General Debate

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

If you want to see what happens when ideology trumps competence, when virtue signalling replaces governing, and when chaos becomes policy, then look no further than the unholy alliance of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori. Let’s take a tour of the unholy alliance, shall we?

We’ll start with Te Pāti Māori, who’ve just had their reset. They thought they were doing a 180, but somehow they’ve turned a 180 into a 360. They don’t even know basic maths—

Hon Member: It’s a burnout.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: They were doing a burnout, that’s right. Lasting a whopping three minutes, their so-called reset was completely shut down by questions. It started a half an hour late, and now they’ve got leaking members, leaking against each other, with emails being fired off, making accusations. That’s Chris Hipkins’ coalition party right there—that’s Chris Hipkins’ coalition party right there.

Let’s talk about Chris Hipkins, because he’s got his own problems; the ship with no rudder—the ship with no rudder. When he’s asked about Te Pāti Māori and whether he will rule them in or out, what does he say? “Well, I’m not sure exactly how many Te Pāti Māoris there are.” Well, either that man doesn’t know how to count, being a former Minister of Education, or, quite simply, Mr Hipkins is so committed to trying to do a deal that he’ll do anything to try to get into Government. That shows how desperate that man is. This is the same Chris Hipkins who said he’ll work with anyone—anyone—if it means a sniff of the Treasury benches. Principles; well, they’re optional; standards, negotiable; coherent partners, who cares?

Let’s get to the Green Party, shall we? The unholy coalition—the unholy coalition of chaos on the other side—of course, relies on the Green Party. What have we seen from them? For the first time in two years, we had a question about the environment! It’s like they’ve just remembered that they’re actually called the Green Party. You could have thought, well, for the last few months, pontificating about Palestine, making sure they were chaining themselves to every protest, out there with their selective outrage, but not one single word when it comes to the hostages who were released yesterday—the 20 hostages released yesterday. On this side of the House, we’re grateful for the work done by President Trump and the coalition of nations to release those hostages, to have a ceasefire in the Middle East, but the selective outrage over there has shown that, actually, there’s nothing but silence—nothing but silence.

It all comes back to Chris Hipkins with his unholy trinity, the three parties which he is desperate, of course, to try to stitch together. Of course, what do we know that this Chris Hipkins will have to do if he’s going to try to get elected? There’s three things which they are united on. They might not know how to do a reset, they might not quite understand whether their name is the Green Party or what that means they should focus on, but there’s one thing that they’re all united on, and that, of course, is increased taxes: increased taxes for New Zealanders. Whether it’s a savings tax, whether it’s a property tax, whether it’s a death tax, New Zealanders can be guaranteed that, behind the scenes, that’s what they’re cooking up to take to the next election.

There is hope for New Zealand, and that hope sits on this side of the House. While the Opposition plays games trying to work out what they’re doing, we are delivering results. We’ve got spending under control, inflation down to 2.7 percent, and mortgage rates cut eight times. We’ve delivered tax relief for the first time in 14 years. Ram raids are down 85 percent; gang patches banned—I’m not sure what their position is on gang patches. We’re reducing wait-lists for hips, knees and cataracts, all of which went up under Chris Hipkins when he was Minister of Health. We’ve delivered 33 new cancer medicines, delivered the biggest funding boost for general practitioners, and just today announced an extension to breast screening, which, by the way, Labour promised in 2017 with their coalition agreement with New Zealand First but failed to deliver. You cannot trust Labour when it comes to health.

The contrast couldn’t be clearer. On that side of the House: chaos, coups, budget blowouts, selective outrage, internal warfare, parties that can’t even organise a press conference without imploding; and on this side: delivery for New Zealanders on the issues that matter. New Zealanders deserve a Government focused on the issues that matter, and that is exactly what this Government is delivering.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Two parts per million—reconcile that. Two parts per million—[Interruption]

SPEAKER: Hang on. If the member could just—

MARK CAMERON: —biogenic methane.

SPEAKER: Sorry, we’ll start him again. You’ve got to give people at least a couple of seconds to start before the barracking goes. Just so I can explain to anybody who might be watching this and who thinks the place is completely rabbleous, this is the general debate, and that tends to be the time when the House is most animated. We will give Mark Cameron another start, and, hopefully, a little bit of leeway into his speech.

MARK CAMERON: Thank you, Mr Speaker—thanks, sir. Two parts per million methane—biogenic methane. That side of the House eviscerated rural New Zealand. Damien O’Connor and his thugging mate of David Parker were beating up rural New Zealand. Now, David Seymour was the only guy in this entire precinct that voted against the zero carbon Act.

Hon Damien O’Connor: Such a brilliant time.

MARK CAMERON: Common sense, Damien O’Connor, as restored to the debate. In the ACT Party, we believe in principle. We believe, actually, in rural people. I came here, after spending 30 years in a cowshed—and I know that that member hasn’t spent three—saying that I would fight for the rights of rural people. We had had absolutely enough. In 2020, we campaigned on putting common sense back in the room, and we did. We campaigned in 2023 to do exactly the same: to restore some common sense and, gracious me, to restore some hope in rural New Zealand households. We came to fix what matters, and we are fixing what matters. We are restoring rural confidence.

