General Debate

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

Six years of loose spending, of hopeless, naive law and order policies, of waffle, and of almost comically poor delivery came to an end last year. Now our country has a coalition Government led by the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon that has the capability, the plan, and the determination to get our country back on track.

Unconstrained Government spending by Labour has added to the inflation that every family knows about and is struggling with. That inflation has forced higher interest rates for families and businesses. Those higher borrowing costs are squeezing the economy. We, as a Government, right now are going through the arduous process of restoring discipline to Government spending. And I can tell you it’s a lot harder than flinging money around like the previous Government did for six years, but it needs to be done in order to deal effectively with the cost of living crisis.

A naive approach to justice exemplified by Labour’s only clearly articulated justice sector target to reduce the prison population by 30 percent irrespective of what’s happening in our community, on our streets, and in our houses has been followed by a rise in violent crime, an explosion in retail crime, ram raids, gang membership, and paying for the victims of crime. Week in, week out, we have seen hard-working New Zealanders—often new New Zealanders—at their wits end, having their businesses done over, and seeing no consequences for the younger offenders. Well, that’s going to change.

Last week, the Government announced ending the 30 percent target. Our focus is on reducing violent crime, lowering the number of serious repeat youth offenders, and then on the nuts and bolts of the justice system, which is the hard, gritty task of dealing with the chronic delays to justice—we can’t continue to have Kiwis waiting years to get an outcome for their changes. And we’re going to deal with the boondoggles that were left unchecked by Andrew Little, by Kris Faafoi, by Kelvin Davis, by Kiri Allan, and by Ginny Andersen and all the long crew of justice people who made no progress. The section 27 reports that went from $40,000 a year in 2017 to $7.5 million will not be funded anymore. That cottage industry is gone.

SPEAKER: I don’t like to interrupt the member but look, this place is just not where you have discussions in the aisles. So we had a discussion going on over here before—I sort of let that go. Would those two members standing in the aisles talking go back to their seats or leave the Chamber. I’m sorry to interrupt the member, I’m inclined to give him another 30 seconds.

Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well, that’s very kind. That’s very kind—

SPEAKER: But then I’m not going to do it. So carry on.

Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I’ve always enjoyed your support, Mr Speaker. We’re not pleased with the advertising promises in some of those section 27 reports. New Zealanders are sick and tired of reading about people convicted of serious violent offences that would attract significant prison sentences and finding that those sentences are whittled down by a series of discounts. So offenders end up on home detention playing PlayStation, which is not dealing real consequences for crime. That’s why we’re going to limit discounts to 40 percent, and next in our 100-day plan to restore law and order, we’ll be giving the police the powers they need to deal effectively with gangs.

Finally, I want to make some comments on Waitangi Day. I spent several days up North and joined the Prime Minister and many Ministers on the Opureroa Marae. We experienced, like all members of the House, that unique blend of confrontation and friendliness up at Waitangi that Waitangi Day brings. Many New Zealanders don’t see the friendliness and the constructive debate, but it was there, I can assure you. What we’re trying to achieve as a country isn’t easy. At bottom it is to try to honour the Treaty and Treaty settlements while at the same time not losing sight of or undermining those core human rights that all people in modern democratic societies expect—equal voting rights, equality before the law, and an equal say in the big decisions affecting their lives. We have to appreciate that there is tension between those two things—

Hon Willie Jackson: Are you supporting the Treaty bill now, “Goldie”?

Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: And the previous Government led by—including Willie Jackson, leaned too heavily away from those core human rights, most notably in the move away from equal voting rights in Canterbury and through some of the co-governance arrangements, and they never made a case. They just stood up on the TV once and said “Democracy has changed.”, with no explanation and not bringing the people of New Zealand along with them. So we need to unwind some of those changes and we will.

We also heard from many people in Northland that there are two things that will make a real difference to that beautiful part of the country. First is a decent road—ridiculously described as a holiday highway by the Hon Phil Twyford and so many MPs on the other side. A decent road is the best thing you can do for Northland. And secondly, they want to see a Ngāphui settlement, and ultimately success on that front will be determined by the various hapū of Ngāphui. But we stand on this side ready to do a deal. So, thank you, Mr Speaker.

It is very appropriate that Paul Goldsmith began his contribution talking about comically poor delivery because he then gave us a five-minute demonstration of what that looks like. The Government got off to a shambolic start before Christmas, proving that they had no plan to take New Zealand forward, only a plan to cancel things, stop things, repeal things, and take us backwards. You would think after the shambolic start that they got off to, they might have had that opportunity over the summer to reset and come back and think, “Let’s try that again. Let’s maybe start the new year on a better footing. Maybe let’s start to look like we’re getting on top of things.” But what a shambolic start we’ve had to this year as well.

Let’s go to the first week of Parliament. They made a big song and dance about the fact that they were going to get back to work faster and then brought us back to work on roughly the same timetable that Parliament would normally come back to work based on. Then they had a debacle of a week in the House where we had Ministers unable to answer questions and then changing their answers. I lost track of how many corrections Ministers made in the first week of the year, but it extended all the way from the top down to Ministers correcting their answers.

