Adjournment

I move, That the House do now adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 February 2022.

Without doubt, this has been an incredibly hard year, but, as has been the case every year that I’ve been in politics, 2021 has taught me a lot. I’ve learnt that Barry has deadlines. I’ve learnt, Mr Speaker, that you love making rulings and you also love making rules, sometimes in that order. I’ve learnt that with Mr Brownlee in the role of foreign affairs spokesperson for the National Party, and with Damien O’Connor as the Minister for Trade and Export Growth, diplomacy truly is for everyone. I’ve learnt that Carmel Sepuloni is equally calm when presented with a challenge, be it the distribution of a wage subsidy or a carrot. I’ve learnt that “spread your legs” meant exactly what it’s always meant and that it’s actually only the member for Remutaka that was confused on that one. I’ve learnt that no two Opposition leaders are the same. In fact, there are quite a few differences between Chris Luxon and David Seymour, and I’ve been reminded once again to never ever underestimate New Zealanders, and for me that is the real story—that is the real story—of 2021.

Today, for instance, marks the day that Aucklanders are able to move beyond the boundaries that they have maintained for the better part of four months—for four months. That boundary has without question kept the rest of New Zealand safe. It has slowed down the movement of Delta. It has saved people’s lives. And so to Tāmaki-makau-rau from all of us, we say thank you. In fact, as we stand here today, New Zealand has achieved the rate now of 90 percent of our eligible population now being double vaccinated against COVID-19. With that 90 percent, that puts us above places like the United States, the UK, Israel, places that use emergency approvals, and, of course, started their roll-outs before us. We are now finishing with a rate much higher than them, and we have not finished. In Tāmaki-makau-rau we are seeing some DHBs reach first dose rates of 97 percent. So let’s keep going.

I want to specifically acknowledge in this roll-out the role of our hauora providers and our Pasifika providers. Today in the statistics I saw that our Pacific peoples, for first dose, overtake the general population, and we continue to see some of the fastest growth in vaccination amongst Māori. We must keep going. This puts us in the best possible position to continue to move forward with confidence. But that is not the only remarkable thing that has set New Zealand apart during this year. As Delta took hold, as it found its way here—and there is no question that it’s been tough—Tāmaki-makau-rau bore so much of that, but through that hard work and sacrifice we have now finished the year once again with the lowest rate of hospitalisations and the lowest number of deaths in the OECD. In fact, we are one of only three places that through this pandemic have seen our life expectancy increase. And while all of that is actually the strongest possible rationale for the steps that we’ve taken as a nation and as a Government, they weren’t the only rationale.

Our economic recovery is outstripping that of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the OECD. Export forecasts today are at a record high, as are milk payouts to farmers, and, of course, terms of trade are positive. A statistic that represents people’s livelihoods and their overall financial wellbeing is that we have seen unemployment down to record lows of 3.4 percent. And for every person that has stayed in work or has moved into work, that represents thousands and thousands of employers, business owners, business start-ups all working hard to support one another and their staff. It has truly been a team effort. But those numbers are also recognition of the hard work, foresight, and passion of this country’s finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and I pay tribute to you, Grant. On a day when we release numbers that show projected net debt is lower and our return to surplus sooner, we say thank you.

But in the same way that we should never underestimate Kiwis in a crisis, I don’t underestimate either what we can achieve together on our long-term challenges. No one is sitting here in this Chamber because they were motivated into politics to take on a pandemic. We’re here because we believe that we have it in us to keep fixing the challenges New Zealand has long faced as a nation. On child poverty, 109,000 families are now on average $175 better off a week because of this Government; 40,000 children have been lifted out of poverty because of the actions of this Government. On housing, we’ve now added 8,700 extra housing places; 3,100 extra transitional homes. And consents: consents for new homes have broken record highs for eight months in a row this year. On climate, we have increased our ambition and quadrupled climate aid. Because of our clean-car discount, more electric vehicles were registered in New Zealand in the past six months than for each of the past four years. We’ve seen 6.6 million tonnes of emissions cut from our industrial process heat sector. We’ve quadrupled the Green Investment Fund. And just in the last two weeks—just in the last two weeks—you will have continued to see progress on establishing the Māori Health Authority. Minister Marama Davidson released our country’s first ever strategy on family and sexual violence. And we’ve taken action to make New Zealand smoke-free in our lifetimes.

All of that is because we will be measured by what we do in a pandemic but also what we do in spite of it as well. I never underestimate the passion and the energy of New Zealanders to take on every single challenge that comes our way. And that is why I look to 2022 with optimism. No one knows what next year will bring, but what I do know is that we will rise to the challenge of whatever comes our way.

So I conclude in the way that is customary in this place at the end of the year, and for good reason, by acknowledging those who work alongside us and help us to do our jobs to the best of our ability. Thank you to our electorate office teams who support members of our community through thick and thin. Thank you to the people who work in these walls: the Office of the Clerk; the team at Parliamentary Service; the Hansard team, who try to make head or tail of what we say; the cleaners, who are here before we arrive and after we leave; the buildings team, who move us in and sometimes move us out again; the staff at Bellamys, who sustain us; the security staff, who keep us safe; the messengers, who can always spare a smile; the VIP drivers, who keep us company on long days; our ministerial office staff; our executive support; and a special acknowledgment to those who when this building got a little bit quieter in August were still here: sign language interpreters, IT and sound technicians, and journalists in the press gallery who, no matter what, have a job to do, just like us. And to my Cabinet and caucus colleagues, thank you for being strong, for being united, and showing up every day with a singular focus on making sure we do everything to serve the people who elected us into this place.

And finally, Mr Speaker, a special thankyou to you. Despite the unprecedented change of procedure this House has seen, you’ve never failed, as parliamentarians, to ensure that we are united, mostly through our shared experience of “alert level Trevor”!

But let me finish where I started and it is by thanking Kiwis. It’s been hard. People have been weary, but Kiwis have done what it takes to put us in the best possible position to keep moving, to take on whatever comes next. And I, for one, will never underestimate New Zealanders. So to everyone, I wish you a wonderful break. You bloody deserve it.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

I’d like to join with the Prime Minister by also thanking the many people here in Parliament and outside this place who support us in our work as MPs and ensure that this House and our democracy functions as well for New Zealand as it does. I’d like to thank you, Mr Speaker, and all of your presiding officers. I want to thank the Clerk of the House and the team who support us in the Chamber, but also in our select committees, so professionally; all of the staff of the Parliamentary Service who look after us; the friendly folk at Copperfield’s, who keep us watered and fed and keep the mince pies flowing; the cleaners, who do a tremendous job, day and night, keeping us COVID-free; the press gallery, who, in a world of untruths, play a critical role in our democracy, holding us to account and informing our citizens—although I have to be honest and say I don’t understand how Claire Trevett’s obsession with capsicums had much to do with any of that—our brilliant, talented and very dedicated National Party staff; and I’d like to thank our partners and our families, who we know make such huge sacrifices for all of us here to be able to come here and do this. Finally, can I just thank the outstanding team from National, and can I also thank the very incredible deputy leader, Nicola Willis.

Now, Mr Speaker, I have to be really honest with you. You know, it’s actually quite hard for us to think about heading away for Christmas, because on this side of the House, we’re actually really energised and we are raring to go. In fact, we get so much energy standing here, looking across the other side and we see the worry staring back at us. We see the worry and the backbench MPs up there who are thinking like a three water asset grab is going to mean they’ll be one-term MPs; they’re polishing up their LinkedIn profiles, you can just see it. We see it across the frontier with a tired front bench who’s looking back saying, “That looks like an alternative Government.” And I want to tell you, we’re a unified team. We’re stronger, we’re stronger than Anna Lorck’s Beroccas, and we are ready to go.

