Debate On Prime Minister's Statement (2025)

Sitting date: 28 January2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'SSTATEMENT

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of theOpposition): I move, That all the words after"That" be deleted and replaced with "This House has noconfidence in this coalition Government because under itsincompetent, arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership,New Zealand is going backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs,record numbers are leaving the country, and their prioritiesare wrong and out of touch."

Kiwis looking forsome hope from the Prime Minister at the beginning of thisyear would be disappointed by that contribution. If that isthe best the Government has to offer, it's going to be avery long year for the National Party backbench—asevidenced by the fact that you could see them pulling outtheir phones after only a few minutes, and franticallydusting up their CVs. The fact that they've given up alreadyis a real warning sign for this Government.

But NewZealanders were looking for more: a realisation from thisGovernment that despite all the big talk last year, it'sstill getting harder for New Zealand families, it's stillgetting harder for New Zealand businesses. An acknowledgmentfrom this Government that they have driven New Zealand intothe worst economic recession since 1991 might have been agood place to start. An acknowledgment that the deepest cutsto Government spending since 1991 made that situation somuch worse than it needed to be would also have been a goodplace to start. New Zealanders were looking for theGovernment to finally step up and take responsibility fortheir own actions and the consequences of them, but theywould have been disappointed by that because the Governmentwon't take responsibility for the choices that it has beenmaking.

All Governments have choices, and thisGovernment has been making the wrong ones. Like $2.9 billionin tax cuts for landlords because they promised rents weregoing to go down. What's happened? Rents have continued togo up under this Government. Like $200 billion in tax cutsfor tobacco companies while our health system descendsfurther into crisis. Like $14 billion in tax cuts that thecountry could simply not afford. Slashing affordable waterreforms leading to record rate increases up and down thecountry. Underfunding sectors like early childhood education(ECE), which sees parents paying higher fees every week tosend their kids into ECE. Scaling back and stopping newpublic house builds—what's resulted is builders, plumbers,electricians, and tradies losing their jobs at a time whenwe desperately need more houses to be built in New Zealand.Pausing and cancelling major infrastructure projects, whichmeans some of our most skilled workers have given up alreadyand left the country. Record numbers giving up and leavingthe country is one of the early legacies of this Government.All Governments have choices; this Government's making thewrong ones.

A Government that promised to get NewZealand back on track has derailed the New Zealand economy.You don't just have to take my word for that; look at theHSBC's estimates that said that New Zealand's economy hadthe largest contraction in GDP last year in the world. Theeconomists that previously called us the "rock star economy"have pointed out that we took the biggest hit in the worldin 2024. Forget the rock star economy, Nicola Willis isaiming for rock-bottom! Businesses can see that theGovernment has derailed the economy. According to theReserve Bank—who, suddenly, the Government want to claimall the credit for—business investment will be lower atthe end of this year than at the end of our last LabourGovernment. That is the early legacy of this NationalGovernment. We see businesses every week going to the wallas company liquidations continue to go through the roof.Companies that survived COVID can't survive National. Thatis what this Government are doing for the New Zealandeconomy.

Kiwis are just getting more hollow words andrhetoric from this Government; no real action on powerprices, on groceries, on rates, or on transport costs. Inthe real world—that's the world where people who aren'twealthy and sorted continue to face prices that climb,insurance that goes up, rates that are increasing, energybills increasing, and transport costs increasing—Kiwis arestruggling, and this Government is busy telling them, "It'sall OK. It's getting better.", when those New Zealandersknow it's not getting better; it's getting harder.

Allthey're getting from the Prime Minister is more words. He'slike a walking Dale Carnegie seminar. He spent the last yeartalking about the cost of living prices; New Zealanders arestill waiting for the fix. He spent the last year talkingabout growing the economy, and all he did was prove thattalking about growing the economy doesn't actually grow theeconomy. New Zealanders want to see that this Government hasa plan, and so far this Government has proven they don'thave one.

Oh—no actually, Christopher Luxon doeshave a good idea. He's decided that the person who drove theNew Zealand economy into the deepest recession in nearly 35years should be tasked with economic growth. The person whomade everything so much worse for New Zealanders isapparently Christopher Luxon's magical solution to NewZealand's lack of economic growth. What she doesn't realiseand what Christopher Luxon doesn't realise is that NicolaWillis' austerity agenda is utterly incompatible withraising living standards for all New Zealanders.

It'snot just about growing the economy but what we grow and howwe grow it actually matters as well, and that's a discussionthis Government aren't willing to have, because this is themost hard right, neo-liberal Government New Zealand has seenin a generation. They are following the typical right-wingplaybook: defund public services so that they struggle,defund public services so that they are destabilised and NewZealanders get dissatisfied. And we know what comes next:privatisation. Because that is what they've done for thelast 40 years and that is exactly the playbook that we areseeing now: underfund public services, run them into theground, cut them and hock them off—that is what thisGovernment wants to do.

How did that work for therailways? When they sold it off, it got asset stripped byits private owners and the taxpayers ended up having to buyit back and bail it out. How did that work with the powercompanies? Well, if you're a shareholder in the powercompanies, pretty well actually, because they are gougingNew Zealand consumers every day—every day, gouging NewZealand consumers—under this privatised model introducedby the last National Government, who said that morecompetition would lead to lower power prices. How's thatworking out for New Zealanders so far now? And they are nowpromising more of the same. How about the botchedTransmission Gully public-private partnership, whichultimately meant that the private sector took all the money,and the public covered all of that risk in the supposedpublic-private partnership?

Instead, all we get fromChristopher Luxon is more hollow words; no real action ondealing with the lack of competition in New Zealand. Here'ssome news for those members opposite: competitive freemarkets require rules. Cutting regulation actually helps themonopolies; it doesn't help everyday New Zealanders. Whenthey talk about cutting red tape, they're actually talkingabout cutting protection for consumers; they're actuallytalking about making it easier for the monopolies to gougeconsumers more, rather than protecting everyday New Zealandconsumers.

Instead, we're now seeing, once again, thattired, old rhetoric from the right about privatisingassets—and our hospitals, of course, are first in thefiring line. I remember, back in the 1990s, going tohospital with a member of my own family, and before we couldeven get through the door, they had to write out a chequefor the care that was about to be delivered, because theNational Party decided a privatised, user-pays model wasgoing to be more efficient. How did that work out? We onthis side of the House believe that your access tohealthcare should not be determined by how wealthy you are,which is the view on the other side of theHouse.

Whether you live or die should not bedetermined by your bank balance, which seems to be the viewon the other side of the House. If privatising health is sogreat, why is it that the privatised American health systemcosts more per person than just about any other healthsystem in the world and yet delivers worse health outcomes?That seems to be the system that they want tomimic.

But, once again, don't just take my word forit. Just last year, the Commonwealth Fund studied 10 healthsystems around the world, including New Zealand, Australia,the UK, and the US. They found that privatised healthsystems came in last for administrative efficiency. NewZealand was third. We actually, according to them, had quitean efficient system. What does this Government want to do?They want to mimic the worst of the health systems acrossthe world and think that that's going to deliver betteroutcomes.

But this Government don't like evidence andthey don't like facts, because, let's be clear, this is aGovernment that is more interested in entrenching privilegethan supporting everyday New Zealanders. David Seymour, ourfuture Deputy Prime Minister, gives speeches where he railsagainst two standards of citizenship then delivers a speechwhere he said the country's divided into twotribes—according to David Seymour—the rich and themediocre. That is the view of David Seymour, our futureDeputy Prime Minister, and it reflects the views of thisGovernment. The people that work hard every day are mediocrelosers. We know that—Andrew Bayly gave us a hint of thatlast year, and now David Seymour is reinforcing it, that thepeople who choose to teach, the people who choose to benurses, the people who choose to become police, the peoplewho enter the Defence Force, they're mediocre according tothis Government. Those with disabilities: mediocre,according to this Government.

Hon DavidSeymour: Point of order, Mr Speaker. To completelymisrepresent what someone has said in a way that reflectsbadly on, for example, the police of this country I thinkbrings this House into disrepute, and he should withdraw thecomment.

SPEAKER: This so far hasbeen quite a robust debate. I would've interrupted itearlier, but I noticed that most of the additional commentcoming from the floor of the House was coming from theGovernment's own side, so I didn't then. I think one of thepoints about this is that there will be things that are saidthat are debatable. I'm not about to rule on every littlepoint that upsets everybody in the House.

RtHon Winston Peters: Point of order, Mr Speaker.There are some of us that think that the standards of thisHouse have seriously declined. Now, when you're giving aruling, it is not right for a member of Parliament to standthere impatiently waiting for you to stop. That shows norespect for you or this institution. So I would ask you tocheck what Mr Hipkins just did and tell him not to behavelike that in the future.

SPEAKER:Yes, please remain in your seat until you'recalled.

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well,point of order, Mr Speaker. Generally, members stand whenthey wish to be called.

SPEAKER: Yes,but I was actually ruling, so, technically, you're just abit ahead of the gun, as it were.

Rt Hon CHRISHIPKINS: Oh, Mr Speaker, it is just the enthusiasmthat we have on this side of the House, because on this sideof the House we actually oppose the Government's view thatyou should entrench the rights of people who have wealth tothe detriment of people who don't, which is clearly theagenda of the ACT Party, and it is now going to be theagenda of this Government as well.

This Government'sdone a lot of punching down over the last year, but theyhave demonstrated they have no plan to lift New Zealand up.This is a Government who believe that New Zealanders whowork hard for a living are mediocre. That is David Seymour'sposition, and it is the position of thisGovernment.

Let's talk about David Seymour'sRegulatory Standards Bill, a bill that says there should betwo levels of rights in New Zealand: rights for those whohave wealth and lesser rights for those who don't havewealth. That is the position of the ACT Party. But don'tjust take my word for it: even Roger Douglas thinks thatthat is now the position of the modern-day ACT Party, thattheir goal in politics is to entrench privilege rather thanprovide opportunity for New Zealanders. Those aren't just mywords; Roger Douglas, the founder of the ACT Party, nowbelieves that that is the ACT Party's mission in thisParliament. Well, I can tell you now, the RegulatoryStandards Bill is a bill that has no place in this House,and I can guarantee you this: in the first hundred days ofthe next Labour Government, it will be repealed, because onthis side of the House we believe that responsibleregulation is about protecting New Zealanders—protectingall New Zealanders, not just those with a healthy bankbalance, which seems to be the position on the other side ofthe House.

This is not a Government working foreveryday New Zealanders who are working hard to get ahead.Christopher Luxon says the bottom line is that we should sayno less and yes a lot more. What did they say to deliveringnew inter-island ferries? No. What did they say todelivering a new Dunedin hospital? No. What did they say todelivering affordable water reform?

HonMembers: No!

Rt Hon CHRISHIPKINS: What did they say to delivering new Statehousing?

Hon Members:No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What didthey say to delivering school classroomupgrades?

Hon Members:No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What didthey say to delivering improved infrastructure for thecountry?

Hon Members:No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What didthey say yes to? That's probably a bigger question, becausethey have said yes to a few things: 13,000 more kids livingin poverty—they said yes to that. Scrapping all meaningfulaction on climate change—they said yes to that. Higherunemployment—they said yes to that. Cuts to support forpeople with disabilities—they said yes to that. Higherpublic transport costs—they said yes to that. Tax breaksfor tobacco companies—they said yes to that. Suppressingwage growth—they said a very big yes to that. And slashingregional manufacturing jobs—they said yes to that. Noaction from the Government to turn any of those thingsaround.

The Prime Minister now thinks that moretourism is going to be the answer for New Zealand. He doesknow quite a lot about tourism, though. In fact, he visitedTe Puke so many times he forgot he was actually in Hawaii.But they cut funding for promoting tourism in last year'sBudget. They hiked up the international visitor levy andthen gouged that money back out of tourism once again. Nowthey suddenly think that more tourists is the answer, whenone of our biggest tourist destinations, Queenstown, issaying that they're going to have to stop all developmentbecause their infrastructure can't cope. So not only did theGovernment grind infrastructure to a halt; it's now sayingit wants to cram more people in and put the infrastructurethat already can't cope under even more pressure.

Theysay they want science, they want more investment inscience—they cut $500 million of investment from sciencein last year's Budget; 500 science and research jobs havebeen cut. Take GNS, the Institute of Geological and NuclearSciences: they cut 59 science jobs, including scientists,geologists, geophysicists, geochemists—the sorts of jobsthat we need more of in New Zealand. Take the NationalInstitute of Water and Atmospheric Research, climateresearch: 90 jobs down the drain under thisGovernment.

Now, I also do want to mention road cones,because it seems, according to the Prime Minister, that roadcones are the thing holding the New Zealand economyback—or, more to the point, health and safety is holdingthe New Zealand economy back. Well, let's put a few facts onthe table, facts that this Government won't like. NewZealand has five times the fatality rate at work of theUnited Kingdom, twice the rate of Australia, and yet thisGovernment seem to think that health and safety is theproblem. Five thousand to 6,000 hospitalisations in NewZealand happen every year because of injury and illnesscaused by work. Health and safety is not too high a price topay. Knowing that someone is going to go home at the end ofthe day is not too high a price to pay. Work should not killpeople and it should not make them sick. That is not toohigh a price to pay.

I think before the Government gogutting health and safety regulations and rules that aredesigned to ensure that Kiwis can be healthy at work andmake it home at the end of the day, they should understandwhy those rules were put in place in the first place,because, actually, most of them were put in place under thelast National Government, who recognised that peopleshouldn't die at work and that our rate of workplace deathand injuries is far too high.

Too many New Zealandersare giving up hope and leaving the country. They werelooking to Christopher Luxon and this Government for hope;they will have seen none in the last week. But there isreason to be optimistic. We can look around the world and wecan see the worst in the world, or we can look around theworld and we can see opportunity and we can see what NewZealand could be. We could be an international powerhousefor renewable energy, where renewable energy is acompetitive advantage for New Zealand. We could be investingin our future now, rather than cutting and deliveringausterity, which is what Nicola Willis and this Governmentare delivering.

Things can be better here in NewZealand. We can have a Government that wants to back NewZealanders, rather than a Government that's all aboutentrenching privilege, helping out their mates, and makingthe wrong choices. We can have a Government that wants tosee the New Zealand economy grow and get Kiwis back to work,but grow in a way where everybody benefits, not just thoseat the top, which is all this Government has been focusedon. New Zealanders deserve better from this Government. Theydeserve hope, and they haven't been givenany.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK(Co-Leader—Green): E te Māngai, tēnā koe;tēnā koutou e te Whare. The Prime Minister is talking aheck of a lot about growth, and I've got to say he knows alittle bit about it because his Government is knowinglymaking decisions to grow climate-changing emissions. It isknowingly making decisions to grow inequality, poverty,homelessness, and—notably—record numbers of NewZealanders leaving this country.

The fundamentalquestion in a commencement speech like this should be:what's the point of Government?

Rt Hon WinstonPeters: Oh, hysteria.

CHLÖESWARBRICK: I mean it. What's the point ofGovernment, the Rt Hon Winston Peters? Government issupposed to make the best possible decisions on behalf ofthe welfare of everybody in the country. It is supposed tobe about ensuring that everybody gets access to what theyneed not only to survive but to thrive. It is supposed to beabout making long-term decisions on behalf of all ofus—that is, right now and into the future. It is supposedto be about protecting the vital, fragile ecosystemnecessary for life as we know it. The point of Government isto look after this thing that we call the social contract,to ensure the rules that we put in place to govern ourrelationships with each other and the planet that we live onare fair and good.

The point of Government is toorganise us and create the things that all of us can onlycreate when we work together. That is what makes a nation:working together in pursuit of our shared values. That iswhere the idea of public services and fundamental humanrights comes from. Everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand isentitled—

Rt Hon Winston Peters:New Zealand! That's its name.

CHLÖESWARBRICK: Mr Deputy Prime Minister—to housing,healthcare, education, a clean environment, and a stableclimate. And it is the job of Government to ensure thateverybody gets those things—and I meaneverybody.

Rt Hon Winston Peters:Next paragraph! I repeat, nextparagraph!

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: No one,Mr Deputy Prime Minister, is actually entitled to make aprofit, but everyone is entitled to their basic humanrights, to a roof over their head, to kai on the table, andaccess to basic opportunities. But enter stage right: thecost of living and the decline of democracy. The connectionbetween these two things is, I think, important tounderstand. Because it's actually a pretty wild idea whenyou think about it, this notion of the cost of living; theidea that from the moment that you are born there is animmediate life-sentence financial cost to yourlife.

Two-hundred years ago, there was no concept ofthe idea of the cost of living in Aotearoa. There was noidea of private ownership here. There was no notion ofprofit. The founding agreements of this nation, Te Tiriti oWaitangi me He Whakaputanga, were governancearrangements.

Rt Hon Winston Peters:And you were there?

CHLÖE SWARBRICK:They promised that everyone on this whenua would be lookedafter. But then, Mr Deputy Prime Minister, came thedishonouring; the slow and the winding process ofprivatisation. Over time, fewer and fewer people owned moreand more of the resources at the expense of everyone andeverything else. And today in this country, 311 householdshold more wealth combined than the bottom 2.5 million NewZealanders.

That inequality and that impoverishmentand that theft of human potential didn't just happennaturally. It happened because of Government decisions toprivatise profit at the cost of people and planet.Government decisions which those at the top have foughttheir way to that place to pile and hoard all of that wealthat the expense of everybody else and the fraying socialcontract under immense pressure to hold our countrytogether.

The Government wants New Zealanders to thinkthat the only way that things will improve for them and fortheir whānau is if they, too, mercilessly fight their wayto the top. But New Zealanders need to know that that isjust not true. Because if every single year the rules ofthis game and this thing that we call the economy see 90percent of people worse off while 10 percent of people clawtheir way to the top, I think we should change the game.Because it's not just a game—it happens that that is ourlives.

And privatisation means that basic needs willcost more. That is because the same basic things—whetherit be housing, healthcare, or education—they're stillneeded. But now, New Zealanders will also be paying for aprofit and shareholder dividends and fat CEO bonuses.Privatisation not only means higher costs of living but alower quality of life, and New Zealanders do not want tolive to work. Privatisation is precisely that death sentencethat the Government would like to take us down.

InNovember last year, as this House debated the Treatyprinciples bill, I said that capitalism needs colonisation.This insatiable economic system needs new frontiers toconstantly assimilate and exploit. And as it happens, thesame guy who is doing his best to currently tell everybodyin this country that Māori are apparently coming to takemore and more rights is the same guy who is trying to selloff New Zealanders' rights to access public healthcare. Andthat's just the start.

Public ownership protects thedignity of everyone, especially those who can least affordit. Privatisation means that if you can't afford it, youdon't get it. It literally means that people who cannotafford their medicine die. Once upon a time, not all toolong ago, everything—the land that produces our food, theresources that go into what we eat and what we drink andwhat we use—well, they weren't divvied up and they didn'thave fences around them and they weren't owned in such a waythat those who couldn't afford it didn't get access to it.The very idea of the cost of living came from privatisation.When we privatise healthcare, when we privatise housing,education, and energy, you end up paying more to accessthose things. And if you can't pay, you don't access thosethings.

In October of last year, I asked the PrimeMinister about whether his Government was intentionallystarving public services of the investment that they need inorder to sow the seeds of privatisation. Government memberslaughed at me, the Prime Minister accused me of conspiracytheories, and the current and the incoming Deputy PrimeMinisters joined in. Now, he's telling us that he's going totake privatisation to the next election, which means thatthis Government right now is currently managing ourcountry's assets and wellbeing with a mind to selling thosethings off in the not-too-distant future.

Just thinkabout the former National Government's decision to ignore anoverwhelming public referendum not to sell public assets.And more than a decade ago that National Government sold offparts of our electricity sector against the wishes of thepublic. And today we all pay the price of under-investedinfrastructure and a manufactured electricity crisis poweredby fossil fuel dependency every single winter in order forus to keep shareholder returns high.

Now, let's lookat just what the Prime Minister is saying. Last week, hetold everybody in his state of the nation speech about hisplans to, and I quote, "roll out the red carpet" forinternational investment in key infrastructure liketransport and energy. This Government has decided to cutpublic services to the bone to pay for landlord and tobaccotax cuts, and now it's becoming crystal-clear that thisGovernment has no real interest whatsoever in investing inor building or growing our public services orinfrastructure.

Instead, they want it to be bought,built, and owned by major foreign corporations, foreignGovernments, billionaires, or hedge funds. And that storydoes not end well for the little guy. The Government iscurrently actively and openly asking the world's richestpeople to build and own the public services that all of usultimately rely on because they are refusing to tax richpeople fairly to maintain the services and the assets thatwe all rely on.

Christopher Luxon's Government doesn'twant to govern; they want to farm out accountability. Theywant to sell it off. And if we privatise our healthcaresystem, the Government will no longer be responsible forthose waitlists. They will have sold off thatresponsibility, and then we'll all be told thatresponsibility is far too expensive to buy back because thecorporations making exorbitant profit by charging whateverthey want will charge far too much.

One of thegreatest fibs that those proponents of privatisation tell usis that somehow it will cost us, the people of this country,less. But I ask people just to look at the United States ofAmerica where the Government spends over 16 percent of GDPon an almost fully privatised healthcare system, compared toaround 10 percent for most OECD countries. Meanwhile,Americans gets comparatively lower lifespans and much poorerhealth outcomes while corporations rake in astronomicalprofit.

Under privatisation, the value of human lifedecreases, but it's not just about human life; it's aboutall life. The Prime Minister wants to privatise ourconservation estate and our seabed for mining companies'profits. This Government is more interested in the rights ofcorporations than the rights of its citizens. The publicservices aren't just "nice to haves"; they are thenecessities of life. Public ownership means that everybodygets what we need because we all collectively pay for it,and the job of the Government is to manage our collectivedreams.

New Zealanders do not dream of lining ofpockets of offshore multinational corporations andbillionaires. We dream of spending enough time with ourwhānau, of doing the things that we love, and of gettingout into nature. We do not dream of living in order to work;we do not dream of fruitless competition and exhaustingourselves into the ground.

Hon ShaneJones: Exhausting!

CHLÖESWARBRICK: We dream of things, Mr Shane Jones, thatare actually pretty basic: that is, everybody's human rightsbeing upheld, everybody having housing and healthcare anddecent work. But privatisation takes away those rights. Thebuilding up of our public services, however, is the best wayto protect those rights, and we need to have that here athome.

The wealthiest 311 households, who hold morewealth than the bottom two and a half million NewZealanders, pay an effective tax rate less than half of theaverage New Zealander. What that means is that themulti-multi-multi-millionaires and billionaires pay half theeffective tax rate of our nurses, our teachers, ourmidwives, our farmers, and our firefighters. And theGovernment knows this; in fact, actually, the lastGovernment knows it too because they commissioned thereport. But this Government went a step further and in itsfirst month or so in the job, they removed the enablinglegislation to report on the inequities of that very taxsystem: "Nothing to see here, don't worry."

Not toolong ago, one of the new Ministers of Commerce and ConsumerAffairs said in a debate in this very House, and I quote,"There is such a thing as legitimate tax avoidance." Thatwas a member of this Government stating on the public recordthat he knows, as this Government knows, that we have set upthe rules in this economy in such a way that if you canafford the right accountants and the right lawyers, you canafford to avoid paying your fair share. It's totallylegal.

