Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement

I am immensely proud to take a call on the Prime Minister’s statement, and I’m proud to speak to a statement from a leader who isn’t just managing the shop, but who is leading and who is facing up to the major challenges of our time, as is our Government. I’m also proud to be part of a Government that shows a unique development in New Zealand’s political system. This is a true MMP Government. It brings together parties from different traditions to a common cause, to put people right at the centre of what it is that we do as a Government, and I am immensely proud to take this call.

All of us who have spent a bit of time in Opposition know that there are things that we can be familiar with, and one of those features of Opposition is you are often given unsolicited advice. But sometimes that advice can be very good, and it’s worth listening to. So today, I want to read a bit of advice that I think the Opposition should listen very closely to, and here it is: “It’s a shame to see that attitude in an Opposition”, this person said, “of ‘Oppose, oppose, oppose!’, rather than trying to be constructive on the issues.” Who was the person who gave such sage advice? That was, of course, Simon Bridges. Well, what a shame that he can’t follow his own advice, because this is an Opposition that is barking at every passing car, that is opposing everything, and that is so negative.

Also, when in Government, Mr Bridges said of the Opposition: “In a country where we should have a viable democracy, we should hope to have a Leader of the Opposition who could at least front up and give us some alternative viewpoint on the big issues that New Zealanders want to know about and want a straight answer from the Opposition on.” I think Mr Bridges should go back and read much of his own advice, because, meanwhile, our Government is getting on with the job.

Under our watch, New Zealand’s economy is performing well, with strong growth and unemployment near record low levels. In the Government’s own books, we’re running responsible surpluses while we’re also investing to meet New Zealand’s big challenges. We aren’t afraid to front up to those challenges, and we are prepared to lead on them. In our programme of action, we have children and families at the heart of our programme. We are lifting family incomes, we are backing our regions, we are making doctors visits more affordable, we are rebuilding hospitals and schools, and we’re beginning to shift to an environmentally sustainable economy. We are here, and we are here to make a difference.

There are huge opportunities for New Zealand in many areas, and we are determined to seize them. In the areas that the Prime Minister has asked me to take responsibility for, one of those is energy, and we are developing a renewable strategy for New Zealand that lies at the heart of our economy. This is about the detailed strategic planning of how it is that we will chart our pathway to 2035 and 2050 and beyond. We’re looking into the areas where Government action can make the biggest difference, identifying the incentives that may be needed and the roadblocks that need to be removed, and how we can help new technologies come on stream.

It’s about identifying the regulatory and policy settings our country needs to make the most that our country can be and to seize the opportunities around renewables, because we know this is where job growth will occur, and there are tremendous opportunities. We know that the price of renewable energy is falling rapidly. Wind and solar are now the cheapest energy to produce. We know from reports like those from Transpower that New Zealand will be able to meet its future energy needs from renewables alone, and then, when we do that, consumers can face lower costs. Our environment will see lower emissions, and we’ll be able to create new jobs and new economic opportunities for our country. That is why we are planning now, for the long term, a managed transition over the next 30 years towards an economy based on cheap, clean, renewable energy, instead of costly fossil fuels that contribute to global climate change.

We are already investing in this area. We are funding hydrogen projects in Taranaki. This will be the year when we will see the first projects from the Green Investment Fund, an initiative of our confidence and supply partner, the Green Party. This is where I go back to where I started my speech: my pride in being part of a Government that brings together these three traditions of three parties that puts people at its centre. We have New Zealand First with the Provincial Growth Fund, we have the Green Party with the Green Investment Fund, and all three of our parties are working together towards a common vision for New Zealand.

I have to say that nowhere is the Opposition’s constant negativity on display more than in this area. Whereas we have a comprehensive work programme in this area, all the Opposition does is criticise and cling to the status quo. Whereas we are looking to the future, their eyes are fixed firmly on the past. We are having the courage to lift our sights beyond the three-year political and electoral cycle, but they are burying their heads in the sand and pretending we never have to take action on climate change, and that is not good enough. New Zealanders can and should expect better, and we are getting on with the job in the energy transition.

One thing I’m especially proud of as we move towards the eighth anniversary of the February earthquakes is the renewed sense of momentum and progress this Government is delivering for the people of Christchurch. For too long under the previous Government, the Canterbury recovery was too slow and too messy.

💬 Matt Doocey: How much money have you spent there? Zero.

Major projects like the Metro Sports Facility (MSF) and the new stadiums were years behind schedule, and in the case of the MSF, it was over $75 million over budget. We have turned that around. Mr Doocey asked what new money have we put in. Well, good news, Mr Doocey: we’ve put $300 million on the table to kick-start the recovery and speed up important projects. We’re working closely with the Christchurch City Council to return the city to local leadership, and we’re seeing the benefits of that new approach in the rapid progress we are making on planning for the stadium. We’ve been able to fast track the earmarking of $220 million for the stadium, and we are getting on with the job.

But what gives me a great sense of pride is the solving of thousands of outstanding insurance and Earthquake Commission (EQC) claims that the previous Government left trapped in limbo year after year. Since just past May, we’ve settled 72 percent of the outstanding EQC claims that we had on hand, and we’ve set up a new way of doing things. We’ve set up the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service that the private insurers have now entered, along with EQC and Southern Response, so we can finally get traction on those last remaining claims in Christchurch—and have a Government that is committed to allowing people to settle their claims. The most important part of people settling their claims is allowing people to get on with their lives and returning hope to their lives after eight years. We are a Government that thinks that they deserve this. So this is a Government that is getting on with the job, that is making things happen, and that has a positive and optimistic vision for the future of our country.

New Zealand is in a strong position. Our economy is growing strongly and we’re addressing key social, environmental, and economic issues that we need to face, head on. We’re facing health, we’re facing housing, and we’re facing education. So why does Simon Bridges and the National Party seem so miserable then? I wonder if it’s because despite all the progress, what they are concerned about is the faint sound of the barbecues warming up and the sausages beginning to sizzle.

In 2014, Mr Bridges said, “the only party that [one leader of the Labour Party] has the numbers in to remain Leader of the Opposition is the New Zealand National Party.” We’d just like to tell Mr Bridges that we are rooting for you. We’re not just at-the-moment supporters. We want you to stay there for a very long time.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. What Megan Woods, the last member who has resumed her seat, did not tell the House is that the last time, under earthquake regeneration, that Christchurch got any money was in fact under the last National Government. This Government has promised $300 million and a capital accelerator fund, and Canterbury has received zero. In 16 months, we’ve seen a country that had a Government that backed New Zealanders to now a country where we’ve got a Government that tells New Zealanders that they know better. In fact, when she talked about the Metro Sports Facility and the multi-use covered stadium, both of those projects have stalled under this Government, and that’s where we see the Government raising expectation but under-delivering. They pledged $300 million for Canterbury and haven’t spent one dollar of that yet.

What I’m looking forward to also in the Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration’s electorate is the promised Rolleston to Christchurch railway, pledged at $100 million. I tell you what: you don’t hear about that any more, because it’s not going to happen. That’s what we’re hearing more and more around New Zealand: the frustration, things being promised, they talked up a big game, but nothing was delivered. Of course, in the beltway of Wellington you can say a lot, but, in fact—[Interruption]—there’s Kieran McAnulty. He’s still really happy he’s finally got a job where people talk to him, unlike his last job. What they’re disappointed at is things are said in Parliament and if they’re not delivered, they affect people in everyday life. Look at KiwiBuild: a thousand homes were promised, down to 300; 47 were delivered, and now we’ve abolished all the targets. Then we had “Mr Arrogant”, the housing Minister, Phil Twyford—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member will withdraw that comment.

I withdraw and apologise.

💬 SPEAKER: Members are to be addressed properly.