Now, I have to say, I was incredibly saddened to hear that a Christmas tradition won’t be taking place this year. I was saddened that the Prime Minister won’t be doing her annual exchange with Mike Hosking. And now, in the Prime Minister’s own words, I would say I absolutely reject the assertion that the Prime Minister should miss out on a Christmas present, so I got thinking about this the other night. I was thinking, “Well, what gift could I give the Prime Minister instead of what she would normally receive from Mike?”, and then I got thinking about my colleagues across the House here. So I know it’s not quite in the spirit of Christmas, but I thought I would share with you my secret online shopping cart. So for Jacinda Ardern, I wanted to gift her a Kookaburra cricket ball, because, I have to tell you, Ajaz Patel was my dead-set sporting legend and hero this year. What he achieved was absolutely phenomenal. But I have to say, I think the Prime Minister made him look very, very average, and that’s because she took her spin game to the next level. She was bowling balls superbly—the batters were totally confused in the direction the ball was actually going.

Now, I was thinking deeply about Grant Robertson. What do you get Grant Robertson? It’s a relaxing summer getaway package to the Kiwi destination of his choice, and that’s because we know that being the leader of the Labour Party will be a very taxing job for him and we want him rested and we want him ready to go when he gets ready to take over. For Nanaia Mahuta, I thought long about this, we’ve got her a special gift set of three waters—it comes in sparkling, still, and tap. For Chris Hipkins, who’s frankly had to walk back quite a lot of comments from his colleagues, I think we’ve got you something really special. It’s really special. It’s Michael Jackson’s greatest hits, and that’s just so that you can polish up the moonwalk, practising walking back with a bit more style next year.

Now, the one I spent a lot of time thinking about was Michael Wood, because what do you get Michael Wood? There were lots of options, but I decided actually I’d get him a new rug because, frankly, the rug was pulled out from him by Grant Robertson. Grant went and upended all of Michael’s grand plans for a $785 million walking and cycling pathway across the Waitematā, and so we’ve got you a new rug, Michael, it should be all good to go. For Damien O’Connor, he needs a pair of Red Bands. I can tell you he might not know what to do with these, but I can tell you Barbara Kuriger knows what to do, I can tell you that Ian McKelvie knows what to do, and I can tell you that Nicola Grigg, and Tim van de Molen and David Bennett and, in fact, the whole of the National Party caucus know what to do with the Red Bands.

Now, this was another difficult one. It was for my friend David Seymour. What do you get David Seymour? I thought long and hard about this, and what I settled on was a www.ancestry.com DNA kit to find out whether we’re actually as closely related as some people seem to think.

For James and Marama, a bulk order of kombucha for you and the whole Green team to keep the thirst quenched for a beautiful Kiwi summer.

For Rawiri and Debbie from Te Paati Māori, I just have to say, you guys have the best game on TikTok. You are head and shoulders above all of us in this House, and I did get a little bit worried last week because Simeon actually came to me, Simeon Brown, and he said, “Chris, I’m thinking I should get on TikTok.” And I said, “God forbid, actually, no, I mean, we don’t want you on TikTok.” I will say it again, Simeon: no TikTok for you, please. But what we’ve got for Te Paati Māori is a Foot Locker gift card so that you can get yourself some more pairs of Air Jordans and keep doing what you’re doing.

Finally, for you Mr Speaker, I know you’re a Hurricanes tragic fan and that you haven’t tasted a lot of success recently. I wanted to share with you—

💬 SPEAKER: Well, how have the Blues gone?

Wait, wait, wait. I want to share with you a jersey from my team, and my team ends up costing me thousands of votes in Botany. And what it is is a jersey from the mighty Canterbury Crusaders, so I think you’ll enjoy that.

So I guess, in all seriousness, you know, 2021 has been another extremely difficult and challenging year, and a stressful year for Kiwis. And while we can have a few jokes and we can take some Christmas cheer out of our interchange today, I can tell you we must never, ever forget the Kiwis outside of this place that are doing it incredibly tough under the impacts of COVID and under the impacts of this Government. That’s who we need to thank. It’s all of the Kiwis who’ve got the kids off to school today, gone out to work, put food on the table for their families, all under extremely challenging conditions this year. Through all of that, Kiwis kept going. And I’d say to you as a country, we handled COVID pretty well in 2020. But the fact is, this year this Government has squandered those opportunities that we’ve worked so hard for. It’s been complacent and it’s been incompetent. The traffic light system, frankly, has been an exercise in utter confusion. And I can tell you, Aucklanders have got podium fatigue and after 15 weeks in a “short and sharp” lockdown, we’ve had announcements of announcements and inconsistent messages and rules.

People are doing it tough. Small business owners, I can tell you, are up against the wall. They are racking up the debt and I just encourage the Prime Minister, go visit them in Auckland and look at them and you’ll hear the desperation in their voices. You’ll see how the Government’s rules have actually crippled their livelihoods. I want to say good on those people working in those small businesses up and down this country who are getting up every day and are carrying on in spite of the enormous hurdles that they are facing. There will be empty chairs at the dinner table at Christmas dinner for many families. There’s a million Kiwis who’ll be kept apart from their loved ones because of the misery of a managed isolation and quarantine lottery system. And as we’ve discussed today, it’s going to be much harder for many Kiwis this Christmas because the squeezed middle are getting really squeezed. Living costs are rising, our wages aren’t keeping up, and so folk can’t get ahead and, ultimately, they end up worse off with much fewer choices.

But I want to tell you that there is hope. There is great hope because I can tell you that New Zealand can do so much better than this. We can be the team at the top of the tables again. We can have vision, we can have confidence, and we can have aspiration. I want New Zealand to know that, under a National Government, we will create a more productive economy that lifts the incomes of all people so they have more choices on how they get to live the lives that they want to lead. We will build a world-class education system so Kiwi kids have the abilities to be able to go out and make their dreams happen and do anything they want to do in the world out there. We are going to have the first outstanding Minister of Mental Health to get real help, actually, to Kiwis struggling with anxiety and wrestling with mental health issues. And I can tell you we will reduce crime and we will keep Kiwis safe. And you don’t have to worry about us being gang apologists at all. We won’t demonise our farmers; we’ll work with them, we’ll support them, and we’re going to ensure they remain world leaders. We’re going to unleash enterprise and back small business because that’s the lifeblood of New Zealand. And we’re going to be the party with a proper holistic plan to protect and enhance both our environment and the economy.

So what I want to promise this House and what I want to promise all New Zealanders is that while we’ll hold this Government to account for their wasteful spending, their inability to get things done and to deliver, you’re going to also see us listening to Kiwis developing practical, good policy that enables us to solve problems and challenges that we have in this country. In summary, I want to tell you National is back. We’re going to have a great break and we wish the same for every member in this House and every New Zealand family, too. And we’ll be back ready for 2022 and we’ll get into the work ahead. Merry Christmas.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is Christmas time, so it’s not only time to unleash the entrepreneurship it’s also time to unleash the Mariah. Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou. Mr Speaker, you are here, I am here, we are all here. Tēnā tātou katoa.

I’d like to begin by thanking all of our essential workers, our ringa wera, our ringa raupā, our cleaners, security, catering, library, the Clerk’s Office, House Office, the maintenance team and gardeners, and all of those people that make all those things happen in the background. There’s a whakataukī which is “Ko te amorangi ki mua, ko te hāpai ō ki muri.”

[“The leader in front, the food bearers in the rear.”]

