General Debate

I move, That the House take note of miscellaneous business.

It’s interesting to think about priorities in this House. We’ve seen more questions today about texts, emails, and goat culls than we have about the economy. There’s a reason for that. There’s a reason for that, and that’s because the National Party don’t like good news—they don’t like good news. They don’t like the fact that we’ve just had the best quarter of growth in two years. They don’t like the fact that Moody’s have said that our triple A rating stays and that they think that our prospects are better than most of the other 11 countries, who have a triple A rating.

The growth that we are now seeing in the economy is broad-based—15 of 16 industries growing in the last quarter. But we know, on this side of the House, that we cannot be complacent about that growth. We know that if we want a healthy economy, everyone in New Zealand needs to benefit from that, and that is why we’ve got initiatives like the Provincial Growth Fund. That is why we’ve got initiatives like the Green Investment Fund. That’s why we’re investing in research and development. And that’s why we’re investing in skills and training.

We know, on this side of the House, that the good news that we’re seeing about the economy today can only get better, and it will get better. It will get better because we have a long-term plan to do that. This is a Government not only focused on growing a productive and sustainable economy that delivers higher standards of living and better wages to New Zealand; we are also focused on being a compassionate Government as well, making sure that when there is a wrong we are prepared to stand up and right it. I want to congratulate my colleague Phil Twyford about what he did this week with Housing New Zealand on the meth panic and meth contamination issue. I want to contrast that with the bizarre backflipping over on the other side of the House, where we had Paula Bennett telling the House that it was something that they should look at—they should look at compensation, they should look at being fair—and then Simon Bridges lost control of the communications machine to Judith Collins. That’s what happened.

We can see the lengths that Simon Bridges is going to, to try and get back control of the communications. He’s using the tried and true write-it-on-your-hand technique. [Shows photo] That’s what he’s using. Now, we have had the best forensic experts in New Zealand analyse what is written on Simon Bridges’ hand, and I can confirm it says the following things: “Simon: good. Jacinda: bad. Where’s Judith? Don’t wash hands.” That’s the instruction Simon Bridges is giving himself, because Simon Bridges and the National Party are stuck in the first stage of the seven stages of grief: shock and denial—shock and denial. That’s all they’ve got.

I was wondering, when I looked at those words, whether it was actually a cry for help, because, in the past, people have written things on their hand, placed them against windows and said, “This is a cry for help. Let me out! Judith has me trapped here! Let me out of here!” The other option: we have had a close look and we believe it may contain the list of potential leakers. That’s what we think we may have here. [Shows photo again]. Now, it’s very hard to read; I can make out a “J”, but then there are no other letters. It does say, “Not me.”, although we’re not sure about that either, on this side of the House.

The National Party is now the dog barking at every single car that goes by. But the one thing they’re not barking at is the economy. On this side of the House, we know that the National Party came into this House in Opposition, saying that this side of the House would ruin the economy and this side of the House wouldn’t be able to see those growth rates, and now they’ve stopped asking questions about it. Now they’re not even prepared to get on their feet and mount a decent case about where they would take the economy, because it’s all about the goats and it’s all about the texts.

Well, on this side of the House we know that what New Zealanders want to hear about is how their wages are going to grow, the fact that they’ve got a Government that cares about them and their families and is prepared to invest in it, and the fact that they have a coalition Government that represents the majority view of New Zealanders that we can be a better country, that we can be a country that’s more productive, that’s more sustainable, and where we care about one another. That is what this Government is about. The National Party have forgotten all of that.

Every day of the week, I wake in the morning and I think to myself, “Surely this Government can’t be any more chaotic today? Surely it cannot be as bad as the last day of chaos, of shambles—the last day, the last week, the last month?” Actually, the last few months, we’ve seen that every single day it is. That’s right; every single day. It’s not one issue, it’s not two issues, it’s not three issues, it’s not four issues; they’re an omnishambles. Every single day it’s dysfunction junction.

Winston Peters had it right about this shambles of a Government. Every single day, it’s “Which Minister’s going to resign or be sacked?” Every single day I wake up: “What wacky thing will Winston Peters say on Radio New Zealand this morning? What’s he going to say?” Every single day it’s: “Has the Government spent tens of millions of dollars on yet another inquiry, on yet another working group, on yet another pointless talkfest?” And every single day, basically—actually, it’s every second day—they have. It’s “yes” to all of these questions, and they’ve piled more costs and more taxes on ordinary Kiwis, on working families and businesses, every single day. Every day, I think Grant Robertson wakes up and says, “What industry can I ban today? What virtue signalling can I do today?” That’s the Government we’ve got every day, every week, every month. It is an omnishambles, and they know it.

💬 Hon Kris Faafoi: Ha, ha!

Kris Faafoi knows it. He knows it’s his main chance at Cabinet, because he knows that once a week there’s going to be a new Minister going. That’s his chance. He’s laughing in guilt. He’s saying to himself, “I shouldn’t be thinking that, but I know it’s true. It’s my opportunity. It’s my opportunity.” Clare Curran. Meka Whaitiri. Billions of dollars in this economy lost from banning things all the time. Education summits—two of them, $1.5 million a pop. You’d think you’d get a discount on the second one. A justice summit—$1.5 million for croissants. You name it, they’re doing it. It’s stupid. It’s an omnishambles. It’s dysfunction junction; Winston Peters had it right. And all the while, Kiwis all around New Zealand are being hit in their back pockets with more taxes and more costs to pay for this Government’s incredibly wasteful spending.

