General Debate

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

The countdown is on—the 100-day finish line is nearing. And when we look back, what has our new Government achieved over the last 100 days? A whole lot of going backwards—going backwards as far as they can. Repealing this, chucking that, doing that all the way through, with no sense that if you’re going to repeal, you’re meant to replace as well. And what we have not heard in these 100 days is a positive agenda from the new Government. We have not heard what they are going to do. All we’ve heard is what they’re not going to do.

So much of that is because of the promises that were made in the election campaign—promises that do not stack up when it comes to paying for the unfunded tax cuts that this Government have cobbled together. We are seeing broken promises laid bare everywhere. What we are seeing is the fact that the Minister of Finance has made promises that she cannot bank. And we’re hearing from some of our agencies what the 7.5 percent cost savings that are being asked for are meaning. I did note in question time today, though, that David Seymour must have got so excited when he heard about 7.5 percent cost cuts, he read that as 75 percent at the Ministry of Education. It was like every Christmas morning for David Seymour rolled into one.

But what are we seeing from Defence? We’re seeing Air Marshal Short saying that the 6.5 percent cuts from Defence would mean they had to divest themselves of capability. We’re seeing from Police that the budget starving would see front-line services being cut. We are seeing from education—and I think this is a particularly telling one, given what we’ve heard over the last few days from the Secretary for Education that if they had to find these savings, then it’s possible there’d be further delay or stopping of capital works. And what have we heard from the Minister of Education this week? An inquiry to cover up the fact that they simply do not have the money to pay for what has already been promised to schools around this country.

I was reflecting on a news article that appeared only a couple of weeks ago, and it was an article that was entitled “Lobbyists are back at Parliament - with a new privacy measure hiding their identities”—this was from 12 February. Well, I’ll tell you what it’s called. That new privacy measure hiding their identity is called a crowd, because you cannot move around the Beehive without stumbling over lobbyists. We’ve got the tobacco lobby, the oil and gas lobby, the fishing lobby, the forestry lobby, the mining lobby, the gun lobby. They’re all in the building, and they are the ones setting the agenda of this Government.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can I please just call a comment with that statement. It’s OK to say that lobbyists are influencing and speaking with the Government, it’s not OK to say they’re dictating—you didn’t say the word “dictating”?

Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Far be it from me to say dictating, Madam Speaker.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, but it’s not—and I’ll find the correct Speakers’ rulings shortly, but you can’t say that they’re doing the job of the Government.

Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: OK. They are in the building and they are active. They are doing the rounds and they’ve got their swipe cards and they’re active. But what we have seen is just how active and in the building this group are and the kinds of powers they have. They have powers to magically make papers apparate into Minister’s offices. They have this power that a Minister can walk in one day and find some apparated papers sitting on her desk, with very, very clear suggestions of the kinds of measures that should be put into place. So I guess there are some ways of achieving cost-cutting measures. Cut out the middle person—we used to call them officials—and just look to other places for where your policy advice is coming from and who is telling what the Government should do.

I think one of the things that we have seen this week is just how serious this is. We have seen, this week, the repeal of a policy that was going to do real and meaningful work around saving the lives of New Zealanders—the work around the smoke-free legislation that was world leading. And what did we see? We saw a Government that repealed it under urgency at a point where lives will be lost. That is not the New Zealand we want.

Well, thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Here we are, we’re in the closing part of the third week of a four-week sitting block and we are rapidly approaching 100 days of this new coalition Government. In fact, this time next week we will be very close to the hundred days.

My late mother was a nurse. I remember, growing up as a child, one of the good, sage pieces of advice that my mother gave my brother, sister, and I was that if we ever had an accident where there was a need to stem the flow of blood, and we’d stub a knee or make a cut or something like that, her advice was always: first, stop the bleeding—first, stop the bleeding. That’s what this coalition Government has had to do during its first hundred days: stop the bleeding, the wasteful profligate spending, the arrogant assumption that they know best on every issue, and the arrogant assumption that New Zealand voters, using the democratic ballot box available to them, have made a decision about the future direction of this country, and it wasn’t the direction that was being taken by that Government over the last six years.

Speaking of stopping the bleeding, it’s only just started on the Opposition side. This afternoon, we saw a line-up of potential new leaders—a line-up of them. First, there was Kieran McAnulty. Now, odds are on that he’s the favourite. He’s a bookie by profession and he’ll be counting the numbers and doing the odds—that’s what he will be doing. Then we had Ginny Andersen, unlikely running mate—unlikely running mate; could be a leadership partner in a coalition of the Labour Party. David Parker has been speculated a lot as being a potential. Now, David Parker is a man of extreme talent and experience and long standing in this House—

Carl Bates: Too sensible.

Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: —and David Parker—“Too sensible.” My colleague makes the point “Too sensible.”, because David Parker ruled himself out of the blood-letting challenge that is about to happen.

Carl Bates: What about Phil Twyford?

Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Well, Phil Twyford maybe. He’s a quiet one on the bench at the moment. He’s a quiet one. He’s got a glint in his eye—a glint in his eye again. But the real outsider today was Greg O’Connor. Now, Greg O’Connor used his question to make his mark on the leadership bid for the Labour Party. It’s only a question of time, and Greg O’Connor will be there. Not quite sure who the running mate will be—

Carl Bates: Stuart Nash.

Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: —but he will almost certainly be there. Well, Stuart Nash—maybe he’ll do a comeback. We heard a little bit from Stuart Nash this week. Then, there was a late entrant in question time today, a bloke by the name of Reuben Davidson. Now, I’m not quite sure what his aspirations are, but he showed some potential. He’s asking a question, and he got a very satisfactory answer from the Minister.

But as we approach the completion of this coalition Government’s first hundred days, I want to remind the House about the 49 points of action that we will have completed by this time next week or next Friday. It’s actually 8 March which is the day that we will celebrate the first hundred days of this administration.

So it was only a week or so ago that the Prime Minister gave his state of the nation speech. In that speech, he went through a list of the actions that we have already completed as a coalition Government and he highlighted many of the remaining actions that we have to do. But he highlighted, also, the fragile state of the country’s economy, the perilous state of the Government’s books, and indeed the profligate wasteful spending that had taken place by the previous Government. But he cited a number of the very good initiatives that have already taken place by the Government to stem the flow of blood and the bleeding that was occurring under the last Government.

So one of those was to abolish the ute tax. That was a very good initiative. Now, many people will know in this House that I’m a committed electric vehicle (EV) driver and a fan. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t be driving an EV. But I do understand the negative impacts of putting in place a policy that would punish those who aren’t able to, for a variety of reasons, use EVs. That time will come at a point in the future; it’s not right now, but it will come in the future. Then, of course, this Government has already stopped that mind-bogglingly wasteful experience called the Auckland light rail.

So as we come to end of this week, the third week of this four-week sitting block, next week we will have completed our 49 projects, and our hundred days of Government will be there. New Zealanders can look forward, then, to the next 100 days.

Just before I call the Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall, when the Hon Dr Megan Woods was speaking, I was referring to Speakers’ ruling 55/5—this is for the House; not for the intended speaker—where “It is in order to say that the Government is influenced, but … not in order to say that in the carrying out of its administrative and governmental duties, apart from the formulation of its policy … [that] the Government is dictated to by an outside body.” So I just wanted to clarify that.

We knew National’s tax cut plan didn’t add up, and now the country is paying the price. Those tax cuts proposed in the election were reckless; they did not add up. They did not answer questions posed to them, including by many excellent journalists at Newshub. Lloyd Burr followed Christopher Luxon for two whole weeks asking him to explain the tax cuts, and he couldn’t. Nicola Willis couldn’t account for how she was going to make the books balance. Rebecca Wright took Chris Luxon to task for 20 minutes pre-election, and all she got was bloviation back.

These are reckless, reckless cuts from a Government who never intended to be able to deliver. And post-election, that’s why we’ve seen the scope of the Public Service cuts grow to include non-departmental expenditure. And for the people listening at home, that means the things that Government pays to others to deliver the services that they depend on. It includes housing services, and it also includes the education buildings. Pre-election, we were told not to worry about this, because Nicola Willis said Ministers would be going through line by line to find savings and instances of wasteful spending, as if the Ministers in that Government were financial whiz-kids. But post-election, it’s a different story. There’s no line by line; it’s just blanket cuts. Responsibility is sheeted to the CEOs instead, and we see that these are untargeted cuts as well.

Let me give you the example of Customs. The hard-working people in Customs have been asked to take voluntary redundancy. Now, that is the definition of an untargeted cut. There’s no looking across the service to see whether there could be spending. It’s totally unstrategic from the point of view of developing the organisation or making sure there are the services New Zealanders need to keep drugs out, to allow visitors to come through our border in an efficient and safe way, and to keep out the meth that is a scourge on our society. They’re just going to have untargeted cuts. People will be asked to take voluntary redundancy. There is no example of waste that I have heard put forward in Customs by the Government; it’s just cuts.

These cuts are to services that New Zealanders need and depend upon. They are across education, they are across the courts, they are done by public servants who are some of the most committed people I have ever met. I was very proud to work with New Zealand public servants in the COVID19 response. I saw them behave in a way that was absolutely professional, working overnight and on weekends to come and save our country in a time of crisis. They are dedicated, and yet just this question time, we had David Seymour call them bureaucrats. Public servants shouldn’t be the soft target in this Government’s war on Wellington. They are people who serve our country every day, and incredibly well.

You’ve got to ask why. Why is this Government doing it? I wonder that a lot. I think my colleague Megan Woods touched on the answer there. Maybe there’s an ideology to shrink the State, but I think there’s more to it than that. These cuts create the opportunity for private profiteering off public services, don’t they? They create the opportunity for others to come in and contract for services that could be delivered in the public interest instead. And that contracting out has happened multiple times whenever there have been Governments formed by the National Party. They’re manufacturing the conditions to allow public services to be hocked off so that the legions of lobbyists that are circling the Beehive have more opportunities to make money.