If things are all sweet in the back rooms, it’s all sweet up front, and so I would like to thank all of the workers across the precinct for all the different things that they do, including our ministerial staff and our parliamentary staff that shape the words that we speak and make the images that get put out on social media, help us to craft all those different things that help us to do all our jobs a lot easier, and I also thank the press gallery who undoes all that work often. But I would also like to acknowledge the comments made to the press gallery recognising the context that we’re living in when we’re in a time of misinformation. So recognising that the press gallery play a fundamental part in our democracy is an important part of our work here. So tēnā koutou.

Mr Speaker, of course, thank you to yourself for being the ref and the coach of Parliament. It’s been my first year here. I’m still getting used to the weird school bell. The only experience that I have in terms of the role that you’re doing is for a number of years, I was a substitute ref and coach for my kids, showing up on Saturday, sometimes taking them for soccer and for touch rugby. And for years and years I did that, they’d sub me on, and as my children got older, they suddenly realised when they’re in high school that the old man—me—didn’t actually know any of the rules. But that’s not like you. That’s not like you; you’ve got the Standing Orders book and the Speakers’ Rulings book, and whenever you make one of those rulings—just to let you know—I do go through it and I do study it, so ka pai.

We just had our Green Party Christmas party last week as well and I was sitting there reflecting, as I was drinking my de-Luxon-ated kombucha, reflecting about all of those different Christmas songs that make our childhoods—that help us to remind us of our childhood, remind us of nostalgia, and remind us of the hopes for the Christmas season: songs like the Mariah Carey classic, “All I Want for Christmas is Urban Density Done Well”, which helps us to access both public and active transport while ensuring that there is access and accessibility to essential services. Oh, that’s a great classic song, And also another song from my childhood, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Essential Worker” who wants us to progress more aggressively all that work that needs to be done on sector-wide fair pay agreements, ensuring that we lift up both working pay and working conditions for our workers. And it can’t be Christmas without Whamageddon, without Wham!, and I reflect on the words of the great George Michael when he sung the song “Last Christmas”—“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart”, and then the very next day you over-speculated it and got a capital gain on it.

It’s not just about those modern songs; it’s also about some of those traditional songs as well. For example, “I’m Dreaming of a Please Check Your White Privilege Christmas”—it’s a traditional Christmas song, this one, that goes right back to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and I’m sure my whanaunga from Te Paati Māori could appreciate it. It’s a song that still resonates wonderfully today.

But as the Briscoes lady says, “But wait, there’s more.” As I was reflecting at that party as well, I was thinking, “Well, if I’ve got this playlist, what are the other political parties playing on their playlist?”, so I had to re-imagine what that might be myself. So these are my top three for the different political parties around the House. For the National Party, my top three songs, for them, it traverses the journey that they have gone through this parliamentary year. For number three, number three is “Land of Confusion” by Genesis, which features the famous drummer Phil Collins, who even today is still kicking it. Number two is “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley and number one on that list is “I’m Leaving and Arriving on an Air New Zealand Jet Plane”, which the member will appreciate because that one’s by John Denver. You know, politics is up and it’s down, and sometimes your luck’s off, but sometimes your “Luxon”. And this week, the luck was on for that corner of the House because the ACT Party had a $53 billion hole that the Leader of the Opposition will be able to fly an Air New Zealand jumbo jet right through.

To our ACT Party colleagues, these are some reflections given that revelation this week, and my reflection for them is playlist song number one, “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. For those of us in the 1990s—remember the 1990s, it was a good era. Number two, “There’s a Hole in my Bucket, Dear Liza”, and number one for them, if none of those other two work, is “Take the Money and Run”, the Steve Miller Band.

I’ve got to reference also my whanaunga from Te Paati Māori. You can tell he’s a Joe Cocker fan so Te Paati Māori’s number three song on my list is “Leave Your Hat On” by Joe Cocker—ties not necessarily required. Number two is “These Boots are Made for Walking”, but I’ve updated that to “These Air Jordans are Made for Walking”—keeping with the way of the times. And my number one song for Te Paati Māori is “Tangaroa Whakamautai” by Maisey Rika, which actually isn’t a joke, but it’s really important to acknowledge the connection between the whenua and the moana and that we should be stopping seabed mining. So, ka pai.

I’ve got a couple of songs for our friends in the Labour Party. We like to give them a bit of rev—and I don’t know if they take it personally, to be honest. We try to do stuff within the cooperation agreement but we try to make them go further and faster and do all the things that not only their constituents want them to do but also us, as well. So my number three song for the Labour Party is “That’s what Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick.

💬 Hon Members: Aah!

You’re welcome. The number two is another Joe Cocker song, “I Get by with a Little Help from my Friends.” Yeah, and I hope they remember that in a couple of years’ time. The number one song from my playlist recommendations for the Labour Party is for the Minister of Finance, and it’s completely on-brand, this one. It’s by Simply Red and it’s “Money’s Too Tight to Mention”. But you can expect a Swarbrick-J.A.G. DJ remix called the “Capital Gains Re-ignition Remix” in the next year. And if the Labour Party did like those particular suggestions and will find some time to reflect on them, the Green Party has many, many scratched records we will continue to play over the next few years, such as “No Mining on Conservation Land”, “No Palm Kernel Expeller for Christmas”, and a special one from Minister James Shaw: “Bad Luck, You’re all Climate Ministers Now”.

But it’s not just all about all about the jokes as well. I also like to acknowledge all of the different work that’s happened around the House as well—all the pieces of legislation that were passed around the House. Just recently we passed the BDMRR, the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill—a shout-out to my rainbow fam. We passed the drug- and substance-checking legislation. And one of the pieces of legislation that we passed as well—or are in the process of passing—is the Matariki bill, which is about grounding mātauranga Māori in the way that we connect with the environment, but also the star constellations as well. It’s called Puanga in Taranaki and Puaka in the South Island, but in the National Party dialect it is known as “Te Mata-I-don’t-know-rangi”.

But here’s the thing: I’m not that confident in that particular dialect, but I hope that that corner of the House will take some time over the over the holiday break to confide with their kaumātua like Tā Hēmi Bolger, Mātua Kirihi Finlayson, to go some way to look at about how you can properly engage in a real, genuine, authentic way with Māori communities.

And on that, I would also like to acknowledge all the whānau at home as well. People, be kind out there, be kind to your whānau, be kind to your families—the families that you inherit or the families that you have found on the way. Also very importantly as well, because of the ups and downs that we have been experiencing this year, be kind to yourself. Have a “Mariah” Christmas, everybody.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to join with other leaders in support of this motion to adjourn Parliament. New Zealanders, your property will be safe for about two months!

I want to thank all of those who make Parliament work: those in the House Office; the cleaners; the security, who have had a few extra guests unexpectedly outside this year; those in buildings; those in the library; those in Coppers. I particularly want to thank those of ACT’s staff. People who measure these things tell me that ACT has the most engaged team on the parliamentary precinct, led by our able chief of staff, Andrew Ketels, who would never want to be read into the Hansard, especially if it was in reference to him winning the Parliamentary Service Leadership Award for 2021. Good on you, Ketels!

💬 Chris Bishop: Ketels?

Don’t seem surprised, Chris Bishop. He’s doing a great job. I also want to thank my Epsom electorate team, who serve our constituents, my neighbours in the Epsom electorate so well, including a very tough three months of a “short, sharp lockdown”—which we’ll get to—where they worked and supported our constituents from home.

Teanau, from the Green Party, told us that he had to guess the Spotify playlists of people around this Parliament. I don’t have to guess; I have them, downloaded accidentally from the Treasury website a few years back, actually! First of all, I started because Jacinda, she had them because she needed music when she “did a little dance”, and the most played song on her playlist was actually “Road to Nowhere”. It was performed by the talking heads from the podium of truth. Her “short, sharp lockdown” that lasted 108 days was the song that doesn’t end; it goes on and on, my friend. Some people started locking us down not knowing why it was, and they kept locking us down for ever just because it was no longer clear. First we needed to reach 90 percent vaccination, then there’d be a decision on 29 November. And, despite repeated calls from ACT to just be done with it and make 1 December “Freedom Day”, she left Aucklanders hanging in limbo.

