General Debate

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

Well, it’s been an interesting 24 hours in the House of Parliament of New Zealand, I must admit, and I think we’d be interested in actually maybe talking about more prosaic matters. I thought what we’re actually observing is a Government that is starting to look like it’s in a little bit of trouble. You know, if I look across the other side and say “What are the issues that seem to be surfacing after 42 months of this Government?”, it is where we’ve got issues with COVID, and we’ve seen certain strains coming through on that, and I’ll talk more about that shortly. Housing: I see the Hon Megan Woods here, who was talking about that before. We’ve got issues with gangs and how they’ve been dealt with. We’ve got health issues, and that’s a significant one, because how these have been dealt with is very significant, and I see Mr Faafoi there, the Minister of Immigration. I know he’s not dealing with the issue of immigration well, because all of our electorate offices have been flooded with people who are not getting a proper and timely reaction or response from the Government.

But I thought today we might talk about delivery—something a bit different, just a little bit different. So I thought it would be useful just to ask ourselves: what has this Government achieved in 42 months? The first thing that I’d like to note is we’ve got 10,000 more bureaucrats that have been employed under this Labour-led Government over the last three years. I’ve got to say, the small cost that has come with that is roughly about $1.2 billion, so that’s a good delivery! And I would have thought with the Minister of Finance, if he was looking for a bit of extra money—and I’m just looking at my finance colleague here—if he were to go and find some money, that would be a pretty good start.

Of course, we had the 340 working groups. Some have been delivered, I think—probably, more likely, delivered to the bottom drawer, because they’re just not going to happen and they are a waste of time anyway.

We had a Prime Minister who proudly banned oil and gas exploration and sailed off into the wind, went off and met President Macron and Angela Merkel in Germany, and said what a wonderful thing it is. So what’s been the downside? Well, we’ve seen energy prices go up fourfold—400 percent; fourfold—or, actually, slightly more than that, since that announcement only a few months ago. We’ve got a Minister who’s so keen on spending over $5 billion on a scheme that is so worrying the electricity and energy markets that they are putting on hold now a lot of their projects because they just regard it as a kahuna of a project that will make such an impact they will not invest in new renewables, and that is why we’re seeing power prices going up four times.

We’re seeing rents go up by 120 bucks a week. I thought this was a Government that’s caring, but, of course, the most damaging thing about that is that these are the people that are the most vulnerable people in New Zealand. These are the people, some of which will be hoping to save for their house, and of course a high rent is not going to help that. So we’ve got lots of these things coming through.

But the most worrying thing for me is all the projects that are not happening. We’ve got the Mill Road project in Auckland, in my electorate and in Judith Collins’ electorate. We’ve got the Melling interchange, which looks like it’s going to be postponed. We’ve got the Penlink one that’s likely to be delayed. We’ve got the Auckland light rail project. We’ve got the housing: 871 of them out of the 16,000 that have been promised but that, of course, haven’t been delivered. And that weird comment today about “institutional muscle memory of building houses”—I just don’t get that.

Then we’ve got, today, the Deputy Prime Minister wanting to set up and talk about his new delivery unit, and, of course, where is the detail behind it? It is based on a UK scheme. It actually got brought in initially, got removed, and has now been brought back in. Here we’ve got a Labour Government trying to—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

There is so much to be grateful for here in New Zealand. I think that one of the things that is important, as a group of people or as the team of 5 million, is that we do take from time to time the chance to reflect on the fact that we can look to the future with hope, with optimism, and that we can see opportunity. This is not something that all those around the world have the privilege of doing.

We did not get here by accident. We got here by collective effort from all New Zealanders, who made a decision that we were going to put people first and that our health response was going to be our best economic response. The hard work that we all put in as a country last year gives us this hope, this optimism, and this ability to see opportunity, and I think that we do have to sometimes pause, be mindful of that, and realise just how we lucky we are.

We are a Government that has a very clear mission of what needs to happen now. We do need to continue to keep New Zealanders safe from COVID. I think we only need look around the world to see that this is a global pandemic that is far from over. It requires vigilant behaviour on our part as a Government, and that is what we are committed to doing.

But alongside this, we are a Government that is absolutely committed to accelerating our economic recovery and starting to build back better and address those long-term challenges like housing affordability, like childhood poverty, and like climate change. These are the issues that we must address. What we have to do is continue to ensure that New Zealand’s people and economy are in the best position that they possibly can be at this unprecedented time not only in our nation’s history but in our global history. We have a responsibility as a Government but we also have a responsibility as a House, as a House of Parliament, to do that as well, and that is something that our Government is absolutely committed to doing.

I think one of the things that New Zealanders all around the country tell me when I’m out and about is how happy they are in the way in which the Government has managed the books through this crisis and the way in which the careful management is now reaping those returns. We can look to the household labour force survey that came out today and showed that, actually, the unemployment rates that we are experiencing are nowhere near what was being predicted. We have managed to care for New Zealanders. We can look at our joblessness rate across those countries in the OECD that we would compare ourselves with and we can see how well we are doing. We can look at how our economy is performing relative to many of those other countries that we would compare ourselves to and we can see how well we are doing.