Rural New Zealand has seen the needle move. National commitments to methane have been revised—how good is that? Common sense—restored down.

Now, I hear all the naysayers saying that it’s the end of days and it’s doom and gloom—rubbish. In rural New Zealand, we are sick of the climate wokery from the alarmists. It’s all doom and gloom and the world is burning—I mean, I’ve heard Arena Williams say that the world is literally burning. What factual nonsense is that? It is not, and rural New Zealand, by the way, I would say to that member, has the most efficient farmers in the world. Why don’t you celebrate that reality? There is a novel idea, I’d say to that side of the House.

ACT stands with rural people. Farmers in rural New Zealand are worth almost $60 billion—$60 billion—and Chris Hipkins knows this, as the leader of that party. Gracious me, I have never heard that member stand up and defend my people.

Gracious me, I came to this House, I buried my son with suicide, and I’m standing here while on dialysis because I absolutely believe in rural folk. They’re worth fighting for. I wish that anyone on that side of the House would do the same: stand up for your principles. We will not bite the hand that feeds it.

Now, yesterday, Marama Davidson—a member of your future coalition, so I hear—said that we were lobbied by lobbyists. What malarkey! I stood up because I believe in farmers, and I am a farmer myself. Maureen Pugh is a farmer. Mike Butterick is a farmer. Andrew Hoggard is a farmer. Where are your farmers? This is the biggest part of the economy—

Hon Marama Davidson: Ours are at the climate conference. Where are yours?

MARK CAMERON: —and Damien O’Connor, I say to Marama Davidson, its silent. Where is your counter-narrative?

We’ve put science back in the conversation. No more hyperbole, no more conflation, I say to Damien O’Connor. The end of days—”Market access, be gone.”

Hon Peeni Henare: COVID didn’t exist—yeah!

MARK CAMERON: We represent, Peeni Henare, he interests of rural folk. It’s a damnable shame that here we are and we are talking about a gas that decays back to carbon dioxide, and it is, factually, two parts per million. I am saddened that this is our reality, but it doesn’t need to be so. This side of the House, with Simon Watts, the Minister of Agriculture, David Seymour, Andrew Hoggard—we’re all part of a future that is supporting rural New Zealand.

One final remark I would like to add in my brief contribution: rural New Zealand has heard us. They are grateful to us, and in a world of averages being one and the same, they are supporting this Government because they knew that Damien O’Connor’s and David Parker’s days were numbered. That’s why they’re on that side of the House, and agriculture and its future is assured under this Government, and not only in this Government but the next one.

Two years ago today, Christopher Luxon stood in front of New Zealanders and he made a promise: his promise was that he was going to lower the cost of living and fix the economy. Two years on, it is abundantly clear he has failed to do both of those things.

The Government made big promises. What have we seen? Increasing unemployment; an economy that’s shrinking; more kids living in poverty; more people homeless and living on the streets; the construction sector—remember, they were going to get things done and get things building again—is at its lowest point in seven years, two years into this Government’s leadership; $3 billion less spending on building stuff in the last year compared to when they became the Government. Our health system descends further into crisis under their leadership, and yet the Minister of Health, who just gave a speech, was only 15 seconds into his speech before he started talking about the Labour Party.

It shows that they have no plan. They know they can’t defend their own record; they know they don’t know how to fix the mess that they have been creating; all they can do is scaremonger and attack, because they don’t know how to turn things around. Their answer is pretty simple: more cuts, more asset sales, less hope for everyday New Zealanders, who are flogging their guts out trying to get ahead with a Government that’s working against them. It does not have to be this way. Instead of coming up with more excuses, this Government should be coming up with answers; they have failed to do that. They’re going to tell New Zealanders, “We just need more time.”, but New Zealanders can see that, with more time, things will get worse, not better—because two years in, that is all this Government has been able to deliver. Forget about getting the economy and the country back on track; they have derailed it. Things are getting worse, not better, under Christopher Luxon and his Government’s leadership.

Well, let’s just cut to the chase. As a parent of young New Zealanders, my hope for the future is a relatively simple one: I want New Zealand to be a country that my kids want to stay in. I want it to be a country where they want to create a life here and not join the exodus of people who are leaving. We have to make change if that is going to happen. Doing more of the same—cutting more, selling more, robbing future generations of hope, transferring more of today’s problems on to the next generation—is not going to give them that hope. They deserve better. All young New Zealanders deserve better. This Government are not giving them better; they are transferring more problems on to them and making it worse.

We have to turn this around. We cannot sustain the exodus of talent that we are seeing under this Government. There is one thing the Government has broken records on, and that is the number of New Zealanders giving up and leaving. Every time a member on the opposite side of the House gets on a plane to fly to Auckland or to Christchurch, I want them to think of one thing: the number of people on that plane is the equivalent number of people who are permanently leaving the country every day—every day—under their Government’s leadership. Far from turning that around, they are making things worse. It does not have to be this way.

Labour is positive about the country’s future. There are better decisions that we can make. We can invest in our own future; we can back New Zealanders in a way that this Government is failing to do. Far from selling off what’s left, we should be investing in the assets we need for tomorrow. We should be backing our businesses to grow and expand, not pulling the rug out from under them; we should be saying to our entrepreneurs and those who are excited about the future that we are behind them, and we are not going to call them C-listers. We are not going to go around the world telling them that New Zealand is a wet, whiny country at the bottom of the world that’s not worth backing; we’re going to get behind those people who are building New Zealand’s future. They will have a Labour Government that wants to work with them to create the future that New Zealanders deserve.

