Adjournment

on behalf of the Leader of the House: I move, That the sitting programme for 2023 be:

February 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23;

March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 28, 29, and 30;

April 4, 5, and 6;

May 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 30, and 31;

June 1, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29;

July 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27;

August 1, 2, 3, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, and 31;

September 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21;

October 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, and 31;

November 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 28, 29, and 30;

December 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21;

and that the House do now adjourn until 2pm on Tuesday, 14 February 2023.

Mr Speaker, usually an adjournment debate might begin with a commentary on the Speaker and his performance over the year, but since Trevor has departed, so has our material. Instead, I will simply thank you for your role.

Before I move on to giving a precis, as it were, for the year and saying the many thanks that must be issued across the House and across this precinct, I do want to acknowledge the MPs who sit alongside me and who sit beside me. They are fantastic advocates, they are incredible representatives of their communities, and I personally feel so well supported by each and every one of them. I thought the Deputy Prime Minister was taking it a bit far, though, when he took to standing every time I came into a room, until I realised he had actually slipped a disc. But that is indicative of the way in which many of our members have conducted themselves, putting themselves on the line at every single stage—Jamie Strange, sitting with his leg propped up in a brace, phone-calling with Georgie Dansey, our candidate who had dislocated her shoulder door-knocking. Literally, these MPs will give it their all, and I thank you—each and every one of you—for that.

As we come to the end of 2022, it would be fair to assume that the world has almost spun off its axis. We are still dealing with the impact of a pandemic as it moves from a health crisis on to being an economic one, we lost our head of State, war broke out in Ukraine, the climate crisis continues to confront us, and there was a punch-up at the Oscars. And while the magnitude of all of those events is of course vastly different, they all speak to one theme: this year has been hard. And while politics is always about solving problems, there’s never been quite so many problems presenting themselves all at once, very loudly, very impatiently—like an open bar at a parliamentary dinner break. And when faced with problems like that in politics, you have four choices. Those choices are: you can ignore them; you can blame someone else for them and then ignore them; or the National party’s preferred option, create the problems, ignore them, and then blame someone else for them; or you can do something about it. And I’m proud that this Government has never shied away from taking on issues, addressing problems that others would ignore for political expediency, finally resolving, for instance, persistent under-investment in this country.

That is why, over the course of this year and, indeed, over the course of this term, we have ticked off some major reform. We’re reforming the Resource Management Act to make our planning system faster, cheaper, and better—and I acknowledge you, Minister Parker, for the huge amount of work that has gone into that. We’ve taken on decade-old infrastructure problems—that is not a metaphor for having a debate with Damien O’Connor. We introduced fair pay agreements to make sure workers in the most vulnerable sectors get the pay and conditions they deserve without a race to the bottom.

We continued with the climate change agenda, policies that are predicted by 2030 to reduce emissions equivalent to 1.7 million cars, because, shockingly, climate change doesn’t just end if you do nothing, no matter how large your surrounding ocean is.

We’ve shaken up our health system, introducing Health New Zealand to make sure that the healthcare you receive isn’t based on where you live. We’ve increased Pharmac funding by 43 percent. We’ve kept rebuilding our health workforce, including hiring over 4,200 more nurses.

We’ve worked on our skills gap, and productivity issues, with nearly 250,000 people in trades training. Minister Hipkins has been busy, and some might say the similarities to Steve Maharey are uncanny. We have supported our exporters to build in greater resilience, with new trade agreements set to cover almost 75 percent of our exports, and we reached No. 1 on the Sustainable Trade Index.

While addressing these persistent issues, we’ve also supported Kiwis through what has been an incredibly tough time and a cost of living crisis, with increases to the family tax credit, the introduction of the cost of living payment, and easing pressure at the pump. We’ve expanded childcare subsidies and, of course, halved the cost of public transport, and while we don’t know what 2023 will bring, we are ready for what will come our way, because we knew COVID would carry an economic price, and we prepared for it.

But while we’re ready, I will also concede that with a busy year does come the need for a bit of a break, and a word of thanks. And so, then, to all those who work so hard to support all of us, I take this opportunity on behalf of the Labour Party to thank the many people who have supported each and every one of us.

Let me start with our electorate office teams. They do incredible work. They are our faces when we are not in our offices, and it is fair to say that in recent times they have faced greater antagonism. They do it with a smile and with a focus on service, and I know we’d all wish to acknowledge them.

We thank our parliamentary support crews: the Office of the Clerk; the team at Parliamentary Service; Ministerial Services; the Hansard team, who record the things we mean to say and the things we don’t; the cleaners; the buildings team; the staff at Bellamy’s and Copperfields, who are always there with a smile; the security staff, and the messengers—who, I’ve noticed of late, and I want to acknowledge, not only bring glasses of water and messages for MPs but deliver our babies into this House, and for this extension to the job description, I acknowledge you and thank you for your care of each of us.

Our executive support team: the sign language interpreters, who are so patient on a Monday afternoon waiting for that post-Cabinet script that comes five minutes before delivery—they are always here, ensuring that all New Zealanders hear our messages, our debate, our kōrero—the IT and sound technicians, the press gallery. We acknowledge you and thank you for your work—and of course, Mr Speaker, to you and the role that you play.

And one final special mention to the near constant companion on overseas trade missions that I’m not sure I wanted or deserved: two human-sized kiwifruit, otherwise known as the “Kiwi Brothers”, because perhaps we all need a few more humans dressed as fruit in our lives. To all of you—to all of you—I say thank you, and I wish you a wonderful break.

I want to finish by ending with a memory that will be a highlight for me this year. We’re always asked, “What were your highs and what were your lows?” Politics is about addressing problems, but sometimes it is also about progress too. One of my abiding memories of this year will be standing on the balcony at Te Papa on a morning that I can only describe as a fresh morning, to welcome in the Māori New Year. This is not a new event or occasion for many, but it was the first time we marked it as a nation together. As I saw people gathered together on the forecourt of that place and then congregating later that evening for the many fireworks displays that occurred around the country, including here in Wellington, it felt like we were both taking a moment of pause in a long journey that is building and recognising our unique place in this world and who we are as people.