Again, this was not done by accident, and I would like to acknowledge the work of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, who has stewarded us through this period of time to ensure that we are continuing to look after New Zealanders. Jobs aren’t turning up by accident, as the Minister for Social Development and Employment was talking about in the House today. We are investing in our people. We are investing in apprenticeships. We are investing in making sure that we are getting young people into the trades, and they are flocking to those schemes.

When we have a look at what we have to do, we know there are many challenges ahead of us. We know that we have to continue to repair the damage that was done that has led to the housing crisis. We know we have to continue to build houses, and that is what we are committed to doing. We are committed to continuing to look after one another and to invest in our future, a future that is rich in jobs and responds to those big challenges that we face as a nation. We can continue to hold our heads high and see just how well—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’d just like to start by saying that if the Minister of Housing wrote that speech, she should fire herself and find somebody who can actually write a speech for her. She talked about a team of 5 million, and I’d like to refer to something that my colleague Andrew Bayly has said in terms of the delivery for this Government. That Minister talked about the delivery and what this Government, apparently, have been doing for the last four years, because they were in fact the Government last term and they have already been in Government, second term, for more than six months now, and they haven’t really delivered much, especially if you—not you, Mr Speaker—if one happens to be of an ethnic minority. Consider the fact that the first Asian person, a Chinese man who actually arrived here, came to Nelson in 1842. He is often known as Appo Hocton, but his name is Wong Ahpoo Hock Ting. He was the first Chinese man who actually arrived here, but for many Asian people living in New Zealand, this Government hasn’t really delivered.

Can I quote: Kelly Feng, the director of Asian Family Services, has stated recently in an article, “Currently, the Ministry of Health has no policy for Asian mental health, which means [absolutely] no strategy,”. Can I also quote that the Asian suicide rate increased from 5.09 percent to 7.91 percent per 100,000 people in the year to June 2020. One suicide is one too many, and we need to take action. I’ll also quote Auckland councillor Paul Young, who said, “The DHB mental health services need to find out the needs [of Asian people], not just give [it] translation services.”

Even for translation services, let me tell my colleagues in the House that often during COVID-19, the translation services were done by volunteers within the ethnic communities. They weren’t provided with money. They weren’t provided with the budget that this Government seems to think that they have in fact spent on them. Ethnic communities often did it for nothing, because they were worried that their own communities would miss out on the information, the very information that this Government says they were being inclusive and being kind and had provided to all of New Zealand. A country of 5 million people living in harmony—obviously not, because not all New Zealanders received the information, and if they were provided with that information, it came from their own community. It was done for nothing, a pittance—nothing that the Government had in fact provided.

The Government needs to pay for comprehensive COVID-19 and health information in a variety of languages. Often when we sit in select committee, I have to remind members, and I know that my colleagues across the House will often see me doing this, that we need to include the Asian population, the ethnic population—all of New Zealand—and not just Māori and Pasifika, because when you stipulate, only Māori and Pasifika are given the attention. New Zealand is now a diverse country, and to think that there are many New Zealanders—actually, if we look at the Asian population in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is the third largest, behind European and Māori, and it is projected to increase to 22 percent by 2038, surpassing Māori and Pacific population groups. They are the fastest-growing group, and yet their needs are often not met.

As someone who is actually from that ethnic background, a minority in this country, I would like for this Government to pay a little bit more attention. When you have the Office of Ethnic Communities, which is going to become a ministry of ethnic communities, you would like to think that the actual upgrade will mean that there is going to be attention. But guess what? All of that is just a name change. It’s still going to be under the Department of Internal Affairs. The finances are controlled by the Department of Internal Affairs. The actual work is just a change in name only, and that’s what the ethnic communities are quite concerned about. When the Government said they are delivering for ethnic communities, I just would like to hope that it is not just lip service that they have been providing, like they did with COVID-19. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I’m not going to lie: I breathed a sigh of relief when the household labour force survey was released today and we saw that, yet again, unemployment has dropped and we are now down to 4.7 percent. These are not easy times globally and many countries are struggling with respect to job losses, businesses are struggling with the pandemic around them, and of course that creates a range of other social issues. Earlier last year, when we were first hit with this pandemic, we had an incredibly bleak outlook. I think at its worst it was forecast that New Zealand would experience benefit numbers up to 490,000. But, instead, what we’ve seen already is since mid-January, those numbers on benefit have dropped by 30,000—from 390,000 people on benefit to 361,000—and we will continue to watch that space.

But, as my colleague who spoke earlier said, this is not by accident. Every action that we have taken as a Government has been deliberate. The wage subsidy that we were able to roll out and get to businesses, I think, within two weeks of announcing it saved so many businesses. It was a lifeline to so many businesses, and we hear that when we’re out and about and we’re talking to businesses. Of course that meant that as a consequence it saved so many jobs, and so that initial action, that early action, made a difference. Whether it be the resurgence payment, or whether it be the investment into infrastructure and the investment into upskilling and training opportunities, all of that has been deliberate.