Just take the last 24 hours. What were the headlines? I could give you 20. “Days out from tax increase, petrol prices hit fresh record high”—$2.40—shame! Shame on this Government. “NZ weekly rent hits a record high in August”—$480—an all-time high. Shame on this Government. “Rising fuel prices are not the only thing making life in New Zealand more expensive”: “The cost of living”, says the columnist, “is rising before our eyes.”, and across the board. “Fuel, rent, insurance, rates, electricity, cigarettes and food;”—here’s what he says—“they’re all increasing in price … as a direct result of Government policy.” That’s what they said, and it is all so that the party across the board there can increase prices and can feed the beast of this Government with wasteful spending. Three billion dollars for Shane Jones to sprinkle around. What a waste of money. What pork-barrel politics. A billion dollars so Winston Peters can be carried high as “Chief Walla Walla” in the Islands. Fees-free: $2.8 billion. Talkfests, working groups, inquiries at over $200 million.

If we have the privilege of being Government, if National has that privilege at the next election, we will have a positive plan for change. We’ll reverse the employment laws. We’ll cancel the disastrous oil and gas decision. We’ll change the overseas investment changes that have been made. We will cancel the regional fuel tax. We’ll make sure there’s no capital gains tax on New Zealanders, and we’ll do more—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

💬 Hon Kris Faafoi: Mr Speaker. [Interruption]

Just wait. I’m sure the member appreciates the support, but I’d like to hear his speech.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’ve got some bad news for Simon Bridges: there’s been another leak. There’s been another leak from his caucus, and I’ve got it right here with me. It’s a little bit of advice he’s written to himself; I’ve got it here in my hand. It says, “Live every day like it’s your last.” That’s the reality for Mr Bridges, who sits in the leader’s seat at the moment, but we all know that, as the clock is ticking down for me, the clock is ticking down for Mr Bridges too. So “Live every day like it’s your last.” is the advice that I give to the Leader of the Opposition.

It’s been a year since the election, and what a difference a year makes. Bill English was the leader of the National Party a year ago; now we have Mr Bridges. A year ago, on election night, Mr English stood in Auckland, triumphant as if the National Party was going to win. “Nek minnit” something happened, and the direction of this country changed in a way that will make a difference for generations to come. I am proud to be part of this coalition Government, because, in the areas that matter most to New Zealanders—not the car toll, apparently, this weekend, Mr McClay—in housing, health, education, and making sure that New Zealanders get a fair go, in the last 11 months a lot has been done by this Government, made up of the Labour Party, the New Zealand First Party, and the Green Party, that we are very proud of.

I’d just like to give the Opposition a little bit of assistance. I spent a bit of time over there, and I just want to say to you guys, “Stop being so angry. Cheer up. Stop being so angry.”, because being angry in Opposition gets you nowhere. Mr Macindoe and Mr Mitchell, who, I know, are positive people—people should look at those two for the way that you should be in Opposition. Be happy and don’t be angry, because that will get you somewhere. Stop being angry about the things that don’t matter to New Zealanders. What really matters to New Zealanders is that they can make sure they can live in a safe, warm house, and I’d like to commend my colleague Phil Twyford for making sure that we start building homes that New Zealanders can actually afford. That’s what New Zealanders wanted at election time, and we’ve got a coalition Government that is actually delivering that. We’re seeing homes that are being built that New Zealanders can actually buy. They can actually buy houses in Auckland, where the biggest problems of unaffordability were happening. So I’m really proud about that.

Also, the Opposition should cheer up. For about the last two or three months, they’ve been quoting anyone who has had anything bad to say about the economy. You name it, if they’ve said something bad—it doesn’t matter who said it—they’ve been quoting it. But, as Soul II Soul said in 1989, it’s “back to life, back to reality”. The reality is that last week we had the best GDP figures in terms of growth for the last two years.

💬 Hon Mark Mitchell: This is a Cabinet Minister speech.

That is the reality, Mr Mitchell; so you can argue and quote everyone you want, but the economy is going great guns. You can get anyone you want alongside to say that things are bad and employment’s going down. Unemployment is at 4.5 percent: some of the best figures since the global financial crisis. So cheer up, OK? Just because we’re over here doesn’t mean it’s all bad. We’re doing good things for people who want fairness for New Zealanders.

In health, I’d like to commend my colleague the Hon Dr David Clark, because he’s making sure that the hospitals that have been run down in terms of their capital investment for at least nine years are starting to get investment back in there. Is it too much to ask to have a hospital that doesn’t leak? Well, apparently, it was for the previous Government, but we’re making sure we’re investing where it matters. But we’re also a compassionate Government; so when that side of the House was trying to poke holes in what we’re trying to do with refugees, we actually did it. So what’s the problem? Fifteen hundred refugees—you guys didn’t do it. We’re a compassionate Government that actually says, “We’ve got a part to play in the global struggle to make sure that these people who are coming from war-torn areas have a place to live.” New Zealand is a great place to live. Instead of picking holes in the system, we just went along and did it.