So, as we close out the year, my final reflection is this: we are an amazing country on a journey. We have faced our fair share of challenges, but we rise to them every time and we keep making progress. And next year, we will do the same; 2023 is full of uncertainty, but we know enough about our position and our resolve to know we will come through stronger than most—and we will, and continue to have, a focus on our people throughout. As we launch into 2023 clear-eyed on what lies ahead, I can assure you, you will have a team on this side of the House that has never lost sight, and will never lose sight, of why we are here and who we are here for, and who has never ever shied away from a challenge, whether our bodies are broken or not. But for now, to every New Zealander and to every member of Parliament in this House, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Kia ora.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Speaker, I have to say that, actually, Christmas for the National Party came early for us this year, and that was your appointment to the speakership being that very reason. It’s not because you’re partisan; it’s because you’re not partisan that we like you so much. I want to say thank you to you for the way that you’ve presided over this House and thank you for your belief that grown-up MPs can actually have a little bit more robustness in this House. You have certainly brought back a lot of mana and a lot of life to this great House, that is so important to New Zealand. So thank you.

On behalf of National MPs, I also want to join with the Prime Minister to thank your presiding officers and all the messengers. I want to thank the Clerk of the House and his team and all the select committee staff, all of the Parliamentary Service, including IT, payroll, and the travel office, the great folk at Copperfields—here’s hoping that the new catering arrangements continue with cheese scones, because this place, frankly, runs on them. I do want to thank all of our cleaners, I want to thank all of our VIP drivers who do an incredible job. A big thankyou to the press gallery as well. It’s not every day that I get to express my gratitude to you, but can I say thank you for your efforts in doing an important job, which is explaining what happens in this place to the good people of New Zealand. Thank you to the Parliamentary Library staff who are so diligent and so helpful. Thank you to the security teams that are here, and also a very special thank you to the security, police, and other personnel that kept us safe and managed the unprecedented protest outside this place earlier in the year.

To my incredibly hard-working deputy, Nicola Willis, can I just say thank you very much for everything that you do for me and for our party. To all of the National Party caucus, to all of our amazing staff in this building and across our electorate offices, thank you for your commitment and all of your hard work. It has certainly been a great year for the National Party.

And to all the partners and to all the families of all the MPs here in Parliament, merry Christmas, because you alone understand the sacrifices that your role involves and that allows each and every one of us actually to be here in this place. So, finally, let me say to all National, Labour, ACT, Green, and Te Paati Māori MPs, I wish you all a very merry Christmas.

Now, I can’t promise, on this side of the House, that, as we think about New Year’s resolutions, we will be quieter in this House—especially when I think about Simeon Brown. But I have a few New Year’s resolutions that I thought some other MPs might consider for 2023. And I wanted to start with the Prime Minister, because I wondered what Jacinda Ardern would make as her New Year’s resolution. And I think yesterday she showed us the way. She showed us that she rightfully gets a bit of a bad rap for being all spin, no delivery. But yesterday she showed us she can be refreshingly to the point, and we want to encourage her to keep that up in 2023 because this year we truly would have loved to have heard what she really thought about Gaurav Sharma, what she really thought about Nanaia Mahuta’s entrenchment provisions, and what she really thought about Grant Robertson’s cost of living payment going to dead people.

The next resolution is really to the leader of my fan club, Grant Robertson. I just want to say I am so flattered and it is so thoughtful that you care so much about me. And I do want to say, please do keep up the name checking of me in 2023, because the more you’ve done it, the better we’ve done in the polls. Just keep it going, please. That would be fantastic. And, of course, everyone makes a New Year’s resolution about sticking to their budget, and I just would encourage Grant to try that again. He hasn’t done it for the first six years, but, hopefully, this is his last and first time to be able to do it.

Of course, Chris Hipkins will be resolving to become the Labour Party’s next leader, Kiri Allan will be resolving to become Labour’s next leader, and Michael Wood will be resolving to become Labour’s next leader too, and I think Michael has the jump on everyone because he started his campaign by pork-barrelling his Labour MPs with transport funding. The question is: have I missed anyone? And, of course I’ve missed Kelvin Davis, the deputy leader of the Labour Party. He’ll be resolving to get noticed in 2023. I’d say to you that Nanaia Mahuta doesn’t need to resolve to be Labour’s next leader because she’s already running the caucus—at least until the next reshuffle. And to Ingrid Leary and to Glen Bennett and to Shanan Halbert and to Anna Lorck and to Helen White, they’ll be resolving to be on select committees that don’t involve any legislation from Nanaia Mahuta.

Andrew Little will be resolving to get a new phone because every overworked emergency department nurse has been giving out the number for the old one, and Jan Tinetti is resolving to make every school day a big day. Of course, the biggest day would be if we could actually get our kids to school, so keep working on that. Willie Jackson, I have to say thank you so much for the entertainment this year. We have absolutely loved it on this side of the House. And we know, on your side, your colleagues have privately loved it too. And I thought that in 2023, you should resolve to come up with just one good reason why the Government should merge RNZ and TVNZ. But I think we’ve got to be honest; Jacinda Ardern’s going to shoot it before you even attempt to try and sell it again. To Damien O’Connor in 2023, how about resolving to stand up for the farming sector instead of destroying it? Just a thought. To Stuart Nash, I hope that in 2023 you find a political party where you can finally truly feel at home.

Now, David Seymour—I was thinking about a New Year’s resolution for David, but I have to say, after the savagery from the Prime Minister yesterday, I think all you need, mate, is a big hug and some kindness.

And, I guess, over at the Green Party, James Shaw’s going to be resolving to change the Greens’ rules for 2023 so that next year, even though he supports reusing and recycling, he doesn’t have to be thrown out before he’s reappointed as the co-leader again.

And to Rawiri and Debbie, can we just say that you may have seen that National’s now on TikTok. We’re much nicer than you on social media, but you still beat us in the dancing stakes, so keep it up for 2023.

So our own resolution, of course, in the National Party for 2023 is pretty simple. It’s about keeping talking about our plans to help New Zealanders and their families be able to get ahead. What I can tell you is that it doesn’t include supporting Labour’s pet ideological projects, whether it’s the merger of TVNZ and RNZ, whether it’s building light rail in Auckland, or whether it’s about building mega-bureaucracies for three waters—sorry, five waters, as it currently is.

💬 Simeon Brown: Six if you count they’ve been drinking.

Yeah. It will be about talking about the things that frankly matter most to Kiwis, and there are five things.