And, as her lockdown went on, her iPod shuffled on to Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”—you’re in, then you’re out; you’re up, then you’re down. It’s a shame that there wasn’t a bit more Elton John on her playlist, because it seems that, for Jacinda Ardern, even when things go terribly wrong in this COVID response, “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”. But, if she had a song for the South Island, I think she’d be looking at the younger demographic, with a little bit of Lorde, who’ve been singing, “I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it.” Grant Robertson, on the other hand, he’s a bit more old-fashioned, being the elder of the group, listening to The Beatles, starting with a classic “Taxman”. He sang to himself, as Treasury reaped in a record and unexpected $98 billion, “If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat. If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.” He’s also been into a bit of Toto, because he said, “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti, Labour will tax you.”

We had two big oceans that buttressed our COVID response—one well known as the Pacific, which protects New Zealand from all sorts of dangers, including viruses; the other, nearly as big, is the ocean of debt and cheap credit. Over at the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr has been blaring out, “Money for nothing and new staff for free.” It’s a revolving door over there. If the Government borrows, prints, and spends billions of dollars, the effects will be felt somewhere, and they’re now being felt by New Zealanders everywhere—at the petrol pump, at the checkout, just about wherever they go—

💬 Hon Chris Hipkins: You’re making Christopher Luxon’s speech look good!

It’s a real shame that Chris Hipkins is calling out there. Chris Hipkins should have had some Dave Dobbyn. He should have been playing “Welcome Home” to the extra million Kiwis in the team of 6 million, who won’t be coming home this year, but unfortunately Phil Twyford used that song for KiwiBuild, and we all know how that ended! So you can understand why he wouldn’t have used it.

Kelvin Davis—he’s a way old rocker. He’s been listening to The Who, and specifically “Who Are You”, because we haven’t seen him all year, anywhere. But “Stewie” Nash—now, he’s the guy who takes off his shirt at every opportunity; even public health can be a reason! Getting vaccinated, most people just roll up their sleeve, but not Stewie, he had to take it all off. And I think he had Carly Simon singing in his ear pods as he took off his shirt to pose for the vax photo. I bet he probably thought the song was about him! Now, Kris Faafoi, on the other hand, the justice Minister, he’s been singing, “I Want to Break Free”, and he thinks it’s a song for all the people who should be in prison that he’s letting out by getting rid of three strikes, among others. He definitely wasn’t listening to “Sticks and Stones”, because, while he lets out the violent and sexual offenders by getting rid of three strikes, what he’s instead saying is he wants to lock up people who exercise free speech. He should remember, back in primary school, that names will never hurt me.

Now, James Shaw, he’s an old rocker too, and he’s been listening to The Clash. London was calling, but a call wasn’t enough; he had to actually go there. In fact, he went all the way on to Glasgow, and we still don’t know what he achieved, except all we know is he spent more time in managed isolation and quarantine than he did making up for the massive carbon emissions of taking a whole rugby team of climate crusaders halfway around the world.

Now, over at the National Party, that’s one Spotify list I don’t have. You see, their account was suspended due to copyright violations! And, despite their legal counsel saying that it was “pretty legal”, I’ve checked some of their press releases and their soundbites and their one-liners, and they look mighty, mighty familiar, sometimes released within hours. But, if there were to be a National Party playlist, some of the things that might be on it would be things like Bob Dylan’s “Changing of the Guards.” My old friend Judith Collins—now, she was exposed as a Miley Cyrus fan, as am I, I want to record, and she certainly did come in like a “Wrecking Ball”. But my new friend, Christopher Luxon—well, he’s all Tom Petty, “Learning to Fly”, and good on him.

As for the ACT Party, well, we’ve been keeping it Kiwi—good, patriotic people. Some of our Auckland MPs got Split Enz during the lockdown, but altogether it has to be said the ACT Party has a much more Crowded House these days, and 2021—well, for us, it’s been “Something So Strong”. We’ve got Bic Runga’s “Drive” in the other ear, and we’ve been drinking more “Bliss” than ever in 2021. In our first term, ACT has released a fully costed alternative Budget; six discussion documents on COVID, the economy, law and order, and housing. Our team was united and hard working. We held the Government to account for its failing, but we also showed how a future Government could offer New Zealanders a better tomorrow. And, as I’ve said many times—and I’ve heard it repeated elsewhere on that earlier matter from the Nats—we’re not just the Opposition; we are Her Majesty’s proposition. Our caucus has taken to Parliament like ducks to water. With the help of our very able deputy, Brooke van Velden, kicking goals with both feet, joined by Nicole, Chris, Simon, James, Karen, Mark, Toni, and Damien—what an extraordinary group of first-term MPs.

We’re the party that’s proposed cutting down debt and giving Kiwi families tax relief. We’d give Kiwi families that work full time an extra $2,000 a year. We’d make the cost of living better for Kiwi families instead of piling on tax and debt like there’s no tomorrow, and for this Government and many of these backbenchers, actually, in politics, there won’t be—sorry, folks! We could unite New Zealanders behind good ideas instead of constantly dividing people and dividing wealth. We’d contribute to a country where the opportunities for your children and grandchildren, when the borders open, will be greater here than across the Tasman. If we don’t, we will see a brain drain like we’ve never seen before. Mr Speaker, if you’re interested in some additional playlist choices from ACT, we can find the “Land and Hope of Dreams”, “Fight Song”, “The Climb”, the “Dog Days Are Over”, we’ve got to “Take the Power Back”. And the Kiwi battlers, all of those being squeezed from every direction by this Government and its inflationary and incoherent and irresponsible polices, we say: ACT is here for you, and this summer and next year and every year. Don’t stop believing.

We’re used to confiscation; we asked for ten minutes, we only got five. Te Paati Māori and te Iwi Māori are quite used to that. But because we’ve only got a little bit of time here, through you, Mr Speaker, I want to thank everybody in this House for what they do for us here to ensure that this House runs smoothly. Man, it has been a 12 months for Te Paati Māori.

What I want to say is that I want to read a letter directly from one of our biggest and most loyal supporters, who sent this letter to me today. It says, “Dear Rawiri and Debbie and Te Paati Māori, thank you for achieving your Māori Party manifesto. The first one is I want to acknowledge you achieving the purchase of Ihumātao. I want to thank you for achieving the removal of the barriers to establishing Māori wards. Number three: procurement at 5 percent, only another 20 percent to go to achieve our Whānau First policy; the call to replace the Oranga Tamariki chief executive; the spotlight on ill-treatment of whānau in prisons, including bringing an end to a protest at Waikeria Prison; the racist profiling of Māori by the New Zealand Police; the recognition of Matariki as a public holiday; compulsory te reo Māori and Māori history to be taught in schools; the pressure to increase funding for Whānau Ora this year; the ratings reform for whenua Māori; the pressure to provide a targeted housing package”—we submitted two members’ bills, one on seabed mining, the other for the Māori electoral option, and we announced the only Māori COVID-19 policy in this House.

They also acknowledge in this letter that both Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and I have done over 170 speeches. They sat there and counted every single speech that we did on that particular TV station—their favourite TV station. They also acknowledged that we accepted many petitions, including the Māori Health Authority—because that was part of our manifesto—and also the Dawn Raids petition. Notwithstanding that, Te Paati Māori also challenged our right to wear our taonga and remove the colonial noose from around our necks as a cultural expression of who we are. This person that wrote this says, “We are extremely proud of the achievements of Te Paati Māori this year, in only 12 months.”—we stood up, they say—“You stood up to racism in this House.”, and have done our best to hold this Government accountable to Māori.

