Sittings of the House

on behalf of the Leader of the House: I move, That the sitting programme for 2025 be:

January 28, 29, and 30;

February 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20;

March 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 25, 26, and 27;

April 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10;

May 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22;

June 3, 4, 5, 24, 25, and 26;

July 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, and 31;

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

September 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18;

October 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23;

November 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20;

December 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18,

and the following dates are to be scrutiny weeks:

June 16, 17, 18, and 19;

December 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5,

As we close out the year here in Parliament, I want to thank everyone who makes this place work: our security team, Dignitary Protection Service (DPS), VIP drivers, messengers, Hansard, select committee staff, cleaners, Copperfields, library staff, IT, tour guides, travel, finance, and everyone in the Parliamentary Service, the Parliamentary Counsel Office, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Cabinet Office, and all of the private secretaries advising Ministers and drafting legislation. Thank you, and merry Christmas to you all, and I really hope you all have a fantastic summer with your loved ones.

Thank you also to everyone supporting us in our offices here at Parliament and all across the country. And I’d like to give a special thank you to Katja Kershaw from my own electorate office, who is finishing up after 13 years serving the people of Botany. Katja, can I say thank you for your support—thank you for your support of me and the community over so many years of service.

Can I just say to all the families and the partners of all of the MPs here in Parliament: merry Christmas. You make the sacrifices that allow each and every one of us to be here, and we want to say thank you to you.

Mr Speaker, can I say thank you for your very thoughtful and measured refereeing of this place—

SPEAKER: Yes, take your time.

Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: —and after the year that you’ve had, I know that Santa is not the only big jolly man with an extensive naughty list.

Now, to my colleagues across our Government, I want to say thank you to all of you for your hard work, for getting our country back on track. There’s no doubt about it: New Zealand has elected us to actually get on to the issues that they care deeply about, and that is rebuilding the economy to reduce the cost of living. It’s about restoring law and order to keep Kiwis safe. It’s about delivering better public services like health and education. Twelve months is a very, very short time, and yet so much has happened, because when it comes to the economy this year, Kiwis have seen inflation down to 2.2 percent, down from 7.3 percent; they’ve seen three interest rate cuts after 12 rises; their wages are rising faster than inflation for four quarters in a row, after 13 quarters of declining real wages; there is tax relief for 3.5 million New Zealanders for the first time in 14 years; and business, consumer, and farmer confidence is at its highest levels in recent times.

On the law and order front, we’ve had total victimisations down, after violent crime was up 33 percent and retail crime doubled. Gang patches are banned, ram raids are down 60 percent, and the foot patrols are up 30 percent.

In our schools, we’ve had an hour a day each of reading and writing and maths. Phones are banned from classrooms, we’ve got structured literacy and maths in place to teach our kids the basics brilliantly, and school attendance is up six points.

In health, we’ve invested a record $16.7 billion more. We’ve rolled out 26 new cancer treatments as part of 54 new medicines helping 175,000 Kiwis, and we’ve hired 2,900 more nurses.

Now, that’s a lot of progress represented by 160 actions in our quarterly action plans alone. We know, on this side, there’s a lot more for us to do, but we are incredibly ambitious for this country, and on this side of the House we are energised by the challenge ahead of us.

Now to my colleagues on the other side of the House. To the Leader of the Opposition, Chlöe Swarbrick—there actually is a comma between those two statements—Marama Davidson, Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and everyone in the Opposition, I do want to wish you all the best for Christmas, and I hope that you have a safe and a happy time with your loved ones.

And to all of my haters over there who say I use too much management speak, well, I don’t know how I can be any clearer. What I would say to you is that we have some big goals to chunk down so that we can grip up the deliverables and benchmark our key performance indicator (KPI) targets, and I make no apologies for that.

Labour could do with some KPIs, because when they spend a year in Opposition ostensibly working on policy, the three things that they come up with are: (1) not joining a security agreement; (2) building a hospital that they’ve already failed to deliver and build; and (3) working up some new taxes that they’ve actually been talking about for over a decade. You’ve got to wonder what they are doing over there each and every day.

Now, if Labour was in charge of Santa’s workshop, I can tell you the elves would be charging consultants’ fees, the sleigh would cost $4 billion, and the reindeer would be working from home.

I have to say, the most troubling part of Chris Hipkins’ recent Labour conference must have been the flight back to Wellington—yup, first because he was pulled in for a check-in for excess luggage; in fact, six years of excess luggage he’s been carrying around. Then he was in the lounge and there was no room at Kieran McAnulty’s table for him, and he was turned away from David Parker’s. And you know what? Then, during the safety briefing, flight attendants had to intervene because he instinctively started blowing into the mouthpiece for more inflation.

We have also seen some interesting news from Te Pāti Māori over the last week. They have committed to pulling in $200 billion through a capital gains tax—or about half the size of the New Zealand economy. We don’t just have a Grinch who stole Christmas on our hands; we actually have a Grinch who’s actually stealing every Christmas three times over for the next 500 years.

Now, to my friends in the Green Party—Julie Anne, no need to get up. I saw recently that there’s a new Green MP that has a member’s bill to liberalise the use of parody, and I just think it’s just great—it’s just great—to see the Greens live those values by being a parody of themselves each and every single day. I have to say, if you folks weren’t so opposed to it, we would have happily—happily—added Darlene Tana’s resignation to our fast-track list.

To my friends in the media: can I just say thank you for always holding me to account and for always being so fair and balanced! I wish you a very happy and safe holiday—please do take as long as you need.

Now, back to the colleagues on this side of the House. Can I just thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his work out in the world this year, but also for providing some very good humour here at home in this seat next to me. And I have to say, I have appreciated the supplementary questions the Deputy Prime Minister often asks me, even though they’re sometimes, frankly, more difficult to answer than the Opposition’s. But, I guess, on the bright side, by the end of this parliamentary term, everyone in this House is really going to know a lot about Sir Apirana Ngata.

Shane Jones, he’s been mischievous this year, but we’ve worked out why—we’ve worked out why. He’s the first person to get on the naughty list so that he can get a lump of coal!

I saw a lovely headline. It was an absolutely lovely headline about David Seymour finding love, and while I know David and Winston’s working relationship has been stronger than so many predicted, to be honest, I did think it was still quite a bold description of their relationship.

Secret Santa with ACT this year was a disaster, though. They wouldn’t stop taking credit for every present. Sorry! But, seriously, to all my ACT colleagues, can I say merry Christmas and may your dinner tables be devoid of woke food!

Now, turning to my own National team, we have the aces in the places. To my deputy leader and the greatest finance Minister ever, Nicola Willis: the turn-around job you are tasked with is immense, and, frankly, there is no better person to execute it.

Chris Bishop—what a massive year. By the numbers: 149 fast-track projects, 700 long blacks, 50 park runs in the Hutt, and a beautiful brand new baby.

Dr Shane Reti, with the impeccable bedside manner that seems to soothe everyone except Ayesha Verrall.

Simeon “Roads, Roads, Roads” Brown—more than just his boyish good looks.

Erica Stanford—transforming our education system so we can give our kids the best possible chance for the future.

Paul Goldsmith and Mark Mitchell—making this country safer, delivering consequences for crime, and bringing the focus back to victims.

Louise Upston, who wants the very best for Kiwis and is therefore determined to get people off welfare and into work.

We’ve got Judith Collins—relentless for science and innovation, whether it’s AI, space, or gene technology.

Todd McClay—or “Trade McClay”, as I’ve been known to say—truly relentless in the pursuit of opportunities for Kiwi businesses abroad.

Tama Potaka—the man with shirts louder than Shane Jones’ interjections—you are doing an incredible job.

Matt Doocey, our very first Minister for Mental Health—and DPS thanks you for being my body double in Christchurch.

And Simon Watts, who is delivering net-zero six years earlier while still growing our economy.

