign that it is time for you to run away, because if you are out of ideas, if you are out of passion, and if you are out of verve and out of the ability to face up to the challenges New Zealand has, then it is time to run away and hand the Government benches over to a team that is actually ready to take those challenges on. And, of course, he went to the Big Gay Out, that political set piece, but could he bring himself to speak to the crowd? No. Why not? What was the purpose of showing up and not speaking to people? What was so difficult about that? This is our Prime Minister—and he cannot even get on a stage and speak to people who are for him, where people have invited him along and want to hear what he has to say to their community? No, he could not even do that. Compare that with Andrew Little. He went to Waitangi and went on to the marae at Te Tii Marae. He had some things to say to the kaumātua there, and he did it kanohi ki te kanohi, exactly the way that Māori expect it to be done—face to face. Not running away—face to face, he delivered the message.

We are in the battle for Mt Albert and, I tell you, we are going to win it as well. We showed up at Rātana and we listened to what they wanted from the Government, and we told them what we can do if we work together, if Labour goes into Government. And, of course, Andrew Little went to the Big Gay Out. He got up on stage and he told them what Labour’s plans are for eradicating HIV in New Zealand. That is what a real leader does. He listens to people, he faces up to the challenges, and he tells people what his party plans to do in Government. That is a leader, that is a statesman, that is a Prime Minister—that is Andrew Little, and it certainly is not Bill English.

But with Bill English, of course, we have gone from the Key team—John Key would have gone to all of those events—to the B-team, led by Bill English, but also we have got the new Minister of Finance, Steven Joyce. Steven Joyce loves to use taxpayers’ money to line the pockets of wealthy individuals. He did it with Mediaworks. There was a nice, sweetheart, low-interest loan for Mediaworks, which he used to be an owner of. South Canterbury Finance, of course—a $1.6 billion bailout of South Canterbury Finance. With Skycity, it did not cost us anything in taxpayers’ money; it just cost us our democracy, but, of course, it did result in a 30 percent increase in profit for Skycity. Rio Tinto—a $30 million subsidy.

Then, of course, we had the terrible deal where that well-known New Zealander Peter Thiel was able to get access to the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund, to invest in Xero. He was incentivised to invest in Xero, and you might say: “Well, what’s wrong with that?”. There was no need to give him an incentive to invest in Xero. He had already done it. He had used his own money to invest in Xero. He thought it was such a sure thing that he put his own money in without any support from the taxpayer, but Steven Joyce said: “Peter, my friend, we’ll help you out.”, and Peter Thiel made a cool $3 million, or a $30 million—sorry, I underestimate—profit off the back of the taxpayer. Steven Joyce, the B-team’s finance Minister, loves to gamble with taxpayers’ money. He should not be allowed anywhere near the Government books.

So we have got the B-team, but let us talk about the A-team—Andrew Little’s team, ready to take the Government benches in September and ready to deal with the real issues. Housing affordability, and everybody knows there is a housing crisis in New Zealand—everybody, that is, except for the Government. Those members cannot bring themselves to say the word “crisis”. Only Labour will take the crucial steps to deal with the housing crisis. Ban foreign speculators, build more houses, raise rental standards—that is a real plan. That is a comprehensive plan for housing. Only this side of the House has one. Not that side, not that Government—only Labour can deal with that.

Health—I heard how Jonathan Coleman thinks that the health system is going brilliantly. Well, I want Jonathan Coleman to come to my electorate and talk to two men who live in my electorate, Russell and Kurt. Russell and Kurt went to the hospital last year—they went to the emergency department because they could not afford to go to their GP—because Kurt had a mole that he was concerned might be cancerous. The emergency department staff were not really able to deal with him. They looked at it briefly and they said: “We don’t think it’s cancerous, but we really think you need to go to your GP to get it sorted out.” They could not afford to go to the GP because the cost of going to the doctor has got completely out of control under this Government, and, sadly, that mole, left unattended, did become cancerous. And they have been through all manner of turmoil not just with the health system but also with the way they have been treated by Work and Income and also with the way they have been treated by Housing New Zealand.

That is what is really happening in New Zealand. Kurt will die soon. Kurt will die soon, and that did not need to happen, and it could have been avoided if we had a health system that really delivered for ordinary New Zealanders. So, Jonathan Coleman—I take issue with him coming in here and telling us that everything is fine with the health system in New Zealand.

But it goes on. It is not just the health system. I have got young kids. Many of us in here have young kids. We want the best opportunities, the best future, for our children, and the best way that the State that we, as a community, through the Government, can give our kids the best opportunity for the future is through having a world-class education system that everybody can afford. The education that our kids get should not depend on how much we can afford in parental donations or on whether we can afford the school uniforms, whether we can afford to send them on camp, or whether we can afford the sports kit for our kids to be able to play in sports teams. But the truth is that what quality of education you get in New Zealand, even in the State system, is now becoming entirely dependent on how much you can afford as a parent. Class sizes are getting bigger. Our education results, compared internationally, are sliding year by year and—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: No, they’re not.

Well, Mr Brownlee, look at the facts.

💬 Sue Moroney: The PISAs—look at the PISA reports.

Look at the facts. Read the Programme for International Student Assessment reports. Mr Brownlee, you might believe in alternative facts, but on this side of the House, we like to look at evidence, and the evidence tells us our education system is slipping. That Government is failing our children.

We have got the B-team—Bill English’s B-team—failing New Zealanders. It is time—and September this year will be the opportunity—for New Zealand to go to the A-team. Go to Andrew Little’s team. Elect a leader who is a statesman. Elect a leader who will face up to the challenges, who will rise to the challenges that New Zealand faces, who will deal with the housing crisis, who will sort out our health system, who will sort out our education system, and who will do a proper job of law and order, and not some watered down version that Bill English gave in his sad state of the nation speech.

It is time for a change. Change the Government and elect a team that will work in the interests of all New Zealanders.

Each year I say it is great to be back, and, indeed, it is great to be back. I am very conscious that last year, in the course of my speech on the Prime Minister’s statement, I mentioned my great hole in one, so it seems only fair that this year I should acknowledge that I had far too many treble bogeys. For those who do not understand golf, that is the, sort of, golfing equivalent of Labour’s candidate selections. Frankly, my putting sucks—I totally missed the mark, just like Iain Lees-Galloway’s questions in the House.

So it is fair to say I had a shocking summer—I agree with Andrew Little that Wellington had a shocking summer—and what I was forced to do was spend a lot of time reading. Because we are on the verge of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, I spent a lot of time reading about the Russian Revolution. The first book I read was all about Rasputin—now, there was a chap who had more staying power than Winston Peters. Did you know that it required five cakes laced with arsenic, five bullets, and he needed to be tossed into the Neva River before they could get rid of him? I am sure Winston would not be as hard to get rid of.

The other book I read, which was very interesting, was a book called Lenin on the Train, which told the story of the perfidy of the Germans, who let Lenin leave Switzerland in a sealed train and travel across Germany so that he could get into Russia, where, of course, as Churchill said, he was nothing more than a plague bacillus who gave Russia and, indeed, the world nothing more than a massive calamity, probably the worst calamity of the 20th century. Of course, Lenin’s views are utterly discredited, except for in North Korea and for the few Marxist-Leninist lunatics that there are around the world, who sometimes emerge from time to time.

I want to read the House a couple of statements that were recently made by such people: “our struggle for social justice brings us into irreconcilable conflict with the capitalist mode of production, and all other forms of class society. This requires us to take a strong stance on the struggle of the working class.”, and then: “capitalism is a violent and antagonistic relation between workers, and those who exploit them. As workers, … we experience perpetual violence and that this violence must be brought to an end. We therefore fight to bring about the end of capitalism.” So did these words come out of Pyongyang? No. Did they come from the mouth of Stalin or Lenin? No—they came from the Green Party in New South Wales. Those are the sorts of sentiments that you get from Green parties around the world. Were we to have our own equivalent of the October Revolution—a calamity here—with the Greens in Government, those sorts of views would be exhumed here.