But what is legal is not always what is right.In fact, much of history over the last 100 years alone hasbeen a fight for making what is right legal: to redistributeresources and power, to make the dream of democracy real.Privatisation erodes democracy; it takes away our sharedresources and therefore our shared power, and it hands thoseresources and that power to a tiny few. The consequences ofthat approach are clear.

Those with a whole lot ofmoney are doing their best to take over the media landscapeand our politics and therefore our imagination. They do notwant regular people to have the space to dream or the timeto organise. In fact, the wealthiest in this world have madeit pretty clear that they're setting their sights oncolonising space while letting the planet burn. But buildingup our shared public resources strengthen that democracy. Itgives all of us more control over what happens in ourcountry, and through public accountability. That is supposedto be the point of Government.

Aotearoa can and willbe a country where we uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, wherethere are homes for everybody that are warm and dry andaffordable; where we recognise housing as a human right;where we can run on 100 percent renewable energy; whereeverybody gets access to high quality education andhealthcare, including dental; where everybody has a liveableincome that ensures their dignity, their security and theirfreedom. This is Aotearoa where people and planet comefirst, This is the Aotearoa that we are working together tobuild.

More and more people, I believe, and I hearabout when I talk to them out there in the real world, arerealising that they are not crazy, but this system is crazymaking. And the more people who realise that the failings inthe system are not a personal failing, but in fact somethingwhich goes to the root core of the greed on which thissystem is built, then more and more New Zealanders willrealise that they have an opportunity to step into theirdemocratic power and change this system.

We have seenthat the impossible becomes possible when regular peopleorganise and work together to make history: civil rights, TeTiriti rights—

Hon Shane Jones:Wake up—wake up.

CHLÖESWARBRICK:—queer rights, women's rights, andenvironmental rights did not come from nowhere, Mr ShaneJones. Once upon a time we were told that they were entirelyimpossible. But when we organise, when regular people worktogether and find the things that unify us, regular peoplewin. And the old guard, as has been well evidenced by theharping on from the Government benches throughout thisspeech, are quaking in their boots. They want the littleguys fighting, not organising.

So when New Zealandershear spin about efficiency or progress this year, I wantthem to remember: the only ones who win in that game are thewealthy and sorted. Everyone else is left to fight overscraps. But it does not have to be that way. At the end oflast year, the Green Party released He Ara Anamata, ouralternative emissions reduction plan. Our plan outlines aneconomy that can support people and the planet instead ofexploiting and exhausting both. What that means is a greenjobs guarantee: planting native trees instead of pine;efficient public transport; sustainable food production;restoring our wetlands; designing our cities better;distributed and resilient renewable energy; real, justtransition plans led by local communities, and so much more.He Ara Anamata offers a pathway to build a world in which wenot only reduce the cost of living but also improve thequality of life.

In my final remarks, I just want topoint out: this is Aotearoa. We do not want imported culturewars and the privatising of public services that in turnhurt and bankrupt our people. We want a Government thathonours Te Tiriti and ensures that we are all looked after,as was the promise in that founding governing agreement. Wewill work together in unshakeable faith to make preciselythat dream a reality. My message to New Zealanders is to notlet this Government frustrate them to the point ofdisillusionment and switching off. Politics belongs to thosewho turn up, and in 2025, Aotearoa is going to turnup.

SPEAKER: As I was waiting for theresponse to the Hon Chris Hipkins' speech to subside, Iforgot to mention that we are now debating the question thatthe amendment to the motion be agreed.

HonDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you very much,Mr Speaker. Happy New Year. It's nice to see you, and I hopethat you have had a sunny summer down inChristchurch.

SPEAKER: It was utterlydreadful. Never mind.

Hon DAVIDSEYMOUR: I'm sorry to hear about that, Mr Speaker,but to all members, I welcome you and us back to Parliament.To all of those who support us and make this place tick,staff in all sorts of jobs, welcome back toParliament.

I spent the summer, much of it, travellingaround, listening to people and asking them what it is thatthey are looking forward to, what they're worried about, andwhat they hope for in 2025, and I went as far north asNorthland and as far south as Southland. I listened topeople who were police officers, tradies and builders,accounting people, people who write software, people whoteach in schools—you name it. I heard from New Zealanders,and if I was to play back the mood music of those responses,it would be a little bit like something Crowded House oncesaid—now we're getting somewhere.

You see, peopleunderstand that we've got a big mountain to climb—thereare a lot of challenges. But I think they'd find it totallyimplausible for Chris Hipkins to stand up and say,"Everything is terrible but only 18 months ago when we werein charge, it was fantastic." One reason that they wouldfind it implausible—and with all of the hyperbole and allthe exaggeration we heard from him, I think Chris Hipkinsmight have got a thesaurus for Christmas. People know thatthe facts are that one of the biggest issues they have isthe cost of living. When this Government was elected,inflation was running at 5.6 per cent per annum, and itpeaked at 7.3 percent per annum a year prior to that. Todayit is down almost at the midpoint of the target band—2percent inflation. That is a real change. That is a realvictory for New Zealanders—that while prices may still behigh, they have stopped rising because this Government haskilled inflation.

And then people would say, "OK, weknow that that has been tough and we know that harddecisions were required, but we still want to see thiseconomy get going and get growing." And they can appreciatethat that is not easy and that if it was, everybody would bedoing it. But we can start to have a mature discussion aboutwhat the factors are that make economies grow.

Now, Ilistened very carefully to the speech of Chlöe Swarbrick.She seemed to romanticise a time in New Zealand's history200 years ago when there were no fences, there were noproperty rights, there were no buildings, and there was noprofit. Perhaps what she forgot to say is that 200 yearsago, life expectancy in New Zealand was 40. That tells youabout the sense of rationality that we're getting from theGreen Party. In fact, Chlöe Swarbrick's speeches these daysare so unhinged, voters are actually moving to te PatiMāori—you wouldn't believe it. But on this side of theHouse, we have an orthodox view of economics whichunderstands that if we want our economy to grow, if we wantpeople to have security in their jobs, if we want, as oneyoung person said to me, to be able to get ahead withoutleaving the country, then we need to understand where growthcomes from. And it starts with having investment so thatpeople have capital to work with. Somebody digging a ditchwith a digger can dig it a lot faster than someone with ashovel, but you need investment capital to do that. And thesame goes for every business up and down this country—howdo we get capital to grow and be more sophisticated so wecan sell better products and pay our workers more to makethem?

So what's this Government doing? We're making iteasier to get capital from outside the country as well asinside it. We're reforming the Overseas Investment Act, andI hear people on the other side say, "This is terrible.We'll be serfs in our own land." Imagine if other people inother countries actually wanted to send their money to NewZealand and invest in businesses so workers could producemore and get paid more. That's what they're reallysaying—that's what they're really opposed to. But thisGovernment knows that if we want workers to get paid more,they need more capital. And here's another thing we coulddo. We could improve our banking sector. For example, wehave a Reserve Bank Governor who put in place capitalrequirements that have pushed up the price of borrowing toevery firm, every farm, and every family in this country.Now the Minister of Finance can pick up the phone and say,"It's not going to work, mate. Just drop it." These capitalrequirements were put in place in order for us to getthrough a major shock, and when the shock of COVID-19 camealong, guess what! Actually, we were fine with the oldcapital requirements. We never needed to have them phased inat all, and we should drop them today. That would reduce thecost of borrowing for New Zealand families and New Zealandfirms

Another thing that we need for economic growth,beside a supply of investment capital, is skills. Inparticular, we need to make sure that when a child spendsabout 12,000 or 13,000 hours in the education system, theyactually receive the knowledge and the skills and the habitsand abilities required to succeed in a modern economy. I'mproud to be part of a Government that is upgrading thecurriculum and is working hard to stress the importance ofactually going to school, since New Zealanders were told foryears that maybe that wasn't so important.

I'm proudto be part of a Government that this week is having sevennew charter schools opening, because the school that thestudent is at today is the one that they may not be going totoo often and they're not learning. One example is a charterschool in Christchurch, opened by a collaboration of fourState school principals, and they've said, "There arestudents that we know we are not serving and cannot serve tothe best of our ability as educators." So they've set up andsponsored a separate charter school amongst four Stateschool principals so that those children will have a placeto go where they can flourish and reach theirpotential.

Another thing that we need beside peoplewith skills can capital is a regulatory environment wherepeople can spend more of their time doing the thing thattheir business and their career is set up to do, and less oftheir time trying to fill out forms, get permission, and betold "No" too many times.

It's the teacher or theearly childhood educator who said, "All I wanted to do washelp children reach their potential, and all I actually dois fill out forms for the Ministry of Education." It's thebuilder who says, "It takes twice as long to get permissionto do this as it does to actually do it." It is the personwho goes along to get a loan and finds that they can'tbecause the hurdles they have to jump over are absurd. Andwe actually heard this from Chris Hipkins in his speech. Hesaid that this Government's approach to regulation wouldstrip New Zealanders of their protections. He couldn't givea single example, but I'll give him one. The CreditContracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA)changes that his Government brought in at the end of 2021effectively tanked the housing market thatNovember—actually, it was that December; November was thepeak—because people went along to their bank and theyfound that to get a minor increase to their credit limitthey had to tell the bank how much they spent each month onpetfood. People think I'm making that up. That actuallyhappened in New Zealand under the previous Government, andthey knew it was wrong because, to give them credit, theyactually removed the rule. So, again, if we're going to havea rational discussion about what sort of things a Governmentcan and should do, then we can all agree that there is someregulations we need, others that we don't, and we should getrid of the ones that we don't.

And thankfully, thisGovernment has a fantastic agenda of regulatory reform:Nicole McKee on anti - money laundering and counteringforeign terrorism laws; Brooke van Velden on health andsafety at work laws; Chris Penk on buildingmaterials—making it easier to get in foreign buildingmaterials; Chris Bishop and Simon Court on replacing the bigdaddy of bad regulation, the Resource Management Act, sothat New Zealanders can use their property and develop it ona basis of respecting private propertyrights.

Hon Shane Jones: Andaquaculture—aquaculture!

Hon DAVIDSEYMOUR: And aquaculture—as Shane Jonessays—will be easier to do in this environment. That is thekind of regulatory reform that will mean that everybody,from people who are farming the land in order to feed theworld in this country, to people building a home, to runningan early childhood centre, to giving out a loan to someonewho's trying to get ahead, will be able to spend more timedoing their actual job than doing their compliance job. Andthe most important change the Government will make, in myview, is to introduce and pass the Regulatory Standards Billso that, finally, New Zealanders will be able to actuallypoint to a statute that sets out the rights that they havewhen the Government wants to regulate away their ability touse and exchange private property.

That is absolutelyessential to any society that wants growth and wants to bewealthier. And you just have to ask yourself who would workhard and give up today for a better tomorrow if they thinkthat their rights can be wished away with the flick of apen? It is essential in any society that you are not subjectto arbitrary takings, regulatory takings, or having whatyou've worked for taken away at a moment's notice by aGovernment that doesn't hold to its own standards ofregulation making. This is the kind of progress that thisGovernment is making: serious, well-thought-out progress inorder to ensure that we have better policy so that NewZealanders can thrive on their own terms.

And then wehear, again, and it's low-quality debate, people talkingendlessly about privatisation as if it is some enormousevil. The simple fact is that in all societies—you know,some people may be interested to know that even in theSoviet Union—people covertly held private property; youcan never quite get rid of all of it, I'm sorry, folks. Thething is, in all societies there is a mixture of public andprivate ownership and a mixture of public and privateactivity. It is true in healthcare today. Every GP clinic,every pharmacy, many of the theatres where operations aredone, they're all private. Many of the doctors who areworking, doing those operations or doing thoseconsultations, guess what? They're working for privatebusinesses as specialists. Many of the medications—infact, all of the medications people are taking and all ofthe medical devices they're using, they're private. So it'scrazy to think that there is only public or privatehealthcare. Every system has a mixture of that. And mychallenge and my question is: do we have the right mix?Because in the last five years we've increased spending by$10 billion and still most New Zealanders would say we havefirst world people with a system that is letting down thosedoctors, nurses, orderlies, and allied health professionals,while still failing to satisfy the desires and the needs ofevery single patient.

So perhaps we could have agrown-up discussion about it. How do they do it in France?Well, for the most part, the Government assists people tobuy private insurance, which has them treated largely inprivate facilities. Now if France is a bit too scary andcapitalist for the left, perhaps we could have a look atsome of the countries in East Asia. There is more than onemodel and there is more than one way of doing things. And ifwe want to succeed as a society, then we need to do betterin health and education.

And the same goes for theGovernment's balance sheet of capital assets. We're aGovernment with $200 billion of debt, scheduled to paynearly $10 billion of interest on the debt. That's realmoney. You know, that is—doing quick mentalarithmetic—$2,000 per New Zealander in interest paymentsnext year. Just the interest on the debt. Now, if we'regoing to pay—

Sam Uffindell:Thanks, Labour!

Hon DAVID SEYMOUR:Did I get that right? The guy from King's is just checkingmy maths.

Sam Uffindell: I said,thanks Labour.

Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: Oh,he said, thanks Labour. He's still in the tribalpolitics—I thought he was helping with themaths.

You see, the thing is, we need to askourselves: if we have $570 billion of assets and $200billion worth of debt and a major shortage of capital assetsin critical areas such as Auckland where Watercare hasred-zoned whole neighbourhoods saying, "You can't do anymore development because we can't afford the pipes and thepumping stations." Do we have the balance right? Do we havethe balance right when our nearest neighbour is seriouslyimproving and increasing the size of its defence force? Dowe need to be putting more of our balance sheet into that?And again, imagine if we could have a mature discussionwithout the carping and the ideology and the people who mayhave, you know, swallowed a Thesaurus for Christmas as faras I could tell, you know, pulling out all these tropes. Weactually need to say, "Look, these are the assets we have asa Government, how do we get the best results, the bestdefence, the best healthcare?" How do we make sure that wereally do the best we can so that all of us can leave thisplace and feel like we have succeeded as a country and as aGovernment and as a Parliament. That's my challenge or werothat I lay down.

And there's one more thing thatnumerous people brought up with me. Someone said to me justearlier this morning, "David, I was thinking about thedebate you're engaged in." I said, "Which one?" But he meantthe one about the Treaty Principles Bill. And so many peoplecame up and I want to acknowledge those people, thousands, Iwould guess, actually over the summer break, who said,"We're right behind you, keep going." Because there issomething deep down and innate in New Zealanders. It is oursense of fairness. New Zealand, at its heart, is anegalitarian project, a project of immigration that spans1,000 years and counting. A nation of people who come hereseeking better, but also a nation that believe that Jack'sas good as his master. At some basic level, we all breathethe same air, we all bask in the same sun, we're all wet bythe same rain, and we all deserve the same fundamental humanrights. And I found it so interesting in the last day or sothat all these people who say that Parliament has no rightto debate the meaning of our Treaty in the modern context bydefining the principles and statute, well, you know what?They all showed up to participate in the debate. And that, Ithink, is the mystery for some—not for me, I have tosay—opponents of this bill, is why it has raised so manycritical issues that New Zealanders want to discuss, and Ibelieve need to discuss.

The answer is that for toolong questions like: can Parliament make—is it ultimatelysovereign? Do we have equal rights? Is there a special placefor Māori and does it give different seats reserved at thetable or different rights to be consulted in resourcemanagement law? Those are questions that this countryfundamentally needs to decide in a civil and democraticmatter, and I'm so proud to see that that is exactly what ishappening. Even people who say they don't want the debate,rushing to the debate is actually a triumph and a fabulousthing for New Zealand.

And even if, which I stilldoubt, this bill does not pass in this Parliament, I believethat sooner or later a bill very much like it will pass intolaw, because ultimately a House divided cannot stand. Thiscountry must decide: are we truly committed to universalhuman rights? Are we truly committed to the idea that eachof us came to these islands to seek a better tomorrow forour children and their children, and therefore are we going,as New Zealanders, to give each other equal dignity inpolitics and before the law and in everyday life.

Ifthat is the truth, then I would put it like this. All Kiwiswill be equal forever, forever, forever. And it's actuallyquite fun to say. This Treaty principles really stands for:all Kiwis equal āke, ake, ake.

With that thought, Ilook forward to the debates in this chamber and to the workin Government, alongside my partners Winston Peters andChristopher Luxon, and all of us across the coalition sidein the House, doing the work to deliver on the hopes anddreams of the people that I asked and heard as I travelledthe length of New Zealand this summer. Thank you, MrSpeaker.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZFirst): The political year begins with this debate.Now, one can't raise the question of where members ofParliament are or are not, but I can recall at the beginningof this debate that the Labour Party was here, but so wasthe Green Party and so was Te Pāti Māori. We all sat overhere and heard them out. So my next question to those peoplewho are in television land—and I hope they change thescreen around to show you just what's happened here and howsome people are not prepared to be questioned or challenged.This is an extraordinary circumstance which begins with thenumber one question in this debate today which is, from whatwe've just heard from the other side, why did Labour lose in2023 when they had all the power to themselves?

In2023, the dire state the economy was in was grosslyunderstated and not understood by most. It was part of theNew Zealand First speeches leading all the way up to theelection pointing out that we were heading for a recessionand that we would have a serious battle on our hands to turnour economy around. And here today in the LabourParty—this party that's meant to be the alternative faceof a future Government—it has one economic spokespersonhere, and she's very recent to Parliament. I'm not puttingher down, but, frankly, you would have thought some seniorpeople might have stayed here to assure you what's going on.[Assistant Speaker stands up] What's wrong with that?Oh, sorry. Well, you've got to say something. You can't justget up on your feet. We'll have a few rulesyet.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Mr Peters, you've got a bit of leeway inthe first minute. As time goes on, there'll be less. Pleasedon't comment on the absence of other members or partiesfrom the House. Continue.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: No, I was not commenting on the absence ofparties in the House. I know what the ruleis.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Or comment on theSpeaker's—

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS:But I'm entitled to ask.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER(Greg O'Connor): Mr Peters—sit.

RtHon WINSTON PETERS: No, I'm not going to be putdown on this matter, right. I'll sit down in my own goodtime.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Or comment on the Speaker'sruling.

Hon Shane Jones: Point oforder on the Speaker's ruling.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: Yeah, point of order. Mr Speaker, I amentitled to ask why some people are not taking part in thedebate. They could be sitting here or they might not behere. I did not refer to their absence. And I want you toapproach this matter with a bit of acuity and particularityand not just feel like you're going to stamp a decision downand I'm going to accept it. I'm not going to accept it. ButI know the rules: you cannot mention a person being absentin this House, but you can reflect on why they're notengaged in the debate in the House.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Did you just sit down, MrPeters?

Hon Kieran McAnulty: Yes, hedid.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): You did. However, you're early on inyour speech. You may resume if you wish, despite your havingsat down—

Hon Kieran McAnulty: Heknows the rules, apparently.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER(Greg O'Connor): —but can I just ask you, MrPeters—you've had leeway; you've made your point—pleasecontinue without having to comment on the absence of othermembers or parties in the House. And then we can all enjoywhat I'm sure will be a very informativespeech.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Look,actually, you were giving a ruling and Mr McAnulty decidedto comment on that. Are you going to reflect onthat?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): We're going tocontinue—

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS:Are you going to reflect on that?

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): We're going to continueyour speech.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS:Oh, OK. It's one rule for some and a different rule forothers. I see. So here we go.

Now, to use ametaphor—that's the Labour Party metaphor—a massiveeconomic tanker was on autopilot, heading for disasterunless we did something about it. And the present Governmentgot hold of the wheel with the expectation of turning awayfrom its wayward course. That's the circumstances weinherited.

Arena Williams: You don'thave any ships.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: Beg your pardon?

ArenaWilliams: What wheel? You don't have anyships.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I don'thave any what?

Hon Members:Ships.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Ha, ha!Actually, I kind of wonder where these people get theirtraining. They come here—and I'm talking about a shipbeing out of control and on autopilot, no one knowing whaton earth's going on in terms of a metaphor for our economy,and she wants to know if I've got any ships. I mean, I canremember the days of Lange and all the sort of—I mean,people like Parker, should I speak, Mike Moore, all withexciting gibes in the House. It was quite fascinating to behere. But along comes this new crowd, untrained in theextreme, sort of amateur hour, and they show it all thetime.

Yeah, look, the reality is we understand abouthard-working Kiwis. We understand how things are biting onthem. And we're going to set out to ensure that we turn thataround. But there are so many inherited costs which wereinflationary in the extreme and arose from their squanderousspending, with no idea that if you're going to spend, youmust spend on added value, on wealth creation, on exportincreases, and not on consumption. And they did it to theextent that we're in the circumstances we're in today. Andno amount of defence of them and their past will get us pastthe situation we're in at the moment.

New ZealandFirst understands with great clarity the struggles ofworkers in this country. And I'll make one very certainjudgment for you right here: there's nobody in the labouringworking force out there that supports Labour any more. Letme tell you, there's so many workers out there—realworkers; two or three jobs—and they've abandoned Labour along time ago. New Zealand First understands theresponsibility we have as part of the Government to turn thecost pressures around and give overdue relief to ordinaryNew Zealanders. And we cannot continue to tinker around theedges without realising our economy is in dire straits andneeds fundamental and decisive change.

That's thereality we're in in 2025. And it'll take considerable timeto do this. But if we set out on the right pathway with theright policies, slowly but surely we'll get there. NewZealanders will understand one thing: that tomorrow will bebetter, the year after that will be better, and that is theonly pathway forward this Government has got. We were leftwith an out of control Labour Party debt caused by a myriadof wasteful, failed, ideological projects and ballooninginflation.

Now, look, in a moment of greathonesty—almost probably by mistake—over the weekend,Chris Hipkins said at the Labour Party caucus retreat this:"Some of the commitments that we made and I've mentionedsome of them, things like KiwiBuild, Auckland Light Rail andso on, we hadn't worked through the exact details of howthat would be and therefore we weren't able to deliver onthe commitments that we've made,". What an admission. Youhad all these policies and you had no idea how it wasconstructed, how it would work out. And in a moment of greatclarity and great honesty, he said that at the Labour Partycaucus retreat. And retreat is the right word for it, with acapital R, and he made the submission.

Now, he couldhave gone on to talk about the $3.1 billion light rail. CanI ask you, Arena Williams, how many metres were built? Ican't hear you. Over there—Labour's sitting there. Howmany metres of light rail were built? All right. The $54million spent on the cycleway across the Harbour Bridge. Howmany metres were built? I can't hear you. No, I didn'tprepare this—not like Hipkins. He came along with a yesand no session today. They've been focusing for weeks.That's the one part he got sequentially right. And for abrief moment the Labour Party showed unity. It'll be backtonight fighting each other and up against the grindstone.But for a brief moment, though, they showed great clarity.So there he was, right.

