General Debate

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

Earlier, at question time, the Prime Minister called this House’s attention to the Stats New Zealand report yesterday that the last quarter’s emissions for this country are the lowest in eight years. It is all too easy, I think, to despair at the climate emergency or to think that it’s all too late, but it is not.

The release two weeks ago of the latest scientific evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the climate crisis is certainly very sobering reading. Essentially, what the IPCC report said is that we have to globally halve emissions in the remaining years of this decade and then eliminate the rest of it by the year 2050 at the absolute latest if we’re to have any hope at all of keeping global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But amidst the increasingly dire warnings in that report and all of the ones before that, I think that there was an optimistic note, which is that it is not too late to make a difference.

Ever since climate change was first discussed in the mainstream a little more than 35 years ago, our collective understanding of what the climate crisis is and what we can do about it and the kind of world that we are creating for ourselves has changed dramatically. Over the course of those 3½ decades, it’s also true that half as much climate pollution has been emitted since the beginning of the industrial period. So since we started saying that we needed to reduce pollution globally, we’ve actually emitted as much as we did in the industrial revolution up to that point. So you cannot say as a planet that we have done a terribly good job of doing what we said that we would need to do.

Politicians around the world have known over the course of time what was unfolding. Hundreds of politicians, thousands of politicians, had a chance to stop it, but they did not, and so in that final IPCC report a couple of weeks ago, it did say to us, essentially, this is our last chance. This is it—the time is now. If we do not act comprehensively now, then we will absolutely miss that 1.5-degrees Celsius temperature threshold.

It is time to accelerate our efforts. It is time to meet the scale of the crisis with the urgency and the scale which it demands, and we are making progress. As the Prime Minister said, our last quarter’s emissions were the lowest that they have been in eight years. That is a good sign. Now, it is only one quarter. It comes after a number of other quarters where emissions were up, but the fact that we had one quarter in which the emissions were the lowest in eight years is itself remarkable.

We are going to have to wait for our next inventory report to see what changes in terms of our future projections, but we are starting to get an inkling that the policies that this Government has put into play over the course of the last six years are starting to make a difference. It is starting to deliver results, and the pace of action is—yes, it is still too slow, and I do not want another generation to have to inherit the burden of slow progress. We must push harder. We must do more than we have to date.

I have always rejected the idea that politics is a matter of absolutes and that if we can’t win everything, then we lose everything. It often requires an ability to see past our differences and to find common ground, and over the last 5½ years, there is no one who has done more to show us what that means than the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern. I am one of the fortunate few who has had the opportunity to work with her during the course of this Government. We did not always agree, and sometimes we vehemently disagreed, but there is no doubt that she is one of the most dedicated, authentic, values-driven people that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing or the privilege of working with.

Now, when people ask me if we can do enough quickly enough to meet our emissions reductions targets, I have to remember that before she started as Prime Minister, even the idea of legislated targets seemed completely out of reach. She has changed politics, and once the politics changes, the possible outcomes also change. It is in no small part due to her leadership, her clarity, and her direction that we are where we are. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

It’s my pleasure to take a call in what is the first general debate of the year. It is a pleasure to take a call, and can I just acknowledge what a whirlwind start to the year we have had. I did not expect in January to be 2IC to the ginga boy from the Hutt in the leadership team for the Government.

I have to start the speech by acknowledging our outgoing Prime Minister, who today will give her valedictory in the House. I acknowledge her for her leadership during what have been very challenging times, I acknowledge her for her friendship, I acknowledge her for the kindness that she not only spoke about but that she demonstrated daily, and I acknowledge her as a woman, as a mother, as a politician, and as a parliamentarian. We wish Jacinda Ardern well for everything that she goes on to do, and we take pride in the way that she has led our country and represented us on the international stage.

It has been a tough start to the year. After getting sworn in, two days later we were hit by floods in parts of the country, including Auckland. What we did see from that was the very best of humanity on the ground, with our community groups rallying together to help the families that had been impacted. We also saw the best of politicians. In the time during an event like that when New Zealanders have been affected, where people come round—shared humanity—we aren’t playing politics; we’re there to support the communities that have been affected. However, the politics, obviously, come later.

We’ve also faced challenges because of the global events that are happening and the impacts that they are having on inflation across the world, including in New Zealand, and we recognise that many whānau were struggling with the cost of living challenges before that. Much of the rationale for why we’re experiencing that is out of our hands, but we’ve certainly done everything that we can to respond to the realities for families on the ground. On 1 April, we were proud to announce what was put in place to support families: superannuitants are better off, students are better off, beneficiaries are better off, the minimum wage was lifted again, and also childcare assistance thresholds were changed so that more whānau could get access to childcare assistance subsidies, and we know that that is one of the biggest in-work expenses that families have.

Also, I’m really proud of the fact that as of 1 April, 8,000 community nurses will get pay parity with the nurses that are in our hospitals, and I’m acknowledging that many of those nurses are Māori and Pacific nurses who choose to work for Māori and Pacific community providers. Many of them have been working in our rest homes and in our hospices. I’m proud to be part of a Government that has finally rectified—fixed—that situation and ensured fairness for those 8,000 nurses.

