Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement

I just want to start by saying that we, as a country, have a lot to be proud of, and what we have come to realise over the course of the last 3½ weeks is that one of those things is that, in the midst of hard times, New Zealanders do come together and do recognise there is strength in solidarity. On 27 January, as many Aucklanders were just settling in to what was meant to be the long anniversary weekend, the weather system hit suddenly. As a result of this night, four people lost their lives. Many more would be homeless, and thousands would be wondering if their house would remain habitable. My aroha goes out to all of these people and their families.

That night, I saw firsthand the true spirit of our nation, as we banded together to help one another. First responders went above and beyond to make sure people were able to get to safe places. In my own electorate of Kelston, the spirit of a community came together to make sure our people had a safe, warm, and, above all, dry place to spend the night. What we saw was individuals and families walking through the doors of that hall at St Leonards Road School in Kelston, having experienced trauma and also coming with a number of complex challenges. I met many of those families and many of them shared with me their stories and their experiences, and it is incredibly humbling when you are sitting there in the middle of the night listening to these traumatic stories firsthand and people are sharing with you the horrible circumstances that they have had to endure.

I’ll never forget the family that came through who spoke of the woman having been trapped inside her house. The water had risen to such an extent that the front door would not open and she could not get out. The back door, when she opened it—there had been a slip; so she could not get out the back, and she could not escape through a window. She was fortunate she was able to get her hands on a cellphone to ring 111 and was rescued by the emergency services. I spoke to one woman who carried her child up the street, with water up to her neck, and had to rely on a neighbour to take over, given the height of the water and the difficulty she was having carrying her child. Not only did they experience trauma but they came in with a number of complex challenges. It became apparent very quickly that a number of people had lost their medication in the floods—one woman with breast cancer; a number of people with high blood pressure and heart conditions; one man who had only 30 percent vision and had lost his eye drops and needed them urgently to be able to retain the vision that he did have; a tetraplegic man came in on that night because he was flooded out of his house.

These are the very real and traumatic experiences that New Zealanders endured not only in Auckland. Within a week, we had another weather event. The cyclones have meant that Auckland, Northland, the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty, the East Coast, the Wairarapa, and the Hawke’s Bay have all been tragically affected by what ensued from the weather events. But, again, just like I saw in Kelston, we have seen communities band together and come together to support the people that were affected. Sadly, 11 more New Zealanders are known to have lost their lives, with more missing or still unaccounted for. Our hearts, all in this House—I know this is true—go out to their families and communities, who are grieving right now.

These extreme weather events have taught us many lessons, which we will apply in the rebuild and recovery, but they have also shown us the very best of us. They have shown that we as a nation have each other’s backs when the chips are down. Yesterday, the Prime Minister laid out for this House the Government’s intentions for supporting New Zealand families and businesses through these difficult times. I want to echo what the Prime Minister said yesterday: our Government’s number one priority is to support New Zealand families and businesses through difficult economic conditions and the impact of cyclone and floods. We are committed to building back better, building back safer, and building back smarter. The Prime Minister and Minister Robertson will have more details on the cyclone and flood recovery in the coming weeks.

There has been a number of things that I have been reflecting on over the course of the last few weeks, but one of them is the importance of our welfare system, and I have said on a number of occasions, over the course of the last five years, that our welfare system is there for every New Zealander. Quite often, there is a stigma attached to the welfare system and assertions that there are only certain groups of New Zealanders that need to access the support. This weather event showed us why it’s important to recognise that the welfare system is there for everyone. We’ve had $36 million go out already in civil defence payments. Over 72,000 people have accessed those civil defence payments. We’ve had Ministry of Social Development staff at almost all evacuation centres, where possible, across the country, not working by themselves but working alongside the very important community groups and iwi organisations and first responders, to form that collaborative effort that needs to be there to support these whānau during difficult times. It also made me reflect on where we started with the welfare system, which was changing the culture to ensure that all New Zealanders had their dignity upheld by the welfare system, and I think, at this point in time, and I would hope, every person in this House should agree that, when New Zealanders are experiencing traumatic experiences—in this particular example, it is weather events and having to evacuate their homes in many instances—they deserve to be able to turn to a welfare system that upholds their dignity and works for them.

I do want to recognise the community, iwi organisations, and NGOs that have been working. Many of them got in there early. They used the resource that they had. Fortunately, a number were set up because they’d been resourced through Care in the Community, but they were able to use that resource to immediately respond to the needs of whānau. In those early days, when I spoke to social services and community organisations, they were very clear with me that they would have enough for that time, but it would be important that we turned our eye to what they would need in the coming weeks, and we’ve certainly done that. We announced last week the $11.5 million package that would be there to support them, in some instances to help replenish the stocks that they have exhausted because of the support they have been providing people impacted by the weather events—and, in many instances, to support them for what will come, because the recovery will not be instant. There will be many families who will continue to experience challenges because of what has occurred.