I do need to say that, yes, there have been challenges with COVID, but many of them were actually pre-existing challenges that were exacerbated by the fact that we were hit with the pandemic. It’s not new that Māori and Pacific, whenever there is a crisis, are disproportionately impacted with regards to job loss. That’s not new. It’s not new that there are inequities within our health and education systems, and all too often, again, it’s Māori and Pacific and disabled people, can I say, who are disproportionately affected. So many of those issues have been exacerbated because of COVID, and our response was, yes, in response to COVID, but bigger than that—this is an opportunity for us to do a bit of a reset.

As has been said so many times before, it is about building back better. It is about looking at some of the pre-existing challenges that we faced, whether it be housing, whether it be child poverty, whether it be inequities in our health and education system, or whether it be disproportionate numbers of Māori and Pacific that are unemployed or disadvantaged in the labour market. It is about a reset so we can build back better. This has provided us with an opportunity, and an opportunity that this team of 65 on this side of the House is very, very cognisant of.

There is more work to do, and we haven’t shied away from that, but what I will say is I’m very proud of some of the programmes that we have implemented. I’m very proud of the focus on trades and apprenticeships. I’m proud of that for a number of reasons: one, because if we look back to the global financial crisis, where there wasn’t this investment, we ended up with a whole lot of workforce shortages because of the fact that the previous Government didn’t think to invest there. But also it will mean for those New Zealanders that get a chance to upskill and train so that in the longer term, their employment prospects are so much brighter and they are also in a position where employment is more sustainable and more likely to be secure, and they’re able to earn more money for themselves and their whānau.

I have said on so many occasions that when we look at something like employment, it’s not just the Minister for employment’s responsibility, or even the Minister who takes charge of the economy and has done such a good job—our Minister of Finance. But we have a team on this side of the House, a team of Ministers that have been committed to this space. Whether it be the Minister of Education, the Minister for primary industries looking at what’s needed in the horticulture industry, the Minister for Economic and Regional Development, the Minister for Pacific Peoples, or the Minister for Māori Development, all of us have been sitting at the table and thinking and working strategically to make sure that every action we take leads us to a place and that we do not end up in that very sad position that the forecasts had predicted but that we actually end up in a place where we build back better and New Zealand and New Zealanders—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

E te Mangai, tēnā koe, tēnā koutou e te Whare. Today, I am standing to talk about an issue that actually was relatively well highlighted in the Financial Stability Report as aired at the Finance and Expenditure Committee earlier today, which is the housing crisis, and we heard there from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand that they have an immense amount of focus on the need to stabilise our housing market because, at present, it poses a huge amount of risk to our financial system. Now, I’ve spent oodles of time in this House speaking about this feedback loop which has created over successive Governments and through the likes of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s monetary policy almost a “too big to fail” kind of mentality towards the approach we have been taking to ever-escalating house prices.

Just this week, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has posed the need to start talking about rent controls in Aotearoa New Zealand, because what we saw in response, in particular, to the Government’s suite of tax changes to try and dampen the demand side of the supply and demand issues with regard to housing in this country was a huge number of property investors being wheeled out and talking about mum and dad investors and just how bad this was going to make things for those who own property in this country. But the part of the equation that the Green Party thinks was entirely neglected from that mainstream narrative and debate were mum and dad renters—just renters, actually, as a matter of fact, because we know that a third of this country rent and we also know, based on Statistics New Zealand’s data, that those renters are, typically, paying more of their income towards housing costs. But we also know that if you look at the distribution of homes in this country—and I’ve spoken about this before in the context of wealth inequality, because we know that the spread is such that the top 10 percent of this country owns 59 percent of the wealth, and the bottom half, the bottom 50 percent of New Zealanders, own just 2 percent. How that plays out in the housing market, noting that a third of people rent—based on Real Estate Agents Authority New Zealand data—is 30 percent of homes in this country are owned by people who own between four and more than 20 properties. You don’t start to rebalance this issue or tilt that balance through timidity, but you do it through bold steps to address a problem that has been percolating for a long time.

So when we, as the Greens, have put questions to Ministers over the past two days that the House has been back in question time that we have been putting on the table the need for greater discussion for rent controls in Aotearoa, we’ve heard in response from Ministers the need to keep monitoring this issue, noting, of course, the fact that over the past 10 years, we’ve seen wages increase by 20 percent but rents increase—far outpacing that—by 50 percent. Ministers have told us of the need to just keep monitoring—just keep monitoring this issue. In fact, they’ve also thrown out the fact that they believe that we don’t need to engage in this dialogue of rent controls because, in fact, if you look at the past year of 2020, rents only increased by—based on their numbers—1.6 percent. But the logic that fails there is the fact that during that record low in the scheme of the past 10 years’ increase in rental prices, we had a six-month rent freeze. That is demonstrative of these kinds of policies working. It shows us that we can do these things.

Here I just want to spend a brief period of time addressing a report produced by the New Zealand Initiative which I think is relatively economically and intellectually disingenuous in the way that it puts forward its arguments, stating, in particular, that in San Francisco with the introduction of rent controls—what they said was that people were less mobile. But, in fact, if you talk to the majority of renters in this country, they would love some stability.