Much of what we have recently done builds on what we had already done. We often get criticised by the other side of the House with regard to the measures that we’ve put in place over the last five years. Many of those measures were not supported by the other side of the House, and yet how would we as a country have responded and how would our families and communities have been served if we hadn’t done things like invest in our welfare system, like lift benefits, like continually increase the minimum wage, like invest in Working for Families and Best Start, and like introduce the winter energy payment? How would our families have been served during these difficult times if our Government—our responsible Government—hadn’t already done those things?

It’s very rich to listen to the other side of the House talk about the cost of living and the realities for families on the ground when they never supported any of the policies that are actually propping up New Zealanders at this very time. They are still putting out their messages on tax cuts and still opposing the things that really matter and that make an impact on the lives of New Zealand families.

We never shy away from the fact that there is more to do. But we are very proud of our track record and very, very excited about continuing that work.

Well, the track record of this Government is a Government which is arrogant, entitled, and tired. This Government, under the new Prime Minister Hipkins, said that he would focus back on the bread and butter, but what has this Government being doing for the last five weeks? Talking about themselves.

Ex-Ministers—now sacked Ministers—and current Ministers are causing distractions from the real issues facing New Zealanders, who are now facing another 50 basis points increase in the official cash rate, which will put more pressure on family budgets up and down this country, and it will put some people, with their mortgages, to the wall. Some people will be hit to the wall by that increase which we’re facing today.

This Government has lost control of the issues that matter to New Zealanders. They are completely distracted and talking about themselves, rather than trying to fix the issues which are facing New Zealanders. Let’s recap what they have been talking about, shall we? Stuart Nash, Stuart Nash, Stuart Nash—been talking about Stuart Nash four times. Four strikes and you’re out, under this Government. They got rid of the three-strikes Act because they actually think you should have four strikes under this Government before, finally, you’re actually held to account for the decisions that you make. Whether it’s calling the Commissioner of Police, his old mate, to try and help out a mate or whether it’s sharing confidential information with donors—information about what Cabinet Ministers have said around the Cabinet table—it is absolutely appalling, putting it in an email. That is akin to insider trading—that is what this Government has been talking about.

Then they’re talking about Marama Davidson and who causes violence in this world. Marama Davidson’s view of that is “I am a prevention of violence Minister and I know who causes violence in the world—it is white cis men.”

That’s what this Government has been focused on, or Ruth Dyson, who tweets about how she wants to talk about the members of the National Party leader’s office and what they’ve been saying. Or Steve Maharey, who has been writing columns; rather than actually making sure New Zealanders get the drugs that they need through Pharmac, he’s been writing columns in the Sunday papers. That’s what this Government’s been talking about. Or Rob Campbell—Rob Campbell—who should have been making sure that New Zealanders can get the operations they deserve, making sure they get the treatment they get, and making sure they can see a cancer specialist as quickly as possible, rather than talking about his views on co-governance. That’s what this Government has been talking about.

Or what about lobbyists? Their mates David Cormack and Neale Jones and Clint Smith talking about their reckons on Twitter, whilst, at the same time, making sure there’s some cosy access being jimmied through the background, and then they put a dead cat on their Monday afternoon about lobbyists, which is to cover up the fact it’s been their mates who have been helping them out over the last little while.

So this Government is not focused on the bread and butter issues. This is a tired Government. This is an arrogant Government. This is a Government which is completely distracted and out of touch from the issues that are facing New Zealanders.

So what’s National been focused on? We’ve been focused on policies which will make a difference—

💬 Hon Kieran McAnulty: Like what?

—for New Zealanders, like putting a policy out, doing local water well, Mr Kieran McAnulty. You might want to read it because it might have a couple of ideas which you could pick up, rather than your three waters bureaucracy mess, which no one in New Zealand actually wants.

What about Family Boost? A fully funded policy which is going to help young families pay for their cost of childcare, and guess what! It’s fully funded by cutting out some of the number of wasteful consultants, which has ballooned under this Government. This Government is the Government for bureaucrats and consultants, not the Government for families and making sure that they can deal with the cost of living.

What about Teaching the Basics Brilliantly? That’s our other policy. Making sure our children have one hour a day of reading, writing, and maths—how revolutionary would that be? It’s about focusing on our future generations. Parents up and down this country are so grateful that the National Party is talking about solutions for the future which will help their young people have the future skills that they need. Or Electrify NZ, which is going to help make sure that we have the clean, renewable energy that we need to electrify our economy?

We’re going to lower inflation. We’re going to lift incomes for all New Zealanders. National will build the infrastructure that New Zealand needs. We will restore law and order, which has gone backwards under this Government. We’ll make sure New Zealanders have access to the health and education services that they need.

New Zealanders need change in this election. New Zealanders will get change from a National Government, and we will not only give it; we will deliver it.

We’re into positivity today. We’re into total positivity, but I think I need to reflect on some of the negativity, to start off with. What a shocking speech from that member Simeon Brown—what a shocking speech. All they can do, National, is put the boot in and try and destroy all the good work we’ve done.