We had Mark Mitchell saying, “Oh, actually, I couldn’t guarantee 500 police within two years.”. and then saying, “Oh, but actually I did.”, because he had been corrected by the Prime Minister. We never quite got to the bottom of what happened there. Then we had the very, very strange situation with the Hon Casey Costello’s office and the mysterious document that appeared out of nowhere, as if by magic. Nobody seems to have written it, but somehow she gave it to her officials as if it was an instruction on Government policy—despite the fact that no one seems to know who wrote it and no one seems to know who actually produced it or where it came from, and no one seems to be able to explain it or what’s in it. A shambolic year to start the new term of Government.

The summer reset clearly didn’t happen, but it hasn’t gotten any better for them in the last few weeks because what have we seen of their plan to take New Zealand backwards? Well, first of all, they’ve abandoned any commitment to reducing the rates impost on New Zealand families from the water infrastructure crisis that we face. I would say the only thing that has more leaks right now than the Wellington water pipes is this Government because it’s abundantly clear that they’ve got no plan to fix water.

They said they were going to repeal and replace the water reforms that we put in place. Well, they’ve got a plan to repeal them, but there’s no plan to replace them. They’re simply pushing back onto councils the water crisis that we have in New Zealand and the result is going to be very simple: ratepayers, Kiwi families will pay more—and those rates increases will start very soon. Kiwi families are going to see that in a cost of living crisis, this Government’s first actions was to push up their rates bills by saying that the water crisis we face is simply someone else’s problem.

Then we’ve got minimum-wage workers who saw the whites of the Government’s eyes when it came to their real commitment to supporting low-income New Zealanders: an increase in the minimum wage that is well less than the cost of living. So the lowest-income New Zealanders go backwards under this Government and they are only a few months into office. We saw them scrapping universal free prescriptions, so people pay more every time they go to the pharmacy. We saw them scrapping free early childhood education for two-year-olds, adding extra costs onto Kiwi families.

While we’re talking about people on low incomes, there aren’t many New Zealanders who are on a lower income than those who rely on a benefit for their main source of income, and one of the first decisions of this Government is to change the way benefits are calculated so that beneficiaries go backwards in the future. That’s one of the first decisions they took: 7,000 more children living in poverty. That is one of the first decisions that they have taken as a Government: to put more Kiwi kids in poverty.

But, actually, that’s not the most shameful. The most shameful decision that they have taken is to encourage more New Zealanders to smoke so that they can fund tax cuts. It is one of the most morally repugnant decisions any New Zealand Government has taken, and it’s one of the first decisions that this Government has taken. They have no plan to move New Zealand forwards. It’s all about going backwards. New Zealanders deserve better.

Mr Speaker, happy Year of the Dragon to you and to all members of the Parliament, parliamentary staff, and all families in New Zealand. 新年快乐, 新年快乐。In Korean: Saehaebok mani badeuseyo. In Vietnamese: Chúc mừng năm mới! And in Malay: Selamat tahun baru.

Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year celebration, and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, especially in our migrant communities, are still celebrating the Year of the Dragon. This Monday, on the third day of the Lunar New Year celebration, our Hon Melissa Lee, Minister for Ethnic Communities, hosted the inaugural Lunar New Year celebration at Parliament to celebrate this very auspicious event. Me and my colleague Dr Carlos Cheung had the honour of MCing the event for hundreds of community leaders from across the country.

Chinese New Year events have always been hosted in Parliament since 2002. This Monday’s event is, however, the first time in the event’s 21 years of history in Parliament that it is officially celebrated as Lunar New Year. This reflects the diversity of cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year in New Zealand, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, and many others. This year, Minister Lee of ethnic communities expanded the celebration to include the various communities celebrating the Lunar New Year, aiming to be as inclusive as possible.

New Zealand is known for its incredible diversity. So, as a nation, it is important to acknowledge the traits we share and celebrate them. Cultural celebrations hold immense importance for communities and nurture a strong sense of belonging. They recognise and welcome diversity, while also giving the wider population an opportunity to embrace other cultures. This celebration event is a great example of how our similarities and differences can actually bring us together.

For generations, Asian communities have had a long and significant presence in New Zealand’s history. Trade and immigration between New Zealand and Asia has existed since the 19th century, and we can expect the contribution and value of Asian communities in our nation to only grow.

The Year of the Dragon in 2024 symbolises bravery, honour, strength, success, and innovation. As we celebrate the auspicious fifth day of the Year of the Dragon today, marked by the themes of prosperity, money, and fortune, it is a moment to reflect on our collective journey towards economic growth and our abundance. So, today, I am filled with optimism as I envisage a future where the blessings of prosperity reach every corner of a beautiful country, New Zealand.

On this day, people engage in various activities aimed in attracting prosperity into their lives: from offering prayers and making offerings to 财神, the God of fortune, to practising acts of generosity and charity. Each action is believed to invoke positive financial energy and blessings.

Under the National-led Government and the visionary leadership of our Minister of Finance, the Hon Nicola Willis, we are embarking on a path towards a stronger economy—one that uplifts every individual in a community. The significance of sound economic governance cannot be overstated. A thriving economy brings tangible benefits to all citizens, fostering opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and upward mobility. It paves the way for improved infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social welfare, ensuring a higher quality life for everyone. So a robust economy empowers us to tackle pressing challenges such as climate change, inequality, and healthcare access with resilience and determination. It also enables us to build a more inclusive society where every individual has the chance to fulfil their potential and contribute meaningfully to our nation’s progress.