I also want to point out the importance of workforce at this time. We have spent the last five years investing in areas where we’ve had workforce shortages, particularly in areas like trades and apprenticeships. We are going to need them more than ever over the coming months, as we recover and rebuild, and I want to acknowledge that that investment was to address the workforce shortages we were already experiencing, but I also want to acknowledge that we can’t take our foot off the accelerator now, and this Government’s focus and prioritisation on building the workforce that we need for New Zealand continues to be a priority and will be more important than ever given the horrific impacts that we have seen on people’s homes across the country.

I want to end by making sure that I fully thank and acknowledge all of the people who have been out there helping those families that have been impacted. In my own electorate, we have had former All Blacks, we have had community groups, we have iwi on the ground—we’ve got many volunteers that aren’t necessarily getting paid to provide support to these whānau, many of them impacted in some way too by the floods or the cyclone. And I know that that effort is being replicated across the country. So I want to acknowledge each and every one of those people who are undertaking that work. I want to encourage them, because the work will continue for some time, and we need to continue to work in solidarity if we are going to address the needs of the whānau and communities that have been impacted by these weather events. Mālō ‘aupito.

These are dark and foreboding times for New Zealand. Never before have I witnessed and stood amongst as much destruction and devastation as I saw in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne last week. It is apparent, I think, to all members of this House that in this dark hour, we must back New Zealanders in a great time of need, and we have a great responsibility as leaders to deliver for them.

As I stand here, Cyclone Gabrielle has wreaked its havoc. I extend our utmost thoughts to those who have experienced the loss of family members, with the death toll of 11 people—to all of your friends and families. I think of the more than a thousand people who are still uncontactable, and the great anguish and anxiety their friends and families must be experiencing.

My thoughts are with all of those people and families and communities who have had their lives turned upside down, their houses destroyed, their farms destroyed, their jobs gone, and their possessions gone. To everyone in Napier, the Coromandel, Hastings, Tolaga Bay, Gisborne, Auckland—all of you who are anxious, who are exhausted, who are frustrated, and who, in too many cases, are feeling hopeless. I think our job in this House is to give these New Zealanders hope.

National will continue to support the efforts needed to respond to this great disaster. We continue to stand behind all of those working on the response. We continue to back the need for a rebuild, and we know that that is both immediate and medium term. But we also see that hope will be about more than the words that are offered. Hope will be about delivery. So how is it that we will contribute to that?

The first thing I want to do is to shine a spotlight on the heroes in our community who rose to this time of need, because I see hope in them, and one of them is a man called Cameron Taylor. I had the great privilege of spending some time with him on Friday, and he told me of his rapid evacuation from his home in Hawke’s Bay as he saw the rivers rising. As he drove out of the floodwaters into safety, his immediate thought was for those families living near him who may not have been so lucky to escape. So, putting health and safety rules to the side, Cameron talked to a pilot, he got himself up in his chopper, and he went and rescued families from their roofs. He had no thought for himself. He was selfless, he was brave, and he was courageous. Even when he thought that he had rescued all the people and he saw a hole in a roof with a metal bar and a white cloth extending out of it, he said, “Let’s hover the chopper there.”, and he pulled with his bare hands an elderly couple from their ceiling cavity, where they were floating on water.

These are acts of heroism, and as Cameron shared this trauma with me, he was very slow to then talk about the fact that his business, which employs 300 people, has suffered immense destruction: orchards gone, packing house filled with mud, cool-store broken. So as we work together over these next few weeks and months to rebuild those areas ravaged by disaster, I’m going to think of Cameron and of how we need to be accountable to him.

I am worried about whether or not this Government has the track record to properly deliver in these circumstances, because we do have a backdrop here of a Labour Government who have failed to deliver infrastructure, starting with the promise of 100,000 KiwiBuild homes never built and the light rail promise that was meant to be at Auckland Airport by 2021—not one metre laid. But, more recently, I think of the promise from Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson following COVID that they would build back better and that they would immediately fund shovel-ready infrastructure projects. The words were there, and they started 225 of these projects—they’re great at starting things—but they haven’t finished them. Only 49 have been completed.

So I stand with those New Zealanders who in this hour of need say, “Nicola, I am worried that they’re going to fudge it, that they’re going to forget about us, and that they’re not going to get it done.” It’s all very well and good for Minister opposite to say that this time it will be different, but New Zealanders know that the road here was paved with Labour’s good intentions, and good intentions won’t get the bridges built. Good intentions won’t pay the supermarket bills of workers who lose their jobs. Good intentions won’t deliver the housing that this Government has already had five years to deliver and hasn’t been able to do it.