Now, the multimillion-dollarRNZ - TVNZ merger, do you think, Arena Williams, that thatwas right? Or the Cook Strait ferries blowing out to what?$4.2 billion. They were charged in May of 2020 with $401million to find two ferries. What on earth are we talkingabout $4.2 billion as a project? And you've got all thesedarn people in the gallery and journalists trying tosay—and it shows their appalling political bias—"Oh,look, forget that. What are you doing? Forget that. What areyou guys doing?" Well, the answer is you spent four yearsstuffing it up. We're going to spend about two-and-a-halfmonths trying to fix it as a Government. We inheritedthat—an appalling circumstance. Boats that were nevercontemplated in terms of size. Real questions as to whetherthey were capable of being manoeuvrable. And then, when itcame to the infrastructure, no side of the Cook Strait hadthe infrastructure prepared. And they said, "Oh, we'll buythat." So how come you go out to buy two ferries and whenit's all over, the cost of the ferries will be less than 20percent and the rest is going to be infrastructure? Andwhich parts of the disclosure and transparency did you tellthe public and taxpayers about when you made thosedecisions? This is grinding incompetence and they are notgoing to get away with it. Those are therealities.

Oh, and here's the one: the $4 millionplaying whale music to save kauri trees. Now, look, when Iheard that, I thought, "Hang on. There's so much"—as somePresident said—"fake news these days that it can'tpossibly be true." Over $4 million to play whale sounds andmusic to save kauri trees from kauri dieback. Now, aroundabout then I think they might have gone to the sociologicalclass of Auckland University and heard all about tikanga andhow it can change the whole world. This is the Te PātiMāori idea—that's how unrealistic it sounds to me. Butthat's what they did.

Rawiri Waititi:No, it's not.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS:Oh, yes, it is—oh, yes, it is. We know you live indreamtime, sunshine, and we're talking about the realworld—we're talking about the real world. The list goes onwith the waste, the incompetence, and the indifference thathas today led us to the grappling and struggling economythat we're dealing with.

What solutions did the LabourParty caucus come up with on their recent retreat? C'mon,some of you are here. Could you, please, tell me what werethe solutions you announced after your caucus retreat,having spent all that time examining what the state of theeconomy was? Can anybody mention one? The only decision theymade was not to roll the leader just now—to not roll theleader just now. It reminds us of that ancient Greekproverb: "Those the Gods would destroy, they first makemad." I've never seen such foolishness in New Zealandpolitics as I've seen in recent times. But who could takehim seriously? We have had problems as a country, he waswalking around at that retreat in jandals and shorts. Jeez.Jandals and shorts. Standards? No, he hasn't got any.Commitment? No. Now, as I was looking at the TV and I sawthe rest of his caucus, I thought "Some of them must beseriously worried. They'll know we can't go anywhere here.They'll know the old dictum 'You don't get a second chanceto make a first impression.' ", but there he was, "Chippy",all he had missing was a sausage roll!

We need to turnthe economy around and need an expert-led economy. We'vebeen working very hard, extraordinarily hard—all ofus—to fill the vacuum overseas that we inherited:appalling vacuum of neglect; no one visiting anywhere. It'sessential that we increase our production and ensure addedvalue is priority in the primary industries that we havealways relied upon so heavily as a country. We needincentivisation and investment to get our economy runningagain. You know, we set out the focus on turning our economyaround via wealth creation in our fundamental industries,and I'm sure we're all on track for that. But the reality ofit all is that we need less bureaucracy and those wokeelitists holding this country up—less red and green tape,less of the woke, pearl-clutching do-gooders, and more ofthe Kiwi can-doers. We need less whining and more mining. Ifwe run across Freddie the frog, we're going to relocateFreddie to a paradise and carry on with mining, becauseextraction is critical to the economy that is coming. Everycountry in the world knows it, all the Greens overseas knowit, but one bunch in New Zealand don't. The currentGovernment is doing a sound job in turning Labour's driftingeconomic tanker around that it's left for us. The reality isthat it takes time, but help, as we all know, is on itsway.

Now, could I just say about fast tracking—whocould be opposed to fast tracking? If you know anythingabout house buying or small businesses or any businesses andhere you are, your family's saved up, you want to buy yourfirst house, you want to build your first house, and yourgreatest obstruction—about 30 percent of the cost—isplanning permission. This is appalling and we are seeking toturn that around, and you've got all those people who aresaying, somehow, they've got a protection in place that isneeded. So if that was true, why haven't they got that inCanada, the United States, and Australia? No, it's our own;we've got a master plan of red tape and it's slowingeverything down. So we intend to change that and ensure thatfamilies and business people get a chance to buy homes, tobuild homes, and to start businesses.

By the way, didyou hear Mr Hipkins today talk about privatisation? Well,the greatest privatisation we ever saw in this country was1984 and 1990: the BNZ flogged off. It didn't go to tender.One-third flogged off in a private decision. Then youhad—oh, here's the one—Electricorp. Electricorp was soldto Fletchers for eight months of its earnings. Right? Foreight months of its earnings. Now, I've got a friend, we'veall got a friend, called Hart; he gets his first big break,he gets to buy Government Print that's worth $42 million to$48 million, but guess what he paid for it! He paid $6million for it and he got $1 million for redundancies, andall the staff working for him the next day. Now, I'm anadmirer of Hart because he did far greater things than otherbusinesses. But what a break to get. And who did that? Thesepeople over here that tell you they know about the economicsand who are opposed toprivatisation.

Francisco Hernandez:It sounds like privatisation's bad.

Rt HonWINSTON PETERS: Beg yourpardon?

Francisco Hernandez: Itsounds like privatisation's bad, then.

Rt HonWINSTON PETERS: When did you show up, sunshine? Howlong have you been here? "It does sound likeprivatisation."—yes, it is privatisation. It's an exampleof privatisation—

FranciscoHernandez: Took the bait.

Rt HonWINSTON PETERS: —and you shouting out, openingyour mouth and letting the wind blow your stupid tonguearound—

Francisco Hernandez: Keeprambling.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh,no, no, no, I've got the microphone and I'll be here longafter you're gone. I've seen your type before: all bulldust,all noise; here today, gonetomorrow.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Right—

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: And that's why he's sitting backthere.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Both gentlemen, settle.

RtHon WINSTON PETERS: Did you enjoy that? I did.Unbelievable.

Could I just say that the Governmentparties, the three here today, are in a fight to the top. Wehave disagreements, but we are in a fight to the top to turnour economy around and to turn our nation's future around.The Opposition, of course, are the very converse. You've gotthe Greens and Te Pāti Māori in a plunge to the bottom,and lately have you ever heard them speak about economicpolicy, about export policy, about added value, aboutpersonal responsibility, about parental responsibility?Their version of democracy is collective pinkodemagoguery.

I have never thought I'd sit here andlisten in Parliament to a modern version of DasKapital from the leader of the Green Party.Unbelievable. She went on to say this, though—this is howfoolish she is—that we're going to colonise capitalism. Inthat brief moment, she just confessed that capitalism wasgood, so it should be colonised. Oh, who wrote her darnspeech? She read the whole thing out, from start tofinish—and that's a rule we have in this Parliament: youcan't read your whole speech out, and this is all detailed.What happened to the—oh, you weren't in the Chair, so Iwon't make any more comment about that.

But here's thesad thing for Labour—and I know Labour know that; I knowenough people from the Labour Party from way back. TheLabour Party at its core know that these parties overthere—Te Pāti Māori and the Greens—are dragging themdown with them. They can't see a way coming back unless theycan get rid of these two parties. These new parties have gotno respect for democracy, who think somehow that they'respecial, and have got no respect for anybody else in thisParliament or, dare I say it, the voter.

The "workersparty" is now "wokesters party", and Labour's in difficultywith respect to that. You know, Chlöe came here today; sheread her whole speech. She talked about, as I say,capitalism being colonised, and how confusing is that? Andthen she didn't mind, but she wanted it to happen: she saidthat emissions payments of up to 3—that's $32 billion ofemissions payments should be taken out of our economy andpaid to another economy. How unbelievably fatal would thatbe? That's what they said today. I know, he's sitting overthere, just arrived five minutes ago as well. Think he knowsabout this country; he wouldn't know what day it is. Buthere's the point. And then she did us the greatest insult:she started talking about a country that was not licensedfor her to talk about. No permission, no democracy, nomandate, no referendum, no plebiscite, no nothing. Shestarts talking about Aotearoa—

Dr LawrenceXu-Nan: So triggered.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: —this French Polynesian name. Yes, thatis true, sunshine. You just arrived five minutes ago; someof us have been here a thousand years, and we're not takingyour dictatorship. You got thatclear?

Francisco Hernandez: Thanksfor the attention.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: You got that clear. You're not going to winthe next campaign doing that. This country is called NewZealand, and the mass majority of New Zealanders want itthat way. And the mass majority of New Zealanders wantequality, where everybody's treated the same. Doesn't matterwhat the origin is, doesn't matter what the sex is, doesn'tmatter what this race is; we're about equality.

I knowthey're laughing. The Greens are laughing at that becausethey find that comical—they find that comical. The verypeople who are here on the very refuge that we give to themhave come here with their ideas, foreign to our country,native to theirs, and they wish to impose them upon ourParliament. No, you don't. You're not going to succeed here.You might be laughing now, you might be laughing now, butyou'll be crying tomorrow. Come to this country, show somegratitude? No. Let me tell you what our policy is, sunshine:when you arrive in New Zealand—

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Mr Peters, less of thesunshine, more of the first names. As someone who respectsthe tikanga of the House, let's stick to that part ofit.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well, withthe greatest respect, I didn't call him sunshine; sunshineis everybody. You know, if you can't take it, let's go andhave some lessons on how to do thejob.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Mr Peters, you've had a lot of latitude.Please accept that you've had that latitude and respect sometikanga in the House. Use proper—

Rt HonWINSTON PETERS: I beg yourpardon?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Use proper names.

Rt HonWINSTON PETERS: We don't have tikanga in thisHouse; get that straight.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER(Greg O'Connor): The procedures of the House, theorder of the House.

Rt Hon WINSTONPETERS: All right then; I'm not having that rammeddown my throat. Can I just say that when people come to thiscountry, the least we can expect is that they obey our lawsas they are for the time being; they respect our flag as itis for the time being; that they have to respect otherpeople's right to believe in other religions, as that is thelaw that's written for the time being; and they believe inequality, whether it's gender or whether it's race. That'sthe least we can expect.

So if some of these peoplefrom the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori think we're goingto accept something else, then let me tell you the enormousconfidence we've got because out there in the real Māoriworld where people are working two or three jobs a week andslaving it out and saving, they're losing ground big, bigtime. They don't have any time for those sorts of people whodon't understand what it is to be a worker, to sweat it out,and have pride in the job that they've got. And that's whatNew Zealand First stands for.

This Government alsobelieves that they are a priority going forward in ourplanning, not this kind of elitism which saw so much goingto so many who are at the very top in our society; who saw14,000 bureaucrats taken on that we didn't need. Now we'vebeen told that we're the reason for the collapse ofWellington's economy. Oh no, we're not. The reason that thishas happened is because of so much waste in the past whichwe've still got to absorb. But, over time, we are confidentwe will succeed. The most important reason why we'll succeedis because our message is one of national unity and notdifference.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER(Co-Leader—Te Pāti Māori): Tēnā koe e tePīka. I'm standing on behalf of Te Pāti Māori today toconstructively give our view on the Prime Minister'sstatement. And I've got to be really honest: what I'vewitnessed this afternoon is showing that, even day one, thedeterioration of our behaviour in our debate can't behealed. And ka aroha to the rest of Aotearoa and New Zealandwho have to watch this.

For us, the statement,actually it's everything it didn't state. What we saw was a9,000-word statement with 32 mentions of growth, 27 mentionsof infrastructure, yet absolutely nothing that related toMāori. We had the Prime Minister stand up and say in frontof the nation, in fact, he wants to lead and be part of aculture where he's going to get rid of the "no" culture.Yet, culturally, there was no Māori, there was no iwimentioned, there was no whānau mentioned, there was nohauora mentioned, there was no kāinga mentioned, there wasno Te Tiriti mentioned, there was no tangata whenuamentioned.

So

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We've got to try and figure out this year thechallenge for Te Pāti Māori—it's actually how we don'tbuy into this behaviour. Because one of the things that wehave seen is that we have found the magic juice and thepower to mobilise tens of thousands—if not hundreds ofthousands, in fact; if not, hundreds of millions—of peopleto be aware of the politics in Aotearoa. For us, the themeis 2025 and, contrary to what the Prime Minister's speech issaying, we will not be thanking him for what it is that hisparty has put on Māori this year because it is not what wehave experienced—a year of thriving—from him.

Soas Te Pāti Māori, as tangata whenua, as tangata Tiriti, astangata moana, we're refusing to become a part of theculture that the Government perpetuated last year. I knowthat some senior Ministers hate hearing this, but it is areminder that we have endured that for 184 years. So 2025has to be what it is: we're going to hold you to account.Ani Mikaere said yesterday in her oral submission to theSeymour and Atlas bill, "The Crown occupies its currentposition of privilege by virtue of the fact that it haslied, cheated, and infected its way to dominance [for]decades". Dominance "immediately following Te Tiriti oWaitangi."

So we don't expect a heck of a lot fromthis year's statement and the way that things have beenpanning. We won't thank the Government for the gang patchlaw that you so proudly boast about that you can'twear—even our whānau can't rest at tangi. We asked, Ithink, last year, nine days since the gang patch law, howmany Māori have been arrested? Guess how many, whānau? Wehave 1,352—nine days into this new bill—and 306 whobelong to Te Tai Hauāuru electorate.

So we won't bethanking you for the economic benefits that most people sawhere. As you know, they catered to the 2 percent hoardingthe wealth and furthering disparity. We won't thank you forthe disestablishment and dismantling of anything Māori. Wewon't thank you for aiding genocide—and as we sawbeautiful Palestinian whānau returning to their homes thatno longer exist, we may never forget the role of thisGovernment and what it played and been extremely embarrassedand disappointed that they turned their backs on anotherindigenous people in this time. No thank youthere.

You have allowed—sadly, Prime Minister—anation that has feasted off division, hate, and fear likenever seen before. And Aotearoa 2025 is a country wherewe've seen a lot of our whānau suffocating from the cost ofliving where we've got a Government can't balance its books,we've got hard-working whānau that are trying to jugglemultiple jobs putting kai on the table. There is absolutelynothing that is affecting the wellbeing of ourcommunities.

You have fed the wealthy, the gentry, thelandlords, while our whānau have been left behind. And MrPrime Minister, you have allowed the Māori solutions, themarginalisation of tangta whenua, the whitewashing of theTreaty tribunal. The iwi that you want to partner witheconomically are lining up, submitting against you, againstyour policies, and the policies that you have allowed tocome through the front door.

So then we come to theTreaty principles bill—and I did stay and listen to everyleader—and I guess as you can probably guess, we willdefinitely not be thanking you there. A week out fromWaitangi, we as Māori, together with tangata Tiriti, onceagain will show how we rise and how we mobilisekotahitanga

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carrying the strengthof our tūpuna with mana and grace as we collectively throwa bill that your Government allowed in the bin—actually,that could be our next activity in theHouse.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Miss—MsNgarewa-Packer—

DEBBIENGAREWA-PACKER: Mrs.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): —you're liberally usingthe word "you"—

DEBBIENGAREWA-PACKER: Thank you for thereminder.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): —through the Chair,please.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER:Apologies.

So here we have another round and we've gotthe regulatory standards bill, which is about allowingfurther corporate exploitation. So we will stand with thosewho share the same values as us. We will make sure in thefirst 100 days of the next Government, which we are no doubtgoing to be a part of, that we will get rid of all of thosebills.

Yesterday we saw Ngā Iwi o Taranaki tellingthe Prime Minister: "kia tūpato". We heard Ngāti Toa speakto the promises made in their settlement. We saw hauoraexperts like Helen Leahy tell you how Māori would bedisadvantaged; lawyers like Natalie Coates spelling out thelegal ramifications; rangatahi like Te Kanawa Wilsonexplaining what this bill would mean for him as a young manraised fully, confidently in te ao Māori. And you, as thePrime Minister, will find so many more once the tens ofthousands, hundreds of thousands, of submissions comethrough. These—please remember, Prime Minister—are notthe radical voices of radical Māori that Hobson's Pledgepromote they are. These are everyday tangata whenua,everyday tangata Tiriti who are sitting there saying "kiatūpato".

So we won't be thankful for any of thedamage that has been going on at Aotearoa; the embarrassmentthat the rest of the world has seen in the racerelationships in Aotearoa.

So I need to be reallyclear: as we move into 2025, to everyone who wrote andsubmitted and allowed and are allowed to speak to Seymour'skino bill, you continue to show where the real mana andunity and kotahitanga in Aotearoa lies. We are filled withimmense pride as we see all of you showing up, all of youwatching the lives, all of you now political commentators,and we are absolutely proud to be able to see thecontinuation of the energy of the hīkoi as we saw lastyear. So one day our mokopuna will all look back at thiswith real pride. Toitū Te Tiriti.

So I've just comefrom Rātana last week, as has the party, and I'd like tomihi to all of those who've been there and are a livingexample of what this Government could and should be strivingtowards. These examples are all around us. So please, PrimeMinister, don't just show up and use these kaupapa—liveit. Don't just fill empty words—listen to theirs. We haveto be examples. Yours aren't and theirs are. That's what2025 is about.

I mihi, and we mihi, to the hundreds ofthousands of tangata whenua, tangata moana, tangata Tiritiwho marched and stood and continued to fight against thisanti-Māori agenda. We mihi to those who've chosen to weartheir hearts on their sleeves, who continue and have learntand actually wānanga and teach others what submissions andwhat to be a submitter is.

I mihi to the 70-plusPākehā women who pulled me up, the Pākehā parents, thePākehā businesses who have never voted Te Pāti Māori whowere previously National voters who will never, ever votefor them again, saying that they will never stay quietagainst the division that they've had to see. They standwith Te Pāti Māori on the side of peace and aroha becausethat's what kotahitanga and our role in this place has tobe. You either get to yell and scream and behave in a waythat the rest of the country is just embarrassed by, or youcome together and you manaaki our manuhiri, we manaaki eachother's kōrero, and we have indeed a dignifieddiscussion.

This will be, sadly, a time where we see aGovernment that has put wealth before people. I want to beclear: Te Pāti Māori is not anti-wealth; we're not envywealth—we're just anti a system where the tax system isnot fair for all. And it seems like it's become real—theelephant in the room—every time we mention that. That'snot being anti - economic development—that's actuallycalling it out for what it is.

Sadly, what we see isthe Government and our Prime Minister's tyranny and theability to completely leave Māori out and to carry on withthis platform. Our prediction is this will be a one-termGovernment because this year we will continue to use ourinfluence, our political platform, to unite this nation, toleave no one behind, to make sure that the spirit of TeTiriti and indeed the honour of being tangata whenua isrealised and felt by all.

Where there is fear, we willgive light. Where there is hate, we will give aroha. We'veseen thousands of Māori join the Māori roll over the pastfew months.

We look forward to seeing tens ofthousands more before the next election. This is anotherreminder of the influence that Te Pāti Māori has. No partyin here can do what we do, and we get that no one gets us.Where you hate and berate, where you divide and conquer, wewill continue to use Māori activism and we will continue tobe driven to make sure that there's somewhere for people togo, leaving no one behind.

Removing our rights was anurgent priority for this Prime Minister. Economically—I'vesaid this before—we will focus on redistributing wealth.We will fight the tax and fight the hyper rich. We'll focuson what our options are. What are our economic options? Whatdoes economic transformation in Aotearoa look like? How isit that iwi who have suddenly become long-term perpetualinvestors are performing better than those who have been 200or 300 years ahead of us? There are lessons to be learnt ineconomic development, but we're not having thatconversation, because the Government will not let go therails of conservative, old-style economics. Our growth planwill not revolve around stealing Māori rights, lands, andresources and selling them off to the highest bidder. Itwill be focused on issues like we saw in He Kai Kei AkuRinga, partnering with iwi, looking at PPPs, developingsustainable energy solutions, creating community regionaleconomic investments, developing papa kāinga and capitalsolutions for those who cannot access it. This PrimeMinister's solution to the cost of living crisis isinvesting in New Zealand by exploiting our whenua—a quickbuck. That is not going to work in the long run. If there'sanything we have more than anyone else in Aotearoa, it isthe experience of having to redevelop an economy when it hasbeen wiped out.

Nowhere are we seeingintergenerational focus on the economic development andwellbeing of Aotearoa—nowhere. Cutting benefits, cuttingthe minimum wage, voting against GST-free kai: these areabout bringing down the cost of living andcaring—caring—about everybody in Aotearoa. The economicsolutions in the Prime Minister's agenda have no care forordinary people, ordinary New Zealanders. There's no care inhere at all. So we take real serious issue. And we willcontinue to fight hard against the Atlas agendas, becausethat domination cannot be the way that we grow ourwellbeing, our economy. We will continue to do it everytime—prioritise our whole community wellbeing andcollective responsibility and obligations against corporateexploitation—because that's what fast track allowed in.We'll ban seabed mining, we'll invest in science andinnovation and education to move away from twilightindustries, and we will be active in transformation andenergy equity for communities. It's clear—it's reallyclear—where this Government's priorities lie. At no stagedid we see any solutions: oranga whānau, oranga tangata,oranga whenua. All we saw was the rich getting richer. Thatis not enough anymore.

Where is your innovation, yourtransformation promised? The Treaty principles bill hasshown us that we need to have a constitutional discussion. Ifound myself uncomfortably agreeing with parts of what DavidSeymour said, but the discussion should be led by iwi andhapū. It does not belong in this place, and we will investproactively in Matike Mai, because nowhere else has thedegree and the extent of 280-plus hui that happened acrossthe nation, like Matike Mai. I would bet, if I was to ask"How many recommendations? What do you know about MatikeMai?", there are not too many in the coalition Governmentthat could sit there and talk about it, because it has notbeen embraced as the solution that it should be. Thatkōrero needs to continue. And we will never ever be able tohave the kotahitanga that a nation that has tangata whenua,has indigenous peoples—we were here and our rights existedbefore anyone else. And as much as some people may not wantto admit there are indigenous peoples in Aotearoa, thereare, and it's us. And we make up at least a million of us,and we are proud to be Māori. And Te Pāti Māori is proudthat, as proud Māori, we have proud tangata Moana and tangaTiriti.

And this whole concept of sparking aconversation and talking proactively about the foundationfor constitutional transformation in Aotearoa must besomething that is put on the agenda, because I tell you, ourmokopuna—my mokopuna—are laughing at how politicianstalk about te Tiriti, how little knowledge is talked about.Yesterday I listened to a submitter who actually trulythinks that we are so bad as Māori that she is unsafe fromMāori. What permeates and creates such hatred in somebodythat they could really fear Māori to that extent, reallyfear what it is that we would do? It's just crazy. And Ichallenge the Prime Minister in his statement: you cannot bea Prime Minister with a statement that ignores that weexist, because we're going nowhere. We are growing, and wehave a strong, robust economy. And I repeat this: we willnot—we will not—invest with the same parties andpartners that we're standing in queue submitting against. Wesimply will not.

I guess the other thing that I wantto leave is that our Kīngi has reminded us about beingMāori every day and what this means to us individually, butwhat this means to us in Aotearoa. Do you truly, do wetruly, do politicians truly, does this House truly, evenevery day in here—how does it allow and encourage Māorito be Māori every day when we've spent a year with thisPrime Minister defending who we are? And I really don't carewhat anyone thinks about me—I really don't care what theythink and have to say about me—but I do about my mokopuna.And I will rise and encourage every influence we can to makesure that our mokopuna never have to feel berated or leftout.