Public services working across education have led to the building of 2,000 new classrooms during the last Government. The education secretary at select committee said that work and that programme would not be possible without people employed to do that work. These cuts will be to the sorts of things that New Zealanders need to have their rights upheld in court, to have their kids go to classrooms, to have their roads built—all of these things are opportunities that we have to develop public services for the good of the people, and not to allow them to be opportunities for others to profit. We will all be poorer as a country if these cuts go ahead. Well, the National Party and the Government have options. They can come clean about the fact that their fiscal plan never added up, and they can stop using this as an opportunity to make our country all the poorer.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is my absolute privilege to stand here and talk about the response that I’m getting from rural and provincial New Zealand as they witness this Government deliver on its 100-day plan. It is my privilege as well to acknowledge the Multicultural Council of Whanganui-Rangitīkei who are here in the gallery. I had a kōrero with them, prior to question time, about the feedback they’ve got on having a great, local, working MP who’s seen out in the community, and a Government that is delivering, as I say, on its 100-day plan.

Madam Speaker, over the weekend I was at the Egmont A & P Show, a show that you and I both know well. The feedback from rural and provincial New Zealand was overwhelmingly in favour of the progress that this Government is making. They are pleased with the repeal of the ute tax so that they can buy the vehicles required to deliver the economic productivity this country requires to pay for the sort of services that we are going to ensure are not just delivered but delivered well.

I must say, over my short time in this House and in this place, I’m starting to get a bit sick of the Opposition and their view that you can just spend more money to achieve an outcome, and that every dollar that they seem to have spent, committed to, and over-committed to magically delivers an outcome. So as we’ve engaged and—as I say—as I’ve been out and about, talking to real New Zealanders who are doing the mahi that enables us to operate here, it’s been great to see that they understand the intention of this Government to get New Zealand back on track. I’m looking forward to my attendance this weekend at the Taranaki regional dairy industry awards because it is important that we that we demonstrate our support for the agricultural industry.

In a couple of weeks’ time, I’m looking forward to witnessing the focus this Government has on mental health in the Whanganui electorate when I host Minister Doocey. We have arranged a kōrero with mental health leaders across the Whanganui electorate because the Minister has said to me that he is wanting to engage. He literally said to me that he doesn’t want to come along and stand in front and lecture the providers about what he’s doing, like maybe they would have had under a previous administration—of course, they couldn’t have had that because there wasn’t a Minister for Mental Health under any previous Labour Government. It’s great to be hosting him for the first time in Whanganui.

We’re going to be doing the same for the tourism industry, because the wonderful Whanganui electorate has showcased a range of events that have supported the increase in our domestic tourism over the course of the last 12 months, including the Whanganui Vintage Weekend in January, an outstanding weekend that demonstrates how creative regional New Zealand can produce domestic and international tourism activities.

Currently, we have New Zealand’s best women’s festival, La Fiesta, going on in our rohe until 10 March. It’s the biggest yet; another example of great work to bring domestic tourism in and around the country. And, of course in a few weeks’ time—and I invite all members join us between 15 and 24 March—we will have the Artists Open Studios, another example of great domestic activity for tourism. I’m looking forward to the work that the Minister will be doing in this space to continue to support and grow our tourism sector.

Last week, I also had the opportunity to showcase the work of our great telecommunication providers and the launch—or the turning on, rather—of a new cellphone tower on State Highway 4 that Minister Lee has advised me of. Today, I’m sharing that I’m launching a petition focused on connectivity in Pātea and on State Highway 3 to ensure that rural and provincial New Zealand have the sort of access to wireless connectivity to do the work we do to keep this country going.

As the Prime Minister indicated in the state of the nation address last week, we face an immense challenge left by the previous Government, and it’s great to see the progress that’s already been achieved in the last hundred days as we count down to 8 March next week and getting those 49 actions done. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. First, as I gaze to my left here in the House, I think of our colleague and good friend Efeso Collins being farewelled today. Of course, with members of the House, our thoughts continue to be with his family, his lovely wife, and his two daughters at this time.

More than 700 doctors have asked this Government to justify the decision to scrap the Māori Health Authority. More than 700 experts right around the country, and indeed offshore, have continued to press why the Government is removing the Māori Health Authority. In fact, Al Jazeera yesterday even reported on the loss of indigenous rights and indigenous health outcomes by the deeds and actions of this Government.

It disappoints me greatly that over the past three days, through urgency, kaupapa like the Māori Health Authority was disestablished. We hear from the other side of the House that outcomes in health are really important. I want to highlight to the Government that the outcomes they speak of are things like surgery waiting lists, emergency room waiting lists. Yes, that’s true. That’s the job of Health New Zealand; that’s not the job of Te Aka Whai Ora. The job of Te Aka Whai Ora was to be the fence at the top of the cliff so that Māori didn’t need an ambulance at the bottom. They were there with a clear focus on public health outcomes, good messaging to bring better health outcomes to Māori, encouraging rangatahi Māori to pursue a career in health and to make sure that we continue to support communities to look after communities so that there wasn’t a need to have an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Sadly, though, that fence has now been removed.

