General Debate

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. There’s something I hear too often from people up and down this country. They say, “If this Labour Government gets back in, I’m going to Australia.”, and some go on to say, “If it’s Labour propped up by the Greens and Te Paati Māori, I might move even further just to be safe.” Well, ACT’s message is very simple: don’t give up on New Zealand. Yes, the problems facing our country are large. Recently I asked a group of 12-year-old kids what they would do if they were king or queen of New Zealand today. In happier days, they’d say, “Save the dolphins.” or “Make you go on Dancing with the Stars again.”, but not now. Three at once said, “Make food cheaper.” I said, “Really? If you were all-powerful, what else would you do in charge of New Zealand for a day?” “Make petrol cheaper.” That’s what a cost of living crisis really means.

Then I visit dairies being fortified with wire mesh and special gates like Harlem; but they are in Hamilton. You can explain it to a four-year-old: if you follow the law, you’ll be safe; you’ll have rights; nobody will hurt you. But if you break the law, you will face consequences making you wish that you hadn’t. You can explain those basic values to a four-year-old, no problem. But try explaining it to Poto Williams or Stuart Nash or Chris Hipkins or Ginny Andersen or whoever is going to be the Labour Party Minister of Police next week—you can’t.

And I hear from time to time—in fact, just about every week—another example of a Government policy, from health to local government to resource management, that divides New Zealand into two peoples. And the people out there, they know they were never asked, “Would it help if the Treaty was interpreted in such a way to create two different sets of political rights based on race?” Of course, this Government and no Government has ever asked the people, because no majority would ever agree to it, because nothing good would come from it, because dividing people by their superficial characteristics, putting their identity above their common humanity, has never, ever worked. And what used to be called bigotry and discrimination and prejudice when I grew up has become the official policy of this Government in so many facets of life. And that’s on top of education results that have been in free fall in global exams all century. This Government can’t even reliably tell you if kids went to school let alone what they were taught, and the problem is they are not taught. They are subject to the failed fad of child-centred learning—you know, modern learning environments, the big barns with three teachers, a hundred kids, and lots of bean bags where they teach themselves.

Do you know what’s worse? Labour are making these problems worse faster, but they didn’t start with Labour. The cost of living crisis is really a productivity crisis. When John Key was elected, the median wage was 11 grand higher in Australia; nine years later it was 17 grand higher; and after six years of Labour, there’s a $23,000 gap between New Zealand and Australian wages.

It was National’s Amy Adams who raised the age of criminal responsibility before youth crime took off. It was National’s Hekia Parata who told schools, “You can have any type of classroom you like so long as it’s a modern learning environment.” And it was National that signed us up to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that gave us He Puapua. What’s clear is that, this time, change alone won’t be enough. New Zealand needs real change, and that’s why I was so thrilled to see such a bumper crowd and so much energy at ACT’s rally Real Change Now this weekend. People want a party that hears them. People want a party that puts forward new ideas to solve their problems. And people want a party that will say unpopular things when they need to be said, if it truly believes them. And that is why the ACT Party is the party that puts out more policy than any other, the only one with a fully costed alternative budget, and that’s why ACT is the fastest growing political movement in New Zealand today, and it’s not even close.

I say to people: don’t give up on New Zealand, real change is coming, and the ACT MPs look forward to delivering that real change this October with your support.

I would hope, and I pray, that New Zealand wants a Government that uses an evidence base to make their decisions, not political philosophy or a Government that uses culture wars to divide New Zealanders. And so we have faith in New Zealanders that at the end of this year, in October, they will look at the political parties that make decisions based on what is best for New Zealand and on the evidence that is in front of them.

I want to make mention of the fact I was in Samoa last week for Samoan independence, the end of their 60th year and going into the 61st. They were wonderfully hospitable, and it was a reminder of the strength of our relationship with the Pacific region.

This week also, we’ve had the opportunity to welcome Prime Minister Rabuka from Fiji. And in recent months, making up for lost time because of COVID, we’ve had the opportunity to meet with multiple Pacific leaders across the region. These were very interesting conversations because we share challenges with our region, and we are not alone. A priority for Pacific nations is, of course, climate change and the environmental issues that we face as a Pacific region.

They’ve also raised with us their labour workforce issues and areas where they have shortages. One country even brought up that there has been a spike in youth crime in recent years, off the back of the pandemic, saying that it was the uncertainty. And this is something that many countries have experienced across the globe as well, because, often, this is what happens after you experience a big event like a pandemic. And, of course, all of our Pacific neighbours have raised the impact of global inflation and the impact of cost of living increases on their nations. We are not alone here in Aotearoa. We are not immune to what the rest of the world is facing.