I think the other thing we have to talk about ishow we make sure that we have the strength of who we are astangata whenua. We talk about foreign affairs, and it'ssomething that Rawiri is actually really passionate about.Our foreign affairs policy is to actually extend andstrengthen off the relationships that we have as indigenouspeoples. Those are relationships that no one else across theworld can do as well. That is a strength for Aotearoa'sfuture, and those are discussions that we should be having.This whole "same old, same old" isn't cutting it, becausenot only are we politically extremely divided at the momentbut we're also leaving some really great opportunitiesbehind because we can't sit down and have a discussion trulyof what it is that is our strength. Instead, what should beour biggest uniqueness—having an indigenous nation whonever ceded sovereignty—has now become a real sad point ofdefence.

I want to finish with some of these things. Iwant to say also to our whānau: you have been able to provewithout a doubt what kotahitanga looks like. Do that everyday individually in your home, in your communities, yourmarae, however it looks. Make sure you keep up thatkotahitanga, because kotahitanga is not a noun; it's anadjective. It's a doing thing. It is something that we needto be seen as doing every day and hold ourselves. Rest isresistance. We've got a lot on this year. We've got theMāori wards referendum. We've got the bill comingup—Seymour's bill—in May. We have a whole lot of kaupapato make sure that we rest and settle and continue to grow.But I do want to finish with something that actually camefrom a well-esteemed man and somebody that Māori reallyrate—a tangata Tiriti who is actually an ex-NationalMinister. It was something I heard him say in thesubmissions yesterday. Chris Finlayson said, "Parliament canlegislate the Earth is flat. That doesn't make it flat."And, to our Prime Minister, let's stop spouting flat-Earthpolicy energy and actually embrace the fact that you aresurrounded by tangata whenua, and it doesn't have to be anyof us in Te Pāti Māori, but they are here for ever. Andtangata whenua and te Tiriti is here for ever. And, as wasstated at Rātana, you're not.

So that is our feedbackon this statement. I hope that it's taken constructively,with the aroha and the time that we gave to thinking aboutit and talking about it.

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Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister ofJustice): Well, Madam Speaker, thank you for thatwarm applause. Very good to get the full, wholeheartedsupport of the Māori Party as I stand to talk today aboutthe Prime Minister's statement and the start of thepolitical year. And the starting point, of course, and thevery much focus of the Government this year is to get somegrowth into this economy, to create some wealth, and to makea living in a competitive world. And I think all of us whohave been out and about on the beaches and in the bush andhaving a break in electorates all around this country, andI've been way up north and in far-flung parts. Theconversation, apart from the weather around here, theprimary conversation has been, yes, it has been a difficulteconomic time. And there are a lot of people, particularlysmall-business people, who have been really struggling aftera long, extended period of a down cycle in theeconomy.

Now we can point to many of the mistakes madeover the past few years that contributed to that, but a lotof it's also global changes and pressures going on. But thereality is that many New Zealand families have been findingit tough. And that is why, when we look at the things thatNew Zealanders are most concerned about and most worriedabout is they wanna see some relief in the cost of livingthat their families are facing: buying the groceries,getting ready for school, all those things. And they want tosee a growth plan so that when we look out into the future,this is the place to stay. And it makes sense from aneconomic point of view. And that is precisely what thisGovernment is focused on and what the Prime Minister talkedabout in his speech only a couple of hours ago. And therecipe for getting greater growth is not dramaticallydifficult to understand or to change; it just hasn't beendone by previous Governments. It's about encouraginginvestment in the country. Because ultimately if you want toget growth, it's about businesses large and small investingand growing their business, starting a new business, buyingnew plant and machinery, hiring new people. It's all aboutinvestment decisions. And so creating an environment wherepeople feel confident to invest is critical. And we've seenactually already a lift in business confidence levels,notwithstanding all the challenges, and that's because theysee help is on its way.

We've also seen the importantfocus on technology and innovation. And there's a lot goingon there. And we were very much inspired last week at ourtwo-day caucus for the National Party to have an address byPeter Beck—rocket man. And what a wonderful, wonderfulentrepreneurial story that is in New Zealand. And we shouldbe celebrating that sort of thing. The fact that a boy fromInvercargill went on to create a highly, highly successfulbusiness in the world of rocketry and sending satellitesinto space, competing with the best globally, is a reallygreat thing to see. And so New Zealanders do have theability to reach for the stars, and we celebrate that, andwe need more of it.

We're also out there looking forexport markets and we're thinking also long term aroundeducation because ultimately a skilled workforce is criticalto all that. And that's why Erica Stanford is making surethat (a) the kids go to school, and (b) that they're taughta world-class curriculum, and (c) that they're actuallygoing to measure progress against that curriculum.

Andthen of course, another core foundation of getting growthinto the economy is getting some discipline around theregulatory environment and trying to remove the roadblocks.And that's what the fast-track legislation is all about andmany other areas. And so we're going to get on with it.We're going to dig up some stuff; we're going to make somemoney in this country. And I'm so sick of hearing peoplesaying, "Oh, the people get paid more in Australia; thedoctors and nurses and the teachers get paid more inAustralia." They get paid more in Australia becauseAustralia does more things. They dig stuff out of theground, and they make some money. And if we want to compete,we want to have high-quality living standards, we can't justkeep on saying "No" to everything. "We don't wanteverything." We've got to say yes. We actually got to say,"Let's go and do some stuff; let's make a living in thiscountry; let's get active and competitive."

Becausethe reality is, and anybody who's got eyes looks upon theworld and they see not many countries of the worldstruggling, going sideways. They see the United States goinggangbusters economically, and they still want to go faster.And they're out there hustling and doing well. And that'swhat, we, in our country, need to be doing as well, hustlingand doing our best to compete effectively in the world. Andso if you want to be competitive, you're going to grow,you've got to look at your cost structure, all those basicthings which this Government is doing. And that's why NicolaWillis is doing a great job getting the Government's fiscalbooks in shape.

Now, another element of this wholebroader context of a strong economy is safety, public safetyand dealing effectively with crime is also an importantelement. And that is what I'm particularly responsible foras Minister of Justice. And this Government has had aclear—one of our clear three priorities is to restore lawand order because we had a revolving door of policeMinisters in the last legislation and justice Ministers, andthey kept on coming and going and they were soft, and theycame up with excuses for crime. And it was always everybodyelse's fault and not the criminals' fault for crime. Andthat led to encourage the big increase in crime that we sawwhich concerned many people. And so this Government's aboutrestoring consequences for crime. And that's why we'vealready passed—brought back three strikes legislation.We've passed the gang laws which gives the police extrapowers to deal with gangs who are a tiny fraction of thepopulation but are responsible for a very significant amountof the violent crime in our community and we were sick ofit. And isn't it great to be able to have gone around overthe summer and not seen gang patches everywhere where wewent. And thanks to the work of the police and thelegislation that's passed. And people will say, "Oh, well,the problem's not solved." Well, we're making progress andwe're putting pressure on those gangs and making their livesdifficult and uncomfortable. And that's what we're all onabout. And my colleague Mark Mitchell's been working veryhard in that area as well.

And then on the sentencinglaws we're about to be passing in a week or two—theoverall cap on the amount of discounts that can be allowedin sentencing. And again, if you read the newspapers orlisten to the radio or go online and see stories, there'sbeen more stories of people who are convicted of seriouscrimes and had their sentencing reduced on a colossal scaleso that the consequences are not very severe. And peoplewant to see consequences for crime, and so that's going tochange. And there will be a limit on the amount of discountsthat can be offered and people will be held more accountablefor what's going on.

Another piece of legislationcoming down the track is stalking legislation. And also,over the next few months, we'll be looking at—we'regetting some good advice out of the Retail Crime Advisorygroup led by Sunny Kaushal, with some practical things thatwe can do to help those retailers who have been on the flickend, on the violent end of completely unacceptable behaviourin some of our towns and communities. We've made realprogress on the ram raids, but there's a lot more to do sothat New Zealanders feel safe in their community; they feelsafe when they're around because we're focused on reducingthe number of victims of crime, but also creating anenvironment where people feel confident to invest and startnew retail businesses without having to worry about securitybeing the number one focus of attention, because thatdoesn't make sense for anybody.

Separate from that, ofcourse, we're also interested in ensuring that we've got agood, efficient legal system that's predictable and peopleknow where they are, and they can get judgements andoutcomes for the work that they're doing. I just want tomake mention of the progress we're making on the New ZealandCrime and Victims Survey. The latest figures that we had forthe 12 months to October 2024, we had 24,000 fewer victimsof crimes than they did in the 12 months to June 2024. Nowit's early days, but it goes to show that if you're clearabout what you're trying to achieve, that you're not makingexcuses for crime all the time, but people are accountableand the Government of the day sends a clear message that weback the police, we back law-abiding citizens, we're not infavour of the gangs, we're not in favour of explaining andcoming up with excuses for people who do criminal acts andsteal from other New Zealanders and create violence in ourcommunity, then you start to make some progressthere.

I'm also conscious of the fact that we'recoming up to an important week next week up in Waitangi.I'll be up in the North—very keen to talk to the broaderNgāpuhi community. There are two things that will make areal difference to Northland; one is a decent road, and nowChris Bishop is focused on that. And two: getting theNgāpuhi settlement through. And there's lots of discussionsthat I'll be having there and I'm looking forward to thosediscussions, recognising that there's been a long processover 30 years to work away on Treaty settlements. NationalGovernments have made a lot of progress in the past and it'smy sincere hope that over the next week we'll have some goodconstructive conversations, and we'll get on it, becausethere's, again, all number of people that will say, "No, no,we don't want to do this" for a whole lot of reasons. And myplea to the many different hapū of Ngāpuhi is that let'slisten to some of the ones who say yes; let's, let's see ifwe can make a deal. Let's see if we can make some progressso that we can get Northland cooking with gas over the nextlittle while. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

HonWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour):

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I would just like to endorse theearlier comments and speeches given to those many who havepassed in recent times.

I turn now to the PrimeMinister's statement. If I could sum up what I heard in the20 minutes that he gave a speech, there was only about 10minutes where he was talking about National because theother nine to 10 minutes was all focused on Labour. But if Iwere to distil down what I thought I heard him saying inthat 10 minutes of speech, it would be really that they arefailing the economy, that the cost of living has dropped offtheir agenda, that they don't care about people and people'sjobs, and

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they are opening thedoor to privatisation.

The Prime Minister in the lasttwo minutes of that speech talked about education and hetalked about the outstanding start he wanted for ourtamariki, and getting them to school. Well, that would beall good if Erica Stanford wasn't cancelling school busroutes. He talked about the amazing resources. Well, do notforget that those amazing resources, $30 million worth ofresources, are coming at the expense of te reo Māori. Theytook $30 million from te Ahu o te Reo Māori to pay forthese amazing resources for our schools. Why didn't they doboth? Why couldn't they do both? These are all choices thatthis Government has made.

The Prime Minister talks abig game. He talks a big game about economic growth. Butwords mean nothing when so many Kiwis are struggling just tomake ends meet. As thousands of tamariki are returning toschool this week, families across the country areexperiencing stress to meet the costs of uniforms,stationery, digital devices, kai, and more. Far too manyfamilies are increasingly relying on support and for sometamariki, it simply means going without—undermining theirability to learn and to develop their unique talents. Infact, many of those children will also not have enough foodto eat, and research released last year shows that teenagerswho don't get enough to eat end up two to four years behindtheir peers in subjects like maths and reading.

Wehear this Government going on about numeracy and literacyand their investment and focus on that, yet they arereducing Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the school lunches programme, froma lunch to a snack. This brings me to the issue of childpoverty. Christopher Luxon talks about an outstanding startfor our tamariki in the education system, and he talks aboutambition, but I did not see or hear any for our children.Last year, this Government made a decision about indexingbenefits that put 7,000 children, estimated at up to 13,000children—more children—into poverty. And this year weknow that the Government is going to further weaken how theymeasure child poverty. All this talk about economic growthis meaningless if it translates to an acceptance that moreof our mokopuna will not get the basics that they need tothrive. Our whānau deserve better than this.

Thisyear we will continue to see the impacts of the cuts toOranga Tamariki and the services to our children, the cutsin the areas of early intervention and prevention—all ofthis rhetoric that we hear from the Government. We will seethe impact of these deep cuts—and the Minister could notrule out that they would not make further cuts in thisyear's Budget—on our most vulnerable children and whānauin Aotearoa. We need to remember that last year they cuthundreds of providers and their contracts. It was shambolic,it was haphazard, and the Auditor-General is inquiring intothis, and we look forward to that report.

The PrimeMinister talked about youth crime and their focus on law andorder. Well, this Government is reinstating the failedexperiment of boot camps. This Government is putting thoseboot camps, a pilot, into legislation before it has evenbeen completed, before it has even been evaluated. Tomorrowwe will start hearing submissions on the boot camplegislation, more punitive measures, without any safeguards,and against, once again, officials' advice, and, sadly, onceagain Māori needs are neglected. The bill makes no mentionof Māori, makes no mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, yet theevidence shows in the officials' advice that 80 to 85percent of the young people who will be classed as youngserious offenders will be Māori.

And that brings me,in my remaining time, to something I didn't hear in thePrime Minister's statement this afternoon. I didn't hear anyreference to the amazing Māori economy. The Ministry ofBusiness, Innovation and Employment's snapshot of the Māorieconomy, ahead of the fourth report due out soon, shows thatthe Māori asset base has grown exponentially from $68billion in 2018 to $118 billion in 2023, with more Māori inhigh-skilled jobs than low-skilled jobs for the first timeever. The Prime Minister didn't speak about that today. Hedidn't speak about it in his state of the nation speech. Hedidn't speak about it at Ratana—all missed opportunitiesor deliberate oversight, or maybe the Prime Minister justdoes not even see it or care about it.

They do careabout Māori, though. Many of my relations, many of thecommunity, many of my friends, many of the constituents inTai Tokerau and across the country spent their summerwriting submissions to a piece of legislation that the PrimeMinister has said will not go past our second reading.However, I listened to the contribution from David Seymour,who says, "I still doubt that it will not pass." It suggeststhat he's calling the Prime Minister and the Deputy PrimeMinister, who had said it categorically at Ratana and otherplaces, liars because he said the future Deputy PrimeMinister says he still doubts that it will notpass.

Tomorrow night, we will have the second readingthe legislation that repeals section 7AA. This is removingTreaty principles, Treaty provisions, from legislation. TheTreaty principles bill is not the only attack on Māori. Itis not the only thing that we need to be aware of in theyear to come. Tomorrow night we will see that legislationreceive its second reading, and I'll speak more to thattomorrow night.

Right now, this Government is planningto remove or replace more than 28 legislative provisions forTe Tiriti o Waitangi from legislation. That is a New ZealandFirst - National coalition agreement. So while everybody,rightly so, is focused in submitting on the Principles ofthe Treaty of Waitangi Bill, do not forget that they aredoing it with section 7AA tomorrow night and 28 other piecesof legislation.

Our party will continue to hold thisGovernment to account throughout 2025 on all of the thingsthat they are doing—as co-chair of the Māoricaucus—that is anti-Māori. The Prime Minister could havespoken about the Māori economy and what it could havecontributed to their plan, but he didn't, and I think thatspeaks volumes.

Hon MARK MITCHELL (Minister ofPolice): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just wanted totake the opportunity as this is my first chance to speak inthe House this year to just wish everyone a happy andhealthy 2025. I have to say that the year started in theworst possible way for me as the Minister of Police when Ireceived a call on New Year's morning from the Commissionerof Police to inform me that two of our police officers,Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay and Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming,had been allegedly intentionally run down.

I want toacknowledge that Rachel Boyack, the local MP, is in theHouse. I acknowledge your role and the support that youprovided to the police and the family also, Rachel, throughwhat was a very difficult time, and what continues to be adifficult time for everyone.

I know that when Iarrived that day in Nelson, the first thing that happenedwas that people at the airport immediately came up to me andsaid that they couldn't understand what had happened. Theycouldn't work out how this had happened in the beautifulcity of Nelson. I called the mayor, Nick Smith—and I'dlike to acknowledge him and the council and his team—andthen I made my way to the police station to be with the teamthere.

I just want to acknowledge that as the policeservice for them was live broadcast, I think anyone that waspresent or who saw it could see the utter devastation ofBryn, Rayna, and Aren—her husband and her two children.But the total devastation wasn't just with them; it was withall of us, and, in particular, the people of Nelson. I wantto acknowledge them and the way that they have responded tosupport the family and the way that they have responded tosupport the local police.

It's a family with a lot ofpublic service. If you look at Woody, Lyn's brother, he'sbeen a firefighter for decades, and I want to acknowledgeall of our Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) officersthat turned out also on the day—and around thecountry—who were heavily impacted by this as well and whostood proudly as a part of Lyn's honour guard on theday.

I want to acknowledge all of our police officers.The one thing that does happen when you lose a front-linepolice officer is that that blue family comes together andwraps support around one another, whether you are past orpresent, and that certainly happened in the case ofLyn.

I just want all of us to reflect. I know thatthere have been a lot of statements in relation to the lossof Lyn, but I just want all of us to reflect on the factthat she gave 38 years of public service to our country, andwhen you think about the amount of people's lives that shehas touched, that is extraordinary and that deserves all ofour respect and acknowledgment.

The commissioner, whenhe spoke at her service, said that he'd gone back throughher personal file. Over the years, a personal file willaccumulate in terms of whether you get letters from membersof the public to say thank you for the assistance you mayhave provided to them, or reports from supervisors. Itreally is a catalogue of your service in the police, and hewas saying that on going through Lyn's, it was just packedfull of goodness. What he meant by that was that members ofthe public had come forward and written letters, reinforcingthe type of police officer that she was and the type ofleader that she was.

The type of leader that she wasis that on the night that she was struck down, as a seniorsergeant, she had probably earned the right not to be outworking a night shift, but she had chosen to be out on nightshift. She'd turned up with snacks for the officers that shewas in charge of and in her care so that they were cared forand looked after through the night, and we've lost her. So Ijust wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge herservice and to acknowledge all of those that have beenimpacted and all of those that have wrapped the supportaround, particularly, the family.

By the way, Bryn isa serving police officer himself, and that's how they met.They had actually both joined originally as officers withthe Ministry of Transport, and then, with the amalgamation,as police officers, and they'd been together right throughtheir law enforcement careers.

I want to justacknowledge our police for the outstanding work they've doneover the holiday period. Through Christmas, they don't getto take time off. They're out there, making sure the publicis safe, and they've had some challenges. But they've donean outstanding job, and I'm very proud of them and the workthat they do.

I want to acknowledge all of our firstresponders. With the emergency management portfolio, we hadseveral fires over the holiday season. We all watched withdisbelief as the fires in LA got out of control, and, ofcourse, there are going to be a lot of questions askedaround leadership and decisions and how that was allowed tohappen. But I have to say that I'm extremely proud of ourFENZ officers and of our first responders.

There isthe leadership there and the decisions that are made early,and the fact is that many of our firefighters, when theyrespond, are volunteers. They're coming out of the communityand giving up their time and their holidays to be there forthe communities that they live in, and I had direct,personal experience of that when there was a fire on theCoromandel, in Kūaotunu. It was one that could have got outof control very, very quickly, and our volunteerfirefighters from Kūaotunu, from Wharekaho, and fromMatarangi responded almost immediately. They were backed upby Whitianga. For three days, with the assistance of threehelicopters, they fought in very arduous and difficultterrain to get that fire under control and to make sure thatthe houses and the people that live in the community wereprotected, and I want to acknowledge them.

I've onlyjust arrived back in the country myself today, and I want toacknowledge, obviously, the situation that we have inMangawhai. I've been speaking with Grant McCallum, the localMP, and I intend to get up there as quickly as I can to geton the ground—[Interruption] GrantMcCallum.

Hon James Meager: GreatMP.

Hon MARK MITCHELL: Yeah,sorry—he's sitting right beside me. Yeah, he is a greatMP.

I want to acknowledge my Department of Correctionsteam, because they're often invisible. The only time wereally hear about Corrections is when something goes wrong.They deal with and they have to manage some of the mostdifficult people in our country. Often violent people,they're looking for ways of defeating the system, and I wantto acknowledge all of our corrections personnel. Whether itbe community-based in the work that you did over the summerbreak, or whether it be our staff in our offices inside ourcorrections facilities, you do an outstanding job, and Ipopped in and visited our corrections staff in Nelson when Iwas down there for Lyn's service, to thank them because theywere there, as well, to support the police and make surethat they were all together. They provided that camaraderieand support, and I want to thank and acknowledgethem.

I want to thank our emergency management stafffrom the National Emergency Management Agency, who have a24/7 operations centre and who are always there. Again, youdon't hear much from them, but they're always there,monitoring everything that we have to deal with, as acountry, in terms of our risks and weather events. SinceI've been the Minister, we've had fires, we've had floods,we've had earthquakes, and we've had space weather to dealwith, and, most recently, a tornado. I want to thank themand all of our civil defence people around the country fortheir vigilance and your work over the summerperiod.

I guess I just wanted to finish by saying thatover the break, obviously, I'm very proud to have picked uptwo additional portfolios. They are sport and recreation,which is critically important for us as a country—and I'mlooking forward to working with Chris Bishop as my AssociateMinister with that portfolio—and, of course, ethniccommunities, which is one that I'm very, very proud to havebeen given, because I've been heavily involved with ourethnic communities, as a member of Parliament, for 12 or 13years, and I look forward to deepening those relationships.I know that certainly, since I've had the police portfolio,there's a lot of interaction, because public safety isextremely important to our ethnic communities, and the otherthing that I really enjoy about it is that I've had theprivilege through my working life to have lived and workedalongside them in their own countries, and not just here inNew Zealand. It's nice to be able to have conversations withthem about their village or the areas that they may be from,because I have personal experience. So I'm excited to reallyget involved with our ethnic communities on a new level asthe Minister.

Finally, I just want to say that when itcomes to the gang legislation—the Hon Paul Goldsmithreferred to it—it's been outstanding. It's working,without a doubt. It's tipped the balance back to our police.Our front-line police have reseized the initiative when itcomes to organised crime and gangs, and that's somethingthat you're going to see more of from this Government thisyear. Thank you very much, MadamSpeaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): I call Lan Pham. I understand this is asplit call?

TAMATHA PAUL (Green—WellingtonCentral): It is a split call. I'm Tamatha Paul;that's Lan Pham. Yeah, kia ora.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Maureen Pugh):Sorry.

TAMATHA PAUL: So, in the 17pages of this statement to Parliament by our Prime Minister,there is not one mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in thisspeech, which is ironic given that the bill that the PrimeMinister neglected to even mention is the most submitted-onbill in the history of this country. Not to mention it'salso the thing that allows for this Parliament to even standin the first place, and it's also the thing that gives himthe ability to even be the Prime Minister in the firstplace. But the Prime Minister's so ashamed that he doesn'teven mention it; he isn't showing his face at Waitangi. Hewon't go out and greet the 100,000 people on the lawn, andnow he won't even mention the words "Te Tiriti o Waitangi."Shame. Because just because you refuse to acknowledge TeTiriti doesn't mean it doesn't exists. And just because herefuses to honour it doesn't mean there isn't anotherGovernment and another Prime Minister—maybe on that sideof the House—that actually will acknowledge the agreementthat this House and his forebears signed.