The first is we’ve got an economy going backwards. It is alarming to think that inflation is going to get higher, interest rates are going to continue to go through the roof, we’re facing a recession, and ultimately we’ve got rising unemployment. But don’t worry; apparently it’s going to get sorted next year, because the Prime Minister, now, is going to focus exclusively on the economy and that will be just great.

We’ve got a health system literally falling apart before our eyes. Every single health metric in this country has gone backwards over the last five years, and we’ve had a Government that’s frankly too stubborn and too arrogant to admit that it got it wrong on migrant nurses. The questions you’ve got to ask are: how many nurses went to other countries? How many nurses left our healthcare sector because they were overstretched and overworked? And how many Kiwis had to wait longer to get on an emergency department wait-list, a surgery wait-list, or to see a first specialist?

We’ve got record-low education attendance and academic achievement. How do we call this a developed country with only 40 percent of our kids going to school regularly and 100,000 chronically absent from school? And we know the difference being at school makes in terms of academic achievement, and that’s been woeful this year as well.

We have a housing crisis that, frankly, is much, much worse under this Government, lower homeownership, weekly rents up $150, a fourfold increase in people on the State house wait-list, 4,000 kids waking up in motels today, and a fourfold increase in people living in cars.

We have rapidly rising levels of crime, where people are feeling unsafe in their own homes and their own businesses and their own communities. And we’ve got a soft-on-crime Government whose only justice metric is to reduce the prison population by 30 percent, and that would be fine if crime was going down, but it’s not. Violent crime is up 20 percent, we’ve got gang membership up 50 percent, and we have a ram raid happening in this country every 15 hours.

So, Mr Speaker, what I say to you is these are the things that matter most to New Zealanders; these are the things that they care about—not Wellington beltway ideological things that the Labour Party spends too much time talking about and debating and infighting about inside their party. But New Zealanders see through it. They know the country is totally, utterly, completely going in the wrong direction, they know they need a National–led Government to turn New Zealand around, and they know they need to get things done.

But, first of all, we have a holiday in front of us, and I want to say to all of us, may the sun shine on you wherever you are. Enjoy your break. Merry Christmas. We look forward to seeing you back here in 2023.

I just texted my whānau to ask if they would watch this speech, and my daughter told me that the granddaughter doesn’t want to stop watching Cocomelon, so, hopefully, they’ll watch the replay.

I’ve been sitting here listening to Mr Luxon and thinking how unusual it is to have an end-of-year speech delivered by the same National Party leader who was in place last year. Like the buffet at Copperfields, the National Party’s ever-changing leadership has become a feature of this Parliament, and I hope the chefs upstairs in the Opposition offices do come up with a new menu soon. If they need inspiration, if they need recipes that reflect the true flavour of Aotearoa in 2022, I am very happy to invite them to a proper Christmas barbecue in my South Auckland garage.

But, actually, with all respect to the catering staff here at Parliament, thank you for keeping us fed. Thank you to the cleaners, the library researchers, the messengers, the Chamber staff, the travel booking team, finance, the maintenance team, the IT support team, our esteemed press gallery, and all who keep this place running for us and for the country. Thank you to the people in our offices who work tirelessly and passionately to keep the Green Party parliamentary machine going.

I want to make special mention of the security team and everyone who worked alongside them at the start of this year as they kept us safe through what was an extremely difficult period of protests here at Parliament. And a mihi to the gardeners who are always looking after our nature outside and our plants inside our offices, and who painstakingly replanted all of that lawn. The Green Party is not usually a huge fan of imported vegetation monocultures, but seeing tamariki playing out there in the sun yesterday warmed even our steely conservationist hearts. To be serious for a moment, I hope we never again see that kind of surface violence at the centre of our democracy, and I realise that we have deep mahi to do together to address underlying systemic issues for a more cohesive Aotearoa.

But, despite all its challenges, 2022 has also had some moments worth celebrating, especially in this place. It’s important to look to what is awesome. As we rise for the summer break, it is super cool that this year we finally put into law the respect and recognition that Matariki deserves as our indigenous public holiday for Aotearoa. Congratulations to everyone getting that across the line.

And as I look around the Chamber today, I want to acknowledge that this is the year that for the first time ever, 50 percent of this House are wāhine. Now, this is an important step towards 75 percent women; we, the Greens, would even settle for 60 percent, at which point the Greens would entrench it. [Laughter] I thought that might get a bigger laugh, but that’s OK. You know, this is us literally making fun of ourselves, whānau, go ahead.

In the Green Party’s ministerial portfolios, there have been milestone achievements with far-reaching consequences. We have delivered Aotearoa New Zealand’s first ever intergenerational plan to eliminate family violence and sexual violence, a plan that brings together Government agencies, tangata whenua, service providers, and communities to create a stronger, violence-free reality for everyone.

We have delivered the very first emissions reduction plan, a plan that will drive the many changes we need to make in the transition to a stable, thriving Papatūānuku for our mokopuna. The emissions reduction plan is symbolic of the Green Party vision: people, nature, and climate. In so many cases, the actions in the plan come with the happy coincidence of also making people’s lives better: cleaner air, warmer homes, safer and cheaper transport, more-liveable cities—the list goes on. When it comes to climate change action, the kōrero, the conversation, in Aotearoa has moved from “Why do we need to do this?” to “What is the strongest way we can do this?”, and the Green Party in Government has contributed to that shift, fighting for what we believe in for decades now.

We are constantly innovating in this Parliament, and constantly learning. This year, I learnt that life is like a block of Whittaker’s Miraka Kirīmi chocolate: you never know what racism you’re going to get. And I learnt what it’s like to be a solo co-leader—or, as other parties say, just a leader. By the way, congratulations James Shaw for making it quite clearly back in.

Other parties are often learning too, and we encourage all of them to keep copying our homework. From alcohol harm minimisation, to restrictions on seabed mining, to electoral reform, to protecting the Hauraki Gulf, to extending ACC cover to birth injuries, and supporting migrant workers, the Government and all political parties are more than welcome to keep picking up longstanding Green Party priorities. Next up, surely, must be no new mines on conservation land [Cheers] Yes, thank you, my colleagues—thank you.

So then, from good ideas to bad ones. I thought about basing this speech on the twelve unwanted gifts of Christmas, beginning with:

On the first day of Christmas, Chris Luxon sent to me

A boot camp for tamariki

Or perhaps:

A tax cut for the very wealthy

Or even:

A badly timed holiday in Hawai’i

I could go on, but then I wondered if these speeches are supposed to be, you know, reflecting a Christmassy time of joy and good cheer. And based on the speech that that leader just covered, I’ll stop talking about the National Party.