The Hon Phil Twyford, the housing Minister, was on camera saying about the housing crisis: “If it wasn’t that easy, the last National Government would have done it.” That’s exactly it; we didn’t say it was easy, and that’s why we were working hard on it. But when they were in Opposition they said it was easy because all that needed to happen was for the State to intervene, because of course that’s the answer, isn’t it? As long as the State intervenes, that will happen. And what have we seen? The lack of delivery in a year ironically called the year of delivery. What they haven’t learnt, and something that we spoke tirelessly about last term and got let down by other political parties, is that in fact it’s very simple to look at the formula for housing. We saw it in Canterbury with the earthquake recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, with the powers he got writing and drawing big circles on the map that freed up the bylaws, the red tape, and the regulation, and freed up the people who build houses—the builders—to get on and do it.

That’s why we replaced the thousands of houses that we lost from the earthquakes, to now Treasury saying we’re moving towards a surplus of housing. The formula is there. If you free up land, it increases supply and it equals demand. That is the formula, and that’s what I implore this Government to do, because in their year of delivery I genuinely hope they do well because it is New Zealanders’ lives we’re talking about. We can say what we want in the beltway, but it is New Zealanders’ lives. So I genuinely hope they do well in their year of delivery.

But it’s not what we’re seeing. Look at my electorate, Waimakariri, one of the third fastest growing electorates in the country. We’ve had huge growth and we’ve actually met the demand with housing, and under the last National Government we turned the sod and started construction for two new motorways to address the huge increase in commuters going into Christchurch City. And what does this Government do on the ground? They cancel the Belfast to Pegasus motorway, including the Woodend bypass. Now, Woodend is a small town that’s got a motorway running through the centre of it. Kids and mums walk across that motorway every day to go to the primary school. Currently, it has 18,000 car movements a day. In the next 10 years that’ll go up to 28,000 car movements.

Chlöe Swarbrick: What if you invest in public transport?

Pupils and parents—“What about public transport?” Get down to the regions. These parents and pupils have to cross that motorway every day. Under the New Zealand Transport Agency, those metrics triggered a new motorway. That’s what they triggered, those metrics. Now they get a safety consultation. That’s what they get. Why? Because this Government has stripped $5.5 billion out of the State highway funding to fund trams in Auckland. Now, where is that delivery going to happen for the people I represent? And it’s not only in the Waimakariri; we’re seeing it all across the country. That’s what they see as delivery.

What they’re seeing is the stripping out of an investment into vital infrastructure. Another area I want to talk about is my spokes-role of mental health. And let’s get a stocktake of what we’ve got after 16 months. Yes, we’ve had a mental health inquiry. Yes, it has listened to thousands of people and met hundreds of meetings, but where is the delivery? We’re waiting. And what we see, after the former Opposition talked up a big game around mental health funding and wait times for young people’s services—we’re going through the annual reviews at the moment. In Counties Manukau District Health Board (DHB) annual review, their mental health ring-fenced funding for the last three years before this Government came into power increased $4 million to $5 million a year. In the last year, it went from $151 million to $152 million, a bit over $1 million. Previously, it went up $4 million to $5 million every year. In the last year, under this Government, Counties Manukau DHB’s mental health ring-fenced funding went up $1 million.

A look at the wait times: they were meeting targets for child and adolescent mental health of around 73 to 74 percent. In the last year, they’ve dropped down to 70 percent. So here we have a Government that’s over-promising and under-delivering, because what we had was $100 million in Budget 2017 to fund 17 mental health initiatives that this Government cancelled that could have been delivering real support to vulnerable New Zealanders on the ground today.

Mental health workers to be paired up with emergency responders: the police were devastated when that got pulled. That was going to be a game changer. That was 16 months ago. Imagine the difference that service could have made on the ground today. And that’s what we’re hearing—all these promises but very little delivery.

As many will know, I invited parties to join a cross-party mental health group in July. We had the Minister decline that. The inquiry reported back today and, in fact, we heard from the mental health inquiry panel today in select committee. They said to us in the inquiry that they had heard the public’s call for a cross-party mental health group in New Zealand’s Parliament. Yet we have the health Minister who says “We don’t think the public wants an internal talkfest amongst politicians”, who’s not listening to the public already, he’s offside with the panel of his own inquiry, and is not endorsing his own recommendations.

We’ve seen a country have a Government that backs New Zealanders. Now we’ve moved to a country where the Government knows better than New Zealanders. You can say what you want in the beltway of Wellington but, ultimately, we’re affecting lives of people in New Zealand. This Government has said 2019 is going to be a year of delivery, genuinely, for New Zealanders; I hope it is.

I think we need to get one thing straight first of all—New Zealand is a great country to live in. It has been for a very long time, it has now, and it will be in the future, and we have been a great country for a number of reasons. Obviously, we’ve been in the upper echelons of the OECD rankings for all of the good stuff. We are a great country because we’ve got a great Prime Minister who’s leading us, and we’ve got the best Deputy Prime Minister that this country’s ever seen who’s leading us as well.

But if one was to just listen to the National Party speeches, no one would know that we’re a great country to live in. It’s all negative, it’s all anti, it’s all down, it’s all depressing, but that’s because—and I figured it out—they have just slipped into being the quintessential Opposition. They bark at every single car, and they are nothing but anti - whatever the Government’s trying to put forward. You see, they don’t stand for one thing. The only thing that they stand for is everything that the Government is not. With every single thing, every single idea, every single proposal, and every single project that this Government is putting forward, the National Party opposes it. That’s all that they do and all that they say, and the irony of it all is—if you have a look at everything and every single subject of what they are opposing—that this Government is actually doing something to try and clean up the mess of the almost decade when they were in Government.

Look what they’re opposing: KiwiBuild, for starters. Why do we have to have KiwiBuild in the first place? Because of a housing crisis under the making of the National Government over the previous 10 years. But what do we hear? You see, we are trying to build houses and, in fact, we are building houses. This Government has built more houses than any other Government since the 1970s. But you don’t want to hear the positives from the National Opposition. It’s all negatives; it’s all anti-KiwiBuild. You hear all the anti about the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). Why do we have a PGF? Because of the underfunding and lack of funding and investment in the infrastructure in our regions. But you don’t hear anything positive about that from the National Party. It’s all negative; it’s all anti-PGF.

We’ve just heard about the issues currently, apparently, from Mr Doocey—about the mental health issues that we’ve got in this country. Why do we have all of the projects and all of the funding that we are doing on this side of the House in regards to mental health and the district health boards? Why are we focusing on that? It is because of the lack of funding and infrastructure and focus that the National Party had over the past 10 years. You see, this is it. They are complaining about the very things that they neglected in the first place, and they, unfortunately, have been passing their notes around to all of the backbenchers, from the front bench—all the backbenchers of the National Party—and we’re going to hear all the same negative, down, depressing things.

But the thing is, you see, that most, if not all, of what they are complaining about and the comments that they make are actually wrong. They’re totally wrong. I’ll take an example. Unfortunately, I had to endure—a few of us had to endure—a speech from Jo Hayes in the House last night, and not only was it absolutely depressing and negative but it was absolutely wrong. She made comments about our unemployment numbers and about how unemployment numbers were low. Well they are—they are 4.3 percent. I mean, we can look at the unemployment numbers under the National Government. Under National in 2014, it was over 5 percent—in fact, over 5.5 percent. In 2016, it was over 5.8 percent. Unemployment has come down under this Government.

She also was complaining about the business confidence being down. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) in January of this year said, “Business confidence has bounced back … Businesses were more positive about their own future prospects,”.

I just said before that one of the things that she said was that we are not building enough houses for people to live in. This Government has built more houses than any other Government since the 1970s. In 2013-14, just over 300 houses were built in New Zealand. This year, over 2,000 houses are available—over 2,000 houses have been delivered for people to live in.