I do say to the Labour Party, and Stuart Nash would understand this: remember what the Bolsheviks did to the Social Democrats. That is what the Greens want to do to Labour. They regard the Labour Party as nothing more than a party of useful idiots that can be liquidated in the fullness of time—and that memorandum of understanding means nothing. It may seem that—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: It’s very hard to disagree with that.

It is. It is hard to disagree with any of my fundamental propositions. I say to this: do not be deluded by the dirty, dirty deal that has been done in Ōhāriu, because there are dirtier deals that the Greens have in store for the Labour Party. One of the best things about standing in the great seat of Rongotai this year is not necessarily that Annette King will not be my opponent—because she is a formidable opponent—it is that I will not have to put up with Russel Norman going on in that Australian twang of his, talking about “dirty deals”, because there is nothing dirtier than the dirty, dirty deal in Ōhāriu.

I just want to say this: we have had a fascinating last few months. This Government has successfully changed leaders. We are a happy and united team—as I look across at my beloved colleagues. Our opponents cannot even sort out the ranking of list candidates. But I particularly want to say that I admire Poto Williams, who is a strong and decent member of Parliament. As John F Kennedy once said, it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your enemies; it takes even more courage to stand up to your friends. That is what she did—admittedly, with the help of a PR person, but that is what she did, and she had to face the music. Mr Jackson is not fit to be a candidate for anyone. He is a disgrace, and the comments that he made about Grant Robertson a few years ago were totally and utterly disreputable and inappropriate. You can argue with people over the issues, as Annette and I have done over the years and as Winnie Laban and I did in Mana, but you can still like the person and not resort to the kind of gutter tactics that we had from Mr Jackson.

I can admire my opponents. I thought the member for Mt Roskill, Michael Wood, made a very good maiden speech, and I wish him all the best for the future. Stuart Nash is a good bloke. But sometimes the line is crossed, and people like Mr Jackson—

💬 Fletcher Tabuteau: The touch of death, Nash.

—I am being charitable—have nothing to contribute to this place.

We are an infrastructure Government, and I say it is great to be back because I approach this year with the same enthusiasm that I have approached every year since I was so lucky and privileged enough to become a Minister. When you look at what we have achieved in the last 8 years, frankly, it is mind-boggling. As you would expect an Attorney-General to say, the legal infrastructure is steadily being updated. Mark my words, Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill is true legal infrastructure reform, and the day will come when people will truly recognise the wonderful contribution that the Minister for Māori Development has made in this area. It is worth billions to the economy. It has been a huge task—it was started off by me in 2011—but it is worth the effort.

I look across at the member for Ilam. Of all my colleagues, I have to say—I do not think I have ever said this to you—the member is my favourite colleague. He is an outstanding Minister. He has rebuilt Christchurch—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: You’ve just disappointed 58 people.

Well, that is the way of the world, because Mr Brownlee has been an outstanding Minister. He picked up the issue of a totally wrecked city and has done a fabulous job. It is the second city of the country, and he is going to be remembered for that wonderful contribution, just as the work that he has been doing in Kaikōura is going to be recognised. Look at the roading infrastructure that Mr Brownlee worked on and which has been picked up by Mr Bridges in recent times.

Tomorrow, of course, the Kapiti Expressway is open. That is something we can be really proud of, but we are not stopping there. After Peka Peka, it is going to be opened up to Ōtaki. Look at Transmission Gully. Look at the Waterview project that is shortly to be opened. These are exciting projects, and if you go back to 2008 they were not even dreamt of. We would achieve a lot more in Wellington if the city council would stop acting like luddites, get off their chuffs, and start focusing on a bit of infrastructure, because the Basin Reserve is easily sorted out but it is going to require a bit of leadership from the Wellington City Council, and, in my experience in recent years, it cannot even get cycleways in Island Bay right. Even the tramways union wrote to me about that, and I found myself agreeing with what the tramways union had to say.

Just today, boards of inquiry have been announced for major roading infrastructure in Auckland, and, just today, the Minister for Communications has been talking about the work that we have been doing on ultra-fast broadband (UFB) infrastructure. The UFB uptake is up 13 percent on the last quarter. There is so much good there to talk about that, in the immortal words of Mrs Thatcher, I could go on and on and on—the minute I mention Mrs Thatcher, of course, Judith Collins’ head popped up, because she is one of the heirs of Margaret Thatcher—but, let me say, I approach this year with the same positive view and the same enthusiasm that I had when I first became a Minister.

On 13 January I met with Ngāpuhi in Auckland, and it is going to be Ngāpuhi’s year if they knuckle down, put aside personality difficulties, and focus on the issues. Then, the following week, I was visiting Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Whakatōhea, and Te Whānau-a-Apanui. It was a tremendous week, getting out there, talking to iwi, and talking about their aspirations. I approach my ninth year as Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations with that same positive view, that same can-do attitude. I love working with my colleagues in the Office of Treaty Settlements and my Crown negotiators—a couple of whom are former Labour MPs—and anyone over there after this forthcoming election is welcome to approach me, because I am sure they would make great negotiators.

I understand this is a split call, so I will ring the bell at 4 minutes—Dr Kennedy Graham.

In opening this debate, the Prime Minister offered four goals for the 2017 election: opportunity for people to get ahead; new jobs and businesses; assistance in raising families; and support for those in need. That was a fairly standard set of political goals—motherhood, more or less. Anyone can sign on to them, at least if times were normal, but times are not normal.

People will not get ahead if the global climate is out of control. There will be no real jobs and business creation if countries are ravaged by extreme weather, not least in Australia and New Zealand. People will not successfully raise their families if their children’s lives are blighted by the planetary stress that extreme climate change is causing. The Government will struggle to support those in need if its capacity to do so is dwarfed by global pressures as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy faster than we do. We are, in fact, all in this together, and so the Green Party seeks to work with the Government—support it when justified, cajole it when desirable, condemn it when necessary—in developing a national climate policy that is worthy of the name of New Zealand.

One year after the Paris Agreement and 2 months after the last climate policy conference, the Government is assuring us that it is taking a new approach to climate policy. I believe this to be true. I want to acknowledge the positive approach that the Minister, the Hon Paula Bennett, is bringing to bear on the subject. We welcome this. Our cross-party group, GLOBE-NZ, is working together on a British consultancy project, and we are making good progress. It does not follow that the Green Party agrees that the policies her Government has developed to date are sufficient in light of the urgency and magnitude of the global ecological crisis we face. She assured us in question time that more is to come. We shall see. We shall judge, and so will the people of this country—they who wish to get ahead, create new jobs and businesses, raise their families, and flourish and prosper.

The Prime Minister devoted a fleeting mention to the Government’s climate policy in the course of his speech. It will progress initiatives, he said, to meet the Government’s Paris Agreement target of 30 percent of 2005 emissions levels by 2030. That means, of course, 11 percent of 1990 levels. This will be done, he said, through a review of the emissions trading scheme and a strengthening of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, and that is all he said.

Setting aside the palpable inadequacy of these two extreme measures to reach even the Government’s 11 percent target, the main weakness of the Prime Minister’s statement is the inadequacy of the target itself. It may be lost on him, but it was 10 years ago that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended that developed countries needed to reduce emissions by no less than 25 percent by 2020. That would mean about 30 to 40 percent by 2030, not 11 percent. It may be lost on him but the Paris Agreement calls for an effective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate change. Developed countries, he said, should continue to take the lead. It may be lost on him but in adopting the Paris Agreement the parties noted that much greater emissions reduction efforts will be required to stay under 2 degrees. It may be lost on him, but the Paris Agreement said that a party may at any time adjust its target with a view to enhancing its level of ambition. Yet there was nothing of that in the Prime Minister’s speech, and nothing in the Minister’s answers in the House.

In 2015, the Green Party adopted a policy of a 40 percent target by 2030, and all of this through domestic reductions, not reliance on international offsets, and we advanced policies and measures to get there. That would be on track to carbon neutrality by 2050, just as Norway and Sweden have done. New Zealand can do this. New Zealand must do this. With the Greens in Government after September, New Zealand will do this.