In my electorate of Auckland Central, we have the highest rate of transience amongst renters. That has massive flow-on effects to the likes of the transience in schools that the National Party seems to be so concerned about. Then you also have the point made that in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when rent controls were removed in 1995, we saw a massive increase in rents by 45 percent—again, an argument to continue down this pathway.

We can do this. We have the willpower to do it, and we—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. The kaupapa for my kōrero today is partnership. I find it really odd that in the seven years of being a member of this House, I stood in this House alongside what I at least would consider a giant in the Treaty settlement space. Minister Finlayson, for his time, premised much of the Treaty settlements under his watch under partnership—not only just the ability to be able to settle grievance, but to establish new partnerships. In fact, this House passed many bills into legislation, making sure that Māori had partnership in many mechanisms through the settlement process, whether that be at council level, whether that be with Government agencies, or whether that be with the Government itself. We all stood in this House and supported those pieces of legislation, and, sadly, what we’re seeing today from the National Party is dismissive of those achievements made by Minister Finlayson, but, more importantly—and sadly—actually attacking the kinds of partnerships we’re growing on this side of the House.

💬 Partnership: it was partnership that got this country through COVID-19. What I mean by that is our Minister of Finance led a strong team that went into partnership with community. Why? Because community needed strong Government leadership to see them through COVID-19, and they’re continuing to get that as we look into how we recover from COVID-19. That’s our partnership with the community.

The other partnership: the Minister of Finance, along with this Government, partnered with business and sectors to make sure that their businesses were resilient and strong through a very difficult time, when the pandemic grabbed hold of this country. We continue that partnership with them today to make sure that our economy grows back stronger and better. We want to look towards the future, not like the National Party, who want to return to how it was.

After the pandemic lockdown and into the future, as we look towards how we grow back stronger and more resilient into the future, one key theme comes through, and that is partnership. Partnership is what’s going to make sure that we have a health service that delivers for its people, and—as the associate health Minister—a Māori Health Authority will do that. In fact, under the Waitangi Tribunal investigation, under many of the investigations that have gone into the inequities Māori suffered under the health sector, it’s been quite clear that in order for us to turn the dial on that, a partnership that sees an independent Māori Health Authority with a strong partnership with Health New Zealand can only lead to better outcomes for this country, and I am in support of that.

I’m proud of the leadership of the Minister of Health, the Hon Andrew Little, with respect to the health reforms. He saw the need for a strong partnership, not just between Māori and the Government, but Māori and the institutions of health that look after this country, and I’m proud to support him. I’m proud to support the work that he’s doing and I’m proud of his support for the Māori Health Authority.

We also meet quite regularly with another mechanism that was established under the National Government and that is the Iwi Chairs Forum. What are they screaming for? Partnership, and we’re delivering that for them. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a National member at any of those meetings with iwi chairs or in any progressive discussion with our iwi to develop a partnership to look at how we can make this country more resilient and stronger into the future. I am disappointed in that side of the House, and I look forward to proving them wrong and establishing a strong Māori Health Authority that will serve our people.

We’ve set a tight time frame for our delivery of this particular kaupapa. We’ve made it clear that within 13 months, the Māori Health Authority will deliver primary healthcare outcomes for our people—

💬 Hon Louise Upston: How will you measure it?

—and we’ll make sure that we’ll measure it by showing that we’ve turned around the inequities that were established and supported under that Government—the National-led Government.

I’m really excited. That side: their problem ever since they’ve been in the Opposition benches is partnership. They can’t find a partner. Their closest partner is more distant from them than ever before; in fact, one would argue they’re leading them. Kia ora to the ACT Party—that’s partnership. The failure of National to be able to count numbers and have partners at the table is proof today.

On this side of the House, partnership will lead us into the future. Partnership will make sure that post-COVID, this country is bigger, better, and stronger.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This Government is the greatest example of non-delivery since Trevor Chappell did his underarm delivery in 1981, and what is going to happen is the same thing as Brian McKechnie—remember that scene? In utter disgust, he threw his bat away, and, I tell you, in 2023, the country of New Zealand is going to throw this Government out with such disdain because they talk through the hole in their head in terms of ambition and rhetoric, but what about delivery? Well, I tell you, their delivery is absolutely feeble.

I’m going to talk about two or three things if I can get to them over my four minutes. Firstly, in internal affairs, a serious issue: a royal commission into historical abuse in State care. The budget last year was $23 million. Grant Robertson’s expectation of the budget this year is the same number. What is it? It is $41.9 million—82 percent up in secretariat services. They then write a letter to the Minister and say, “We’ve run out of money. We need another $20 million.” He writes back and says, “No. Actually, you’ve got to learn to live within your own budget, and I’m appointing my Treasury officials to come and help you count your budget so you don’t spend what’s left.”—absolutely outrageous. Then, when the Minister Jan Tinetti gets tested on it, she says, “It’s a learning curve.” Well, I’m sorry, but you’re a Minister now. You’re in charge of a multimillion-dollar budget.