So we will stand proudly in this House to hold the Government accountable, and we will propose smarter ways for delivering the recovery that New Zealand so badly needs. But my thoughts, when I think of what hope is needed in the country now, extends beyond the rebuild. We must not forget that whether New Zealanders have been touched by the cyclone and the floods or not, they are in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and that cost of living crisis has gone on and on for month upon month.

We have now, today, had the 10th increase in the official cash rate. We’ve never had the cash rate rise this fast before. The only time it’s risen this many times was under the last Labour Government, and even then it was five. The very real reality that mortgage holders across the country are looking at is flicking from having a mortgage with a two or a three in front of it, to a mortgage with a 6 or 7 percent rate. That is hundreds of dollars per fortnight, and this is at the same time that the Reserve Bank tells us that inflation—that thief in everyone’s pocket—is here to stay for some time longer.

Even while the US inflation rate dips well below ours and even while Canada starts to say goodbye, it’s here to stay in New Zealand, and I find it unfathomable—absolutely unfathomable—that at this time of crisis, when New Zealanders are seeking hope and confidence and certainty, the finance Minister and his Prime Minister think it appropriate to dangle over New Zealanders’ heads the prospect of yet another tax. This is a sword of Damocles that should not be there at this time, because, actually, the job that those two men need to do right now is give people confidence that there are better times ahead, and you don’t do that by saying, “Actually, we see this as a great opportunity to pad down your pockets for some more cash for our pet projects.”

How can it be OK that at a time when there are New Zealanders who don’t even know whether they’re going to have a job next week and who worry about whether or not they’re going to be able to keep their home, the Ministers opposite think it’s a great time to double down on their pet political project of light rail? Those workers, those engineers, and those diggers need to be helping out on our rural roads and getting lifelines and infrastructure connections going again, and a good Government would see that.

So National stands here knowing that many people are relying on Parliament to deliver for them. Well, we back them. We stand with New Zealanders, not just with words but with delivery. That is our track record, because we know that only with delivery will New Zealanders have the strong foundations to bounce back from this worst of times. We will hold the Government to account. This one’s for you, Cameron.

Tēnā koe, e te Māngai o te Whare. Ka noho ahau ki roto i te reo Māori mō te wāhanga poto.

He karanga a aituā he tai timu he tai pari. He tai ka tae atu ki hea. Ka tae atu ki a nunumi mā, ki a roroa mā, ki te hunga kua oti atu ki te pō. Kia tāpae ake ki runga i waku kupu mihi ki te tāhuhu kōrero o tō tātou Whare te hunga mate ki roto i ngā wiki tata kua pahure ake nei.

Kua kōrerohia nei e te Whare mō te āhuatanga ki ngā tāngata i riro i te horonuku o Muriwai, ana kua kōrerohia te Whare mō te āhuatanga ki ngā tāngata i riro atu ki roto i te waipuke ki roto i te Matau-a-Māui, ki roto anō hoki i te Tai Rāwhiti. Na ka tāpae, ake ki ngā mate huhua o aua tāima, anā te ingoa o tōku matua a Vince Heperi, i riro ki roto i te pōwhiri nui a Te Matatini inanahi rā ki roto o Tāmaki-makau-rau.

Nō reira, ko te āhuatanga o te ao Māori kia mihihia, kia tangihia wō tātou mate i te tuatahi, ka mutu ka huri tū atu ki ngā kaupapa o te ao kikokiko, nō reira āpiti hono tātai hono rātou ki rātou. Āpiti hono, tātai hono, tātou te hunga ora, tēnā koutou.

[Greetings, Madam Speaker. I shall speak in the Māori language for a short time.

The call of tragedy is an ebbing and flowing tide. It is a tide which could affect anyone. It reaches to the distant underworld, to those who have gone forever. I present my words of acknowledgment to the ridgepole of our House for those who have died in recent weeks.

The House has discussed the situation of the people who died in the land slips at Muriwai, and the House has discussed the situation of those who died in the flooding in Hawke’s Bay and on the East Coast. I also add, to those many deaths at those times, the name of the respected Vince Heperi, who died just yesterday during the welcoming ceremony at Te Matatini in Auckland.

It is customary in the Māori world to acknowledge and grieve for our dead at the outset, and then we can turn to the issues of the physical world. And so the lines are unbroken; let the dead be with dead. The lines are unbroken to us the living. Greetings to you all.]

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity, as is customary on marae across the country, to farewell the departed first. Of course, I acknowledge those who we sadly lost in the weather events that have plagued this country over the past few weeks. I also add to that my condolences of the family of Vince Heperi, who sadly passed away at the Te Matatini Pōwhiri yesterday in Tāmaki-makau-rau. All of those who have passed, we share, in this House, we share the one sentiment of condolences and love to their families. It is, too, in that tone that we look towards those who have responded in these weather events that have plagued our country over the last few weeks, but, indeed, in the years gone by.