When we launched the Māori Health Authority in Waitangi—and it was symbolic in Waitangi because it was about a Crown and Māori relationship. That hasn’t played out in the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, but I return back to that day in Waitangi. I said at the end of my contribution that day, ina mate ahau, kua tutuki katoa aku mahi—that means, “Should I pass away suddenly, my job here is done.”

Well, I stand here today to say clearly there’s lots more work to be done, and that this side of the House—and indeed myself and the many health experts and health workers around this country—will continue to push for the case for clear Māori health outcomes to make sure that they don’t fall to the bottom of the cliff and they don’t require the ambulance; that we can indeed put a fence at the top.

Now, I’m sure all members across the House will agree to that. Of course, we’ve heard all week how disappointed we are that, through urgency, no public consultation has taken place for such important pieces of legislation: the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority and the smoke-free repeal. The country has already made their view clear that the smoke-free targets—making sure that future generations are smoke-free—was something that we all believed in. Sadly, though, those were overturned without the kind of consultation that we need and we require in a good democracy.

It’s really disappointing when we hear from the other side that they have a mandate from the election—and, of course, that’s how this works and that’s why they’re on the Treasury benches and we aren’t; I understand that. But also, with that power comes huge responsibility: the responsibility to allow the public to have their voice on all matters that actually relate to them and are important to them. I’m sad to say that not only this week did the Māori Health Authority get repealed, not only did important smoke-free legislation—world-leading smoke-free legislation—get repealed, also that a part of democracy died with the urgency that was put forward by this particular Government.

I want to return back to what I said at the launch of the Māori Health Authority: should I die, my work here is done. Clearly, there is more work to be done and I want to say to the members on that side of the House, and indeed to the public out there listening today: Ka whawhai tonu mātou, āke, ake, ake.

Thank you. Just on behalf of New Zealand First, I would also like to follow up on the words of Peeni Henare in passing on New Zealand First’s condolences for Efeso Collins’ family, particularly his wife and two young daughters—what an absolute tragedy—and to our colleagues in the Green Party.

I’d also like to—possibly not to converge the two—mention the situation yesterday with the Newshub staff, those 300 employees, and particularly the press gallery here who coexist in this strange ecosystem. We’re all feeling for you as well. It is a foreboding day for our democracy. It is one of the reasons why New Zealand First has always been sceptical about foreign ownership of key strategic assets. We see Warner Bros. Discovery ruthlessly lopping off a key limb of our fourth estate without a second thought—it’s so disappointing indeed, and a blow to our democracy. So New Zealand First won’t have the wool pulled over its eyes; we will always be vigilant to what is in the national interest.

But we will find wool is back in Government buildings. New Zealand First, in our coalition agreement with National, are proud to have secured that and reversed that travesty. There will be no repeat of the shameful situation where rural schools had been forced to put in synthetic carpets—in a kick in the guts to the farmers that send their children to school there, and to those rural communities that rely on that wonderful fibre. It has been a sad demise of this proud legacy industry. New Zealand was literally built off the sheep’s back. It is a wonderful, natural, sustainable fibre. Fortunately, the cavalry has arrived with this Government. We are going to take this industry very seriously. I’m very honoured—within my rural communities portfolio, and as Associate Minister of Agriculture—to have a delegation for wool.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve been out and about around stakeholders all around the country, actually—the manufacturers particularly. It’s very encouraging to see an incredible amount of innovation going on in a number of areas in fabrics. Carpets, obviously, are making a comeback—wool carpets, as people look to more sustainable fibres. Some incredible stuff is being used around acoustics. They’re actually now using wool and 3D printing products—it is quite extraordinary to see. So we will be working with the industry to help return that international demand as well as our local demand—and being led by the Government with that wool in Government buildings policies.

Myself and the Hon Todd McClay have announced that during April we will be going round the country to wool sheds up and down New Zealand to engage with farmers to seek their feedback as we look to rally this rather disparate industry where farming leadership has got a little bit fragmented. We’re looking to help to pull that together, but we want to take farmers with it. We’ve learnt the lessons from the previous Government: you cannot impose central control. So we want to hear what they’re saying; we want to communicate what we’re seeing. Together, along with the industry, along with our work in the trade space, we are going to bring this wonderful fibre back, contributing to the New Zealand economy, contributing to our rural communities and our farmers.

So I’d like to pick up also on the point that Carl Bates made in his speech. What I have been absolutely overwhelmed by—and I know that members on this side of the House up and down the country are feeling it—is the wave of sentiment behind us out there in rural and regional New Zealand. They are pleased to have a Government that understands what they’re about, what their key drivers are, how to deal with them, and how to engage with them. They are so pleased, and it has been a weight off their back. We have been really concerned about the mental health of our farmers and our rural communities, and I know that this is only one small aspect of it, but it is an important component that they have confidence in their Government and that the Government understands their issues.

So it’s great to have the adults in the room. It’s great for us in New Zealand First to be in this coalition—back in Parliament, back contributing, and we look forward to getting New Zealand back on track.