You don’t have time to learn on the job, frankly. You’ve actually got to deliver. You have got to deliver now.

You talk about delivery—$25 million down the toilet, just like that. And what’s worse is it appears now that that mandate, the scope of that commission, is going to be constrained because of the Labour Government’s inability to manage their books.

Then we move across to trade. We have heard over the last few weeks from this Government around the importance of diversifying markets. Well, where is your Minister? Forget about hanging around on the West Coast. How about getting on a plane and getting up to Liz Truss—his UK counterpart—and actually negotiating a free-trade deal? Dan Tahan, from Australia, is. They expect it to be done by the end of June. Where is the Minister of trade? He’s lost in Hokitika. He needs to front for New Zealand exporters and actually deliver a trade deal that creates some reality when you talk about diversity.

It’s all very well to stand up in this House, as this Government does, and say, “Oh, exporters are too reliant on China.” Well, go and deliver a free-trade agreement with other countries so we have more choices. You only do that if you can have a face-to-face conversation, and when others around the world are, where is Damien O’Connor? Where is he? He is not fronting. You need to front—you need to leave the West Coast. I know he likes it, but for goodness’ sake, you’ve got a job to do on behalf of New Zealand exporters. Get over there, negotiate face to face, and actually achieve a free-trade agreement, not only with the UK but also with the EU, also with ASEAN, and also with the Pacific Alliance. You’ve got a job to do. Show some urgency. We’re not seeing it. It’s pedestrian, and he needs to be called to account.

While I’m on my feet, I want to talk to a local issue which is synonymous with this Government’s inability to deliver. In 2016, we announced funding for the Tauranga Northern Link to go from Tauranga to Ōmokoroa.

💬 Simeon Brown: How far has it gone?

It has gone nowhere. Not only has it gone nowhere—

💬 Hon Michael Wood: It was not funded.

—it got stopped while it was out for tender, stopped by that Government, and Michael Wood sits there, as the new transport Minister, reflecting in his own accolades that somehow he’s going to turn this ship around. Well, build a road, mate, and build one in Tauranga. Get it done. Stop fluffing about. Stop talking about it and stop saying, “Well, now we’re not actually sure that we’re going to go to Ōmokoroa—we’re not sure.” All these shovel-ready projects that they crowed about before the election to try to give people a sense that infrastructure was going to be prioritised—where is it? It doesn’t exist. They can’t get the public sector to actually get up and procure and execute a roading strategy. They certainly can’t in the Bay of Plenty—fastest-growing area—and, yet again, another community looks with increasing disdain at a party that talks a good game, but when it comes down to it, it fails and fails and fails to deliver.

I wish to start my comments today with a tribute to the late Brian Corban, the chairperson of KiwiRail and a great New Zealander who passed away suddenly and very sadly over the weekend. Mr Corban will be known to many members around the House. He is the kind of person who I think of as a genuine nation-builder, a man who had an incredibly successful commercial career but who then devoted much of his life to public service. At the time that he passed away, he was the chairperson of KiwiRail, but he held many other roles in recent times with Radio New Zealand, TVNZ, Genesis Energy, the Melanesian Mission, and many, many more which I won’t take the time to mention here. I wish on behalf of the Government to pass on my condolences to his family and those who loved him very much.

Brian Corban, I note in particular, was the chair of KiwiRail who has really overseen the transformation of that organisation from a dried-out husk that had been run down over many years, asset-stripped, and run off the smell of an oily rag, to a burgeoning organisation that is revitalising parts of New Zealand from the North to the South. It was his leadership skills alongside some real political determination that have helped to turn that organisation around.

I do want to speak to some of the achievements and the delivery of this Government in respect of New Zealand’s rail network, an organisation which was in a state of managed decline under the previous Government and which is now moving ahead to build a reliable and resilient network for the people and the regions of New Zealand. This is a Government that believes in investing across transport modes, and not being myopically focused on roads, as the other side of the House is. Yes, roads are important for many of our communities, but it is about building a transport network that is mode-neutral, in which people have real transport choices, in which we focus on bringing down our emissions, in which rail serves that nation-building focus that it always has for the regions of New Zealand going back to the 1880s, but that side of the House has just never ever seen it.

This Government’s investment in rail has also been an important part of our COVID-19 recovery, giving investment and direction to our regions and employing thousands of New Zealanders. I want to speak briefly to some of the work that is under way as we speak, or recent deliveries to build that resilient and reliable network. Recently, I visited the work on the Third Main line, a critical rail project being delivered under the New Zealand Upgrade Programme between Wiri and Westfield in New Zealand. Absolutely essential to make sure that the flows of freight get through our biggest city and that we have an efficient commuter network for the people of Tāmaki-makau-rau as well—$300 million funded through the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, and that work is under way, employing 200 women and men on that project to deliver a critical piece of work for our rail network in Auckland.

Very soon, the work on electrifying the Papakura to Pukekohe line in Auckland will be getting under way as well, bringing the people of Pukekohe into the electrified commuter network and giving them real transport choices. There is $196 million under the New Zealand Upgrade Programme going into, as we speak, improving the Wellington commuter rail network. Again, lacking in investment for many, many years, and it has been this Government which has come forward to make sure that Wellington commuters have access to a reliable, efficient network to move them around our cities and to bust congestion.