Just to finish up, a bit of advice, OK? I spent eight years over there, Mr Mitchell—get comfy. Ha, ha! OK? Cheer up. If there’s something positive to say, say it, because that’s what New Zealanders want to hear. On this side of the House, we’re investing in health, housing, and education, and we’re doing things that’ve been overdue for more than nine years. That’s what people want to hear, and I know, in your caucus room, when you get the numbers, you’re hearing that too. The problem is that the guy in that seat is not resonating; so the leaker should just come out and say who they are and get rid of him.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s my great pleasure to rise on behalf of the ACT Party and deliver a dispatch from the cross benches of this Parliament, because, you see, it’s quite interesting to watch the way that positions change on an issue. Issue one: ANZ’s business confidence surveys. Only a couple of weeks ago, they were down and the Government told us that they were some sort of conspiracy by ideologically minded business people who simply did not like a Labour Government. Today, they’ve recovered slightly—still not very healthy—but we have the Government taking patsy questions, shouting from the rooftops how good the ANZ business confidence survey is.

But, just to be fair, take another issue: GDP. Only a couple of weeks ago, the Government was telling us that GDP didn’t matter very much. We don’t need to worry about GDP! In fact, Treasury, with its Living Standards Framework, is dreaming up whole new ways of measuring prosperity so that we won’t have to worry about GDP so much. My friends in the National Party, meanwhile, said that GDP was absolutely everything and must be taken with the utmost of seriousness. Today, GDP is looking pretty healthy. Anyone’s got to admit that 1 percent per quarter in a developed country is pretty good growth. Of course, the Government has suddenly discovered that GDP, after all, is everything, and the National Party has, of course, got less to say about GDP than they have had at any other time.

Here, in the little old ACT Party, on the cross benches, we’d like to focus on a few slightly more long-term issues, and here’s one—one that our country should be thinking about and that any Government should be thinking about. It’s this: in the next couple of generations, we are going to have about a billion people in Africa, Bangladesh, and India—low-skilled people who will work for nothing—entering the global workforce. That means that if you’re a low-skilled person, then your wages are going to be static and maybe will even go down over the next couple of decades. That’s really sad, but what makes it sadder is that we have a Government that spends about 150 grand on a kid’s education for a decade and one in six of them, 15 percent, come out functionally illiterate and innumerate. You put those two things together, and that is a real problem. That is a pathway to a country that is two-speed, that is divided, and then worse.

What is this Government doing to work on the problem of educational inequity? Well, the most substantial thing they’ve done so far is close charter schools—charter schools that, back on the theme of being on the cross benches, the National Party tolerated for six years and has since discovered were their cause célèbre all along, since they’re no longer in Government; charter schools that the Government closed without any such thing as a review. This Government reviews and consults on everything, but when it came to the one part of the education system that was showing some promise for disadvantaged New Zealanders, they closed it without asking. What have we heard from the Māori caucus in the Labour Party? Not a peep. And I’d say to those members: you’d better get in quick because of the waka-jumping legislation. It’s going to take a bit longer than the Government expected, but it’s going to go through, and then their ability to stand up for issues like that is simply not going to be there. They’ll have no leverage, because they won’t be able to leave.

Here’s another long-term issue: we pay Treasury to tell us, every couple of years, that we are going to be 200 percent of GDP in debt in another generation—worse than Greece—if we keep spending the way we do, if productivity doesn’t increase twice as fast as it has, and if we don’t start managing entitlements. But can we find anyone on the Government benches who wants to seriously confront the cost of superannuation, anyone who wants to do what every other country is doing and start adjusting the age of entitlement for superannuation, like every other country in the OECD is doing? Nope. The best you can get is the National Party, which wants to start doing it in 20 years’ time.

So we can go back and forth on the issues, and it’s fun to sit on the cross benches and watch National and the Government change positions week after week depending on the circumstances, but at some point this country needs a Parliament that is prepared to look into the future, confront our challenges, and take decisive action so that we really can have a better tomorrow. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have to admit that, after hearing the first and third speakers in this debate, I was feeling quite nervous because I’m nowhere near as funny as them, but after hearing that speaker, David Seymour, I’m feeling quite fine about giving this speech now, knowing that I’m not that funny and neither is he.

I was really excited that I was going to be speaking in the debate today, but the sad thing is that it is only five minutes long. I want to talk about all the amazing things that this Government is doing, but there’s no way I can fit it all in, in five minutes. But, anyway, unlike the Opposition, who’s sitting over there—they bark at every single car that goes past; I don’t know if they’re waiting for a pat, a bone, or something to be thrown at them, but unfortunately no one is paying any attention to them. On this side of the House, we are getting on with the mahi, getting on with the work.

We’re a Government that’s fiscally responsible, and we’re seeing that with our recent triple A rating. We are wanting to be transformed, and we are ambitious, we are future-focused, we are compassionate, and, most importantly, we are bringing kindness back to politics. We are seeing that by watching our Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, doing us proud overseas and talking about that very fact: bringing kindness back to politics. She says there’s not one rule for leadership, and it doesn’t have to be based on ego and point-scoring; you can be strong and you can be kind. So I’m really, really proud of our Prime Minister, who’s leading the way on that front.

Anyway, I want to talk a little bit about some of the amazing things that we are doing, in particular thinking initially about our Families Package. We’ve got so many more families that are going to be so much better off under this package—around about 384,000 members of the public there—

💬 Kieran McAnulty: How many?