Today, in question time, my colleague the Hon Kieran McAnulty made clear that only three times in our history have we declared a national state of emergency—one under his watch as Minister for Emergency Management. I can say one of the other times when I was Minister of Civil Defence as we responded to COVID-19.

The track record of this Government in responding to crises that affect this country is quite clear. We’ve managed to navigate the tricky waters of COVID-19—the same waters that the international community had to wade through and navigate through—and I can say that the track record from this Government is one of success. We’ve come through that particular period well off and better off than many of our counterparts that we compare ourselves to around the world.

Then when we look to these weather events, I can tell you, Madam Speaker, that the same true: that on this side of the House, this Government looks towards responding to those important matters that arise from the crises that our country is currently facing. I can tell you, Madam Speaker, not just in Tāmaki-makau-rau through the floods but also as Cyclone Gabrielle bore down on this country, I’m proud to say that those first responders in Fire and Emergency New Zealand, in the New Zealand Defence Force, and in our communities spurred into action and responded appropriately.

I want to acknowledge for my part, as Minister for Whānau Ora, the Whānau Ora providers and the Whānau Ora commissioning agencies around this country. They dipped into their own pockets to allow an instant response for families in affected areas. They also pivoted their resources away from what would be considered “business as usual” because of the exceptional circumstances our communities found themselves in—pivoting workforce, pivoting resources to make sure that the communities had what they need.

The same is said about the Māori health providers in this country. They’ve already dipped into cash reserves of their own to make sure not only were they able to respond to the weather events but also continue to keep our communities safe from COVID-19. When we find ourselves in an evacuation centre—and I was fortunate to visit a number of those evacuation centres during the Auckland floods—those health providers were at the door continually reminding ourselves that COVID is still in our community, and when you come into contact during emergency situations with people who are unknown to you and your community, it is important that we must remind ourselves that COVID-19 is still in our community.

But I want to acknowledge those health and Whānau Ora providers because they did an exceptional job. In order for us to support them, what we’ve been able to do is relieve some of the contractual obligations that we might ordinarily see under “business as usual”. That’s important because it’s too much to expect them to do business as usual while responding to these exceptional circumstances due to the weather events. I’m really proud of the way we’ve been able to support them, and I want to reiterate to those providers and those communities that this Government is here, this Government is listening, and this Government will stand by them during the recovery.

We’ve just heard from the other side of the House that this Government has been “light on delivery”. Well, I can say that that side of the House promised bridges, once upon a time—in fact, in my time in this House—and delivered nothing. I can also say that that side of the House has also promised the kinds of investments in infrastructure that our communities have been calling for, but from them we’ve seen nothing. From this side of the House, despite the exceptional circumstances of the weather events, despite the exceptional circumstances of COVID-19, (1) we’ve responded to them, and (2) we continue to do the mahi to make sure that the infrastructure that this country so richly deserves is having investment made into it and is making sure that we can continue to progress. It’s that kind of investment that will make sure that our country will not only navigate these challenging times but also come out with great prosperity.

Part of that, too, is, of course, making sure that those who are affected most by these weather events we are able to respond but also support them to recover. We’ve already made a number of announcements towards investing in our infrastructure that has been broken because of these weather events. We’ve also made a number of investments into those who have helped respond. We’ve made a commitment to those responders that we will be there to continue to listen to them, to make sure that our response is agile enough to meet their needs.

What’s really important is not only should it have national coordination, which is what this Government is promising, but also that the regional voice is being heard during the recovery. We’ve said it many times in this House: what happens in Te Tai Rāwhiti is different to what happens in Te Tai Tokerau. The response required in Te Matau-a-Māui is different to the response that will be required in Tāmaki-makau-rau. Therefore, it’s important that we continue to take a strong regional approach, which is what the Prime Minister has announced in supporting the recovery from the weather events. I wholeheartedly support that approach, and I’m sure that many of the members in this House, as they reflect on their constituencies and their electorates, that that local voice is really important. I’m proud that our Prime Minister has decided to make the call to coordinate and to support centrally, but more importantly, to drive those outcomes and those desired outcomes for the recovery locally, because that’s going to be important.

There are a number of other things that I just want to briefly touch on. One is, of course, we know that the bread and butter issues that continue to face our families are still there despite the weather events. So we’ve got to make sure that we’re working on both of those things. And, of course, this Government has already announced the increase to the minimum wage, which is really important. That puts money in the pockets of the lowest-paid people in our country. That makes sure that many of them who are Māori and Pacific and other ethnic communities who find themselves in the lower-paid ranks of this country continues to put more support behind them, continues to back the work that they do by paying them appropriately.