We need a Labour Government that will get New Zealand back to work, because, under National, New Zealand does not work. We will be focused on jobs, on health, on homes, on real action, on the cost of living—not more broken promises, more blame, and more excuses, which is all this Government has to offer.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s so nice when the other side clap every time I stand up. It’s wonderful. I would say to Chris Hipkins that, well, if you’re going to do all these things, mate, then how come you didn’t do it in the six years that you were there? Instead, you left us with an utter mess and you left house owners in a terrible situation, paying interest rates they shouldn’t have been paying, because of your behaviour as the Government that then sat around spending New Zealanders’ money, borrowing money for New Zealanders to pay so that New Zealand is now paying interest every single year that is more than Corrections, Police, Defence, and our fire service all together because of him and his former Government.

Thank goodness we’ve got the adults in the room back, actually getting this country back on track. The economy is turning. It’s turning the right way. We see interest rates dropping. We see New Zealand businesses getting a bit more confidence, and that will help them to employ more people. When they keep talking about New Zealanders going to Australia, they’re going to work in the mines. They’re not going to work as baristas; they’re going to work in the mines. That’s why they’re going because New Zealand, in the last six years of the Labour Government, decided to cut the mines. It took years and years to get any consents, and they ended our ability to be able to have those high-paying jobs and to build our economy.

Instead, what are we doing on this side? Well, we’ve got two new really great trade deals. Thank you, Todd McClay. The UAE and Gulf States. Remember Labour saying, “There’s no point even talking to the Indian Government about trade. We don’t want to waste our time.” That is what they said of the Indians, and what are we doing? We’ve already started the Indian free-trade agreement negotiations, and we will get there, and we’ll get there in this term.

I do want to say, though, that it is an amazing week when, basically, peace has broken out in the Middle East. Thank you, President Trump. At the same time, war has broken out in Te Pāti Māori. Perhaps they should get President Trump to come and negotiate for them and be the facilitator. I think the term is—what was it?—peace through strength. Well, that would be really good for Te Pāti Māori. That’s all part of the “uni-party” of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori.

I think it’s also practically a miracle this week—you think it’s the Middle East? No, no, the miracle is that the Green Party has actually asked some questions on conservation of the environment. I think it’s amazing—amazing, amazing, amazing. Can I say there’s not a Gaza flag in sight. I mean, it’s amazing. How does this happen?

Tom Rutherford: Where are the tea towels?

Hon JUDITH COLLINS: No, no tea towels, we say, but I always say—don’t talk about tea towels; they don’t like being told they wear tea towels.

This is an incredible thing. Instead, what we’re doing on this side is we’re growing the economy. Even the Defence Force is now a great source of growth in the economy. We’ve released the defence industry strategy.

Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Have you ever thought of leadership?

Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I’ve no idea why that woman keeps shouting. We’ve released this Defence Industry Strategy, so our New Zealand businesses like SYOS, like Dawn Aerospace, like Kea Aerospace, like all the businesses up and down the country who are currently manufacturing for people like Rocket Lab and others—so that they are actually going to be able to work with the Defence Force to help provide aerial drones, land drones, and sea drones for our New Zealand Defence Force.

Despite what the left say, we have the fourth largest search and rescue area in the world. Pacific nations who are our friends need our help as well. We cannot sit back and say, “Let’s wait for someone else to come and save people. Let’s wait for someone else to help in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief situations. Let’s wait while someone else comes and cleans out our seabed.” It’s not going to be good enough. We have to be able to do something ourselves, and our New Zealand defence industry is absolutely cock-a-hoop because they are now getting a look in the door. We’ve worked out a portal for the New Zealand Defence Force, so they are getting people coming to them. That will be going live later on this year. Already, they’re getting over 100 contacts a week—a day, sorry; no, a week. It will soon be a day. There are 100 contacts a week from industry that are wanting to work with them or are working with them. This is going to be huge for our economy. In the meantime, we just have to look at the space sector to show just how large this is. It’s great, we’re here, we’re getting the job done, and we don’t sit around whinging.

Returning to Earth: for two years, Christopher Luxon’s Government has cut healthcare and driven up costs. Their unfunded tax cuts have meant less money for the services New Zealanders need and depend on. And because of that Government’s underfunding, GP services have had to put their prices up. They have two options: put their prices up or close their doors. It is Luxon’s fault that a visit in New Zealand now to the GP, a standard adult visit to the GP, can cost nearly $100. His underfunding means more costs are passed on to you. X-rays, scans, prescriptions all cost more because of Christopher Luxon’s choices. They repealed free prescriptions, a policy that kept people well and out of hospital. Sometimes I say that this Government believes in the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, when it comes to healthcare. Well, sadly, people, ambulances now cost 30 percent more too.

