Address in Reply

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. This morning, when I gave the opening mihi I acknowledged you as the Speaker of the House. I’d just like to take this opportunity to also acknowledge Adrian Rurawhe as the Deputy Speaker, the Hon Jenny Salesa as an Assistant Speaker, and also the Hon Jacqui Dean in her role as an Assistant Speaker as well.

Also in that speech I did say that we do have our differences as politicians, but I think we all have the best interests at heart and that we should all be working for the benefit of all New Zealanders. I also just want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the two members of Parliament who gave their maiden speeches this afternoon, and just a couple of points. Arena Williams, I’d like to acknowledge her as an inspiration for young Māori women and young Māori mothers. The line in her speech that really stuck for me is when she said that students in schools she’d visited liked the fact that they saw a person that looked and spoke and sounded like her.

I’d just like to also acknowledge Ibrahim Omer. Now, I don’t know if in this House I have ever heard a more inspirational or emotional maiden speech. To know that somebody can come from such hardship from another country and overcome all the hurdles and barriers that he has to become a member of Parliament in New Zealand—I think it shows the tenacity and the character of the man in the first instance, but also what a country of opportunity New Zealand is. I really do want to acknowledge Ibrahim. I found his speech incredibly emotional and I just really want to acknowledge him.

I also acknowledge Dr Shane Reti. Now, if you happen to be in the Bay of Islands and drive from Kawakawa around what is known as the Old Russell Road towards Russell, about 30 minutes away—you have to go through farmland and an unsealed gorge—you come to the little valley of Waikare. The people of that valley are Te Kapotai and there’s also Ngāti Pare. I acknowledge the honour that Dr Shane Reti has brought on the hapū of Te Kapotai, as well as his iwi of Ngāti Wai, being the deputy leader of the National Party. I’d just like to restate that, and it also occurred to me later on that I, too, have—my great-great-grandmother came from that very same valley, and so it’s probably unique that the deputy leader of the National Party and the deputy leader of the Labour Party both hail from the same marae. As well, Willow-Jean Prime comes from that marae, as does Peeni Henare. So I’d just like to acknowledge our whanaunga from Te Kapotai and the valley of Waikare.

On election night, the country spoke and what they said is they wanted strong and stable Government. There was also an endorsement of the kind and compassionate leadership of the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and acknowledgment of the way she has led us through the COVID-19 epidemic. They also said that they appreciated that there was a Government there that had cushioned New Zealanders from the worst edges and effects of COVID. But also Māori spoke, and we’re very proud to have retained six of the seven Māori electorates. But across all of those Māori electorates we received over 60 percent endorsement from our Māori people. It was a very proud night for our Māori caucus, and an acknowledgment of the work that we had achieved over the last three years.

Our Māori caucus increased from 13 up to 15, and 13 was the largest ever Māori caucus in any party. Well, we’ve just increased that. But we didn’t just increase it through the Māori vote, and I’d really like to acknowledge those Māori MPs who actually won general seats: the Hon Kiritapu Allan, who won the East Coast, and has become a Minister, and I’d like to acknowledge Arena Williams, who won the seat of Manurewa; Shanan Halbert, who won the seat of Northcote; Willow-Jean Prime, who won the seat of Northland; and also Jo Luxton, who won the seat of Rangitata.

But I’m not just here to say, “Wow, look at us.” Winning those seats means that we have an obligation to our people. Winning those seats means that we need to make sure that we do continue to improve outcomes not just for our Māori people in the Māori seats but also for Māori in the general seats and for all New Zealanders in those general seats. It also goes to show that, yes, as Māori we can do anything. There was also, once upon a time, when I was the only Labour MP north of the Harbour Bridge, and I’d just like to acknowledge the fact that I don’t know what to do with myself now that north of the Harbour Bridge we have Vanushi Walters in Upper Harbour, we have Shanan Halbert in Northcote, we have Willow-Jean Prime in Northland, we have Marja Lubeck based in Rodney, and, of course, myself in Te Tai Tokerau.

💬 Dr Deborah Russell: Emily in Whangārei.