It isn’t all bad news. I want to finish my contribution by saying, today starts the Te Matatini festival. They call it “the Olympics of kapa haka”. It is the biggest Māori event on the calendar, not just in this country but in the world. And as thousands around the world and, indeed, locally, will tune in to watch their family, their loved ones, despite the challenges that we’ve faced over the last few years, come together in spirit, come together in performance on stage, to share with the rest of the world our culture, the Māori culture, the indigenous culture of this land. I welcome one and all to Tāmaki-makau-rau and to my electorate to partake in what is truly a festival of love, a festival of culture, and a festival of hope.

Nō reira, haere mai ki a au ki runga o Tāmaki. Kia ora, tātou katoa.

[I invite you to visit me in Auckland. Greetings, one and all.]

Kia ora. The next call is a split call. I call on Ricardo Menéndez March for five minutes.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Like many in this House, I’d like to begin my contribution by acknowledging the lives lost, the families and communities that have been displaced by climate change - induced extreme weather events that we have seen recently. It has been deeply distressing to see the extent of the damage and the challenge ahead of us.

But what we have seen as well on the ground has been the communities that have rallied together to support one another—groups that have organically now been created as a result of the devastation and have tried to put whatever little resources they each have to support their neighbours and their communities. In my own neighbourhood, I’ve seen the student volunteer army deploying people to help with the clean-up. I have seen marae and schools responding rapidly to the needs of our communities. I’ve also seen firsthand the families that have been affected. Like many others here in Parliament, we’ve visited our neighbours and the people in our roads. I’ve seen migrant families that have struggled to access the support that they require, and have required assistance to communicate in English the accessibility needs of our disabled communities who are often left in inaccessible shelter.

But it is not enough as MPs just to visit these communities on the ground without acknowledging that what we are seeing are the inequalities that are laid bare as a result of this disaster—inequalities that in fact have been here for decades. And so we need to set the bar higher than simply accepting that poverty exists or that the research tells us that climate change is very much human induced.

We need to confront these realities with action, and to echo the Prime Minister’s words, business as usual won’t work anymore. But this cannot just be a slogan; it needs to be matched with the action that researchers and communities have been calling for, because climate change won’t be impacting everyone equally. In fact, the communities who often contribute the least to climate change are some of the ones who are going to be most impacted as a result of these weather events.

The communities who struggle to make ends meet on a good sunny day will be struggling even more in the face of extreme weather events. The people who have been receiving income support, who have been facing insecure housing—these are some of the communities who are paying the highest price despite contributing the least to these weather events. And this is why the response and the recovery needs to take a climate justice lens. It needs to include guaranteeing a livable income for all so that we build resilience in our communities. It needs to guarantee quality public housing so that people have a secure home to live in despite the weather events. It needs to ensure that our income support system treats people with dignity, and I want to acknowledge the Deputy Prime Minister’s words around having a welfare system that treats people with dignity. And that’s all well and done to have a smiling face at the door of Work and Income, but when benefit levels continue being below the poverty line, that is not treating people with dignity. Until we lift people above the poverty line and ensure that the guaranteed life of dignity, we are not treating people with the respect that they deserve.

I want to acknowledge the many migrant workers as well who have been impacted by these weather events, including Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers in the regions, many who have faced precarious and exploitative conditions. If we’re going to take a climate justice lens to recovery, it also means ensuring that the conditions of these workers improves. This is no time for lengthy reviews; this is time for action. The changes needed to happen to the RSE scheme, and the improvements we need to make for migrant workers in general, who will be contributing to our recovery, need to come now.

Part of business as usual not continuing the same needs to require tackling and holding to account those that are responsible for climate change—the corporations that are ripping off our communities and who are polluting our environment. Taxing the wealthy few so that we can provide livable incomes and good public services for all is critical as part of this recovery. The Greens are committed to fighting for these things to guarantee a livable planet for all. Kia ora.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will begin—as we all have in this House—by acknowledging those lives lost as a result of the extreme weather events of recent weeks, but also those who have lost so much and are in the midst of that loss right now.

I know that the anxiety we experienced in Tāmaki-makau-rau was as a result of the extreme experience of the floods where we were caught off guard—well, many of us certainly were—and the impact was felt so, so deeply as part of that shock, and then to wait at home with our go bags for the cyclone to come. That anxiety—that climate anxiety, as we have an entire generation call it now—is part of the DNA of our nation right now and it will be going forward. So I just want to acknowledge that and that there are victims still living with that uncertainty now.