They said, “We are proud to have voted against the counter-terrorism bill that sets out to discriminate against minorities, the three waters bill because it doesn’t recognise Māori proprietary and Treaty rights to water, and the COVID-19 health response bill because it allows warrantless searches on our marae and in our private homes. Yours sincerely and loyally, Willie Jackson.”! And I know Willie—where’s he gone to?

Before I end this speech, I want to acknowledge our people out there. As we’re only a candidate-focused party, it’s unbelievable that we are now starting to climb up in the polls in our party vote. It’s unbelievable, and do you know why? Because we are the only party that will advocate for a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa. We are the only party that leaves no one else behind. We have a growing amount of support, not only by tangata whenua but also tangata Tiriti, and they have made that quite clear—and you can see it as we climb up in those polls—that there is a huge support for this type of movement. So I want to acknowledge them all for the very, very tough year it has been.

It has been a tough year as we face this pandemic—this global pandemic—as a people. There’s been huge division created by the Government and its policies because it has left people behind. We are the movement that leaves nobody behind. We have tried to listen to everybody, and I hope that they’re all here tomorrow when the crowds turn up on the doorsteps of this Parliament to express their concerns over the mandates and the way they have been treated through this vaccination programme. Anyway, ladies and gentleman, Mr Speaker, thank you for the matches this year. I want to acknowledge everybody. Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Mā te atua koutou e manaaki, e tiaki. Kia ora tātou.

[May God bless and protect you.]

Well, that is a speech of delusion. But it is a pleasure to stand up today and to tick off another year of success for this Government. And, boy, doesn’t it show how lucky Aotearoa New Zealand is that we are in Government. You’d have heard some of the hits from our Prime Minister, but what I’m most proud about are, in fact, the wins that we have got for Māori over the past year, so here is my top 10.

Number one: nothing shows the contrast between us and the Opposition quite as much as Matariki—a public holiday that truly represents Aotearoa New Zealand, whereas the Leader of the Opposition seems to want to celebrate “Matarangi”. Who knows what he thought that was. Maybe he confused matarangi with “pōrangi”, which would be an apt description and celebration of the National Party. It’s interesting also the confusion of the Leader of the Opposition, who, in his address to you, Mr Speaker, admitted that he celebrates and supports the red team and not the blue team where he actually lives. Then we have the ACT Party, who would prefer a national holiday for “Crate Day”, a day to celebrate binge drinking. Now, opposite us we have the National Party, who want to celebrate something called “Matarangi”, and, on the other hand, opposite us we have the ACT Party, who want to celebrate getting haurangi. But I can understand the Opposition’s desire to drown their sorrows.

Secondly, as the Associate Minister of Education, I love seeing our ongoing work to implement New Zealand’s history in schools. It’s an opportunity for Māori to tell the history of New Zealand, not the misinformation and the revisionist stories, such as Europeans discovered New Zealand, or Paul Goldsmith is from Ngāti Porou. Finally, the 750 years of Māori history will have a chance to be taught and understood, instead of being dismissed in favour of the post - Abel Tasman side of our history.

Thirdly, our progress towards creating a Māori Health Authority. We know Māori are disproportionately worse off on negative health statistics, but, unlike previous National - Māori Party Governments, we won’t ignore and underfund the healthcare system. We will support Māori to live better and heathier lives. This authority is what Māori have been calling for and we are delivering.

Coming in at number four, we have supported Māori across the country to get vaccinated. I’m proud that 86 percent of eligible Māori are at least partially vaccinated, despite former Māori Party leadership actively deterring Māori from being vaccinated on the basis that they are asserting their mana motuhake, and, in doing so, undermining equitable vaccine outcomes for Māori.

Fifth, our Māori Ministers and Māori caucus worked together to get $1.1 billion for Māori in Budget 2021—say no more.

The sixth thing is Māori housing. In Māori housing, we are doing the mahi. We have overseen housing repairs and papa kāinga development across the country, and we’re continuing to walk with iwi to support their aspirations, such as this week’s partnership, announced by Minister Woods with Ngāti Toa.

Seventh, as the Minister for Children, I want to ensure all children, including Māori, in State care are supported. That’s why I’ve taken up the challenge to turn Oranga Tamariki around. The future direction plan I announced will support our tamariki through greater Māori and community decision making. We know the State needs to do better, and this Government is up to the task.

Number eight: when we took office, everyone was talking about the number of Māori in prison and the skyrocketing prison population. Well, this year we implemented Māori pathways in three facilities designed to address the overrepresentation of Māori in prison. It’s unbelievable to think that the previous National - Māori Party Government did not even have a Māori strategy for Corrections.

Ninth, I’m proud of the work we’re undertaking to support iwi to settle—for example, yesterday we saw the first reading for Maniapoto. And if Andrew Little can just get Ngāpuhi over the line, I’ll organise his ticker tape parade down the main street of Kaikohe.

Last but not least, our continuing support for Waitangi. Next year, the Waitangi trust has said it’ll be a virtual event, and we’ll continue to support that trust. Kia ora, Mr Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Can I start by saying, well, that was a bold speech for a person who is so trusted by the Prime Minister, he is the deputy leader of the Labour Party but not the Deputy Prime Minister. But I also want to say thank you very much to Anna Lorck for the pottle of Berocca she just delivered to me outside the Chamber. I appreciate that very much, and I think that reflects the spirit in which she’s taken this year.

Can I start by saying thank you to our vaccinators, because despite the back and forth in the Parliament this year, one of the great things about New Zealand is that unlike other countries, there is cross-party consensus on the benefits of vaccination. Everyone in this Parliament is vaccinated—that’s not true in some parts of the world—and our vaccinators have done an outstanding job. Can I say thank you to the testers, to the healthcare workers, to our essential workers, both inside and outside Parliament, who have done an amazing job this year.

Can I say thank you to the security staff here; the messengers, one of whom said to me earlier today that I never smile around the building—that was news to me, but I’m smiling at the moment. Can I say thank you to the Copperfield’s staff particularly for the sausage rolls, although that’s sort of, not really—I don’t like to mention that these days, for reasons that are reasonably obvious.

Can I give a shout-out to Kiwis abroad. Now, the Government calls them cumulative risks; over here, on this side of the House, we call them Kiwis. They have endured enormous hardship this year. They have been locked out of their country. Many of them have been unable to return, and I want to pay tribute to them for their fortitude and the enormous bravery that many of them have shown at this time of very difficult circumstances. Managed isolation and quarantine is the monolithic, bureaucratic State at its very worst. Devolving to bureaucrats discretionary decisions about life and death, about funerals, about medical treatment—it is horrific. There has to be a better way, and, in fact, there is a better way.

Can I also pay particular tribute to the split migrant families. I think we will look back in a few years’ time on this part of our history with immense shame, because this Government oversaw a situation where people who moved to this country in good faith were then split apart—due to ministerial incompetence, or malice, or both—from their families when the solution was staring them right in the face, and it’s to the tribute of our newly promoted immigration spokesperson, Erica Stanford, that people who would probably have just retreated into the shadows had their stories told. And it is to the Government’s immense shame that they have not fixed those problems.

We started the year with no COVID in New Zealand, and we ended it with Delta spreading in our community. It’s been a tough year. It was not the year of the vaccine; the second half of the year was—the second half of the vaccine—but we actually wasted the opportunities that we had left to us from the good work of New Zealanders in 2020 at the start of this year.

It’s been a tough year for the National Party, but this seems to happen in Opposition. I’m heartened by the fact that the Labour Party took eight years and 10 months to get it together before they won Government. We’ve gone through our dramas in four years, and the good news: we’ve expedited the process, we’ve gone through all the various permutations, and we’ve expedited the process.