Emily in Whangārei—that was a fantastic win for the Labour Party. I just want to actually acknowledge a little bit more about Emily. We went to a tangi last week of one of our dear Labour Party people, and I just want to talk quickly about that man very shortly. But Emily came along and said, “OK, so what do I need to do?” I said, “Well, the best thing you can do is go into the kitchen and say, ‘How can I help?’ ” So she did just that. I’ve got to admire her courage for going into this situation that she’s not familiar with, and she put aside the fact that she’s Dr Emily Henderson, a lawyer, and said to the people of the marae there, “How can I help?” She spent probably over two days, maybe 30-odd hours, in there, just peeling spuds, washing dishes. It’s a real lesson to everybody in the House that if we just humble ourselves and go in and be servants to the people, we’ll get the recognition, because the people spoke so highly of her. To all members of the House, I’d say just go in and adopt your local marae and become part of the community. But don’t sit there in the powhiri, making out, “Yeah, I’m the big MP from your local area.” Go out the back and help the people. It will make a big difference.

Rudy Taylor was the man that passed away. He was a friend of mine, he was a mentor, and he was a supporter. We talked, we joked, and we argued. In my office, I had a photo of Rudy at Waitangi. It was a photo just of his hands holding his tukutuku. I hung it above my meeting table. It was a constant reminder to me of where I come from, who I represent, and, most of all, who I don’t want to disappoint. And that is, again, a message for all of us as members of Parliament: we are there to represent the people who elected us, and we cannot disappoint them. Rudy was a kind man, and the stories that we shared at his tangi were of his kindness, his strength, his loyalty, and his love for Te Tai Tokerau. It will be the memory of my good friend that will continue to keep me grounded. It will be the life of this Ngāpuhi leader that will keep me inspired. He’s one of the people that encouraged me to do things for our people.

If I look at some of the achievements that we’ve made in the last three years, and I can start rattling them off in Māori education—for example, Te Ahu o te Reo Māori is a programme that’s going to see us train 40,000 educators by 2025 to integrate te reo Māori into their curriculum. Te Kawa Matakura is a leadership course for young Māori that will see them achieve degree level and help them to go on to be leaders in their communities. Te Hurihanganui—in Porirua yesterday we launched that—this is to address racism in our schools, even though it’s based around the Māori kaupapa, the messages go broader to racism around all cultures. There’s work that we’ve done with the kōhanga reo. The issues around kōhanga reo—they were allowed to wallow for nine years—we’re starting to address them, and we’ve got them over $200 million in the last three years. But more so than the money, what’s more important is the relationships that we have formed with them.

So we’re all in here to make a difference, and we must not forget that. We must not forget that there are people out there who voted for us, they put their faith in us, and they believe in us, and we must live up to that mandate that we’re all given as members of Parliament. Nā reira, tātou mā huri rauna i tō tātou Whare, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora mai anō tātou.

[Finally, to each and every one of you in our House, thank you one and all.]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and, firstly, tēnā koe to you and congratulations. To all my colleagues in this House: Kia ora mai tātou. Tēnā koe tōku whanaunga, Kelvin. Tēnā koe mō ngā kupu ora. Tēnā koe.

[Thank you all. To my relation, Kelvin, thank you. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you.]

In 1832, US Senator William L Marcy, effectively, said: “To the victor lies the spoils.” And so it is with this Government, and I congratulate them both for the privilege they have and the direct responsibility they now carry. I am of a view that the spoils of the victory are not Cabinet positions or ministerial warrants, but rather the spoils are actually the hopes and aspirations of New Zealanders. It is this that we as an Opposition will hold the Government to account for. In this reply, I will highlight points of accountability across the children and health portfolios, I will present the Government’s 10-day scorecard on transparency, and, finally, I will show how we have hit the ground running and sharpened an accountability tool in a way that I don’t think this Government has fully appreciated.