I just want to start by acknowledging the passing of Fa‘anānā Efeso Collins. I know that we’ve had a lot of acknowledgment of his passing; today, obviously, is his funeral. And I just want to make it known that he was a fantastic contributor alongside us in select committee, specifically the Education and Workforce Committee, and we do feel his loss across the House.

Look, what I want to talk to today is the fact that the last month has been a real time for commemoration for Hawke’s Bay. We have very publicly had the year anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle, but more than this and less commonly reported on in the news is the 93rd anniversary of the 1931 Napier earthquake. So that was on 3 February at 11 a.m. Myself and my colleague Catherine Wedd attended commemorations across the region.

I wanted to make a first mention of a very spritely 99-year-old named Veronica, who was the oldest at the Napier commemoration—the oldest living survivor from the 1931 earthquake. Incredible that she was 99, because we were looking around the room, trying to work out the youngest and the oldest. And they did this little thing where they said, “All right, who was born before here and who was born after this time?” And nobody could work out that she was the oldest one in the room—incredible for her.

But what I loved is the fact that her name is Veronica, and Her Majesty’s Ship Veronica was the ship in port at the time that the earthquake happened. And if it wasn’t for the New Zealand Navy in Napier at the time, we would not have had the immediate support that we did in 1931 to help all of those people. So we celebrate every year with the ringing of the Veronica Bell four times and then another four times at the changing of the shift. That is something that is very special to our region. Actually, at the time, my great-grandfather was the chair of the Harbour Board, so he was the one responsible for ringing the Veronica Bell in the years passed.

Look, as a result of the 1931 earthquake, in the years gone by, we have had a fantastic celebration called the Art Deco Festival. Now, for a number of years recently, we have had a sad disruption for this, being COVID—the many COVID lockdowns in various categories, whether it’s red or three or orange or whatever it was called at the time—and, of course, weather events. It has been a huge event for our region, both for heritage and for tourism. It has been disrupted year on year. But this year, 2024, was the first year it came back, and what an event it was. It was absolutely special. I invited my colleague Tim Costley, the MP for Ōtaki, out. He joined me and Catherine Wedd at some fantastic events, hosted by the Art Deco Trust, which is a brilliant trust that restores and maintains heritage in Hawke’s Bay—something that’s very important to our culture.

But what I want to point out is the massive work that they did, but not only that, the continued support of our Defence Force. We had the great privilege of going on HMNZS Manawanui. We had a tour from the captain, just to hear about the fantastic work that they’re doing, the struggles that they’re having, and what fantastic work our Minister of Defence is going to do for them.

However, the air force also provided a brilliant set of displays. The Black Falcons, led by squadron leader Stuart Anderson and display director, the legendary Jim, was something that crowds flocked for. This event is not an exclusive, paid, ticketed event; it is a public event for everybody. And the thousands of people that came into Napier and Hastings for the weekend from all around the country and from outside of New Zealand were absolutely wowed by the spectacular things that our region could put on for them.

But one thing that was noticeable and one person that was notably missing was Pat Benson. He passed, sadly, a week prior. His funeral was on the day before the Art Deco Festival. Now, Pat Benson was a very notable figure in our region, not just for his support for art deco heritage but also for sport, surf lifesaving, many other things, software technology. But Pat, in the days before he passed away and a couple of days after the earthquake commemoration, wrote a message that I want to share. Pat and his brothers owned a great number of art deco buildings in Napier, including my family’s Daily Telegraph building. They spent millions of dollars maintaining them for businesses around the region, but at great expense to restore them to absolutely unworkable earthquake-strengthening regulations. In his last message, he asked for some practical, pragmatic consideration of an unworkable law that means that these buildings rely on kindness and generosity. I want to share that with the people in this room.

Madam Speaker, thank you very much. I too would like to acknowledge in this somewhat sad and sombre House—and I know we’re not allowed to refer to people who are not here, but we have to acknowledge that many members from all parties are up at Efeso Collins’ funeral. For someone who spent his life—certainly in public life—advocating for the disadvantaged and for his people and the Pasifika and all of those in Auckland, it’s great that we have been able to acknowledge him. But I think he may, too, feel, looking down from up there, somewhat sad about what has happened in this week in the House. He had one chance to have a speech, to contribute, and it was to speak out for those who didn’t have the same opportunities that many of us have had.

But this week, in this House, this coalition Government, through this Parliament, have doubled down on so many dumb and stupid things that go completely against everything that he stood for. We should be ashamed of ourselves—double standards. Quite frankly, it’s not a “back on track” Government. Sorry, Mark Patterson, and good luck with wool. Not back on track; it’s a back-track Government, nothing more than backtrack. We’ve not heard anything in the first 100 days—it’s not 100 days, you know; it’s a hundred nights. If it was 100 days, there’d be some enlightenment, there’d be some light on what the Government’s doing. It’s been 100 nights, because we have no idea what they’re going to do.

We know what they’re not going to do. They’re not going to follow through in the set-up of the Māori Health Authority. They’re not going to have a petrol tax in Auckland to pay for vital infrastructure. They’re not going to have world-leading smoke-free environment legislation. They’re not going to have a control on the level of nicotine in cigarettes that will be sold around this country. It’s outrageous. And the question is why?