I just want to acknowledge all of our Ministers outside Cabinet, our team of whips led by Scott Simpson, and all of our MPs: thank you for managing what’s been an incredibly large workload.

Can I just close by wishing every New Zealander a very merry Christmas. On a serious note, it truly is a great privilege to do this job. I get to talk to New Zealanders about their challenges and also their aspirations, and that makes me more determined to come back to this place to make sure we realise all the great potential in this fantastic country of ours.

I want to say, finally, to everyone that’s actually working in our hospitals, and our police, our lifesavers, our firefighters, thank you for the work you’re going to do over the summer keeping us safe. And can I say to everyone, merry Christmas and bring on 2025.

The most revealing thing about that speech was who didn’t stand up for the Prime Minister’s contribution. I did see on Facebook this morning a very cruel meme that compared the Prime Minister to the captain of the Titanic, and I actually thought, “Hang on a minute, that’s really, really unfair. The captain of the Titanic had a ship, which this Government hasn’t. He also had a crew that were loyal and followed all of his instructions; this Prime Minister doesn’t have that either.”

I did think, if it wasn’t Titanic, what would an appropriate movie be for the symbol of this Government? And immediately, for some reason, that movie that I used to enjoy when I was much younger, Weekend at Bernie’s, sprung to mind! We have two men propping up this dead old guy and trying to pretend that he’s still alive. But then I decided that wasn’t actually appropriate for this Government, because it turns out the old guy is the one propping up the younger ones in this Government.

Then I thought maybe it could be that movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but the bad news for Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop is that he’s still here and doesn’t appear to be willing to give up just yet. The Terminator would be a good way of describing what Nicola Willis has done for the economy, but probably not a good description of the current Government. I thought maybe it’d be best to liken them to a cooking show, because first we had Lester Levy and now Nicola Willis, but I’m not so sure that that’s an appropriate analogy either. We could have “Dude, Where’s My Car Charger?”, because there doesn’t seem to be very many of those being delivered so far.

I actually think that, for a New Zealand Government, you need an iconic Kiwi film, and I thought a really iconic Kiwi film that kind of describes what this Government is doing is the good old Kiwi film Goodbye Pork Pie, because they seem to be doing to the country what that crew did to that Mini as it went through the country, flogging off bits here and there, ripping pieces off the car, and by the time it gets to the South Island, there’s not much left—although, in their case, they’ve got nothing to take the car to the South Island at this point, because the interisland ferries are barely operating.

There was a certain uncanny resemblance with a character in Austin Powers that shall not be mentioned, but, actually, I think the most appropriate movie to compare this Government to is Back to the Future, because that seems to be where they are taking the country.

Let’s catalogue the decisions they’ve taken this year, starting with the $2.9 billion tax cut they gave to landlords whilst cutting the support for first-home buyers; repealing smoke-free legislation while giving over $200 million in tax breaks to tobacco companies; cancelling the interisland ferries with no viable replacement strategy—I could spend the rest of my speech just talking about the various yoga positions the Government have demonstrated over the last week when it comes to their potential alternative; the Dunedin Hospital thrown into limbo by this Government; a hiring freeze in our health system when it is under so much pressure.

They promised they weren’t going to cut front-line services. How’s that working out for those front-line services that are having their funding cut, that have got hiring freezes in place, or in many cases are actually having to lose staff? How do the health workers who are being taken off medical duties to sit on reception desks feel about the promise of no cuts to front-line staff? They promised that they weren’t going to borrow for tax cuts. How’s that one working out for the Government’s accounts as the level of borrowing increases by the day? They forgot the cancer patients in this year’s Budget, one of the most reprehensible things this Government have done. And then, of course, there’s the way they treated the entire disability community.

When confronted with the reality of their cuts, their first decision was not to back down but to attack the people who care for those with disabilities and accuse them of rorting the system. They brought forward perhaps the most divisive debate on race relations this country has seen in a generation. They’ve seen record numbers of New Zealanders in this past year giving up and leaving the country. Remember when John Key stood in the Wellington stadium to decry Kiwis leaving? You’d need more than the Wellington stadium now; it simply would not be big enough.

They’re reviewing the gun laws bought in after the 15 March terrorist attack, and that’s after they cut support for all of those victims. They’ve made it clear—or they haven’t made it clear but everyone else has made it clear, including the Commissioner of Police—that they’re not going to hit their target for recruiting more police. They’ve changed the goal posts on child poverty reduction targets after it became clear they weren’t going to meet them. They promised to continue building State houses, in Opposition, and then they basically cut funding to build any new State houses. They got rid of free prescriptions, got rid of half-price public transport, got rid of free early childhood education for two-year-olds, cut the school lunches programme, cancelled school bus routes, cut $3 billion from climate funding.

The list could go on but, actually, the damage they’ve done to the building and construction industry deserves particular mention. I want to mention, as we head into Christmas, the 13,000 people in that industry who have lost their jobs in the last year because of the decisions of this Government: stopping State house builds, cancelling school upgrades, cancelling hospital upgrades, even putting roading projects on hold while they figure out what they want to do instead. All of that has ground the building and construction industry in New Zealand to a halt. But their priorities say everything, don’t they, because while they won’t build any more State houses, they’ll spend seven million bucks on a couple of new ministerial offices for their staff. Of course, then they’ve got their drivers tax. What happened to Nicola Willis’ problem of no new taxes? Oh, that sort of seemed to disappear pretty quickly, the drivers tax being one of the first ones.

Day by day, Kiwi see fees, levies, and other taxes being increased by this Government that said that it was going to reduce the cost of living pressures on Kiwi families. Then, of course, when of course we’ve got the lowest minimum wage increases in some time, less than the rate of inflation. But I guess that’s what you get from a Government that calls working New Zealanders “losers” and a Prime Minister that thinks that those on low incomes are “bottom feeders”.

They’ve cut the pay equity task force because they don’t think women should earn the same amount of pay as men for the same amount of work. There are 22,000 more New Zealanders on a jobseeker benefit under this Government. They said they’d prioritise the parent visa category in immigration. Nothing from them on that yet. They campaigned on bringing down rates and yet rates are increasing at record levels because of the decisions that they have taken.

They’ve walked the police back from being involved in family harm incidents, despite the fact that we know that’s one of the contributing factors to levels of violent crime in the community. Their boot camps have been an absolute failure, as everybody told them they were going to be. Remember Nicola Willis campaigning on the app tax and saying how horrible it was and how it’s going to crush the economy? Turns out that’s quite a good idea now that they’re in Government and they’re happy to claim the extra revenue from that.

The list is quite a long one, but I do want to spend the remaining two minutes that I have saying a genuine thanks to the people who keep this place operating.

To the Chamber and gallery staff, who do a fantastic job of keeping this place operating, and to our interpreters, the cleaners, the building team, the Bellamys and Copperfields staff, and to all of our security guards, a very, very warm thank you to all of you for everything that you do.

To the team at the Parliamentary Service, to those who work hard for all of us here on precinct and in our electorate offices who are often the front line for those accessing democratic services: a very warm thankyou to you, wherever you are in the country.

To the many volunteers and supporters that make our democracy tick, to the news media and the parliamentary press gallery who do a fantastic job of holding us all to account: thank you for all of your work. Then, finally to all of the whānau and families of all MPs—

Hon Shane Jones: Valedictory!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —who make huge sacrifices—well, his family makes a sacrifice every day just for being his family. To all of our families, who make enormous sacrifices for us to do the jobs that we do, a very warm thank you to all of you. I hope you get a fantastic Christmas break.

As we’ve just seen, these speeches are supposed to be light-hearted. Unfortunately, though, this Government leaves anyone with a heart feeling pretty bloody heavy.

What I remember from Sunday school is that the point of Christmas is supposed to be about love, but love is so abstract in this building. In fact, I’d say—

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Point of order, Mr Speaker. We are at the end of the year, and we’re headed for Christmas and there should not be a case where someone can get up and swear in this Parliament like we just heard.