I just say to Labour: what will they campaign on in two years’ time? They won’t be campaigning on housing, because housing is out of control. They won’t be campaigning on child poverty, because it’s up, not down. They won’t be campaigning on a wealthier New Zealand, because the forecasts out in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update show that over the next two years, New Zealanders will get poorer, in real terms. And good luck to the Labour Party at the 2023 election campaigning on a record of success that isn’t there. New Zealanders are pretty tolerant people; they give Governments three years. They don’t typically give them six unless they can point to a record of achievement.

For a libertarian like me, this year has been tough. We have given the Government enormous power. The big issue of 2022 is going to be: at what point do the mandates stop, at what point do we stop dividing New Zealanders, at what point do we start coming together as a country again? They can’t go on for ever, we can’t continue to divide New Zealanders—we’re going to need some answers from the Government next year.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise with a degree of trepidation to make my final contribution in the House for the year of 2021. I do so because every day this year that I’ve tried to take a day off, something related to COVID-19 has happened and I’ve ended up having to come to work. I’m about to try and take two weeks off, and I’m not sure exactly what that’s going to involve, but I certainly hope it doesn’t involve having to come into work for COVID-19, because, frankly, I think New Zealanders all want a bit of a break over the summer, and they absolutely deserve it.

Normally, I would engage in a bit of dad jokes and bad jokes like everybody else has done in this debate. You’ll be relieved to know I’m not going to do that this year—

💬 Hon Members: Aw!

—because I do want—well, there have been enough bad jokes already today. But I do want to spend my time with some very sincere and some very real thanks. So I want to start with some very real thanks to every one of the 90-plus percent of New Zealanders who has been fully vaccinated. This is the year of the vaccine, and it has been the year of the vaccine. We have 90-plus percent of eligible New Zealanders fully vaccinated. If you’d told me that that was what we were going to end the year with back in February or March, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. That is an incredible result. It puts us in a very, very strong position heading into summer and heading into the new year. I want to thank Kiwis for doing their part in the fight against COVID-19.

I want to genuinely say once again, as I have done many times in the House already this year, a very big thankyou to the people of Auckland. I could have made a lot of jokes at Aucklanders’ expense, perhaps, in an end-of-year debate but actually, Aucklanders have really taken one for the team this year. They have really done everything that we asked them to do, and the fact that we are seeing those case numbers trending down now, despite opening up and despite giving people more and more freedom, that is a tribute to what Aucklanders have achieved, and the entire country is indebted to the people of Auckland. We say thank you to them.

I do want to acknowledge those New Zealanders who are abroad, or whose families have been separated or who have been separated from their loved ones by the global pandemic. The global pandemic isn’t over yet, and I acknowledge that that is incredibly difficult. It is hard having people who you care about separated by border restrictions. It has been for the entire length of the pandemic, and I acknowledge that during that time there have been a variety of competing complaints about the Government’s approach: we’ve been too soft, we’ve been too hard; we haven’t opened up fast enough, we’ve opened up too fast. There’s been a whole variety of things. What I can say to those New Zealanders is that all of the way through, the Government has tried to prioritise the public health of all New Zealanders.

Speaking to New Zealanders abroad overseas, I acknowledge the difficulties that the border closures have created for them. But I also acknowledge, when I speak to them, that they’re quite proud of what New Zealand has achieved as a country when it comes to our response to COVID-19. They want to come home because they see this as a good place to be. If we had not had those border restrictions in place for much of the last year and a half or so, then we wouldn’t be in the position that we are in now. That has been one of the most difficult balances that we have had to face.

The Leader of the Opposition said earlier on that members of the Government look tired. I can only speak for myself in that regard, but, yes, it’s been a very tiring year and I am tired and I am looking forward to some time off. Chris Bishop talked about the extraordinary powers that the Government has. Yes, we do have extraordinary powers and I am the person who has to sign those. That is one of the reasons why I’m tired, because I take that responsibility very, very seriously. If you think that someone in this role should not be tired at the end of the year that we have had, then you’d be thinking that that’s not the sort of person that you would want in the job, because I do think a lot at night about the people who are separated by the border restrictions, about the people in Auckland whose businesses have been going to the wall. Those things have a very real consequence, and I absolutely acknowledge all of those people.

The final people that I want to thank, because everybody else has gone through the catalogue, but very few people ever stop and really spend time thanking the families of all members of Parliament, regardless of what side of the House they are on. We get the bouquets, the accolades, the brickbats, all of that feedback that we get; seldom do our family members get acknowledged for the enormous sacrifices they make so that we can do what we do. So I want to thank my own family for what has been undoubtedly an incredibly challenging year for us. Actually, I won’t say anything more about that, but I do want to acknowledge the families of members of Parliament. We can only do what we do because of the support that they provide to us, and I hope that they will enjoy the fact that for at least maybe a month or so, we’ll be around a little bit more and we will, hopefully, be able to give them the attention that they deserve.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, it’s Christmas time, almost, and, in the spirit of Christmas, I think it’s really important to acknowledge some of the members opposite. I think in the spirit of Christmas, I should take some time in this contribution to single out all of those members who have made a significant contribution, who have worked extremely hard, who’ve given this year everything that they’ve got, and to wish them a very relaxing break. So, to that end, I’d personally like to wish Chris Hipkins a very restful holiday period—it’s not your fault, mate; you’re the only one.

It’s been a really busy year. It’s been a year of ups and it’s been a year of downs. I have been extremely fortunate and I am very humble and very grateful to have jumped up 18 places in our caucus line-up, but I have to acknowledge that it’s not all been positive. There are two sides to every coin. For every positive, there is a negative, and I actually looked it up. It turns out that it’s science—Newton’s third law; for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction—and the downside of my success has been felt in opposite and equal measure by Minister Faafoi, who fell 18 places in the mood of the boardroom this year. Mate, it’s just science—I’m sorry to say it’s just science—or it may be the fact that you singlehandedly destroyed the immigration system; I’m not sure. But fortunes change, my friend, and I’m sure yours will too soon—very soon.

I have been thinking about members opposite and what they’ll be doing during the break. Robertson on the beach, dreaming up more plane puns to try and bring down our leader; Anna Lorck sipping Berocca at the side of the pool, thinking about one day when she may reach the dizzying heights of being able to ask a patsy of Grant Robertson on what reports he may have seen, although I suspect that she’s quite happy with the dizzying heights that she’s already at; or Nash spending all summer pumping iron, getting in peak physical condition in preparation for his very important event—his third booster shot.

But I want to leave this House with something to think about during the summer break. It’s an amazing story of a bunch of individually brilliant but somewhat underperforming people who’ve failed to work as a team. Their individual ambitions and their need to outshine each other got in the way of success. Winning was a distant dream. But along comes a truly brilliant and inspirational leader who has never before seen this environment, who’s had to learn the ropes really fast, and who’s had to find his way in a brand new and unknown territory. But with the help of a brilliant woman by his side, he takes his exceptional leadership skills, his ability to mould underperforming teams and build them into high-performing machines—he takes this somewhat ragtag bunch on a journey of transformation and on to incredible success, success beyond their wildest dreams. It’s an important, inspirational tale of ruling a line under the past, turning a page, or, you could say, starting a new season, and that season is season three of Ted Lasso, starting on Apple TV+ in February next year.

I want to finish up my contribution in this debate just by acknowledging some people this year. I want to acknowledge the people that I have worked with to raise the issue of split migrant families—so the people who are involved with the Migrants NZ website and the Reunite Families website, to Anna and to Charlotte and to Katie and all of those immigration lawyers and agents who have dedicated their time to highlight some of these issues.