But I do want to also acknowledge that this is actually part of a global stress. We are experiencing an existential crisis much like the COVID pandemic, but one that the Island nations around us, as we sit in the Pacific community, have been telling us about for years. We know that there are small island atolls that have already been evacuated over the past decade, as a whole community, to bigger islands. We know and we learnt, as part of a visit just last year by our Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee that even in Fiji—one of the largest of the Pacific Islands and the most stable of economies—multiple islands and dozens of villages have been moved already as a result of rising seas.

So the evacuations, the loss of home, the loss of lives, the uncertainty that we have experienced at an extreme level this month has been experienced by our Pacific Island community for years. And they have been raising the alarm bells for years and years in global forums.

New Zealand wasn’t much of a leader in terms of global policy when it came to health equity with COVID, although we had a great response here for us. My hope, as a Green, is that we recognise the global character of climate crisis. The idea of climate justice requires us to be a bold voice for climate mitigation right now—we finally learnt—but also that prevention stuff; that we stand with our Asia-Pacific neighbours; that we recognise that the floods in Pakistan, that were incredible in the images that we saw and the devastation, are a reflection of what we’re experiencing right now; that the lack of resiliency in Syria and Turkey, who are experiencing extreme devastation as a result of earthquakes right now, is a reflection of what could happen here if we don’t build back resiliently; but that we need to do that as a global community, that none of us are in fact going to be OK if some of us are struggling, that equality is part of the climate response, and that the time to be bold for both global equality and climate action is now.

I met, a couple of years ago—before the COVID crisis, when travel was possible—the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, and he’d given himself, as part of his mandate to look into extreme poverty, the mandate to look at climate change and the impact on poverty. He had found such extreme risk for a rise in poverty and the devastation of climate change as an impact on both raising levels of poverty in the global sphere, and also impacting those already in poverty, that he called it a risk of “climate apartheid”.

So our response needs to be fulsome. It needs to be bold and it needs to reflect our experience as a Pacific nation—one that knows the impacts of climate change right now and has been warned about it for many years before now.

The next call is a split call.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It’s a privilege to stand and take a call on the Prime Minister’s statement today, and the following debate.

First of all, I wish to acknowledge the strain right now on small businesses in New Zealand. Not only do we have a small business community that has had to go through the turbulent times of COVID—with particular reference to those small businesses in Auckland—but since then, we have had the Auckland floods, and since then we have had Cyclone Gabrielle. There is not a time in my lifetime I can remember where the business community has had to grapple with such unprecedented challenges, and with those I have met on the ground that is exactly the words I hear back from those small-business owners. Not only are they faced with the difficulties sometimes of navigating the local government processes, of having a building or a property stickered and going through that process but, in addition to that, there’s also the insurance process, to get an assessor, to also be able to try and get business continuity insurance in place, and then begin the massive task ahead of repairing and rebuilding. But what struck me the most is that, out of all those concerns, out of all of that—paperwork and thinking that they’ve carried on their shoulders each night as they went home—the primary concern was for their workers; for their workers and their families because they wanted to continue to provide wages so that those people who relied upon them as the business owner could continue to take home a wage each week. That was what really struck me the most, and I see that in the resilience, the innovation, and the amazing tenacity that our small-business community has. I know it is that tenacity that will stand in incredibly good strength as we continue to rebuild and do that in a way that we’re more resilient to future weather events such as the ones that we’ve been through recently.

The Government support package has been tailored to respond to the specific needs in each of those areas. In relation to Auckland, it’s been great to see that in the past few days we’ve already had the first payments going out to small businesses. To have that being transferred in such a short period of time is good to see, because I know it is needed. In terms of Auckland, not only have we got the business continuity support but in that package is specific provision for mental health support. That comes in the form of a programme that already existed called the First Steps programme which provided expert support and resources to business owners and leaders who were feeling overwhelmed and isolated and under pressure from the recent weather events.

So my message today for anyone who knows someone who is under that strain is that help is there, support is there. Whether that’s an online resource or whether you need to take steps further and have some one-on-one time with someone who can provide you with a plan and a framework to move forward, that’s so important because the number one rule I always think of in terms of mental health is you’ve got to get yourself OK before you can help others, and that is so critical at times like this when pressure is building up.

So in terms of the Cyclone Gabrielle package—it came pretty quick off the heels in terms of the Auckland flood response—we’ve made $50 million available, not only to small business but also to the wider primary sector. I’d like to stress how important it is that we do a ground-up approach because we still do not know the exact extent of the damage, and we know that some businesses are impacted far more than others. So it’s important that we work with local community groups, business networks, iwi, local councils, chambers of commerce—all of those on-the-ground networks will be essential for us to understand what is the best way to provide ongoing support and work alongside of the business community to build back resilience, to build back stronger telecommunications, to build back stronger road networks, and to make sure that our communities are set up for the future as we go through more of these climate change - related events.