SPEAKER: To be honest, there was so much noise going on I didn’t actually hear what the member said. All I could hear was something about Sunday school, which is not really going to line up with the idea that she’s swearing.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: What is the swear word that’s being accused?

SPEAKER: Well, you tell me. What did you say?

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: I can start the speech again if you’d like, Mr Speaker? Politicians file in here and use fancy words and actively distance the people that they say that they are supposed to represent. It makes people feel crazy, because it is crazy. I know that these end-of-year debates are supposed to contain a few good jabs and jokes. Political party leaders, as our Prime Minister aptly demonstrated, are handed speeches by their staff members to make us all sound a little bit funny and perhaps—maybe—like normal people. We come in here and we deliver them and we wait for the clock to tick over, and that’s that: the parliamentary year is over. The game shuts up shop.

But this game sucks. The people out there know it, and the people up there in the gallery and members of the media know it too. Right now, you win this political game not necessarily by improving society, not by doing what the evidence says will mean that people and planet are healthier. Right now, you win the rules of this game by getting the most media cut-through, by dominating the headlines, by saying the most outrageous—and, at times, offensive—things.

Now, there’s not a whole lot of time nor space for thorough consideration, for people to properly tease over the substance—or lack thereof—in the sound bites. There are so few instances where people in this House actually have to sit here and listen to each other. The last time that that happened was during the official abuse in State and faith-based care apology, where the Prime Minister apologised on behalf of all Governments who had come before for their hand in perpetuating the neglect and the torture of hundreds of thousands of people.

That same day, I got an email from Aaron Hendry, who runs Kick Back’s outreach service The Front Door, a project on Auckland Central’s Karangahape Road with the key aim of ending rangatahi homelessness. As the news notifications were dinging on Aaron’s phone about the official apology, he was working to try and house two State care - experienced and State care - neglected young people. While the Prime Minister made promises in here about how those horrors will never happen again, out there in the real world, his Government’s decisions to limit access to emergency housing meant that two young people were sleeping rough on the street. I don’t have anything funny to say about that.

Children are homeless because of the decisions that are made in this place. Prime Minister, I frankly do not understand. I don’t understand why your Government has knowingly and actively made choices to put more kids in poverty and to pour fuel on the climate crisis fire. Prime Minister, your Government tells us that your top priority is economic growth and prosperity. But your very own Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update released yesterday showed us that your Government’s decision to mercilessly cut public spending is actively deteriorating that growth and that productivity that you say that you care about.

This Government tells us that it’s all about the economy, while threatening the vital ecosystems that underpin life as we know it. Where do you think that economy comes from? The Government is making more people unemployed, then punching down on those beneficiaries. The Government tells us that it cares about localism, then it strips away local decision-making. The Government is enabling mining in conservation land and commercial fishing in high protection areas. Where I come from, words mean things. But in this place, you cannot say that somebody is lying if they are lying. In this place, you cannot say that something is racist if it is racist. We can get up here at the end of the year and we can make jokes, but we cannot call a spade a spade.

But, at times, we have rare moments of clarity, where daily politics is put aside and something bigger than all of us is pulled into sharp focus. Unfortunately, a lot of times this year that has looked like tragedy and we have had our fair share of that this year. I am here without my friend and co-leader, the Hon Marama Davidson, who is in the middle of cancer treatment. I have never met a stronger person—

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Six minutes to get to Marama.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: —and Marama demonstrates that strength through love and through service, Mr Deputy Prime Minister.

The day after Valentine’s Day, Faʻanānā Efeso Collins stood in this Chamber—actually directly from this seat—and he declared that there is a saying in Samoan: “E le tu fa’amauga se tagata.”—“No one stands alone, no one succeeds alone,” and, for me, no one suffers alone. Just a week later, the utter devastating shock as we lost him. Efeso passed as he had lived, actively serving our communities, literally in the middle of a charity run. I want to acknowledge members across the House, particularly our friends in Labour and Te Pāti Māori, for the aroha that you wrapped around us that day and in those following weeks. We will never forget that.

This year, our nation also lost our Kiingi, Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII. Kiingi taught me that ignorance is not a reason to be fearful but an invitation to learn and to participate; that kotahitanga requires all of us—all of us—not to run away from discomfort but to sort through it and to sit with the mess of our humanity and our experiences and our trauma to find our shared strength.

Just this past month, we lost the Hon Nikki Kaye. She was respected across this House because she stood so strongly for things—she even crossed the floor to do that. Some things, she knew, were far, far bigger than partisan politicking. Politics does not have to be this cynical game. Politics can and should be about regular people working together to solve the big issues.

Prime Minister, your Government has a multibillion-dollar revenue problem, but your Government has painted itself into the corner with promises to not fix the tax system that you know, personally as well as politically, rewards property speculation and robs us of investment necessary in our infrastructure. There is not a reputable economist in this country who would argue against a capital gains tax—so do it.

Prime Minister, you yourself have acknowledged that your Government’s decisions have inflamed race relations in this country—so stop it. Prime Minister, during the election you said that the policies of one of your new coalition parties targeting the rainbow community were “on another planet”, but those same policies now underpin your coalition agreements. And your support on the Treaty principles bill didn’t even cost your coalition partner a bottom line.

Mr Prime Minister, has selling out on everything that matters been worth it for the price of power? If the estimated 100,000 people that this Government has managed to mobilise against their attacks on Te Tiriti o Waitangi tell us anything, it is that your power, Mr Prime Minister, will be fleeting. Despite the coalition’s best attempts to divide and conquer this country, I have never seen the people more unified to uphold our founding agreement. People understand that Te Tiriti o Waitangi protects all of us; that it is a shield against giant multinational corporations exploiting Aotearoa; the final safeguard against unfettered greed; but more than that, our guidebook to a fair, just, peaceful today and tomorrow.

In the coming year, as more and more people twig to the fact that they are not crazy but that this system is, we will continue to see the growing power of people. Activists will grow into organisers. Organisers will channel that energy into redistributing power and knowledge and resources. Democracy will work as it should for the people, by the people.

We want to acknowledge and thank the people behind the scenes who make this place work: the cleaners, security, the Office of the Clerk and the House Office, the library researchers, maintenance team, IST, payroll, HR, Copperfields, and everyone in the Green Party parliamentary team. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I bring you good news and bad news. The good news is that my staff are far too busy to write a speech full of jokes. The bad news is I’m going to do them off the cuff. I’m a little indignant to say that this is my 11th adjournment debate speech. I’ve been here so long I can remember when Chlöe Swarbrick was actually fun. I can even remember when she talked about the environment, unlike that speech which made no reference to it whatsoever.

I never forget in these speeches to thank the many people who make this place work: those in Copperfields, those who do the cleaning, the messengers, the librarians, and the security guards, who have a tougher and tougher job as years go on. We are so fortunate to be served by a group of people, including our Clerk, who are completely committed to upholding the integrity of this House and its principles.

I want to also thank those who work in my office, the offices of ACT MPs, and Government Ministers right across the parliamentary precinct for their wonderful service, including our extraordinary teams in the electorate offices of Epsom and Tāmaki. We could not do it without you.

I want to thank those in the parliamentary press gallery who are doing their job well and giving the Government a good run—there we go; we got that over quickly. [Interruption] Yeah, tell them it’s a joke, just in case.

I also want to thank those people who sit around me as my colleagues. The people in the ACT caucus are an extraordinary group of people who come to this place with a set of beliefs that are not the usual politics—that we will take someone else’s money and give it to them or make some rules that will restrict someone else’s freedom. They come here to stand for something that is more abstract and in some ways more simple, and that is human freedom, even though it so often runs against every principle of politics of “what’s in it for me?” And I’m so fortunate to sit with a group of like-minded MPs who stand for those principles.