First, I would like to offer my congratulations to Bill English for delivering his first statement in the House as Prime Minister. Unfortunately, I found the promises in his statement to be hollow, because every year that National is in Government, it becomes obvious that its obsession with growth at all costs is costing us. It is failing to fix poverty, and the growth that we are seeing has come at the expense of our rivers and clean water. The Waikirikiri, the beautiful river that my children just a few years ago spent many hot summer days in, swimming and playing, now has toxic algae and has been reduced to a slimy green trickle at Coe’s Ford. Is this the brighter future that National has promised? Is this bright green slime that brighter future?

It is not just this river. Right across the country we are seeing rivers visibly deteriorate before our eyes. There are now 10 rivers in Canterbury alone that have toxic algae this summer. By these rivers, children have to be driven half an hour to the nearest swimming pool because the river at their doorstep is now too polluted to swim in.

We are told by scientists that the condition of these rivers and waterways is only going to get worse because there is a wall of pollution coming down upon them, and this is a direct consequence of National’s obsession with growth. It has also come at the expense of our precious wildlife, with more species being threatened with extinction each year. Nearly 4,000 of New Zealand’s precious and unique plant and animal species are currently in danger of going extinct. Eight hundred are listed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) as at high risk of extinction, which is an increase of nearly 200 just in the last 5 years. We have the highest proportion of endemic endangered species of any country on earth, and the vast majority do not have any active recovery plan, presumably because DOC is too starved of funds to develop them.

National is sacrificing much of what we hold precious—the simple things that give meaning to our lives—in order to feed a greedy economy: clean water, swimmable rivers, healthy seas, a stable climate, and secure homes. All of these fundamentals are currently being sacrificed by National on the altar of greed. What makes it worse is that any wealth that is being created is not reaching those in need. The fact is that after 9 years this National Government has not even made a dent in child poverty rates. The Salvation Army report released last week showed that we still have 200,000 kids in poverty. How is that even possible when the economy is supposedly doing so well? This has happened because the Government has chosen to prioritise making the wealthy even wealthier, literally handing over millions of dollars to millionaires—as in the Saudi sheep deal, for example—while continuing to deprive those in need, our most vulnerable families, of the basics.

I note that the Prime Minister even stooped so low as to have a dig at disabled people, who face massive failure to find employment, by implying that we are just not trying hard enough. National’s obsession with growth at all costs has also come at the expense of affordable homes. The situation is now so bad that even families on decent incomes are being priced out of the million-dollar housing market. This is not acceptable. We can do better. We must do better.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister’s excellent statement to Parliament. Can I say how lovely it is that the Labour Party and New Zealand First love me now. I never knew they loved me, and I understand that after they have finished asking John Tamihere to re-join Labour, they are going to ask me to join Labour. Despite having been brought up Labour, I was never silly enough to actually join it. I think they are going to ask me to, because they now love me. They love me because they are always wanting to talk about the new numbers announced by the Prime Minister on police—the police numbers. Yes, it is true; I worked for 6 months negotiating and all these sorts of things that you do in getting it right, and I am very happy to see this followed through by the Hon Paula Bennett as Minister of Police and Deputy Prime Minister.

Of course, I am also interested to see that Mr Greg O’Connor wants to stand against my good friend Peter Dunne in Ōhāriu in some sort of very dirty deal with the Greens. Just because I am wearing my lovely green jacket today does not mean to say I have come over to the Greens. But, anyway, I thought that was interesting, because I well remember Mr Greg O’Connor when I was Minister of Police, just before Christmas some time, saying to me that burglaries do not matter. I do not know if that is the new Labour Party official view, but I recall him telling me that as I had made some very public statements about burglaries—

💬 Tim Macindoe: Why did he say that?

—and the police actually attending them and therefore, hopefully, solving them. It is very hard to solve burglaries, Mr Macindoe, if you do not attend, or even get the evidence. Mr O’Connor told me that. So I am really looking forward to the Hon Peter Dunne asking some questions around that, because I think that is something that the public needs to know. Do burglaries matter or not? Well, actually, they do. I do not believe for a moment that Stuart Nash, the Labour spokesman on police, thinks that burglaries do not matter, because I think he believes that they do.

💬 Sue Moroney: Under a cash-strap. You know, when they’re cash-strapped by the Government.

In fact, apparently they do not matter. So I think Ms Moroney thinks they do not matter but I certainly think they do. Anyway, I want to talk about some of my portfolios and some of the stuff we are going to do this year, so let us look at tax. I think tax is a very interesting field, and I also understand that I got a lot of sympathy for having the revenue portfolio. Well, I love revenue. I love tax. I am one of the few people who actually get excited about tax policy and the implementation of it.

💬 Fletcher Tabuteau: You and Mr Bayly.

Me and Mr Bayly? Well, of course. Mr Bayly is a very sensible person. Actually, tax is so important because it pays for all the money that we get to dish out—

💬 Denis O’Rourke: Not all of it.

—and hand out. It is what is paid, other than, of course, the levies on petrol. What it really does is it actually means that we can give additional income support to people who need that support. We can pay for education. We can pay for hospitals. If the tax system does not work well, then we will not be able to do that. So it is really important that it does. In the tax area we are actually going to deal with some loopholes and some of the actions that have been around some of the multinational companies, and also some New Zealand - based companies, where some actions would be, I think, very much classed as tax avoidance but are not strictly illegal at the moment, but I hope soon will be. I will make some announcements about that very soon.

Could I also talk a little bit about energy and resources. This is a great area. Petroleum is fantastic—and I just want the Greens to all get up on their hind legs and tell me that it is not. But most of us are wearing it, by the way—well, women are anyway, mostly. That is because all of the synthetic fabrics that we wear come out of oil—petroleum. Oil has been our No. 1 export to Australia for about 20 years; it even surpassed people, I have to say. These days it still is, and people in New Zealand do not know that. We have 17 recognised oilfields and we are using one. The oil prices have been rising, so there are going to be some more announcements about opportunities there as well.

Before people get too upset that this is all happening, these dreadful things, I suggest that they not be hypocritical about these issues, because, actually, most of us use oil products every day. In fact, most of us use them most of the time.

💬 Denis O’Rourke: So what?

Well, plastic, for instance. Let us have a look at some of the materials that are made out of it: polyester, acrylic, nylon, rayon, acetate, and spandex—so all you men in your Lycra who insist on biking on your bikes in front of me driving my vehicle, you are wearing oil—latex, Orlon, Kevlar. This is just some of them. There are also all sorts of other things made out of them, like your sunglasses, your reading glasses, my contact lenses—all these things are made out of—guess what—oil. So before people get all worried about various things around oil and synthetic products—actually, that is how we live these days. Our mobile phones—made out of oil.

So I actually think we need to be very sensible about the opportunities available in New Zealand. We are an extremely wealthy country when it comes to our resources and our energy. I mean, look at energy: 84 percent of our energy that we use, in terms of our electricity, is from renewables. We are a very unusual and very lucky country. That has been brought about by the hydro dams of the 1960s and 1970s, the big projects. That is something that you would not be able to do today, by the way, under the current Resource Management Act, and I am very much in favour of the reforms that the Hon Nick Smith wants to put through.

And, actually, when you look at roading, for instance, roading is an area where we are very much committed to doing better, particularly around the use of the road-user charges and around the National Land Transport Fund, and I am really pleased that we have got more action happening there as well. Roading is one of the big issues of my electorate, and the big issue is really around the Southern Motorway and the lack of resilience around that. So I am really pleased that we got $282 million a couple of Budgets back to get that widened, and it is already ongoing. Hopefully, one side of it will be opened up this year.

But when we look, as well, at the ethnic communities, another of my portfolios—very important to us. Labour does not care about ethnic communities. It lost interest and it lost the interest of many ethnic communities when it decided that it did not like people who had funny surnames. How bad is that? So I am very, very happy to have the assistance of Melissa Lee MP, parliamentary private secretary, and, also, Dr Jian Yang MP, parliamentary private secretary, in this area. We cover an awful lot of events—a huge amount—and we have just had a month of Chinese New Year. I have to say that about two people from the Labour Party turned up, one to get his name acknowledged and then he left—but I should not be picking on Mr Grant Robertson like that, and I do apologise for being so uncharitable.