384,000, can you believe it? We’ve extended paid parental leave to up to 22 weeks. We’ve got a Best Start payment for all new babies that are born and for the next three years. Our senior citizens and some of our lowest-income earners are eligible now for a winter energy payment. So now, instead of our vulnerable people and elderly people having to make the choice between turning the heater on or saving some money, they don’t have to worry about that any more, and that speaks volumes. That is about compassion, and that is about being kind.

I also want to talk about some of the things that the Hon Carmel Sepuloni is doing in the Work and Income space. I’m thinking about the fact that she’s changing the way that people who work at Work and Income have changed their focus. I met with some Work and Income managers recently in the area I live in and they were telling me that they’ve been told, since this Government has come in, that the focus must now be on the client and about the client and what is best for the client. Actually, these people seemed very relieved and very, very happy that this was the instruction they were following now.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: Happy with this Government.

That’s right—that’s right. I think about a time when I had to go into Work and Income when I was in a vulnerable situation and the person I spoke to made me feel terrible, made me feel inadequate, and I felt really, really distraught after my visit there. I’m really proud to see that our Minister Carmel Sepuloni is really focusing on listening to the clients and what clients are wanting and, from that, making the changes that need to be made in the Ministry of Social Development space.

I’m also really proud of what we’re doing in the education space. We’re giving the voice back to teachers on the Teaching Council. We are showing them that we on this side of the House actually trust them. We trust them to know what they are doing. We are not taking their choice away, and we’re not going to stand and say, “Actually, you know what, we know better. This is what we want you to do.” We are letting those people who work at the coalface make those decisions for themselves and look after their own sector.

Another thing I’m really proud of is the fact that we’re getting rid of national standards—national standards. No longer will our children in schools, particularly those who have learning disabilities or who are somewhat vulnerable, have to hear with every school report that comes out, “You’re a failure. You don’t meet those national standards.” Now they will hear how positive and fabulously they are doing in school. It will be a holistic look at how they’re going, and I say that I’m so proud that this Government is bringing kindness back to politics.

It’s one thing for the Green Party member and the Minister of Conservation to come to this House and say she’s listening to New Zealanders, but when tens of thousands of New Zealanders over a 24-hour period express their concern over her decision to go out and cull very large numbers of an animal that has importance in New Zealand, and, indeed, in the face of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who enjoy the outdoors recreationally who are hunters or who make a livelihood from tourism—for her to come here and say she won’t listen to them and she’s pushing ahead with this mass cull of up to 25,000tahr is not a good thing for democracy.

At least that’s what she was saying yesterday, because what we heard in the House in question time today is she’s now been forced to postpone the start of the cull of tahr in the South Island from this weekend until she’s done some more consultation. So yesterday she had consulted enough, she knew what was going on, she knew it would be best, but overnight more than 20,000 people have emailed her, have signed a petition; newspapers and TV have started to be interested in this issue; and today she’s come to the House and said the cull will not be starting this weekend, because she needs to go and talk to and consult a few more people.

The problem with that is that it’s not great for our hunters and tourism operators and the reason for that is she has not committed to consult with them or their representatives. That is the reason that there is so much concern around the country. Now, I’ve yet to meet anybody from the hunting or tourism industry and, certainly, the National Party, who is saying that this species—and other species—does not need to be managed; certainly it does. But the question the Minister hasn’t answered is why, on every other occasion under us in Government and earlier this year when 3,000 tahr were managed—were culled—she has instructed the Department of Conservation (DOC) to go out and indiscriminately kill every animal they can find as they fly around in helicopters, including the bull tahr that actually don’t add to the size of the herd. These are the animals that are hunted and others from overseas come and have the most interest in.

She’s received advice from representatives of the Tahr Liaison Group that she shouldn’t be doing that, yet she’s disregarded that advice and she’s just pushed on ahead. She said in the House today it wasn’t 25,000 animals that will be culled. Well, she’s wrong because if she goes and looks at her press release and the information that was put out—3,000 were culled earlier this year—she announced that 10,000 would be culled starting this weekend. Well, she’s postponed that. If the hunters themselves couldn’t manage the part that they are responsible for, DOC would do another 7,500 tahr before April of next year, and she’s also said that in the two estate parks she wants to have every single tahr—every single tahr—annihilated.

Chlöe Swarbrick: What would you do?

The member of the Green Party asks what we would do. We would go out and generally consult. We would talk to these groups. We’d go and talk to the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, who have come up with a plan that the Minister has disregarded and won’t look at that says over the next three years these animals could be managed in a better way that protects their interests, protects a species that in most other parts of the world is now endangered and, at the same time, that means hunters have a say. What we would certainly do is listen, but I get how the Minister doesn’t want to listen because, actually, she knows best.

So, number one, why has she back-tracked today in this House compared to her strong position yesterday? Well, the Department of Conservation (DOC) has told her she hasn’t consulted enough and she could be in trouble. Number two, she’s heard that, actually, hunting groups have got lawyers and they’re about to start legal proceedings against her. So, all of a sudden, she said today “I’m going to consult a little bit more.” She’s come under huge pressure over the last 24 hours. There are more than 20,000 New Zealanders who are expressing very strong concern about her disregard for their right to have some say. She hasn’t consulted with the Game Animal Council properly. In fact, a month ago she was on Radio New Zealand saying she wanted to get rid of it. I’m glad that last week she put out a press release saying she may not, but the hunters don’t believe her.