So as we honour today as the day of prosperity, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, I sincerely wish all New Zealanders a joyous celebration filled with blessings and abundance. So, finally, happy Year of the Dragon. 新年快乐, 龙年大吉。Saehaebok mani badeuseyo. Chúc mừng năm mới! Selamat tahun baru. Thank you.

I too want to acknowledge the Year of the Dragon, Chinese and many other Asian peoples and communities, and the celebrations here in Aotearoa. This is key to Te Tiriti, in fact. Te Tiriti has always been inclusive.

Our tūpuna had the vision, when they were the dominant population in this country, back in those years when Te Tiriti and, previous to that, He Whakaputanga, was signed and discussed—our people were the dominant majority population, and what did our ancestors do? The most generous, humbling act of all: say “Yes, there is room here for all of us. We’re happy to share. We will maintain our tino rangatiratanga and our mana motuhake, but let’s work together. There is room here for everyone to live and be who they are in this beautiful, beautiful country of ours. Let’s sign an agreement that is going to protect mokopuna for generations to come, that upholds all of their whakapapa from all around the world. And we will not cede sovereignty; we will maintain sovereignty, because that is the most precious thing to us.”

This is what our tūpuna said. That is not even up for debate—this has been affirmed time and time again with various reviews, evaluations, Treaty settlements, and research. So why is it, then—why is it, then—that even the National Government, who has done considerable work with the establishment of institutions and initiatives that seek to uphold the mana motuhake of mana whenua and tangata whenua—why is this House wasting money inciting racism and ignorance; a narrative that is leaning into the worst of us instead of the best of us, and targeting Māori whānau—Māori whānau—with the ignorance? Why is this House doing that with the proposed Treaty principles bill that is currently on the table?

When generations of tauiwi, Pākehā, tangata tiriti, and Māori have already been working together—we’re still not there yet, we still haven’t properly embellished the vision of our tūpuna to uphold mana motuhake, and the Crown has consistently continued to breach that agreement. But we have now got generations of people of all backgrounds who have seen it, who have seen the beauty of that vision; whether it’s restoring wetlands, restoring and cleaning up rivers and waterways and oceans; whether it’s marae being generous and opening their doors to all communities, especially in times of need and crisis; whether it’s Māori social service organisations not just catering to Māori but understanding that, as tangata whenua, we have a role to affirm the mana and integrity of everyone. We have generations who know this now, and they are the people who turned up in force all around the country just last week on Waitangi Day.

That gives me incredible hope because they’re not having a bar of this narrative. They already know—it’s too late. You can’t put back generations, now, of people who have seen what our tūpuna always intended when they signed Te Tiriti. You can’t shove that back in the bottle now; it’s out there.

So I stand here with hope and pride in the vision of my tūpuna, who always knew that maintaining the mana motuhake and the tino rangatiratanga was the right thing to do for our whakapapa as Māori, but also for the benefit of our living systems, the hauora and the oranga of our communities, and, most importantly, to ensure everyone here has a home and can live with dignity and respect. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. On Friday of last week, a 4-metre cavity was discovered on State Highway 29A in Tauranga. It seemed to have been caused by extensive leaking from a failing stormwater drain that went undetected for an extended period of time. This sinkhole, in addition to other roadworks in the city, led to the Tauranga City Council advising the Bay of Plenty population to stay off the roads and work from home. Not everyone can work from home. For our tradespeople, our healthcare staff, and many other workers who keep New Zealand going every day, working from home simply is not an option.

On Monday, people who couldn’t stay home experienced serious interruptions, including businesses with employees unable to make appointments and therefore missing out on customers. Some children missed out on after-school activities. There has been a negative impact on the economy and this event has shown the importance of good roading infrastructure to the life of the Bay of Plenty.

The leaking pipe which caused significant subsoil erosion was broken for an unknown period of time before being detected. The cavity formed under a small pothole on a busy freight route. I fear that if it had not been detected when it was and the whole 4 metres had opened up in, say, the middle of the night, it could have caused a serious accident.

Both local and central government have responsibility for the assets involved, which demonstrates the importance of clear communication between councils and the New Zealand Transport Agency. The residents of Tauranga want answers about what happened: what checks were happening, what monitoring procedures were in place, and what allowed for this leak to go undetected for so long? We must know what went wrong in order to prevent issues like this from reoccurring.

Closing down New Zealand’s fifth largest city because of a hole caused by a broken pipe is embarrassing. Tauranga hosts our largest export port, which is an essential link to the economy of the upper North Island. This Government is committed to investing in infrastructure, including a sufficient roading network, and council water assets through Local Water Done Well. We are a growing country, and ACT understands that when you build more houses, you need to build more infrastructure to support them, which is why, as part of the coalition agreement between National and ACT, we will introduce financial incentives for councils to enable more housing, including consideration of sharing a proportion of GST collected on new residential builds with local councils.