One other thing is the relationship that she mentioned—verbosely—with China. I want to quote from RNZ on 16 February. A Foreign ministry spokesperson from China was asked about the relationship between the two countries, being China and New Zealand. They quoted, “Those insisting on such an interpretation are evidently either making a big fuss over nothing or harboring ulterior motives. On bilateral relations, a China-New Zealand relationship enjoying sound and steady development is in the interest of both countries and [both] peoples.”

This country is going in the right direction. We are being led by a great Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. We are a great country to live in and that National Party needs to wake up and have a look in the mirror.

Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, tēnā koe. It is my pleasure to stand and take this split call following on from my colleague Darroch Ball, who really has been highlighting the positivity of this side of the House versus the negativity that we’re hearing from the other side of this House. And I’d like to begin my contribution today by talking about how, in her speech last week, the Prime Minister spoke about leadership in this House. And I’ll begin with a whakataukī: inā te mahi he rangatira. See how he does—I’ll actually translate to “see how she does—a leader indeed.”

You know, in today’s society a leader is usually identified by the work that they do in promoting the interests and the welfare of the people. And this side of the House, this Government, this fabulous coalition Government—it is all about focusing on the people and having the people’s interests at heart. Leadership to me has two main components and the first component for me is trust—trust that the Government has its people at heart, trust that its heart is in the right place. The second most important component of leadership is vision, the ability to look into the future and face the challenges squarely rather than pretend that nothing is happening—and we saw that with the National Government where they buried their heads in the sand and they could not even acknowledge that we had a housing crisis. But we are building more houses than any Government has built since the 1970s, and that is what leadership looks like.

New Zealand First were very proud to be part of this coalition Government, and we have a fabulous leader who’s also our Deputy Prime Minister, and through his leadership let me outline some of the issues that we are focusing on.

We have enough problems with possums in this country to know that they are just one example of a good idea that went horribly wrong. Now, nobody is happy with the widespread use of 1080. The coalition Government is making great strides, though, to find more effective predator control solutions that, in time, we hope will render 1080 redundant. Now, for this coalition Government, leading and finding alternative solutions to 1080 means that we have to ensure that we can develop new technologies in trapping, remote sensing, lures and surveillance, and also data management technologies. That will also ensure that these great ideas—many are born from sheds and garages around Aotearoa—will come to fruition and there’ll be a pathway for those clever inventors to have their product be taken to the market and taken to the world. So that is what it is to be leading in a space where finding alternatives really is the way to ensure that at some point we can look forward to 1080 becoming redundant.

There are other ways that New Zealand First has been leading, and I’ll just go back to what we had been leading on in terms of free doctors visits for our tamariki. We have a proud history of taking care of the health of our tamariki, so just last year it was an absolute pleasure to join the Prime Minister, along with the Minister of Health, Dr David Clark, as we announced free doctors visits for under-14s.

We’re also making sure that we get our hospitals back up to scratch after the last Government failed to do any infrastructure planning for the 600,000 - odd new immigrants that formed the basis of their economic plan. We’ve got some good news coming for women. We’re going to get the SuperGold card turbocharged and also too, really importantly, we will restore the mana of the regions, the mana of the people in our regions after a decade of neglect.

It was New Zealand First that pushed back against the neo-liberal agenda. That was the “workhouse for the poor” agenda. That was the “law of the jungle” agenda. We have seen that “let them eat cake” mentality in all its various forms and, really, we have pushed back against that. In the last regime, we saw Ministers who were given a hand up by New Zealand’s welfare system simply to turn around and pull up the ladder behind them. The rest of society was simply left behind, but today it is our responsibility now to ensure the inherent potential of every one is actualised.

I’ll end on this whakataukī: waiho rā kia tū takitahi ana ngā whetu o te rangi. Let it be one alone that stands among the other stars in the skies.

Thank you very much, sir, and I’m sure you appreciated the irony as much as I did in listening to those last two contributions, in the fact that particularly the member Darroch Ball spent his entire time attacking the Opposition for being incredibly negative, having nothing positive to say, when, in fact, it was he who, through doing that, failed to mention anything positive at all, couldn’t outline his own vision for the nation, and just attacked the Opposition.

Well, let me move on. I’m sure it is only in the nation’s Parliament that members wish each other a happy New Year on 20 February, but let me do that. Let me congratulate Tamati Coffey and his partner on their very happy news of recent days, and let me also say gong xi fa cai to all those around New Zealand who are celebrating this important time: the Chinese New Year. It is, of course, the Year of the Pig, and my own children uncharitably say that that should be my year. Well, it’s not; I wasn’t born in that year, but “xin nian kuai le” to my lovely daughters as well. I know that they mean well. I do want to acknowledge a wonderful lantern festival that was on display in Garden Place in Hamilton on Saturday night—fantastic performances—but what I really loved was the fact that there was a huge crowd there reflecting the diversity of modern New Zealand. I loved seeing people of all ethnic backgrounds coming together to celebrate such a significant event. This reflects very well on our nation, and long may we continue to move in that direction.

Today is also a very significant one in this House as we welcome and say talofa lava to our newest member, Agnes Loheni, and I’m so pleased that she’s here now. We will, of course, be hearing her maiden statement in just about a couple of hours, and I know it will be a very fine address. Could I acknowledge the fine Minister she has just replaced—Christopher Finlayson—who, I think, served our country extraordinarily well and will long be remembered, particularly for the outstanding work he did in making great progress on Treaty settlements. But here, in Agnes, I think I’m right in saying, we have our first female Pasifika member in the National Party caucus, and I think that’s another really encouraging step in the right direction. She supplements our ranks and further enhances what is already the impressive diversity of the National Party caucus. She’s a woman of intelligence, experience, empathy, and very solid values, and I know that she will serve this House and, in particular, her South Auckland community very well in the years ahead.

It’s also a very significant day for my delightful and caring constituent Margaret Clayton-Greene and from my valued colleague and very good friend Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, who both celebrate their birthdays today, and I wish both Kanwaljit and Margaret a very happy birthday.

May I, on a much sadder note, join Kanwaljit and other Indian members of this Parliament, and indeed all New Zealanders, in condemning the recent horrific attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Pulwama. We extend our aroha and sympathy to all who were caught up in that atrocity and especially to the victims and their families.

We’ve heard much from the Government that this is the year of delivery. I think 2018 was described as the “Year of Working Groups” and “How on earth did that happen?”—“How did we get into Government?” Well, we’d like to see it as a year of delivery, but there aren’t many encouraging signs yet. If you look at the utter shambles that is KiwiBuild, there is no hope of that being a year of delivery—it’s a con trick. It’s certainly not going to be a year of delivery for beneficiaries, and this is a serious point: how disturbing it is to see, in good financial times, the numbers of beneficiaries going up and, in particular, a major reason for that being the misguided Government policy that has removed sanctions and that is, frankly, descending back into what Bill English so rightly used to describe as the “tyranny of low expectations”, putting far too many New Zealanders in the too-hard basket, saying, “We’ll just throw a benefit at you, and that will do.” Well, it won’t, and this must be the year of delivery for those people, not just in topping up benefits; it’s got to be about giving them the encouragement and, at times, the proper incentives to get into employment, to take up training, and to make sure that they are able to become self-reliant.

It’s certainly not a year of delivery for those who sent their children to partnership schools. It’s not a year of delivery for those in the classrooms around the country who now have seen the demise of national standards with nothing put in place to replace them, and so gradually we’ll just see less and less information that is valuable to parents going home. Well, I don’t say that national standards were a panacea and a cure-all for everything, but they gave parents vital information, and I really fear that again we will hear, as we used to a decade ago, parents saying to us, “If only I’d known at the time that my child was falling behind in literacy and numeracy, but the Government took away my right to receive that information.” Well, I say to the Government: deliver something that gives them back that vital information.