The final problem that she’s got is that those who import ammunition from overseas have said they won’t sell it to her. DOC don’t have enough bullets. I’m glad she has suspended the cull just for this weekend. She needs to—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

Many of us in this House, from all sides of this House, understand exactly what it is like to have been in a precarious or vulnerable situation at one point or many more in our lives, and to have needed help. So, speaking of putting compassion back into this House, back into politics, and certainly back into leadership—and I really welcome the fine words of my colleague Jo Luxton—I’m really here to talk about how we need to change our support systems.

I welcome the work of Minister Carmel Sepuloni. What we are hearing is that even the staff and workers of Work and Income offices are welcoming a change in direction, a change in direction from this Government, which says, “We want to be a genuine support system.” We no longer want to focus on punitive punishment, because that also doesn’t work. And it’s not kindness for the sake of being kind; it’s because cruelty is not sustainable. Cruelty further degrades our relationships with each other, our relationships and sustainability for our families, and how we are going to look at and value what values we are upholding as a nation.

It’s warming to know that many of us know what it is like to need to go and get help. Here in this place, we are privileged and we are fortunate and we do not need that support, but we need to remember that still far too many people do. Far too many people today are still having to live lives without dignity, worrying about how they’re going to pay the bills, feed their family, or pay the rent; worrying about if they are going to be probed unnecessarily because they’ve had a couple of dates, or a Tinder date; worrying about what information they’re going to have to share about their personal private lives, because we have different standards. We have different standards for people who need some form of income support. We have different standards and levels of scrutiny for people because for far too long, and certainly under the entire term of the previous National Government, we upheld a narrative which said, “People who need that support are not worthy and have got themselves into trouble by their own predicament.” That has to stop.

That is why the Green Party, this Sunday, will be launching our plan to further push and support the work that is needed to change the culture of our social support systems in this country, which we have had a proud legacy of building in this country. We need to get back there because people need support and because punishment does not move people into dignified living situations, and certainly not into paid employment. We have to have a plan that recognises that people with disabilities need our help, that caregivers need our help, that people who are unable to maintain low-paid and insecure work need our help, that people having to face redundancy at the end of their careers need our help, that we all are not guaranteed to be sitting here for the rest of our cushy lives, and that at some time in the future, we, ourselves, may need help and support.

So the Green Party are very, very proud to be continuing that work to support, supplement, and further push the work of the Minister in overhauling the culture of our support system. That is because we reject the narrative that for far too long has said, “These people don’t deserve to live in dignity.”, and that “It is your own fault. You didn’t work hard enough, you’re not educated enough, and you are not healthy enough. You don’t deserve to live in a home that you can actually afford to pay the rent for, you don’t deserve to be able to feed your children healthy kai, and you certainly don’t deserve to turn your heater on during the winter.” These things can change, and here in Aotearoa there is absolutely no reason why they can’t, but it will take leadership from us to realise that the degradation of our support systems has not worked and does not create a good economy for our country. So we are going to fix that.

Everyone, come this Sunday to Auckland—12 noon—to the launch in the city, where I will be very proud to welcome speakers who are going to help with this plan and people who are going to help us get this right. The time is now. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, while the Prime Minister is offshore in New York, desperately trying to shake off the Meka Whaitiri and Clare Curran debacles, there is yet another political scandal she is finding it very difficult to shake, and that is the problem of the appointment of Wally Haumaha as Deputy Commissioner of Police. Let me outline what has happened so far.

The term of Deputy Police Commissioner Viv Rickard expired on 3 June 2018. Cabinet confirmed the vacancy on 7 May and applications closed just eight days later. The candidates were interviewed only six days later by Peter Hughes and Debbie Power of the State Services Commission and Mike Bush, Commissioner of Police. My understanding is that Mr Haumaha was asked, in the interview process, words to the effect of “Is there anything in your past that would embarrass the Government?”, and he said no. I can also reveal that Mr Haumaha was not the preferred candidate of the panel. The Cabinet paper proposing his appointment does not state that he was the preferred candidate, but he was appointed anyway by the Prime Minister. The big question is “Why?”, particularly in light of what happened next.

After Mr Haumaha’s appointment, the New Zealand Herald broke the news that an officer had told the 2004 Operation Austin investigation that Mr Haumaha had described Louise Nicholas’ allegations as a nonsense and that “Nothing really happened and we have to stick together.” An inquiry was, rightly, ordered by Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. He must have hoped that the problem would go away. An email released to me says that the Government wanted a short and sharp inquiry. Officials originally suggested an $840,000 inquiry over three months. Cabinet wound that back to $150,000 over six weeks, with just one member.

The first attempt to start the inquiry was a disaster. Emails revealed to me that they couldn’t find anyone to do the inquiry until a few days before it was announced. Pauline Kingi was announced as the inquiry chair but was revealed to have endorsed the subject of the inquiry 23 times on LinkedIn. Finally, the Government did the right thing and appointed an independent QC to run the inquiry. Then further allegations came to light. Three women have accused Mr Haumaha of bullying while working on a joint justice, police, and corrections project in 2016. Those allegations are being considered by the Independent Police Conduct Authority as well as by the Scholtens Inquiry and, possibly, by the State Services Commission.