We heard it last week when you belittled the wānanga, belittled the Māori education set-up that Kelvin Davis was talking about. All we heard was “Who cares?” Well, we care. We care about education and, just for the National Party’s information, wānangas look after everybody—Pākehā people, too. More Pākehā attend wānanga than Māori—that’s the case. That’s the case. You set them up, but you forgot all about it. You’ve forgotten all about it, and the nonsense and the race-baiting over co-governance—when is it going to finish?

We believe in natural justice. We believe in supporting people all the way through. All we’re hearing is scare tactics and fear tactics from old Simeon over there and your useless leader.

As for the ACT Party, who don’t even turn up: shame on the ACT Party and their leader for their disparaging remarks on our wonderful leader Jacinda Ardern. No wonder David Seymour is not here. He should hang his head in shame, and Peeni Henare, WillowJean Prime, and Ngāpuhi should excommunicate him—shocking. Shocking is his work in terms of Ngāpuhi. Disparaging remarks of a great leader—Jacinda Ardern—and that’s where we’re talking positivity.

Before I go to Jacinda, what a magnificent job from “Chippy”, our Prime Minister. We’re so proud of him—what a wonderful start. National thought they had it in the bag, and now they’re trailing in the polls. What a shock for the National Party. “Chippy” comes from nowhere and knocks the National Party—knocks them off their feet.

Well done to “Chippy”. We’re really proud of what he’s doing. Everything that’s going—223,000 workers receiving a wage rise as a result of the minimum wage. “Chippy” is refocusing on what matters most: supporting people. This month, it’s increases for those receiving income support. Just fantastic—absolutely bread and butter issues, and embracing everyone.

But when I talk about embracing everyone, we’ve got to talk about Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda Ardern has embraced this nation, and I want to say that she actually embraced me—didn’t she, Andrew Little? I have to say, Mr Speaker, that when I joined the Labour Party, as you well know, I wasn’t exactly embraced by the full party at the start. Andrew Little sort of forgot to tell the rest of the party that I was joining up, but we got there because Jacinda said, “I’ll give you a chance.”, and I’m going to thank her today for giving me that opportunity. Next time, Andrew, have a talk to the rest of the party!

But she gave me an opportunity. I had a bit of a controversial background and past, but she supported me, and I want to thank her today. I want to thank her, also, on behalf of the Māori nation, because she’s been so brave, she’s been so courageous, she’s been so strong, and she’s advocated and initiated kaupapa that some of us could only ever dream of. Who would have ever dreamt that we would have got a Māori health authority—a Māori health authority—within mainstream, or record Māori funding—

💬 Dr James McDowall: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

—in terms of Whānau Ora.

💬 SPEAKER: Sorry to interrupt the member. Are you trying to take a point of order?

💬 Dr James McDowall: Yes, Mr Speaker.

💬 SPEAKER: Point of order, Dr James McDowall.

I thought you were just ignoring him, Mr Speaker.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Exactly! Thank you, Mr Speaker. I just wanted to raise a point of order around the Minister referring to David Seymour not being in the House several times in his speech. That’s against the Standing Orders.

💬 SPEAKER: On my hearing of what the member said, I’m not certain he was referencing being absent from the House. I thought he was referencing absence from a particular discussion that he was speaking about. However, if that’s what the Minister meant, then that’s out of order, and he knows that. While I’m on my feet, members shouldn’t be using nicknames, and, for the Hansard, I think the member should actually say who this “Chippy” person is.

“Chippy” is the Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins.

💬 SPEAKER: The Rt Hon Chris Hipkins.

The Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, who’s been a magnificent Prime Minister, and he’s just flying in the polls. We’re so proud of him.

But, as I was saying, I want to go back to Jacinda Ardern because so many of us are so proud of what she’s done for this nation. Māori people—you know, the Māori nation—are so indebted to her. She’s talked about, as I’ve said, a Māori health authority. Māori procurement, history in schools—who would have ever challenged that? We know the National Party would never have done anything with regards to that. Record Māori funding—the Minister for Whānau Ora, Peeni Henare, has driven that, and we’ve seen funding go to our communities that we could have only dreamt of and only thought about in the past.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Didn’t National support that and fund it—$60 million?

National did nothing. You did nothing—you’re useless.

But in terms of her biggest kaupapa, Matariki, a national Māori holiday, National didn’t want to know about that. No, no, they threw it over. But once the polls changed, oh, they totally supported her.

So I want to thank her because she was brave and courageous, and Rangi Mātāmua is now the New Zealander of the Year. But it took courage; it took bravery. We salute her. She’s just like a star in Matariki. He rite ia ki te whetū o Matariki; ka whiti tōna ingoa—

[She is like the star of Matariki; her name will shine]—

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I wish to start my general debate contribution today by also acknowledging the contribution of the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern. For five years, she led our nation through some of the toughest times that we have ever experienced, and I am not sure in this House and elsewhere that she has had the full credit that she deserves.

It was pretty disappointing to see the leadership of the ACT Party taking cheap and, I say, frankly, disgraceful pot-shots at the Prime Minister, just as it was pretty disgraceful—well, not disgraceful in this instance, but I think a bit disappointing—to see the National Party heckling the Hon James Shaw in his contribution and his praise for the Prime Minister. On days like this, when former Prime Ministers make their valedictory speeches, they should be treated with respect. That is how this side of the House treated Sir Bill English when he left this House, and I think that is a courtesy that should be extended to all former Prime Ministers.