I will start with health and warn this Government up front, here is the headline coming towards them in three words: save our DHBs. One of the sentinel actions that this Government has committed to is a blinded commitment to consolidate our DHBs. When DHBs are merged, the local voice is diminished. This has been done before, and while reinventing the wheel can sometimes bring back the best, it usually reinvents the bad. Those of us who have worked under Regional Health Authorities will remember how consolidation tramples the voice of the regions, which are simply lost in the challenges of big cities.

The DHBs we are concerned for include Northland, Lakes, Tairāwhiti, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Whanganui, Wairarapa, Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, and South Canterbury. We challenge the Government, then, to answer the following six questions. Will Northland lose its DHB and be merged with Waitematā? Will Lakes lose its DHB and be merged with Waikato? Will Tairāwhiti lose its DHB and be merged with Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay? Will Taranaki, Whanganui, and MidCentral all lose their localness and be merged as one entity? Will Wairarapa lose its DHB and be merged with the Hutt? Finally, will Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, and South Canterbury all lose their DHBs in a merger with Canterbury? Which DHBs will go?

Here is the challenge to Labour MPs in these regions: good luck explaining to your constituents why a Labour Government is taking their DHBs. We heard backbench Labour MPs stand on the campaign trail and offer bold promises around how they will fight for their DHB. Well, watch the arrogant machinery of a second-term Labour Government trample your feigned and naive backbench resistance as you are whipped to a new-found evangelism for centralisation and control. Mark my words, the spin will be “better access to specialist services” and “a sustainable health system”, which is all code for less and less. Why would we have faith in the ability of this Government to undertake such change when, over three years managing health, they have indeed spent more but delivered less?

My final word on DHBs is to reflect not only the DHBs that will go, but the mega-DHBs that will be created, and ask how nimble and flexible can a mega-DHB be? How many jobs will be lost? How much money will be spent on new layers of bureaucracy? Well, we can actually model the answer with a similar experiment in the tertiary sector from this Government that has removed industry training organisations, moved apprentices back to polytechnics, and formed one mega-polytechnic. Can we expect the same with mega-DHBs? Will there be at least 11 new chief executives, $267 million in new cost in a single management layer, and official advice ignored when it states reform is unlikely to achieve the desired goals with extreme impact. Can we expect the new health Minister to bring the same experience from the Ngāpuhi Treaty settlement where he came in as the new broom, spent a lot of money, broke relationships, swept away years of work on Maranga Mai, and then left Ngāpuhi worse off and without a mandate? Is that what we can expect in health? Here, again, is the forewarning: save our DHBs.

I want to speak to a new portfolio responsibility: children and specifically child poverty. No bold child poverty claims in the Speech from the Throne this time. No targets, no numbers, just a weak slogan that, in the area of child poverty, “The Government will be guided by its values.” No one even knows what that means. And so different from the first three years when there were numbers and targets. On 5 September 2017, the incoming Labour Government said, “We will lift 100,000 children out of poverty.” But in February this year, their media release was 14,800—a long way from the 100,000—a broken promise to children. Three independent reports this year and three failures for a Labour Government with the tools of office and big promises. Their target is: 2021, 10.3 percent of houses in material deprivation. That’s the target that we’re watching: 10.3 percent.

I’ll turn now to the 10-day transparency scorecard I alluded to earlier. Note also: no big statements from the throne today about an open and transparent Government—nothing here today. I’ll sample transparency as an example of how focused we are to be an effective Opposition. The day after the election, we hit the ground running. There was work to do because, on Sunday the 18th at 1 p.m., surprisingly, there was another community coronavirus case. So we got to work. Using the tools we have, we swung into action and, from 17 October to 27 October, we generated more than 20 Official Information Act requests (OIAs). I will speak to 10 of those that I have some visibility on. All 10 OIAs generated in the first 10 days of this Government were to be answered by yesterday. Here, then, is the 10-day transparency scorecard for this Government’s response to OIA requests. As of yesterday, only one of the 10 requests had been successfully completed in time without extensions or transfers, 40 percent—nearly half—were overdue, 30 percent had been extended with very short notice. In the first 10 days of this Government, then, the performance for transparency using OIA requests as a proxy is a miserable 10 percent. Is this a 10 percent Government? Is that what their targets will be—10 percent of what they’re saying?