I’m very proud that only about six weeks ago, with Kīngi Tūheitia and the Prime Minister, I was able to join them to launch the new Te Huia service between Hamilton and Auckland, restoring commuter rail between Auckland and Hamilton, one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing economic and housing zones. As we know from the hoots on the other side of the House, that side has never backed that region in terms of its aspirations for a decent rail service, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons that they lost the two Hamilton seats to Jamie Strange and Gaurav Sharma at the last election, because the people of Hamilton and Waikato are backing that service and they want to see it continue.

This is a Government that is proud of its investments in rail. We will shortly be announcing the New Zealand Rail Plan, a 10-year strategic plan to continue investing in rail to move people around our cities and regions, to move the freight efficiently, and to decarbonise our transport network. This Government believes in rail and believes in an integrated transport network for all of our people. It will continue to make the investments, will continue to deliver, and it’s an important part of our recovery from COVID-19. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Yesterday we learnt that the Government will set out an implementation unit to be run by the Deputy Prime Minister. The focus will be to ensure that the Government’s plethora of announcements on mental health, infrastructure, housing, and climate change are actually delivered. Call me old-fashioned, but making sure Ministers deliver on a Government’s promises used to be the job of the Prime Minister. But there’s no accountability inside the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, and that’s partly because there’s so little talent on the bench. You can’t sack a Minister when there’s nobody there to replace them.

We have a marketing-led Government, and its Achilles heel is delivery. The Prime Minister announced in 2019 that it would be a year of delivery for the Government. It turns out no one had told the doctor and no one had booked a birthing suite. The year of delivery never arrived. We were promised 100,000 KiwiBuild homes over 10 years. Labour delivered just 871. In July 2020, Grant Robertson announced around 150 so-called shovel-ready projects, all able to start within the next six to 12 months—an easy win for the Government because many of them were already under construction. They just needed more money. Few others have started.

The Government was going to plant a billion trees over 10 years. It turned out that of the hundred million a year, most of them would be private sector trees, and they’re still not meeting their targets. Auckland light rail is still a pipedream, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the number of children living in poverty is stagnant, and that’s why the Prime Minister wants to talk about COVID. It was a COVID election, with endless announcements from the Beehive theatrette—anything to divert attention away from delivery. Only COVID-19 saved the Government from having to admit in an election year that they had delivered practically nothing.

The most critical and important project sitting on the Government’s list is the not even in the implementation unit’s brief. New Zealanders were going to be at the front of the queue for COVID-19 vaccine. Fewer than 5 percent of us have been vaccinated, and we’re second to last in the OECD. The world will soon start opening up and we are going to be left behind at this rate.

But here’s the real issue: the Government doesn’t trust the private sector. They don’t like the private sector. There’s virtually no commercial experience in this Cabinet. It ignores the advice of the private sector with the skills and experience to actually contribute and deliver. They ignore the advice of businesses most likely to be affected by delays and uncertainties and the loss of productivity that’s associated with this Government’s failure to deliver.

There has been virtually no private sector involvement in the COVID-19 response. Grant Robertson said this implementation unit is needed because the Government is delivering projects that are complex and across departments. Well, it must come as a surprise to the Government and the infrastructure Minister that almost every single infrastructure project crosses multiple asset-owners and affects multiple stakeholders—surprise! The private sector knows how to deliver stuff, and the fact that it’s been frozen out by this Government is one reason of many why it has failed on so many fronts.

Here’s the reality: the so-called implementation unit will change nothing until this Government changes its attitude to the private sector. We could make progress on so many of our country’s issues if we look beyond the Wellington bureaucracy, whether it’s harnessing the energy and knowledge of local organisations who want to run charter schools and engage kids who’ve been underserved by local State schools, whether it’s replacing the Resource Management Act so that the private sector can get on with the business of building houses, or whether it’s better collaboration with the private sector to deliver better hospitals and elective surgery. The New Zealanders who live outside the Wellington bureaucracy often have better knowledge about how to get results. That is why it is the most cynical abuse of power for this Government to announce it has the plan or the solution when it has no real idea or intention to deliver.

Almost every announcement, whether on infrastructure, climate, or mental health, is simply a political magic wand—

Order! The member’s time has expired. [Interruption] Order! [Interruption] Order! When I say “Order! Your time has expired”, I mean it.

I’m going to give the member a warning: do not read a speech again in the general debate. I didn’t interrupt him—the member is new—but that’s the last time.

Kia ora. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, what a misery guts! The last speaker is such a misery guts because, really, to suggest that this Government was saved by its outstanding COVID-19 response—how about joining together with a bit of real partnership and recognising that all New Zealanders and all parliamentarians really worked together to create a fantastic response, which has seen New Zealand in a very, very strong position—a position that is in the top three or four nations in the world, a position where our economy is resilient and prepared for a recovery, a position where we heard the Minister say that unemployment is falling and people in employment is growing. Where in the world can you say that? The average OECD unemployment rate: 6.7 percent. That’s problematic. That’s not a healthy economy. Here, today: 4.7 percent. That’s where we were in 2017. We’re in the same place post-COVID as we were in post-National. Isn’t that fantastic?