What the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern did was not shy away from the challenges facing this country. She acknowledged what needed to be done, she was upfront with the population, and she put in measures to deal with it, and that’s exactly what the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins has done, following in her footsteps.

The Prime Minister has acknowledged that the primary issue facing this country at the moment is the cost of living, and he has made that the primary focus of the Government. He’s not taking the lead of the National Party and speaking in slogans. He’s not coming up with policies that already exist and trying to reframe them as new. He’s actually prioritising the Government’s time on ensuring that New Zealanders get through this cost of living issue that we’re facing at the moment, and there is no greater example of a stark contrast to a massive issue facing this country than in water services reform.

We heard in Simeon Brown’s contribution some small reference to something that they are going to do. No details—nothing—because that’s what their policy is: nothing. This country is facing up to $180 billion that needs to be spent on water services over the next 30 years, and their policy, after four years of whingeing and saying no and declining to even accept that there was an issue, is to come out with a policy that’s the status quo.

💬 Nicola Willis: Where’s your policy?

They are trying—there’s a reason Nicola Willis is yelling out, because I’m hitting a nerve. I am hitting a nerve here because they know that we’re right. The National Party are trying to convince New Zealand that there isn’t a problem. They are trying to convince New Zealand that councils can deal with this by themselves, and that councils can voluntarily form council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and that will magically sort out the $180 billion that we need to fund. They are deliberately ignoring the fact that many councils cannot borrow more because they are near their cap, and they are ignoring the fact that even in CCOs, those bodies cannot borrow more because it is attached to the council’s balance sheet.

This concept—this false narrative that you can maintain direct control from councils and borrow the money that’s required—is not backed up by facts. It is ridiculous, it is false, and they are trying to hoodwink the nation. That is why their policy is nonsense and that is why they have not been taken seriously by the local government sector. It is true that the local government sector has expressed concerns about the reform agenda under way at the moment, but this Government hasn’t received a fraction of the criticism of the National Party, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because the one thing that local government don’t want is the status quo, and that’s the exact thing that the National Party are promising.

The secret is here: $180 billion. I think they are assuming that New Zealanders aren’t smart enough to figure out that the problem is too big to ignore. That is what Jacinda Ardern took on, alongside the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, and that is what the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins and this Government are going to continue to face.

We won’t try and hoodwink New Zealanders. We’ll be upfront with the facts: we need to find $180 billion over the next 30 years. Councils can’t do it by themselves, and if National got in and brought in their policy, they would be out in the cold and ratepayers would not be able to afford the bills that they’d face—that’s a fact. It is based on the council’s own numbers. It is based on the Water Industry Commission of Scotland report that has been peer-reviewed twice.

Where are the National Party’s numbers? Nowhere to be seen. It’s based on slogans, it’s based on feels—it’s based on absolutely nothing. They’ve scaremongered for four years, and, at the end of it, they’ve come up with absolutely nothing.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. It is an absolute pleasure to speak in the House this afternoon, and I want to really focus my contribution on the positive start for the Hipkins Government. I’ve been reflecting back on it because it feels like we have been just doing the job non-stop, and it feels like a longer period of time than it has actually been. It has been only 11 weeks. I reflect on those 11 weeks, as the new Prime Minister—

💬 Hon Andrew Little: Is that all? No, it feels like 11 years.

I know, because there’s been so much to do. But I think back to that first occasion that we had at Rātana Pā, and what a joyous day that was to farewell one Prime Minister and to welcome in the next Prime Minister. But shortly after that, of course, there was the storm event in Auckland and then Cyclone Dovi, and then we had Waitangi week—the biggest week of my political year. Then, shortly after that, we had Cyclone Gabrielle, and our quick response to support those in the emergency response phase and now into the recovery phase. We’ve had to stand up a new committee, we’ve got regional Ministers representing on that committee, we have actioned payments to get out to support our primary industries and our growers but also too our businesses and too our Māori communities: over $15 million. All of those things were stood up in just a really short period of time.

Then I think back to our first week in Parliament, which, sadly, I missed because we were out there in the regions, on the ground with those that were impacted by the cyclones. Minister Kelvin Davis and I were travelling to the four corners of Tai Tokerau to meet with our most remote communities to hear about how they were impacted by the cyclone. In that time that we were away, the Prime Minister delivered his first statement in Parliament, and, of course, that has set the scene for a laser-sharp focus on bread and butter issues.

It is now just past 1 July, or 1 April—July; I’m jumping ahead—where we have seen some of these changes come into effect. I want to take a moment to talk about those 1 April changes, because they benefit more than 1.4 million New Zealanders. This is huge, especially at a time when we have a cost of living crisis. So 880,000 pensioners will get a boost to their super: more than $100 per fortnight for couples. I met kaumātua and kuia in Whangārei on the weekend, on 1 April, and they were saying that they knew that they were about to get that increase and what that would mean for them. The husband was a bit surprised, but the wife knew. I also talked to their mokopuna, who, as a young māmā, knows that she will be getting increases to support her during these difficult economic times when we have a cost of living crisis; where 52,000 students will see a bump in their allowance or their loan living costs.