But, actually, we are very much committed to these communities as well, as part of New Zealand. One of the reasons for that is that we are a country of immigrants. We have all come here, or our families have come here, whether it was 1,000 years ago, 200 years ago, or, actually, last year. We cannot put up the drawbridge and say: “Oh, yeah, we don’t want anyone new coming in.” We used to lose 40,000 people a year to Australia. Under this Government, that stopped. We are actually getting more Australians coming here, and, actually, that is OK. We should not be mean about that, because they are seeing that we are such a fabulous country to live in and a really good Government to work under.

And, actually, that is what is raising the population—that, and the fact that we are, in fact, a place where people want to come and to migrate to and be part of. We are very fortunate in New Zealand. We do not have to put up fences, we do not have to put up borders—we have got ocean. But it is not the only thing that we have. We also have a very decent system of immigration, a points system. We look at family reunification, and we actually—

💬 Denis O’Rourke: Far too many.

And it is all right for Mr O’Reilly to say: “Far too many.” What I would say to Mr O’Reilly is: actually, where did he come from? Where did he come from? He might say Christchurch, and I would say it is not actually a country. But, actually, everybody came from somewhere.

I am very proud to be part of a Government that acknowledges that New Zealand was not born and created and finished on one day. We actually are a country that is evolving. We are a country that is changing, and, normally, for the best. And I would like to say that it would be great to see the Labour Party come back to that point of view, rather than to go down those nasty, nasty little attacks on people based on their surnames. I know that under Stuart Nash it would never have done that, because he would have thought back to his grandfather, who would never have done that, either.

In a way my portfolios have sort of mirrored Judith Collins’. But I am very lucky in that respect—I know people are wondering what I am talking about, but I am lucky because Miss Judith Collins actually seems to be the only Minister who is doing something in this Government. It is astounding. So I am the spokesperson for energy; Judith is the Minister of Energy and Resources.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order!

I have been calling for an inquiry into petrol prices for 2 years because I firmly believe that the people of New Zealand are being taken for granted, or, if not, ripped off—for 2 years. Judith Collins has been the Minister for about 2 months, and suddenly we have an inquiry. The AA comes out and says that this is fantastic. Family Budgeting Services says it is well needed. Finally we have a Minister who is doing something. I highlighted for about 8 months the problems around policing. I went really hard. Judith Collins put together a package and they came out with policing policies. Judith is working hard.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order!

The problem is, only Judith is working hard.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have now corrected the member on three occasions. He will refer to the member properly, either by an electorate or by her full name.

I apologise. Sorry—Judith Collins. Judith Collins did ask the question: do we think burglaries are an issue? Well, of course we do, and the reason I say that is that fewer than 10 percent of burglaries in this country are being solved. I believe it was the pressure put on by the Opposition that actually forced the commissioner and the Minister to say: “Hey, we’re going to change our policy. Every single burglary is going to be investigated.” The problem with that is they had done nothing about police numbers. So what did Labour do? We came out with a policy for 1,000 more police, because we understood that the health and safety and well-being of our community were paramount.

I have immense respect also for Chris Finlayson. I think he is a very good Minister. He is an intelligent man and he has got a good shoulder on his heads. But the problem—

💬 Tim Macindoe: Maybe a good head on his shoulders? Ha, ha!

—a good head on his shoulders. Ha, ha! But when one of the most articulate and intelligent men in the National Cabinet spends only 5 minutes out of 10 talking about the National Party, you sort of get the feeling that they have just run out of ideas. Hearing about Rasputin—that was interesting. Hearing about Stalin—that was not too bad. I do not think he quite got the irony that in the great battle of ideology between left and right, actually, the left won that battle. But that was pretty interesting. Chris Finlayson also talked about Margaret Thatcher, JFK, Russel Norman—all these characters that in fact have no part whatsoever in our political landscape at this point in time. It was a bit of a history lesson, and that is the thing about this Government.

I am going to give credit where credit is due. In the first 3 years, especially when Simon Power was a Minister, that Government did a lot of work. There was a lot of legislation that went through and it made a lot of changes, and some of that was needed. It took a lot of Labour bills that were on the Order Paper and it put them through. In the second term the work rate was still there. It decreased a little bit. The ideas sort of dried up a bit, but it was still a reasonably hard-working Government.

I have come to the conclusion that, actually, the natural term for Governments in New Zealand is about 9 years. There are only two instances where they went longer than 9 years. The first one was the first Labour Government, and we all know the impact that the first Labour Government had on our society. It was a Government of social revolution and, certainly, evolution. It changed the way we do things in this country and every party acknowledges that. The second time was Keith Holyoake.

I think it is going to probably stay at that for a long time, because in the third term of this Government it has just run out of ideas, and it is sad to see. I give credit where credit is due. If this was a Government that was going really hard on the issues that were important, then I would not be saying this. But the first major announcement this Government made in election year was actually a Labour announcement about more police. Last night in the House there was a tax bill that went through and it was to make tax easier for the small to medium sized enterprise sector of our business community, and it took the Government 9 years. It is just getting a little bit tired, a little bit complacent, a little bit bored, and a little bit out of touch with what is going on.

It actually is time for change. I am not being glib when I say that. I am not being ideological. I am just saying that at the moment the party of ideas is actually the Labour Party. We are the party of ideas and it has taken us 7 years to get there. We have been through three leaders and we have finally got a leader who gets it. We have finally got a leader who is standing up and showing leadership and the type of integrity that New Zealanders demand and respect in their leader.

We have not got that in Bill English. He was not a bad finance Minister, but he is just not a Prime Minister and there is no shame in that. There is no shame. But he is just not a Prime Minister. I think New Zealand would probably be a better place where, after the election, Mr English is on the list. He will lose and he just rides off into the sunset. He will probably end up getting his knighthood, and his legacy as a finance Minister will be probably sad. I mean, we would have done things completely differently.

But it is just time for change. They have just run out of ideas. The momentum has gone. The energy has gone. Every now and again Mr Bishop will stand up and give a rip-roaring speech, but he is the new generation of Nats and in 10 years’ time he will get his turn—well, maybe 12 years’ time. He will get his turn but it will be a while, because what needs to happen now is the political evolution that happens every 9 years. The Nats will disappear. They will be in turmoil for 6 years, and maybe then they will come up with a leader. Will it be Mr Bishop? It probably will be, actually. I think he is probably planning it already. He will get his chance, but it will probably be in election 2023—actually, 2026.

But during that time we will have a Labour-led Government that will make the sort of change necessary; the sort of change that will grow sustainable economic wealth in our regions; the sort of change that will take ”Brand New Zealand” and lift it up where it needs to be. We will not be talking about water of a quality that is wadeable; we will be talking about swimming in the rivers that we all used to when we were growing up. Not only will we return to the values that I think New Zealanders expect but we will take our economy up to the next step. There will be jobs for all. We will provide houses for everyone who needs a house. We will provide the sort of education system that I think New Zealanders demand and that we prided ourselves on in the past but are just not delivering now.

Ray Smith, the head of Corrections, came and spoke to the select committee I was on last week. I think New Zealanders would be astounded to know that there are 20,000 Kiwis now who go through our jail system. Let me quote something: “Prisons are a fiscal and moral failure.” And: “Building more of them on a large scale is something I don’t think any New Zealander wants to see”. That was Bill English, and yet he announced a $1.3 billion prison build. That is a failure of leadership. We should not be investing in our prisons; we should be investing in our schools. We should be investing in our police stations. We should be investing in our regions. We should be coming up with plans that give people hope and give people opportunity.

The other thing that Ray Smith told us is that 91 percent of prisoners who come through his doors have or have had a mental health and/or addiction problem; 62 percent of prisoners have a current mental health and/or addiction problem. That is 12,000 men and women who enter the prison system with a mental health problem, at the cost of $100,000 per year per prisoner. I do not think that is social investment. That is a failure. Mr English was right when he said prisons are a moral and fiscal failure. Now is a chance to give the Labour Party the opportunity to go out there and address these issues. It will be done through jobs. It will be done through education.

Education is the key. Malcolm X—one of my favourite quotes—said: “Without education you are not going anywhere in this world.” Well, 20,000 New Zealanders every year go through the doors of our prisons. That is wrong and it needs to change. I do believe it is time for change. I do believe it is a tired Government. I do believe that Labour has the ideas and the passion and the energy and the drive and the leadership to take New Zealand to the next step and to begin to realise the potential that we have. Well done on what you have achieved in the first term, but it is time to say goodbye—and welcome to a Labour Government after election in 2017. Thank you.