All of this, more costs being moved on to the public, comes at a time when the cost of living is putting pressure on New Zealand households. People are struggling out there. Instead of helping, Christopher Luxon’s Government is pushing bills higher and cutting people’s jobs that they rely on. It’s having a real effect on people. Now one in six New Zealanders say they cannot afford to go to the doctor. I asked Simeon Brown about this in this House, and he accused us of misinformation put about by the Labour Party. I asked him about a clinic that charges $94—it’s not far from here—$94 for a standard visit. He said that was misinformation.

Well, I and 16,000 other New Zealanders have written an open letter to Christopher Luxon calling for healthcare to be more affordable. Here is what some of them said: “Yes, my doctor costs me $64 now and regardless of being employed full time I can’t afford that. It puts me off going. I feel sorry for everyone who has such a bill to pay.” Others said, “Doctors visits costing $60 to $70 is outrageous. That’s why pensioners are not going to the doctor.” I visited a clinic in Tauranga where they told me community services card holders could no longer afford to come with the cost of living pressures that they were facing—people with diabetes forgoing their checks, meaning they’re more likely to get complications down the line. If the Government wants to dismiss that this is a problem, that is only proof of how out of touch they are. A senior GP told me that she knows people—she called them middle New Zealanders—who think twice when she says, “Come back in a month’s time and let me check how you’re going on your blood pressure medicines.” The fundamentals of basic medical care are becoming to be out of reach for a number of New Zealanders.

Yesterday, I asked the Minister about one of these stories and he told me he had limited the increase in doctors’ fees. Here’s the problem: limited fee increases, but they haven’t increased funding to practices. Now, practices have just diversified the range of fees they’re charging. There are fees for prescriptions and fees for your first appointments. A person told me: “The first appointment at our new GP cost our family $660, because there’s a $110 first visit charge.” There are fees for cervical screening. Great news, ladies! We can now take our own sample, but we get charged for that. And then one that really gets me: double appointment fees. If you have two problems, you have to pay twice. The reality of medical care, particularly for our seniors, is that they have to have care for multiple long-term conditions.

This is all the result of the choices that that Government has made. They have chosen to put more costs on to people because of their bad decisions. They have prioritised tax cuts for landlords, tax cuts for tobacco companies, and not putting money into our health system. They have underfunded general practice, and that means that people cannot get the care they need. Simple problems that could be dealt with in the community mean people are going without, they’re going to the emergency departments, and their conditions are getting worse and worse, and they’re going to be more costly down the line.

Labour can fix this. We will make care more affordable and make it easier to see a doctor and nurse when you need one in your community.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to celebrate progress on the science reforms—the biggest reforms in 30 years—but I want to start with a shout-out, first of all, to the gaming sector. Exports in one year are up from $500 million to around $750 million. That’s extraordinary growth. Show me another half-billion-dollar export industry with that sort of growth in one year. I recently spoke at the New Zealand Game Developers Association annual meeting and announced a doubling in funding for CODE, which is the Centre of Digital Excellence. It’s responsible for building capacity in start-up gaming businesses through programmes like KickStart and StartUp. Now, CODE was actually created by the previous Labour Government in 2020, and I get a sense that, maybe, part of the initiative also involved naming rights to future games, sort of as an homage, if you like, to the Government of the time who are now in Opposition.

The connection with the current Opposition, then, is in the gaming titles. Let me give you a few examples. The first is the video game Path of Exile, created by New Zealand firm Grinding Gear Games, with a reported million players a day. Now, this game is clearly an homage to the current Opposition parties, with the game described as a dark, grim fantasy world where people are exiled to a place which is filled with monsters, political intrigue, and a constant struggle for survival. The second gaming connection is to the video game Super Monsters Ate My Condo by New Zealand gaming studio PikPok. Now, this clearly refers to the previous Government’s explanation for the KiwiBuild failure. Why did it fail? A super monster ate my condo. The third example I’d give is the naming rights, also by New Zealand firm PikPok, to the video game Clusterduck—carefully and eponymously representing in so many ways the collective Opposition parties that we see today, to which we give them Clusterduck.

I want to quickly move to a précis of what we’ve done in the science reforms to date. We’ve merged seven Crown research institutes (CRIs) into three public research organisations (PROs), creating some of the biggest research and development thematic institutions in the world. Now, I would put to you that this is somewhat of a template for merging large Government organisations because I lived through the merger of Health New Zealand—I didn’t enjoy that actually. We all lived through the merger of Te Pūkenga—we haven’t enjoyed that either. But the merger of the seven CRIs into three PROs has actually gone well—maybe because the actors were willing participants and willing actors, but regardless, I want to thank them for that effort.

Through the Bioeconomy Science Institute, we’ve brought together Landcare Research New Zealand, AgResearch, Scion, Plant and Food Research; Earth Sciences New Zealand, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and GNS Science, and, of course, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research renamed as the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science. We’ve also created a fourth public research organisation, the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology, and passed into, at $70 million over seven years, Robinson Research Institute and their amazing world-breaking work on magnets and materials. In fact, a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of watching their project, which had taken several years to get to fruition, be bolted inside the SpaceX Falcon-9 and head up into space. The Northrop Grumman Cygnus carrier then took it off the Falcon-9 and took it over to the International Space Station. Isn’t that amazing? It was the first time in space ever that high temperature superconducting magnets have been bolted on to the outside of the space station. That’s Kiwi technology breaking new ground up in space. All credit to them.