Well, there are always changes across our country; in fact, we’ve grown up very quickly. People expect change. We hope for change for the better. You always ask, “Well, why are we having change? Why is change occurring?” Well, let’s be clear here. It’s to help your mates. The coalition Government wants to help its mates—the people who funded it into Government. So we’ll give tax cuts to wealthy landlords. We’ll give tax cuts to rich people, because they are always the beneficiaries of a tax regime designed to be cut for people at the top and shift the impost to people at the bottom. That’s the why.

People will make the judgment of whether they think the cuts to public services, the cuts to protections for those who might smoke, because there’ll been no levels of nicotine control—or we need more infrastructure in Auckland. And they certainly do. Safety—it’s not just about more busways and more walkways and more cycleways, or that they are good; it’s about basic road safety, preventing people from getting killed.

And then the ultimate insult to the life and objectives of Efeso Collins is to take away and destroy and remove the Māori Health Authority—set up to address the real issue in our country, and it’s been there for a long time: the disparities in longevity for Māori and for Pasifika versus people like me, who live on average now about eight years longer. I’m grateful for that, but I have a responsibility to help address that disparity. And this Government has just destroyed a good initiative to help us move down that path. It wasn’t going to be perfect; I’m sure. But it was moving us down that path.

The hundred nights of darkness, which we’ve almost got to, have shone no light on what this Government intends to do, to the point that the removal of the three waters legislation says that Standard & Poor’s now is downgrading many councils and they will pay higher rates of interest. That darkness and the uncertainty—the darkness and the uncertainty across our economy are starting to lead to international implications. Our soft power index all starting to be degraded by a coalition Government that cares for nothing but its wealthy mates.

E ngā mate, e ngā parekawakawa o rātou, otirā o tātou, ka tangihia, ka mihia e tātou i tēnei wā.

[To the dearly departed, the veils of grief of those passed, indeed of all of us, we grieve for them, we acknowledge them at this time.]

Rest in peace, Efeso.

Well, today marks, officially, the last day of summer. Fun fact: I was due to be born on 29 February—irrelevant, but fun.

We’re at the last day of summer, and what a summer it has been for the good people of the Ōtaki electorate. It was a bright summer, not just because they’ve got a National Government and a National MP but because of the great events we have had, like the Kāpiti Food Fair, and I should acknowledge Helene and her team; the Kāpiti Strawberry Festival, with Julie and her crew; the royal show; the Horowhenua AP & I Show, with Kyle and Jill and their team—they hosted the royal show outside of a big centre for the first time ever, on their centenary year, and they put on a world-class event.

Then, of course—I’m sure everyone’s got it in their diary—there’s the Medieval Market, a big event in the Levin calendar. Anna and her team put on a fantastic family day out. And who can forget the Ōtaki Kite Festival? What a weekend that was that Cam and the team put on. I reckon it was one of the best beach festivals in New Zealand, bringing out families and kite enthusiasts—is that their name?—from all around the world, and the best kite-makers in New Zealand from James Meager’s Ashburton.

But there are two to go. This weekend, I look forward to joining Alice and Angelina at Fale Pasifika. I’ll miss Deb and her Cook Island doughnuts this year, but I’m looking forward to a day there, and then finishing the night at the Waikanae Movies in the Park. They must love having me as their MP, because the late-night movie this year is Top Gun: Maverick—what a weekend we have to wrap up summer.

But there is one even better thing that we have had this summer: the ban on cellphones in schools. Now, I know that, technically, it doesn’t come into effect until the start of term 2, but the smart principals—which is most of them—and the school boards are already bringing it in. They can see that this is a great direction to head in, and I am pretty excited about it.

I’m one of those mean dads: I wouldn’t let my kids have a cellphone until they got to high school. I get up in the morning and I thank the late great Steve Jobs for inventing Screen Time so that I can shut down those phones. I can cut off their internet at the push of a button. They get only half an hour on social media, not just because it’s not real life but because I like actually talking to my kids when I’m home, and I just think that kids are way better and do a lot better when they’re off those screens.

What are we going to get them to focus on instead? We’re going to get them to focus on the basics brilliantly. Do you know what? Some teachers have even said to me, “Well, we don’t feel comfortable having to take kids’ phones off them.”—this was last year—“We don’t really want to be the bad cop.” So I’d just say, “Look, let me be the bad cop. Let the great education Minister we finally have after the last six years”—the Hon Erica Stanford—“be the bad cop with me on this one issue.” We’ll focus them instead on learning the basics brilliantly. It’s something that I really believe in.

You might find the odd teenager that says they don’t like us for taking their phones, but, actually, most of them say to me, “We don’t like you taking our phones away, but we acknowledge that it’s actually probably the best thing for us.” You might find someone that doesn’t like losing their phone at school, but I’d challenge you to find many parents that don’t think it’s a great thing to get their kids off the phones and focused on learning the basics, like in primary schools, where they’ll be spending an hour every day learning maths, an hour every day on reading, and an hour every day on writing.