I knew thePrime Minister wouldn't mention the one thing that roughlysix percent of the people that he purports to represent careabout. So let's talk about the things that he did think wereimportant enough to mention in his speech. He wants to talkabout growth. Well, let's talk about an inconvenient truthwhen it comes to growth: the fields that he wants to farmon, the mines that he wants to ram raid, the streams that hewants to pipe underground, the mega prisons that he wants tobuild and fill my people up with, they all rest on stolenland.

Let's talk about our international reputation.The way that this Government has treated its indigenouspeople has made us the laughing stock of this planet. Wewere once known for punching well above our weight and nowwe're just known for punching down on the first people thatwere on this whenua. It's like Air New Zealand, back in theday, when they wanted to put the koru all over their planebut they didn't want to let their own kaimahi wear tāmoko.In the words of Helmut Modlik from Ngāti Toa yesterday, inthe hearings, this bill that he won't even mention as aninternational embarrassment. So how are we supposed to doall these trade deals and all of this growth around theworld when we're just a laughing stock? When the world iswatching, they don't even know the Prime Minister's name.You know what name they do know? That name over there:Hana-Rawhiti.

Now let's talk about internationaltreaties. New Zealand has signed up to 1900 treaties; we area party to 1900 treaties, and the one that founded our ownParliament is the one that our Government doesn'tgive—does not give a toss about. The Prime Minister didn'tmention the embarrassment of that bill, but he did mentionthe Regulatory Standards Bill. And let's put this on therecord because the Treaty Principles Bill, yeah, it's goingto die, but there are there are other bills that thisGovernment has signed up to and agreed to legislate withintheir coalition agreement—the Holy CoalitionAgreement—that will impact our laws, which will remove TeTiriti as a law-making principle within thiscountry.

So you can get up there and you can talk tothe media and you can talk to the people and say that "TheTreaty's not going anywhere; we're not doing anything to theTreaty." You are, and people aren't stupid, and that's whythe Regulatory Standards Bill was also one of the mostsubmitted on bills—consultations from a Governmentdepartment and the history of this country. So that will beyour legacy, Prime Minister; that will be your legacy:mobilising and agitating the entire population to get rid ofhim. And that will be his legacy.

His own forebearshave warned him; Marilyn Waring, Chris Finlayson, even RogerDouglas are all saying, "What the heck are you fellas upto?" That will be the legacy that you guys continue. Andit's like Chris Finlayson said yesterday: this Parliament,it can make laws but it is not omnipotent. And ChristopherLuxon, you are not God and you cannot change the facts,history, or the founding of this country, and the Governmentshould stop acting like they are more important than thepeople that were first here, and the agreement thatestablished this rotten place.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): The member's time hasexpired.

LAN PHAM (Green): Tēnākoe, Madam Speaker. The most golden part of this break hasbeen, alongside many Kiwis, getting some time to focus onthe things that really matter. It's that connection to eachother, be it our whānau or our friends or our communities,and connection to te taiao—our environment. It's a timethat makes it so crystal clear that our wellbeing as Kiwisis grounded in that very connection between people andnature under our foundation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. So it'sbeen so incredibly jarring to now be back here in thisChamber in 2025, back in the same old, outdated, visionlessthroes of this Government's actions that so comprehensivelydismantle and destroy not only our foundations, which mycolleague has so accurately pointed out, but the only thingsthat have any real value—that's the health of our peopleand the health of te taiao, and it's all for a cheap shot, aquick buck, based on this blind belief that economic growthwill solve our immense, pressing challenges.

I wantedto pick up on one of the Prime Minister's statements abouthow New Zealand has a culture of saying no. From what myselfand many Kiwis have seen under this Government, that'sactually a surprisingly accurate description of thisGovernment's actions. They've "roared out of theblocks"—his words—with a big bulldozing no toenvironmental protections. They say no to honouring TeTiriti obligations and to climate action; no to protectingmarine areas and protecting in a way where commercialfishing can't just come in and plunder them. They say no toprotecting and restoring our polluted waterways, no to evenbasic levels of funding for our environmental agencies, andno to the data and evidence for them to even have a chanceat making good decisions.

It is truly extraordinaryhow hollow the claims are of this Government aroundevidence-based decision making. They persist in saying thatthey're committed to it, while directly reducing theprocesses and funding that allow themselves to be informedor even allow the science and the mātauranga to actually beundertaken or applied to their decision making.

The PMwas equally confused and backwards when he said that theywere replacing the Resource Management Act with a systemthat will "continue protecting our natural environment".Unfortunately, just because one says it's so doesn't make itso. It's nothing short of delusional to drive a thousandcuts into our environmental and science sectors and acrossthe board of environmental legislation and see that asprotection. We know the Government's fast-track billoverrides almost every existing protection that we have, andit even gives life to zombie projects already declined bythe courts. It encourages multinational companies to come toNew Zealand, to exploit our environment for offshore profitsand pillage the environment, and, once they've come andgone, communities are left to clean up the mess, having lostwhatever biodiverse or community riches thatexisted.

The Kiwis that I know and have seen operatein this country of Aotearoa want a living economy full oflife, of innovation, and of wellbeing. Dishing out blindyeses to developments that can harm either our selves or tetaiao—our environment—more often than not means chuckingout precaution. It means chucking out the Government's dutyof care to protect ourselves and our environment no matterthe politics. It often means chucking out the voices ofpeople with actual expertise and mātauranga within oursociety. It's our literal basis of knowledge andunderstanding, and we can't chuck that stuff out.

ThePrime Minister promised this would be a Government ofaction, and he's right. It's the most reckless,narrow-minded, short-sighted actions that put at risk thevery things that Kiwis hold most dear, and it's so jarringlyout of step with the culture of Aotearoa. Kiaora.

Hon TODD McCLAY (Minister ofAgriculture): Madam Speaker, thank you so verymuch. May I wish you and your colleagues the very best forthe start of the new year and to say the sun on the WestCoast may have been shining as much as it was in Rotorua,because you are looking relaxed and happy. And so it's verygood to see you, Madam Speaker.

Can I start bythanking, as our Prime Minister did in his speech in thisHouse earlier today, the farmers of New Zealand, the primarysector, for all that they have done and to reiterate as wellabout how much they are respected and how much we valuetheir contribution. And it's more than justeconomic—although they are a very big part of growth inNew Zealand and a very big part of the Government's plan notonly to provide greater income to all New Zealanders throughthe doubling of the value of exports over a decade, but theyactually add to the fabric of what is important in NewZealand: the social fabric, the cultural fabric, and thethings that make us a great nation.

And I know thatas, Madam Speaker, you and I have a slight suntan, the samesun that's shining around the country has grown grass inparts where we needed it, where it had previously been toowet or where there was rain. That grass is going to betransformed by the work of our farmers into high quality,safe food products that the world wants and wants inabundance. And they know, as this Government does, that wehave an obligation to produce that high quality, safefood—the highest quality and safest food produced anywherein the world by our farmers. We have an obligation to dothat so we can feed people everywhere, because there areparts of the world that aren't as lucky as New Zealand,where they don't have enough food and they need to buy it tofeed their citizens from other parts of the world, andthat's the role that our farmers play.

But it hasn'thappened just by chance. The men and women of rural NewZealand are some of the most innovative, hardest workingfrom anywhere. I've got to say, when I've had theopportunity to be overseas occasionally, that, generally,farmers around the world are envious of what our farmers dobecause they have had a Government that has helped free themup to innovate. So there are farmers in New Zealand todaywho have the same land that their families have always had,and they produce much more to sell to the world, to feedpeople around the world with fewer inputs and a smallerenvironmental footprint because of that innovation. Andthat's what's best about agriculture in New Zealand—themen and women who work hard every single day to meet theirenvironmental obligations and produce more with less to sellto the world. That's how we become richer as a country andwe become more productive.

But the reason that I saythat farmers in other parts of the world are envious isbecause they wish they had the ability to be freed up toproduce food in the way our farmers do because, ultimately,in my experience, farmers just want to get on and farm. Theywill meet the obligations, they'll fill out the paperworkthat they have to, but there should be a reason and a pointto it. As the Prime Minister has said in his speech todayand at the rural confidence tour with Federated Farmers atthe end of last year, we want to back the primary sector andhave farmers out farming, not sitting in their office,filling out forms to prove things that often can't be provenor to take them away from the land. And yes, we've all gotobligations and there's always going to be a bit ofpaperwork, but when they're spending 20 to 30 percent oftheir time focused on that paperwork, then they're notinnovating in the way that we need them to and they'recertainly not as productive as we need them tobe.

It's very good news. So as well as the grassgrowing at the moment which means that the beef and thelamb—where the prices are starting to improve—will be ofhigher quality, there'll be more of it. Of course, our dairyindustry will be able to produce more dairy for exactly thesame number of cows as they had last year, but they willproduce more, and that makes the country richer. Everysingle person in the country benefits as a result and itmeans that a high quality product is overseas where we haveto compete but we compete more easily because of that hardwork.

We should, as a House, be united in our desireto lighten the load and the burden on those farmers so theycan farm more, to have fewer regulations, better ones, andregulations that focus on an outcome that actually achievessomething, rather than a press release from the Governmentthat says, "We've collected all this information." That'swhy you have seen over the last 12 months the Governmentwork very, very hard to make it better for the rural sector,to simplify rules and regulations, to help them meet theirobligations in climate change or in environment around waterquality because they want to do that, they're working withus, but to do so in such a way that we focus on the outcome,we don't just focus on the process.

I've got to saythat when we came into Government and during the course oflast year, confidence in the rural sector was at an all-timelow. Year upon year over the last six years of the previousGovernment, rural confidence was shattered, and we areworking hard to rebuild it. I know that it's not far awayfrom the sector and others doing their surveys of farmers,and I hope that that level of confidence has improved.Nothing to do with the Government; I hope it's improvedbecause that will tell us that we're getting it right andthat they feel backed by the Prime Minister and thecoalition Government and that they are working as hard asthey can for all New Zealanders to fix the economy and togrow incomes.

Part of that, of course, is making sureinterest rates come down. We're starting to see them comedown. I won't mention whom, but a farming leader told methat as there was the last cut to interest rates at the endof last year, what that actually meant for him on his small,moderate farm—and he said it now actually takes away thedecision that he faced about whether he would keep employingall the people he has on his farm or would he have had tolet one go. He said it means he can keep them there and cankeep working hard and so on. And there's a lot more work tobe done there, but the reason the Government has been sofocused over the last 12 months on being careful withGovernment spending in all areas, particularly inagriculture, is so that the interest rates could start tocome down as inflation comes down. And that is beneficialand good for our farmers.

The other part of this isthey produce the world's highest quality, safest food andfibre, fruit, across the board, there must be markets we cansell them. And can I thank the Prime Minister for going backto work so early whilst the sun was still shining, whenothers weren't yet back at work, and flying across to theUAE with me to put on paper the ink that signed the freetrade agreement with the UAE—one of the highest quality onentry into force we've negotiated and negotiated very, veryquickly. The officials involved in that worked harder thanwe should ask them to, but they were up to the challenge andthey found two Governments—the UAE and New Zealand—thatjust wanted to do a high quality deal, and we're going towork pretty hard and I hope there will be support across theHouse to get that deal through the parliamentary process asquickly as we can so New Zealand exporters and the workersthat help produce the things we export will benefit straightaway. As we negotiated this in record time, let's see if wecan pass it through the House in record time, offering everyNew Zealander the chance to submit and speak on it if theywant.

There's much more work we can do. And the reasonwe do these trade deals—and I want to recognise that theOpposition largely supported that legislation or thatagreement—is because we level the playing field and wemake it fairer for all New Zealanders when they're overseas.It's easier for them to compete, they do better, they earnmore, they come back, they get to pay their tax, but theyinvest in the economy.

A very big part of theGovernment's agenda is growth, growth, growth. I've beengiven responsibility this year, and a new responsibility,for investment, which is foreign direct investment as aMinister. And we're setting up a new agency which will notbe bureaucratic, it won't be large, it won't be expensive.It will be charged with working with New Zealanders toattract investment overseas that is good for New Zealandersand good for the country. It's as simple as this: we do nothave the capital to do all the things that a Governmentmight want, nor to build out businesses or industries in theway that we would like to. Other countries will look topartner with us and invest. And if it is good for NewZealand and good for New Zealanders, we should be open toit. That doesn't mean that all capital around the world willfind its way here nor should it, but there is a lot outthere that can create jobs and can innovate and canmodernise the economy and can help build the infrastructurethat New Zealanders and the Government will own, but buildthat infrastructure more quickly so that we can use it andrely upon it and improve our economy.

An economy isabout people. It is more than just a definition in adictionary. An economy is people. And when people are ableto work hard and keep more of what they earn in the primarysector and elsewhere and they can provide for themselves,they are happier. It will be my job, along with othersacross Government, to look for the investment that we needto bring in here to grow our businesses to innovate, to backthe scientific community, and to grow the economy. Becausegrowth is not a bad word; it's a good word. When you havegrowth in an economy, Governments get to provide more. Wecan provide more by taking less from the workers and thebusinesses. The Prime Minister has been clear: this is ayear of growth, growth, growth. There are three parties inthe coalition Government, there are three parts to thatgrowth, and we are united in working hard for our farmersand every single New Zealander.

RACHEL BOYACK(Labour—Nelson): "Huia e! Huia tangata kotahi. Hetōtara kua hinga."—"The feather of the huia for someonespecial, one dearly departed."

On New Year's Day, theNelson-Tasman community was rocked with the tragic death ofSenior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, who was killed while workingthe New Year's Eve shift to keep people safe in BuxtonSquare in Nelson's CBD. Can I acknowledge the support in thecomments just made by our police Minister, Mark Mitchell,which I wholeheartedly endorse.

Senior SergeantFleming had given 38 years of service to the community as apolice officer. She was known as the matriarch of the Nelsonpolice station, where she was a trusted mentor, quietleader, and kind friend to many. She looked after thewellbeing of other officers while also setting highstandards of service and professionalism. Her work extendedinto the community as a much loved netball coach. She washumble. Many who worked for the police didn't know of herdedicated service to netball, while many in the netballcommunity didn't know she was a police officer. She wasn'tone to blow her own trumpet.

Every person who goes towork should come home safely to their family, and thisincludes our police and other first responders who work tokeep our community safe. The outpouring of grief and supportfrom the community shows how much Nelson values the work ofour police and first responders. They and their familiesmake enormous sacrifices to protect our communities, andthey deserve our utmost respect. As Police CommissionerRichard Chambers so aptly said, "We must remember: behindthe uniform is a human being."

The Nelson communityhas come together in the most remarkable way to supportLyn's family and friends, her police family, and each otherfollowing this tragic event. The laying of flowers and notesat the central city police station, the thousands who signedcondolence books, the beautiful community vigil held on thechurch steps where 2,000 people stood in the pouring rain toacknowledge Lyn and our local police, the minute's silenceat the Saxton Oval and on the streets of Nelson wereincredible examples of Nelson's love and support for Lyn'sfamily, our local police, and those who witnessed thistragic incident.

I also want to acknowledge SeniorSergeant Adam Ramsay, who was critically injured. Nelsonianscontinue to ask about his recovery out of genuine care andconcern for his wellbeing. Adam, please know that the wholeNelson community is right behind you as you continue yourrecovery.

I want to pay particular acknowledgment tothose who were present at Buxton Square and who immediatelycame to Lyn and Adam's aid, as well as the other members ofthe public and officer who were injured. They were localfirst responders, witnesses, and other police officersworking the beat that night. Your selflessness and care forLyn and Adam was exemplary.

To the team at NelsonHospital who worked so desperately hard to try and save Lynand provided the most remarkable care for her and herfamily, my thanks to you on behalf of the Nelson communityfor your incredible skill and service.

September 29 isPolice Remembrance Day, and every year the local police,their families, and supporters gather at the flagpole atNelson station. I never thought I would see the flagpoleoutside the Nelson station at half-mast for one of our ownfallen officers. Tragic events like this shouldn't happen,and it is not how anyone in Nelson or across New Zealandwished for the year to begin. I was out in Nelson on NewYear's Eve. I saw and spoke to officers out on the beat. Itwas a happy and celebratory night. This event was such adreadful shock and it shouldn't have happened. I thankNelsonians for the compassion they have shown to thoseaffected by this senseless tragedy and ask our community tocontinue keeping Lyn's family and our local police in theirthoughts over the coming weeks and months.

Inparticular, we continue to think of Lyn's immediate family:her husband, Bryn; children Rayna and Aren; parents, Ray andColleen; and siblings, Woody, Carol, and Jo. As Lyn's son,Aren, said at Lyn's funeral, there are no words. There areno words to express the grief and sorrow from this senselesstragedy. Rest in peace, Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, NewZealand Police LFE773, whose watch ended 1 January2025.

GLEN BENNETT (Labour): Kia ora,Madam Speaker. It is always a privilege to stand in thisHouse, but it is also a heavy privilege to be in thisposition and to be a member of Parliament. I came in thismorning with hopes and dreams, and by about 30 seconds intothe Prime Minister's speech, I think most of those werecrushed and destroyed.

As we spend time debating thePrime Minister's address and his plan for 2025, it is reallyinteresting to listen to his narrative and what the PrimeMinister talks about and what the Government talks about. Ijust want to focus for a moment on the Government;interestingly, most of the Government Ministers spent mostof their time talking about us. They talk about unleashingour economy, but I feel like they should be talking moreabout unleashing economic hardship. If we look at thenumbers, if we actually look at the statistics about what'sgoing on, this Government is failing on the economy. If youlook at GDP growth, it has plummeted from what was 2.4percent under Labour and is now on its steepest declinesince 1991—if you take aside the blip of COVID-19. So thisGovernment is unleashing economic hardship.

I alsothink about, when it comes to the cost of living—do weremember that phrase and narrative, which just seems to havevanished from the lips of the Prime Minister and theGovernment. It seems that they have abandoned their focus onhelping everyday New Zealanders when it comes to thechallenges of the cost of living, when things like insuranceand rates and fuel and energy, and transport costs continueto go up with inflation. They continue to go up. It seemsthat they have just forgotten about that thing called thecost of living, which they spoke so much about.

Thenwe look at this Government unleashing, let's just say,privatisation—the fact that they are flirting with thisidea of privatisation, where the soon to be Deputy PrimeMinister put that "p" word firmly in his state of the nationspeech last Friday. And, from my perspective, in thecommunity where I live in New Plymouth, we knowprivatisation well and what it means for our community. Backin the 1990s, the then National Government sold off morethan 11,500 State houses around Aotearoa New Zealand, and inNew Plymouth, in Marfell, where I live, that ravaged thecommunity. In terms of "The private market will care fortenants", "The private market will be OK and fix it", if youdrive around the community of Marfell today, people oftensay, "Oh that must be a State house. That must be a Statehouse. That must be a State house", but they aren't Statehouses; those are privately owned homes that were sold offwhen they did the privatisation of the 1990s when it comesto housing.

So, if we look at that, we realise thatprivatisation and flirting with this idea, whether it couldbe health, whether it could be education, is something weshould be really concerned about. And, as I think about thatprivatisation and looking at Marfell from the 1990s, we lookat the fact that they seem to be unleashing homelessness. AsI look around my community, as we look around thecommunities of New Zealand, we see that they seem to be justshutting things down; they seem to be ignoring—in fact,stopping—the State housing build, and it is notgood.

Then we come to unleashing our climate crisis.And again, in Taranaki, we were working to unleash aneconomy around clean, renewable energy, but this Governmentpassed the fast track approvals bill—

HonNicola Willis: Say yes to fast trackthen—fast-track renewable energy.

GLENBENNETT: That's what I'm talking about. They passedthe fast-track approvals bill, which will stop, MsWillis—the fact that offshore wind won't be able tohappen, because on that list is seabed mining. And seabedmining cannot coexist with offshore wind. We were workinghard—in fact, one of the big overseas companies hasalready exited New Zealand because they realise thatoffshore wind is no longer a possibility because of fasttrack, because of the fact that they just want to do dirtymining offshore, at sea.

So, when I look at what'sgoing on, it's not about our economy; it's about unleashingmeanness, about unleashing division, about unleashingenvironmental degradation, unleashing economic hardship. Weneed to be concerned in 2025. We made it through, but howare we going to get to the end? I think and know that weneed a change of Government.

Hon BROOKE VANVELDEN (Minister of Internal Affairs): It is greatto be back in Parliament. It is going to be a good year forNew Zealand and for this Government. I hope that every Kiwiout there has had a great summer break. I know that for manyworkers in New Zealand, there isn't too much of a break, andI'm thinking in particular of some of those farmers whostill have to get up even on Christmas Day because it turnsout that cows don't celebrate Christmas.

There are alot of people who are working hard throughout the summerbreak, including our first responders. We really thank themfor what they've done to help keep Kiwis safe with theirfamilies when they've been out and about in thecommunity.

A lot of people will be returning in 2025for the work year and for the school year, and I really hopeit's a good one for them. But we also know that there aresome people in New Zealand who have been really struggling,and there is a particular concern about the cost of livingand the economy and what we can do as a Government to ensurethat more Kiwis can have a better life and a morecomfortable life. And it's my hope that we can get somereally good wins for everybody who wants to do better forthemselves and for their families this year and into thefuture. That's why this Government, and in particularsupported by ACT, has a real focus on the economy andgetting the cost of living down.

Now, it's really goodthat in 2025, entering the year, we are seeing the officialcash rate in the actual band that we want to see, between 1and 3 percent, but we're still going to really work hard toget that down so that there's more money in people's pocketsand the value of every dollar isn't being sucked away byinflation. That's a real focus for us.

We havecampaigned in ACT on reducing wasteful spending so moreKiwis do have more money in their own back pocket, and itmeans that we're focusing on what the Government can dowell, where we can get efficiencies and make better moves sothat our New Zealand taxpayer dollars go further for morepeople since we have been in Government.

I'm reallyproud of our ACT Party Ministers and our under-secretary whohave been working really, really hard across the board.We've got David Seymour. He's been working as the Ministerfor Regulation, trying to figure out where are all thoseniggles are, all the cost, all that red tape that's justburdening us down. And he started up that tip line so peoplecould phone in and email in about all the regulations thatthey want the Ministry for Regulation to look into, and I'dreally encourage everyone to do that.

We've got NicoleMcKee, who is working diligently on improving anti -money-laundering legislation to relieve the regulatorypressure on businesses that is so needed for all of theseNew Zealand companies who find the burden of anti -money-laundering too hard.

Andrew Hoggard has beenworking hard at restoring confidence to rural New Zealand bypreventing further restrictions on what farmers can do withtheir own land. That is so important for the rural folk ofNew Zealand who often got forgotten by previous Governmentsbut have a core part of this coalitionGovernment.

Karen Chhour has been keeping children atthe centre of everything she does, and she's been increasingthe efficiency of the care system with the millions ofdollars of contracts and making sure it's going to the bestinterests of the children and not getting lost in thesystem.

Simon Court has got one of the most importantjobs of trying to reform the Resource Management Act to makesure that we can build and we can grow as an economy. Thatis so important.