It won’t be a year of delivery for those awaiting elective surgeries and vital medical treatment. Some—of course, we hope as many as possible—will receive operations and will receive very good service in our public hospitals, but the Government has eliminated the public health targets that were set by the last Government, which meant that we were able to measure achievement and we were able to put the resources where they were needed when things weren’t moving along in the direction that they should have been, and I say “Shame on the Government for taking that away.”, because New Zealanders have a right to that information. It is right that we acknowledge achievement in the health system when it is being secured, but how will we know in the future? It’s just another way of taking away things that are important and putting nothing in place. It’s all smoke and mirrors, and Government has to be about more than just good intentions.

I say to this Government: we share, I think, probably all of your aspirations that sound so decent. All of us want to get the best out of our health system and get the best education for our children. We want our Defence Force and our police force to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability, and across all the vital social services we all want the best. But just saying that doesn’t make it so. We actually have to have some effective measures to ensure it can be achieved, and so far this Government has been woefully deficient in putting in place a coherent programme—a plan—that will move us in that direction. We have even got a Government that can’t yet tell us how they are going to frame a referendum at next year’s general election—it’s not that far away—on the important questions of the future possibility of legalising marijuana for recreational use.

Well, it’s not good enough for the Prime Minister to come to this House day after day and say, “No, we’re not working on that legislation, and we don’t yet know what the question will be.” This is an important issue. There’s a lot of evidence, some of which just came out last week, of the very disturbing impact on young people’s mental health from recreational cannabis use. The public needs to know about this in good time to be able to make an intelligent and considered decision. So I urge all members of this House to support the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition—that “this House has no confidence in the Labour-led Government because in its ambition to be measured on its vague intentions it is proving itself completely incapable of delivering good outcomes for New Zealanders.”

We in the National Party are working very hard and very positively to ensure that we will be fit to govern. I’ll just mention two things. I had the privilege along with my colleague David Bennett of hosting the first of Nikki Kaye’s education roadshows in Hamilton. Contrary to what some of the silly idiots on Twitter had to say, this was not a destructive sort of thing; there was a very constructive tone, and all people who were there were able to engage freely in positive discussion. I hope that it will lead to us being able to put forward a really attractive and appropriate education policy.

Members of this House and those who are listening will know that for weeks now I have been trying to get from the Government—particularly the Minister for ACC—a straight answer to the question of why the Government has moved away from applying the vehicle-risk rating mechanism to the setting of motor vehicle levies. OK, it’s not the front-page headline but it’s another example of illogical action by a Government when, at the same time that they’re putting a lot of money into an NZTA campaign to encourage people, quite rightly, to try to move into safer vehicles because that is such an important way of ensuring their safety during an accident, they are taking away the only financial incentive that existed for it. I’ve waited for weeks to get a straight answer. This morning, I got one from the chairperson of ACC when I asked her, “Was there any evidence?” The fact of the matter is that they were going to have a review, but this Government cancelled it. In other words, they made a decision, again, having not done the homework and with no evidence at all.

Let me just conclude by returning the favour that the Hon Ron Mark did me in the House yesterday. He acknowledged that I had joined him in a very, very impressive and memorable trip to the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Egypt, and South Sudan. I can’t in the little bit of time remaining do justice to it, but it was a tremendous opportunity for me to gain much greater knowledge of the many important aspects of peacekeeping and other deployments that New Zealanders are engaged in. Everywhere we went, we saw New Zealanders who were held in the highest regard for the fine work that they are doing, and I want to thank them. I want to acknowledge the very important contribution that Kiwi taxpayers are making and to assure them that I believe it is money well spent, and to conclude on a very positive note by saying that I was proud to be part of that delegation and very grateful to the Hon Ron Mark for his generous accommodation of me on that trip. I think he’s served our country very well, and a new friendship has been formed across the House.

I am inspired. I am inspired by the people of this country and around the world who are calling for new solutions to the challenges we face. I want to acknowledge the strength of those flax-roots movements for change which are igniting the world with their ruthless honesty. The twin crises of climate change and inequality are here now. They are wicked, scary, and colossal challenges that require us to take bold action. I am inspired and I have hope because we are seeing united flax-roots movements calling decision makers to account and demanding that we take better care of our planet and our communities. James Shaw and I, and all our Green MPs, are strengthened every day in the work we do by those voices of people calling for bold change.

People are taking to the streets—school students, workers, indigenous peoples, women, unions, people from all backgrounds and experiences, from vastly different societies across the globe, who understand that everyone needs to be able to put food on the table, have shelter that keeps them safe, warm, and secure, have quality medical care and an education that allows children to be who they are as healthy active citizens in their neighbourhoods. Here in Aotearoa, people are telling us passionately that they want clean rivers and safe drinking-water. They want thriving forests and oceans, they want our native plants and creatures to be abundant, and they want to protect our Earth from further climate change. And the Greens are very clear that everyone, not just some, should be able to live safe, dignified lives in a healthy environment.

This is why I am hopeful, because this Government has ended new offshore oil and gas exploration—we cannot afford to burn the fossil fuels we already know about, let alone any more; because this Government is building State houses—we need more—led by Minister Phil Twyford, and we are working to end homelessness; because we can actually say the words “housing crisis” on this side of the House; because this Government is launching an ambitious programme to clean up water and is investing money in conservation rather than starving our Department of Conservation of resources, led by Green Minister Eugenie Sage; and because this Government has Green MP Jan Logie, who has introduced world-first Government initiatives to address domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The Greens know that business as usual won’t cut it any longer. We can no longer continue to exploit entire communities and our natural world for power and wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few. We have had generations of ruin by design. Today, we face a level of consumption and exploitation by the ultra-rich at a level unheard of in human history. By 2017, just eight men—eight men—owned as much wealth as 3.6 billion of the poorest half of the world.

In New Zealand, two men—two men—own more wealth than the poorest 30 percent of our adult population. We didn’t get here by accident. Generations of rules made in places like this one have ensured that we have kept power and wealth propped up and have created a massive and widening gap between the few and everyone else.

The rules made here by successive Governments and politicians have seen the degradation of our environment, health, and education public services; a gutting of provision of affordable and safe housing; the weakening of protections for people who work; fair pay stolen from women, Māori, Pacific, and disabled people; standards which allow for ongoing pollution of our air and our water; activity that endangers the livelihood of native species and plants; and laws that continue to favour wealthy corporations taking from struggling households.

We have a responsibility in this new Government to make bold changes on all of these issues. For a start, we need to measure our progress in a way that is far more honest about what is going on for people in their everyday lives. We want to take account of the health of our rivers and seas and forests and soils, if we are talking about the real wealth of our country. We will not simply bow down to GDP alone while children are still going to school without a proper kai. We will measure the dignity of people in work, not just the lonely statistic of whether they are no longer receiving a benefit. We will tell the whole story because the whole story is what is needed to inspire the true enduring solutions.

The energy that is currently among young people, indigenous and Pacific peoples, the longstanding work of people struggling to make ends meet, the communities who have had barriers relentlessly and systemically placed in the way of living dignified lives, and peoples who have called out oppression and injustice—despite everything against them—are at the forefront of this change. It is their voices I am here to represent. These are the communities I come from and work with.