As we heard, approximately 223,000 workers will receive a wage rise as a result of the minimum wage increasing to $22.70 per hour. Some 8,000 community nurses are to receive a pay increase of up to 15 percent. With the former Minister of Health, who is here in the House with me, as an Associate Minister of Health, this afternoon, and the other Associate Minister of Health here, we are so proud that we can see this coming into effect for our nurses. We have 345,000 families, including 646,000 children, better off through Working for Families tax credits, 10,000 more children are eligible for subsidised childcare, and, of course, the Best Start payment is going up.

Mr Speaker, it has been only 11 weeks. These are really positive changes and a positive start that we are seeing from the new Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins—I was almost going to refer to “Chippy”, but you made a ruling on that earlier. But I have also had the huge privilege of being a Minister for just 64 days and have done a lot in that time, including accompanying the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and yourself for the Taranaki maunga signing of the negotiation and the agreement on Friday. It was a very special kaupapa to be a part of, and so significant.

There are many other highlights in my short 64 days as a Minister which I do not have time to run through this afternoon. In my final seconds, I too would like to add my contribution to the acknowledgments of the wonderful leader Jacinda Ardern, who is giving her valedictory speech this afternoon. It was such an honour and a privilege to serve with her for our nation, and I mihi to her. I look forward to her final words in Parliament this afternoon and reflecting on those. Nō reira, tēnā koe, Mr Speaker.

Point of order, Mr Speaker. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I raise a point of order in regard to the Hon Willie Jackson’s speech that he did at speech four. A point of order was raised by my colleague, who actually referred to the Hon Willie Jackson’s speech where he did refer to David Seymour not being in this House. He actually said that David Seymour should be ashamed and that that’s why he’s not in this House. When the point of order was given, you added to the point of order about the Rt Hon Prime Minister’s name. However, the point of order regarding the member referring to another member who is not in the House was not addressed, and it would appear that it has been ignored.

That is incorrect. I ruled on it, and the ruling stands.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Recent weeks have highlighted to me exactly why I came into Parliament. I came here to fight for the most vulnerable. I survived dealing with our State care system while growing up and I know what it’s like to be treated as an identity group first and a person second, and right now I cannot express how utterly disappointed I am in the way our so-called leadership is operating. We’ve seen MPs making posts on social media, saying things like “Let’s go fight some Nazis.”, we’ve seen videos online of MPs and Ministers cheering and dancing while violence and destruction is going on around them, and we’re seeing Ministers having to apologise for their actions far too often.

Just last week, the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence proudly cried that she knows who is responsible for the violence in the world and that it’s cis white men. New Zealanders rightly called her out on these divisive and utterly factually wrong words. She issued a so-called clarification, just roundabout words which clarified nothing. If you spend five minutes looking at her social media, the Minister was clearly stating her truly held beliefs. The words of someone in her position hold weight, and, as any survivor knows and as we should expect the Minister to know, sexual and family violence is a complex, nuanced, and insidious issue. I was disgusted to see the Minister smirking, painting the issue with such broad, dismissive, and totally incorrect strokes. New Zealanders were right to call her out.

Since that Saturday, I have received messages, many messages, from victims of sexual and domestic violence who feel their trauma was belittled for political points—those whose trauma had not come from white males. What struck me hard were the messages that I received from male victims. Male victims often struggle to come forward when they are assaulted or harmed. There can be such a sense of shame and a fear of being judged, and this can often be made worse for them if the perpetrator is a woman. They feel shame that they were unable to protect themselves or that people just won’t believe them. Many have expressed to me that they feel there is very little support or genuine understanding that men can be victimised, too. They tell me they are just expected to man up, which can be even more harmful and hurtful for them. These are the subtleties which any decent Minister should know and should respect. But the Hon Marama Davidson does not seem to do either.

I’ve also heard from Māori victims who have been victimised by other Māori, and Māori women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence. This does not come just from white men.

How many victims who are suffering did the Minister dismiss just to continue with the blind determination to blame all the world’s problems on white men, and for all that the division the Hon Marama Davidson has caused with her careless words, what has been accomplished? The statistics paint a heartbreaking picture.

The most recent police annual report shows family violence reoffending trending up. There were over 175,000 investigations into family harm. That’s up 47 percent from five years ago. Police attended a family harm event every three minutes. Charges for sexual assault and related offences are up 47 percent from two years ago.

What is she doing about it as the Minister? In the last 251 days, she’s sent two press releases, both for programmes being launched by other Ministers. She’s brought one paper to Cabinet—one paper in eight months—to set up a working group. I ask the Minister: what does she have to show for three years in this job?

I came to Parliament to fight for those most vulnerable. But Marama Davidson and the Green Party seem to be happy to just divide our most vulnerable by race and gender and to set up working groups, and I feel that New Zealand deserves better.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I do have something I will agree on with the previous speaker, Karen Chhour, and that is my disdain for some of the words from my parliamentary colleagues. But in this particular case, it would be those of her leader, who was using very derogatory terms about a woman who has done nothing to deserve that.