Here is the question: why will the Prime Minister not stand Wally Haumaha down? Meka Whaitiri was accused of wrongdoing and stood aside. Why will she not do the same for her own appointment? The answer, I believe, lies in the relationship between New Zealand First and Wally Haumaha. He was reported as being the New Zealand First candidate for Rotorua in 2005. The deputy leader of the New Zealand First Party, Fletcher Tabuteau, referred to Mr Haumaha as a member of his whānau in his maiden speech, in 2014. Mr Haumaha is the chairman of Mr Tabuteau’s marae at Waiteti. The links go further. Close Winston Peters confidante and uncle of Fletcher Tabuteau, Tommy Gear, is also a senior leader on the marae.

Let me talk about the special function on the marae in June last year to celebrate Mr Haumaha’s promotion to Assistant Police Commissioner. Winston Peters was there. He sat next to Wally Haumaha. He told Parliament, in a personal explanation, that he attended the function because he was invited by the police and the Government of the day. He was not. Documents from the police, sent to me, make clear that he could only have been invited by the marae itself. The question is: was he invited by Wally Haumaha or by someone close to him?

Today I can also reveal that Winston Peters rang Wally Haumaha after the inquiry into his appointment was announced. He gave him assurances, or words to that effect, that things would be OK. That is deeply, wildly inappropriate. Mr Peters needs to explain who invited him to the marae, why he rang Wally Haumaha to assure him that things would be OK despite an inquiry into his appointment, and why he thinks Mr Haumaha should stay in the role while he is subject to two separate investigations, with a third on the way. Until those questions are answered, this scandal will continue to dog the Prime Minister and her Government.

Last weekend marked the anniversary of the general election of 2017, and what a year it has been. I am so proud to be part of this amazing Government that is driving a strong economy while also showing compassion. In fact, we’re not just talking about compassion; we are showing compassion by being compassionate.

My colleague here, Jo Luxton, talked about the changes that we’ve seen in the Work and Income New Zealand offices. I have had so many people contact me. So many people have come through the door of my office, talking to my staff members about how much simple little changes are making to their lives, about how they don’t feel disempowered any more. They feel valued when they walk in those doors, just by even having the toilet available to them—something that this Government has thought about.

The increase to the refugee quota: in fact, last Tuesday, when I was coming to Parliament, I was listening to the radio, and I heard the Hon Simon Bridges saying that perhaps the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, needs to put her money where her mouth is and actually not just talk about increasing the refugee quota but actually show the country that that was happening. Well, perhaps the Hon Simon Bridges should have waited until that afternoon, because that afternoon we announced that we were actually increasing that number from 1,000 to 1,500.

Perhaps one of the most recent compassionate announcements that we have made has been on providing compensation to the almost around 800-odd families who were wrongly evicted from Housing New Zealand properties. And what did we hear in response to that? “Why would we give money to these meth crooks?” Are these meth crooks? Like this Tauranga man, who actually happens to come from the Hon Simon Bridges’ electorate, talking about how he was evicted from his housing. He had actually asked Housing New Zealand to come in to test his home for methamphetamine because he suspected that his boarder was actually using it, and on the basis of the results of those tests, which turned out to be positive, he was evicted. This man, who was evicted from his home, who was on dialysis and has a serious brain injury, who was not a meth user himself—would we call him a meth crook? Not on this side of the House. We will compensate him for the wrong that was done to him.

We are showing compassion through listening to those who are running our essential services. We are listening to our education sector, and I am so delighted in the work that the Hon Tracey Martin has actually put out to the sector in the draft Disability and Learning Support Action Plan. This was announced on Friday. Since then, I have spoken to principals in Rotorua and a group in Invercargill, and I have had heaps of feedback. In fact, out of anything in education, this is the one area that I have had the most feedback on in such a short time. And I just want to, with your OK there, Mr Speaker, read out a little bit of that feedback. One this morning said, “This is brilliant news and is a sign of the strong education policies of the parties in this Government. We welcome this.” Another—a major organisation—says, “It does show that this Government is actually listening to the educators and has taken our concerns about getting more support to both kids and schools. Our voices are being heard.” The last bit that I would like to speak about here is just this one that I read on Facebook, which says, “At last, some hope—some good news for those students that need it most. I’m literally sobbing. I’m crying my eyes out. This has been a long time coming. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

We are proud to bring compassion to the work that we do. While the Opposition, the National Party, tweets into the void and barks at the passing cars, this Government is getting on with the things that matter to Kiwis. We are building houses, restoring our public health services, fixing transport, and, in the area that I am so passionate about, we are restoring a strong public education system and we are modernising our schools. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. One of the lessons that new Labour list MPs from the South Island need to learn is that they’ve got to say with some passion what they really think, and if they want to make apologies for the Government, then they need to say it with sincerity and passion and not just sort of pretend that they’re reading a speech that’s been prepared by their research unit, giving them an indication that they should be somehow building an aura of a Government—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. He’s not going to reflect on me, because, of course, if a member was reading a speech, I would stop that member, although I didn’t do it to the member on his left, because I think he was being considered.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Look, I won’t spend any further time on the previous speaker, because she was trying to defend the indefensible, and that’s a job that’s going to become increasingly more difficult for Labour list backbenchers. In the 1970s, when trade unions dominated the industrial relations scene, and in an environment that this Government wants to take us back to, there were a number of words that were used regularly every day. They used to come across the newswires, across the newspapers, and one of them was the word “demarcation”, and it was usually in reference to unions fighting each other.