Mr Nash, unfortunately, does not represent all of the Labour Party. Unfortunately, Mr Nash is part of the younger crowd and is relatively new. He talked in a complimentary manner about Chris Bishop, who represents new blood, new ideas, and new leadership. You are quite right. In 2023 and 2026 Chris Bishop will still be here. He will be about 45 years of age, and he will be a senior Cabinet Minister.

One of the other people who will be here will be Ruth Dyson. She will still be here. Andrew Little will still be here, Stuart Nash will still be here, and, no doubt, Willie Jackson will still be here, representing the new blood of the Labour Party for 2023 and 2026. Mr Nash, although you talk about new ideas, new blood, the actual fact of the matter is that there are no new ideas, there is no new blood, and there are no fresh faces over on the Labour Party side. So you are talking as a lone voice on the Labour Party benches, unfortunately—unfortunately.

It is quite an advantage to be speaking towards the end part of a bill or even a debate, as we are today, because you get the advantage of hearing a lot of other speakers before you. I am not going to repeat everything that my colleagues have said. But what I would like to make comment on is the fact that the Labour Party really does not like what is being said on this side. Labour members really hate the good news, the numbers, the facts, and the figures. That is the reality. They do not like what is the reality—whether it is the extra police numbers that have been dedicated to the country, or whether it is the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) roll-out that is going to be taking place. I am pleased to say that I have 10 towns in the Wairarapa electorate—10 towns—that will have UFB rolled out to them. That is news that Labour Party people do not like to hear. They do not like to hear about the fact that—[Interruption]

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I just want to warn the chief Opposition whip that he must not keep making comments about me like that, especially when they are grossly inaccurate. I was there on Sunday.

The idea of more people passing NCEA disturbs the Labour Party members because they do not want the National Government or, in other words, the people of New Zealand to succeed. Why do those members get angry? It is because we have got pragmatic and sensible solutions that are in touch with the people of New Zealand. That is the difference between our policies and the policies of the Opposition.

Labour is not the only party that dislikes our policies. The Greens do not like us because we have cleaner waterways policies. We have a 2050 aspirational goal of being pest-free.

💬 Hon Member: That’s hilarious.

You see. There we go. That is exactly my point. They do not like the stuff that we are doing for the environment, for New Zealand.

💬 Kris Faafoi: Pest-free by September 23.

The other side—well, there is a lot. We have signed up to the Paris Agreement. We are going to be cutting emissions by 2030. Again, this is stuff that the Greens do not like to hear.

New Zealand First is in the same boat. They do not like hearing about our defence policy. They do not like hearing about the fact that we have invested millions and millions and millions of dollars into our Defence Force. Again, they do not like the fact that there are going to be more cops in the regions. New Zealand First members do not like the idea of a sensible immigration policy. They would rather just put up a wall and keep people away from New Zealand—forgetting that we are all immigrants, forgetting that we need skilled migrants in order to continue to grow this economy and to continue to grow this country.

The people of New Zealand expect sensible, pragmatic policies, and that is what we, the National Government, are delivering. That is why we get the votes. I am sorry, Mr Nash, but your party is the party that is out of touch. You talk about building 100,000 houses, for example, but forget about who is going to build them, where they are going to build them, the consents that are going to be required for them, and the cost—the $50 billion programme that that represents. Mr Nash, have you tried to find a builder in the last few months? You cannot find one. They are employed. They are out there, building. They are building the economy and they are building the houses. There are more houses being built now than ever before.

Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and a happy New Year to you. I stand to carry on from my colleague Alastair Scott. I do want to shout from the hilltops our Safer Communities policy of 1,125 additional police, with 880 of those being sworn officers. Our policy states that there will be police going across the 12 districts in New Zealand, and the Canterbury Metro Area will be part and parcel of that with the new group of officers coming to us. We need them in Christchurch, and we definitely need them in the area of New Brighton. There have been a number of burglaries, and crime runs rife in New Brighton, and we need the new officers to come along, to help those who are already there and to actually help curb the crime that has been happening in those areas.

Last year I did approach the police Minister and ask: “When are we going to get some new police officers for New Brighton?”, so this year, with this announcement, I am shouting from the rooftops. I am saying: “Thank goodness for our leader, Bill English, being able to bring this through.” The work that Minister Judith Collins did last year and work that Minister Paula Bennett did will continue within that whole area of Safer Communities.

I applaud the 24/7, around the clock, emergency call centre. In my previous life, when I lived in Auckland, I tried ringing the police over an incident that was happening on the motorway between Wellsford and Whangarei. I could not get them. I had to actually drive to the police station, knock on their door, and ask them whether they were ever going to answer my call. There was a car—a hatchback that did not have a back on the hatch. There was a child sitting in the back, with no seatbelt on, holding on to the two front seats, and I rang the police to see whether they could please come and stop that driver. So I am pleased that there is going to be a 24/7, around the clock, emergency phone number for all types of emergencies and non-emergencies. I am also really happy that 95 percent of all New Zealanders will be within 25 kilometres of the nearest police person.

Where our farm is, up in the North Island, we have a policeman. This is a place called Kimbolton. They had him taken out, but put him back again. We need to have the police as close to our rural sectors as we can possibly get them. It is important that the rural sectors are not forgotten in all of our policies. This is a Government that actually cares about all of New Zealand, and the rural sector is part of it. As part and parcel of that, 98 percent of the burglaries that are being reported will be seen to. They will be seen to within 48 hours, by a police person. I am saying “police person” because there are policewomen and policemen.

The police Eagle helicopter will also have 24/7 capability, and that is important for a number of the crimes that are being committed, for the emergencies that require the police helicopter to be available and ready to assist. There is also the 10-second time frame for a 111 call. I say that to anybody out there who has the 111 number and has not had much joy in being able to get somebody to respond—the 10-second rule will apply.

This is an amazing piece of policy that has come from this side of the House. I am very, very proud of it because it flows into the $680,000 worth of investment that we put into Christchurch—the boost that Minister Anne Tolley has invested into the Christchurch family violence pilot, which is currently being undertaken in Christchurch. This is amazing. Coupled with the new Safer Communities policy, there are going to be some really good services for the people of Christchurch.

To wind up, I just want to mention the education side for our electorate over in Christchurch East. There are three brand new primary schools that Minister Parata opened last year, and also the new community learning centre is to start up this year. This is a hard-working Government. It is for the people, it is by the people, and it is National. Kia ora.

The Prime Minister is going to go down in history as a “Mr Do-Little” and as a two-time failure, determined to do as little as possible about the country’s most serious problems and, in fact, to even deny that they exist.

Take housing: Treasury reported just recently that the housing shortage in New Zealand is 60,000 houses right now, and growing by 40 houses a day—growing by 40 houses a day. What was the Government’s response to that? Just to deny the figures, as it always does. It denies that there is a housing crisis. Whenever the figures are not favourable—truthful figures, factual figures, from independent sources—it simply denies them. That is the Government’s response.

In that context, I want to quote from today’s New Zealand Herald, because I think it is well put: “Last September, the International Monetary Fund put New Zealand top of the class for housing unaffordability in relation to how much we earned compared with 30 other rich countries. We also topped a list of 64 countries for house price growth in the past year. What’s the Government’s answer? To fiddle with the figures.” I think that puts it very well and demonstrates beyond doubt just how awful the Government’s housing policies have been.

In fact, those policies are going to continue to worsen, because we now have immigration running at a net 70,000 per year. We in New Zealand First believe that that is as least 10 times too high, putting huge pressure on prices, rents, infrastructure, and services like health, education, and social services. In the last 5 years Auckland’s population has swelled by up to 188,000 migrants. House prices in Auckland in the last 2 years have jumped a staggering 29 percent.

The Government has scrambled to try to look as though it is doing something about the housing crisis—a crisis that it still denies. It does not actually want to solve the housing crisis, because its members and its supporters rather like it. These are people who do not care about others who cannot afford to buy a home and who cannot afford rents.