She is one whom I admire enormously and whom we are saying goodbye to today, as the former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern gives her valedictory statement. She is the woman who led us through the most horrendous terror attack, took urgent action to make major gun reforms within just a matter of weeks—within a month—of the appalling mosque shootings, who led us through a natural disaster at Whakaari / White Island, and whose leadership in the COVID response was responsible, at a conservative estimate, for saving between 18,000 and 25,000 lives because of her policies. That was so challenging. Leadership through those times is one of the most extraordinarily difficult things to do. The Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern did this by bringing us together as a country and by reminding us that what matters, after all, is people.

But I’m here today to talk about Labour and what we’ve done for this country, because I do hear, as I go through the Ilam electorate—

💬 Simeon Brown: What have you done?

—that people will come to us and say that it was fantastic how the leadership change was handled. It really showed maturity and consideration for the people of New Zealand.

So those members say, “But what has Labour done for us?” Well, on 1 April—

💬 Simeon Brown: Nothing.

—you wait, Mr Brown—880,000 pensioners got a boost to superannuation, including 5,000 veterans. Since 2017, the amount paid to a couple has increased by $326.68 per fortnight. A single person living alone has seen a $212.34 increase.

In Ilam, we have a large population of older people. When I recently visited Age Concern with the Minister for Seniors, the Hon Ginny Andersen, a few days ago, we heard how the winter energy payment has made such an extraordinarily big difference to those who need it most, and I’d note that this winter energy payment is on the chopping block, should we be unfortunate enough to experience the ACT Party in Government.

Then there’s the minimum wage, which Labour has increased again, by a further $1.50, to $22.70 an hour. We’ve raised the minimum wage from $15.75 in 2017, to $22.70, which makes an enormous difference to those who need it the most—people, I might remind the House, who are not mostly teenagers or not “not leading households”, but 75 percent of minimum wage earners are 20 years or older, and 45 percent of them have dependent children, and many of those are women.

So, apart from increasing superannuation for 880,000 pensioners, introducing the winter energy payment, and increasing the minimum wage, what has Labour done for us? Well, let’s talk about women for a minute. Labour introduced the $5.5 billion Families Package, provided $65 extra a week for the parents of newborns through the Best Start programme, increased paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks, reinstated the Training Incentive Allowance, and—one of my favourites—introduced the ACC payments for birthing injuries, which will benefit 28,000 people each year—each year. We’ve put free period products in schools, we’ve expanded bereavement leave to include stillbirth and miscarriage, and we’ve introduced child support pass-on to sole parent beneficiaries.

Nurses—many of those are women. We said that we would deliver pay equity for nurses, and we have. After years of falling behind, we’ve increased wages for the largest group of registered nurses by 25 percent since we came into Government—25 percent. I remember many, many years of falling behind in terms of pay increases for nurses, so that’s a really fantastic achievement.

So, apart from increasing superannuation, introducing the winter energy payment, increasing the minimum wage, putting period products in schools, and delivering nurses’ pay equity, ACC cover for birthing injuries, reinstating the training incentive allowance—15 seconds to go. I can’t possibly get through all of it. I have pages and pages of Labour’s increases and benefits for those who need it most in this country. As always, Labour has your back.

New Zealanders have just endured another punch in the gut with a lift in the official cash rate. Interest rates have risen for the 11th time in a row, and what do the members opposite want to talk about? Well, we’ve got Willie Jackson waxing lyrical about co-governance, we’ve got Kieran McAnulty defending the failed three waters reforms, and we had Grant Robertson at question time today making every excuse under the sun.

But the reality is this: today, many New Zealand mortgage holders will be doing the maths and trying to work out how they make it add up in their house when they refix their mortgage this year and it goes from an interest rate of 3 percent or less to double that. They’ll be saying to themselves “That is hundreds of dollars every fortnight that we have to find in our family.” They’ll be saying to themselves, “Where are we going to find it?”, and the unfortunate thing is that some of them won’t find it. Some of them will be forced to sell their hard-earned homes, some of them will go into mortgage arrears, many of them will go into deep financial distress, and we all know the pain that that creates in families. The conflict between parents, the pressure on kids, the opportunities that go lost—that is the reality today.

New Zealanders have endured an unprecedented sequence of lifts in the official cash rate, and why is it happening? It is because we are enduring a prolonged cost of living crisis, with interest rates following inflation that has been out of control for two years because Labour’s big-spending, big-taxing, anti-business approach has delivered nothing but rising prices for New Zealanders.

We had Sarah Pallett, the member just before me, deciding to talk about nurses. Well, let me tell her a little bit about nurses, because this week, 5,000 nurses, we learn, are leaving for Australia.

Let me tell you a little bit about Australia. In Australia, here’s a couple of big factors. Inflation: it’s lower there. Interest rates: they’re lower there. Over there, there isn’t the crisis that we’ve had here, and—yes, the members opposite are right—they are spending a lot more money, this Labour Government. In fact, they’re spending a billion dollars more every week, and that’s why voters say to me, “Nicola, where’s all the money going? Why aren’t there the results to show for it?”

💬 Hon Andrew Little: How much is going on nurses’ pay? Oh, you don’t want that now.

Why is it here in Wellington that two out of five people, when they turn up at the emergency department—

💬 Hon Andrew Little: Tell the nurses.

—will have to wait more than six hours—Andrew Little. They’ll have to wait more than six hours for care in that emergency department, and it’s because your health reforms have failed to deliver results for New Zealand patients who need them.