I’m also grateful to our coalition partners. It’s been a pleasure to work with Christopher Luxon as the National leader and Prime Minister, although I’ve got to say, Chris, you said that it was a little bit difficult playing Secret Santa because ACT claimed the credit for every present. Now, let’s just clear this up. You see, I actually thought it was a game of pass the parcel because there seemed to be a layer of blue wrapping over all the pink wrapping that we’d been trying to give the public.

Hon Members: Ha, ha!

Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: See—off the cuff, brother. I also want to thank my two fellow Northlanders Winston Peters and Shane Jones for their collegiality, working through a range of issues and making sure that this Government is dangerously united, dangerous to all our partners who thought it would be so easy. What I can see is an Opposition that is still going through the stages of grief. Man, they pick some tiny issues—tiny minds, tiny people, and tiny issues—while we’re dealing to the serious issues that New Zealand has faced, from this side of the House.

I’m particularly pleased to see that New Zealanders will go into this Christmas with a little bit of hope. Because for far too long, it wasn’t just the fact that the Government spent too much money. It wasn’t just the fact that inflation was going up. It wasn’t just the fact that interest rates were rising and it was so hard to make ends meet. All of those things were true, but there was something much worse. There was a pervasive sense that they had a Government of “Hakuna matata”, who thought that it was all going to be OK. It means no worries for the rest of your days. Well, that’s the truth but it wasn’t the reality for anyone else. It was only the truth for that Government.

The real hope comes from having a Government that understands that there is no magic money tree at the bottom of the garden and that the only way we’re going to make this country a success is to unleash the ability of each and every New Zealander to succeed on their own terms. Only when people are recognised as thinking and valuing beings with the opportunity to make the most of their future will we be able to succeed as a nation. That’s what this Government believes.

I look at some of my colleagues. Many have been mentioned already. I look at the work that Brooke van Velden is doing, the youngest Cabinet Minister in 40 years and taking to it like a duck to water, going out and listening to people about health and safety for three months so she is formulating policy informed by the experiences of everyday New Zealanders. I have to say it’s been a bit of a surprise for some of the public servants to get out there and do it, but we’re making policy in a different and better way. And that’s before you get to the fact that we’ve had a small minimum wage increase. Our minimum wage is one of the highest in the developed world—I think it’s the fifth highest—compared with the median wage, and yet that cost is put on to so many small businesses. Finally, they’re seeing relief. And Brooke van Velden tells them it’s five months before it comes in. She told them this year, not next year, so they can be prepared. And that’s before you get to ending the personal grievance culture in our workplaces that stops productivity and holds back people that are trying to make that difference in their own lives.

I look at Nicole McKee, what she’s doing with anti - money-laundering, and simplifying one of the greatest problems that people come to us with when it when it comes to red tape and regulation. And she’s making the courts go faster, because justice delayed is justice denied. And she’s finally bringing justice to those licensed firearm owners who were vilified by the previous Government totally undeservingly and completely ineffectively.

I look at Andrew Hoggard. Isn’t it great to have a real farmer in Parliament? And I can tell you, without breaking too much confidentiality, the number of times in Cabinet committee discussions that Andrew Hoggard’s said, “Well, I can tell you how to run a farm.” He always comes out with pearls of wisdom that are of value to the Government. Having people like that in Government is hugely important to the quality of policy—that we’re able to wait in terms of significant natural areas, with split gas approaches to methane, getting rid of farm environment plans and upgrading the Resource Management Act, so you can actually do something in this county and actually build some wealth.

I look at Karen Chhour. Karen Chhour could make more excuses than anybody else in this Parliament, I dare say, but she makes none. She gets up and she changes the world to make it better for the next generation instead of one unending victimhood whine, as if this is just like bad weather and we can’t make tomorrow better than today. That is what Karen Chhour is doing, and that is why she annoys the left so much—because they know it’s true. They know it’s true.

Then there’s Simon Court. His assistance to the Minister responsible for RMA Reform, in respect of replacing the Resource Management Act and that campaign with a regime based on property rights, has more potential to unleash this country and its resources and its wealth than perhaps anything else the Government is doing.

I was so proud of launching seven charter schools—among other things I have done myself—up and down New Zealand, from all different cultural backgrounds, with so many different pedagogical approaches, but what they all have in common is that we are connecting communities with children and opportunity to do things better. We know what we’re doing is not working. People that continue to defend the system on behalf of the unions need to get with the programme. Children deserve an education in the way that works for them, and that is what charter schools, among many other Government policies, are delivering.

Perhaps this year will be known for being the year that ACT put on the agenda an issue that nobody else wanted to talk about, except for the overwhelming majority of the New Zealand public, and that is the simple question: what does our founding document really mean? Does it mean that we are a combination of two collectives where for ever and a day we’ll be recognised based on who our ancestry was and given rights based on our ancestry? Or are we indeed a liberal, democratic society filled with thinking and valuing individuals who are able to make the most of their time on Earth without discrimination, without being categorised, boxed in, or called something because of who their ancestors were?

That is our dream—a dream of a country filled with thinking and valuing individuals who each have that right to use their time on Earth to make the most of their life, to make the greatest difference they can for themselves and those they care about without having to suffer through other people’s beliefs or prejudices, as long as they’re not harming anyone else. Only when we realise that dream, can we overcome the very real problem that so many of us face, from education, to economics, to health, or the economy.

Mr Speaker, I wish you a very happy Christmas, and thank you to everyone for your great work in 2024.

That will be the last time we have that soccer hooligan - type counting. I call the Rt Hon Winston Peters.

Well, what a bunch of copycats! Can’t even think originally.

We’d like to begin with a special acknowledgment to the many hard-working, often forgotten staff that keep the Parliament going. Thank you especially to the cleaners, security, Parliament and Beehive staff, Hansard staff, and others who work within the House, library staff, and, of course, thank you, Mr Speaker.

New Zealand First has had an extraordinarily good year in Government alongside our coalition partners, National and ACT, and we thank them both for it. Coalitions are not easy, but you shake hands and try to make things work, and we’re doing extraordinary well.

We inherited an economy that was far worse than Treasury ever knew, and they should have known it. Some members there do, but the rest are trying to deny it. Now, what was extraordinary today, of course, was Mr Hipkins couldn’t go the full distance. The bell rang a warning for a minute to go, and he sat down. And then, of course, Chlöe got up. Chlöe got up because she thought she was in Hollywood, and she began to swear—at the very beginning; it’s all in the Hansard—and then she gave us all the evidence why—

Hon Willie Jackson: Hop off your notes, Winston.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No, these are just little handwritten notes I put down there, Willie. Unlike you, I can write my own speeches.

Then she gave us all the evidence of why for 54 years, since the Values Party in 1972, they have been waiting to get in a Cabinet—54 years and they’ve never been inside Cabinet. Now, you got to say their high point came this year. You watch the next election, and that goes for Te Pāti Māori sitting on the left-hand side of them as well.

Rawiri Waititi: You’re going down. You’re going down.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh no, no. Listen, sunshine, I’ll be around long after you’ve gone because nobody wants the “Midnight Cowboy” any more. We came back because we were on a mission to take back our country, and we packed out the rooms in this country during the year. And, at our conference, we had over 900 people listening to our convention speech—900. And we didn’t go and defraud the Charities Act, we didn’t defraud the electoral system—all of which is coming for you, sunshine, next year. You’re not getting away with breaking the laws of this country, even if some authorities think they can help you. So stand back and watch. When you declare war on us, you get a reply that’s coming next year. So you have a good Christmas, because you’ll need it, sunshine—[Interruption]

SPEAKER: Slow down the commentary.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —and your big, loud mouth is not going to help you any longer.

He’s got some idea that if he opens his mouth and lets the wind blow his tongue around, he’s going to make some sense. Unbelievable. Never seen the likes of it.

Māori have been coming here since 1867, and since 1867, those Māori leaders have all respected this Parliament, and up turns this crowd over here—so arrogant, so much in rebuttal of all the past respect. And here he is. He can’t even shut his mouth for five minutes.