Speaking of good cheer, the list of good things we’ve done that ACT want to undo grows longer by the month, so thank you so much, ACT, for affirming that Aotearoa is heading in exactly the right direction! It also shows that with a strong Green presence in Government, there are more voices for people, nature, and climate, and we need more Greens in this place to keep building on that progress.

You know, if Rudolph had a green nose, I reckon Santa would do a lot better than just delivering toys to all the children in the world. He might be able to fix persistent poverty and material hardship while he’s at it, starting with a guaranteed minimum income and a warm, dry home for everyone. [Pauses to wait for a reaction] Yay! [Applause] OK.

Mr Speaker, before I conclude, I want to acknowledge the contribution you have made and continue to make in this House. Since taking on the Speakership, you have shown the strength of character and judgment that made your appointment such an obvious one for us. I want to acknowledge that you continue with the tradition already started of making sure this House is also for whānau and especially our beautiful babies and mokopuna. Have we still got that beautiful baby in here? That’s exactly what this House needs to represent.

No doubt, next year, as we approach the election, your even temperament and steady resolve will be needed all the more. In the meantime, we wish you a calm and restful summer break. And, indeed, I do extend the same good wishes to all members of the House and everyone out in our communities. This is a time of year when I hope we can all take a step back from the political cliff-face and focus on our whānau, our families, our homes, our communities, those special people and places that make this wonderful country what it is to us—I will be in Hokianga, the Hawai’i of Tai Tokerau—and let us bring the energy and spirit we draw from Papatūānuku back into this building for another year. Until then, I wish you all good health and a very happy holiday. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I really mean thank you. Normally, at this time of year I have to devote the last minute of my adjournment debate speech to castigating the Speaker for the erosion of the mana of this great House. This year, I can start my speech by genuinely thanking you for the extraordinary mana restoration project that you have carried out, making this House a place where we are very happy to be members again.

In that spirit, I now present, fresh off the press, new literature penned by somebody, shall we say, with far too much humility and far too much kindness to claim authorship. It reads:

‘Twas was the night before Christmas and all through the house,

Kiwis now can sleep easy, politicians clear out.

With our heads on our pillows, we all sigh, “At last!

For this Christmas no single new law will be passed.

No more tax on our income, no more tax on our homes.

For the first time this year, Labour leaves us alone.

We can rest in our homes and hold on to our things,

With no fear of new tax grabs this Government brings.”

But this year, Santa’s sack maybe feels slightly lighter,

With a year of new laws Labour’s signed in just to spite ya.

With the cost of our living gone up the wazoo,

We’re all doing it tough, and we feel it too.

But, this Christmas, one sack is the biggest of all:

“Greedy Grinch Grabby Grant” and his record tax haul.

When you’re squeezed at the petrol pump, though it sounds daft,

For each litre you buy, the “Grinch Labour” takes half.

For each purchase you make, they take 15 percent,

At least 15 percent of each dollar you’ve spent.

“But that’s not enough,” they say, “We must ensure

If you want booze or ciggies, you’ll pay even more.”

They scheme up new taxes, with greedy eyes shrewd;

“Our farmers make carbon, so let’s tax the food.”

It’s no wonder you’ve got so little left,

With the steep price of carbon, they’ll soon tax your breath.

So our hard-working Kiwis must learn to be tight

While the “Grinch Labour” spends on whatever’s in sight,

Bike lanes and bus lanes and Teslas for a few,

And the hard workers footing these bills—they are you.

Like the cycle bridge pipedream, which cost $50 million,

Paid for by overtaxed, suffering civilians.

And what’s your reward for this spending fixation?

Wrapped up under the tree, you’ll find record inflation.

When ACT brings this up, we get circumlocution.

The “Grinch” finds excuses where ACT finds solutions.

“But Putin, but COVID!”, the Government drools,

And are they the Grinch who stole Christmas, or the boy who cried wolf?

But Kiwis, rest easy, they’re taking a break.

This summer, your freedom is not theirs to take.

And if it seems this is too dark a reflection,

There’s one great silver lining: next year’s an election.

I give that new literature as a gift to this Parliament in the spirit of Christmas, and I’d like to now thank all of those who make our democracy possible, starting with those here in Parliament, with ACT’s fantastic staff. If you were at Harmony in the House last night, you would have seen some wonderful contributions that reflect the culture of our team: our comms team, outreach, research, and, most of all, the A-team. We have had a fantastic year with a highly engaged team, of which I’m enormously proud, not to mention those in my Epsom electorate office, who I believe are running the best electorate and community office in the country.

There are all those who work across Parliament and in the library, the messengers, the cleaners, security, the clerks, the House Office, the select committee staff, and—often forgotten—the Auditor-General, the Ombudsman, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. All those people contribute to this democracy through our Parliament.

Then there are those who make our democracy possible outside the parliamentary apparatus. I want to thank my electorate committee, particularly the likes of John Windsor, the kind of person without whom democracy is not possible. I want to thank our board, our council—not paid positions, but people that volunteer to make political parties function. Finally, our members, our volunteers, our donors—all those people that make the ACT Party not only survive but thrive and grow year after year.

I particularly want to thank those in the press gallery. It is a thankless job. This is a tough time for democracy around the world. It is a time when people are very quick to blame and too slow to believe, and, as Mark Twain, I think, once said, often it’s easier to fool someone than show that they’ve been fooled.

I believe—and I say this up and down the country—that our press gallery, under trying circumstances, are doing their best and are contributing to our democracy. However, I do have at least one gripe. For a gallery journalist who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become obvious, when reporting on ACT’s MPs, I want to make something clear: this is Nicole McKee, and this is Karen Chhour. Now, some people might understand the mistake, but, actually, I don’t, because they’ve performed extensively well, and that particular journalist—who then said, “Well, it’s hard to tell the difference.”—ought to pay a bit more attention to telling the difference. They will remain nameless for ever. Their secret is safe with me. I’m so proud of these two, and we thought we needed to point it out.

Actually, ACT’s whole team—Brooke van Velden, the No. 1 first-term MP, according to our most senior journalist. Hasn’t she grown into the role as our deputy and whip?