Immigration continuing at the current rate will mean that Auckland will need 140,000 houses over the next 7 years. That is the short term. In fact, less than half that number of houses are actually being built. All the Government does is talk about the rate of the increase in consents, but they are still well below what they were even only a few years ago.

So the National Government cannot claim any success at all as a result of its housing policies. In fact, it is introducing a number of desperate measures, which include, for example, the Point England housing development. That means that 18 hectares of valuable recreation land is going to be taken to produce only 300 houses some time in the future, but at the cost of valuable reserve land and at the cost of compromising wildlife habitat.

Then we have the disgraceful Resource Legislation Amendment Bill, which will damage the Resource Management Act irrevocably and will not result in any enduring benefit for housing. New Zealand First will not support a piece of legislation that requires the wholesale reduction of appeal rights and restrictions on public participation and notification, removing local decision-making in favour of big Government, putting the real power in the hands of Ministers. Most of all, we oppose the ridiculous iwi participation agreements, which are inconsistent with the democratic principles of local government. National’s housing policy has been a total failure and an utter shambles.

Transport policy is equally shambolic, arising from poor leadership and lurching from one crisis to another. Overconcentration on the so-called roads of national significance just means more money spent on useless big roads, mostly in Auckland, which will, in fact, solve absolutely nothing at all. There is a failure by that Government to provide sufficient alternatives, especially passenger rail and light rail, which other cities in other countries around the world are moving to introduce and have been doing for the last 10 or 20 years. But there is nothing like that under this Government. In fact, Auckland needs a heavy rail link to the airport, not just the light rail system proposed.

If that is not bad enough, look at rail freight. The potential for that is being held back by a Government that will not invest in the railway system, will not properly fund the railway system, and sees more and more lines being closed and the whole system compromised. Modern electrification to optimise freight capacity is essential and should be expanded, but, in fact, this Government is doing the opposite.

I would like to just say this about KiwiRail’s announcement during the holidays—during the holidays, because it is so ashamed of this policy that it did not want anybody to notice it, and so it released it at a time when it thought people would not notice. During the holidays KiwiRail announced that it will soon close the electrified part of the main trunk line in the North Island and use cheap, nasty, polluting, and unreliable Chinese locomotives instead. The Government could stop that, but it has no political will to do so. That is against what the Government says that it wants to do about climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gases, because, in fact, an all-diesel fleet will push up carbon emissions by a staggering additional 12,600 tonnes. Diesel is the worst of the fossil fuels, producing more carbon dioxide and particulates than any other fuel. And, of course, that proposal for more diesel locomotives will just mean more imported oil.

I want to finish with some comment on the environment, because the Prime Minister did not mention it at all in his speech—obviously, he is not interested; nor is the National Party. The truth is that fresh water in this country is under threat. It is under threat from special deals with the Māori Party and other Māori, and from Government inaction on the protection of freshwater resources. Takes of fresh water, surface water, must not result in the degradation of major lakes and rivers, but that is what is happening more and more. Takes of groundwater must not result in water-mining or reduction in quality, and that also is happening more and more. When fresh water is exported from New Zealand in a purely or substantially natural state, a royalty should be charged on that, of at least 25 percent, for return to the area and for the people who live in the area from where the water is taken. That is New Zealand First policy.

Finally, forestry—because forestry can make a major contribution to economic development. Plantation forests in New Zealand are our third-largest export earner, but it is just raw logs and it is too, too many eggs in a very small basket. A narrowing range of markets, a declining processing capacity, and grossly inefficient infrastructure are also the ways in which forestry is being hampered in New Zealand. This Government does nothing. The industry needs an alternative path, with high-value wood-based manufacturing industries, diversification of export markets, thorough Government leadership and incentives, and better supporting infrastructure, especially including rail. New Zealand’s dismal planting of production forests has fallen from a peak of 100,000 hectares, to 3,571 hectares today. It shows you that this Government is doing nothing much about forestry, and it needs to target that if it is going to create a situation where this country can prosper.

Thank you for the opportunity to take a call on the excellent statement made by the Prime Minister last week. I would like to begin by echoing the Hon Chris Finlayson’s comments about it being great to be back. What an honour it is for me to share my speaking slot with my favourite, Tim Macindoe, chief whip of the National Party and the best MP Hamilton West has ever seen—oh, sorry, Mr Assistant Speaker; I forgot that you were once a member in Hamilton West. Apologies, but he is one of my very favourites. Mr Finlayson talked about the great summer that he has actually had, and Auckland has had a most fantastic summer. I am showing a little bit of proof that I have actually had a great summer, with different coloured hands from playing golf, but I have to say that I did not actually play as well as the Hon Chris Finlayson did. I just maintained my handicap, without the scores that he was actually showing off.

What a fantastic Waitangi Day Auckland had. I accompanied the Prime Minister to the Ōrākei Marae with Ngāti Whātua, and what a fantastic welcome we actually did, in fact, receive from Ngāti Whātua. I was so impressed and, actually, inspired by our Prime Minister. He actually spoke in Te Reo, and I was inspired, because as a new migrant of 30 years or so in New Zealand I always said that I was going to learn Te Reo, and I have not quite managed to. I speak just a few words here and there—you know, the odd greeting—but when I saw the Prime Minister speak at the marae in Te Reo, I was inspired. I thought that I had to do something about that, and I am going to be taking some lessons so that maybe one of these days I can actually speak at a marae in Te Reo. To do so will be my aspiration.

It has already been a great start to the 2017 year, particularly with the announcement that was made in regard to the 1,125 more police officers who will actually be introduced to keep our community safer and to support the most vulnerable in our society. I am proud to be part of the strong National caucus, which is supporting police numbers to work for our communities to ensure that our society actually does, in fact, get help. I am particularly proud of the additional 20 ethnic liaison officers that were announced. These ethnic liaison officers do so much good in our community. They are the major links between our communities and the police, not just because of their expertise in their language but because of the cultural knowledge that they actually have. They provide the link. I have seen many instances where these people have prevented incidents that could have escalated beyond basic trouble that we might see on our streets. They have managed to calm them down because of their knowledge of the community’s cultural issues. We have many police officers who speak a wide array of languages. Their expertise is welcome, and more of these ethnic liaison officers are also welcome.

I am also very happy about the announcement of the 24/7 non-emergency service line. I have heard many other members speak in this House about the non-emergency times when they want to ring the 111 number but do not want to hold up the 111 line because it is important—it is a number that people use for emergencies, and they do not want to take it up. But there are times when you want to ring the police, and people do not remember the number of the local police station. I think having a 3-digit number like 111, or even an 0800 number, that is easy to remember is very important, to report non-emergency issues that the police can actually attend to, and I know that many people in the ethnic communities have welcomed these announcements.

Our economy is actually working well. You know, one of the things that I just want to say is that New Zealand is considered the fourth safest country in the world. I await the day that I can proudly tell all my friends overseas that New Zealand is, in fact, the safest country in the world. That will be a day that I will be very, very proud of. This year is going to be a very, very busy one, with 23 September looming. I wish all members best of luck in their electorates and in their campaigns. I have got only 4 seconds to hand over to my chief whip.

Happy New Year to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and to all members, and gong xi fa cai to all New Zealanders—including my very good friend Melissa Lee—who have been recently celebrating the new Year of the Fire Rooster in the Chinese lunar calendar. I am delighted to take one of the final calls in this debate on the Prime Minister’s excellent annual statement to the House on the Government’s plans for the year ahead.

I want to put on record my huge admiration for the great start that the Rt Hon Bill English has made to his time as Prime Minister. Back home in my Hamilton West electorate I am hearing constant praise for his style, his dry humour—people love that—the intelligent decisions he has been making, his shearing skills, and his general performance to date. It has been a very smooth transition to our new leadership, and the Rt Hon Bill English leads a team that is freshly energised and highly motivated. In this all-important election year, the race is on.

I want to congratulate the four new members of the Prime Minister’s ministry, including my very good friend the Hon Alfred Ngaro, who is sitting behind me, and also my good friend and neighbouring colleague in Hamilton East, David Bennett. News of his elevation has been warmly welcomed back home in our city of Hamilton, where, it has to be said, we have not had our share of Ministers over the years and where we are still hoping for a few more. I also want to acknowledge—

💬 Hon Clayton Cosgrove: God, did you say that with a straight face?