But I’m really proud—I’m really proud—because we have come through better than so many. We had a very, very difficult Budget to pull together this year because of the circumstances that we face. And I want to acknowledge our amazing Minister of Finance for the very smart Budget that he presented Aotearoa with. He was very aware of the fact that New Zealanders needed some reprieve from the cost of living pressures, but he also understood that if he wasn’t clever about how that was done, then it could actually fuel the fire of inflation and see New Zealand families no better off.

It was disappointing, then, to see some of the measures that were put in place, which will make a real difference for New Zealand families, not only not supported by Opposition parties in the House but for Opposition parties to come out and say that if they have the opportunity, they will take those things away from New Zealanders.

Terisa Ngobi: Shameful and out of touch.

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: How stingy and out of touch is it to think that the $5 co-payment—the removal of that for prescriptions—won’t make a difference to New Zealanders? Who are the ones that are going to benefit most from it? It is our seniors. It is our disabled. It is the people that more often have health conditions. And so it’s one of those measures that makes sense to just about every New Zealander except for the people on the other side of the House. And, yet, to come out and say they will charge for contraception is just indicative of the support that the Opposition political party has always denied women in this country.

We have been very much focused on those areas that cost New Zealanders a lot of money. Childcare is one of those areas. On 1 April, we saw the thresholds lifted, we saw the amount increased, and then we saw that followed up by 20 hours’ free for two-year-olds. That makes a difference to families. And I have to remind the House that it was National, back in 2010, that froze those thresholds, and that it was National that shut out thousands of New Zealand families from being able to access childcare—one of the main measures to support families to get into employment and for them to make a living for their whānau.

We know what New Zealand wants and needs right now, and we are focused on that. We are all about the cost of living. It’s such a pity that the other side continues to vote against these measures.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise today to speak about a subject close to my heart, which is democracy—close to all our hearts, hopefully, in this House of Representatives—and to draw the House’s attention to the recommendations of the independent review of our electoral system that were released yesterday—finally. We’ve been waiting for this review all the way back when Labour and the Green Party first negotiated our cooperation agreement, where we highlighted democracy as an area of cooperation.

I introduced my member’s bill, the Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill, last term, and it seemed like it wasn’t a priority to either of the big parties. But, as we heard more and more about the concerns that New Zealanders have of groups who were excluded from voting—like young people, like those in custody—as we heard more from members of the public who were concerned about the way that elections are funded and political party donations are governed, and as we heard more and more about the ways that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is breached or undermined through our electoral system, this is an area that did become, thankfully, an area of priority.

We’ve seen some good changes. We’ve seen transparency around electoral donations improved vastly. We’ve seen most prisoners’ rights to vote restored. We’ve seen the Māori electoral option changed so that people can, in fact, switch rolls much more easily. Those were all Green policies.

But, now, after being told over and over again by both sides of the House that we need another independent review, we have those recommendations. So my call to this House, in particular to the Government but to all parties in this House of Representatives—because we do have a convention that electoral reforms, whether they’re required by legislation or not, are done with some degree of consensus across this House—is that we all come to the party, so to speak, and we take party politics out of electoral and democracy reform and look at the independent recommendations.

A lot of them are recommendations that have come to us before, like the restoration of the right of those in prison to vote. That has come to us from the Supreme Court, it’s come to us from the Waitangi Tribunal, and we’ve heard it from our Human Rights Commission.

Then we have the right of 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. Again, we’ve heard from the Supreme Court that we’re breaching their fundamental right, pursuant to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, and that 16- and 17-year-olds specifically have a right to be free from discrimination in having their New Zealand Bill of Rights Act rights fulfilled. That obligation falls upon us. That’s the way human rights work.

So we are in breach, and we have heard now from an independent review that our democracy would be strengthened if all of these groups whose rights we are breaching were, in fact, included. Our decisions would be stronger. Our democracy would have more trust in it from members of the public.

We know that young people take an interest in politics. They may, indeed, be marginalised from formal voting, and even at 18, when they become eligible to vote, young voters are among the lowest numbers in terms of our constituents. But we know that they care about issues like the climate crisis, they care about their mental health care access, about public transport, about education; they are more likely to be dealing with hardship now than anyone. We know that if young people are made eligible to vote while they’re all together at school, and if their right to vote is facilitated through civics education and they all register to vote, that, as first-time voters who vote in that first election when they become eligible, they will become lifelong voters. That’s good for all of us.

The other thing that I will briefly touch upon, because we’ve done so much with electoral funding reform, is that finally we have a recommendation that says that not only should we make it possible for everyone in New Zealand who has a right to vote to vote, but also it says that, finally, we need to put a top on our donations; we need there to be a limit—a $30,000 limit per election per registered voter. Get big money out of our elections and get more people to vote. That would make democracy stronger.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I acknowledge the member who’s just resumed her seat, Golriz Ghahraman, and her longstanding commitment not only to international human rights but to rights around democracy. It’s well worth pointing that out, because the reality is, in many countries today, it is democratic institutions that are under threat.