The Western Bay of Plenty is one of the fastest growing regions of New Zealand and is expected to be the home of more than 250,000 people by 2050. While previous Governments have put forward fantasy projects for Auckland and Wellington, it is essential that we do not forget the regions and that we do not leave essential cities like Tauranga to put up with avoidable road closures on top of the worst congestion in the country. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

It is a great day to be a member of this coalition Government. It is a great day to be the representative from the greatest electorate in the country, proudly representing the hard-working people of mid- and South Canterbury. And it is a great day to be a New Zealander because today we saw the beginning of the end of the previous Labour Government’s centralisation agenda. Today, this House repealed the disastrous, power hungry, Wellington-centric three waters reforms. Today, we took our first steps towards restoring local council control of local assets and the first steps towards long-term, sustainable, collaborative investment in our water infrastructure.

This is a great day for the people of mid- and South Canterbury. My two councils, the Timaru District Council and the Ashburton District Council, led ably by mayors Nigel Bowen and Neil Brown, have long been two of the fiercest critics of these doomed three waters reforms. We heard a lot last night from the Labour shadow Leader of the House, Kieran McAnulty, who threw around a bunch of funny numbers about Ashburton council’s water infrastructure needs. Well, can I just remind the member that three days after the general election, Mayor Brown went on the record along with 30 other mayors saying—and I quote—they “look forward to the new Government swiftly repealing the outgoing Government’s legislation” and “they have the electoral mandate now to get on with it and fix this flawed reform.” Well, that’s what this Government has been elected to do. We have the electoral mandate granted to us by the people of New Zealand to get on with the job and deliver. After six long years of non-delivery, we are here to get the job done.

As an aside, as it is Valentine’s Day, can I extend my heartfelt congratulations to my parliamentary cricket co-captain, Mr McAnulty, on his recent wedding. I wish he and his wife all the best. Having known them both for several years now, I know that they are a perfect match for each other and are destined for a long and happy future.

But, that gushiness aside, delivery is what the people of South Canterbury and the Timaru District Council have elected us to do. Timaru council, under Mayor Bowen, have been the staunchest opponents of the previous Government’s centralisation obsession. They put their necks on the line. They tossed in their membership of Local Government New Zealand. They exercised their rights to challenge the Government in court. They tried everything they could to prevent central government confiscation of their assets, assets built up by generations of South Cantabrian ratepayers who have consistently and responsibly invested in pipes and storage and treatment.

As a result, South Canterbury has been consistently rated and recognised as having the best drinking water in the country. From the New Zealand Herald in 2019: “Timaru takes out title of best drinking water in New Zealand”. From Stuff in 2021: “South Canterbury tap water the best in New Zealand”. Wow—that is what leadership looks like. That is what you get when you trust local decision makers to invest in local infrastructure. Yep, pipes and drains may not be sexy, and it’s hard for attention-seeking politicians to cut a ribbon on something buried six feet under the ground, but it’s the stuff that well-functioning, exceptional councils should deliver on. I’m proud of my local authorities, and I’m proud of the focus that they’ve put on investing in critical water infrastructure. I’m proud of their opposition to centralisation and their commitment to high-quality decision-making at a local level.

I’m proud to be part of a Government that trusts locals—one which believes the idea that decisions are best made as close to the people that they affect as possible, a Government that believes that services delivered by the community for the community are far more effective than those dictated by us up here in Wellington. I’m proud to be part of a Government that will support all councils with the funding tools that they need so that every town and city across the island can have water as good as what you can drink at home in the “Riviera of the South”. This is a great day for New Zealanders, and we’re only just getting started.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. 新年快乐 and 恭喜发财—happy Lunar New Year. The National-led Government was sworn in on 27 November. That means that today they are on their 80th day in Government. They will reach 100 days in Government on 5 March. So on 6 March, we’re going to wake up and think “What have they achieved?” What have they achieved?

Well, Mr Speaker, the coalition Government has a 100-day plan, and I want to read out to you the operative words in some of the 49 things they have promised to do. They have promised to “stop” work on the income insurance scheme, “stop” work on the industry transformation plan, “stop” work on the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme. The next operative word is “withdraw”. They go on to “start producing”. They go on to “narrow the mandate”; to “remove” something. They use the word “cancel”. Then it’s “repeal”. The next word is “stop”, then it’s “repeal”, then it’s “repeal”, then it’s “repeal”, then it’s “cease to implement”. Those are the operative words in their statement. From there on, the next word is “abolish”. It’s “stop”, “begin to repeal and replace”. It’s “stop”. It’s “lodge a reservation against”. They’re going to begin disestablishing. They’re going to disestablish. They’re going to repeal amendments. They’re going to work to repeal the Therapeutic Products Act. So of the 49 steps that they are going to take, 24 broadly use a negative word in them. A negative word like “repeal”, “replace”, “abolish”, and “stop”.

In fact, there is one other action that they propose to take in there. They say it’s phrased positively: “Introduce legislation to restore [the] 90-day trial periods”. But, in fact, that means stopping worker protections. Of the 49 steps that that Government has chosen to take, more than half of them are negative. More than half of them say “reduce”, “repeal”, “replace”, “stop”. This is an incredibly negative Government.

They’ve got no ideas. In fact, their only idea seems to be: not Labour. There are no positive ideas coming from that Government, and their only idea is: not Labour. In fact, so intent are they on doing this, they have rushed a number of bills through this House, under urgency, without full discussion, and with committee stages that have not been given their full rein.