We have also announced $70 million for artificial intelligence, that new emerging technology that we need to safely step our game up in and progress. We’ve created the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council to provide strategic oversight to the science sector, which many are saying was needed to undo the fragmentation and the duplication. Yesterday, we announced exactly that simplification of the science system with the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council providing strategic advice to Research Funding New Zealand that will then administer these funds. The New Zealand Association of Scientists were particularly pleased with this announcement when they said, “There is great potential in the science funding reform announced today. The announcements create a more strategic science funding system that better resembles successful systems in successful small nations.” I am very pleased to undertake that piece of work.

Two weeks ago, I announced a $40 million biodiscovery platform, a hole or a pocket in our science trajectory, if you like, that we haven’t done well. That is an opportunity to integrate Māori, to integrate Western science, to integrate industry, to find the next cancer drugs from amongst our 80,000 indigenous species, to find the next nutraceuticals, to find the next supplements, and to collaborate together and make our way in the world with biodiscovery. There is real excitement around how we can appropriately use indigenous knowledge to advantage everyone. I am very pleased with the science reforms and very mindful of the officials who have brought this to life with a willingness and enthusiasm that makes me very excited and the sector as well. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

It is the wellbeing of the environment that will sustain us all, and not just for the few but for the many, but this Government’s economic strategy is based on exploiting and destroying te taiao for profit, and not even for the profit of the people of Aotearoa—for overseas shareholders in Australia and elsewhere in the world. The Government say fast tracking environmental destruction is going to create jobs. What limited imagination and ambition they have for our country. Winston Peters and Shane Jones on the other side of the House gloat about ruining our oceans and our soils and our air and telling our people that this is the only way forward. That is stale, stale old thinking. The same people in this coalition Government who crashed the economy leading to 36,000 fewer jobs the day that they took office—they say they’re going to save us; I do not think so.

What this Government fails to understand is there is no economy when our environment is destroyed. They are repeating the same old stale, stale strategy, opening up precious conservation whenua for mining, four-lane highways that still don’t get through the traffic, literally at huge expense, allowing corporations to pillage our environment while one-in-a-hundred-year storms become several-times-a-year storms where the people in our community suffer. Shame on them.

That’s why the Greens released our Greens industrial jobs creation plan, our Green Budget: to show people an economy that can truly support our country, our communities, our environment, and our climate; like the Green Jobs Guarantee, that would create 40,000 jobs to build infrastructure and housing and take climate action to protect those including the very farmers that they claim to care about, and a New Zealand owned by New Zealanders, not overseas corporates like Trans-Tasman Resources seabed mining, an overseas corporate who this Government are wanting to approve a permit to destroy some of our unique taonga species and ecosystems like Waihi gold mine OceanaGold, offshore corporate, fast tracking mining in Waihi, largely within Coromandel—beautiful—Forest Park, conservation land that’s home to our precious species. Who benefits? Multinationals like Bathurst Resources, West Coast mining, offshore corporate, foreign-owned Bathurst Resources applying again for fast track and more coalmining. This in a time when the world is needing to reduce our emissions, stave off the threat of climate change - driven famines, conflicts, disasters. This small thinking Government is making way for a carbon bomb on the Denniston Plateau right now.

Despite their so-called laser focus on the economy, they are actually ignoring the fact that there is no economy without a functional environment. Let’s be really clear about this. Destroying our native species and their habitats, chopping up and selling off our country for parts is not for our benefit; it is for the benefit of overseas-owned corporations. New Zealand First—more like “Trans-Tasman Resources First”, more like “OceanaGold First”, more like overseas corporations first, New Zealand last. Our land and our future are being sold offshore by them.

Over in the National Party, we have our environment Minister destroying the name of her job, sitting outside of Cabinet for the first time in 50 years, providing no input—none—on fast-track projects that will destroy our taiao and our moana. Instead, doing what? Spending time lobbying councils to speed up water consents for the benefit of a handful of farms that include her own colleague. The absolute state of it, whānau.

New Zealanders value our environment. They value a stable climate for mokopuna to come. They know real economic value and opportunity. That’s why, come 2026, the people can choose a Government that will put its hands back on the wheel of the economy and steer it where it actually needs to go instead of into a ditch of environmental destruction.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s been two years since the election, when Christopher Luxon stood in front of voters in 2023 as an economic genius who declared that he would fix the cost of living and the economy, and he has failed to do so. In two years, hundreds of people have lost their jobs and livelihoods in my community of Nelson. Christopher Luxon’s and Nicola Willis’ economic mismanagement is wrecking local communities, including my region of Nelson and Tasman. National’s economic failure is hitting us hard. Jobs are being slashed across our region. Earlier this year, 142 jobs were lost from Carter Holt Harvey’s Eves Valley sawmill. Another 59 jobs are on the line at Sealord, after 79 were axed recently. Griffin’s plans to close the Proper Crisps factory in Nelson. And also recently announced, King Salmon are looking to move their operations from Nelson, across the hill to Marlborough. Just this week, Pic’s Food Factory, which supports local food entrepreneurs, have announced their closure because things are just too tough.