We’ve gone even further as an Opposition and improved some of the tools of transparency that we have. Failures in this Government’s approach to proactive releases were brought into focus for me almost exactly this time last year when the damning Tuia 250 data breach report was reported in a proactive media release 24 hours after Parliament had risen for Christmas recess. As a consequence of this, I met with the Chief Ombudsman earlier this year—concerns and suggestions, which were subsequently incorporated into the release of the document “Proactive release: Good practices and proactive release of official information”.

Let me enlighten the Government on how we will bind them. No longer will they be able to frustrate the OIA process like they did in Tuia 250 by hiding behind a future proactive release on an unknown date and with answers hidden in a massive data dump. There are now three elements to a code of practice. The OIA request is to be given the date their OIA will be acknowledged in a proactive release. They are to be told the date that that release is made, and it is to be indicated where the information they are looking for is in that proactive release. We have hit the ground running. We have sharpened the tools.

In summary, this Government is unfettered and with clear lines of accountability. If they perform well, then all of the credit is theirs and theirs alone. But if they perform poorly, then they will own every single part of that failure. We as an Opposition are the safety net in the new thinking—a safety net to temper the excesses of ideology and the recklessness of spending, a source of new thinking that pushes policy past the inherent instinct of Government officials to manage risk. We will seek to reduce damage and harm, to talk policy to power, and to leave our fingerprints on those actions that lift our collective safety, security, and concept of a good life. In no small part, then, we remain in the service of New Zealanders. Thank you.

I call the Hon Carmel Sepuloni, although I’ll just let the House know that I will be exercising the new Standing Order where the presiding officer has the discretion to extend past 5 p.m. The Hon Carmel Sepuloni.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Talofa lava, mālō e lelei. It is a privilege to be able to speak early in this debate as part of this wonderful new Labour Government. Can I start like so many have already in the House and acknowledge those that have been appointed to the very important roles of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Assistant Speaker. I think that we have a very fair team of Speakers, a dignified team of Speakers, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Speakers in this House.

I acknowledge all of the new members of Parliament. Yesterday, when I was watching people get sworn in, I felt quite teary-eyed seeing the new MPs in particular get sworn in, because we never forget how special that is, particularly that first time. My first time was in 2008, and I remember reflecting on that day that, actually, back in 1991, when my social studies class was coming for a trip to Parliament all the way from New Plymouth, I was not able to make that trip because I did not have the $30 to pay for that trip. So it’s a reminder to us how much of a privilege it is to be in this space. I don’t know why I’m crying—I feel like Anahila right now.

But the achievement is not getting here; it is what we do when we get here, and as has already been laid out by the Speech from the Throne, we are committed to getting some things done over the next three years. We have the mandate to get those things done, because for the first time we have a majority Government under this MMP system, and we take that mandate seriously. One of the first people who rang me the day after the election to congratulate me was my uncle, who’s a farmer in Taranaki and in Taumarunui. He rang to congratulate me, and he wanted to make the point that we have the mandate and that we do need to govern for all New Zealand. We take that very seriously; I cannot say that enough.

I acknowledge the other side of the House. I acknowledge the National Party. We have been in that position. We know how much it hurts to lose an election. We know how hard it is to see colleagues go. In fact, I was one of those colleagues back in 2011, after three years in here, then exiting alongside Stuart Nash and Kelvin Davis and having what we called a three-year sabbatical, referring to ourselves now as the retreads of that time. But for those that are here, just know that we do understand that there is a cycle to politics and we do understand what it feels like to actually be in the Opposition and to see colleagues go, and we do understand what it feels like to be those colleagues who leave, and so I want to acknowledge that. But we must still celebrate being here. Whether we are in Government or we are in Opposition, we must not forget that it is a privilege to be in this House. So no time for sad faces; I think at this point in the cycle we acknowledge the privilege that it is to be here.