In fact, that was the reason that the Māngere Bridge took 10 years to build and the BNZ building in Wellington, here, took about 10 years to build. Most of it wasn’t employers fighting with employees over workplace relations and issues to do with employment and remuneration and conditions; it was actually unions fighting with each other. It was whether members of the Boilermakers Union or the fitters and turners union should be the ones that did the welding on the construction of the Māngere Bridge.

So too it is now that a repeat of the word “demarcation” has crept back into the New Zealand news lexicon, and, of course, we’re seeing that now not in relation to unions fighting each other but in relation to the coalition parties fighting each other. There are demarcation disputes between the political wing of the trade union movement, which is the New Zealand Labour Party. They have an issue that they want to progress legislation through the House that will take us back to the 1970s, and the Labour Party wants to do that and move it through, but the demarcation dispute occurs because members of New Zealand First don’t really want that to happen. We know this to be true because the Minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, in answering questions in the House, seems not to be able to confirm to this House or the Education and Workforce Committee that considered his Employment Relations Amendment Bill that the bill that the select committee signed off on and reported back to the House is not going to change in some considerable way. And, clearly, it is, because the demarcation dispute between the Labour Party, New Zealand First, and the trade union movement is in full fight at the moment.

Now, we know this to be true because we can see from news reports, just last week, that the unions are concerned that Winston Peters might hijack employment law reform. It goes on to say—this report from Tova O’Brien—that Labour is under fire from the most unlikely of critics: its staunchest allies, the trade union movement. They’re saying they’re raising concerns about the rising dominance of New Zealand First. Now, we all know that since the Labour-led Government came into Government, it’s actually been New Zealand First that’s in power, and this is what the trade unions are scared about. Two of the biggest unions—FIRST Union and the Council of Trade Unions (CTU)—are fearful that the Government’s employment law reforms will be hijacked by Winston Peters. The Labour Party and the unions used to be bedfellows, the report goes on to say, and right from the beginning, but FIRST Union’s Robert Reid is surprisingly scathing, and he says we’re worried in the union that the dominance on a number of issues that is coming from New Zealand First will win out. And so the CTU and the FIRST Union are worried, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that they’re not going to get their way.

So the Prime Minister needs to answer questions about what it means to this piece of legislation when the Rt Hon Winston Peters says it’s still a work in progress. Does it mean that the unions’ free access to workplaces is going to be done away with? Does it mean that paid union delegates are going to be not paid by employers? Does it mean that union information is not going to be handed out? Does it mean that Meka’s multi-employer collective agreements are not going to be forced into place by this legislation? So there are big unanswered questions. The demarcation dispute is well in swing here between the trade union movement, the political arm of the trade union movement, the New Zealand Labour Party, and New Zealand First.

Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne. Kua hinga he rangatira o ngā reo irirangi o Aotearoa. Ki te whānau pani, ki te whānau whānui o Merv Smith, ka nui aku mihi aroha ki a koutou. Ki a koe Merv, moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā. Haere, haere, haere atu rā. Ki te hunga ora, tēnā koutou katoa. Mā Te Atua tātou e manaaki, e tiaki, e arahi ki te ara tika i ngā wā katoa. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. A tōtara has fallen in the great forest of Tāne. A great leader in New Zealand radio has died. To the bereaved family, indeed to the wider family of Merv Smith, I extend to you my deep sympathy. To you, Merv, rest in eternal peace. Farewell, farewell, farewell. To all of you who remain, I offer you my greetings. May God always bless us, look after us, and lead us all on the right pathway. Greetings to one and all.]

We live today in a society which is very much celebrating the celebrity culture, a culture that has coined the phrase “famous for being famous”. Once upon a time, fame was a by-product of actually doing something that was impressive. Back in his day, Merv Smith was very famous. He was probably the most famous radio broadcaster this country has ever produced. Being on radio and television was his natural place to be. He was a by-product of incredible talent. He was sharp witted and had an amazing ability for mimicry. But, also, there was this natural kindness and a jolliness about him, and those features enabled his listeners to connect with him. He was relatable, and that’s an absolute skill that broadcasters who are at the top of their game are able to bring. They are able to connect with their audience, and Merv had that. But he was more than that.

For 48 years, Merv Smith read stories and recorded books for the blind. What a great contribution he made. Also, in Auckland, he set up a radio station. It was a country radio station. Now, in radio we would have a bit of a joke about that station, because it played two types of music: country and western. He was most loved indeed, was Merv Smith, and he also had some amazing qualities. He didn’t have any sense of entitlement, he didn’t have an inflated ego, and he didn’t seek the limelight. Fame, for him, was a by-product of being a good and decent man, and he had so much to give our society. If anyone in broadcasting should have received a knighthood, it should have been Merv Smith. So, farewell to you, Merv Smith. You will be missed.