They’ve taken court action. They’ve spent time with me trying to get the stories of these migrants up. It’s been a really long, hard couple of years for these migrants, and they are staring down the barrel of another year apart from their families.

We see again from this Government more and more workers being allowed in through border exceptions, who can bring their families almost immediately, and yet people who have been here for nearly three years and who have been working hard in roles that require them to get up in the middle of the night and to man our borders, who work in the IT sector or on our dairy farms, who have been separated from their children for—this will be their third Christmas, and I just want us to think about that. As Chris Bishop said earlier, it has been a stain on this Government’s record that we have done nothing for them in the 18 months to two years that they’ve been separated from their families.

So to all of those people who have helped me to raise their stories, to raise the issue, and to get some of the wins that we’ve had for teachers and nurses, there is a lot more to be done, and I look forward to working with you over the next few months to try and get more resolutions. Happy Christmas.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak on this, the adjournment debate for 2021.

I’d like to start by thanking all those essential workers. To me, the phrase “essential worker” is actually a tautology. All workers are essential, whether they’re deemed as such by the Government or not. I refer to those, of course, within Parliament who enable all of us to do our jobs and, of course, all around New Zealand as well.

Particularly, I’d like to thank a number of different categories of people. To all those who keep the lights on, keep the place clean and so on, please know that your work is noted and appreciated, even if we do not always see you and have the opportunity to thank you directly. To those in the select committees, the clerks, the advisers—they have provided such great support—for your keeping on the lights of democracy in this place again in 2021, we thank you for that work.

Specifically to my colleagues on the Regulations Review Committee, we’ve had to reckon with a lot of clauses this year. Thankfully, with the conclusion of the meeting now taking place, the only “clause” that you’ll have to deal with for a while is Santa! So good luck and have a wonderful break over the Christmas period.

To our colleagues in offices throughout New Zealand, the electorate and community offices as well as here physically in Parliament, we thank them. From a personal perspective, and noting others who have been in lockdown across the country, particularly in Auckland, but other places too, we note the burden of working from home and trying to juggle the commitments that each of us have in our individual lives, as well as trying to provide the best possible service to our constituents, the good people of New Zealand.

I do also want to pay particular tribute, while I have the opportunity to express some gratitude, to the men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). I felt very grateful to represent them and veterans in the sense of being Opposition spokesperson. I’m very pleased that that portfolio representation is in the very good hands of my friend and colleague Tim van de Molen, an army reserve officer, and I know that he will engage strongly with the Government to hold their feet to the fire on such an important aspect for our country. I acknowledge all of those who serve in uniform, including the police, who along with our NZDF friends are in the Solomon Islands right now, as well as keeping New Zealanders safe up and down this land. To those who have deployed there and also in Afghanistan this year, as well as other places around New Zealand, thank you for your service.

I also want to acknowledge others who inhabit this building who also have an important role to play in democracy: the fourth estate. To the press gallery, I say with you and your colleagues having received some $55 million of Government largesse on behalf of the taxpayer this year, but noting the press gallery party is about to get under way, thank you very much. It’s your shout!

Team, I also do want to just acknowledge the fact that we have a large number of Aucklanders today able to go across the country; those not fortunate enough to be designated “essential workers” as MPs inexplicably are. I say today that there will be many Jaffas rolling down these aisles and I wish them all the best. But also to those left behind, those trying to make a living in Auckland who have been doing it really tough, whether workers or the owners of businesses, I say to you: please hang in there, do your best to survive well and prosper into the new year. I know that it has been a really difficult year for you, as well as our fellow Kiwis in the South Island, who have had considerable restrictions, notwithstanding less COVID-19, and, of course, all those in between as well.

I do want to finish on a note that does acknowledge and engage the fact that we in the National Party have had a year that is ending well for us. But as always, in this place, there are ups and downs and there are bumps and scrapes. But I feel very optimistic that the important constitutional role of the Opposition will be performed very strongly by us going into the new year. We have cause for optimism with a leader who we were told, quite rightly, came here with no baggage. Ordinarily, for someone who runs an airline, to be forced to admit they have no baggage is generally not a good thing. But, actually, in the case of our leader, Christopher Luxon, he is a breath of fresh air and I believe that he will lead us strongly into the new year in Opposition. But soon enough, that plane will be not only having taken off now but it will be due to land in the Beehive, and we are right on schedule to land in 2023.

To my colleagues, then, in the National Party, as well as colleagues across the House from all the different parties, I say thank you for your efforts this year. I’ve enjoyed engaging with all of you in all the different ways that we do in this place. To each of you, then, as well as your respective constituents and the good people of New Zealand, I say have a good break now and we look forward to doing business and doing battle with you in 2022. For now, thank you and merry Christmas to you all.

Fa‘afetai tele lava, Mr Speaker. It is always an honour to speak in this House, even more so today in my first adjournment debate, and to hold the torch on behalf of the class of 2020 and our Labour colleagues.

In preparing for this debate, the analytical person that I am, I looked at previous adjournment debates. There are common elements that run over all of them, such as the House’s gratitude for and acknowledgment of the staff and people that keep Parliament and our electorate offices ticking. To the library, security, the cleaners, IT teams, the press gallery, the Office of the Clerk, Parliamentary Service, Ministerial Services, and the team here in Copperfield’s, I echo those same sentiments today—thank you.

Probably the biggest difference I noticed, though, was not so much the content of the speeches but, actually, who was delivering them from the opposite side as the Leader of the Opposition. In the adjournment debate of 2017, it was Bill English; adjournment debate 2019, Simon Bridges; adjournment debate 2020, Judith Collins; and now, in the adjournment debate for 2021, Christopher Luxon. Just in case the trend continues, I offer my congratulations to the Leader of the Opposition and his deputy leader, Nicola Willis. We worked together and against each other on the Finance and Expenditure Committee, which may explain why, when they were asked by Newshub who from across the House they would pick for their team, they both identified me. Now, when I raised this slightly scary and alarming proposition with my chief whip, he responded very quickly with, “Mate, well, it’s no surprise—they’re looking for talent.”, to which I then added, “And diversity.” Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I am the Labour MP for Mana, so talofa.

But where my thanks does lie is with the hundreds and thousands of Kiwis who are working on the front line of the COVID-19 response, and this is where the true talent and skills lie, and it is with the diversity of their approach that we are seeing some of highest vaccination rates in the world. I look at the response in my electorate of Mana and the response of the two DHBs here in Wellington. Overall, 91 percent of people in our region are fully vaccinated, and 90 percent of Māori in the Capital and Coast DHB are fully vaccinated, and the Pacific are not far away at 85 percent. We’ve had Māori-, Pacific-, youth-, church-, sport-, workplace-, and marae-based festivals. We’ve had Super Saturday, mobile vans and buses, Q and A sessions with gangs and their whānau, in-home vaccinations for those in transitional housing, mental health clients, in courts, and even people in police cells.

This is not unique to Mana, though. Like many other members of this House who have been on the ground, our vaccination teams and organisers are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the vaccine in accessible to our communities. This is called prevention first. The people of Cannons Creek, Tāmaki-makau-rau, and Te Tai Tokerau are the real heroes, not the villains, of our COVID-19 response, despite the claim of some of the members opposite. We appreciate our vaccination teams. We see you and we appreciate you. We appreciate the hard work of our formidable Prime Minister, her Ministers, their officials, and our research teams.