As for the $5 billion that’s gone into the education system—well, the average pay of someone in the Ministry of Education might have gone up, but, let me tell you, literacy and numeracy achievement has not, and I’m not surprised, because this is a Government that has become completely distracted. So much for bread and butter! Instead, they’ve been lurching from sackings to scandal to half-hearted apologies. We’ve had Marama Davidson blaming cis white men for the woes of the world. We’ve had Stuart Nash sending secret Government information to donors and calling the ninth floor, the Prime Minister’s office, about it three times—three times—and them at no stage saying “Hey, we probably shouldn’t cover that one up.”, and then we’ve had Kiri Allan forgetting to read the ministerial handbook, too.

This is not competence. This is not standards. This is not a Government that is focused on what matters for New Zealand families. This is a Government that has lost the plot, and New Zealanders are sick of the culture of excuses and cover-ups. We were told—weren’t we?—that we had inflation because it was a global phenomenon. Well, here’s the news: inflation is lower in the United States of America, it is lower in Australia, it is lower in Canada, and, actually, New Zealanders are suffering more than people in those countries because they have a Government that cannot deliver.

Meanwhile, what’s National doing while you deal with all your scandals over there? We’ve been delivering policy—the Family Boost childcare rebate—to ensure that families with kids in childcare get up to $75 more every week in their back pockets, lifting education standards, reducing wasteful consultancy spending, electrifying New Zealand, and strengthening this economy so that we can get New Zealand back on track.

The response by the Government to Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods I think signals an encouraging start to Chris Hipkins’ prime ministership. It was principled, clear, and with our Ministers leading from the front and not shying away from the difficult long-term challenges that our country faces.

I want to dedicate my contribution in this debate to the people that I know in my community who had their homes wrecked by the floods: Andrew and Annabel, Konstantin and Elena, Trushar, Bex, Natasha and Damien, Derek and Elaine, Rakesh, Tracey and Mike, Amrita and Rupinder, Renate and Glenn, and Mark and Robyn. Around a thousand people in my electorate had their lives turned upside down by the floods on Anniversary Weekend, and I want to pay tribute to WAIF—West Auckland is Flooding—the organisation that they’ve set up to be a voice for those communities to ask for the Government, the council, banks, and insurance companies to get together and find some practical solutions for them. They’re now in the unenviable position of having to decide whether to rebuild and repair and wait for the next flood, or to walk away and face financial ruin, unless there is some assistance.

Now, within days of those extreme weather events, at the very time the welfare centres were being stood up, people were being clothed and housed and were getting income support from the agencies, the Prime Minister acknowledged that there would need to be—in his words—difficult conversations about the build back. Grant Robertson, appointed shortly after as the Minister for Cyclone Recovery, spelt it out more, saying that the Government was developing a response that recognised that in some cases—in some cases—it would be untenable for people living in high-risk locations to just build back without a serious effort to reduce the ongoing risk.

Now, this is very significant. With few exceptions, in the aftermath of natural disasters in this country, people are left to clean up, to repair, and to rebuild. It’s something that they work out between them and their insurance companies. The Government, by and large, does not step in and get involved. What the Prime Minister and the finance Minister have signalled is that this Government recognises in the wake of the cyclone and the floods that climate adaptation is a now issue. It is not something for a year’s time, for five years’ time, or for 10 years’ time; as a country, we have to grapple with it now, and a more thoughtful approach to resilience and risk reduction in the wake of natural disasters is what’s needed now.

The extreme weather events taught us a couple of things. The first is that climate change is making these mega-rain events a more frequent occurrence, and, secondly, our cities and our communities are simply not set up and they’re not planned and designed and built in a way that makes them resilient to these natural disasters. There is so much that we have to change.

The work that we’ve been doing in West Auckland has shown that the urban flooding in something around a dozen flooding hotspots is caused in every case by a highly localised mix of local factors: fences and walls that have been built in flood paths, culverts that are too small and blocked, streams that have been damaged by slips, land that’s contoured in a way so that the water naturally flows into people’s homes instead of away from them, and, of course, too many homes having been built in the flood plains.

Now, Minister Robertson and Minister Wood, who is the Minister for Auckland, have said in recent days that they are working. The task force chaired by Brian Roche is working with the insurance companies and the councils to pull together the data and address the risk by location. They’ve signalled that they will have more to say in the coming days, and I hope that that gives hope and confidence to the flooded home owners, who are dealing with the agony of waiting and the uncertainty.

I say to those people that you haven’t been forgotten; the Government is fully aware of your predicament and help is on the way. I think that the way Prime Minister Hipkins and his Ministers have responded to the floods and the cyclone—this very challenging issue of climate adaptation—has been principled, clear, and compassionate, and that augurs well for this country.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a pleasure to rise to participate in this general debate, and I begin my contribution with a reflection on what Willie Jackson has said. That first bit was the only bit that I noticed because I was busy with a meeting, and all I heard was that he thought that on this side of the House, we were being very, very negative. He said that we could be positive about it, but you can consider the fact that in the last six years, this atrocious Labour Government has actually performed really badly, and Mr Jackson is one of those Ministers who has performed really, really badly.