I want to draw attention to the challenges that this Government has been facing for some time and to acknowledge that, 5½ years into this Government, it continues to tackle some very hard challenges in these difficult times and is delivering on them.

The spirit of democracy is not thinking three years by three years by three years but is actually serious about challenging some of the really serious, intractable problems that have been ignored for years—things like responding to climate change, things like having an affordable water regime—so that when the rains get harsher, the storms get stronger, and climate change creates greater intensity in our weather systems, we actually have stormwater systems that can cope and we have waste water systems that can keep our water supplies hygienic and operating.

But this is a Government that came to office determined to restore or to rebuild public services; to restore, more recently, the economy after the ravages of COVID-19; to recover from climate change - driven weather; and to make sure that we build back better. How thrilling it was today that the Hon Kiritapu Allan has now already confirmed the preferred contractor to rebuild one of the bridges in Coromandel that has been taken out—a plan is already in place, contracts have been identified, and that work can get under way.

That’s what a Government does when it responds seriously to the challenges we’ve got, has got its eye on the ball, and is prepared to do the hard graft and respond to the public need to make our systems and our roadways better.

But it doesn’t, of course, just stop there. This is a Government that came to office when the previous Government had run down our public housing stock, had sold it off, and left it unoccupied; and this is a Government that has committed to rebuilding our housing stock—making sure people have warm, dry homes—and, more recently, expanded the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme so we continue to get insulation in homes and drive down people’s power costs.

In health, we’ve invested massively in restoring our health system: $7 billion invested in infrastructure when the last Government—over its nine years—spent just $1 billion. We’ve increased the incomes of most of our health workers; nurses’ incomes have gone up significantly. In this year’s Budget, we’ve now taken off the prescription charge—something that members opposite completely and utterly opposed because they don’t get what poverty looks like for those who struggle to afford $5 to get their prescription filled.

Of course, on law and order, 1,800 additional police were added to our front-line workforce; the clearance rate for serious crime is better, and those who commit serious crimes are being caught much more quickly. The biggest deterrence to crime is the high probability that you’re going to get caught, and our police force has demonstrated that that is exactly what is happening.

Of course, addressing child poverty: our Government has committed to it, we report on it, we’ve reported on it again in this Budget, we’ve increased childcare assistance, we’ve extended the school lunch programme, and we’ve lifted benefits—all of which helps to alleviate child poverty and family poverty. Those are things you do when you are faced with a cost of living crisis and when you’re trying to assist those on the lowest incomes.

These, of course, all are long-term challenges. In defence, we’ve now got money to pay our front-line soldiers and sailors and aviators more—that’ll assist with the retention challenge that we’ve got. We’re modernising our equipment; we’re investing more—because that’s what we have to do for our internal security when we face storms and we need humanitarian assistance and to help our neighbours in the Pacific when they need humanitarian assistance, and also to have trained and equipped people ready to deploy overseas when that call is needed.

What we aren’t going to do is descend into the kind of gimmickry that we’re seeing opposite. So for the ACT Party, who says they want smaller Government, their headline announcement is a Government department to look at Government departments. That is just a silly gimmick from a silly party, and we saw that in full display today in question time.

In the end, what is needed for parties who aspire to Government is a vision for all of New Zealand, a vision for every New Zealander, to lift those out of poverty, to help grow the wealth of the economy; and to make this country safe.

Well, what a sorry tale we’ve seen today and this week, in this House. I have never in my time in Parliament seen a Prime Minister so lost, so discombobulated by the events, and having to explain the unexplainable, at a time when we all want the Prime Minister to be outlining how his Government is going to deal with the cost of living crisis in this country—and National’s got a plan to do that: it’s about bringing discipline back to Government spending; it’s about removing costs from the community and giving people some taxes back so that they’ve got more money in their pockets. No, instead of hearing about that, instead of hearing about how this Government will restore law and order—we haven’t heard anything about that, but National’s got a plan to restore law and order.

Hon Dr Deborah Russell: Eighteen hundred more police!

Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: It’s about—yes. It’s about starting off with the very top direction in the justice system which is to say that, currently under this Government, the number one and only priority is to reduce the prison population, irrespective of what happens in the community—

Andrew Bayly: Just let ‘em out!

Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Just throw them out, and somehow, somehow, we’re all going to be safer. Well, that hasn’t worked, and we will focus on keeping people safe as our priority for crime. So instead of focusing on that, instead of focusing on actually delivering decent outcomes in health and education—where we’re seeing half of the kids aren’t at school; where we’re seeing a falling off, dropping off, in actual developments in reading and writing; and in health, longer waiting lists for everything that you look at in health. Instead of making any progress on that, what do we hear the Prime Minister talking about? We have the Prime Minister trying to explain why a senior Minister in his Government was asked not once, not twice, not thrice, but 12 times by the Cabinet Office to sell his shares in a company—Auckland international airport—that he, as Minister of Transport, was clearly conflicted over. Twelve times, he was asked, and 12 times the Minister didn’t get around to it.