Shanan Halbert: Outrageous.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL: That is outrageous when we do not have a full select committee process. So we repealed the Reserve Bank’s mandate. We got rid of those fair pay agreements. They removed the Clean Car Discount. They repealed the Natural and Built Environments Act. They repealed the Spatial Planning Act. They repealed 90-day trials. They repealed the Tax Principles Bill. They repealed the affordable water legislation. And right now, they’re working on repealing the indexing of benefits to wages. All done under urgency, all negative. In fact, that’s a real problem because it means there are some unforeseen consequences of their actions—unforeseen consequences of their negativity that have a seriously deleterious effect on New Zealanders.

Let’s start with one which they are so proud of: repealing the Auckland regional fuel tax. Now, the way the regional fuel tax was was that councils could ask for it. Auckland Council asked for it. It turned out that the price of petrol in Auckland is roughly the same as everywhere else in the country anyway. But now that that levy is gone, some of the much-needed transport projects in Auckland are under threat—some of the safety improvements, some of the alternative modes of transport, some of the measures which will reduce our emissions are under threat. That is the negative consequence of what they have chosen to do.

They’ve linked main benefits to the Consumers Price Index. That might seem innocuous, but the appalling consequence of it is that 7,000 children will move into poverty. Now, those child poverty reduction goals are tough, and it has been hard to meet them, but to take actions that push children into poverty is absolutely appalling. So that’s the kind of negativity that has come through from this Government.

When it comes to the water reform, the negativity from this Government means that ratepayers up and down the country will be faced with huge bills. So all the way through the country, this has a negative effect on people. Reduce, repeal, replace. I say to the Government: they must stop.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’d like first to take a moment to acknowledge all of the firefighters and emergency responders who are currently battling a large blaze in the Port Hills in Christchurch in my electorate. I know that for many people in my electorate, this fire will be bringing back horrible memories of the 2017 fire, which burned for over 66 days and took the life of a firefighter, Steve Askin. I’d like to acknowledge his family and the heroic work that he did in that fire.

It’s my privilege to serve on the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. Now, economic development is actually intimately linked to my other really obvious passion, which is health. So, as a medical doctor, I am very aware of the huge impact that income has on health. Income is perhaps the most impactful social determinant of health outcomes. And that’s why for me it’s vitally important that for the health of our country we have sustainable economic development, which will help lift incomes for everyone.

The importance of purchasing power is why it’s vital that the real costs of living are accounted for in our support to people on main benefits. And that’s why our Government has returned main benefit indexing to the Consumers Price Index, which has been the case for over 30 years. Having meaningful work is vital to both physical and mental health. And while it’s good for mental health and wellbeing, it’s also directly tied to productivity. That’s why I’m delighted that we have New Zealand’s first Minister for Mental Health in the Hon Matt Doocey.

Another thing that’s vital for mental health and is also tied to economic development is that we host and have interesting and fun events in our communities. For example, we have SailGP, that is coming back to Lyttelton for a second year. In 2023, we had a very successful event, and Auckland’s misfortune is Christchurch’s good luck, and we are hosting the event again next month. I hope that many of our colleagues will be able to join us, but if you don’t, we’ll probably get the chance next year, all going well.

SailGP is one of those amazing examples of both innovation and new technology, and at the same time, it’s just fun to watch. We’ve got these great little boats—well, quite large boats—zipping along on their foils, and it’s great entertainment. So not only do we have the crowds that come to watch, but the event is beamed all around the world, and people from every walk of life and everywhere get to see the beautiful Whakaraupō Harbour and hopefully will be enticed to come along, if not on one of the over 80 cruise ships that grace our harbour this year, then perhaps on one of the new flights that are coming into Christchurch on United Airlines.

So improving our overall finances means that we can afford some of the big investments that we need to make in things like our health workforce. I was so proud to see the announcement furthering the development of the Waikato medical school yesterday. That’s an idea that’s been bouncing around in health circles for well over 20 years. And, frankly, it’s yet another example of something that would have been best done 20 years ago, but the second-best time to do it is now, so we’re getting on to it. Just because I’m a medical doctor doesn’t mean to say that I don’t understand the importance of our nursing and other allied health workforce. And that’s why National and our coalition partners are working to bond nurses to New Zealand. If they work for five years, then we will be paying them $4,500 a year towards their student loans. That kind of initiative will help to give choices to our nursing students so that they can choose to stay and work in New Zealand. These pragmatic and innovative programmes and policies that we are implementing will help to improve our economic development and also will lift our overall incomes and help to get our economy and our country back on track.

Mr Speaker, thank you. This is the first general debate, I think, since the election. It was a historic election, where you had a single-party Government for the first time under MMP, and it managed to lose half of its members—half of its members—in one fell swoop. It was swept from power. Now, I guess you could say that in the wake of that, the Leader of the Opposition said that they needed to take a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror and say, “What went wrong?” Well, they don’t seem to have started that process at the moment, so maybe we will help them out.

Jamie Arbuckle: They need a very big mirror.

ANDY FOSTER: They do need a very big mirror, but maybe we will help them out just a little bit.