These jobs and business cuts have a real impact on the lives of working people, their families, and our entire community. Maria Hemara, who had worked at Carter Holt Harvey for the past six years, said the closure was a shock that left her feeling like she was in a slow motion movie. “It’s life-changing and unsettling, it’s bewildering, really, to be faced with this.” Meanwhile, National’s finance Minister tells people like Maria not to take it personally. Losing your job, your livelihood, and worrying how you’re going to pay your bills and provide for your family is deeply personal. National are tone deaf and out of touch and they just don’t care. They have no idea what it feels like for people like Maria, losing their livelihoods because of National’s economic mismanagement. Christopher Luxon promised Kiwis that he would make things better, but instead he’s making things worse.

Doug Paulin, the chief executive of Sealord, has said that increasing costs, and requests for higher supermarket margins, has driven their decision to cut jobs. This is a Government that has talked a big game about reforming supermarkets, yet food prices continue to go up. Companies like Sealord are pressured to reduce prices so that the supermarket duopoly can increase profits at the expense of local workers and their customers.

We need a real plan from this Government now. We need greater engagement with local leaders to support the Nelson-Tasman region to create more jobs. Instead, we’ve had radio silence from this Government. In fact, when I asked Nicola Willis in the House last week what she was doing about this, she claimed Nelson should be happy with the Government because they’re giving us half a hospital. They can’t even invest in the full, complete hospital rebuild that our region needs. National are cutting investment in Nelson when they should be properly investing in our region, and they are overseeing a wrecking ball to our local economy. New Zealand is going backwards under their watch and they know it. The consequences are real and they’re damning. Businesses are closing, jobs are being lost, and families like Maria’s are paying the price. Christopher Luxon promised Kiwis he would make things better; instead, he’s making things worse.

Labour will focus on what matters most to people in New Zealand and Nelson: jobs, health, homes, and real action on the cost of living. Look for the announcement from Chris Hipkins tomorrow on all of that. It’s clear to the people of Nelson and the people of New Zealand that Nelson and New Zealand cannot afford another three years of National.

Today, I want to talk about international rural women’s day. It’s a day celebrated globally on 15 October to recognise the vital contributions of rural women to agriculture, to food security, and to rural development; a day to celebrate the extraordinary women who are the backbone of our rural communities. From the board room to the paddock, rural women are leaders, innovators, and caretakers, driving our economy, nurturing our families, and holding our communities together. It’s manaakitanga personified. Rural women are inspirational, innovative, and resourceful.

I’m a city girl who saw the light in the mighty Turakina. A proud farmer, I’ve raised three children in heartland Rangitīkei, and I get it. It’s all about community; it’s about getting stuck in, in good times and in bad. I’m incredibly proud to stand here today, as part of the National Party caucus that is literally stacked with amazing women; rural women who are champions of rural New Zealand. We’ve got Nicola Grigg, our outstanding Associate Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Women, a farm girl from Mount Somers, a champion for rural women today and every single day. Just like Minister Louise Upston and Penny Simmonds and Barbara Kuriger, Maureen Pugh, Dana Kirkpatrick, Catherine Wedd, Katie Nimon, and Vanessa Weenink. National has a proud history of backing farmers and farming, and our significant cohort of rural MPs—men and women—is a testament to this.

Hon Judith Collins: Don’t mention me, for goodness’ sake! Mother of the House!

SUZE REDMAYNE: But today, Mr Speaker, it’s all about the girls. Rural women have a voice in this Government—

Hon Member: And Judith.

SUZE REDMAYNE: Especially Judith. Our Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, a Wellingtonian, yes, is also a champion of rural women, because she knows, as the holder of the purse strings, how vital rural women are and how much they contribute to the Government’s coffers.

I can’t forget Nicole McKee, our shooting and hunting legend, which affords her honorary rural status, and Casey Costello, with her 2 acres and three chickens. Together we stand alongside all the rural women out there who play a critical role in New Zealand’s $60 billion food and fibre sector; often the unsung heroes. Women who balance farm work, family, and community roles, quietly leading the charge in education, healthcare, community connection, and local resilience.

I get it. It’s great, we’re also seeing more women in rural leadership roles than ever before, making a tangible impact in business, innovation, and community. This year marks the centennial of Rural Women New Zealand, an organisation that stood the test of time by adapting to the evolving needs of rural women and their communities. Chair Sandra Matthews said on Radio New Zealand this morning that rural women are the beating heart of rural New Zealand. She acknowledged that rural women face unique challenges such as access to services, connectivity, and leadership representation. Like our Government, she knows they should be supported to lead and to thrive.

That’s why, in Budget 2025, the Government committed $250,000 to support rural New Zealand’s grassroots work. We’re backing initiatives that support leadership development and economic empowerment because when rural women thrive, New Zealand wins. It’s why we’re also backing the Agri-Women’s Development Trust and Dairy Women’s Network to deliver coaching and training for young and established rural women leaders.

There’s huge opportunity to inspire women into long-term fulfilling careers in the food and fibre sector, and the Government is committed to backing that growth. Minister Grigg is a champion of the Ministry for Women’s nomination database, which helps get women on to public sector boards. By supporting leadership development programmes, mentoring networks, and pathways into governance, we can ensure that rural women are not only heard but are directly involved in shaping the future of our regions.