There are so many other things thatwe've been working on, and we are very excited for 2025. Inmy role in workplace relations and safety over the pastyear, I spent a lot of time out in the community talking toreal New Zealanders, not here in Wellington. I can't wait toget out of the place most weeks so I can go and talk topeople who are actually affected by our laws, people who paythe bills, who help keep this place running.

And wehad the health and safety roadshow. I thought it was really,really important to go and talk to workers and to businessowners on the ground to figure out how we get the balanceright to keep people safe at work but also ensure thatbusinesses aren't burdened by unnecessary costs and too-highcosts.

Now nearly every week when I'm in thecommunity, people raise the issue of road cones. We've gotto fix that. People at the end of last year were talkingabout Santa parade compliance. Once again, we've got to fixthat, but we've got to fix health and safety reform andcompliance for everybody in any type of industry who'sfeeling like it's just too hard to figure out what you'vegot to do right. That's what I'm focusing on for this yearand I look forward to talking to more workers andbusinesses.

We've got a lot happening in theDepartment of Internal Affairs (DIA). We have been focusingon improving the effectiveness and efficiency of InternalAffairs over the last year. We found savings of $421 millionlast year alone, and that work will continue into this yearso every New Zealander knows that the Department of InternalAffairs is there to help them from birth all the way todeath and everything in between. It's a huge department, butwe're doing it right and we're doing it efficiently andeffectively. We're responsible for things like passports andcitizenship. I think it's really important that any personwho's dealing with the DIA has a very good experience withit and it's an effective and quick experience. But there areso many improvements that we can look to make there in thisyear ahead.

DIA is also responsible for Fire andEmergency New Zealand, and, once again, I really thank ourfirst responders who do get up every day to think how theycan keep other Kiwis in their community safe. We wouldn'thave the fire service if it wasn't for really dedicatedvolunteers in our community.

Over the past year wemanaged to find savings even within Fire and Emergency, sothat people who pay for Fire and Emergency through a levydon't have to pay as much as what Fire and Emergency wasoriginally asking, and we will keep raising thatquestion.

With the time I've got still available, Ijust want to say it's been a real pleasure coming back in2025 for the first day here in Parliament. I've been out inmy electorate, in Tāmaki, for the past couple of weeks,listening to people on the street, and one thing thatthey've been really saying is "Keep going." They back thisGovernment. They really want us to do well. They know thatwe have their best interests at heart, that we want tocreate better policies so that every Kiwi's life canimprove.

But we also know that the role of electorateMPs quite often goes by the wayside. We don't hear about ittoo much because a lot of it is dealing with very, verypersonal issues, and I'd like to thank my staff who work, inmy absence, to help people on things like their ACC claims,their immigration claims, and working with, for example, asolo mother who had a disabled child and was unable to getthem into a specialist school. But we managed to get thatchild into a school so that that mother could return back towork and get back into the workforce.

Thank you,everybody, for your support, not just in Tāmaki but for theACT Party and for this coalition Government. We are here tohave a great year, and we're here to back you and get thiseconomy moving.

Hon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister ofFinance): I move, That this debate be nowadjourned.

Motion agreed to.

Sittingsuspended from 6.03 p.m. to 7.30p.m.

TANGI UTIKERE (Labour—PalmerstonNorth): Kia orana, Madam Speaker. It's a pleasureto rise on behalf of the Labour Party. We supported thisbill at first reading, we supported it through selectcommittee, and we'll continue to support it at secondreading, with a couple of caveats there. Can I firstacknowledge the Minister, Chris Bishop, on his newportfolio. Members on this side of the House agree that roadsafety as a priority is important and that anything thatwill prevent fatalities and injuries on our roading networkis a good thing to do. That's why Labour did introduce aregime when it was in Government.

I want toacknowledge the members of the Transport and InfrastructureCommittee, a very collegial committee. Can I acknowledge thechair, Andy Foster, for chairing us through this process. Ithink the select committee report actually is a very fairreflection of the conversations and the issues that thecommittee tussled with and, effectively, where we landed asa committee, as well. I want to acknowledge the advisersthat provided advice to the committee. I also, along withthe Minister, want to acknowledge Dr Helen Poulsen, who wasable to provide, from the Institute of Environmental Scienceand Research Ltd (ESR), a scientific basis and background totesting, and, actually—certainly for me—provided a levelof comfort around the testing that does take place out atESR, but it's still important to be able to understand whatcan be a complex issue moving forward.

One of thethings that the Minister did touch on, and it's somethingthat members on this side of the House don't have comfortaround, are the concerns that the Attorney-General didraise. There were a couple of concerns that she rose in herreport, one was around the possibility of detaining someonefor a period of time that was rather excessive on anarbitrary sort of notion; the other was around the freedomfrom unreasonable search and seizure. What the committee didis that it worked extremely hard to then turn its mind totry and address some of the issues that had beenraised.

I have to say that I'm very disappointed tohear from the Minister that one of the issues that was inthe select committee, which was really encouraging theGovernment to turns its mind to a possible maximum time bywhich a driver would be detained on the roadside, issomething that the Government is not prepared to pursue. Isay that because the select committee, I thought, workedextremely in a collegial way to get to a point where itsignalled to the Government that this is something thatmembers on that committee, including National members onthat committee, were very comfortable to have.

Now, weweren't able to land on a particular time period, because oftwo reasons: one, the advisers were not in a position to beable to provide a specific time frame to us, and, secondly,the amount of time that the committee had—because this wason a truncated sort of time frame in front of thecommittee—meant that we weren't able to delve into thisissue perhaps as deeply as we would have liked to. So thosewere the constraints that led to the committee being veryclear in its select committee report back to this House thatthere really is an expectation that the Government, inseeking to address the concerns that the Attorney-Generalhas made around this bill, will turn its mind toimplementing a maximum time frame.

Now, we heard fromthe advisers that one of the reasons for not having amaximum time frame was because an alcohol breath-screeningtest doesn't have that. When we turn our mind to otherjurisdictions, like Australia, where in some situations afirst screening test could be up to 10 minutes, in othercircumstances a second oral fluid test could be up to 40minutes, the view from members on this side of theHouse—and I thought of the committee at the time aswell—was that there needed to be a fair understanding ofwhat is a fair period of time that anyone that is drivinghere in New Zealand can expect to actually be stopped on theside of the road for the first oral fluid test; the secondone is redundant, because if you get to the second one itmeans that your first test has, effectively returned apositive. So the limitations on freedom, in my view and ofmembers of this side of the House, are not as great ifyou've already sort of gone across that firsthurdle.

So I think that it's unfortunate to hear fromthe new Minister that the Government are not going to takeup that suggestion by the select committee, because Ithought, actually, it was something that members from acrossthe House were keen to see actually implemented as part ofthat.

There is one time limitation in existingstatute, and that relates to identity, where a policeofficer can, effectively, hold someone at the roadside forup to 15 minutes before either having to release them or letthem go or, basically, charge them or arrest them, andthat's for failing to being able to establish the identityof a driver. Now, even the Attorney-General, the Hon JudithCollins, in her report on this bill, indicated that anythingabove 15 minutes, basically, called into question this issueof what is an unreasonable period of time to detain someone.So I do hope that the Government do see a way through thisand that when we come to the committee of the whole Housestage that they may change their mind to reflect the viewsthat the select committee listened to and what it was thatwe were able to hear as well, because that certainly was anexpectation from members to respond to the concerns thatwere raised by the Attorney-General.

One of the otherthings that came up through the select committee was—and Ido hope that this is not the case—procurement wishing todrive what the provisions are in the legislation. I wouldhope that that is not what this new-found position of theGovernment is on that particular matter. It's reallyimportant that when this piece of legislation goes throughthe process, that we consider what needs to be in it, whatneeds to be out of it, and that is what drives procurement.I don't think it's appropriate to have a situation where thedecisions as to what is going to be in the bill or in thelegislation, or what is not, is going to be driven by anability to, basically, procure devices or otherwise, andthat was made very clear through the select committeeprocess.

So, at this stage, we, I guess, tentativelylook to support it. But we will reserve, through thecommittee of the whole House stage, given the surpriseposition that the Government have just sprung on the Housein terms of not wishing to support the proposals that wereoutlined—I do hope that they reflect on that and, perhaps,we could have a different outcome to make it more workable,more fair, and get some consensus across the House on whatis a pretty important issue.

###

Sittingdate: 29 January 2025

DEBATE ON PRIMEMINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 28January.

Hon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister ofFinance): It's yes time. Because, after severalyears in which New Zealanders have watched what happens whena Government mismanages the economy and takes its eye offeconomic growth, they know things have to change. And we area Government that is on the side of every New Zealander whosays, "I want a better paying job. I want to earn more. Iwant my kids to have more opportunities in New Zealand." Weare on the side of every New Zealander who says, "I want aneconomy in which inflation doesn't run out of control."We're on the side of every New Zealander who says, "I don'twant interest rates on my mortgage to just go up, up, up;I'd like it to get cheaper." And we are the party that saysyes to economic growth as the only solution to the economicchallenges that we face.

And it's a different culture,because in recent years we had a Government that indulged ineconomic illiteracy. We had a Government that tried tohoodwink New Zealanders into believing that if only theGovernment taxed them more, took more of their hard-earnedwages, and dreamt up more ways to waste that money, thenthings would miraculously get better. Well, it didn't work.Our Government is having to clean up the mess that it left.New Zealanders are alive to the culture that previousGovernment created and that this Government is stopping. Aculture of hand-wringing, of naysaying, slowing downeverything, from resource consents to how fast KieranMcAnulty can get home to those people in theWairarapa.

Because we had a Government that was soobsessed with wiping every tear from every eye that they hada consultant gravy train running. They were funding projectsto play whale music to trees. This was a Government thatwhile doing all of these things, took its eye off the ball,which is how do we make New Zealand a wealthier country, howdo we grow it faster, improve its productive capacity, makeit easier for small businesses to hire people, make iteasier for our farmers to sell more in the world, make iteasier to attract investment into the jobs that NewZealanders want for their futures. Instead, we had a culturewhere they said no. No to investment, no to consents for newdevelopment, no to mining, no to tax reduction, and no evento petrol cars and utes.

Well, this is a Governmentthat is changing the game. We are focused squarely on howNew Zealand can earn the prosperity that New Zealandersdeserve. Actually, that means doing things, not justannouncing KiwiBuild homes that never appear. What it meansis doing things that New Zealanders are sensible enough toknow actually matter. So here's one that really matters forproductivity: you've got to educate your kids. And you cantalk all you want about wellbeing, but if children don'tleave school able to read, write, and do maths, I'llguarantee you what they won't have, and that's wellbeing. Sothat's why we as a Government are turning around theeducation system. Putting structured literacy and numeracyinto our schools and putting the focus back on that mostimportant of capitals: human capital.

I'll tell youwhat else doesn't grow an economy: that's when every timesomeone wants to build something or do something or developsomething or innovative something, you say, "Well, here'sthe red tape I'd like you to manoeuvre your way throughbefore you do it." We are getting rid of that. We've startedwith a fast-track regime that says yes to dozens and dozensof major developments across this country: wind farms, solarfarms, quarrying projects, housing development, transportprojects. And you know what the irony is? Those people theresitting under the no lobby, what did they say to growthenhancing developments? They said, "Oh, no, no, no. No, no,no. We can dream up a lot of reasons to say no to that."They take such pride in saying no that, actually, that'swhat Chris Hipkins gets up each day to do: "How can I say notoday?" Such that he actually confuses himself and his ownspokespeople. So that even while he was saying that hereally thought digital nomads were part of New Zealand'sfuture, yesterday when the Government was promoting it andpeople were receiving it well, he had to think up a reasonto say no. So even while Kieran McAnulty was welcomingfaster travel times in the Wairarapa, his colleague TangiUtikere was saying, "Oh, no, no, no."

Well, NewZealanders have had enough of it. Whether it's the smallbusinesses that I speak to who say, "You know what? I wantmy workers safe, I want them healthy, and I want to takeeverything I can do to protect them. But I tell you what,that Health and Safety Act, it gets in my way every day."And what they say to that is, "Oh no, you can't listen tothat because that red tape's really important." Well, if welet red tape win, the economy suffers. Our Government is onthe side of saying, "Get rid of the red tape that's in theway. Cut through the bureaucracy. Say yes todevelopment."

I'll tell you what else we need to do.Get over this idea that members of the Opposition seem tohave that we'll get rich by selling to ourselves. Well, thatwon't ever work. We need to be exporting to the world. Thatmeans trading with the world. That means inviting in thosewho want to invest in New Zealand jobs and New Zealandincomes and New Zealand infrastructure. And it means notdoing what Chlöe Swarbrick did this morning at the Financeand Expenditure Committee when she questioned whether growthreally was what would help people who were suffering frominequality. Now, I'd say this: if you are a young NewZealander, if you're a baby born to a home where yourparents don't have a job, I'll tell you what is sure toresult, and that is that you will have a much lower income.So I'll tell you one of the best things we can do to getkids out of poverty, Green Party, that is actually have aneconomy that can sustain better paying jobs for the parentsof all children born in this country so that they can earntheir way and get ahead. Because, actually, they don't wantyour patronising idea that the way they get ahead is with ahandout from you and your mates and a press release from theLabour Party.

What New Zealanders want is to earn adecent living through their own efforts. All they ask for isa Government that supports the activity that delivers that.And we are that Government. They ask for a Government thatsays, "Look, don't just invest in science and innovation andtechnology that makes academics feel good sitting around andhaving chats about kauri trees and whale music. Can youplease make sure that when you invest our taxpayer dollars,it's going towards scientific and technological advancementthat will support the growth of this country?" And I don'tthink that's too much to ask. That is why we are reformingNew Zealand's State funded science system.

I'll tellyou what else New Zealanders say. They say, "I am overwaiting in traffic forever. I am over Ministers from theprevious Government announcing light rail every six monthsand not even building a single kilometre of it. Build mesome roads." And so that's what we're doing. Because itturns out, I'll tell you what roads are really convenientfor: not only do they help you get to work faster, but alsothey carry freight, which is necessary to get exports toports in order for New Zealand to make the income that weneed.

This is a yes culture. But I'll tell you whatelse is important for growth in addition to the reforms weare making, and that is a very serious point. Because I fearthat some members in this House are forgetting the lessonsof economic history. Responsible fiscal management matters,colleagues. We actually had a grand experiment these pastsix years in which we had a Government that borrowed andhoped that this strategy of more tax, more borrowing, andmore debt would result in some sort of economic nirvana.Well, New Zealanders are smarter than our opponents think.New Zealanders saw what that delivered: a cost of livingcrisis with sky high inflation, 525 basis points of interestrate hikes that harmed every mortgagee and every business inthis country, and it delivered a mighty big structuraldeficit.

So New Zealanders want a Government that willbe honest with them, that will fix this broken economy, andthat will bring back a culture of sense, or yes, of doingthe things that back people to back themselves. So next timethat lot opposite tell you that they did a good job, I'llsay to you, "Tell that to the New Zealanders who were leftunable to pay their bills, having experienced years ofinflation watching you fritter away their money and say noto the good things in their community." And I tell you whatNew Zealanders will say. They'll say, "You mucked it up. Itrust this Government to fix it."

Hon Dr MEGANWOODS (Labour—Wigram): We're being told a lot,over the last two days, that we have a Government of yes.This is a Government of yes—I agree with them on that;it's about saying yes to their mates and to the big end oftown. And that is what we have seen from this Government.Who we have seen this Government say no to is we've seen theGovernment say no to the people of Dunedin and DunedinHospital. We've seen this Government say no to our disabledcommunities and their funding. We've seen this Governmentsay no to first-home buyers and cut assistance for thosepeople to get into homes. We've seen cuts to front-lineservices up and down the country. We've seen cancelled freeprescriptions for so many of our people. And, moreimportantly, we are seeing thousands of people vote withtheir feet and leave our country because this is not aGovernment that is saying yes to them. It is a Governmentthat is clearly closing the door on hope and aspiration forthem.

Over the last two days, we've also had the PrimeMinister and the Minister of Finance try and peddle thestory that the country has been in recession for threeyears. One problem: it doesn't match up with the truth. Infact, the Government's own officials, the Treasury, came toa select committee this morning and said that was not thecase and that the first time we saw New Zealand go into arecession was under their watch in 2024. What thisGovernment has to own up to is that they are dragging thiscountry down, that they are putting us into the steepestrecession that we have seen since the early 1990s and RuthRichardson, taking COVID out of it. It is no surprise thatwe are seeing similar austerity measures coming out of thisGovernment and why ordinary New Zealanders are feeling likethis is a Government that is letting them down. It iscertainly not a Government of yes for them; it is certainlya Government of no.

The cost of living seems to havedisappeared from the Government's agenda. I don't know ifanyone else has noted that. That is not surprising, giventhat we're seeing insurance, rates, energy, transport—allthose costs that hit at people's household budgets—keep onrising and rising far faster than inflation and wages. Thisis the reality for everyday New Zealanders.

And wehave the Minister of Finance lecturing us about how it isthat we will make people feel better, and that is gettingkids out of poverty. Well, the single biggest way we leadchildren out of poverty is by well-paid, meaningful jobs.And what are we seeing out of this Government? We are seeingunemployment rise. Thousands of people are out of work,thanks to the policy agenda of the Government that we havein place. Mills and meatworks are closing up and down thecountry. There are now 12,745 fewer jobs in the constructionsector alone since this crowd took office. We've seen theconstruction sector fall by 6 percent in theirtime.

This is a Government that New Zealanders simplycannot afford. Let's go through a list of the failures inonly a year that we have seen from this Government: $2.9billion worth of tax cuts for landlords, and where are thosepromised rent decreases for renters? We are still seeingrents rise. We're seeing tax breaks for tobacco companiesand the reversing of our world-leading smokefree policy.What we are seeing is a watering down of the protections weput in place post - 15 March around our gun laws. We areseeing, as I've mentioned, Dunedin Hospital being walkedaway from. We're seeing that cut for first-home grants andfirst-home borrowers. We're seeing so many things beingcut.

But one of the things, over the last couple ofweeks, that I think has been so concerning for NewZealanders to hear about is the Government fessing up—theway in which the Minister of Finance tells us—that wedon't get rich by selling to ourselves. What they're cookingup is they want to get rich by selling it all off. There isa very clear privatisation agenda. The Minister of Financehas been getting lists drawn up by the public sector,looking at our State-owned assets, and seeing what it isthat we can be ready to flog off. We only need to look toour past to see what happens when we flog off and privatiseour State assets. We can look to KiwiRail, we can look towhat happened in health, and we can look to what happened inenergy and how this has not benefited NewZealanders.

Now, coming from the people's republic ofWigram, where we have a very clear idea on what it means tonot sell off our State assets. This is something I willfight with every fibre in my being. I grew up in SouthChristchurch in the 1980s when the Addington workshop wasshut down because it was privatised. I watched the parentsof my friends lose their jobs, and their families, in manyplaces, lose their dignity with that paid work. That is whatit means, and that is why the Labour Party will stand strongagainst a privatisation agenda.

The other thing thatwe've seen in recent weeks is the Prime Minister feel theneed to appoint a special envoy to the Southern lands, thoselands that lie to the south of Lyle Bay—commonly known butunknown to this Government—called the Southern lands, theSouth Island. There is now a Minister, a Minister outsideCabinet, who's not there when decisions are made, who hasresponsibility for the South Island. When we were inGovernment, we just called that Cabinet. We just had enoughpeople from the South Island sitting around the Cabinettable. We didn't have one person, who got demoted in thelast reshuffle, sitting at the Cabinet table and having tofight the fight. Any Government that feels the need toappoint a junior Minister outside Cabinet to be the specialenvoy for the South Island is showing, in black and white,it is failing the people of the South Island.

But itis no wonder that they've had to do this. Let's look at thelitany of let-downs for the South Island. Let's start—Iknow Rachel Brooking is sitting behind me and so is TraceyMcLellan—with Dunedin Hospital and the walk-back on thepromise to the people of Dunedin around a badly needed newhospital and the wider South. We've had that mirrored at thetop of the South with Nelson Hospital and the way thatNelson Hospital is being walked back on. We've seen theliteral severing of the South Island with the cancelling ofthe ferries, breaking down that vital link that we needbetween the North and South Islands and the commitment torail-enabled fairies to ensure that we can have good flow ofgoods and services. We've also seen this in transportfunding. Of the 12 or 17 roads, I think—17 roads—ofnational significance, two of them were in the South Island.And guess what? They were the two smallest projects in theprogramme. The South has been shortchanged. Five percent oftransport funding coming through in this Budget went to theSouth Island, when we make up a quarter of the country'spopulation. It is no wonder that this Government has feltthe need to appoint someone to be that specialenvoy.

But one of the things that cuts me to the core,where the Government has walked away from the South Island,is the commitment that was needed to our 15 March families.This is a Government that has let down a group of NewZealanders, a group of people in Christchurch, and hassimply turned their backs on them. It's not just aboutwalking away from the gun reform that was done post - 15March; it's about actually dealing with a group of peoplewho were subject to a terrorist attack with any kind ofempathy and any kind of heart.

This is a Governmentthat is failing New Zealand. It is a Government that is notputting their priorities first. It is not a Government thatis saying yes to the people of New Zealand. It is aGovernment that is saying yes to itsmates.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour):Point of order, sir.

Hon EricaStanford: Mr Speaker.

Hon KIERANMcANULTY: Apologies to the member. Sir, I know thatwe all believe that debates should be held in this Housewith a level of decorum. Now, there was a comment madeduring that speech which was unparliamentary and targetedpersonally the Hon Dr Megan Woods. If the member that madethat comment wishes to withdraw and apologise now, I'm quitehappy to leave it there. If they choose not to, then I willraise it but I won't do sopublicly.

SPEAKER: OK. I waslistening to the speech of the Hon Megan Woods and didn'thear the comment. If there was an unparliamentary commentmade by someone, it would be wise to withdraw andapologise.

Hon ERICA STANFORD (Minister ofEducation): Isn't it nice to be lectured by aprevious Government Minister who has conveniently forgottenthat in the previous Government they had a Minister forAuckland! Minister Wood was a representative for Auckland.And, tell you what, James Meager is going to make anexceptional Minister and an exceptional representative forthe people of Christchurch and the people of the SouthIsland. It's also worthy of note that Labour put in place adelivery unit. We call that "Cabinet". We are the Governmentof delivery, because we have been delivering for the goodpart of a year now and we are going to continue to do sothrough focusing on economic growth and prosperity forKiwis. We are a Government who are going to say yes, and weare Ministers who are making sure that we are putting inplace the conditions for growth.

It was great to bepart of one of the first announcements out of the blockswith our digital nomads policy, because we are saying yes toeconomic growth, yes to more tourists, yes to morehigh-value tourists. The Labour Party used to like talkingabout high-value tourists, but apparently not anymore. Weare saying yes to highly skilled IT executives overseas whomight want to come here and work in the wee hours of themorning and, in the afternoon, have a surfing lesson atRaglan, walk a Great Walk, play golf at Tara Iti, but allthe while spending their money in our local businesses,going to local cafes, drinking in local bars, eating inlocal restaurants, especially during the shoulder season.We're only at 86 percent of where we used to be for tourism.We cannot afford to be like the Opposition and say no toeverything. We are saying yes to digital nomads, and it hasbeen a massive hit. We've been featured in the BBC; we'vebeen featured in the New York Times. Brett O'Reillyhas been talking about people from LA who have been affectedby those devastating fires coming here while they rebuildtheir homes. And we are saying yes to that.