I’ve never seen a Prime Minister look so lost, so confused, so weak, and so helpless, trying to stand up and explain the unexplainable. And so we all stand here trying to figure out why Michael Wood is still a Minister in this Government, because he’s failed on three areas: he’s failed to declare—well, first thing, he became Minister of Transport; he failed to do the obvious thing, which was to sell a parcel of shares that he had in Auckland international airport. Why is that important? Because it’s important that Ministers, when they make decisions, aren’t conflicted by their personal interests. So he failed to sell them, then he failed to declare that he still had the shares, for more than a year as Minister, and then he finally got round to declaring them publicly on the pecuniary interest list, but then he failed to do anything about managing the conflict of interest.

And we’ve got examples—we wake up reading the New Zealand Herald today about the North Shore Airport, which is a clear decision he made as Minister—a conflicted decision, because he owns shares in a competing airport, an absolute no-no. And then we’ve heard later today that he, as Minister, signed off hundreds of millions of dollars to the airlines during COVID, of which the secondary beneficiary of that was Auckland Airport. We had a press release from Auckland Airport saying thank you to the Minister for it. Again, that was a conflicted decision. So how on earth does the Prime Minister still think it’s appropriate for him to be there?

Then we have—at the same time, he was in conversation with the Cabinet Office, and the Cabinet Office are telling him to sell the shares, and he’s saying, “I’m going to do it”—12 times—and yet the Cabinet Office never made public that conflict in the ministerial list, and they never seemed to deal with it, and they never seemed to stop him from making conflicted decisions.

So it’s almost bizarre and almost black comedy that we have a Minister 12 times not dealing with it. And so why is this important to people? Because integrity in our political decision making is a foundation of our democracy, and we have a Prime Minister who’s meant to defend that, and instead he seems to be of the view that so long as Michael Wood, on the 13th request, finally gets around to selling his shares and changing his pecuniary interests, he’ll be back, welcomed on—nothing’s happened; it’s all fine. Those are the standards that are appropriate in the Chris Hipkins Government.

What a disgrace. What a joke. He needs to stand up and clear out the stables and get rid of a Minister that has clearly shown—

SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired.

When it comes to integrity, how does integrity go with a party that has investigated one of its members but refused to release that report to the public? Glass houses to the Opposition—glass houses; just think about it for a little bit. However, I don’t want to engage in too much “what aboutism”; what I want to talk about is the challenges that this Government has faced and what it has done about them.

This Government, since it has come to office, has had to deal with three major crises—three really major ones. The first was the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the entire world and had a dramatic effect on the world economy and, of course, on New Zealand’s economy. It stopped trade worldwide. It stopped travel worldwide. It changed our way of life. This Government has had to deal with this crisis that affected the entire world and, of course, had an enormous effect here in New Zealand. This Government has had to deal with the war in Ukraine, which has had an extraordinary effect on energy prices and which has pushed, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide inflation to quite high levels. This Government has had to deal with that problem that has been a worldwide problem—felt in particular ways in New Zealand but nevertheless a worldwide problem. On top of that, this Government, this year, has had to deal with the intense weather events in the Auckland anniversary weekend floods and in Cyclone Gabrielle—three enormous challenges that have had an extraordinary effect on our economy.

The good thing is that this Government has been up for it and has dealt with them in a really effective way. Let me give you the evidence of that. Net debt is sitting at 19 percent of GDP; that’s well below OECD averages. Unemployment is sitting at just 3.4 percent; that’s one of the lowest rates of unemployment ever—and, actually, it’s been below 4 percent since 2021. This Government knows how to get people into work and how to keep them there. Our economy continues to grow. Our economy continues to be on a path for growth. So, instead of facing recession, we are actually looking at continued growth in our economy.

Now, of course we are dealing with inflation—we are dealing with inflation—and it’s really hard to deal with that. It’s at higher levels now than many people remember. The last time inflation was higher was way back in the 1990s. However, it is at levels which have not been seen for a while, but the good news is that it is on its way down. In fact, the Governor of the Reserve Bank said in his latest Monetary Policy Statement—said around it—that this Government’s Budget had been a friend to the Reserve Bank in its efforts to control inflation. The predictions are to be back on the 1 to 3 percent band by the end of next year.

So this Government is managing the economy extraordinarily well. In the face of those challenges, I say, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, has done a remarkable job. Of course, ordinary people don’t feel that, all right? Those are just numbers and stats about the economy. So we can say it’s going well—and it is going well—but for the person trying to balance their household budget, things are tough. This Government has addressed that in our Budget as well, too. That change to the $5 prescription charges, a change that the Opposition rejected, will make a difference to ordinary families’ budgets—no longer having to pay for prescription medicines; twenty hours of free early childhood education for children aged two and up. We think that that will make a difference of about $130 a week to families with young children. On top of that, we have free public transport for children aged under 13. That will make a difference to families’ budgets, and it will enable families to make greater use of public transport for getting children to and from school instead of using cars. Half-price public transport for people aged under 25—that helps students, and, again, it just helps families to manage their daily living costs.