Her and our Government’s message to all rural women is: back yourself; you’re an integral part of New Zealand’s prosperity and our future. Oh, I’ve run out of time. While it’s hard to quantify just how much rural women do across New Zealand, International Day of Rural Women is a chance to honour the strength, resilience, and leadership of rural women across New Zealand.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. And good on that member. I guess that is the point: Kiwis are fair-minded people. New Zealand women are known for being fair thinkers and reasonable. So when National promises at the election to lower the cost of living, people go, “Yeah, good on them. Give them a go, that’s important to me.” And then when things are going badly, New Zealanders, wherever they are around the country: “You know, we’ll give these guys a go.” People said, “We can survive till 2025”. That was the phrase. You might have heard it out there, it was pretty popular in Auckland. And then it became just “Survive 2025”.

And then every day, as costs go up under Christopher Luxon’s Government and he’s not helping with the rising cost of living and he’s more interested in protecting the big banks and tax cuts for tobacco companies, Kiwis aren’t seeing any of that correction they were promised and they’re not seeing the growing economy that they thought they were going to get. It’s not “Survive ‘25” anymore out there; it’s “Pack up sticks in 2026”.

Everything is going up: transport, power, phone bills, the cost of study, and that’s pushing more and more personal debt on to people and household debt and consumer debt, and more and more people are withdrawing their KiwiSaver because of hardship. That’s the effect that this Government is having out there. It’s because of decisions that they have made and the mismanagement of the Government’s books that this has happened in New Zealand. Housing, utilities like rates and electricity, they’re rising even faster, and food and essentials continue to relentlessly rise week on week. Every family in New Zealand is seeing that at the grocery checkout. Every pensioner in New Zealand is seeing that in their power bills. Fuel and transport costs keep going up, not because of global events but because this Government has added on fees that are administrative costs to keep moving around your city and your region, and this Government won’t own up.

Instead, they’ve got policy announcements like the surcharge ban, which sounds good and is, in fact, policy that is supported all around this House. But instead of being clear with consumers about who will bear the cost of that, they have lumped it on to small businesses. Hospitality owners, at a time when record numbers of hospitality businesses are going under, are saying to Government, “Why are you picking on us? We will have to pick up thousands of dollars of cost every month at a time when we are putting more and more on our mortgages, more and more out of our retirement savings, just to keep the business going because we believe in it and because that is what the National Government tells us that they are prioritising: us business owners. But at the same time, they are lumping costs on us.”

They’re also not being upfront with things like the pricing rules, which they say is going to be a big market intervention on those large corporates, those monopolistic large corporates that they say they are going to focus on when in fact they have picked the one pricing intervention which makes it illegal to drop prices. Explain that one to consumers on the doorstep, that under National if prices come down in a market event, that will be illegal.

So people are getting squeezed from all sides and they’re getting told by this Government that it is not the Government’s fault. Costs are going up to travel, costs are going up to study, costs are going up to live, costs are going up to stay well. It’s hurting in Auckland, it’s hurting young people, it’s hurting all around the country. And those young people that are bearing the pain? That’s a structural problem in our economy because it has an effect in the next generation, it has an effect in our pipeline of people who are ready to work. This Government has no vision for those young people beyond a one-way ticket out of this country or—as Judith Collins described it in a fantasy harking back to Victorian England—”into the mines”.

Some 73,900 New Zealanders are hearing that message and have left—200 New Zealanders every day with no plan to get them back. They are buying houses in Queensland, they are building their infrastructure. Another 20,000 of our construction workers gone, Warriors jackets on every building site in the Northern Territory. That is a shame and that is a record that the National Government will have to answer for at the ballot box.

The cost of living was meant to be something that this Government could manage, but this economy is going backwards. It has shrunk since the day they took office. It’s not just good enough to point to those young people as something of a problem when this Government has a target to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support. So they are literally making it illegal for some people to be on it. There are young people right now in my electorate, in Manurewa, who are looking for a job. They want to get their driver’s licence. They want to get their forklift ticket. Do you know how they get that? They go to the Ministry of Social Development and they ask for support. They will be removed from the waiting list for any of that help under a Government who is excluding people from their ability to get that work that they say they prioritise.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think that member, over the last two years, must have been taking a thing or two in, sitting and watching this National-led Government start to get this economy under control. All of a sudden, there’s a revelation that debt has a cost. She wants to talk about the impact of debt and the cost of debt—well, $66 billion later, New Zealanders are paying the price of that Government’s disastrous run trying to lead this country. “Trying” is the word. I wonder if Chris Hipkins is going to continue to try to lead the “Coalition of Chaos”, as we called them prior to the election.

Thankfully, they never became a coalition in this Government, on the Government benches, but they have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they are an unholy alliance; that they are the “uni-party”; that they are one thing on that side of the House. It worries me that they are going to try and manage a merger to pull themselves together—and I wonder, I question, who will be pulling the strings on that ship?

Francisco Hernandez: The Greens!

CARL BATES: The Greens, as our friends in the Greens say. They know that the unholy alliance on those Opposition benches will be arguing with each other to work out who’s going to lead them. They’ll be pulling strings among each other. God help us that we don’t end up with a “co-Minister” leading the country and not a Prime Minister. The Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, he said, “I’ll work with anyone.” I’m wondering today which of the two Te Pāti Māoris he intends on working with or whether he’s going to need both in an unholy alliance to lead this country.