Rawiri Waititi: No kūmaras for you!

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Look, we know what you are—we know what you are—and your supporters will know even better. Of course, now in the leadership of Māoridom, they are starting to question the very privilege of Te Pāti Māori. Out there where the real Māori work two and three jobs a day, they are sick and tired of people like that.

Back to my point: we came back to stop the division and the separatism, and what they hate over there is that, for the first time, they’ve been confronted. They’re being confronted by a party that’s got a record win for Māori, a record they can speak about for day after day after day, and they can’t show me one thing they have ever done for the Māori people. Not one.

Rawiri Waititi: Sunset.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well, tell me what it is.

Rawiri Waititi: Sunset—100,000 turned up here the other week. Did you see them? Did you hear them?

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Tell me what you’ve done for Māori—not a word, not a mutter, not a syllable, not a sound. All bulldust. Mr Speaker, I’m enjoying this.

SPEAKER: I know you are, but I’m not.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: As Elvis sang, “If you’re looking for trouble, you’ve come to the right place.” We’re going to expose you for what you are. This party is a party of frauds. They’ve broken the Electoral Act, they’ve broken the Charities Act, they’ve made tens of millions on the backs of their people, and, now, out there in the Māori land in Northland in particular and in Auckland, Māori are asking: “How come they made $60 million, and it’s all in somebody’s pockets?”

Now, can I ask you this question: why doesn’t your party chairman practise law? Let’s start. He declared war upon us, and do you know why he doesn’t practise law? Because he got convicted of forging and uttering, and he was told, “You’ll get off, but don’t ever apply for a licence to practise law.” People don’t know that. You’re hearing it for the first time. Well, Judith Collins knows, and I know. But you tell your leader that when you declare war on a party called New Zealand First, there’s going to be repercussions.

Just hold on—hold on.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: He can’t shut his mouth. He’s got away with it all this time. He’s got a famous name. Every time he does it, I regret that he’s just spoiled that name. People like Ngata, Pomare, Buck have got nothing to do with him. He thinks he’s a genius; self-made man and all that. He’s in this Parliament and he’s wasting our time. He’s got a contempt for this place. The standards of this Parliament have been dramatically deteriorated because of Te Pāti Māori. They come in there, sometimes in bare feet, no respect for the institution, no respect for their colleagues. And you think you’re going to get away with it—no. Māori people will take you out of this place because they, more than anyone I know, when they go on the marae, they respect the traditions. Every serious Māori I know respects the traditions, and this is the marae for Parliament and for the whole country. [Interruption] And there they go, all talking at once—all talking at once.

The next thing is—you know something?—we’ve been overseas about 112 days this year, but I’ve spent more time in Parliament than all those put together. I’ve been overseas 112 days, but I’ve spent more of them in Parliament than all of those Te Pāti Māori all together. What a disgrace—lazy, idle.

Rawiri Waititi: Oh, did you find something—did you find something?

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: And here he goes—he’s still talking. You know something? We expect, when we come here, to serve people. The people are, after all, our masters. They expect certain standards, not the kind of behaviour we see over here where they don’t even turn up at Parliament, don’t even turn up at select committees, don’t even do their jobs properly and they’re getting away with it.

Now, Labour knows that. There are a whole lot of hard-working people in Labour that must be tearing their hair out because they’re being dragged down by that party over there and they know that if they’ve got any hope in the future, they’re going to have to get rid of them. Now, you know that, don’t you? I can feel it. Oh yes, you do. You must be waking in bed at night trying to think, “How on earth can we get rid of these people over there to ever make it back here?” A very famous song was sung by a guy called Andy Williams. The song’s called “Lonely Street”. And I kind of think you guys better start listening because all the words are feeling where you’re going. You’re going to have to find a place somewhere where somebody is feeling like you because “Lonely Street” is where you’re going—and they deserve to.

The fact of the matter is, it’s been astonishing recently the number of senior Māori—iwi chiefs and leaders—who on the quiet are ringing up and saying, “Can we see you privately?” It’s true. I’ve had that feeling before, Willie. It used to be your mother. She’d call up: “Winston, can I see you privately?” She knew that the best way of getting the job done was to come to the party where we’re not all talk, we’re all action.

Hon Willie Jackson: Point of order. I—[Interruption]

SPEAKER: No, you won’t speak till the House goes quiet for a point of order.

Hon Willie Jackson: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

SPEAKER: Just wait till I call you. Point of order, Willie Jackson.

Hon Willie Jackson: Thank you very much. Look, I don’t like to interrupt people—he’s very much on target today—but I don’t think my mother should be brought into the debate. I know that the Minister had a relationship with my mother—a good relationship—but I don’t think she should be brought into the debate. I take personal offence at that, and I’d ask the Minister to apologise.

SPEAKER: Well, I’d just make the comment—

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I’m very willing to apologise.

SPEAKER: Hang on, I haven’t called you either. Hang on—I’m allowed to respond to his point of order.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well, he asked for an apology and I’m giving it. It’s a matter of time here.

SPEAKER: No, but hang on, this is how it works, right? Everyone in here speaks through the Speaker. I know it’s an odd concept; it’s certainly been laid to one side in recent times, but that’s how it works. I just want to say, I also knew your mother. She was a very fine woman, and I don’t think that what Mr Peters was saying was in any way impeding on her integrity; I want to make that point from the Chair. The Rt Hon Winston Peters, the member has taken offence. Would he like to make a comment?

Hon Willie Jackson: Just speaking to the point of order.

SPEAKER: Well, no, you’ve made the point of order.

Hon Willie Jackson: I’ve made my point of order, but you haven’t asked the Minister to apologise.

SPEAKER: I’m just doing it now.

Hon Willie Jackson: Oh, no, but you intervened on that.

SPEAKER: I’ll tell you what, it would help if you kept up with what’s going on.

Hon Willie Jackson: You’re not going to ask me to apologise are you, Mr Speaker?

SPEAKER: Beg your pardon?

Hon Willie Jackson: You’re not going to ask me to apologise, are you?

SPEAKER: Well, if you like, go for it, yeah. No, look, sorry, this is getting ridiculous. I have just asked the Rt Hon Winston Peters to respond to your concern.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I have no difficulty in withdrawing and apologising. I didn’t mean any offence at all. I just happened to admire someone who used to do projects because she understood who in Parliament might help her get the job done. But if that causes offence, well, I’m apologising, I’m very, very sorry.

The reality of it is, of course, that here we are going into 2025 in a terrible shape as an economy, not because of anything we’ve done but because of what we inherited and, worse still, the lack of understanding in 2023 of just how bad that economy was. I’ve seen times like that in the past. I can remember David Caygill as the finance Minister. He reported in 1990 a $89 million surplus, and it ended up a $3.2 billion deficit. That sort of forecasting won’t do any longer. And I can say without being immodest, so to speak, one party set it out last year that we’re in a far, far worse situation. It’s horrifying to be proven right—horrifying to be proven right.

Can I just say to all my colleagues over here on this side, I think we’ve done a very good job in the last 12 months, and it hasn’t been easy at all. What’s not been so easy at all is how quickly certain people up there have forgiven the people who in the last three years took this country right off the rails, and the fact that they don’t actually publish the facts, so to speak. Or, worse still, that you’re in Parliament, and all of a sudden in December they discover there’s a party called New Zealand First and a leader called Winston Peters. I’ve been on Morning Report more times in this last two weeks than in the whole year, and as for Checkpoint—never been asked once. I don’t think I’ve been on for four years.

But I’m not going to worry about that because the reality is we’ve got a bunch of very bright young people, who’ve got that on social media. And, I’ll tell you what, they know that we can say to you to hang on because help’s on its way.

I call Rawiri Waititi. [ACT member stumbles while exiting Chamber]

Hon Member: Rawiri, did you push him? Don’t push him.