Look, here we are: GDP is 0.9 percent behind where we were a year ago—a tiny fraction. Now, look, and here we are. The US is 2.4 percent down, the UK is 7.3 percent down—compare ourselves with our peers.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: 7.3—7?

7.3.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: What!

I know. And here we are, and what’s the projection? Good. What did the financial stability report say? That we have a resilient economy, but there are risks ahead. But you know what? We’re well prepared for those risks. We’re well prepared because we’ve got a Minister of Finance who’s going to deliver a Budget in two weeks’ time that is a responsible Budget, a careful Budget, one which focuses on the things which are important. It’s important that it’s a long-term Budget, as well.

Chlöe Swarbrick stood up and talked about housing, and she was right to do so. We know that there’s a problem with housing in New Zealand, and housing affordability in particular, and that’s going to be a focus of the Budget.

Child wellbeing—we know we’re working on child wellbeing and child poverty, and we’re making progress. That will continue to be a focus for this Government, and rightly so.

The other big long-term challenge: climate change. We’re absolutely working on climate change. We will make progress on climate change, and, I’ll tell you what, we’re certainly not going to sit on our hands, like the National Government did for nine years, and sit on a broken system. We fixed that system, and James Shaw has done a great job in getting the climate change legislation in place and getting the auction framework in place and actually making progress where the last Government did nothing.

I must say I’m very happy that under the last Government, we reached an accord with the farming sector, who, with this Government in partnership—as Minister Henare said, partnership is the way to do things, not by conflict. In partnership with the farming community, this Government will move forward on climate change.

What’s more is you can even take a holiday—some across the other side look like they might need it. But because we’ve had a great response, we can now meet our partners in Australia, meet our friends in the Cook Islands, take a bit of rest and relaxation, and help those economies as well, and, especially, help our Pacific neighbours. I’m really proud of the stance we’ve taken in respect of the vaccine roll-out in the Pacific and that we’re going to take a leadership role in there. So we can go to the Cooks and spend there, just like New Zealanders are spending here.

We have such good confidence that retail spending is up. What’s more, so is investment confidence. Investor sentiment is high. People are employing. People are spending on fixed assets. They’re actually expanding their businesses. Look at the work we’re doing in apprenticeships. We’ve got 17 percent more apprenticeships than we did have a year ago—fantastic.

We live in a volatile world. We know that there’s storms on the horizon—China, India, Europe—but we’re well placed. Our markets are well placed because we’re taking a responsible approach and building for the future, building our human capital with things like the apprenticeships framework but also our fantastic health reforms. What a fantastic health reform to partner with all of our communities—Māori communities and wider communities—to deliver better outcomes for all New Zealanders.

I’m really looking forward to 20 May. I’m going to have a great day. I hope you will too. Kia ora.

Well, that was a bit of a try-hard speech from one of the members of the Government, wasn’t it? They’re trying hard to explain how much the Government’s doing, trying hard to try to prove that they’re actually getting stuff done, but, actually, the reality is very different. This Government has this week announced an implementation unit where they’re going to try hard again, try to get things done in this Government, on a whole range of things. Well, the implementation unit should be called Cabinet. Cabinet should be held responsible to actually get things done, but the problem with this Government is Cabinet doesn’t know how to get things done, and Duncan Webb’s just given us a five-minute lesson on a Government which has no idea on how to actually get things done.

I’d like to talk about how this Government is failing to deliver when it comes to keeping New Zealanders safe. New Zealanders are feeling less safe. Our police are feeling less respected, and they are not getting the resources that they have been promised that they would have had delivered under this Government. This Government promised 1,800 new police over three years to be on the beat, helping to keep New Zealanders safe. They still haven’t even reached 1,400 new police here in New Zealand. They promised that of that 1,800, 700 were to be focused on keeping us safe from gangs and organised crime. They’ve only delivered 240—240—of those officers on the beat, and where’s the plan? Where’s the plan to deliver the remainder of those officers, because what we know is gangs are recruiting faster than the police in New Zealand, and that is something which is concerning more and more New Zealanders.

There we have it: we have the Government’s major operation, Operation Tauwhiro, an operation tasked to crack down on gangs and illegal firearms, because we know that the gangs have not handed back their guns. The Mongrel Mob has not handed back their guns.

So they announced a major operation to crack down on gangs, and what have we seen? We’ve seen a Minister of the Crown turn up to the Mongrel Mob gang pad to try and have a cup of tea and a kōrero and to condone and to give credence to what this gang does. We know the Mongrel Mob hasn’t handed back their guns. We know they continue to deal meth on our streets, and it is absolutely outrageous that no Minister in the Government has condemned the Minister for the prevention of sexual offending turning up to the Mongrel Mob gang pad and giving a speech in front of all of the mobsters there.