So, in this Budget, not only is the Government running the economy well but we are also addressing the cost of living for ordinary, everyday New Zealanders.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Well, at the start of question time, the Clerk of the House gets up and reads the petitions that have been presented for the day. There was a petition today read out in the name of Theresa Zame to amend the Therapeutic Products Bill to allow importation of medication. Theresa Zame was actually sitting in the gallery today watching her petition being presented. Theresa calls herself “vulnerable”, “just a mum from Gizzy”. I describe her as someone who is incredibly courageous, brave, and strong. It would be very easy, when you get a diagnosis of stage four lung cancer, when you only have nine months to live—it would be understandable if you would contemplate giving up the fight. In fact, Theresa Zame has done the opposite: she’s galvanised many voices in New Zealand, she put together a petition, and in only two weeks she got 6,500 signatures. It was a real honour to be the member of Parliament to receive that petition today.

Theresa’s story is: she has a script from her oncologist because she doesn’t qualify for any publicly funded medication in New Zealand. She imports via compassionate access schemes a medication called Tagrix, which comes through the mail. Tagrix costs Theresa $1,000 a month. In her words, her cancer has shrunk and she is feeling a lot better. She’s actually quite hopeful. After her diagnosis of June 2022, when she got given nine months, she feels stronger for taking that drug.

But, unfortunately, what Theresa and many other New Zealanders have learnt under Labour’s Therapeutic Products Bill is that the ability to import prescription medications will be stopped. Not only will it be stopped but it will be illegal. Theresa and many other New Zealanders will be criminalised. As Malcolm Mulholland said on the forecourt of Parliament today, as he speaks on behalf of Patient Voice Aotearoa, if the Therapeutic Products Bill is not amended, people will die. This will cost people’s lives.

What was really encouraging is seeing the parties out on Parliament’s forecourt—the ACT Party, Te Paati Māori, the Green Party, and the National Party—standing up in opposition to this bill. What was really disappointing and a real blow to people like Theresa is that the Labour Party did not turn up. No one went out and met that petition today—not one of the dozens of MPs they have. They didn’t think those people deserved the respect of a democratic process where any Kiwi can turn up on the forecourt and give Parliament a petition. These are the real stories of legislation like this and of the impact it will have on everyday Kiwis.

You’d ask yourself the question, in respect of Theresa’s story—stage four lung cancer; nine months to live; she’s got a prescription from her oncologist in New Zealand to import Tagrix, a prescription drug, from Bangladesh, at a thousand dollars; she wouldn’t be able to afford the tens of thousands of dollars for privately buying a similar medication in New Zealand; it’s a lifesaver for Theresa Zame; the ability to import prescription drugs is a lifesaver for many Kiwis at their time of vulnerability—why will Labour not listen? Why did they not go out today?

Thank you, Mr Speaker. There are two things that I like most about Budget 2023. The first one is that it makes sensible, meaningful support for today, and the second is that it takes the opportunity to continue to build for tomorrow. I think those two high-level things are worth celebrating. We’ve already heard several contributions from colleagues from this side of the House as they went through specific measures. I think they’re worth repeating.

The Government has introduced a suite of measures to help people, because we know people are doing it tough at the moment. There’s no denying that. We know that people are experiencing a change to their budgets and that they’re feeling a bit more vulnerable than they were a couple of years ago because of global inflation rates. And we know that it’s not just people in New Zealand; it’s people right across the world. But it’s people in New Zealand too, and that matters, and we know it matters to them.

What’s important, though, is how the Government tackles this. A good Government steps in when needed and helps the people who need it most, and that’s what this Government’s doing. We recognise the issue. We’ve created measures that can be helpful and sensitive but are also really, really balanced so that they don’t then go on to cause more inflation. As my colleague the Hon Deborah Russell just said, these measures were lauded for the fact that they can be inflation friendly, so to speak. So we’re really pleased about that.

When I said there were two things, I very broadly said the second thing was about building for tomorrow, and over the last couple of weeks, we’ve heard several contributions about what that might look like specifically. But the one thing that I wanted to talk about today was that Budget 2023 positions the New Zealand economy for the future because of some major investments into our science, into our digital spaces, and into our horticultural technology sector as well. And even within that, there’s a specific investment that I think’s worth talking about, and that’s the support that we’ve given so that our gaming industry can grow. I don’t know if many people realise just how big this industry is and just how much potential it has.