The Greens understand deeply that the systems and rules which ruin our planet are inextricably linked to the systems and rules that hurt people and communities. And I’m proud the Greens signed up to this Government for transformational change, because business as usual won’t cut it any more. We need bold action on climate change and inequality, and this means radical changes to how we measure success and how we protect people and the planet. The broken economic model—it’s on its way out. People around the world are waking up to this, and the people will make sure it happens. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I’m always worried when I come into this House and after speeches like that hear that Marxism and communism are alive and well in society—the great failed experiment with millions dead, yet being celebrated here. I don’t normally do this. I wouldn’t normally do this, but I encourage the public to listen to speeches like that from the Greens, because they’re great about acknowledging who they don’t include. They are really good at acknowledging a whole lot of groups in society. Well, they’ll always talk about human rights, because, you know, we’re all human, but they talk about very specific groups and I encourage New Zealanders to log in, listen to that speech, and then begin to see all the groups in society which they exclude. I think there’s a word for that. I think it’s called discrimination. They very carefully exclude a number of groups. And it’s probably going to be a surprise to the Greens, or maybe not when they languish on 6 or less percent, that actually the majority of New Zealanders are excluded by their opinions.

The other thing I’d mention—and as someone who’s a great believer in climate change but not in the Greens’ approach, which is, effectively, “blank-cheque-ing”—is the idea that we have climate change, therefore a blank cheque should be written out to the likes of the Greens and other communistic groups to basically say—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! The member is in fact trifling with me for the second time today. The member knows that’s out of order.

“Communistic”?

💬 SPEAKER: Absolutely.

Right—far left belief systems that actually just allow wholesale changes—wholesale changes. And it’s not what New Zealand wants and it’s not what New Zealand needs.

Chlöe Swarbrick: Do you speak for all of New Zealand?

But ultimately I am here. No, actually. The member asked: do I speak for all of New Zealand? No, Ms Swarbrick. I actually speak for 60,000 constituents; not unlike yourself who—which is your constituency? That’s right. There isn’t one. So, fundamentally, I disagree with the Prime Minister’s statement and am very happy to support the amendment of Simon Bridges. But the fundamental point that I want to actually bring up today is a question. [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order!

When will this Government apologise?

💬 Kieran McAnulty: I apologise.

And we already have an apology coming from the other side, but I think it’s unrelated. But I’m asking the House today, and the Prime Minister through her statement: when will this Government apologise? This Government promised to build houses—tens of thousands of houses. We’re up to 47. I’m asking the Government to apologise for its failure. The Government promised that there’ll be less waiting for State housing. We’ve heard today great pronouncements about the numbers of houses being built, and so forth. But, actually, when I questioned the Minister, taking his announcements of supposedly thousands of houses that this Government was building, it turned out that, first and foremost, the Minister could not answer my question that was on notice, despite the fact that, actually, officials in select committee this morning were able to give me at least an indication. But what we found out is that the majority, I understand, or at least most—I should use the absolute word used in committee today—of the houses being promoted by this Government that they have built were actually started under the previous Government—under the previous Government. No, it’s not to say that this new Government won’t get into building houses, but it would do incredibly well—when it puts out its press releases claiming that they have built 1,691 new homes that actually were, for the most part, started by the previous Government.

The other element which is really important is always the ambiguity of the English language. There’s lots of talk in the State housing space that, you know, they’re all new houses. It’s implied in the language, but actually 53 per cent—53 per cent—of the houses that the Prime Minister and then Minister Twyford trumpeted today are not new houses. They are existing private New Zealand homes that have been bought by Housing New Zealand—bought by Housing New Zealand. In fact, it came through select committee today, through my colleague the Hon Judith Collins, that, actually, real estate agents are going out and buying these houses before they even reach the market. And for the public listening, let that sink in. People will not even get the opportunity to bid against Housing New Zealand. They are already off the market.

The best analogy of failure that I can give is really the Government is not growing the pie; they’re just cutting it up in different ways. So to New Zealanders who are first-home buyers, those struggling to buy their home: know that through this Government they are competing with a $1.3 billion Housing New Zealand. They’re competing with real estate agents who are taking properties off the market to Housing New Zealand. The Government are not growing the pie in State housing; they are simply buying and taking houses off those very New Zealanders who pay the taxes to fund Housing New Zealand, I might add. They are taking houses away from Kiwis, and I think the Government needs to apologise.

I think it also needs to apologise because it promised no new taxes and then whacked those of us in Auckland with at least two. They empowered the left-wing council in Auckland to slap on a fuel tax and then passed legislation in this House to slap a further petrol tax on Aucklanders. I look forward to an apology there.

The Government promised no strikes—no strikes. Just about every day, I wake up and have to see there’s another strike in the papers; is it the doctors, is it the nurses, is it the bus drivers—who is it? We have strikes almost every day. I again expect the Government to apologise.

Along with not being open—well, sorry. They promised, rather, I should say, to be open and transparent, and we had examples again today where figures are not presented, ideas are fudged. We’re waiting for Auditor-General reports, and so forth. And of course we had a debacle around Ministers who are hiding diary entries, or rather denying that meetings happened, and I think, you know, we’ve had ministerial questions stalled for months.

We’ve had an apology, I’m sure, needed for the lack of prudent financial management—a $3 billion fund which, I think we heard today, is funding swimming pools. Free tuition fees to students—what’s that achieving? An oil ban in Taranaki—that’s the “blank-cheque-ing” that I was talking about, that we just wipe out an entire industry overnight because it’s the wonderful virtue signalling that just makes people, particularly on the left, feel all nice, warm, and fuzzy.

Speaking of those on the left, an apology to the scientific community would be welcome too as the Green Party, through its Minister, hamstrings research into genetic science and technologies. The Greens will always talk a big and strong game about science when it suits them, but they demonstrate all the blind zealotry of a religious fanatic when science says something that is wrong. I think it’s an absolute shame and it’s an absolute disgrace that the scientific community in this country has been muzzled.

I want to turn to an apology that is needed to the people of Venezuela, moving into the foreign affairs space. An apology is needed by this Government as the rights and freedoms of those people are being trampled upon. The Government has been absolutely silent on what is happening there. Again, a big game has talked about all rights and looking after people and care and kindness. Yet while a regime, a left-wing regime—I can’t use another word—enforces its will on the people, this Government remains silent, and it is a shame. As I say, they’ve mastered the art of doing nothing, and apologies are required.

But fundamentally, an election is a promise. It’s an outline of what a party would do if it were to win and be in Government. And if we are to avoid campaigns where every party promises everything under the sun to every person across the country, we politicians must be held to account. So where is the accountability and when will this Labour-led Government apologise? I suggest there really are only two possibilities. Did Labour know it couldn’t deliver—did it know it couldn’t deliver? Maybe it was disingenuous, maybe they weren’t so concerned with getting the details right, and perhaps it was just a cynical ploy to get elected at all costs. That’s possible. That is possible, but I think that’s uncharitable, and I’m not an uncharitable person.

I think the other possibility is we’re just dealing here with woeful incompetence. There’s that genuine but naive belief that they could just come on through and just sort everything out. They could just easily improve the lives of people with happy words, utopian visions, and the like—that they could change and improve the lives of everyone they care about, and that once they found they were in power they began to realise things were a little bit more difficult. But I believe that we should never ascribe to malice what could also be easily ascribed to incompetence, so I’m prepared to give the Government the benefit of the doubt on this. So I believe, and it’s where I’ll begin to end, that the failures of this Government, the need for apologies, is one based simply on incompetence. But regardless of whether it is just that incompetence, they should apologise for that too. I and five million other New Zealanders and the 60,000 people in Tāmaki are waiting for that apology.

That last contribution from that member highlights the very serious malaise in which the National Party today finds itself, because it’s all very well complaining about this, that, and the other thing, but where is the vision? This was a once great party, led by once great people—not one person but multiple leaders in that party—great visionaries for New Zealand, who saw a New Zealand where everybody had a house, everybody who could work and wanted to work did work, where people got decent wages and incomes, where they didn’t mind if people belonged to a union. Some of those brokers of union deals used to be in that party—people like Jim Bolger, who’s now very ably assisting our Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety in doing his wonderful work of restoring faith and confidence in work and the rewards of work once again. That is a party that is visionless, that has lost its way, and about more which I might have some more to say later.