I want to acknowledge the size of our Māori caucus: 15 Māori MPs. You know, decades ago, perhaps even just three decades ago, our Māori community—iwi, hapū across the country—would not have been able to believe that that is how many Māori MPs were in one political party’s caucus, and so I want to acknowledge that. I did hear words from another Māori leader who I do have respect for but that I challenge and that I do not agree with, and those words were that our Māori MPs have been subjugated within the Labour Party. That is not true. Our Māori MPs have a strong voice within the Labour Party. Our Prime Minister has made it very clear that meeting and addressing the needs of Māori in New Zealand, making sure that Māori have the opportunity like everyone else in every aspect, and honouring the Treaty is a priority for the Labour Party. So I do not agree with what that person, who I do have respect for, said about Māori MPs within the Labour Party. In fact, I do have to say I am offended on behalf of my Māori colleagues.

I want to acknowledge, too, my Pacific colleagues. When I came into Parliament in 2008, there had been very few Pacific MPs in this House. There had been Taito Phillip Field, there had been Vui Mark Gosche, there had been Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, there had been Charles Chauvel, Aupito Su’a William Sio had just got in before me, and then I came along. Now we have more than all of those that I mentioned earlier. We have 10 within the Labour Party, and our Pacific representation spans Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, the Cook Islands.

💬 Dr Deborah Russell: You’re married to a Fijian.

I am married to a Fijian. I have a Niuean son. We are all connected, and we are proud of the representation that we have here now. We do not forget that there are expectations on our shoulders and that, as I said before, the achievement is not getting here; it is what we do when we are here, and our community expects us to serve and live up to those expectations. We will work together to make sure that that happens.

I acknowledge the representation from all of the other ethnic minorities that are in here. Can I say that I’ve seen some rhetoric, dialogue, in the media about representation needing to be about merit. I hate that argument because everyone has a differing view of what merit is and what merit looks like. But this House of Representatives needs to reflect New Zealand. There is only merit if this House reflects every New Zealander in this country and the communities that exist and live here, and so the merit is in the fact that we have the diversity to represent all of those communities across the country.

We have laid out on the table what our intentions are for the next three years. The Speech from the Throne was also an opportunity to reflect on what we have done. We never promised at the beginning of the last three years that we were going to be able to address all the wicked challenges that we face as a country, but we knew we needed to get the ball rolling, and we did. If I only look at one of the areas that I have the privilege of being Minister for, that area being social development, I will say that the criticism that comes our way is that we haven’t done enough yet, and I’ve never said that we have either. We had three years to make some changes. What I’m proud of is that, actually, many if not all of those changes were actually mostly supported by the majority of New Zealanders. Who would’ve thought that, actually, the majority of New Zealanders would sit back and be fine with the fact that we’d do something like get rid of section 192, that discriminated against women that didn’t name the father of their child? Who would’ve thought that, actually, there’d be more people pushing for benefit increases than opposing them? Who would’ve thought that we’d be able to roll out one of the biggest payments ever, if not the biggest payment, through our welfare system, which is the winter energy payment, that we would be able to, within our first hundred days in the last Government, roll out a Families Package of $5.5 billion, and then go on to do things like index benefits to wages so that it would go up just a little bit more every April when those adjustments are made.

So we hear our wonderful Prime Minister talk about consensus building, about taking New Zealanders with us, and that’s what this is about. It is about enduring change. It is about not only making change but changing the narrative as we go so that, actually, we don’t have the vast majority of the general public coming out and condemning some of the poorest New Zealanders in our country. Those are some of the changes that have occurred that have not been spoken about much. It’s not just about the tangible policy changes; it’s about the attitudinal shift within our own country.

Someone—I think it might’ve been David Seymour—was criticising the Prime Minister for what he calls “slogans”. Well, I don’t call kindness a slogan, actually, and I think that we should be proud as a Government, as a political party, as a country, that, actually, that’s part of people’s everyday language now and that kindness is something that we value. I am looking forward to the next three years. Fa‘afetai lava.

Kāti rā, kua mutu a tātou mahi mō tēnei rā.

[Finally, that concludes business for today.]

The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 1 December 2020. Ka kite anō.

The House adjourned at 5.02 p.m.