It asks the question: what are the measures of success for Operation Tauwhiro? Is it actually to crack down on gangs in New Zealand, or is it just another PR exercise by this Government?

💬 Hon Poto Williams: Oh, the police aren’t going to like you saying that about their hard work.

It asks the question—well, the Minister of Police is interjecting. I ask her to take a call and condemn the Minister for the prevention of sexual offending. I ask her to take a call—stand up and condemn her for going to a gang pad on Saturday and endorsing and giving credence to the violence they perpetrate on our streets.

I ask the question: is it part of Operation Tauwhiro for Ministers of the Crown to turn up to gang pads and to give speeches endorsing what they do? I have an Official Information Act request here from the police, where I’ve asked them, “What are the measures of success? What are the things that they are going to be doing?” Well, firstly, interestingly enough, the press release from the police in February said that all districts would have tailored initiatives focused on how they were going to target gangs. Well, I would expect, two months into a six-month operation, that all districts would have a tailored initiative. Well, guess what! Only five districts have got tailored initiatives in place so far—only five districts. Two months in, and only five districts have actually got a tailored initiative. I think that’s absolutely unacceptable and a failure to deliver.

But it gets worse. You go to the Tasman District and you find out what they’re tasked to be doing, and you’d think, “Well, they’d be going and raiding some gangs down there.” They’ve had a 177 percent increase in gang membership under this Government, the fastest increase of any police district in New Zealand. I read it and it says, “The Tasman District Police will have ongoing communication and work with gang leaders to bring about long-term change.” The police should be out arresting these gang members, not sitting down and having a kōrero and a cup of tea.

This Government is not keeping New Zealanders safe, and I ask the Minister of Police to take a call and condemn Marama Davidson for her outrageous and unbelievable act of turning up to the Mongrel Mob gang pad—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’m absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to speak, following what might have been a rare misstep by Simeon Brown, because I am so proud—so proud—to be a part of this Government.

I’m especially proud and grateful to stand here as the member of Parliament for Ilam, because Ilam has played a pivotal role in keeping New Zealanders safe from COVID-19. The moment you land at Christchurch Airport, you find yourself in Ilam and you know that you’re in safe hands. Four out of six of our managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities in Christchurch are in Ilam, and, of course, we can’t fault the staff at the airport itself.

I just wanted to take a moment to express my profound gratitude to all of the staff at our MIQ facilities, but in particular, of course, those in Ilam. I’d like to reference Michael Patterson, who is the manager of the Commodore Hotel, who I’ve met with recently and who expressed gratitude for the fact that the Government was in fact running MIQ facilities through these hotels, which has enabled them to survive since this virus hit our shores.

We also have a testing facility at Orchard Road. It’s a big testing facility, and I, again, want to express my gratitude to all of the staff members there. They’re part of a testing regime through Canterbury DHB that’s processed 68,782 tests, which I think you’ll agree is a large amount of tests and a good commitment.

I also wanted to express gratitude to the team of 5 million. But I’m going to revise that to the team of 4,999,967.

I’m proud, too, of this Government for taking decisive, swift, and effective action, which has accelerated our economic recovery. The wage subsidy has supported 197,000 jobs in Canterbury alone in the first week of the 12-week roll-out. Businesses like Untouched World in Ilam, run by an extraordinary woman CE and founder, Peri Drysdale, described as a treasured Canterbury company—we have our own manufacturing facility there in Christchurch, in Ilam. They were beneficiaries of the wage subsidy for the first two rounds and have also used other support packages from the Government to re-position their business to create masks. They’re producing a lot of masks—very high-quality masks—and they have a great reputation for having the best masks in the business. They’re quoted as saying the support that they received would “make the climb out of this much more effective”. I quote Peri in saying it “set [them] up for growth”, and that’s what we want. We want us to set up for growth.

The strategic asset funding and the Department of Conservation funding, as well as the wage subsidy, has kept our penguins alive in the International Antarctic Centre. They say that without Government funding, they would have had to shut their doors and go into hibernation. I don’t know an awful lot about penguins, but I’m not sure they’re supposed to hibernate, and, obviously, they have to be kept fed so that they can be entertaining everybody in Christchurch, domestic and international tourists alike, whilst the International Antarctic Centre provides an extraordinary education, actually making us better informed about our environment, conservation, our precious seas, and, obviously, our resource of Antarctica—to which, you’ll be aware, Ilam is, through Christchurch Airport, one of the few gateways in New Zealand.

The school holiday period for the International Antarctic Centre has been good. Things are looking up, but they do still need ongoing support.

I’m proud, too, of the controlled, thoughtful, and flexible border reopening. I’m looking forward to enjoying more family reunions as we continue to keep New Zealanders safe. I’m looking forward to encouraging international tourists as well as, obviously, domestic tourists back into our outstanding attractions like Orana Wildlife Park and the International Antarctic Centre.

Thank you so much, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity of expressing how proud and grateful I am of being part of this Government, and how we’re continuing to keep New Zealanders safe.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.

I declare the House in Committee for consideration of the Immigration (COVID-19 Response) Amendment Bill.