I would like to finish up by saying how much I admire and respect those on the ground who have mucked in, rolled up their sleeves, dug up silt, and helped out people. The one thing that’s come through is it’s kept people smiling to know their neighbours are looking out for them, and it fills my heart to see that Kiwi spirit shine through. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I stand to acknowledge the Prime Minister’s statement, presented at an incredibly difficult time on the heels of one of the most significant weather events in Aotearoa New Zealand that we have seen this century. My heart goes out to our people in Auckland and our communities on the East Coast and to friends and whānau in the Hawke’s Bay who have faced devastation and such sad times.

As I listened to the Prime Minister’s statement, I was heartened by his outlook—the combination of our Government’s aspiration, optimism, and resilience for New Zealand and for those of us in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland—because we have to be optimistic at times like this. Our Prime Minister is standing by New Zealanders, looking them squarely in the eyes and telling them that they are not alone and we are committed to rebuilding the regions—to Auckland and the groups and communities that felt the brunt of the cyclone and recent floods. There has been a $50 million support package recently announced, of which half of this—$25 million—is for the primary sector recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle. This is for our farmers, growers, whenua Māori owners, and rural communities who have also been affected.

And, of course, this Government has been dealing with many tough issues before this particular cyclone. We are working to tackle the country’s infrastructure needs, and as chair of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, I can attest to this. As an Aucklander, I know the importance of improving our roads, the need for an improved digital connectivity system, better public transport, and the pipes for new homes and growth. We know the difference that good infrastructure makes. The Government’s investment in water infrastructure in Northcote was lifesaving in the recent floods that preceded the cyclone, compared to the devastating impacts on the Wairau Valley, just next door. We know the urgency to get on with an additional connection across the Waitematā Harbour. Given our certain reliance on the existing harbour bridge, a third harbour crossing is an absolute must. And we know the value of quality housing developments, like the Northcote development, in addressing the housing shortfall that we inherited.

We know the difference our property investment programme has made to our local schools. Every school and every child has benefited. Attending school and kura regularly is crucial to student progress and achievement, and I’m a very, very strong believer in quality education, having worked in this particular space, and, might I say, I’m very passionate about it too. Education changes lives. However, we’ve got to work on our attendance challenges that confront us at the moment with the declining attendance statistics since 2015. The recent work on our Attendance and Engagement Strategy must see education improvements, with the increased resources announced by our Minister recently. This will bring back localised services to my community. It’s something that has been asked of me since well before I became a member of Parliament, and the outcome is too great to ignore—that thousands of young people will benefit and thrive as a result—and I want that for other communities too.

There is no doubt that families and businesses are going through difficult economic conditions too. This Government, the Hipkins Government, is responding to the cost of living pressures families are facing, particularly in Auckland. And our focus is very much on targeting the support of working families in order to take the pressure off. The extensions of the fuel excise reductions, road-user charges, and public transport will reduce the costs of filling up a 60-litre tank of petrol by around $17.25, and half-price public transport will save an average person who pays for two $5 fares $25 a week.

More than 56,000 small businesses are learning the skills that they need to improve productivity through digitising their business through Digital Boost. It’s initiatives like this where we build back better in current times, like we’re seeing in our communities. But most of all, we do it side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with our communities, and with our people.

The next call is a split call. I call on Brooke van Velden.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to be back in Parliament for the year, and what a year it’s been already. My thoughts are with everybody who’s been affected by the heavy rain, the cyclone, and the floods, and we hope that that’s the end of it. But our ACT MPs have been out in the community over these past few weeks listening to New Zealanders to see how we can support them and also to hear what’s on their minds so that we can represent them here in this House.

What I’ve seen in the community is the worst of nature but the best of Kiwi spirit. Just on Monday, I was in Hawke’s Bay and I spent some time in Havelock North. And on Joll Road, which had been heavily affected, I met volunteers from the neighbouring streets who were cooking warm meals, who were providing water and shelter to people—other volunteers who had come to help clear the silt and clear away all of the destroyed property. They had 200 volunteers from the local community come out, pick up their own shovels, and put on their own gloves to help out the community.

There have been neighbours who have been rescuing each other, and in Auckland in the following days of the floods, I was out there helping the Waitakere Indian Association deliver warm meals to people who had no kitchens, no electronics that were working. I saw a woman who was in her nineties who had given up her own bed to somebody else who had no home to go to. I heard from people whose own insurance brokers had turned up to take destroyed walls off their homes. This is a community that’s getting together to help each other.

There’s a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety, but it’s not where it ends. People have stress and anxiety because of the cyclone and the flood and the heavy rains, but because of everyday life as well. In the community, I’ve been hearing from concerned women who feel like crime has increased so far that they no longer feel it’s safe to walk to work in our CBDs. They don’t feel like it’s safe when they leave their work facility to walk home or even walk to public transport, but instead they’re Ubering home. That’s not good enough. We’re hearing from families who feel like the cost of living is rising so much that to get food on the table, they have to forgo saving anything that week.