Last week, I tagged along with my Christchurch colleague the Hon Dr Duncan Webb, and we went to a place called CerebralFix, and we met the boss, Tim, a fantastic young man who’s done an amazing job over the 10 years that CerebralFix has been operating. It’s an entertainment studio. It’s not just about gaming; it’s about all sorts of things. They are an experienced technology firm, they’ve got developers, they’ve got artists, they’ve got designers, and they’re pretty top notch. And he was, I think it’s fair to say, pretty chuffed with the measures that the Government has introduced. By providing the 20 percent rebate for video game developers, what we’ve done is even that playing field. This industry, like many other industries, is always competing for skill and always competing for talent. And they know, I think, that they have barely even scratched the surface of how this industry can grow and what the potential is. So they’re pretty excited and we appreciated the tour.

The other thing we’re doing is investing in science research centres. Many of us, depending on what select committees we’re on, would have travelled around looking at different Crown research institutes, and what we’ve heard when we talk to people there is that often they just want more collaboration. So we’re creating three multi-institute research hubs that are actually going to bring those scientists together and make them work closer together and increase that collaboration. It ensures that we use the resources better—these are really expensive facilities with really expensive equipment—and it positions New Zealand to meet what are our complex challenges—and we know what they are. They include things like health and wellbeing. You know, so much more is expected from health and wellbeing than even 10 years ago. We have to move and grow in that direction.

Climate change: the advances that we need to make in advanced manufacturing and technology—these are all really good, positive things, And, as I said, while it’s incredibly important that we keep our eye on what matters most to people right now, today—which is tackling the cost of living—we’ve also got to be really wise and future-focused and think about how we build for tomorrow. So we are focused on the issues that matter to most New Zealanders while still keeping a healthy eye on tomorrow.

Thank you for this opportunity to kōrero. A mahalo nui loa to Tā Herewini Parata.

The safety, prosperity, and success of Māori in education have been compromised, particularly in the last six years of Government. Tā Apirana Ngata, a great National Party man, gave an enduring message to nearly all a hundred years ago: thrive in the days destined for you, your hands to the tools of the Pākehā to provide sustenance, your heart to the treasures of your ancestors to adorn you, your soul to the Atua, to whom all things belong. This House must ensure that all Māori and, indeed, all Kiwis have an equality of opportunity to access and succeed in parenting, education, and learning. International human rights documents articulate that everyone has a right to education, but that right is balanced with responsibilities to turn up, to show up, to participate, and to be curious.

This Government spearheads an education system which religiously fails and discriminates against Māori. Kāwanatanga has ballooned to the detriment of tino rangatiratanga and equality, undisturbed when an audacious Government spends $5 billion extra since 2017 and hires 1,400 extra staff in education, and Māori are not doing any better in our schools. The results are lamentable.

I’ve scored Government performance on three simple measures. Number 1: attendance—not achieved. Whānau, we’ve got issues. Thousands of tamariki between five and 13 are just not enrolled in school: 260 schools, or more than 10 percent of all schools, have full attendance below 30 percent. In term 4 of 2022, only 38 percent of Māori kids went to school regularly. Neither Labour’s nor ACT’s ideological warfare fermented at that party hui will change this.

The Ministry of Education’s purpose states, “We shape an education that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes.”—Tui ad pin drop—yeah, right! If equitable and excellent outcomes mean that 38 out of 100 kids turn up to school regularly, we need to learn to count brilliantly again.

Here’s a thought for our ministerial colleagues—although who sits in what seat, I don’t know these days—make it compulsory for every school to publish weekly attendance data: less bureaucracy, more accountability.

Number 2: retention—not achieved. Retaining kids in schools is a multifaceted responsibility across parents, schools, and rangatahi. Completion of senior education helps with wellbeing, higher-level skills, and knowledge and participation in society and the global community. Education Counts remarks that “Simply keeping boys at school (by making school relevant) until they have decided what they want to do in their next step in life … can reduce the chances of a boy ‘arriving at a prison gate’.” It reminds me of watching Boyz n the Hood in the early 1990s, Nicola Grigg, or a daily, shocking rerun of retail crime issues that are drowning fine places like Dinsdale in Hamilton West—hang on: “blow on the pie”; safer communities together—Mr Eagle.

But in 2021, the number of Māori school-leavers remaining at school to at least age 17 was a mere 68 percent, underwhelming Pākehā at 82 percent, Pacific at 83 percent, and Asian school-leavers at 95 percent. It could not be clearer: keeping school and learning relevant, along with holistic fitness—as my Chiefs’ brothers Jamie and David remind me in the parliamentary gym—is not a “nice-to-have”; it’s a “need-to-have”.

Number 3: achievement—not achieved. Getting kids to school and keeping them ends up helping kids achieve at school—surprise, surprise. However, educational achievement is a societal ladder pulled up from a lot of Māori kids, particularly those in poverty. Programme for International Student Assessment test performance and literacy and numeracy performance rates are abysmal, with 35 percent of Māori passing the relevant year 10 assessments.