New Zealanders, quite clearly, wanted change. They wanted change, and we actually made a pretty big change this morning. They wanted change from overbearing, controlling, centralising Government. They didn’t like that at all. They didn’t like their assets being taken away from their local councils and taken away by central government. They didn’t—

Shanan Halbert: That was you when you were mayor, Andy.

ANDY FOSTER: Well, we didn’t like that either. They were suffering under a high cost of living, and we’re working very, very hard to deal with that. High inflation, high interest rates brought on—oh, we know now that it’s not really driven by international inflation rates. It’s driven by domestic rates. It’s driven by too much spending, and what did that give us? Not a lot, apart from a lot of debt and a lot of pain. Far too much money was spent by that Government.

New Zealanders were also concerned about poor economic performance. All of those things go together to make poor economic performance, and we need to lift that. They recognised our failures in education. They recognised that far too many of our young people weren’t at school. Far too many of our young people weren’t learning the things that they need to learn to make sure that they are equipped for life, not only as New Zealanders but as international citizens.

They recognised the failures in health—I mean, crikey, we had a pandemic. You’d think that was a real focus on health. What did we do? We actually sent medical professionals back home to wherever they came from because we couldn’t find it within ourselves to keep them here in this country. We didn’t try. We squandered opportunities there. We squandered a lot of opportunities in our health catastrophe to look at our health system.

Our people recognised the division in our society. You could see the numbers. The polling said that we were more divided than ever before. Our people recognised that. Today, we’ve removed the divisive three waters—divisive for many reasons. Divisive because the Labour Government beat up on councils; divisive because of the way in which people from different ethnicities were treated in different ways.

We’re also working very hard to put together—and we’re consulting on this—an inquiry into COVID. Why are we doing that? Because a lot of people suffered from that, as well. They felt divided, they felt alienated, and that’s why we saw people out on the Parliament lawns. They felt alienated by their own Government, which didn’t listen to them. There’s a big, big mirror to be looked at, and that’s why we’re engaging on a proper COVID inquiry; not a butt-covering exercise.

The three coalition members have come together, and we are delivering at speed on what we promised. Actually, we heard from the Hon Deborah Russell just a few moments ago about there being far too many things in the first 100 days, but, remember, it is the first 100 days. It’s not three years, it’s not six years, nine years, or 12 years. It’s the first 100 days that are negative—they say they are negative and that we are getting rid of things. But I always thought that a negative negative was positive, and why are we doing that? Because we’ve got to get rid of those things before they confuse the people—it doesn’t matter who it is—who have got to implement something that the previous Government has put in place that we don’t want to carry on.

You know, why would you want them to do new planning rules, why would you want them to do new water systems—why would you want any of those things? Why not get rid of them straight away, clean the slate, and be able to move ahead—and that’s exactly what we’re doing. That’s why there’s quite a few repeals and getting rid ofs and stops, but then there’ll be the starts, and we’re looking forward to doing that.

I am privileged to be the chair of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, and what we really, really need—

Tangi Utikere: Oh, good committee—good committee.

ANDY FOSTER: And, Tangi, it’s great to have you on there. It’s very, very clear that we have an infrastructure deficit. What is not clear is that it is not just about how much money we spent but how well we spend it, how efficiently we spend it, and how effective we are about what we choose to do.

So the first thing is whether we are investing in the right things, and we’ve got to make sure that we are investing in the right things. We’ve got to make sure that we have good business cases behind those things. We’ve got to make sure that we have the workforce to deliver those things.

What we know is that our construction industry actually has not been improving in productivity, and we have to be laser-focused on making sure that we are more efficient and more effective because we want to increase living standards. It’s just not good enough to throw more and more people and more and more resources at something; we have to get more and more out of that. We need to have the right signals and make sure that we remove the inefficiencies from that area.

So I am delighted to be part of this Government. We are going to make massive changes in our community for our community, and I’ll just finish off by saying that it’s really not about us and it’s really not about members opposite, but it’s about what we, together, can do to make our wonderful country a much, much better place, a much more productive place, and a much more prosperous place for us all to live in.

Ngā mihi e te Pīka, otirā tēnā rā tātou e te Whare.

I Kū Mau Mau

I ku wa

I kū mau mau

I ku huluhulu

I ka lanawao

I ku wa

Koinei te haka i hakangia e tātou, ngā uri o Waikato, i a tātou e whakaeke ana ki runga o Hawai’i, ō mātou tūākana ki roto mai i te whenua, te Hawaiki Tūturu o Hilo, Hawai’i. Koinei te haka hei tautoko i ō tātou nei tūākana i tēnei rangi whakahirahira o tātou, the original navigators of the world.

[This is the haka that was performed by us, the descendants from Waikato, as we arrived in Hawai’i, our elder siblings within that land, True Hawaiki of Hilo, Hawai’i. This is the haka to support our seniors on this significant day of ours, the original navigators of the world.]

Tēnā rā tātou e te Whare. I am not interested in talking about this Government’s actions or their 100-day plan. I would like to take this time and this opportunity to thank and mihi from Te Pāti Māori to our people, our magic people—tangata Tiriti mai, tangata whenua mai, tangata moana, tangata tauiwi [people of the Treaty, people of the land, people of the Pacific, people newly arrived].