If we wantfuture economic growth, our immigration system must be matchfit. We have to play our part in setting the conditions foreconomic growth, and our policies must support business. Weknow that it's absolutely crucial that they have access tothe skills that they need to grow their businesses. When wetook office, processing times for the three gateways for thework visa were 81 days. Today: 32 days. We have made sure,in the last year, that we have got Immigration New Zealandto be match fit. We've changed some of the policies, butwe've also made sure that our processing is speedy andefficient, all the while making sure that we still have oureye on the ball when it comes to risk management andensuring that we are verifying all of the documentation thatis coming in from our applicants.

We're saying yes tointernational students. Thirteen days was the average timeit took to process an international student visa in Decemberlast year, 40 percent better than the same time last year.There were no queues, there were no wait times, and therestill aren't. And this is our peak time. We are match fit.And we're saying yes to international visitors and tourists.In December, it took eight days to process a visitor visa,and that's our peak time. Immigration New Zealand is matchfit, and we have made sure that they are match fit. ThisGovernment is making sure that our immigration settings areresponsive, that they're efficient, that they're fit forpurpose, that they're speedy to drive economic growth, andwe are going to have a lot more to say and a lot moreannouncements later this year.

The long-term driversof growth are just as important as some of the short- andmedium-term factors that I've talked about. And oursingle-most important long-term driver of growth is ourchildren. We have a moral obligation to make sure that theyare meeting their full potential and getting a world-leadingeducation. These young people of today are the future PeterBecks. They are the future doctors and nurses and policemenand teachers, and we have to invest in them. For too long,we have been watching our results decline over many, manydecades. But our focus—the focus of this Government and afocus of mine—is making sure that we are getting changesin the classroom in reading, writing, and maths;professional learning and development for our teachers;resources—books, tactile resources—in the classroom;structured literacy in the classroom; clear reporting toparents; twice yearly assessments; and, most importantly,support for those learners who are falling behind, andcatching them early so that we can help them to catch up. Inunder a year, we have implemented a huge shift in education.We have a focus on back to the basics and evidence-based andsensible changes.

I want to talk, firstly, about thecurriculum, because last year we completely rewrote themaths and English curricula to be making sure that we arefollowing a science of learning approach. The curriculum isyear by year, knowledge rich. Teachers and parents will knowexactly what is to be taught and what is to be learnt everysingle year and that, no matter where they go to school, nomatter which part of New Zealand they are in, it is clearand consistent. This year, 65,000 young children are goingto start school, and every single one of them going to aState school is going to learn to read using structuredliteracy, an evidence-based method we know is the very bestway to teach our young children to read. It is absolutelycrucial that young New Zealanders have great literacy, andstructured literacy has been proven to make sure that youngpeople learn to read, and 90 percent of them learn to readusing structured literacy. And the really important thing isthat we catch them early when they are falling through thecracks. This year, we will see at 20 weeks and at 40 weeks aphonics check—a one-on-one check between a teacher and achild—to make sure that they're progressing as they'reexpected to be. And we're doing all of this in te reo Māorias well. We're giving schools up to $5,000 per year for fouryears to purchase extra structured literacy resources on topof the free ones we're already producing.

Numeracy isalso crucial. We have been watching our results plummet overthe decades. We know that only 20 percent of our year-8s areat curriculum and where they should be. My message toparents is clear: your kids are going to know their timestables, because instant recall of basic facts and timestables is back. It's embedded into the curriculum. Too manyparents have said to us that their young children arefalling behind but they find out too late. Well, everysingle parent in this country will be able to see exactlywhat their children are learning, where they should be. Wejust delivered nearly 500,000 maths books, to 92 percent ofNew Zealand schools up and down the country who orderedthem. That is absolutely massive. And not only are theyworkbooks and textbooks for students but they are guidebooksand lesson plans for teachers as well. We are making surethat we are putting in place evidence-based methods,especially when it comes to mathematics. It's so importantthat young people are taught explicitly, in a structuredway, that they master topics before they move on, throughpractice, through games, through tactile resources, andthrough group work.

As I said earlier, it's soimportant that young people don't fall through the cracks.This term, 3,000 years 7 and 8 students will be receivingtutoring up to four times a week to make sure that they areat the level they should be. And the schools have been toldover the last couple of weeks which schools will be includedin that trial, and we will roll that out later in the yearonce we see the results of the trial. There has been arevolution in education. Parents around the country can feelconfident that their children are receiving a world-leadingeducation. And I want to just mention a story that I heardfrom Joseph Mooney just a couple of days ago. He said thathe was speaking to a young mum who said, "I was going tohome school my child. And I've been preparing to do so. Butgiven all the changes that your Government has made, I'menrolling them in their local school, because I can see thatit's a year-by-year curriculum, structured literacy,structured mathematics, and all of the resources you'reproviding gives me confidence that my child will bereceiving a world-leading education."

If we wantfuture economic growth and prosperity for our families, thekey is making sure our young people of today are receivingthat world-leading education, have confidence in theirabilities, and can go on to live the life that theywant.

STEVE ABEL (Green): Kia ora, MrSpeaker. Envy is ignorance; imitation is fatal, toparaphrase Emerson. The economics of Aussie envy will befatal for New Zealand, because we must stand on theintegrity of our own values, on the value of our ownecosystems and our own resources. For us to attempt tobecome a little wannabe backwater mined-up Australia will bedisastrous for who we actually are.

The mentality ofthe 19th century extractive economy is more than merely abackward idea; more than merely Old World thinking. We knowthe consequences that it has for human society. We know thatfundamentally the extractive mentality is what has led us tothe existential crisis we face as a species. The crisis ofclimate change is fundamentally the consequences of usbelieving that we can keep extracting oil, gas, coal, andvarious minerals from the ground and burning them andsending that sequestered carbon into the atmosphere. Infact, that is the end of the viability of life on thisplanet. I don't want to sound dramatic; it's unfortunatelythe science of it. The science is that what makes us aviable and livable planet is through the health of therelationship that we as a species that belongs to this earthholds with the integrity of the ecosystems on which wedepend.

When the environment is sick, when the riversare polluted, so too will we be sick and will we be unwell.It is a basic reality of what we have learned over centuriesof industrialism, that we have to stop thinking like we'rein the 19th century. The pollution economy that this LuxonGovernment is advancing is utterly the wrong direction, notjust for the world but it is certainly the wrong directionfor Aotearoa New Zealand. Gold is not golden here; clean andgreen is golden here, and that is what we must be standingfor.

When the likes of the Minister for minerals andresources and the likes of the Prime Minister say they'regoing to mine in Otago and say they're going to extractmillions of tonnes of sand from Bream Bay up in Northlandand say they're going to dig up the seabed in Taranaki forTrans-Tasman Resources and say they're going to reopen goldmining on conservation estate in the Coromandel and saythey're going to do more coal mining on the West Coast ofthe South Island, we as te Pāti Kākāriki, as the GreenParty say to those communities: we will stand with you indefence of those magnificent ecosystems. We will stand withyou in defence of your communities, your communities thathave fought and fight now to maintain the integrity of theplace in which you live.

You know when the Aussie goldminers come over here and they rip and they strip and theybust and they head over the horizon with the profits thatyou are left with the legacy of acid mine drainage andcyanide and arsenic-laden tailings dams. Long after theprofits have gone offshore, you are left with that legacy.That is not the way forward for communities in this country.It is not the way forward for us as a nation in terms of oureconomy. We must provide a means for people to sustain theirlives that is regenerative, that is renewable, that iscircular, that allows us to have a means of sustenance thatis not short term, that is not destructive, that doesn'tlead to the contamination of our groundwater, the orangepollution that we just recently saw in the Coromandelrunning through rivers from mines that were mined over acentury ago.

We need to find a way of making athriving society and a thriving existence on this planetthat does not threaten the very viability of life. We cannotmine our way to a livable planet, and we should, after allthese decades and centuries of trying to do that, understandthat by now. This Government is taking New Zealand backwardsand we as te Pāti Kākāriki will stand with thosecommunities who are defending an idea of a genuinelyauthentic, unique Aotearoa New Zealand where we stand on ourown merits. Kia ora.

BENJAMIN DOYLE(Green): E te Māngai, tēnākoe.

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Nurture the seed andit shall blossom.

One in five Māori tamariki live inhouseholds struggling to put kai on the table, struggling tosend their children to school with full puku, decentclothing, and proper resources for learning. In his speechto the House, the Prime Minister celebrates a curriculumthat nobody asked for. One hour of literacy and numeracy, asthough that wasn't already happening in classrooms acrossthe motu, and as though that can address the significantstructural inequalities depriving our children fromaccessing the education they truly deserve, an educationfocused on nurturing the wellbeing of whānau, community,and te taiao, rather than the results of an arbitraryover-assessment.

While the Prime Minister pontificatesabout his glutton for growth, our own tamariki are beingsubjected to the growth of the most insidious nature:inequality. Recent data from KidsCan shows that 6,000tamariki in desperate need of support are on their waitlistsalone—6,000 tamariki. Instead of cuts to school lunches ordictating classroom content, instead of removing essentialrelationships and sexuality education without anything toreplace it with, despite overwhelming support from whānauand tamariki, instead of the looming prospect ofprivatisation, unqualified teachers, and ballooning ratios,this Government could be addressing the root cause ofeducational inequality: poverty. Growth will not undo theharms of intergenerational systemic oppression. Growth willnot fix the broken industrial education complex. Growth willnot address the intersecting and compounding determinants ofhealth, which result in the disproportionate harmexperienced by tangata whenua.

The Prime Ministerspoke about investing in healthcare but failed to mentionhow his Government has left the most vulnerable members ofour communities behind. We are witnessing an unprecedentedassault on takatāpui and rainbow communities by thisGovernment. Attempts to limit access to basicgender-affirming healthcare are under way, and the onlynational organisation supporting the specific and severemental health needs of LGBTQI+ communities has been left tofend for itself. At a time of global hysteria anddisinformation about the lives of trans, non-binary, andrainbow people, this Government must take an evidence-basedapproach to upholding the rights and mana o ngā tāngatakatoa o Aotearoa.

It is of particular concern thatonly days before the commemorations of Waitangi Day, thePrime Minister admitted any mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangior the needs and aspirations of whānau Māori from hisspeech. We cannot achieve educational or wellbeing targetswithout addressing the broken promises the Crown has made toMāori. We cannot achieve educational or wellbeing targetsby allowing one in five tamariki Māori to live in extremematerial hardship or attend school without the basics.Equity is achieved by listening to those most affected bythe decisions we are making. It is achieved by focusing onthe particular needs and solutions that they generously andcontinuously offer us. It is incumbent upon the PrimeMinister to act in the best interests of all those herepresents, not just those who exist in his own sphere ofexperience.

Teachers are telling us they need to beresourced, valued, and empowered so that this week tamarikican arrive at schools adequately prepared to nurture theirlearning and hauora. Whānau and tamariki are telling usthey are struggling to send their kids to school with thebasics, not that they want the Government to impose an hourof reading and writing. Takatāpui and rainbow communitiesare telling us they deserve their basic human rights, not tobe treated as a vessel for imported transphobia. Trans livesare taonga and trans healthcare is a humanright.

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Hon ANDREWBAYLY (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs):Thank you, Mr Speaker. Pleasure to be standing in the Housefor the start of 2025, and I hope everyone's had a greatholiday. It's great to be back, and, as the Prime Ministersaid in his state of the nation speech, it's all aboutsaying "yes". As the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister,I'm also saying "yes" to making sure that consumers andbusinesses across the country get a better deal: "yes" tomore competition; "yes" to more choice; "yes" to a thrivingeconomy, and for Kiwis being better off.

As ourGovernment gears up to supercharge our economy, we want tomake sure that this economy has the right framework to beable to achieve the growth that we ambitiously set out andwant to see happen, because, ultimately, what that means isthat people have more money, which means they have a betterstandard of living. We as a Government also ultimatelybenefit because we get more taxes, which we can invest inroads, schools, education, and health facilities—all thegood stuff that everyone wants.

But an important partof that is competition, because competitive markets boostour productivity and also create and provide for innovation.They also create employment opportunities and lift livingstandards. When consumers have confidence to invest, thenthat's when businesses have confidence to invest and also toinnovate, and that is what ultimately drives the economy.That's why I'm proud to be leading a couple of areas aroundchanges in competition to promote better outcomes for NewZealanders.

The first one I want to talk about is thereview of the Companies Act. The Companies Act 1993 hasn'tbeen reviewed for 30 years and it is an essential empoweringpiece of legislation that sets out the framework for howbusinesses operate in New Zealand. It is really importantthat we have the right framework, and it's surprising thatit has not been reviewed for 30 years. So we want to makesure that New Zealand businesses do have the right frameworkto operate and to operate successfully and to operatefairly, so what we're going to do is we're going tomodernise, simplify, and digitise the Companies Act. I amvery excited about this piece of legislation because it issuch an important driver of how people operate in NewZealand, and I want to make sure, ultimately, as an outcomeof this process, that we're in a better position wherebusinesses can be more successful.

So, some of theelements of that bill: first thing is we're going to dealwith the issue around directors having to disclose theirpersonal addresses. We're going to remove that requirement,but, interestingly so, we're also going to remove therequirement for companies in terms of where you have adirector and you have a shareholder—often they're the sameperson, so we're going to remove the requirement in bothcases. But to deal with the issue of poor performing ordirectors who do not fulfil their duties adequately, we'regoing to give them a unique digital identity so we can trackwho they are.

Alongside that, very concerned aboutphoenixing of companies, which is the process where peopleget paid, for instance, if you were doing an extension of ahouse—and I don't want to highlight, particularly, thebuilding and construction sector. But by way of an example,if you were doing a small build on a house, you pay yourbuilder a certain amount of money, they don't fulfil theirobligation and they put the company into receivership andthen set up the next day—that is the phoenixing of acompany. We're going to deal with that issue once and forall because it's bad for individuals, bad for Kiwis, andit's also bad for business practices. So we're going tostrengthen the arrangements around that; the CompaniesOffice is going to be much more involved in that process,and we're going to also make some tweaks around theinsolvency laws to make sure that those people arecaptured.

We're going to get rid of screeds ofregulation set out in the Companies Act that are no longerrelevant, that should be removed—expunged from the lawbecause it's now 30 years old. We're going to embrace thethought of digitisation so that people can file accountsdigitally, and we're also going to look at how we simplify alot of the stuff that companies and businesses have to do.That is a big chunk of work and I'm very proud ofit.

The second bit that we're going to do aroundcompetition is the review of the Commerce Act. We'recurrently out for consultation on the Commerce Act. It isanother piece of legislation that hasn't been reviewed for20 years, and I find it staggering that no one—noGovernments—have thought about doing a major review. Ofcourse, the Commerce Act sets out the framework for howmergers and acquisitions, and how consolidation ofindustries take place, and the rules that govern, and howthe rules that the Commerce Commission must act.

Whatwe're doing in the consultation that's out for consultationat the moment—we're expecting to hear responses back onthat later this month—is how do we look at those rules?How do we make sure that merger settings are appropriate sowe don't see agglomerations of sectors of the economy thatwe've seen in the past. Obviously, we've seen—supermarketsare clearly one area that shouldn't have been allowed to getto that point over time, but there are a number of othersectors that have been allowed to do it, and it's been as aresult of poor settings in the Commerce Act. So what we'relooking to do is to make sure we can do that.

We'realso consulting on the issue of whether the CommerceCommission can do issue codes to make sure we've got betterbehaviours occurring in certain sectors, at the CommerceCommission's choice, to make sure we are driving as muchcompetition. We're making sure commercial activities ofindustries, where they are controlled by very few players,operate in a much more fair basis, and that the CommerceCommission has got the authority to do it. One of the thingsI've instructed the Commerce Commission is to be acourageous litigator, and we're seeing, increasingly, moreaction from the Commerce Commission. We want to be tougheron those entities that are using their market dominance topoor effect, which is affecting all NewZealanders.

The other third area relates to openbanking and open energy, which is all—the first part ispart of the banking competition review that the CommerceCommission did recently. We are embracing open banking. I'veengaged extensively with the fintech industry, which ismerging competitors to the large banks. I meet with themregularly, and I'm due to meet with them again in a coupleof weeks' time, with the Commerce Commission. We want toenable those fintechs to be able to offer discrete,competitive products and services in competition with thelarge banks, but also to introduce new products.

It'salso beneficial for banks, open banking. For instance, inAustralia, you can now get a bank to provide you a mortgageoffering within 10 minutes, and they do it because they canuse open banking rules to access all data—only at thesanction of the person wanting that mortgage offer, but openbanking provides for that. So it is something about drivingmore competition, new products and services. We've talked alot about open banking and expecting to have thearrangements in place by the end of this year: the ConsumerData Rights Bill will be coming before the House hopefullyin the next three weeks for the second reading, but we'reexpecting to have that, targeting to have open banking inplace by the end of this year. At the same time, we will bedoing open energy, which is about creating opportunities forcompetitors to offer better and more wide-ranging servicesin the energy markets, because we know how significantelectricity costs are for households.

Those are thethree big things, but there's a fourth one, which is aroundcapital markets—I haven't got time to talk about it, butin due course I will do. And, also, we are having a majorfocus—the Commerce Commission is having a major focus onsurcharges, credit card charges that people pay when they goto buy a cup of coffee or to buy schoolbooks for theirchildren this week. So we want to reduce that. I'mencouraging and supporting the work of the CommerceCommission. It is vital we reduce surcharges.

Sothere's a range of things that we're doing aroundcompetition. We're serious about improving competition inNew Zealand because it's a good thing for all New Zealandersand good for business as well. Ultimately, it means everyoneis better off. Thank you very much.

MARIAMENOKAPA-KINGI (Te Pāti Māori—Te Tai Tokerau): Kiaora. Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. TePāti Māori is the party that will fight to the end for teiwi Māori. It's in our name. That was one thing I committedto doing when I swore myself into Parliament, as did mytupuna back in the 11th Parliament: Eparaima Mutu Kapa. Tofight day in and day out for our people. This isn't acareer, nor is it an academic exercise, this is what itmeans to be Māori. This is the mokopuna movement. W'akapapais important to te ao Māori, and let's not forget Te PātiMāori was birthed out of a time where Government did whatit has always done, take what doesn't belong to it. Thisforcibly drew Māori together, back in 2004, a time we mightacknowledge as crossing the floor.

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I take the opportunity here toacknowledge the legacy of Dame Tariana Turia and her role inWhānau Ora. This is a successful, Māori-led initiativethat minimises whānau need to engage with State-deliveredservices. It prioritises a Māori way, delivering health,economic wellbeing, social wellbeing for our people. This isa proven and successful model for our people—an indigenousMāori model. It works.

I acknowledge the kōrero ofour co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, delivered yesterday,and this will endeavour to build upon those messages shegave on our behalf. As our co-leader alluded to, it was theunspoken words in the Prime Minister's statement that spokevolumes. So while he preaches on the so-called economicgrowth our country is meant to be experiencing, Iacknowledge the harsh reality for everyday people. We callthat "poverty in paradise". Poverty in paradise for many ofour whanaunga in Te Tai Tokerau, Tairāwhiti,Tāmaki,

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As this Government's economicdelusions live rent-free in our minds, many of our whanaungasearch for any place to live and an income to pay the rentfor such places. Poverty is also a future many now stare at,even for those who seemed to be doing OK and getting by atone time. The Budget 2024, despite the Prime Minister'soptimistic commentary on this, does nothing for Māori, andin fact it takes us backwards. It signifies that Māorilives do not matter to this Government, and in fact it wouldbe just as easy for us to give it up to this currentagenda.

The continuation of colonial practice viafinancial colonisation is seen in the Budget 2024. Itmanifests this exactly in this current practice from thisHouse—for example, a $1.5 million fund to Oranga Tamarikiwhere only 2 percent was given to Māori, despite ourtamariki making up 70 percent of those in State care. Thissays, in the Prime Minister's words, yes to colonisationinaction. If the need is 70 percent Māori, then the fundingsurely should also have been reflective of that at least; 70percent of $1.5 million should and could be delegated toMāori. Yet the Prime Minister said yes to placing Māorivalue at 2 percent. It was just another yes from hisdiscussion yesterday. If that fund was allocated to Māori,kaupapa Māori, Māori organisations, te iwi Māori, ourchildren would no longer be trapped within these Pākehāstream systems.

Another yes from the Prime Minister tothese exact systems purposely designed to keep us below andnever beside. The removal of Section 7AA is the epitome ofexactly that. The section itself offered Māori too much sayin how our children are cared for by the State. And that isexactly what He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangiaffords us—mana motuhake in our own right.

While inmy childhood He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangiweren't discussed as it is today. The climate of today,though, demands we debate the validity of our foundingdocuments. Such validity is argued this week in thesubmissions of the Treaty principles bill. While DavidSeymour recognised in his 15-minute spiel the likelihood ofhis bill being voted down—I'd say yes to that—hehighlighted that once an idea is put forth in motion, itcannot be undone. He also highlighted various bills thathave endured many rounds of voting before eventual success.While the idea of his racially divisive bill cannot beremoved, it can and will be trumped by the response of teiwi Māori. Whānau are now having discussions on HeWhakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi—I say yes to that.It looks like it, and it is that in action within theirlives and within the lives of all in Aotearoa. We havetangata Tiriti joining alongside us, supporting us andwalking with us on our path to liberation.

What we seeto begin this year off is the true embodiment of what KiingiTūheitia asked of us—kotahitanga. That is an idea, aconcept too, that cannot be undone. You see, when ourtūpuna took their names to pen and paper, signing Te Tiritio Waitangi, our mana we share with our mokopuna throughw'akapapa was protected against a changing world.

Ireflect on all I've said in the context of what it means tobe mokopuna – decision centred and focused. I know ourmovement is on track. I await with anticipation to see ourfuture generations inherit this movement—say yes to that.I'm waiting for some yeses—please, join in. But I knowthere is still work to be done. I challenge the PrimeMinister in this to say no less, and yes to more theory; tosay yes to a mokopuna Māori authority; say yes to GST offkai; say yes to a Māori justice authority; to say yes to aMāori health authority, again; and say yes to not one moremokopuna. Tēnā koe. Tēnā tātou e teWhare.

MARK CAMERON (ACT): Thank you,Mr Speaker, and thank you for the opportunity to speaktoday. My remarks will be quite brief, I believe it's asplit call. I want to talk about rural New Zealand and wherewe're taking the country.

I am aghast. I heard theLeader of the Opposition yesterday not mention rural NewZealand once. Try and reconcile that—50 billion bucks, notone remark. The Hansard is a wonderful tool. I wentthrough the Hansard to digest if the Leader of theOpposition would reconcile $56 billion to our economy. And,for the sake of this House, I want to share a couple offigures to contextualise where we are and where we're going.Bear in mind, Chris Hipkins didn't share thisonce.

Horticulture: 7 billion bucks, not a mention.Zip, nada, zero. Dairy industry—

HelenWhite: You realise you're part of the Government.You get to do whatever you want.

MARKCAMERON: —22.4—Helen White—$22.4 billion, nota mention by the Leader of the Opposition. Time to reconcilesheep and beef: $10.5 billion.