Only 19 percent of Māori left school with university entrance in 2021. You could say that that’s better than the Government’s 2 percent delivery on KiwiBuild. Our Asian brothers and sisters were at 68 percent. Almost 25 percent of Māori kids leave school without a level 1 NCEA result. After 13,000 funded hours, no qualification—wow!

These are more frightening, despite the extravagant dumbing down of the NCEA curriculum. It reminds me of Inspector Hogben, whose 1906 report on Te Aute College claimed that Māori needed to recognise the dignity of manual labour, forcing the college’s academic curriculum to change away from Euclid geometry and Latin towards so-called vocational and domestic training. What’s changed?

The education system needs to realise the human potential of young Māori, not the prejudicial nonsense deepening years of poor investment into Māori educational success. Māori education keeps further going down the pothole-filled highway to the red danger zone. If we keep following the current spending and policy pathway, many more Māori kids will be lost to the system, to welfare, to risk, or to Australia.

Duplicating successful models like Māori for Māori, like at Manukura in Palmerston North, is necessary now. Follow innovative and determined leaders like Dame Georgina Kingi at St Joseph’s in Napier, Kieran Fouhy, formerly of St Paul’s in Ponsonby, and Marie Gordon at Hamilton Girls’ High. We need relentless passion to support rangitahi to attend school, to stay at school, and to achieve. If we do that, we might generate many more entrepreneurial Māori women and men who elevate New Zealand’s standards of living, a future taxpayer base that can shoulder the debt burdens faithfully expanded by the current Kāwanatanga, and a culturally proud demographic who further activate the proverb of our greatest national sentinel, Ngati Porou man Tā Apirana Ngata, tau te ora e hoa mā [let there be health and vitality, friends].

Again, there is so much to celebrate on this timely, traditional, no-frills Budget 2023. We are laying a foundation for the future, for future growth and improved productivity, by investing in skills, science and technology, and infrastructure. We are doing the small things well at this point in time. There is so much in this Budget that will make a real difference in the lives of all New Zealanders.

Last night, I spoke on the third reading of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill. There is a saving of $20 per week. This may, as I always say, seem a pittance to some, but actually it’s gold to others. But when we join this up—yes, when we join this up with the Budget—along with winter energy payments, helping with health costs, cheaper childcare fees, free transport costs, and infrastructure in whānau, whare, and whakapapa, the savings are our way of helping keep the cost of living down. That is the priority—keeping the cost of living down, at the same time investing in skills, science and technology, and infrastructure.

I am grateful, and reiterate the investment in whānau, whare, and whakapapa, as I mentioned earlier on—by Māori, for Māori. Let me reassure everyone: what is good for Māori is good for everyone. It is good for this nation, Aotearoa, such as the extra funding to build and repair more homes; a boost to Te Matatini; more funding for Whānau Ora; increased funding for hauora providers, iwi-Māori partnership boards, rongoā practitioners, and more prevention funding; more support in Māori education—for that speaker that’s left the room, if I may say—for kura, kaiako, and ākonga across the country; more funding for Māori media; and funding made available for Te Ao Mārama programmes in the courts.

I just want to touch also on the delivery of 3,000 additional public homes—yes, this is a big issue. There are many issues for this country, and this is a significant one. An extra 3,000 public homes will be built by June 25—that’s on top of the over 14,000 that have already been funded to June 24. There is support, also, for Māori housing—322 more homes for Māori and 400 relocatable cabins to assist people and whānau that are displaced by extreme weather events across the North Island through by Māori, for Māori programmes. Also, too, this Budget is boosting two homelessness action plan initiatives, including delivery of an extra 80 places for rangatahi.

We care about people. We have a plan, and we have a Budget that is future focused. Kia ora.

This is supposed to be a Te Paati Māori call. Would some honourable member like to take it?

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. So when the story of the 2023 election is written, as it will surely be, and edited by Stephen Levine, as it most surely will be, this week will be identified as the week that the Labour Government lost the election.

So let’s helicopter back up to just before Christmas last year, when it was very clear that Prime Minister Ardern had lost the country. The polls were talking to a huge defeat for the Labour Government, and the senior team of four or five decided that there needed to be a seamless transition to Chris Hipkins. That occurred at the start of the year, and he stood up immediately and said that the Ardern era is over and that this is a new Government that will be focused on bread and butter issues.

So let’s just test how well that has gone. His signature focus, of course, has been the Budget. And you’ve heard a couple of MPs try to talk about that today. So the bread and butter focus has been an utter failure. Any conversation with any New Zealander can reinforce that point. Inflation is at the highest level it’s been in decades. Interest rates are going up. Every action that they are seeking to put on the table is creating more pressure on New Zealand households.

Hon Louise Upston: And pain.