Since our first activation of toitū te Tiriti on 5 December around the motu, even reaching overseas, to the karanga of our King, Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, at Tūrangawaewae to a gathering of 12,000 people, to the protection and guidance of Rātana, from the karanga of our two ariki, to the 64,000 who walked the bridge at Waitangi, we have seen Māori and non-Māori walk alongside each other as a direct response to this Government. We have seen our ariki, our Kīngi, our iwi leaders weave together. We walk in thousands of our ancestors and future mokopuna.

From Te Pāti Māori e kore ngā mihi, e kore e ea i te kupu ki a koutou katoa kua whakarangatira i tā tātou nei kaupapa.

[From Te Pāti Māori, effusive thanks, that cannot be effectively expressed in words, to all of you who have honoured our initiative.]

We have had an inside scoop and a view of what an Aotearoa hou can look like, what it smells like, what it feels like. I could talk about the many different policies, bills, and laws of this coalition Government and what it is bringing to our country, from the axing of a smoke-free country to the removal of reo in spaces, to the repeal of the three waters bill, section 27 in justice, section 7AA in Oranga Tamariki. We could talk for days, but we will talk about our action from our forum tents to our wānanga, to endless lunch packs, Māori wardens, paepae actions, karanga calls, ringawera, parking kaimahi—we can do it, and with not one fault.

I put a post up a few days ago on my Facebook page: “If you could sum up the Hui-aa-motu, Ratana & Waitangi in 3 words what would it be?” Over 330 comments, with not one negative thing to say about our direct response. Kupu like “preparation”, “mobilisation”, and “response”.

Our generation is tending to our whenua, from our tūpuna, preparing our Hawaiki hou. We will not stand to hear or see people talking at us at our own marae rather than talking and listening with us. There is a huge difference. We will not stand for people to stand under our mahau from Hobson’s Pledge. My generation will not stand for people yelling at us to get an education when our grandparents gave their blood, sweat, and tears to establish kaupapa Māori like Kura ā Iwi, Te Aho Matua, kura kaupapa, wharekura, kōhanga reo. Government didn’t do that; we did that.

I definitely will not stand to hear someone shout, I quote, “Ngā Tamatoa has been shouting the Treaty is a fraud since long ago.” Well, guess what! Wake-up call: their mokopuna is shouting that too, because as we have, as their children and grandchildren—the Treaty has different Ts & Cs compared to Te Tiriti, and 500 signed those Ts & Cs.

I have been hearing a lot of kōrero around “We are not getting rid of Te Tiriti.” My answer is that if you even dare touch, you even dare change or alter a single word or letter, you are getting rid of Te Tiriti.

Waiho i ēnā kupu kia tapu. Waiho i ēnā kupu, waiho i tēnā tiriti kia mohoa mō ā mātou tūpuna, kāore mō koutou. Mō ā tātou rangatahi, mō ā tātou mokopuna, nā mā ō tātou kaumātua, mā ō tātou tūpuna tēnā kawenata, tēnā tiriti e whakamana. Waiho kia rāhui.

[Leave the sanctity of those words intact. Leave those words, leave that Treaty at the present time for our ancestors, not for you all. It is for our young people, it is for our grandchildren, it is for our elders, it is for our ancestors to give authority to that covenant, to that Treaty. Leave it protected.]

Look, it’s pretty simple: Te Tiriti is every single person’s landlord agreement in our country. It is what keeps us all safe. It is what not only keeps Māori safe but every single soul that walks on this whenua. In the words of my ruruhi and koroheki [female and male elders], tākiri tū te Iwi Māori e, kia kotahi rā [arise and stand, the Māori people, be as one]. Otirā tēnā rā tātou katoa.

Just before I call Tim van de Molen, I’d just remind the new member that sometimes when you’re using the word “you”, it’s best not directed at the Chair. If it’s used in a general sense it’s fine, but it’s a little bit directed here. I’m not hurt by it, but keep it in mind.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take the final call, I think—the second to final call; the penultimate call—in this general debate, for the first general debate of this Parliament. We have been straining at the seams as a country. We have been struggling along, getting by off the hard work, the tenacity, of everyday New Zealanders, and it’s no thanks to the previous Government, which let this country down time after time in area after area. It’s a wonder that we were able to still perform to the level we were. It feels at times like we’re in a Third World country when you look at some of the terrible statistics that have been rolling out under the past Government. But help is here, thank goodness. The Government has changed, and the Waikato electorate and the Waikato region is well poised to capitalise on that.

I wanted to take the opportunity of seeking this call today because we had a fantastic and momentous occasion yesterday where a memorandum of understanding was signed to start the third medical school in this country. Now, that is a fantastic piece of progress under this Government and a clear demonstration that outcomes matter, as opposed to the last Government that was all about discussion and no delivery. This Government is getting on and delivering. Quite clearly, a third medical school is needed. We are seeing the numbers of GPs declining, unfortunately, in this country. When you look at the population dynamic within that GP sector, we’re going to see an increased number of retirements over the coming years.