Ha, ha! I also want to congratulate and acknowledge the four new select committee chairs, and wish them well, especially my very good friend Jo Hayes, who has been a very loyal and valued member of our whips’ team for the last 2 years, so I know that she will do a great job chairing the Social Services Committee. I wish her well. I also welcome our new third Government whip, Barbara Kuriger, to our team. I am really looking forward to working with her.

Could I congratulate Michael Wood. I enjoyed his maiden statement. I congratulate him on his election, and I wish him well in his service to the people of Mt Roskill. Could I also congratulate my friend the member for Mana, Kris Faafoi, on his elevation to the position of senior Opposition whip. As long as he is reasonable and always does things my way, I know we will get on just fine.

On a sadder note, could I extend the condolences of all my National Party colleagues—and, in fact, probably all members of this House—to the New Zealand First whip, Barbara Stewart, on the recent death of her husband, Gordon. A number of us were privileged to attend a lovely memorial service for Gordon in the Salvation Army centre in Cambridge last Friday. It was a warm and fitting tribute to a larger-than-life character—somebody I had been privileged to know for about a decade—and we send our sympathy to Barbara and her family.

As a Hamilton MP, I am hugely relieved by the news this morning that the little girl who was lost overnight has been found safe and well. What a terrible ordeal that was for her and for her parents and extended family, but could I put on record my huge thanks to everybody who worked so hard overnight to try to find her. They are often the unsung heroes in our community, and I know that a large number of people were out doing a wonderful job.

It has also been a tough week, of course, for many people through fires. I extend my sympathy to the community of Port Hills and, in particular, my condolences to the family of Steve Askin, who, tragically, lost his life in the helicopter accident while fighting that fire yesterday. Also, up in a town I know and love very well—I was married in Havelock North—the communities of Hastings and Havelock North have also been battling with a terrible fire this week.

Finally on this theme, I would also like to just acknowledge the personal battle of one of my new friends, Chris Brady of Christchurch, who is currently battling serious illness. He is an avid watcher of this House, and I imagine he may be watching now. As he fights his serious illness, I want to say to him, Chris, you will always be the Minister of sport in my ministry—knock this one for six, mate.

This is a Government that remains full of energy, determination, and ideas. The huge success of our roll-out of the ultra-fast broadband programme is literally transforming personal communications and the way that New Zealanders do business. The incredible progress that we are making with vital infrastructure projects around the country, and particularly in my Waikato region, is stimulating our economy, providing new jobs and GDP growth, improving road safety, and enhancing the quality of life in our regions.

In particular, the Government’s major investment in the Safer Communities programme is warmly welcomed. It is a more than half-billion-dollar investment to boost police resources. That announcement has gone down very well back home in my electorate, as I am sure it has right around the country.

So this is a Government that is investing in people, lifting up New Zealanders, and helping those who need our help. It is a Government that is focused on what needs to be done. We have a great record to take to the election and plenty of new ideas, and I am looking forward to being a part of the campaign.

Tēnā koe, e Te Māngai o Te Whare. It is my pleasure to take a call in this debate on the Prime Minister’s statement, and I think for me the challenge really is: what does leadership look like today, given the challenges faced by many of our constituents—the people whom each of us are here to represent and serve? So when I look at the challenges of the electorate of Manurewa I think about the levels of homelessness that we have within our community and I also think about issues such as child poverty.

I want to reiterate something that colleague Denis O’Rourke said earlier: we now know, through Treasury reports, that we are 60,000 houses short of the number that we need to house New Zealanders. We have seen images of people living in cars, living under tarpaulins, living on the streets, and for some of us, actually, that is why we are here. That is what we are passionate about. We are passionate about making sure that every New Zealander has access to the basics in life: a warm home, food on the table, access to school, and access to good employment so that they can have dreams and aspirations and contribute to our society. So I am incredibly distressed and dismayed that the Government has not prioritised ensuring that every New Zealander has a home. I actually think it is a fundamental human right and something that we would commit to.

The reality of the people who are homeless is that over 53 percent of homeless people in New Zealand are children. So I think about the legacy that this Government is creating for the next generation and I think about children who live in those types of situations and the fact that they have got no food. All of the schools in my electorate feed our children, so I want to acknowledge KidsCan, which provides food and coats and shoes—and actually, to some students, sanitary products. I want to thank Sanitarium and Fonterra, which are providing Weetbix and milk, and making sure our children have breakfast. But I also want to highlight that last year this Government had an opportunity to ensure that all of our children, and especially those who go to decile 1 and 2 schools, had access not only to breakfast but to lunch. That Government through its lack of leadership voted against that piece of legislation.

I have not got much time, so I want to focus on what I think are failings of the Prime Minister and his lack of leadership. Actually, we could see it graphically over the last couple of days in him coming out really clearly and saying that the Government will not support my colleague Jan Logie’s Domestic Violence—Victims’ Protection Bill, within the context of Women’s Refuge, the National Council of Women, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, the New Zealand Public Service Association, and the Human Rights Commission coming out in support. We had employers: The Warehouse, Countdown, ANZ, University of Auckland, GCSB, and Business New Zealand. The interesting contribution from Business New Zealand was that it thought it would be useful to hear from small businesses. So we have got large businesses that are committing to this issue. Why? Because we have over 100,000 domestic violence incidents every year—there are 100,000 police engagements with this issue.

I thought Christie Hall’s contribution was particularly interesting too. She is the chief executive of Ernst & Young, and she said that the biggest thing that this bill will contribute is to reduce the stigma associated with family violence, so people can actually say it is not OK, and we as a community and as a society can deal with these issues.

For me, these are leadership issues and we need Governments that provide leadership, that actually want to stand with business. For me it is a nuanced social contract. Why? Because Governments are here to serve the people, to serve citizens, to serve our constituents. Businesses are actually now understanding that the people who work for them are part of their family, their team—the ANZ family, the Countdown team—and so I want to highlight what James Walker said, because he said that it makes clear that family violence is not OK and that employees asking for help and employers supporting them actually benefits their team, their Countdown team.

So the Government is not on the side of history—again. For me, this shows a lack of leadership that New Zealanders need to wake up and look at, because if it will not address issues such as domestic violence, which is so critical to be addressed in our country because of the prevalence of it, then I am sad—then, actually, we will be the Government. We must be, because these issues are fundamental to the work that we do. Kia ora.

It is a pleasure to speak to conclude Labour’s remarks on the Prime Minister’s statement. It is a real pleasure because the very first speech I heard in this House, some 8 years ago—it feels like 8 years ago, given the National Government members’ speeches this afternoon—I mean 8 days ago, was the Prime Minister’s statement, straight after I was sworn in. I came to this House full of enthusiasm, vigour, and verve, hoping to hear from the leader of our country some vision, a plan for the future, and a sense of direction. Instead, I felt the energy seeping from my pores at the end of that 20 minutes.

What I was looking for was a sense of some imagination from the Government, some policy innovation, and some political courage. Instead, what we had was a reaffirmation of the Prime Minister’s statement earlier in the year that this is a Government that has reached its limits. That is what we heard for 20 minutes from the Prime Minister. And was there any better example of that than in his comments about housing, and the ensuing speeches about housing from the Government benches? Because what we heard from the Prime Minister in his statement was that 10,000 houses have been built in Auckland over the last year. This is the best that the Prime Minister could claim. That is what he put on the record. He did not mention that we needed 13,000 houses. So the best that this Government could claim was that we had a shortage of 3,000 houses built in Auckland this year. So we wonder why we have house prices of $1 million average in working class constituencies—like mine in Mt Roskill—where an ordinary person used to be able to buy a house. We wonder why we have had an increase of 40 percent in rental prices over the last 5 years. It is because there is that singular indifference.

Later on we had Ministers Smith and Joyce boasting, apparently, that this is a better time to buy a house than it was under the previous Government. Well, I simply challenge those Ministers to make that statement outside the warmth and comfort of this House and in the community centres and the town halls of the suburbs of Auckland during the election campaign this year.