But I reflect the words of Christopher Luxon, our leader, who this morning said with regard to the Minister Kiri Allan—and I quote—“We rely on Ministers not to get the personal and public mixed up.” It was appropriate that she apologised, and I hope that she actually takes the opportunity to refresh her reading of the Cabinet Manual, perhaps. I note that Minister Allan has served as an Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage for the past three years, and I wonder whether there was any other occasion where she might have actually misinterpreted the public versus the personal as well.

When you actually consider the fact that when there are issues of potential influence that the Ministers have on Government departments and the perceptions of interference, the undermining of the trust of New Zealand media is one of those things that actually happened. It began, going right back to 2018, with Clare Curran’s actions in meeting with Carol Hirschfeld from RNZ and misleading a select committee, and her further actions that saw her consequently be sacked from Cabinet and resign as a Minister. Then comes a public—

💬 Todd Muller: And who led that attack?

Well! Then comes the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund started by Kris Faafoi, which multimedia stakeholders, time and time again, say was one of the biggest mistakes ever made by this Government because it has really contributed to the trust factor, or the lack of trust in the media that has actually happened as a result of it, and the catastrophic attempt to merge RNZ and TVNZ into Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media (ANZPM).

💬 Andrew Bayly: And how much did that cost?

Well, it cost—actually, it just got released—$19.6 million, and can I tell you, colleagues, that $12 million of it went to consultants. Not one of those consultants were public media specialists, $2.6 million went into offices and overheads, and $3 million went into reimbursements. Nearly $20 million of taxpayers’ money went to the project.

Although the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media is actually cancelled, I am quite worried, and it was raised by journalist Pattrick Smellie on BusinessDesk, who said that, potentially, Willie Jackson could appoint people on to the board of Television New Zealand because their contract, basically, comes up and all of them could be replaced by 1 May. Every single one of those board members could be replaced by the board that actually—

💬 Andrew Bayly: The transition rules?

Yeah, the establishment board of Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media. It could be Tracey Martin as the new chair of TVNZ. That is a way that Willie Jackson could, potentially, have his wish to create sort of a different version of ANZPM at TVNZ, and that will be the way that Willie Jackson could actually control the media.

On this note, I’d like to actually say best wishes to the departing CEO, Simon Power. I wish him the very best because he had to actually put up with this and champion the work of TVNZ. But even without Simon Power, from his successes I’m sure that TVNZ will continue to be a cherished entity that New Zealanders love, and I just hope that the Government and Willie Jackson, the Minister for Broadcasting and Media, could guarantee that he would not be interfering by appointing his Labour friends to the board to control the media. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is my first contribution to the general debate since we got back from the break in 2023, and I appreciate this opportunity.

I also want to start my contribution by paying tribute to our outgoing Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern. A lot has been said about Jacinda, but as someone who comes from the Muslim community, for me, Jacinda is always going to be about March 15 and the way that she handled the tragic terror attacks on Christchurch masjidain. When I say this, I speak on behalf of all the Muslim community, and I just want to say thank you to Jacinda. We are indebted to you. Go well, and see you some time soon.

As the Hon Carmel Sepuloni said, 2023 started really hard. We have seen floods in Auckland and Cyclone Gabrielle, which exacerbated the cost of living that was already raging. Kiwis are having it tough, but this Government has got a plan and we are listening, and that’s why Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has made it his mission that his priorities are going to be about the bread and butter issues that are affecting Kiwis. That’s why we have seen the 1 April increases and 1.4 million Kiwis receiving extra help with the cost of living.

I want to specifically talk about the increase in the minimum wage, which has increased by $1.50. That takes the minimum wage up to $22.70. Since 2017, our Government has consistently increased the minimum wage, on average, by 6 percent. That’s how we are protecting low-paid workers from the cost of living.

I want to talk about the National Party. We’ve seen a lot of screams and a lot of conspiracy theories about what this Government is doing—this Government’s intentions. The average minimum wage increase with nine years of the National Party in Government was 3.3 percent, which is a 50c average, even though the working people were screaming for an increase on minimum wage.

As someone who was on minimum wage for years and years, I know that every single cent helps. We have heard a lot about how the minimum wage is going to cause job losses, which it didn’t, and we have heard that the minimum wage was going to increase inflation, which it didn’t. The low-paid workers, who actually got this country through the darkest time of COVID-19, are sick and tired of hearing about how the dollar pay increase that they get is going to crash the economy, as if the world is going to end.

The National Party has consistently rejected the Minister’s proposal to increase the minimum wage, but what we are saying is that the minimum wage is just an umbrella wage. We’re not saying it’s enough; we’re just saying that it’s something that people can live on. That’s why this Government has made it its mission to increase the minimum wage by 6 percent consistently since 2017.

With fair pay agreements and the other measures that have been put in place, we have no doubt that the struggling workforce in this country is going to get through this difficult time. I’m very proud of this Government’s track record in helping the working people, and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ positive start is very encouraging.

One last comment I want to make is that we have seen the CEOs’ pay increasing in this country by hundreds of thousands of dollars and we haven’t heard one single word of criticism. When the minimum wage goes up by a dollar, we hear screams. It’s very disappointing and it’s very surprising. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.