💬 Nicole: tough, diligent, and also a top 10 rookie. A first termer and someone who has stood up for licensed firearm owners, in spite of onerous and technical regulations.

💬 Chris Baillie: a teacher, a former cop, and a small-business owner, standing up with deep and intimate knowledge for each of those areas of society.

Simon Court produced serious policy proposals. It took a year, and it’s a big deal in terms of a genuine alternative approach to resource management in New Zealand.

James McDowall—what an effort. I’ve always recommended a bit of door-knocking, and that Hamilton West result shows that he has come of age as a politician, and ACT will be here to play next year.

💬 Karen Chhour: her fierce, passionate defence of the welfare of children is something to behold, and I’m so proud of what she has done.

And out in the country, out on the farms, out by the fence posts up and down New Zealand, there is no harder-travelling or harder-working backbench MP in New Zealand, in my view, than Mark Cameron. He will show up for the opening of a woolshed, and he frequently does.

Then there’s Toni Severin, who is quietly torpedoing numerous things that Kelvin Davis has done or, often, not done when it comes to running corrections correctly.

Then there’s Damien Smith, the Renaissance man, who is not only the best singer but one of the best financial commentators in Parliament.

I think, most importantly, that when it comes to people who make our democracy possible, I want to thank the people of New Zealand—the people who, at the moment, are facing serious challenge. Even the Prime Minister accepted it. Terrible roads, rising prices, spiralling lawlessness—the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders now tell the pollsters this country is going in the wrong direction under this country, and I want to say to those people that we hear you. We understand those challenges.

We don’t just criticise the other side, who would like to say that it’s all someone else’s fault, but we actually propose a better way forward. That is our proposition to you in 2023—not just change, because we hear you and we know that you need change, but we are proposing real change. It’s not just the same old, but a New Zealand where, once again, people who wake up to make a difference in their own lives and a difference in the lives of those that they care about can actually achieve and make and build a better tomorrow, and not be beaten down endlessly for trying to make that difference. That is the promise of ACT and our team, of which I am so proud.

All that remains is to wish all of Parliament a very merry Christmas: those I agree with, those I disagree with, those who speak to me kindly, and those who don’t. At the end of the day, there is something enormously Kiwi about the intimacy and proximity of our politics—the fact that we are ultimately all New Zealanders who put aside all personal and private interests to make sure that this great liberal, democratic, First World nation in an Island paradise has a future. To all of those people who come to work towards that dream, I wish you a very merry Christmas, time and sun with your family and friends, and all the best of luck for 2023. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai. Is it wrong that all I heard David talk about was the intimacy of Santa’s big sack?

Anyway, as we prepare to rise and go off into the sunset; to unplug; get some sleep; pat our partners, hug our dogs—or the other way around, I’m so tired I can’t remember; have mornings where we don’t have to listen to each other on the news—or worse, check out what Rawiri has just said on the news; first, I’d like to mihi to all my colleagues and their whānau.

I know you all work crazy hours and are usually committed to your communities. I see your children in here late at night—especially your newborns—your partners dropping off kai, your red-eye flights, being at kaupapa through the weekends and recess, putting your vulnerabilities into your debates, bringing your reo, your whakapapa, and growing your mātauranga Maori, your partners scrutinised—some whose partners I even reported missing.

While we can be poles apart in our policies, there is no doubt I have the privilege to be in a House full of people who truly care to serve. Our subtle changes we see being made daily, such as wearing Air Jordans and taonga instead of our ties. But how we dress is not just a fashion statement. People need to be able to see themselves reflected in their leaders, regardless of our class or culture. And I want to give a special mihi to our Speaker, Adrian Rurawhe, who wears his korowai daily, normalising our culture in the highest seat of Parliament, showing our mokopuna that they too, belong in this House. Sometimes, people forget we are human, that we are mothers, nans, fathers, papas, aunties, uncles—all of them if you’re Rawiri—and that there were times this year when we needed to look after each other, and look after each other for misinformation extremism, and I hope both Rawiri and I showed manaaki and aroha when it was needed most.

I want to also take a moment to reflect on what made the headlines. No, not bottom feeders or garages in South Auckland—although that could have been it—but New Zealand considers changing its name to Aotearoa to confront its past. The tired versus the vibe. The rise and rise of the Māori Party; kingmaking Māori Party who want to divorce the Crown—I don’t quite know how that came on. Rawiri Waititi becomes Deputy Prime Minister—I made that one up.

But, seriously, there are real headlines and I think one thing that is a privilege of being an MP, that I love about this place, is being reminded that politicians are not the be-all and end-all. Meditation teaches us that change starts within, but actually in Parliament, change comes from outside. And it must continue to come from outside, because it is those people who got us here and those who must keep us focused on kaupapa.

We must use these platforms to amplify the marginalised voices, to bring to rise the ones who write, who submit, who march, who protest, who lobby for change. So I actually want to spend the next five to six minutes celebrating those champions of change—those who hold us accountable, those who ring me at 5 a.m., 10 p.m., midnight, and those who I’m sure many of you know because most of the advocates out here are people who talk to us all.

So Whānau Ora. Over 30 Whānau Ora partners across 16 collectives delivered 240,000 Whānau Ora packs to 138,000 whānau—more than 400,000 individuals—covering more than 10 percent of the North Island. This included servicing and looking after Māori and non-Māori. And hauora, such as Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, who advocated for Māori communities to be supported when our public health system actually ignored them.

To those that we’ve seen within our Patient Voice Aotearoa, a small group who take on the large Goliaths—the Pharmacs—advocating for life-saving drugs, for those such as we met this afternoon, young Harper, James, Brianna, those who we actually agreed with and worked really hard to make sure that we don’t see our children’s health declining while the world around them gets access to treatments they can’t get.

To justice advocates like JustSpeak to those fighting to protect our ocean, to ban seabed mining, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, fisheries, Pacific parliamentarians, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Pacific Parliamentarians’ Alliance on Deep Sea Mining, Greenpeace, Child Poverty Action Group, Auckland Action Against Poverty.

And to our kīngitanga, to our National Iwi Chairs Forum. For those who have advisers such as the recently passed Tā Toby Curtis, for those in the Resource Management Act space like Dayle Takitimu, Tina Porou in the Waitangi Tribunal.

To our kapa haka leaders and those that we saw in Te Matatini who continue to spearhead and advise us to fight—Kiritapu, are you listening?—to increase the funding for Te Matatini. Those are all important kaupapa that come across all our thresholds.