But I actually want to get on with the good news, because there is a lot of good news and it’s all wrapped up in the Prime Minister’s statement, which charts out a long-term vision and a long-term view for this great little country of ours that we all have a responsibility for doing the best by. You see, the Prime Minister represents the aspirations of a new generation. She represents governing for a quality of life and well-being for everyone, regardless of where you live, regardless of who you are—that everybody gets to share in the greatness and the beauty of this country of ours. Hers is a Government about realising dreams and hopes that for so long—at least, for the last nine years—have been dashed and frustrated and obstructed. Hers is a leadership that is about governing to rise to the hardest challenges that we face—not the kind of three-year, cyclical, short-term stuff, but actually getting to grips with the really difficult stuff to make a difference.

That’s why we have a robust, long-term, sound environmental policy. I know members of the National Party opposite bridle and bristle and struggle to come to terms with the decision on the long-term future of oil exploration, but the way this Government has approached that is to accept what that party won’t, which is the science is telling us that we cannot carry on doing what we’ve done, decade after decade after decade—that we actually have to change what we do. We have to change our energy mix. So this is a Government, under the Prime Minister’s leadership and with the erstwhile Dr Megan Woods, that’s actually rising to that challenge.

It isn’t, as the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research and the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand and their unholy alliance in the last couple of days said, putting the future of Taranaki at risk. Actually, it was carrying on doing nothing that was putting the future of Taranaki at risk. Jobs were being lost in that industry because the reality is that the future of that industry was in the hands of others in Washington and in The Hague and in London and in places other than New Zealand. But we’ve taken control of that issue for ourselves, and we’ve taken control of it in the interests of New Zealand and the people of Taranaki. We’ve made a decision that preserves and keeps those jobs that are there at the moment but actually starts the hard work of thinking about what the next generation of investment and of work opportunity actually looks like. I’m very proud to be part of that—very proud to be making my contribution.

We needed a different approach. It wasn’t enough just to do what the previous Government did and manage for the economic figures. The economic figures are very important. Having a robust, resilient economy is absolutely essential. But what are we managing it for when we have hundreds of thousands of people living in poverty—children living in poverty; when we have thousands and thousands of people homeless and with no hope of getting a roof over their heads? What sort of economic management is that? So we needed something that was well rounded, that was actually rooted in the existence of people and what they needed so that they were thriving and safe and secure and doing well for themselves and their families. It’s not just about the numbers being good; it is about the life that people get to lead. That’s what this Government is about, and that’s what sets this Government apart from the one we’ve just had nine years of.

Whether people are living in poverty, and the grossness of the poverty they are living in, matters, and we have to step up and do something about it. Whether we have a health system that is responding effectively to the demands put on it—and those demands are getting greater, and people’s expectations are quite reasonably saying, “Look, we just want a system that is there when we need it and will fix us when we need it.” That’s what we were losing in this country. We now have a health Minister who’s on the job, putting more investment into it, turning the Titanic, the oil tanker, around in a health system that desperately needs attention.

The education system—I have the great privilege of standing right next to the education Minister right now, who is transforming, who is revolutionising, our education system so that it is fit for a future that is going to deliver citizens capable of working, capable of participating in all aspects of being part of the community and being part of our great democracy. That’s what we want in an education system; not one where teachers are struggling and stressed out each day trying to do their job, wondering what’s the next box they have to tick or the next piece of paperwork they have to complete, but an education system focused on the magic that happens between excellent teachers and kids who are enthused and curious about learning—that’s what we want. That’s what we need: an education system that at the vocational level is actually responding to what business and industry says they need and churning out young people who are capable of participating and contributing and doing well and making a way for themselves. That’s what you want in an education system. We were losing that—we were losing that. So thank goodness Chris Hipkins has arrived in time to turn that ship around and do great things.

The well-being approach also means that we have to look to community safety, and I’m very pleased to be charged with the responsibility—along with my justice sector colleagues the Hon Kelvin Davis, the Hon Stuart Nash, the Hon Aupito William Sio, and the Under-Secretary Jan Logie—to actually focus on those things that are going to give our communities a chance to be safer than they ever were before. This is about taking seriously issues like the appalling incidence of family violence. I give credit to members opposite, and particularly to the Hon Amy Adams. She started some great work on this whole Parliament coming to grips with that scourge of family violence. It was a great thing that we were able to continue that, put our imprimatur on it, and actually take seriously some of those issues that we know are really very serious about family violence, like strangulation, like coercion and control. We were able to pass that law with the unanimity of this Parliament to make a difference in that regard.

But we have other challenges as well. It wasn’t right that when we came into Government, we had a record number of people in prison—way off the scale for a country like ours. It wasn’t right that we had a reoffending rate for those who had been to prison that is one of the highest in the developed world and unchanged over the last 20 or 30 years, because we just did not take seriously what was needed to change lives and turn people around but, most importantly, if we’re dealing with those who have offended, to stop them reoffending again. That is the serious challenge that we’ve got, and that’s the serious challenge that we are rising to.

Also, making sure that victims are properly supported—now, who would have thought, 30 years on from when the issue of victims kind of came to the political surface and everybody was trying to respond effectively to what was needed, that we still do not have an effective regime for supporting victims right from the time that they are offended against. I’m looking forward to addressing the victims workshop in a few weeks’ time to start talking about what it is that we can do better. There is a lot that this Government has to do, a lot of challenges that we must rise to, in the criminal justice area and the family court area—major problems, major challenges, that we have to improve and get on top of there.

The other major act of justice that I’m very proud to be part of that this coalition Government has given me responsibility for is the Pike River re-entry project—to give justice to those families who were, from November 2010, let down at every step of the way by the old Department of Labour, by the police investigation at the time, and by so many other organisations and institutions. It is great to see the progress that is being made to give justice to those families. This is a Government that is about well-being and about justice, and I’m proud to be part of it.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I’m very pleased to speak to this debate on the Prime Minister’s statement. I think that due to the National Government’s capable and experienced leadership of Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English, and due to the stable Government during those nine years, this Labour coalition Government inherited a strong and resilient country. It had a rapidly growing economy. It had strong trading relationships and a stable Government with clear Better Public Services targets and strong and successful social investment programmes. During the National years, I think the people of New Zealand grew to expect that level of commitment and competence from their Government, and I think that in their minds they banked what National delivered as business as usual and expected it just to continue automatically with a change of the Government.

So how disappointed they must be—how deeply disappointed they must be. I do accept that the Labour coalition Government is full of good intentions and is keen to do things right, but New Zealanders know that economic stability underpins the resourcing of every Government service, every social programme, and every opportunity for the future.

This Government only pays lip service to disciplined economic management, and during this time in office has been diverted from the things that really matter most to New Zealanders. They’ve forgotten to focus on the really tough, all-important stuff that delivers efficient and effective Government and quality services for New Zealanders, and what we’re seeing as a result is the lack of their financial experience and expertise.

Right now, our economy is slowing, our growth rate is dropping, the creation of jobs is stagnating, and our essential relationships with our important trading partners are suffering. So there’s no wonder that the Prime Minister, in her statement, is proclaiming that 2019 is the year of delivery, but I can’t help think that that, too, is just well-intentioned wishful thinking. We all want to deliver.

I think about it and I really wouldn’t want to be a courier in her delivery van, because what would I be delivering? How many new houses will KiwiBuild really build? Are we sure that they’re not going to be just rebranded, cannibalised from the private sector? How many of them will sell? How much will rents go up—another $50, $60, $70 a week? How many more strikes will we have to put up with? How much more inconvenience? How much more loss of productivity because of them? How many more advisory committees, working groups, and expert panels are we going to be paying for? But, far more importantly, with lower growth and the slowing of job creation—and we’re already down from 10,000 a month to less than 1,000—how many more New Zealanders are going to be unemployed or underemployed?