We’re hearing from cafe staff. I was just talking to a cafe owner last week who said it’s so hard to find staff that he hasn’t had a break all Christmas; he worked the entire way through. We’ve heard from families with small children that mortgage rate rises are getting them very, very stressed. Their repayments will be doubling this year from what they were paying last year. I’ve heard from people with small children who are worried that they can’t even get in to see a doctor. I was in Carterton just last week. They don’t have a GP; they need to go to the local hospital in Masterton. But, of course, I talked to people then in Masterton who said they’re worried they can’t even get into the hospitals at all.

There is so much stress and anxiety and it just feels like everything is so hard. We’ve heard from people who find it’s impossible to get any workers in through the borders, builders saying that bureaucracy is increasing and increasing and increasing. And for a young Kiwi, it just feels like the path to homeownership is getting harder and harder. Where is that path to homeownership? Where is the path to having a job that keeps up with inflationary costs? And where is that path to a future in New Zealand?

Well, ACT says what’s happening at the moment isn’t fair, it is hard, but we can’t have more of the same. We need the Government to cut wasteful spending. We need to simplify immigration. We need to show leadership on crime. We need to simplify our building laws. And we want people to once again feel like they can make a difference in their own lives.

The ACT Party has been out there in the community. We are listening, we hear ya, and we’re here to work for New Zealand. We want more substance over spin. We want policies that unite New Zealanders rather than divide us, and we want to have hope that tomorrow will be better than today, and we need real change and a change of this Government.

I call on Mark Cameron for five minutes.

That Cyclone Gabrielle was terrible is beyond debate: the damage, devastation, lives lost, many lives upended. So many in the provinces were the hardest hit—whole properties changed for ever, crops destroyed, with the loss in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Silt by the mile, in many places feet or even metres deep. Communities banded together despite these mammoth challenges. They continued to unite behind their shared, common humanity, as Kiwis always do in crisis. Cyclone Hale but weeks earlier left Auckland awash, inundated, floodwaters abreast buildings, businesses, and homes, and even in the shared turmoil, generosity and kindness, a place of Kiwis helping Kiwis, always shone through. We know of the physical havoc, the emotional scars. For some, this will last days; others, weeks or even months, especially for those the hardest hit: Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Northland, and beyond.

But there is a parallel often offered to me by those in the rural sector, a parallel that speaks to a different kind of reality—contextualised as a different kind of cyclone, you might say, a different kind of struggle; a war of attrition, they tell me. Farmers speak of foul winds of compliance blowing all over rural New Zealand, carrying mountains upon mountains of red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy, seemingly often laying waste to the emotional wellbeing of farmers and rural folk. We hear the snide retorts from the other side of the House routinely, but most do not share in their reality. Sure, financial grants help, no doubt, but no one knows of the minefields—red tape that remains long after the clean-up—other than farmers.

Rural confidence is at an all-time recorded low, a 50-year low. How can this be when we hear plaudits from up on high? Farmers and rural folk speak their truth unashamedly; I and many of them do it routinely. They ask of this Government: cut the red tape, be rid of the nonsensical lawmaking that we are facing in rural New Zealand from those high of moral fibre but of little consequential knowledge of the outcomes that affect us as farmers.

In the enormity of the recent events, farmers, small-town NZers, do they need lawmakers to really be connected with reality? We say yes in rural New Zealand. They speak of hundreds of thousands of tonnes currently of silt covering farms, orchards, and a mess of rotten fruit for miles to see. They ask of the Government: when you remove the foot on the throat of rural New Zealanders, we will finally see better outcomes.

As the challenges only mount, farmers speak of a pricing structure for on-farm emissions in consternation, abject disdain; freshwater reforms and centralisations over localism; disconnections from outcomes, they speak of; bloated Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms. What will they make of that in rural New Zealand? None seem to know. As we across rural New Zealand deal with a mess of destruction, sedimentation, and the slash, one can only ask: will prescriptions in the existing RMA hamper the debris removal and hamstring recovery?

Well, the ACT Party is listening to them. We know councils need agility now more than ever before, to move away from central planned moulds and actually listen to real people on the ground in rural New Zealand. We don’t need more hoops to jump through in rural New Zealand; we have way too many already. No more hare-brained schemes where problems remain ill-defined and solutions are often routinely misunderstood. Now more than ever, the Government must work alongside rural New Zealand, listen, and invest in tenable outcomes, and ACT is helping them share their concerns in doing that very thing.

I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.

This debate is adjourned and set down for resumption next sitting day.