Māori musicians like Stan Walker, Rob Ruha, Kāhui Rangatahi group, Ria Hall—all who fought to increase funding for musicians when COVID-cancelled events affected their ability to survive and thrive. To Māori artists, activists, creators, writers, orators, historians, the Tāme Iti who are forced to write, “I will not speak Māori” on the blackboard for their reo to be championed 50 years later. Hori artists, the talent and grace whānau.

To our tūpuna who navigated the stars for their knowledge to be recognised as a public holiday this year. To every petition that has come across the front steps, like pō Ngā Tamatoa, who championed our reo and mana motuhake to be recognised 50 years later. These are some of the true champions, activists, and politicians, and I mihi to them all so that we can remember—as we go and celebrate the year that was—how we got to be here in this place.

There are some things I do want to leave. I’m not going to sing a song. I really am impressed with some of the talent that I keep coming across here. But I would like to depart you all with a Christmas gift from Te Paati Māori, and the greatest gift a political party can possibly receive from Te Paati Māori is a compliment.

So to our Green Party, thank you for being our proxy in Parliament. Thank you for casting our votes even if you didn’t agree with them. Our apologies for turning down to vote when we didn’t tell you that we were voting. Thank you for supporting my seabed mining bill. But most importantly, thank you for being bold.

To our ACT Party, thank you for giving people reasons to vote for us and for amplifying our voices, especially in your party’s campaign to collect donations to keep us out of Parliament. But seriously, thank you for your solidarity that you have shown in Oranga Tamariki and holding Pharmac to account.

To National—where are you?—thank you for inspiring my TikTok content. It’s actually been great to be able to have something to keep TikTok-ing to. Seriously though, my last video about you, Chris, got me banned, so I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get back in. But I also have to join in congratulating you for having the same leader for the same year. So that’s a good thing for you. And also I’m happy to share parties and gift Rawiri’s garage, should you need to have that experience.

To Labour, thank you for adopting our policies—you know we’re going to say this every year. Matariki, Māori Health Authority, just to name a few. But seriously, thank you for backing kaupapa Māori to advance our cause. And the gift to our Speaker—and I think you’re going to be so excited to hear this one—Rawiri has had a year of not being kicked out of the House, and I cannot think of a better gift to give you.

I send huge aroha to our teams, and they are our teams that are upstairs. They watch TV hoping that we don’t do a Willie Jackson and talk out of line. They move to the side when the school bell rings, they do late nights, they text furiously when they tell us that we’re actually live when Rawiri’s son is telling everyone he’s in his undies. But I do mihi to you all that help us to be here. Like those champions of change, you are just as important as everyone else. And I don’t know that we ever tell you how important and valued you are.

My favourite memories for the year: one of them is at the kīngitanga and the koroneihana watching that same son who told everybody that his father was in his undies ditch us to go across the ātea and sit on the lap of the Prime Minister for a photoshoot. We are not sure whose team he’s in—we are on one team.

But also probably the most heart-warming memory that I have for this year is sitting upstairs and watching the cross-party youth MPs in this House all mihi te reo Māori and refer to honouring Te Tiriti. That’s our future.

So in the āhuatanga or tā tātou tūpuna, I hope you all rest up. I hope that you all get time and the gift of time to be with your whānau, to be able to reflect on the year, and to get ready for next year—because there’s quite a high likelihood that there’ll be more of Rawiri Waititi in 2023.

So we look forward to working with you all the next year and I’ve got a surfboard with my name on it, so do not get in my way—I am so out of shape. So ngā mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa.

💬 SPEAKER: Members, this is a split call. I call Chris Penk—five minutes.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and good afternoon to you all. I’d like to start by thanking those who have done most to make likely National’s election next year: Christopher Luxon, Nicola Willis, all of the National caucus in fact, and most of Labour’s Cabinet.

It’s been a hard year for many in this country. Doing their best to ensure Labour remain on track is an army of spin doctors, even as the number of actual doctors and the actual army get smaller and smaller. But I do want to acknowledge, actually, on a serious note, the men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force; along with police; Surf Life Saving New Zealand; St John Ambulance; firefighters, professional and volunteer alike; Coastguard; and all those others who help to keep Kiwis safe, including over the summer that we are all, hopefully, about to enjoy.

The lessons that we can learn on this side of the House from the performance of the Labour Government, these five years of failure, as we say, date back to the nine long years that they spent in Opposition—I don’t think spent very well. They were a dog chasing the car, and now it’s dogma chasing karma as the ideological chickens come home to roost.

The laws that have fared best in this place haven’t been those passed by the Government but Murphy’s law, as everything that could have gone wrong has indeed gone wrong. I think particularly, of their claim that inflation would be transitory. We were assured by the Minister of Finance that is was caused by the war in Ukraine but also that it was transitory, making us wonder how he could possibly have known that. It turned out he didn’t. In echoing Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s maxim that the only thing we need fear is fear itself, the only thing that proved transitory about inflation was Grant Robertson’s claim that inflation was transitory.

We’ve heard much, particularly from our colleague and friend Melissa Lee, about a certain merger due to take place. She’s been asking diligently all year why TVNZ and RNZ should be merged. As she has continued to ask that question and it has continued not to be answered, we grow used to the idea of a different merger taking place late next year, the new entity to be known as the left-wing Opposition. While the Government’s focused its attention on anti-competitive practices, it seems determined to make the election more competitive, and we thank them for that.

I’m at the halfway mark and I’ve got a lot of people to thank so I’ll move on quickly. I was going to say something about pot holes, but if anyone wants to hear my line on pot holes, I’ll fill them in later.

I will conclude, however, with—

💬 Simeon Brown: That’s the pot hole of the week.

—remarks—pot hole of the week, there we go. I thought very deeply about that.

I do want to thank everyone in Parliament; others, from the Prime Minister to the Leader of the Opposition onwards, have done so. It’s right to thank the cleaners; the House staff; security; buildings, as they’re known; IT; and all those others who support our endeavours in this place—you are important in allowing our democracy to function at least as well as it does. I want to thank—again, as others have done—the staff who work for our members of Parliament, the electorate and community offices no less so, you are part of Parliament, notwithstanding that you are spread across the country, of course. I’ll ask the House to indulge me by mentioning by name Cheryl, Emily, Mel, Jo, and Louis being those who I’ve worked with most closely myself. They will understand, even if no one else does, when I say that this place isn’t perfect but very often it is utopia—good show that, Utopia, by the way, I recommend binge watching that over summer.