Another common element in adjournment debates is the highlights of the year, so I ask the class of 2020 what their highlights were, and let’s see how many I can rattle off: the Dawn Raids apology; banning conversion therapy; Māori wards legislation; investment in papa kāinga housing and infrastructure; the Ministry for Disabled People, and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities; a pathway to residence for 165,000 migrants; minimum wage and benefit increases; sick leave reforms; the health reforms; pay equity for early childhood education; property and classroom upgrades for hundreds of schools; Budget increases to support our most vulnerable, including the reintroduction of the training incentive allowance, lunches in schools, and free period products; funding of the changes to HPV screening for cervical cancer; the sexual violence bill passing; Dr Anae Neru Leavasa’s TikToks and, one of my personal favourites, baby James; and our COVID economic response and recovery package. We know there is still more work to do, but this year we believe we have supported and introduced meaningful change that will general improve the lives of New Zealanders.

The last common element of adjournment debates, I notice, is that of song and remembrance. We remember all those close to us and those who stood in this House, such as the Rt Hon Sir Michael Cullen, who has passed: ia manuia lau malaga.

It is the lyrics of this particular song that I believe describe our Labour caucus, our focus, and our approach.

Tūtira mai ngā iwi,

Come together as one,

Whāia te māramatanga,

me te aroha

Seek after knowledge,

and love of others,

Kia tapatahi,

Kia kotahi rā

Tātou tātou e

Think as one,

Act as one

All of us.

Nō reira, manuai le Kirisimasi ma le tausaga fou. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones.

Members, I would like to make a few concluding comments. This is the fifth occasion that I’ve done it, and I’ll note that in all the time I’ve been in Parliament, there’s only been one Speaker who’s actually done more than that.

I want to thank members for their contributions to Parliament this year and to give a few facts, which might surprise some people as being important at this stage of the discussions. The Parliament sat for 85 sitting days on 83 calendar days. We had 404-and-a-bit hours of normal sittings, 26 hours of extended sittings, 66 hours of urgency, for a total of 487 hours. Sixty-one bills passed, 186 petitions presented, 985 oral questions asked, of which 972 went to Ministers, and there have been a grand total of 58,068 written questions. I’m not going to vouch for the answers for all of those.

I do want to acknowledge the hard work of the staff of the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk during especially challenging times. The pandemic has had an impact on the whole country, and very much so on the Parliament. We have survived both last year and this year without becoming a vector for the disease, and that is something that I’m particularly proud of, and I’m proud of all of the people in this House and who work for the place, because we must be one of the highest risk areas for spreading it around the place. I do want to note that I don’t quite have the same optimism for next year, but, given the very high level of vaccination within the buildings, I think that some of the effects will be much less than they might have been.

I want to pay a special thanks to the cleaning staff. Both during the times we don’t see them and the times that we do, they have been people who have been working extra hard to keep us safe.

I want to acknowledge my fellow presiding officers, Adrian Rurawhe, who’s not with us again today because he is getting his eyesight lined up again. Adrian, both right at the beginning of the time he was a presiding officer, when he was dealing with Jami-Lee Ross, and very recently when he was dealing with Willie Jackson, has shown an ability and a strength and an authority and an understanding of the rules, which I think is superb. I think I’ve missed three days this year, and I do watch the videos of the question times, and I might say that I think Adrian probably does a better job than I do. [Applause] Yeah, thank you.

I want to say that we hope to see more of the Hon Jenny Salesa next year than we did this year. We missed her a lot. I tell you, it makes a big difference to a rotation if you have four people rather than three actually involved in your roster for chairing the House. We missed Jenny. And as far as Jacqui is concerned, I want to thank her for all her work and say that some people get stuff that they don’t deserve, and recently Jacqui has certainly been in that category.

I want to say it’s been a hard year. People know that there was some stuff earlier in the year which was uncomfortable, and I’m not going to make any more comments about that. I do want to say that for me, losing my closest colleague and a very good friend—Michael Cullen—and watching him die was not easy, but also what his death emphasised to me is how hard it has been for New Zealanders’ to handle the pandemic. It is only today, when he died in August, that his children can meet up with his wife. I saw the video of his hearse going past the end of the street when they could not have a ceremony. That’s been tough for New Zealanders, and the separations have occurred in New Zealand at really important times, and I think that’s something some of us lose sight of. I just want to say thank you to Anne for her strength in that and her determination to work hard in her area to keep it COVID-free.

I want to acknowledge the comment about the media. I think they act with incredible integrity—probably with a couple of exceptions. I do want to acknowledge Tova O’Brien leaving. Tova’s first big hit as a television journalist was set in Naenae and it involved some tickets to Homegrown being resold.

💬 Simon O’Connor: What happened to that guy?

She got a very good hit, and I got pretty embarrassed. But the thing that I really want to acknowledge is that in her time here, Tova had the choice of probably the biggest parliamentary story possible or a member’s mental health, and she chose not to go for the hits and the soundbites. She decided to do the right thing, and I want to thank her for doing that. It’s not easy and it’s not the way the media works, and I just want to acknowledge a truly professional and compassionate journalist, even if I disagree with her on quite a few issues.

I want to acknowledge the Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, and I just want to say that I stand beside him in recent matters. There are often things that people do not understand. There is quite often one side of things played out in the media, rather than all the facts being available, and I want to say that we as members must finish the implementation of our code of conduct very early next year, because we have failed to make the progress that we should have on that, and I think all of us have to take some responsibility for that. If we want this place to be a place where we can be proud of having people work, then we’ve got some work to do ourselves.

I want to thank David Wilson and his team for their thoroughly professional work. Andie Lindsay, who people know that I think actually runs the place, because if there is ever a question to do with something important here, if Andie doesn’t know the answer, she’ll find out in about two minutes, and she is a very special woman.

I want to thank the office staff in my office who’ve been there through the year. Roland, who I think found it quite hard to do his job from in his office, and Jessie Manning, who has been superb in leading that area.

I want to thank the security team. They have a much harder job than they used to have. We have had a churn. I think we’ve got a very professionally led team with quite a lot of renewal and people who are doing a very good job. I also want to thank the team that work in cybersecurity, and there’s stuff that we can’t talk about, but they have been working exceptionally hard this year on our behalf.

I want to thank the Chamber staff, the education team, the guides who haven’t had quite as much to do, and the select committee staff. I want to thank the Copperfield’s staff, and just indicate that for some reason I appear to be the only person in the buildings who can’t get my order in on time for “Doughnut Day”. And looking down, it’s probably good for me that that is the case.

I want to thank the Business Committee, which I think has worked well through the year. It’s a model committee that I talk about, and when I talk to colleagues internationally, we do run our Parliament in a much more multi-partisan way as a result of having those discussions and most of the time reach an agreement. So I want to thank Chris Hipkins for his work as Leader of the House. He does have a big workload, but the House does work very smoothly.

I do want to say a special thanks to the whips and the musterer, led by Kieran McAnulty on the Labour team. Jan Logie does superb work from the Greens, and is, for me, very much a sounding board on occasions in matters of how this place works. Brooke van Velden, who sort of reminds me a little bit—she’s the whip. She’s almost like the deputy principal of a secondary school—you know, you have the person who’s the front-person and the person who does the work. I want to thank you, Brooke, for being the person who does the work. I want to thank Matt Doocey, and I know I’m going to work well with Chris Penk. They are both people of tremendous integrity and, for me, that is something which is very, very important. For a whip, when you say you’re going to do something, you’ve got to do it, and all of the whips I have been able to rely on for that. That has not always been the case during my career.

I want to thank members’ staff, both here and in electorate offices, especially those up in Auckland. I know that it’s been really hard there. We’re always trying to get some support in to them and do the checking in, but they have been doing a very hard set of work.

Finally, members, I want to thank you all. I wish you a happy festive season. I recommend that you get really good sleep, with a warning that if you don’t, you’ll end up looking like me. Thank you very much.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.

The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 February.

The House adjourned at 4.51 p.m.