I didn’t push him; maybe one of my tīpuna did. And just listening to that “tipuna” over there, I’ve got one word to say: ka aroha—ka aroha [how sad—how sad]. E kai i ō rongoa, e koro. [Take your medicine, old man.]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, tēnei rā te mihi atu rā ki a koe. E mihi atu rā ki ngā kaimahi katoa o tēnei Whare. E mihi atu rā ki ngā kaiwhakahaere i roto i ngā mahi katoa kia tarea anō hoki e tātou te whakatutuki i ngā mahi. Koutou kei roto i tēnei Whare, e ōku hoa i roto i ngā mahinga katoa, nei rā te mihi atu rā ki a koutou i tēnei rā.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker, I thank you. I would like to acknowledge all of the staff of this House. I acknowledge the managers within each respective department that enable us to do our work. You who are in this House, my friends within every undertaking, I would like to acknowledge all of you today.]

The year 2024 has been a hard year for our people. The actions of this Government have attacked te iwi Māori on all fronts. However, unlike any of the decisions made by this Government this year, Te Pāti Māori have consistently remained mokopuna-focused, so today I would like to speak to our mokopuna—sorry, Mr Peters, you are well out of that group that I am addressing now.

Nō reira kei aku mokopuna [And so to my grandchildren], in the House this year, they debated your past, your tīpuna, your whakapapa, and the tapu of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was challenged by those that had no mana to do so. In the House this year, they debated our present, removing the current mahi progressing Aotearoa forward and continuing to undermine Te Tiriti while subjecting us to harsh realities of a Government that only supports the rich. In the House, they debated your future, the future of your language, your whenua, your oranga, your descendants, and your rights as tangata whenua.

But all was not lost. This House forgot their place, which has no mana to rewrite ours. This House forgot we have come too far as a country to sit back as they attack our mana motuhake. We took to the streets in our thousands. Ultimately, the House forgot the power of the people, so this was the year of kotahitanga. I want to mihi to all of our people—tangata whenua, tangata moana, tangata Tiriti—who rose above the attacks of this Government because they know the Aotearoa we want our mokopuna to inherit.

As I stand here, I want to tell our mokopuna about the many people who stood up to protect their whakapapa, who stood shoulder to shoulder to unite on a hīkoi from both ends of Aotearoa that saw 100,000 of our people converge on the lawns of this very Parliament. We may be the minority in Parliament, but our movement is the majority across Aotearoa. Toitū te Tiriti.

I want to tell our mokopuna about the many whānau who marched for you: our working class whānau and public servants who marched that were made redundant, that were forced to sit in a space of job insecurity and had benefits removed while Government offered tax cuts to the rich. Our tangata hauā, our whānau with disabilities and health issues who use their voices because the health system continues to fail our most vulnerable communities.

Our gang whānau who marched with their patches—they now are policed by the very system that persecutes them every day. Our kaiako, our educators, our learning support kaimahi, our whare wānanga who marched, who have been subjected to funding cuts and unfinished rebuilds but carry the tremendous responsibility of educating this entire generation. Our creatives who marched who are the most under-resourced and underfunded but work overtime to tell our stories and be the light we turn to for inspiration to keep moving forward. Our lawmakers, our tribunals, our legal experts who continuously advocate for justice in a year full of unjust decision-making.

Our kaitiaki of our taiao who have fought against the tirade of attacks on our whenua, moana, wai, against marine and coastal area legislation, fast track, and every other decision to destroy Aotearoa. Our takatāpui whānau who marched, who continue to be persecuted by this Government for being who they are; they are whānau. Our babies in State care, or should I say State carelessness, who deserve better than boot camps. Our survivors of abuse in State care, who continue to witness the apologies to our kids in the system.

Our incarcerated whānau, whose trauma for Government profit trumps the cost of that decision to our whakapapa. Maybe if the Government cared less about three strikes and more about the three articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this year could have gone differently. Our iwi leaders; our Māori wards; our Māori movements; our indigenous brothers, sisters of Palestine, of Kanak, of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, who marched too; our tangata moana, tangata Tiriti, who rose up and marched alongside, who educated one another, who understood that this wasn’t a single issue but a shared responsibility to rise up for the Aotearoa our mokopuna deserve. Our tangata whenua, whose pakeke have already marched for our existence and empowered our resistance, and to our mokopuna, our babies, who have inherited this hīkoi, we hope that one day you won’t have to hīkoi any more.

This has been a hard year and has come at significant cost to our people, but our hīkoi demonstrated kotahitanga we have never seen in Aotearoa before. For that I am proud. For that we as a country should feel proud.

I wish you all a restful holiday season and the time to heal from the many punches of 2024. Be kind, look after one another, travel safely on the roads like one big waka kotahi. Make this a Tiriti Kirihimete: as a whānau, do your submissions, enrol to vote, get on the Māori roll. We have a big year to look forward to: Rātana, Waitangi, Te Matatini, koroneihana. We are approaching the light at the end of this racist tunnel that we have been subjected to this year. Kia kaha.

Finally, I would like to leave you with the words of the late King Tuheitia, who called for unity in the year he knew his people would need it the most: “In this storm we are strong. Together. The wind in our sails is called kotahitanga, and with that we will reach our destination.”

I see I’ve got a little bit more time here. This House needs a bit of festive cheer—OK, Mr Speaker?

SPEAKER: It’s long been established in this debate that this is what we could expect—it better be good.

RAWIRI WAITITI: OK.

Mokopuna, are you listening?

On your whenua, truth is glistening.

A terrible flight, our Tiriti rights,

Marching on stolen Māori land.

This year ain’t been pretty,

Toitū Te Tiriti,

A three-headed goose,

But we know the truth.

Marching on stolen Māori land.

In the Beehive, they can build a front man,

Act like he’s not a racist clown.

He’ll say, “Will you join me?”

I said, “No, man,

“Our mokopuna will make a stand.”

Aotearoa, can you hear me?

The polls are up,

Te Pāti Māori

Tīpuna-fed, Tiriti-led,

Marching on stolen Māori land

Marching on stolen Māori land

Marching on stolen Māori land.

Merry Christmas. Winston, where are you? Merry Christmas, e koro.

Kia orana, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call in this adjournment debate as Labour’s chief whip, but firstly, Mr Speaker, I want to acknowledge you and your team of presiding officers—the Deputy Speaker, Assistant Speakers, and temporary Speakers—for their service to the House this year. I also want to acknowledge the staff—

SPEAKER: It didn’t feel like that earlier today!

TANGI UTIKERE: You didn’t give me a call. Also, I want to acknowledge the staff who have supported all members from all sides of the House this year. To our electorate and community officers and off-precinct staff and to those here on precinct, thank you for the work you have done this year. Can I also thank my own whips’ team and the other whips, musterers, and matarau from other parties. Thanks for the work you all do to ensure things run as smoothly as possible.

It feels like it is the last day of school. Everyone is itching to be set free and let loose from this place for some well-deserved time away. The question, of course, though, for this time of the year is: who is going to be on Santa’s naughty and nice lists? And the sad reality is that the naughty list is very, very long and full of members from the benches opposite this year. Of course, the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, makes the top three, but it’s possible that David Seymour and Winston Peters edge him out for the top two slots as, let’s face it, they are the real ones who are running this Government. David Seymour makes the list for the Treaty principles bill—enough said.

Now, we all know what that political chameleon Winston Peters will get for Christmas: a new train set. And, on Christmas morning, Winston will roll out of bed and open his new present, and when he realises that his new toy won’t actually have the necessary batteries that it needs to make it work, only then will the penny drop and he realise the importance of rail-enabled ferries. Over the break, the newly minted Minister for Rail may also do some “Cruising on the Interislander” in the hope that he will discover that the South Island actually exists, because no one else on the Government benches knows it exists, based on their inability to invest in the Mainland.