To whips and musterers from other parties, I say thank you very much for the opportunity to work with you. To each of those people, I have greatly enjoyed that, I’ve learnt a lot about the institution of Parliament as well as a lot about the way that parties can work behind the scenes—we keep it as well-guarded a secret as possible from the public that politicians can get on behind the scenes and actually commit to making the place work as well, as it’s in the Opposition’s interest to allow it to work at least.

I also want to thank the staff and also the members of the Regulations Review Committee. Again, on a somewhat personal note, I had the privilege of serving on that important body. I think it performs a hugely important constitutional function. I also look forward to the ongoing work of the Standing Orders Committee. I think next year it would be great to have MPs around the House continue to commit to making this place the best place that it can be on behalf of the people of New Zealand.

I want to thank you, Mr Speaker, and the Office of the Clerk and all those wonderful people who work in it and for it and, therefore, for New Zealanders. You have, as others have remarked, restored great mana to and dignity the role, and we thank you for it. We wish you and all other MPs, indeed, all New Zealanders, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Mr Speaker, I want to start with acknowledgments to you as the Speaker, and just remark on how incredibly different the tone of this place is with you sitting in that Chair, and, on a personal note, say how fantastic it was to promote the South Waikato as MPs for the district earlier this year.

In this adjournment debate, it’s very easy to talk about promises not kept, like the 100,000 KiwiBuild homes—what are we at, 1,600?—the 100,000 children that were meant to be lifted out of poverty—and, actually, the number has gone up; the protests that are unlike anything New Zealand has seen. I could talk about all of the things and areas in which New Zealand is going backwards under this Government, but, actually, I think Christopher Luxon did an incredible job of laying out those areas.

So, instead, I want to focus on the areas that should unite us rather than divide us, because if anything stands out for 2022, it has been a year of divisions—fractures in our country, fractures in our communities, fractures in our families—that I think have been incredibly distressing for many, not only in this House but across our land. And I don’t think we could have a day without acknowledging the hurt and anguish that has come from those times. So I think, instead, I want to just challenge this House to think about how we can lead better, how we can unite better, how we can learn and lead the way for others.

I think one of the things that has not been something we should be proud of is the significant way that this House has resorted to playing the man and not the ball, and I don’t think that is a good measure of our democracy. We sat here in this House at 8 o’clock this morning joined by a speaker, a leader of a country that is embroiled in the fight of its life, literally. We should be reflecting on what democracy is all about, so petty politics, playing the man and not the ball, I don’t think does us any service.

Instead, if you think about what happened in Parliament last night—Harmony in the House, the many parliamentary sports that we engage in together, the cross-party groups, the friendship groups, the international visitors, the international visits that many go on—those are the parts of our Parliament that I wish more New Zealanders could see, because that is the functioning of a strong democracy and we must do everything possible to protect it.

I think it also speaks to the unique situation we have at the moment of a majority party in Government for the first time ever. I think that raises the bar and the expectations about the role of Labour in protecting our democracy as we go into the election next year. I would suggest that we should be collectively lifting the bar, and I challenge Labour to make sure it is a fair fight, because New Zealanders deserve that. So my challenge is that we play the ball and not the man next year, and we focus on protecting our democracy and focus on the people that we all individually serve, because every single one in this House came to serve the people of New Zealand. We couldn’t do it without all of the people in this building—all of our staff in the electorate offices, and, as others have mentioned, actually the volunteers in the political parties that we are all respectively part of. We can’t serve anyone without the support of those people and the families, who miss out on many occasions because we are serving our community and our country.

I want to finish by saying the cost of living crisis hurts real people, so I want to finish with a heartfelt thankyou to all of the people who are at the front line of social services, whether they work in public agencies, Government departments, or whether they work in the community, because they are the people that will be dealing with the New Zealanders who are hurt the most and challenged the most by this cost of living crisis. So I do wish everyone in this House a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and I look forward to a challenging 2023, but a fair fight, as we go into election 2023.

Mr Speaker, as I rise as the penultimate speaker in the adjournment debate for 2022 I’m reminded of the words of my good friend and colleague, Aupito William Sio, who says, “When you can smell the pork, keep it short.” So, Mr Speaker, I will endeavour to do just that.

This time last year I reflected on the year that had been 2021 and predicted that 2022 would be a better year for New Zealand than 2021 had been. This year I will make no such predictions, having learnt from my experience of last year. It is useful, though, to remember where we were this time last year as a country. Aucklanders were looking forward to the freedom of having the Auckland boundary removed. The international border was still closed and we were all looking forward to seeing it reopened. Our COVID-19 vaccination drive was continuing, this time with a focus on boosters, and Delta was still the dominant variant of COVID-19 circulating only in one part of the country at that point. A year can feel like a very long time when we reflect on where we were this time last year. COVID-19 is now with us, circulating in the community and it will continue to do so. Omicron replaced Delta early in the new year as the dominant variant. The border is now fully reopened and we are welcoming people back to New Zealand.

Importantly, I want to reflect on a few key successes from our COVID-19 response. New Zealand continues to have one of the lowest case mortality rates from COVID-19 in the world. That was not an achievement of the Government. It was not an achievement of the health system. It was an achievement of all New Zealanders, and we should acknowledge everyone who made a sacrifice in order for that to be the case. New Zealanders literally saved lives through the pandemic, like very few other countries did, and all New Zealanders played a role in that.

In fact, it’s not just COVID-19. New Zealand overall, in the last three years, during the global pandemic, has had a lower mortality rate than we have had in pre - COVID-19 times, and, again, that is a tribute to New Zealanders and what they have done. While we started 2022 with COVID-19 firmly in the minds of all New Zealanders, that is certainly not the way we are ending the year. I think that New Zealanders by the middle of the year were well and truly over the global pandemic, and that is very, very understandable.

Our economy remains very resilient despite the global effect that COVID-19 has had. We have very low unemployment—people are in work—and in the global pandemic it could easily have gone the other way. We have low Government debt—certainly lower than most of the other countries that we compare ourselves to. Government spending as a percentage of GDP is more or less back to the level that it was when we became the Government.