Now, I’ve been around long enough to see several economic downturns, and my heart really goes out to those who may be laid off or made redundant, but worse still are those who go to work every day in a small business, without making any money, worrying about how they’re going to pay the wages on Thursday and that they might actually end up losing everything. And what’s the spin-off of all of this? The spin-off is devastating for our young people. How will they get jobs to underpin their futures when we already have the highest number of young people that are not in education, not in employment, or not in training already? So, Prime Minister, you have to get the basics right. New Zealanders are desperately awaiting any form of delivery.

Now, I listened with interest to the new Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration and how she talked about Christchurch. I agree with her that after eight years and all the work that was done by the National Government and the people of Christchurch, everything that we’ve done since 2010 and 2011 is now paying off. If you haven’t visited Christchurch recently, I invite you to come there. We have a modern, people-friendly, and vibrant city, and it’s beautiful.

Over the last, fabulous summer, we’ve had thousands of local people, Greater Christchurch people, New Zealand visitors, and international tourists coming to enjoy our city. We are the gateway to the South Island, and more and more people are coming through that door. They’re coming to admire and to use our new and restored facilities: our heritage buildings, our arts centre, and our new modern structures. They’re fabulous. They’re coming to walk along the Avon-Ōtākaro promenade, and we’re going to have the lantern festival there this weekend. They come to admire and pay respects to our earthquake memorial and to enjoy our new, latest exciting additions to the city, such as a world-class library—Tūranga—and also our new, state-of-the-art technology Hoyts EntX theatre.

Our city is becoming more and more diverse and alive, and we’ve had fabulous events over the summer. We’ve had the old buskers’ festival in January, and we’ve just had the Indian Holi festival. Of course, the lantern festival is coming around in the next few days, and thousands of people over the last weekend or so have enjoyed the noodle markets in Hagley Park. Christchurch is the vibrant modern city that we envisaged when the blueprint for the rebuild was developed back in 2012, and I can only encourage the new Minister to get on with making the last decisions about the last anchor projects. We still have the metro sports and the new multi-use arena and stadium to be completed. Sadly, I have to say that we’ve had very little progress since the change of Government, but I know that the Minister does want to change that.

I also agree with my colleague the Hon Tim Macindoe, who spoke just a few minutes ago, that everyone in this House has aspiration and good intention for New Zealand and New Zealanders. But, as I’ve said before, intentions are not good enough. To deliver the aspiration for New Zealanders, this Labour coalition Government needs to be absolutely committed, this Labour coalition Government needs to be competent, and this Labour coalition Government needs to take action. Finally, we want some of those aspirations delivered, and we hope this Government will get on with it. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

What an honour to finish the coalition Government’s speaking order on the Prime Minister’s statement. I think, as probably the most unbiased member in the House, it’s probably appropriate that I give my critique of the debate—and it’s been a brilliant debate from this side. What an outstanding contribution from our Prime Minister—absolutely exceptional. It set the agenda. It talked about what we’d achieved in the past year, turning people’s lives around, and talked about manaakitanga and āwhinatanga in the year to come.

It was a brilliant speech from Grant Robertson, who talked about the aspirations of the National Party and how they’re trying to cut mine and Peeni and Nanaia Mahuta’s relation Simon Bridges’ throat. Grant talked about it, about what Judith Collins was up to. Winston Peters—I mean, it just goes on and on and on. I can’t even recall one reasonable National Party speech. It was just disgraceful, really, and I listened to Simon O’Connor and the way he was carrying on. And Simon Bridges’ speech would be one of the worst Opposition speeches I’ve ever heard in the history of Parliament. It was desperate, it was disgraceful, and it was as bad as the attitude of the National Party members the other day who, at the Finance and Expenditure Committee, disgraced themselves, shamed their party, and shamed their history.

You must ask yourself why the New Zealand public can’t stand this party at the moment. I’ll tell you why: because they play the people; they don’t play the kaupapa. Fancy leaving people who are coming to make submissions over Pharmac, over Pike River, over sexual violence—fancy playing politics and leaving them outside. The former Speaker should hang his head in shame—hang his head in shame—in terms of what they did to the New Zealand public. That’s why they’re going down in the polls, down the tubes. No one cares what they’re saying.

But I want to reiterate, like Megan Woods said today, that the Māori caucus is 100 percent behind Simon Bridges! He is Nanaia Mahuta’s Ngāti Maniapoto relation, and we’ll back him, despite the shameful behaviour at the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Clearly, our relation wasn’t about to roll our tikanga to the former Speaker, who wouldn’t have a clue—shamed himself, shamed the office, and shamed this Parliament.

Coming back to my work as an employment Minister over the last year, when I took over as employment Minister, sadly, I found a sorry state of affairs—a sorry state of affairs. When we looked at investment and resourcing in terms of the regions, in terms of the people, and in terms of the different industries, there was no investment. There was no resourcing. Is it little wonder why we have a skills shortage at the moment—a skills shortage in nursing, in teaching, as the Hon Chris Hipkins knows, and in building?

Everything in the last nine years, in terms of what National did, was nothing. It was nothing in terms of trying to turn this economy around and in terms of making an employment policy for everyone. Was there an employment policy strategy? No there was not—no there was not. When things got bad for the Opposition, they brought in more immigrants and they kept the low-wage economy. That was their strategy: a low wage economy and more immigrants and never mind developing an economy for everyone. An economy has to be built for everyone.

What we have done is we’ve set up the lowest rate of unemployment for the last decade, seen the lowest unemployment rates for women and Māori in more than a decade. Coincidentally, we’ve also achieved the highest employment rates for women and Māori since the household labour force survey was introduced.

Employment growth has not just been confined to the major cities. We’ve seen strong growth in Taranaki, Eastern Bay of Plenty, and Hawke’s Bay, just to name a few areas. We’ve got more people in employment now: 2,664,000. And we raised the minimum wage and—surprise, surprise, National—the sky didn’t fall in. Although you keep waffling on about business confidence, business confidence is growing by the day. It doesn’t matter what the Opposition say, the polls are telling the story: no one trusts the Opposition at this stage.

Now, we also have gone out to our communities and we’ve restored the ability for young people, rangatahi Māori, to have dreams and aspirations. He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) was created and rolled out to deliver skills training and employment back to our young people, ensuring that they don’t have to leave the Hokianga, don’t have to leave Ōpōtiki, and don’t have to leave Ruatōria and their whānau and their community. We’ve tried to give them a future that they deserve. I’m proud of He Poutama Rangatahi and the work the Government is doing to ensure the future of these regional places, and I’m proud that Shane Jones is also joining us with the Provincial Growth Fund in supporting them.

He Poutama Rangatahi is an employment and skills programme that is for young people in the four regions of New Zealand who are not currently in education, training, or employment. They come from the high-risk areas, but we want to support them. We want to support them through pastoral care, and we want to do this through community-based initiatives. Early last year, we invested $13 million from the Minister of Finance in terms of He Poutama Rangatahi, and I’ve just got to another $13 million from Shane Jones. And what have we done in terms of numbers? We’ve activated 2,300 young people. Now, the National Party’s into numbers—2,300 young people earning or learning. I’m incredibly proud of this mahi in terms of what we’re doing.

That’s the number of people who have been activated. HPR is a long-term investment in skills training and development that will lead to long-term sustainable work, and the way the programme works is a mixture of skills learning, on-the-job training, and work experience.

Right now, though—and these numbers are important, because, you know, I’ve been challenged about numbers in the House before—and always got it right, might I add. I’m going to be clear on these numbers. There are 1,461 young people enrolled and participating currently on HPR programmes. Eighty percent of those are currently training, and 20 percent are actively in work experience, job placements, or earning. Let’s have a think about that: 282 young people are now working in the four regions that have been left behind by the previous National Government. I think it’s important—282 are realising their aspirations. They’re breaking that benefit dependency—I want to be serious here—that the whole house is concerned about—the whole house is concerned about.