I’ve had firsthand experience of this. When we were living in the UK, one of my daughters did the first year of her primary school there, and it was light years from where we have been in New Zealand. That was not because I believe their teachers are better than the great teachers we have in New Zealand and not because I believe that their kids were any better—I think our kids are fantastic, with all the potential to achieve great things in this world—but they got taught phonics. My mother-in-law, who’s a resource teacher: learning and behaviour, has espoused the value of phonics for such a long time, and she’s absolutely right. My mum, a maths teacher, used to lament that these kids would have to get their calculators out to do basic addition and subtraction. Well, now, they’re getting out a phone to get the calculator app, but they’re also opening up their music, they’re chatting, and they’re playing games.

Let’s get them back on what they should be focused on, which is learning the basics brilliantly, because our kids have a great future, but they need to achieve in school. They actually need to achieve and be set up to succeed in life.

I’m proud of my family. My parents, my in-laws, and my brother are all schoolteachers—you can’t avoid them.

I think the kids are fantastic, but by giving them the tools to succeed and to train up, that’s the best future, and I’m proud to be part of this Government, which has been relentlessly focused in the first 100 days on educational achievement for our kids. Steve Jobs and Screen Time have a great place at home, but at school, I’m glad my kids and everyone else’s kids will be focused on learning the basics brilliantly.

Well, well, well, what a run it has been for criminals over the last six years under the Labour Government—a soft on crime, former Government so self-obsessed that it wrapped criminals in cotton wool and blamed the rest of New Zealand for their offending. In the last five years, gangs have gained over 3,000 new members—

Tom Rutherford: How many?

Hon NICOLE McKEE: —3,000—elevating them up to nearly 10,000 in membership; an untold 51 percent increase. Last year, New Zealand experienced half its yearly average gun deaths in just 17 days. During this time, there has also been an increase in violent crime of over 33 percent. Well, I’m pleased to tell New Zealand that the smooth run for criminals is over.

This coalition Government has announced in the last week a comprehensive package on crime. That package will allow police to issue dispersal notices requiring gang members to immediately leave the area and to not associate with one another for seven days. It’s also going to allow the courts to order non-consorting orders to stop specified gang members from associating or communicating with each other for up to three years. We are going to ban all gang insignia in public places.

I am particularly proud of the inclusion of ACT’s policy to give greater weight to gang membership as an aggravating factor at sentencing, in this package. Making gang membership an aggravating factor during sentencing—

Hon Dr Duncan Webb: It is already—it is already. Retread.

Hon NICOLE McKEE: —will enable courts to impose more severe punishments on gang members.

You may be thinking, at this point, Mr Webb, “What more could this National, ACT, New Zealand First Government do to tidy up the utter mess that Labour left behind?” Well, I am pleased to let you know that we are not done yet. We will be giving police further powers to search gang members for illegally held firearms, we will be bringing back three strikes to ensure that repeat offenders who do the crime will most certainly do the time, and we will introduce legislation to tackle money-laundering by organised criminals—we will disrupt their financial networks and hit them where it really hurts.

This Government is wholly committed to targeting the gangs, taking back our streets for everyday Kiwis, and letting criminals know that if they want to do the crime, then they most definitely will be doing the time. The joyride is over. Labour is out; the coalition Government is in. If you are a gang member or a criminal offender, you better have a long, hard think about it, because, under this Government, I assure you that you will be punished for your offending.

Sorry, I was taken by surprise. I was expecting that Minister McKee had so many fabulous things to say that she was going to take the whole five minutes, but she stopped very abruptly and I still had a lolly in my mouth—that’s how unprepared I was.

Hon Dr Duncan Webb: It’s the 7.5 percent cut.

Dr TRACEY McLELLAN: Yeah, gosh, it was—exactly. The theme of today has been the hundred-day plan—hasn’t it—as we gallop towards the finish line of the coalition Government’s hundred-day plan. Those 49 bullet points that—somewhere deep inside Christopher Luxon, when he first talked about it with such enthusiasm, he said things like, “Our Government is going to start the way we mean to go on.” I think he probably meant that in a positive way, but as we get close to the finish line, as we get close to the end of that hundred-day plan, I think most New Zealanders would be thinking, “How much more can we take of this?” He wasn’t joking—he does mean to go on the way he started.

Somewhere deep inside Christopher Luxon, I’m sure there’s also a little dream that’s slowly dying, you know, a little inspiration that’s slowly wizening. I don’t imagine he thought that he would be in the position he now finds himself in. I imagine that when he became Prime Minister, he literally gave that speech, talking with pride about his first hundred days, thinking it would be full of things he was going to do, full of things he was going to actually achieve. But what happened? Nicola Willis’ campaign promises to give Kiwis tax cuts is really beginning to bite. And hasn’t that changed the whole tone of that hundred days?

National promised there would be no cuts to front-line services. But the reality is they now have to scramble to find money to fund what was always reckless tax cuts that they could not afford. And they’re trying to sneak in much, much larger cuts to the Public Service than I’m sure that even they intended when they first started on this hundred-day journey. We don’t have to take my word for it. On The AM Show back in August, end of August last year, Ryan Bridge said to Nicola Willis, “Will you promise no cuts to front-line services?” What did she say? “I make that promise, and that will be clear in our tax plan. What’s more, Ryan, every Budget that Chris Luxon and I deliver will include more spending for health and for education.” How did that turn out?