The Government is returning to surplus faster than last Government did after the global financial crisis. Wages continue to increase. But we do as a Government acknowledge the effect that global inflation is having on New Zealand families. In that regard we’ve boosted Working for Families helping 346,000 New Zealand families in the process. We’ve boosted superannuation to ensure that older New Zealanders can weather the storm. We deliver on a weekly basis over 1 million free school lunches every week in our schools that are helping families to get through and ensuring that kids don’t miss out on their valuable learning opportunities.

We’ve eased the pain at the pump through reductions in fuel excise. We’ve boosted student allowances. We have started the difficult job of tackling the lack of competition in our grocery market. It is not acceptable that grocery companies are profiting over a million dollars a day in excess profits and that is something that New Zealanders shouldn’t have to tolerate. We’ve backed low-paid workers, including boosting the minimum wage, and in targeted areas—for example, bus drivers to name just one area. We’ve supported a million Kiwis with the winter energy payment and we’ve rolled out the cost of living payment. Our Government is absolutely committed to supporting New Zealanders through the difficult economic cycle we are at the moment.

As the Minister of Education, I want to take a moment to reflect on the contribution of our education system and the difficulties that they have encountered this year. And I particularly want to start by thanking the parents of children who did the right thing and kept their children home when they had COVID-19 or when there were people in their household who were being asked to isolate. They followed the rules. And while there are some in this House who would now attack them for doing that, I think they did the right thing and we should all thank them for doing so.

The impact of COVID 19 on our education system this year has been immense. I’ve spoken to countless teachers, head teachers, principals, and other leaders who say they wake up in the morning many days and they count. They count the number of kids who are going to be coming and they count the number of staff that they’ve got available, and they try and make those two things match up. I acknowledge the pressure that has placed them under. And so I want to thank them for their ongoing resilience and their perseverance.

We’ve continued our record investment in school property to make sure that we are giving our learners and our teachers the types of learning conditions that they deserve. We’ve got record numbers of people in apprenticeships across the country. We’re rebuilding our international education system, and we are working on ensuring we have enough teachers in our classroom.

In terms of police, we are on track to deliver 1,800 extra police on the beat, and we’re backing the police to tackle gang crime and to deal with the recent surge in youth offending.

It’s been a busy year for Parliament, We have sat on 89 calendar days, which represents 85 sitting days in the parliamentary calendar, and we have sent for 443 normal sitting hours, 63 extended-sitting hours, and 62 hours under urgency—a total of 569 hours and 37 minutes that we have been sitting in the Chamber.

The Government’s introduced 75 bills and passed 74 bills. In terms of members’ bills, 14 have been introduced, 20 were voted down, and eight were passed. Two local bills were introduced and two were passed. Three private bills were introduced and one was passed. Ministers answered 981 oral questions, and there were seven questions to members. Ministers have also answered 47,004 written questions so far, the second highest year on record.

On a personal note, I want to reflect that this year ends very differently for me than last year. I’m about 10 kilos lighter. I’m pleased everybody noticed. I finally had to succumb to some of the pressures of middle age and get some reading glasses so that I could actually see what it is that I am reading. But I am looking forward to my first proper summer holiday in three years. I can promise there will be no press conferences walking out of the bush this year. My Christmas resolution is to create no memorable content for the next three or four weeks.

A year is a very long time in politics, and I reflect back to the end of 2019, the last time we ended Parliament the year before a general election. The National Opposition may like to recall that at that point Simon Bridges was practically measuring up the drapes for Premier House, such was the gap in polling between Labour and National at that point. A year is a very long time in politics, and I can promise the Opposition one thing: they will find a Government next year very, very focussed, very committed to delivering for New Zealanders, and very committed to a vigorous election campaign, one that is a campaign of ideas, one in which facts matter an awful lot. We are looking forward to the campaign.

To the members of the press gallery, I certainly look forward to the ongoing engagement that we have next year. I’m certainly looking forward to the engagement we’re going to have in a few moments, and I want to thank them for the ongoing work that they do, those of them that are left up there, to protect our democracy and ensure that New Zealanders are informed about the work that we do.

Finally, I want to wish members right the way across the House a very merry Christmas. I do hope that everyone across the House has a very enjoyable summer holiday period. It is actually—and I take all politics aside from this—one of the times of the year where members of Parliament, regardless of what party they are from, can actually go and have a holiday and have a genuine break without people coming up to them and saying, “Are you having a day off?” Enjoy it. No matter which party you are in, enjoy the fact that this is the time of year we can actually have a decent break. I hope people make the most of it and I am looking forward to 2023.

Kāti rā, tēnā rā tātou katoa. E tika ana kia tū ake kia whakahokia te reo mihi ka tuku mai ki ahau i roto i tōku tūranga o tēnei Whare, nō reira ka mihi atu ki a koutou.

[Well then, greetings one and all. It is appropriate that I stand and reply to the kind words expressed concerning me in my role in this House, so thank you to you all.]

I’m going to have a very short speech. What I’d like to do is acknowledge everyone that has said some fairly kind things to me in the position that I hold—thank you very much. I do want to thank all of the party leaders and whips for their cooperation in the time that I’ve been Speaker; it’s been much appreciated. In particular, the members of the Business Committee—I want to acknowledge them.

The Office of the Speaker has a very close relationship with the Office of the Clerk, and it’s really important that I acknowledge all of the staff in the Office of the Clerk: from committee clerks—all of the staff that do a lot of things that quite frankly make the Speaker look good, and so I’d like to acknowledge that. One member of the Office of the Clerk, though, I will mention, is the Speaker’s Assistant, Mr Roland Todd—an institution of knowledge for a new Speaker coming into the role, an extraordinary amount of institutional knowledge of the role of Speaker, and he was very kind to share that with me, so I’d like to thank him.

I’d like to thank all of my staff in the Office of the Speaker and my electorate office, and thank—as all speakers today have thanked—all of the employees that make this place a better place for us to work. And so I’ll leave it there.

Nō reira, taku mihi atu anō ki a tātou i runga i te tukunga iho o rātou mā te wāhi ngaro, Matua, Tama, Wairua Tapu me ngā Anahera Pono, Māngai e tautoko mai āia nei āke nei, āe.

[My thanks once again to one and all, under the guidance from above, from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Faithful Angels, and the Mouthpiece, who uphold us now and for evermore.]

Motion agreed to.

The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 February, 2023.

The House adjourned at 5.02 p.m.