When you look at our closest partner, Australia, and the number of medical schools they have per capita, on a similar comparison we should indeed be looking at a fifth medical school now, not a third. So a third medical school is well and truly due. The innovative part of what is being proposed at Waikato University is a graduate entry programme. That is the point of difference that really adds some value. Alongside the two existing medical schools we have in New Zealand, we’ll now have a third medical school with a different entry pathway, a graduate entry pathway, so that people can come in with another undergraduate degree, work through a four-year programme instead of six at the other medical schools, and indeed come out the end as a GP.

Now, the point of this being based in the best region in the country—the Waikato—is, of course, to help identify and create a solution for the fact that we are seeing a shortage across rural areas in New Zealand. We hear members on the other side talking about a million dollars of consultancy, but what about that last Government and the hundreds of millions chucked at light rail alone? Mr O’Connor is walking out of the room because he’s scared about that. Now he’s coming back—perhaps he wants to say something about the outrageous wastage the former Government brought to this country. An utter disgrace.

New Zealanders were let down time and time again by overspending and a total lack of delivery in sector after sector. And, sadly, the health sector was one of those. The former Government let Kiwis down, and rural New Zealanders in particular were really struggling. And for a member like Mr O’Connor to be opposing support for health into the rural sector is an absolute disgrace. Rural New Zealand deserves the same healthcare as anyone else in New Zealand, and this medical school will help to fix that problem.

What we’ve seen is a massive pressure point on our GPs across the country, but particularly in rural areas. People haven’t been able to get into their GPs. Instead, they’ve been presenting at emergency departments. We’ve seen ramping up of ambulances at the hospitals; it’s been well documented on the news. There have even been instances of police cars having to transport patients to the hospital because there’s no ambulance available. We have a health system struggling under the negligence of the former Government. Thankfully, help is here. This third medical school will be a great benefit to New Zealand, but particularly to our Waikato region. It will help our GP network have a better understanding of the needs in rural New Zealand. It will grow the institutional knowledge within our region, and I have confidence that it will deliver stronger, better, more sustainable outcomes for New Zealand, and the health of New Zealanders more importantly, because this is a Government that cares and we are getting this country back on track.

And welcome back to the House, Shanan Halbert.

Kaupeka ki runga, kaupeka ki raro, kui, kui, whiti ora e.

[A branch above, a branch below, the shining cuckoo celebrates its successful crossing of the ocean.]

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker, and thank you very much for giving me the honour to rejoin the House yesterday. Can I acknowledge all of my colleagues across the House in this 54th Parliament.

It hasn’t been long since I was speaking in this House last time. An election’s gone by but, in fact, actually, for a Government that did big talk that says, “We’ll get back in the New Year and we’ll get things going.”—actually, you didn’t get back so fast. It’s only four weeks on my attendance register that I’ve missed. But I’m pleased to be here and pleased to make a contribution in this general debate today.

It hasn’t been easy, though, sitting on the sidelines at home, watching this House over those mere four weeks give an assault on vulnerable workers in Aotearoa in this country, an assault on Māori—indigenous people of Aotearoa—and an assault and broken promises to our Aucklanders and ratepayers of Tāmaki-makau-rau. This Government was elected on what I call the three Cs: addressing congestion, cost of living, and addressing crime in our biggest city in this country. But where it counts—and the days are numbered for this Government’s 100-day plan; they haven’t got much longer to go to fulfil the promises that they made and the big speeches, the big talk that they made in this election.

Tom Rutherford: Talk about congestion.

SHANAN HALBERT: I will talk about congestion. The people of Auckland suffer from congestion the most in this country. And anyone who knows anything about infrastructure and transport in this country actually knows the investment under the previous Government: $77 billion pipeline planned for the next five years. But, actually, what’s important is the investment that’s required in this country: $177 billion, actually, is what the infrastructure sector is asking us for. Politics aside, we know, we say that we need to invest in infrastructure in this country to get us to the place that we need to go.

But we are going backwards, and we have seen that in the last couple of days in the legislation that has been pushed through this House. Yes, I will use the word “outrageous”, because as I stood on that side of the House last time, people on this side of the House said it was outrageous, that it was an assault on democracy that we were pushing things through urgency in this House. Well, ana, here you are, an assault on democracy.

As we talk about three waters and repeal that piece of legislation, I heard in the general debate today, one, two, three speakers from the Government side actually talk about water infrastructure. They talked about issues in their local electorates, but what we saw today was actually a repeal of a plan. Politics aside, we can disagree with each other’s plan, but that was a plan in place to address the issues that this country faces. My biggest concern—and I’ll come back to Auckland here—is that the repeal of this legislation will increase water rates in Auckland. Last year, we saw an increase of 9 percent. Without three waters, without water infrastructure legislation, we can see that rise up to 25 percent that Aucklanders will be paying in their water rates in the coming years. I won’t stand here for that.

Alongside that, we see the impact of transport projects being cut by the Minister for Auckland and the Minister of Transport, the Hon Simeon Brown—the $1.7 billion hole that is left in transport infrastructure in Tāmaki-makau-rau, Auckland. The question is—and the people of Muriwai asked this question—where is the Minister for Auckland at a time of need? Who is advocating for us? I’ll say it again: where’s the Minister for Auckland? Who is advocating for Auckland in this shocking repeal, no plan Government that’s in front of us.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.