The radio industry really is a different beast to the days of Merv Smith. We’ve had to adjust to a global media landscape. But radio has thrived, interestingly, as traditional media, though, generally haven’t so much. So I turn my mind briefly now to community radio, Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, our iwi radio network. They are doing some amazing work in the communities they are connected to. They are protecting the taonga of Te Reo Māori, and they are ensuring that the dialects are preserved for our language preservation for us and our tamariki into the future. So I’d just like, today, to acknowledge the contribution that iwi radio has made and to congratulate all those who work inside that industry. You are the backbone of radio, and you’re really our last bastion of community radio. New Zealand First is very proud to support iwi radio.

Speaking of radio, everyone needs a theme song, and so I’d like to finish my contribution by making a suggestion or two about theme songs. Just to cheer up the Opposition a little bit, I’d like to suggest a theme song for the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Simon Bridges. Now, we’re not talking about Eminem or anything Eminem-esque at all or any “pretty legal” rendition whatsoever, and even too with his gangsta fingers—the finger guns that he’s been pointing lately—no Wiggles song for him. No, I would like to suggest something really Kiwi for the Leader of the Opposition. Bearing in mind that they’re dealing with the leak and the boat is no longer going in the right direction—probably about to sink very fast—I would like to suggest the 1982 hit song from Split Enz, those boys from Te Awamutu, “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”.

This is Chinese Language Week. I will say “I wish you all the best.” in Chinese: “Zhu ni wan shi ru yi.”—祝你万事如意.

Just one year and three days ago we had an election, and a few weeks later we had a new coalition Government, so it’s about time to think about the celebration of the first anniversary of the Government. What will they be celebrating?

Well, for New Zealand First, they may well be celebrating the anti-democratic waka-jumping bill. I see this as a forced marriage—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member will resume his seat. I just want to make it very clear to the member that that bill is on the Order Paper. It can be debated at that time; that debate cannot be anticipated on the same day.

OK.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: Oh no—what’s on your hand? Check your hand.

OK—that’s OK. But there may be—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order!

There may well be—

💬 SPEAKER: No, no—sorry. I do apologise to the member. Who’s referring to my hands?

💬 Kieran McAnulty: Oh, yep—my mistake.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, the member will stand, withdraw, and apologise. He’s a whip. He needs to get his interjections in order.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: I withdraw and apologise.

💬 SPEAKER: Dr Jian Yang—now, we’re going to start this again. Start right from the beginning—five minutes.

OK, thanks, Mr Speaker. Again, I wish you all the best: zhu ni wan shi ru yi—祝你万事如意. This is Chinese Language Week.

It is one year and three days ago that we had the election, and we were the largest party, but in the end, well, we had a new coalition Government. So it’s about time to think about the celebration of the anniversary of the coalition Government. What will they be celebrating? I’ve thought about this. Well, New Zealand First—I’m not talking about the bill—may think about celebrating the billion trees. They’ve talked a lot about the billion trees, but I haven’t seen many trees there. But they will be celebrating anyway.

The Greens may be celebrating the ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration. Well, it will cost the Government a billion dollars in terms of lost revenue and thousands of jobs for ordinary New Zealanders, but who cares? We’ll be celebrating the empty principle at the cost of the New Zealand economy.

Then the Labour Party—well, a wave of strikes. They’ll be celebrating the strikes. Just now, before I came into the Chamber, I saw the report that primary school teachers and the principals have rejected the proposal and are going to have a strike, and then Wellington bus drivers are going to have a strike indefinitely. So this is the Labour Government: a wave of strikes.

But this is Chinese Language Week, so I paid special attention to the achievement of the Labour Government in matching the numbers with Chinese culture. You know, eight in China is a very good number. Eight means rich—well, Labour has done a lot to match eight. Firstly, one-eight, which means getting rich: what have they done to match one-eight? Eighteen KiwiBuild houses—18 KiwiBuild houses, right; 18—to get rich.

Then, two-eight is also a good number—two-eight. What have they done? Free tertiary education—$2.8 billion wasted. So $2.8 billion has been wasted—so one-eight, two-eight.

And they have other numbers, right? One-six-eight is even better, which means you will get smooth and get rich, all the way—one-six-eight. Yi lu fa—一路发. What have they achieved there? One hundred and sixty-eight working groups. Actually, they have passed 168, and they now have 172. There are going to be 178 before too long. So there’s one-seven-eight.

There’s another number which is even better—that is, four-eight. In Chinese, it’s si fa—死发—which means you are going to be extremely rich—four-eight. Well, what have they done for that matching number? The rental price: this week, the average rental price is $480 a week. That’s a record high rental price, so Labour has done so much to match the Chinese magical number eight. So this is the Government.

Now you come to another area which is, of course, business confidence, which is now at a 10-year low. In 2016, business confidence was the second-highest among OECD countries. Now it’s the second-lowest among OECD countries. What does it mean? It means a lot to business, particularly small business.

I was on my way just a few weeks ago from China back to Auckland on a plane, and I met a Chinese businessman, a restaurant owner. He was complaining about how hard it is now to do business, and that is not an exceptional case. There are many cases—many, many examples.

I would like to emphasise that this coalition Government has done a lot to match the magic numbers. The eight in Chinese means wealthy, but for the Government, it may be wealthier because of more tax. But for ordinary Chinese and ordinary people in New Zealand, they are not getting wealthier. They are getting poorer. So this is the Government which is going to celebrate without caring—

Order! The time for this debate has expired.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.