I’ve heard kōrero in the past before from both sides that dependency is something that we’ve got to knock out, and 282 people are now contributing to the regeneration of their whenua and local community, and another 1,180 are on their way to doing the same thing. I’m incredibly proud, along with my colleagues over there.

We haven’t just stopped there. We’ve rolled out Mana in Mahi. The Prime Minister rolled that out with myself and the Hon Carmel Sepuloni last year, with full support from New Zealand First. It was announced and we were able to visit with Downer Construction in Christchurch and Work and Income in Auckland, where we got to meet and talk with young people.

As a Minister of Employment, again, it’s fantastic to watch young people be given an opportunity in terms of apprenticeships, moving from the dole to work. We’re supporting employers supporting these young people, and we’re hoping to see a transition of their skills across the spectrum—so great.

It will come as no surprise to those in the House and those listening that I’m committed to bringing the rate of Māori unemployment down to match that of the general population. It’s so imperative that we bring this down. Last year—for goodness sake—we had two National MPs comparing this aspiration of bringing Māori unemployment down to searching for the mythical unicorn. This is the type of criticism we get from the other side. But I say to those members opposite that I’m committed to this. I said that on The Nation last year, and I reiterate that today. I won’t apologise for trying to reduce the Māori unemployment. We’ve made a great start. Māori unemployment is down to 8.1 percent, down from double digits when we took the office, and the lowest in a decade. But we can do more.

We are committed to the remaining phase of Mana in Mahi. We see the rollout of Pae Aronui directing urban youth, and we want to expand in every area. We want an economy—in summing up—that looks after everyone. The National Party ruled over a rock star economy. They ruled over a rock star economy. Everything was fine; although it wasn’t fine for Māori, for Pasifika, for disabled people, or for women. We need an economy that is for everyone. That’s certainly our belief. Employment doesn’t just mean having an income; there’s a sense of accomplishment and of physical and mental well-being that comes with it. There’s the ability to make choices and the ability to provide for yourself and your whānau. There’s the benefit of lifting kids out of poverty and knowing that they can contribute to their community and local economies. Most importantly, through employment we can break horrendous intergenerational dependency. So in the year of delivery, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and happy New Year to you. It seems a bit late to be saying that, but this is my first opportunity to speak in the House this year, so I do hope that you, Mr Speaker, and indeed colleagues from all across the House had a very good summer. I hope that if one had to mix work with a break, one was—or all people were—able to achieve the right balance.

Certainly, I had a staycation. I stayed. When one lives in the greatest electorate in the country—when one lives in the mighty Ōhāriu—there is simply no real reason to have to vacation anywhere else. We’ve got the smartest, most vibrant people. We’ve got innovative businesses. We’ve got wonderful facilities. We’ve got great outdoors—great natural attractions. We’ve got hills—hills—where one can ride their bicycle. I would have said one can ride their bicycle fast; however, I’m acutely aware of the Standing Orders and of wilfully misleading the House.

💬 SPEAKER: Downhill.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’m just excited to be back.

But I did receive reports of someone driving hell for leather to get away from the place, and I suspect it was a probably a good thing they didn’t look in the rear-vision mirror; they might have seen that it was mutual. Or it could have been that they were simply seeking to get away in great haste to escape the train wreck that is this Labour - Greens - New Zealand First Government.

It is actually the case that they delivered some things last year. For instance, last quarter they delivered economic growth that is the lowest that we’ve had in five years. They delivered 10,000 more people unemployed. They delivered a record number of people not in education, employment, or training, with that going up 26,000 in that quarter. They found their very good friends, the Council of Trade Unions, telling them that the cost of living was outstripping wage increases. They had created a pressure on rental charges that saw median rents up $40 a week. They managed to get us offside with China and the European Union. They managed to create only 54 jobs through the $3 billion primary growth slush fund, at a cost of nearly $500,000 each.

They only managed to deliver 47 KiwiBuild homes, but they did find one secret: their working groups. In the Government’s working groups they have found a perpetual motion machine, because aside from the Tax Working Group, the most recent working group, the mental health working group—it’s recommendations are more working groups. They’ve got a perpetual motion machine where every working group is going to recommend more. We’ve already had 238 of them at an estimated cost, we would say, of $290 million, and they’re going to recommend they have even more. This Government came into office without a plan and they’re struggling to even deliver that.

When I think of, particularly Wellington—because it’s dear to my heart—we have been waiting now for pretty much the best part of a year to hear an announcement about something that is important for every Wellingtonian, whether they live in and around Wellington City, in the Hutt Valley, in Kāpiti, or even across in the Wairarapa. We were promised, and we know because we actually put this train of thought in motion—no pun intended—the Let’s Get Wellington Moving initiative. Where is it? It’s almost a year late. We’re still waiting to hear what will be proposed, to what time frame, and, importantly, who is going to pay for it. Some elements appear to have been leaked. Certainly, we have reports that the Government is likely to announce that they will fund, from the Land Transport Management Fund, light rail in its entirety. Now, the last study for light rail in Wellington, from the railway station to the airport, was estimated at $930 million, returning lifetime benefits of a mere $46 million to $93 million. Or to put another way, that’s up to $840 million of taxpayer money lost.

So what we’ve heard is the Government is going to go to taxpayers across the country and say, “We’re going to take your fuel tax”—your fuel excise money—“and we are going to spend it”—because you can’t call it an investment—“and we are going to spend $930 million or more of it on a light-rail system for Wellington that will lose $840 million.” The Government is lucky that they can’t be considered a financial services provider, because we’ve got legislation on the books now that would see them in a whole world of hurt for doing something so reckless with taxpayers’ funds.

But it is even worse. One could wonder how it could get worse, but it can. So, apparently—I’ve heard at least—that the Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme will be announced as a 20-year programme. Now, it doesn’t take Einstein to work out that it doesn’t take 20 years to build a couple of tunnels, lay some asphalt, and if one really wanted to, put down a light-rail system, although that would disrupt our city for about six years; certainly not 20. So one’s left with the thought that says, “OK, if it’s going to be 20 years, why would that be?” I have to think that it’s because they don’t actually have the money. Indeed, that’s what has been reported as well.

It’s been reported that although in the past the New Zealand Transport Agency funds State highways, the mayors of the Wellington region have been told that the Government will fund light rail to the full extent but expects the cities across the region to stump up with at least part funding, if indeed not majority funding, for the roads and the tunnels, which it is the normal course of events for the Government to fund through the National Land Transport Programme. And it does appear on the face of it that that is why Wellington is still stagnating; that is why we are still waiting to hear what we might finally get.

I’m a bit more cynical than that, I have to say. I think that the plan is that if one announces roads and tunnels 10 years down the track, one has no intention at all of ever actually delivering them—but they’ll certainly take all the cash off those motorists in the intervening years.

The other point I’d make, and time does run a bit short, is in the areas of commerce and consumer affairs. I’d first like to congratulate the Hon Kris Faafoi. He is perhaps the hardest-working Minister in the Government. He’s certainly the hardest done by, because there is no one more worthy than him of a seat in Cabinet, and yet the Prime Minister seems determined not to give him that. One can’t really fault the premise of what he’s been doing in the context of consumer protections. Unfortunately, the measures, which I think we will see, are going to evidence a Government that doesn’t understand business, doesn’t understand how business transacts with its customers, and will instead come up with solutions that imperil businesses and, ultimately, in the long run, are detrimental to consumer interests. High-interest loan measures are one example where their advisers are saying that the things that they are looking to do could cause more harm than good. The Prime Minister spun like crazy, but we can see through all of that, and we’re looking forward to the year ahead, to address this Government’s actions.