Nicola Willis must be on this year’s naughty list. Last year, she was on it as the Grinch who stole Christmas when she cancelled the $551 million interisland ferries. None of us would have thought that, one full year on from making that call from the captain’s chair, there’d still be no solution, no plan, and it’s clear that she had not been making her list and checking it twice. So she makes it on to the naughty list for a second consecutive year. The member should hang her head in shame. She might be on it again next year. If that’s the case, she will be subject to her own Government’s “three strikes and you’re out” approach.

I want to move to traffic lights, in particular the traffic light system implemented by this Government, which is confronting thousands of Kiwis who are doing it tough as we head into Christmas. Now, the Prime Minister says all that those who are on benefit need to do is show up. Isn’t it unfortunate that his own Minister failed to face any sanctions earlier this year for failing to do exactly that, and that saw a bill discharged from the Parliament? How embarrassing. For that, Louise Upston is on the naughty list and may very well receive a lump of coal for her misdemeanour under the Christmas tree this year.

On coal, the Government has shown that it is not concerned about taking action in the climate space or on protecting the environment. The passage of the terrible fast-track bill yesterday attracted protests, including some disruption to the Parliament. And we don’t condone such disruptions, but I do note that Simeon Brown was jumping yesterday, trying to pull a banner down from the gallery. Now, we all know that Simeon has been named by one as the politician of the year. And couldn’t we hear the gnashing of teeth, the sniggering that that accolade brings from members within his own caucus, let alone on the front bench over there, but all that demonstrated yesterday was that there are still some things that Simeon needs a leg up for—although we did learn that this year Simeon Brown does have a driver’s licence. And he went to some lengths to actually prove that.

So, as folks are moving around the country this summer, waiting in queues for their electric vehicles (EVs) to charge, they can reflect on the fact that the transport and the energy Minister’s focus was on spending time proving that he actually does have a driver’s licence, rather than failing to meet his own Government’s self-imposed target to roll out more EV chargers. And he has delivered less than half of the 670 chargers that he promised. That is another big fail. That will be one of the many things on the minds of Kiwis this summer as they reflect on the shambolic year that this Government has had. They clearly are continuing to take our country backwards, and Kiwis are well and truly aware of that and they have cottoned on.

Mr Speaker, to you and to all members of the House, a very merry Christmas and a safe and relaxing summer break.

Can I start by echoing the words of others and thanking the people who make this place work: our staff, particularly my office, the best ministerial office in the Beehive; the officials; the House Office; the Parliamentary Counsel Office; Chamber staff; select committee staff; Hansard; Copperfields, which I’ve tried to go to less this year than in previous years—

Cameron Brewer: More McDonald’s.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: —well, that’s right, some more McDonald’s, and crayfish—reception staff; security; VIP; the cleaners; and of course you, sir, and all of your team.

It’s been a cracker, 2024. It’s been a tough year for many. It’s been a great year for the Government. In stark contrast to years gone by, Ministers in this Government have actually got things done. Simeon Brown, Nicola Willis, Mark Mitchell, Paul Goldsmith—it’s been a pleasure to work alongside this team, and, of course, our coalition colleagues David Seymour and my good friend and colleague Matua Shane—we’ve worked together on fast track and it’s been a great pleasure.

There’s a few achievements that have gone unnoticed and unreported, and I thought I might comment on a few of them. Simeon Brown has had to sell precisely zero shares in Auckland Airport. In fact, he sold zero shares in the entities he’s responsible for, in stark contrast to the last Minister of Transport. Paul Goldsmith’s been very well behaved. He has not had to disclose secret meetings at Astoria like the last Minister. Mark Mitchell has not leaked secretive Cabinet material to his donors. Simon Watts has not leaked secret tax plans to the media. Erica Stanford was not referred to the Privileges Committee. And not a single National Party MP defected to Te Pāti Māori—or indeed anyone from New Zealand First or the Green Party.

Now, I’ve talked about fast track. We’re particularly proud of fast track. We had 149 projects—

Hon Shane Jones: Great bill.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: —that were included in the bill. We laboured—we laboured—over that, over those projects, didn’t we, Shane? We really did.

I thought it might be interesting for the House to hear what projects didn’t make the list and ended up on the cutting room floor. We had an interesting project submitted: the “Remutaka Job Centre for Former Labour Party Leaders”, submitted by Mr C Hipkins of Upper Hutt. We did decline this project; we weren’t confident it would be built in time to fulfil its primary purpose.

We received an application from Miss M Woods. This was titled the “Wigram Mayoral Candidates Training Centre”. We also declined that one for the same reason.

We had a project called the “Hutt Valley Mass Training Facility for Labour Party Opposition Police Spokesperson”. This was a high-quality submission submitted by Mr Mark Mitchell, but it was declined as some people are, unfortunately, beyond help.

We had a proposal to fast track an e-bike trail on Waiheke Island, strongly supported by everyone in the Green Party, but, unfortunately, not even the advocacy of the local MP, Ingrid Leary, was enough to get that one over the line.

There was a submission from Auckland Central, from D Parker, and it had strong supporting affidavits from Phil Twyford, Helen White, and Arena Williams of Hobsonville Point, and it had attached to it a copy of Capital by Thomas Piketty. This was a fast-track proposal for an unusual thing—for a wealth tax. But, very unusually, we also had counter-proposals against the submission from many other members of the Labour Party caucus. It was very difficult for the fast-track panel to make of what to do with this.

There was a submission against a local project. Now, we had a number of submissions for local projects from local MPs, strong advocacy—very unusual to receive a submission opposed to something in their local electorate, but Julie Anne Genter took the cake. She made a submission on letterhead—Julie Anne Genter, the MP for Rongotai—against the Mount Victoria Tunnel. I found that astonishing.

But there was a submission in favour of car parks outside here, in Tamatha Paul’s electorate office in Wellington.

Hon Carmel Sepuloni: Not a high note—not a high note.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: Oh, well, speaking of Carmel Sepuloni, who’s being very noisy, there was an application for resource consent for Treasure Island from C Sepuloni. This also had a supporting affidavit from Chris Hipkins, asking for the resource consent period to be extended indefinitely.

Jokes aside, it has been a busy year in the House. We’ve had 93 first readings, 60 bills reported back from select committees, and 60 third readings. Ministers have answered 87,000 written parliamentary questions. Thank you to everyone who’s had a great year.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Tuatahi māku he mihi aroha ki taku hoa, a Luke Crawford, kua wahangū i tēnei rā. E Luke, e chief, moe mai rā i nāianei. Ka nui rawa atu te aroha ki tō whāna.

Heoi anō, hoki mai ki a tātou.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Firstly for me is a compassionate acknowledgment of my friend, Luke Crawford, whose voice has been silenced today. Luke, chief, rest in peace now. A lot of love to your family.

However, let’s return to us.]

Let’s get in the spirit. Mere Kirihimete ki a tātou katoa. What a privilege to stand and take what will be the last call for the Labour Party in 2024.

In preparing for this speech, I had a lot of unsolicited advice. “Keep it light-hearted,” they said—and I’m glad everyone else got that memo today. Willie Jackson said, “Remind them they’re a pack of maniacs.” I said, “I’ll leave that to you, Willie Jackson. I want to be on the nice list this year.” Peeni Henare suggested a haka, but, Mr Speaker, I cannot risk expulsion. And someone said, “Why don’t you sing?” I said, “I couldn’t possibly. I’m just going to share my ‘Reflections of the way life used to be, reflections of the love you took from me’.”

Now, e te whānau, in spite of some of the attempts of members opposite to take the love away from us, they have failed, and it’s still been a great year for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I said to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, “I will bring your light to this House.”, but Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, you—you—have been “You are the sunlight of my life and I’ll always be around”.

Rawiri Waititi: Oh, here’s the Tikitiki RSA.

CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL: Oh, you know it. Had I known that tungāne was going to bring a guitar, we might have rehearsed.