Yesterday, we were in this House, and we, unfortunately, witnessed the repeal of the smoke-free legislation That is just one example of quite extreme measures that I’m sure this coalition Government didn’t envision themselves doing. But under the pressure of having to fund tax cuts, this is what they’ve done. They’ve literally repealed world-leading legislation so they can fund tax cuts, and that is shameful.

What about education? This week, we’ve heard the fact that thousands of classroom builds—many, many schools throughout the country—will now have those plans put on hold because they’re just choosing not to fund it. They can give all the excuses in the world, but that’s what it comes down to. There is a clear choice about what their priority is, and this Government has said that schools and health is not theirs.

The other theme of this week, apart from the fact that we’re galloping towards the finish line of what is a pretty abysmal hundred-day plan—

Simon Court: Just wait till we get to the next hundred days.

Dr TRACEY McLELLAN: —is the fact that everything—well, we can only imagine—is about reversing. What was it that their campaign slogan was all about? “Getting back on track.” I think we have to really acknowledge the fact that the “back” part was doing a lot of heavy lifting in that campaign slogan, wasn’t it. Everything is about going backwards.

I feel sorry for some of the new members of Parliament who have had to sit in this House, over the last few days in particular, with straight faces and pretend that they’re on board with some of these measures when clearly they’re not. Some of them have been under immense pressure, particularly in relation to the repeal of the smoke-free legislation. I feel bad for them, but they had a choice as well, because everything is about choice, and politics is about choice. They had a choice last night to cross the floor and do the right thing and say, “No”, they weren’t going to go ahead with that piece of legislation just to fund tax cuts, and they absolutely chose not to. We’ve heard lots of little anecdotes from members on the other side of the House today about plans in their local electorates and little bits and pieces, which is absolutely their prerogative, but I really do wonder why they’re not talking about the things that matter to all New Zealanders.

Thank you Madam Speaker. It’s a delight for me to be here today to be able to talk about the fire response in the Port Hills. Just a little over two weeks ago, as I was about to come into the House I had a text telling me about the fires, and I advised the House about the fact that it was going on, and I reflected on the fire in 2017 and I was quite worried about the Port Hills and the people down there. As Minister Mitchell and I flew into Christchurch that night, there was a glow over the hills and we could see the flashing of the lights of the fire engines on the hills. It was quite dramatic. But I’m happy to report that as of today there are only five little hot spots left, the Fire and Emergency response has been absolutely outstanding.

There are some facts that I’d like to share with the House. At the height of the fire, it got to nearly 700 hectares. We had about 110 properties that had been evacuated. Helping to fight the fire at any one time, we had up to about 130 firefighters from all around the country. They were supported by 27 trucks, up to 15 helicopters, and two fixed-wing planes. So that was an absolutely incredible response and our firefighters should be absolutely thanked from the bottom of our hearts.

I’d also like to make sure that we thank police and other emergency responders. The response from the community was really helped by the police reassurance, especially those who were asked to evacuate their properties. They were previously asked to evacuate in 2017, and having done so, they had the experience of not being able to get back into their properties for two weeks. So it was a really difficult time for them.

But the amazing thing was that this time we had great leadership from two mayors, from Phil Mauger and Sam Broughton, who made the decisive decision about declaring the state of emergency early so that it brought all of the resources straight in, and I think that was a really useful lesson that was learnt.

I also want to thank the Hon Mark Mitchell for coming on down as well, because having his reassurance and experience and ability to be there to make decisions should they be needed was very reassuring.

We had countless community members who I also want to name, who helped out in the response. Kellie Horne from Craythorne’s Hotel very generously offered hotel rooms for evacuees at very short notice. I also thank the Halswell Bakery, the Halswell MetroMart, and Domino’s Pizza. They all provided food to the community and to the emergency responders. Thanks also to the Halswell Scout Group for their support as well.

This was a huge combined response, which, I think, shows a textbook way that things should be done. When we walked into the emergency evacuation centre, they literally had the document of lessons learnt from 2017 that they were going through. They were checking off all of the different aspects that hadn’t been done so well last time, and they made sure that it was improved on this time, particularly the community engagement. That was very important, and I know that the community responded very well to having regular community updates and meetings, most of which I was able to go to along with the Minister. So that was a huge change.

Having the combined emergency management response in the justice precinct where they all worked together on a daily basis was helpful. They already had those pre-existing relationships, so everybody worked together well. So this was an example where under an emergency response, having one organisation in the centralised command and control actually makes a huge difference and everybody understands who has the rights and roles and everything worked very well.

So I really commend particularly our firefighters. Some of those teams were fighting the fires continuously through that week. But then just last weekend we also saw the Amberley fire brigade as well as the Governors Bay fire brigade holding a fundraising event for I Am Hope. What amazing people we have in our country. On behalf of all of us in Banks Peninsula, I just want to thank the firefighters in particular for the outstanding work.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.