TODD MULLER: And pain, as Louise Upston has said, and it is real. So the only other focus that he had, or approach that he had, was to try and create the impression in New Zealand that somehow his Government was focused on the issues that matter for New Zealand and was different from the incredibly unpopular Government of his predecessor.

But, over the last few weeks, he has had four hammer blows to his credibility. First up: the Hon Stuart Nash. I like him as a guy, but he had to leave Cabinet for disclosing confidential information from Cabinet to external people—a remarkable failure in judgment. Then, Meka Whaitiri had to leave, and walked away from her Cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister without even picking up the phone and telling them why. And then, Jan Tinetti is now in front of the Privileges Committee because of her behaviour. And in this week, one of the Government’s rising stars in the front bench, quoted as a future leader, is stood down from Cabinet because he was asked by the Cabinet Office to sell shares that conflicted him as a transport Minister—not once, not twice, not three times, but 12 times.

Everyone in this House knows that that is fatal politically. Perhaps he could have hung on to an argument which said, “I am so busy, I have so much to do, I am so important that this just slipped my mind and I should have got round to it.” when he told the media and his boss yesterday that, actually, he had been told five times to do it, but 24 hours later he had to admit, and force his boss to admit, under the cross-examining by the deputy leader of the National Party, that, actually, it’s not five times that he was reminded, it’s not half a dozen times that he was reminded, it was 12 times.

So a Prime Minister that has essentially said to New Zealand, “We are different to what we were pre-Christmas.” has now demonstrated that he is weak and he has lost control, and four Ministers—nearly a fifth of Cabinet—have had to be sacked or walked away. This is the week that the country has realised that, actually, these guys have got to go. They simply don’t have the capacity to govern in our interests.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I despair sometimes but I’m a patient teacher. There’s a constant reminder from the other side of the House that there is a lack of basic understanding of how our economy works. So it’s great that I’ve got a teachable matter, because there’s a level 2 concept in NCEA which talks about our production possibility frontier. It is a little curve, but it’s an important little curve, because, actually, what the model does is it helps us to explain what happens when we provide support for today and invest for tomorrow.

So there are two things that an economy generally tries to do: they try and shift the economy towards the frontier, and then they also like to shift that frontier, because that means that our possibilities are growing and we are much more likely to be able to grow our economy. There are some really wonderful examples—in fact, dozens of examples—in this year’s Budget that were brought to us by the Hon Grant Robertson, and so it’s wonderful; we’ve got some great teachable moments.

There are things that help us move towards possibilities that we already have, such as making sure that we look after health and housing so that our children can get to school and so that our workers can get to work. Housing, transport—we’ve heard so much about that in the last few weeks. Our low unemployment is evidence of where we are getting to the edge of that frontier. Of course, then we have supply issues and we get pressure points externally, globally, and we have inflationary pressure. So what we need to do is we need to shift our frontier, and we do that by investing. We do it by investing in our infrastructure, and we do it by investing in our people, because when we invest in our people and they become more productive, our whole curve moves out and our entire nation is better off because of it.

So I just wanted to touch on a couple of aspects of investing in our people that I’m really, really proud to remind the House of, such as the Training Incentive Allowance that we know people in this House have been able to take advantage of over the years. Since its reinstatement in 2021, it has supported over 6,000 eligible Ministry of Social Development clients. We know that this is life changing. This is about making sure that individuals are able to reach their potential and that we move them towards the production possibility frontier.

I think I’ve already spoken about this in the House, but it’s pretty exciting, so it is worth reminding people about our Apprenticeship Boost. It has been significant. We’ve heard concerns about success for Māori, and we do know that there’s been a 71 percent increase in Māori apprenticeships since we supported industry and we supported small firms and large firms to invest in their workers. We know that that pays off, not just because they become more productive but because those workers are more resilient and more adaptable in the future and their careers. It’s a great thing to have seen that continued in this year’s Budget.

One of the other things that we have invested in is our industry transformation plans. This is about making sure that we don’t just keep up but that we are transformative and continue to be world leading. There are eight of those plans; they’ve taken a long time to develop with industry. It’s wonderful to see evidence of the Government and industry and workers walking alongside each other and making sure that we grapple with those really challenging issues about making sure that we have a sustainable and wonderful economy in the future. There are seven industry transformation plans, and three of them are highlighted in the Budget for additional investment. We’ve heard about the digital technology plan many times in the House, even just today—especially how exciting it’s going to be to see the gaming industry being supported and how we make sure that our young people transition into the workplace and into further training and skills. It’s a wonderful process and, I’m sure, one that will be replicated as we see the industry training plan for tourism and for agritech and all of the others continue.

It is a wonderful Budget, and it is going to make sure that we have a just transition, that we have a strong and sustainable economy, and that the wellbeing of our people and of our planet is something that we will be happy with in the future.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.

I declare the House in committee for consideration of the New Plymouth District Council (Perpetual Investment Fund) Bill.