The reflection of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is your kaha, your tenacity, and your view beyond recovery into intergenerational prosperity, and that’s something for which I’m here, behind you, all the way. E hoa mā, soon we will all be “Rocking around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop”.

When we are enjoying the embraces of our loved ones and the spoils of our hard work, let’s spare a thought not only for those who are less privileged than us but for the hard-working people here, seen and unseen, who work very hard to make us all look and sound good—a much easier task for some than others. But I will not name names.

I think that in spite of everything, a lot of the feedback I get—and I’ve talked about it in my Treaty principles bill, pai kōrero—and in spite of all the cuts, I must say that I actually think it’s been a fantastic year to be Māori and a fantastic year to be a New Zealander. We’ve heard the hīkoi acknowledged, and I just want to mihi to everyone who came together, i raro i te whakaaro kotahi.

On thanks, I do want to thank my team. The “IR Babes” they name themselves—the “Ikaroa-Rāwhiti Babes”—and that, you are. Also the team here in the House: as I’ve acknowledged, you do a great job of making us all look and sound good.

I also want to acknowledge the other MPs throughout Ikaroa-Rāwhiti: Dana Kirkpatrick, Katie Nimon, Catherine Wedd, Mike Butterick, Chris Bishop, and, of course, “Chippie”. Tēnā tātou katoa.

My final thanks go to my whānau, immediate and extended, and to my darling, Russell, or, as you all call him, “Aww, Russell!”. I have feelings too, you know, whānau.

At my maiden speech, my brother said, “Do you know what? There were people from National who came to that bloody thing”—oops, pardon me, Mr Speaker. He goes, “Those buggers, they all like each other.”, and it’s true. It’s true, whānau. There are friendships across this floor, so I really do want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year with your whānau and loved ones.

But we are still in the Opposition, so we have a gift for you. From the Labour Party to you all—don’t bother playing, because there ain’t no rhythm here, tungāne.

In the first year in Government, the Nats forgot Kiwis:

$12 billion borrowed, jobs down the gurgler, tens of thousands leaving,

One “a loser”, straight lies in Dunners,

Seven Luxon houses, tax breaks for landlords—

Where are the birds?

Forty thousand marched, three strikes is back, tobacco, and guns,

And no plan to replace the ferries.

Mere Kirihimete, everybody.

Well, Mr Speaker, I’m very conscious that as the last speaker in this debate, I stand between you and the formal adjournment for this year—and what a year it has been, but I’m in the business of winning votes, so you’ll be pleased to know I’m not going to sing, because that would be a very bad and vote-losing thing.

I want to join with others, Mr Speaker, in congratulating you, your presiding officers, and thanking you for your patience with us around the debating chamber as we have worked our way through what has been a very busy year. Chris Bishop made the point about how many bills have been passed and how many questions have been asked and all that sort of thing, and I think we’ve actually collectively as a Parliament achieved a lot.

I want to be just serious for a second or two, because I think that at times like this at the end of the year we have an opportunity just to reflect a little bit about our place in this place and our place on the planet and the globe, where we are in the privileged part of the world here at the bottom of the South Pacific.

I had the opportunity during the year to meet with Peeni Henare together with the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, for instance—now, there’s a population under great stress this Christmas. I had an opportunity to meet with Peeni Henare and the elected leader of Belarus, who is in exile and whose husband has been detained for 2½ years and she hasn’t had any contact with him, doesn’t know whether he’s dead or alive. Those sorts of conversations, notwithstanding all the light-heartedness and the good nature that we’ve seen in this debate this afternoon, put into perspective the world we live in and our place in it.

I just want to reflect for a moment on the fact that nobody comes to this Chamber with bad intentions, in my view. Nobody comes to this place wanting to make things worse. We may disagree and have strong views strongly expressed, and sometimes sung, about how to achieve the making of things better, but we all have that objective. This is a place where strong views should be strongly held and strongly expressed, but with respect to each other, in my view.

As we conclude this debate and this year of action, activity, and democracy in our small, intimate, and, some would say, imperfect little democracy, I want to wish colleagues from around the House—from my own party, from our coalition partners in New Zealand First and in ACT, and from the other parties in the Opposition—a warm summer welcome to the beautiful Coromandel, where you will receive sand, sunshine, and sanctuary and you will be most welcome at any time to come and spend time and money in that beautiful part of the world.

I want to complete this debate by, as I say, thanking all the people who make this place work. At times, to the members of the public who don’t understand the intricacies of Parliament, it probably looks very chaotic, but there is a system, there is a structure, and it does, in its own quirky, weird, Kiwi way, work, and I think we can collectively be very proud of that. So, merry Christmas, everybody. Thank you very much for your help, corporation, and support, and have a safe, enjoyable, and relaxed summer period. Thank you.

I’m going to make my contribution very short. Unfortunately, the audience seems to have left and I don’t want to drive out those who remain.

Look, can I just make the comment that the start of this debate today was certainly robust, and one of the great strengths of this country’s democracy is the ability to have those “slap ‘em down, drag ‘em out” debates where people can say what they’re thinking. It’s very important, and I get a lot of letters, as Speaker, complaining about the way people deal with each other in this House, things that are said, actions that are taken. I think it is sad that more people don’t appreciate, just as my colleague Scott Simpson has said, that so many other countries in the world live oppressed lives, simply because they don’t have an environment like this where different views can be so openly and receptively both made and received.

This year’s been a hard one in many ways for a lot of people outside of this place, but also for those in it. I think starting the year with the death of Efeso Collins had quite a sobering effect on the whole of the Parliament and I want to, on behalf of the Parliament, offer his family, once again, our condolences, our close thoughts for their first Christmas without him. The same is true for all of those families of other former members who’ve left us during this year.

I want to acknowledge the party leaders and senior people in all parties because of the work that they do—the extra work that they do—and the time that it takes. Parliament has sat, by the time we finish in the next couple of minutes, for about 575 hours this year. Most people would say, “Oh, that’s nothing; I work 2,000 hours a year.”—but not as intensely as this place does. Those hours are concentrated over just a few small days—three days out of 30 weeks. That, of course, is just a small part of the work that all members of Parliament do, and particularly the part that the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the leaders of other parties, and the spokespeople do as well. It’s very time-consuming.

As we come to the end of the year and we reflect on what might have been achieved by us individually, as members of this House, I think we should also be very proud of the fact that whether we are winning or losing, we’re part of a dynamic democracy that we all need to do our best to protect.

Can I acknowledge all of those who’ve been mentioned who make this place work. It’s a huge workforce here—about a thousand people—and they are the sort of engine room of democracy, if you like. In particular, I want to make a mention of our security staff, whose job is becoming increasingly difficult. I also want to mention the cyber-security staff who are constantly looking at the many attacks that can come on our systems, and, of course, that is also a very direct protection of democracy as well.

I need to acknowledge the close staff that I work with: the Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, and all of his staff—great people to work with, willing to listen to what MPs need to serve the people they represent; also Dr David Wilson and all of the staff in the Clerk’s Office. He has been complimented earlier by the leader of the ACT Party. I would echo those comments: a great guy to work with and a man who has an enormous breadth of knowledge about how systems should work.

I need also to mention Andie Lindsay, who is the secretary to both of them. Andie is one of those people who knows where all the bodies are buried and, worse than that, where all the bodies are about to be buried, so I mention her with great fondness!

Can I also acknowledge my own closer staff: Laree Taula, who does a lot of work in my office to keep me in the right place at the right time, which is not an easy function. Also to Roland Todd, who sits here day in day out, listening to everything that you’ve got to say and just gently taking it all in. It must be enormously frustrating at times, Roland, that you can’t stroll on to the floor and give everyone a bit of a strop up and put it in the right direction. But thank you very much for your work.

With those comments, can I wish everybody here a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I’m sure all of your party leaders have told you to take time off and to look after yourselves and your families. I’d echo that comment. I’ll see you in 2025.

Motion agreed to.

The House adjourned at 5.58 p.m.