Hon Judith Collins: Never going to get the chance.

CARL BATES: Exactly, Minister Collins: they will never get that chance. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Tākuta Ferris’ comments at the time he made them last month were incompatible with Labour; but, at the same time, Willie Jackson said, “We agree on about 90 percent of kaupapa.” They cannot work out what this merger would look like—and I reflect on their six years before we had the opportunity to get on these benches and steer this ship for the better. They tried to merge Te Pūkenga: it was an abject failure. They tried to merge Health New Zealand; they tried to merge three waters; and now they’re trying to merge Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori. New Zealand would bear the cost of that.

It’s been two years since the election, and when you are focused on managing a merger like they are, you can’t actually get things done, but let me tell you what we’ve done in the last two years since the election: in law and order, we’ve reduced violent crime—29,000 victims less than on election day; ram raids are down 85 percent; police patrols are up 40 percent; bans on gang patches. In the economy, we’ve delivered tax relief for the first time in 14 years; we’ve introduced FamilyBoost. In health, there’s 16,000 more elective surgeries that have happened, 33 new cancer treatments, and 33 more medicines. We’ve expanded urgent and aftercare clinics nationwide, including in my electorate of Whanganui. In education, we’ve banned cellphones in classrooms, and we’ve introduced learning support coordinators. Over the last 18 months, we’ve rebuilt the confidence of farmers, and we’re just hoping that the Greens do not get the opportunity to destroy it with a 33 percent tax on farmers.

You see, you’d have to choose: do you want a National-led Government, as a country, that got inflation down from 75 percent into the twos, or a Labour - Greens - Te Pāti Māori - plus that would give us another $100 billion - plus of debt? Would you want a Prime Minister who can actually deliver or whoever wins the Hunger Games on that side of the House? Marama Davidson has already indicated that she wants to be in Cabinet. Do you want Nicola Willis, who delivers Investment Boost, or Chlöe Swarbrick, who delivers 33 percent inheritance taxes? Do you want Erica Stanford, who delivers results in education, or Willow-Jean Prime, who can’t manage her emails? Do you want law and order with a reduction in ram raids and up with the confidence, or Tamatha Paul, who wants to defund the police? The delivery of this Government is clear.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise today on Rural Women’s Day to thank and congratulate all the successful candidates in the local elections. However, I want to express some really serious concerns that cut to the very core of our democracy. We have just witnessed another round of dismal turnout, missing details of Māori ward candidates, and a growing unease over the role of private companies running our electoral processes. My key concern is how this central government “Coalition of Chaos” is undermining local government at every opportunity.

First, the numbers speak for themselves. In many areas, turnout was below 40 percent, and in some communities, it dropped into the 30s, which is a reflection of a voting system that is confusing, outdated, and disconnected from the lives of everyday New Zealanders. Postal voting is no longer fit for purpose in a digital age. Many young people don’t check their mailboxes, let alone know how to post something. Some don’t even have a mailbox. If we were serious about strengthening local governance, we’d need to make it easier, not harder, for people to have their say.

In September, I asked the Minister of Local Government this question: will he consider amendments to the Local Electoral Act to bring the administration of local body elections away from private companies and under the Electoral Commission? What did he say? He said no. This directly contradicts the Prime Minister in Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference saying he’s discussing the Electoral Commission running the local elections with Minister Watts.

Secondly, the voting process has been under-funded and under-resourced. In Mt Albert Library, people were waiting two hours to cast their special votes. With a more transient population—also thanks to this Government’s rental rules—how many people have got two hours to wait to cast their special vote? Under-resourcing voting systems is a form of voter suppression, though less blatant than this Government’s Electoral Amendment Bill, which would roll back voter enrolment for general elections by 13 days.

Thirdly, and equally troubling, is the reliance on private companies to administer our elections. Private companies are not—however well meaning, however good the staff—subject to the Official Information Act. They have been entrusted with responsibilities that should be firmly in public hands. Democracy is not a business model. When private contractors are running elections, who holds them accountable? Where is the transparency?

But let me finish this speech about local government on a more heartening note. Despite the attacks on te reo, Te Tiriti, and Māori customary rights by the coalition partners, a strong majority across the country—as of today, 520,113 voters—voted to keep Māori wards. [Holds up graph] I would like to table the graph that shows the margin of more than 60,000 people supporting Māori wards. And who knows, by the time the specials are counted, there may be more councils keeping Māori wards. That’s a huge step up from the first couple of decades of this century, when only Wairoa got through.

If we want to rebuild trust in local democracy, we need reform backed by the Greens, Labour, and National—and if any of the other smaller parties want to join us, that would be good. No going from four wellbeings to no wellbeings and back again.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Holds up graph] May I table this? I’m seeking leave to table this—I did in my speech.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): And what is it? Is that a document that’s available?

CELIA WADE-BROWN: It’s a graph that’s been compiled and designed and is not in the public sphere.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): All right. Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

CELIA WADE-BROWN: Thank you.

Hon Mark Patterson: Mr Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Point of order. Sorry, was there objection?

Hon Mark Patterson: Yes, there was.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Sorry, I didn’t hear that, from the depths of the House, there was an objection.

Hon Mark Patterson: Publicly available information.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.