What we also heard from the Prime Minister was an admirable objective. He claims that he wants people to get ahead—he wants people to get ahead. Every member of this House would support that objective. We are all here because we want this to be a better country in which people can achieve their dreams. But what he did not go on to mention is that we have 90,000 young people who are not in work, not in education, and not in training. How is this Government helping those young people to get ahead and to achieve their potential?

What he did not mention is that we have got 40,000 people who have been turned away from elective surgery in our public health system. How is that fact—that those people cannot get the health services they need—helping them to achieve their potential and helping them to get ahead?

What he did not mention is that we have had school operations funding frozen over the previous years. How is that helping our hard-working public schools—

💬 Hon Jo Goodhew: That’s an alternative fact if ever I heard it.

Well, I can tell those members, as someone who sits on a board of trustees, that I know just how hard it is for our low-decile schools to make ends meet.

What we also heard from the Prime Minister and other members on the Government benches was a lot of pride about the announcement around police officers—1,000 new police officers, slightly less. I have to say it was something of a surprise for me, coming off the Mt Roskill by-election where for 6 months the member opposite, Parmjeet Parmar, was telling the people of my constituency that we had enough police, that there was actually no problem, that it was all under control.

💬 Dr Parmjeet Parmar: That’s a lie.

So what we had was some belated recognition—[Interruption]

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The member will resume his seat. The member will stand, withdraw, and apologise.

💬 Dr Parmjeet Parmar: I withdraw and apologise. That is untrue.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Because the member is a relatively new member, I will not take the normal action of asking her to leave the Chamber. What she will do is she will stand, withdraw, and apologise—and she will add nothing.

💬 Dr Parmjeet Parmar: I withdraw and apologise.

Thank you, Mr Assistant-Speaker. So what we have from the Government in that area is a patch-up job—a patch-up job after our police force has been run down over the last 8 years. What we actually needed to hear from the Prime Minister was some vision. What we needed to hear from the Government was not the idea that we have reached our limits but the idea that, actually, this country is full of potential and full of opportunity if only we will let people harness that.

What I look forward to in this House, when I come back next year, is having Andrew Little delivering the Prime Minister’s statement and making a commitment to building the affordable houses that our families need, and making a commitment.

💬 Hon Members: Ha, ha!

It is a laughing matter on the Government benches that a Government might actually get stuck in and build those houses. Those members laugh at it. What I look forward to hearing from Andrew Little next year is a Government committed to investing in our public health and our public education systems, and what I look forward to hearing from Andrew Little when he delivers the Prime Minister’s statement next year is a commitment to unlock the opportunity and the potential that is in every single one of those 90,000 young people who are currently not in work, education, or training. I look forward to that day in 1 year’s time.

The Hon Simon Bridges—and his time is somewhat abridged, I understand.

No problem, Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a privilege and a pleasure to end this debate on the Prime Minister’s statement, and for a couple of reasons. First, to follow the new member Michael Wood, with his big, bold, brassy red tie. I am told he bought it at Trump Tower—it has got that look about it. Another reason, of course, is that this is the Prime Minister’s statement and, on this side of the House, we are so proud of him for the cracker of a start to this year that he has had.

He has been to Europe, where he has represented our interests as a country with aplomb. He has met with the leaders there—Merkel and May—where he has talked trade, talked about our interests, and progressed them. New Zealanders expect and are glad to see those things when they watch the television in the evening. And, of course, he has done that with Michael Wood’s fashion ad, Mr Trump, as well. There, in doing that, he again represented us and our interests very well.

He has also made some incredibly significant announcements. Safer Communities is, I think, the best package we have seen in relation to policing in this country in many a long year. Over 1,000 policing staff around the country—

💬 Hon Member: How much?

—about 900 around the country—meaning that every single region in this country will have more police in due course, and that is because of the Prime Minister’s leadership in this area.

Of course, there is UFB2. It is an investment of over $300 million—a superb announcement—which means that over 150 additional townships around this country are getting ultra-fast broadband (UFB), which is, effectively, the gold standard in broadband, internationally, coming to these towns and centres.

💬 Clare Curran: They’ll all go and get it somewhere else—7 years is too long to wait.

We go from a goal of 75 percent to 85 percent coverage, on the back of that. We go, Clare Curran, from the back of the pack in the OECD to past the middle. Actually, with these decisions being made and the work going into this, we are near to the very front of the pack in the OECD. Despite our situation as a sparsely populated country—a country with interesting geology, shall we say—we will be up there with the Japans, with the Singapores, and with the South Koreas. We will be right at the top with UFB. I want to thank the Prime Minister for his leadership and the communications Ministers before me for their hard work—like Amy Adams and Steven Joyce, who worked so hard on this. The best that Clare Curran can say, having voted against the progress in this area not once but twice, is: “Not long enough.” Well, the only answer to what would have got this happening faster in New Zealand is if we had become the Government earlier. That is the only thing that would have got this faster, and so I say to the people of New Zealand: if you want to see this continue, you know what to do in the end, at election time on 23 September.

The contrast between this side of the House, under the leadership of Bill English, our new Prime Minister, and that side of the House, is absolutely stark and could not be starker. This Government, under Bill English, is focused on the important issues, and on that side of the House they are totally focused, at the start of the year, on their internal issues. They are absolutely focused—[Interruption] They want to hear it again. This side—the important issues. That side—the internal issues. As a constituent of mine said on the doorstep in Tauranga: “How can we expect them to run the country when they can’t even run themselves?”. That is the situation.

We over here are focused on the important issues—on the economy, on law and order, on infrastructure, on health, on education, and on the environment. When it comes to the economy—Amy Adams is here next to me—what is a really interesting thing from getting briefings from Treasury and so on is that a sign of the strength of our economy right now, under this leadership and this Government’s policies, is that the biggest threats to our country are in fact external. They are international. A Labour Government—that is almost an external threat as well. But over on this side, we know that the economy has grown by 3.5 percent and is one of the strongest in the OECD. The average annual wage is growing; it is at almost $59,000 and is up more than $12,000 since we came into office. We could go through all of that. We have a diversifying economy, an economy that is the easiest place to do business and voted most prosperous by a number of surveys in the world. We have a lot to be thankful for as New Zealanders, when it comes to the economic direction and leadership we are seeing from the Bill English - led Government.

It would not be a speech if I did not mention infrastructure, because, as Chris Finlayson said earlier today in his contribution—amongst talking, I must admit, about Rasputin and Lenin and the Australian Greens party. It was a typical Chris Finlayson speech, but he made this very important point, I think: the National Party is the party of infrastructure, and we are really delivering, whether it is in education, whether it is in health infrastructure, or whether it is, of course, in transport.

If you want a sense of that from the regional transport projects, from the smaller end right through to the bigger ones, here is a list of a number of things that we started, which we are doing in this country right now and will open this year, in 2017. Tomorrow the Prime Minister will open the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway project, which is over $600 million of investment in a four-laned motorway and is going to make a massive difference—

💬 Kris Faafoi: It doubled in price.

—to the people in Kris Faafoi’s electorate. He is sniping right now, but he squealed and begged like a little boy to go along and have a look at it and take photos with his leader, because he knows how popular these projects are and how important they are.

Whether it is the East West Connections, which we are making strong progress on and will be opening some initial works on; whether it is the Normanby Bridge in Taranaki and Whanganui, costing over $11 million and which the local MPs have been working hard for; whether it is the widening of the Southern Motorway, for which we will have the opening of the first parts this year; whether it is at the Brynderwyn Hills in Northland, where over $18 million of safety improvements will be opening this year; whether it is the bridges of Matakohe and the Taipā, where we will be starting construction this year; or whether it is the Waterview tunnel, which will be a game-changer for Auckland—it will have a palpable effect. That is bad news for Labour, because, despite how many times Annette King says it, we started projects and we will finish them, because we are the party that does that. There are many more projects—Auckland Airport, Kirkbride underpass, another section of the Waikato Expressway. There are many, many projects.

But let me finish by saying this just one more time: we are going to win this election in a few months’ time. The reason for that is that on this side of the House we are focused on the important issues for New Zealand, not our own internal issues.

The time for this debate has expired. The question is that the amendment in the name of Andrew Little be agreed to.

The question now is that the motion be agreed to.