HelenWhite: Time to grow up and lead. Give it a go, notjust whinge.

MARK CAMERON: Again, nota mention. Nada, zero, zip—Helen White. From the leader ofthe Labour Party, the biggest sector in the country got nooxygen, no time, no mention. Fisheries, there's another onedidn't get a mention, $1.8 billion. Well, I come into thisHouse every day—

Helen White:Unemployment's pretty important too. Talk about that: why isit up?

MARK CAMERON: —and Irepresent my party and the people that make $56 billion thatthat member's leader—$56 billion—didn't want to talkabout.

But there are fantastic opportunities that thisPrime Minister, this side of the House, my party, ourcoalition partners, have spoken about and we have delivered,because we believe in rural people—absentee owners overthe other side. We reformed conversations in and around theResource Management Act—what does that actually look like?Long-term water storage facilitation—well gracious me,there's a novel—

Helen White: Yousaid no to good, affordable watersolutions.

MARK CAMERON: —idea,Helen White. In terms of winter grazing, actually listen tothe people that do this stuff. Stop evangelical sermons outof Auckland saying, "Well, you can't do these things withdairy calves." Not one iota—it's not mentioned once in theHansard.

Climate change, the bane of allthings. And yet we actually listen to farmers, thetechnology that they employ, the technology that theycouldn't. Let's have an independent review of methane. Allthe time, I hear the sermons in this House: "There's nomoney left. We will have spent all the money, but it'sburnt." Well, let's go back to the sector that makes most ofit and support them so we have a better future, and we do iton this side of the House.

Fresh water: a problem, areal problem in rural New Zealand. We understand there issedimentation, there's E. coli, there are various attributesof farming that impugn, effect, have a perverse outcome forfresh water. But we listened to locals, we listened tofarmers, and we said—genuinely—there can becatchment-level solutions. This Government did it. We aredelivering because we believe in rural people every day. Notwhen it's convenient, not when it's an election year, everybloody day I come to this House because I believe in ruralNew Zealand.

Significant Natural Areas: well, there'sa novel idea. Let's protect property rights. Go back to whoowns it, who pays the rates, who pays the mortgage, and arethey investing in ecological, biological outcomes? Invest inthose people and stop restricting what they do with theirprivate land and how they care for it.

And finally,Madam Speaker, I'll tie off with animal welfare. Some of thenonsense I have seen previously are framed up in some of theproposed reforms for animal welfare.

HelenWhite: Have you watched the videos on the liveanimal—

MARK CAMERON: Totallymisunderstood. Helen White, again; Auckland, speaking to afarmer about the overall outcomes when it came to thewelfare of animals, how were they were farmed, the housing,the farming practices, because we on this side of the Houseactually listen to the people that do it.

DrPARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you, Madam Speaker.From that side, we have heard so much negativity, and,actually, I'm not going to delve into that. What I want tosay is that on this side, we believe in success, wecelebrate success, we want everybody to achieve success, andthis is not just the current generation but our futuregenerations, as well. That's why we are working hard toensure that our people feel confident going forward in theirlives.

We know that students, those who are enrollingto go into university—they are really hopeful of getting adegree. We want them to gain qualifications here in NewZealand that will open doors for bright futures, not here inNew Zealand only but also on the world stage, because someof these students might want to go overseas and explore someopportunities there and bring those unique experiences backto New Zealand. We want to see that for all these students,those who are gaining qualifications here in New Zealand,that qualification is of the same level as any world-classuniversity around the world.

But I'm concerned. I'mconcerned because the University of Auckland, our mostprominent higher-education institute, has decided tointroduce a compulsory Māori course for all undergraduatestudents from this year. This is irrespective of the subjectthat the students want to study. They will have to do thiscompulsory Māori course—all undergraduate students willhave to do this—from this year, and I know that this isnot going to serve the best interests of all students. Whatit shows is that the university has just imposed itsideology, rather than giving thorough consideration to whatis in the best interests of students.

Education,actually, should be rooted in evidence and in practicality,not in political ideology—political ideology that wasstarted under the previous Labour Government—and what issurprising, and shocking, actually, I should say, is that ithas extended to even classifying some Māori traditionalmyths, Māori traditional beliefs, as science. Those thingswere funded as scientific projects, and I must say this: Icome from a culture where we have lots of cultural events,but we shouldn't blur the line between cultural andtraditional beliefs and science. It's insulting toscience.

We must make sure that science is based onevidence, and I'll give an example. One of the projects thatwas funded under the previous Labour Government was based onthe concept that sperm whales and kauri trees are brothers,and if sperm whales' music or noise is played to kauri treeswith kauri dieback or trees with myrtle rust, then it willhelp diminish those diseases. There is no evidence of this,and how can this be funded as a scientificproject?

This ideological framework is dangerous, andthe ACT Party is here to break this ideological framework. Irealise that we are a nation that is built on a biculturalfoundation, but the reality is that we are a multiculturalnation, so any notion that gives prominence to one race overanother race should be rejected. Any conversation that isrooted in race should not be allowed to dictate how fundingis allocated or how our policies are designed. Why? Becauseit leads to a form of racism. It leads to a form of racism,and, as an immigrant, I have this responsibility to speakagainst such notions which give prominence to one race overanother race.

I know that there are some who arequestioning who am I to talk about anyissues—[Interruption]

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Order! Can I remind othermembers in the House that a speaker is entitled to be heardin silence. Interjections are to be rare and, often, aredone in a light-hearted way. The barrage is becoming a bitoverwhelming. Sorry to interrupt themember.

Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: Thankyou, Madam Speaker. I know that some individuals arequestioning who am I to talk about anything that relates toMāori issues, and they're questioning this because I'm animmigrant. Let me say this to these individuals—let me saythis to these individuals. Yes, my accent is different, Ilook different, and I was born overseas. But I am as much aKiwi, like these members, and like those individuals who arequestioning my talking about anything that relates to Māoriissues.

I'm standing here and saying all this onbehalf of all those immigrants, those who are told to goback to where they have come from when they talk about theseissues; I'm standing here and saying all this on behalf ofall those New Zealanders who are sick of these conversationsthat lead to giving one race prominence over another race;and I'm saying this on behalf of all those New Zealanderswho want to see that every dream is given a chance toflourish, irrespective of the race of the person whose dreamit is. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Hon PEENIHENARE (Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. First,if I may, I'd like to join the many voices around the Housein lamenting the sad loss of Dame Tariana Turia and the manyothers who have tragically passed on since the House sat atthe end of last year and, of course, to today. A collectivevoice across the House is always reassuring that despitepolitics in this House, it is about people, and we rememberthose people today, and our condolences, of course, are totheir family.

Just like many members across the House,we enjoyed a summer—well, some of us did. Where I comefrom, it's always sunny, and even when it's raining, it'ssunshine in liquid form. So where I come from, we had afamily reunion. It's the Reti family. For those across theHouse that don't know, Dr Shane Reti is indeed my relative.My grandmother is a Reti, so that's the connection betweenmyself and—well, one of the connections between myself andthe good doctor.

Others know that he was also myfamily doctor. He was also the doctor that delivered my sonwho now works in the healthcare system, so we've got rootsthat go way back. At that reunion, we applauded the successof this man. He came into Parliament in 2014 like myself,and, of course, you, Madam Speaker. He had a meteoric riseto become the first New Zealand Māori-trained doctor tobecome the Minister of Health, and I think that's somethingto celebrate.

He came into the role—hear me outhere. He came into the role and the House knew that he was awell-respected doctor, a GP, a lecturer and academic inhealth science—in fact, at the highest of institutions atHarvard. He came into the role with all of that expertise.What happened to him? Let me be very clear to the House. Hewas asked to defund the health system. He was asked to closeTe Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. He was askedto put a hiring freeze on nurses and other workers in thehealth sector, which has ground our health sector to anabsolute halt—in fact, taking it backwards. Then what doeshe get for his reward and for his hard work? He gets sacked.He gets shown the door. He gets told that, actually, notonly is your expertise no longer welcome in such a crucialrole, but we're going to indicate to the good people ofWhangārei, which is the electorate that Mr Reti holds, thatthis Government doesn't care about Whangārei. They've beensilent on the rebuild at the hospital. They've been silenton what's going to happen in Northland with respect tohealth.

That is the reason why I stand today to saythat the performance of the new Minister, Simeon Brown, wasabsolutely disgraceful. He talked about a health system heinherited. Well, he inherited it off his own colleague andoff this Government, and now has the job to actually makesure that people get the healthcare that theydeserve.

The Prime Minister yesterday in his statementspoke about people getting what they need. Right now, it'svery clear to the country around the barbecues that Icertainly experienced during Christmas and New Year, aroundthe tables and pubs as people enjoyed themselves over theholidays, that when you're sick, the wait time to see adoctor has increased and it's far too long. When you'reunwell and you go to see a doctor, the prices to see adoctor have actually increased materialistically rightacross the country. If you are in emergency need and you goto the hospital and you seek emergency healthcareassistance, the wait time has increased exponentially. Thatis not the country that the people of New Zealand deserve.That is not a health system that serves the people in thisbeautiful country of ours, and one that they deserve. Thatis a huge blow to our health system, to appoint a newMinister who, sadly, holds some views that will continue tobe explored throughout his tenure as the healthMinister.

But I want to come back to Whangārei. TheGovernment reshuffle actually sends a few other signals. Itsays to the backbench, the strong backbench of the mostrecent intake by their own self-acclaimed—it says to them,"Well, actually, we don't care about Whangārei. We'lldemote Mr Reti." It says to them, "We don't care aboutCoromandel. We'll overlook Mr Scott Simpson.", a man whoserved in a Key Government, which I know National supportersactually really quite liked. So they've said to Mr Simpson,"No, you're probably not worthy of elevation."

Then,of course, my good colleague Dr Megan Woods spoke about howthis Government continues to ignore the South Island. Solet's explore that a little bit. They've said to Mr StuartSmith, who has served longer than the most recently promotedMinister, "We don't care about Kaikōura. We don't careabout ferries. Once again, we don't care about the SouthIsland." What does it say to the South Island as well? Itsays, "Well, we're going to take important portfolios off MrDoocey, the member for Waimakariri. You know what? Weprobably don't care too much about that electorateeither."

What's clear to me is that when they promotedMr Meager, they're obviously sorry that they didn't step inas this economy was taking a dive under this Government'sleadership to stop the closure of the meatworks in Timaru.It says to them that "Actually, we're really sorry. We tookour eye off the ball. We're going to give someresponsibility to a new Minister for the South Island, andwe're going to heap all of the bad decisions this Governmenthas made on that particular person."

I know what theanswer is going to be every time he's asked the question inthis House—"Sorry, I'm not the Minister responsible forthat." We're going to ask about infrastructure and he'llsay, "Sorry, I'm not the Minister responsible for that."We're going to ask about the most important Dunedin Hospitaland he's going to say, "Sorry, I'm not the Minister forthat." So the question has to be put to New Zealanders: thenwhat is he the Minister for? He is the Minister that sayssorry to this country of ours, this beautiful country ofours, and makes clear that this Government clearly took itseye off the ball.

They're driving this economy intothe ground. I've spoken about the job losses in Timaru. I'mcoming now to the job losses in Tokoroa, which, once again,decisions made by this Government could have turned aroundthe fate of many workers and their families here in AotearoaNew Zealand. I hear my friend Mr Cameron speak of the ruralareas—Timaru, Tokoroa, rural economies, rural communitiesheavily impacted by the decisions of this Government not tosupport the industries that support thosecommunities.

We know that those ripple effects arestill being felt today and will be held and felt for manygenerations to come. My colleagues on this side of the Househave made it clear. Thousands and thousands of NewZealanders are making it clear to this Government that theydon't believe in their vision for this country. They'regoing to Australia. A lot of our whānau call them"Mozzies", they call them Ngāti Australia—they call thema lot of names, but the bottom line is this: they are ourown people and they have decided to leave this country,disillusioned with the leadership, in particular, of theeconomy by this Government, and that's an absolutetravesty.

We heard today and we hear in the PrimeMinister's statement that they want to get the economymoving and they want to increase productivity. Let me giveyou an example of not listening to the science and notlistening to the community. We heard today that on StateHighway 1 in Moerewa they're going to increase the speedlimit in Moerewa. Well, let me give you a clue of what thatlooks like. When you drive on State Highway 1, you get intoa place called Kawakawa; you slow down to 50. You getthrough Kawakawa; you increase to 80. Then currently, as itstands, you get to Moerewa and you drop to 50 before youpass through Moerewa and go to 100. Now, under the newproposed rules made by this Government to increaseproductivity, you drive into Kawakawa at 50. You increaseyour speed to 80 before you get to the township of Moerewayou slow down to 70. Then you slow down to 50 as you gothrough the township before you speed up to 100—absolutelyabsurd rules put on to a place that don't makesense.

Every Aucklander who goes up north for aholiday is going to drive through and go, "Hmm, am I goingthe right speed? This Government changed it again." All toimprove productivity, and there is no evidence thatproductivity will increase if you did that in Moerewa. ButI'm simply reminding this House and the members within it ofwhat the conversations are right around this country. Theseare the conversations had by people right up and down fromthe north to the south.

I want to be clear, though,that this Government has forced this country into economicrecession and kept us there. I want to say, though—and Iwant to take the words of Mr Peters in this House, which Ido very rarely and seldom. I want to say this: hang on; helpis on its way. Because on this side of the House, our jobthis year will be to say to New Zealanders that we can havea brighter future from decisions that are made in this Houseand in the communities around the country. We're saying tothe community that under the leadership of a Labour-ledGovernment, we can show that prosperity belongs here in NewZealand. We'll bring our people home from Australia. We'vealready made it clear that our leader said yesterday that wewill repeal the regulations bill that is already being putforward by the ACT Party despite them saying the bill hasn'tbeen drafted, but we know what their intentions are. We knowwhat it is: defund, destabilise, and privatise, and that'swhere our country is going.

Hon JUDITH COLLINS(Minister for the Public Service): Oh, thank you,Madam Speaker. Well, what a delight to take a call on thePrime Minister's statement from yesterday, and wasn't itfabulous? I just thought, honestly—you know, I've workedwith so many Prime Minsters over the years, since I've beenin Parliament, and he's my favourite—absolute favourite. Idon't care about anybody else. The reason is because he'sgot courage. He comes into the job, he says what he's goingto do, and then he gets on and does it. And he's been ableto pull together and hold together this wonderful coalitionwith National and ACT and New Zealand First. And, by theway, I've been in quite a few Cabinets too. It's the bestCabinet I've been in. We actually have so much fun gettingthrough stuff, and we don't bitch at each other—Ishouldn't say that, should I? We're actually reallygood.

People think that's sort of strange because theywere told that it would all fall apart and everybody's goingto be at each other. Actually, it's a hell of a lot nicer,from my point of view, than any other time I've been inParliament. So I'd like to say a big thank you to the PrimeMinister, Christopher Luxon. He understands that we can'tjust take the money and the wealth of the country and chopit up in different bits and somehow we're going to magicallyget more; we have to actually grow the economy.

When Ihear the other side, particularly our dear colleagues in theLabour Party—I have to feel a little bit sorry for thembecause they're basically trying to polish something theyshouldn't be trying to polish. They talk about, why do youwant to be funding this or defunding that and defundingthis? Do they not realise that our interest bill as aGovernment, as a country, has increased by $8 billion ayear? So that is like a huge chunk. That's a big lot morethan the entire Defence budget. That's actually a big lotmore than the Police budget. It's a big lot more than theCorrections budget. It's a big lot more than anybody shouldbe paying, but that's because when they were in Governmentthey went on a spending spree, and the rest of us have totry and live within our means.

And I know it's reallyhard for New Zealanders when they've got mortgages inparticular, because the banks have kept those mortgage ratesup. But what we've seen under this Government was withinterest rates coming down, now, because of inflation comingdown to 2.2 percent, now, within one year, this Governmentworking together in the coalition has been able to bringeverything that we could bear to make sure the Governmentwasn't going to be pushing inflation up. And we're now downto the level that we should always be, which is between 1and 3 percent, not the 7-odd percent that we had under theprevious lot and we inherited. So, actually, I think we'redoing an excellent job.

I heard someone say the otherday to the Prime Minister, "Well, why can't you do this asfast as President Trump does?" Well, number one, we're notliving in a presidential system. Number two, we have aParliament and all our laws have to go through Parliament.So, yes, things take longer. But the thing is, in one yearwe've done more to rebuild this economy, this country, ourmojo, our law and order than that previous Government, theLabour Government, did in the six years to destroy it. So,six years to destroy; in one year we're rebuilding andreally doing a great job.

One of the areas I wasparticularly pleased that the Prime Minister spoke about wasmy beloved—was previously my beloved—science innovationand technology, now replaced by my beloved public service.And one of the things I want to talk to you about is makingsure that science is actually about science. I know thereare arguments about mātauranga Māori and science andthings, but one of the things I think the previousGovernment did so wrong is they started talking aboutWestern science versus mātauranga Māori. That's not fair,actually. Science is science, and some of the things thatare traditional beliefs of Māori will absolutely bescience—absolutely. It's not Western science. And I thinkone of the things that they did is they thought, "Oh,there's this Western science versus mātauranga Māori." No,there's science. Tell the people of East Asia that theydon't have science because Megan Woods decided there wasthis thing called "Western science".

Well, what doesthat mean? The answer is it was a cheap shorthand way oftrying to say, let's split everyone up rather than actuallysaying what really works. And when I look at things likegene technology—and I am actually a bit disappointed inother parties over that side for not supporting the bill inthe first reading. What they've done is they've forgottenthat the people who are most likely going to benefit themost in this country from the excellent gene technology workof our scientists, who are currently only allowed to havethem in labs in most cases, are actually the people whocurrently are suffering from terrible illnesses broughtabout by genetic mutations. These are the people with thingslike inherited stomach cancers, which we know are prevalentwithin some families within Māoridom inparticular.

When I think about families who haveinherited horrible diseases like, say, cancers—breastcancer, prostate cancer—some of which are caused by someof these particular genetic mutations, these are the sortsof science that our people should be working out how tocure, and having got them, let's cure people. What's wrongwith that? And, by the way, let's also commercialise it andtake it to the world. But, not only that, I'm also talkingabout drought-resistant grasses so that our farmers inCanterbury, our farmers in the Wairarapa, our farmers inHawke's Bay do not have to send all their stock off to theworks at a time when they're getting nothing for them, andthese poor stocks are hungry when they go. It's simplystupid that this country has allowed itself to hold itselfback. Even though I have now passed over that portfolio tomy good friend Dr Shane Reti, I know that he, as someone whoappreciates the science involved, knows that this is aboutsaving lives, this is about making lives better, it's aboutgrowing the economy, it's about protecting our people, justlike the Australians do it.

I've heard all sorts ofthings from another party, saying that, apparently, allsorts of bad things could happen, because apparently theythink that New Zealanders are too stupid and we can't managethese situations, and, yet, our Australian cousins, aslovely as they are, apparently they can manage it. Why can'twe? The United States is the largest producer of organicfood in the world. They're also the largest producer of GMfood in the world. And so many of these people who talkabout these things, they talk about feelings. I think thiscountry had six years of talking about a politician'sfeelings. I'm actually over it. I want to actually make surethat this Parliament gets back to the basics of actuallyprotecting New Zealanders, helping New Zealanders, growingthe economy, and getting on and doing that job and keepingNew Zealand safe.

You can't do that without money. Yousimply can't. You cannot have hospitals without money. Andevery time we have these plans, we're going to do it. In2017, we campaigned on building a hospital in Dunedin,except Labour campaigned on building a hospital in Dunedin.And what did they do? They got a Cadbury car park. What thehell was that all about? They put it in the wrong part oftown where the Cadbury factory was because they'd lost theCadbury factory. Listening to Peeni Henare—I've got tosay, the nicest thing you can say about him is he's a niceperson, right? OK? That's about it. But he was talking aboutgoing off and saving businesses—private businesses, theGovernment should be doing. Well, why didn't he save thechocolates of Dunedin? He could have done that. Why didn'the? The answer is because Governments don't have that sortof mandate from the people of New Zealand.

This is notour money. It's not the Government's money; it's the NewZealand taxpayers' money. And the only time it's not the NewZealand taxpayers' money is when the New Zealand taxpayer ispaying the interest bill because of the spending—theborrowing and spending—that that previous Government leftus. That's it. You take other people's money—they have nochoice about it—you then waste it and then you say tothem, "Oh, that's a shame. But, you know, I felt really kindabout it when I did it."

So I can tell you this, I amover people slagging off the great work that this Governmentis doing. We are working so hard. We are working so hard andwe are making a difference. I know that every day we are inGovernment, we are making this country a better place, asafer place, a more prosperous place. And, yes, it will taketime, because we can't just sign an executive order and makeit all happen; we actually have to go through due process,and our system is different. But I know that the PrimeMinister is doing the most wonderful job, with courage andconviction, and that's why I'm so pleased to be able to takea call on this speech from the Prime Minister. It's veryimportant we get behind this country, we talk it up, and wedon't go around bagging it every chance weget.

Hon CASEY COSTELLO (Minister ofCustoms): I am thrilled to be standing today toacknowledge this Government's great work, this highlysuccessful coalition Government, this highly successfulCabinet of colleagues that I am proud to work alongside. Iwould like to commend the shift in mood, as we start thisnew year, to one of encouragement, to one of aspiration,and, might I say yet again, to one of yes.

But, beforeI start, I think it's relevant to reflect on a few wordsthat were spoken yesterday—the disdain that exists for thesmall businesses, the farmers, the landlords, theinnovators, the entrepreneurs, the hard-working Kiwibattlers on which this country relies. Those are not onlythe ones that employ but they train, they develop, theydonate, and they create. We heard yesterday from the leaderof the Green Party that no one is entitled to make profit.Let's pause for a moment. No one is entitled to make aprofit. This suggestion that we ignore the production ofwealth and constrain ourselves with this ideology ofredistribution of wealth, it's this insane notion thatsomehow there is a fixed amount of wealth and we can'tcreate any more of it. We have to just redistribute what wehave now. Well, this Government knows we can createwealth.

As I stand next to this outstanding Ministerof Foreign Affairs, who can attest to all the countries towhich we can compare ourselves and find ourselves wanting,we know we can do better, we know we can create wealth, andby God we will. This is a completely undisguised Marxistnotion of wealth redistribution with absolutely no examplesof where in the world that exists.

We heard again,today, the discrediting of the idea that we will educate ourchildren—how appalling an idea. This is an insane notionthat we will rob our children of their opportunity to beprosperous because we have to dumb ourselves down to a smallminority rather than lift ourselves up.

This is thetype of agenda that we have to fight against. For thosewho—whether they arrived in this country hundreds of yearsago or last year—have toiled, worked, and sacrificed toserve their families and their communities, across this sideof the House, we're expected, rather than to celebrate theirsuccess, to hold them in contempt. Well, I can say, NewZealand First will not condemn those battlers to bedemonised for making a profit.

It was evidentyesterday, from many contributions from the Opposition, thatthis relevance exists by starting a fight. We have to pitlandlords against tenants, we have to pit employers againstemployees, we have to pit the wealthy against the poor, and,most importantly, we have to pit Māori against everybody.But, in the real world, we know that if you want people tobe helped, then you tell them the truth, you bring themtogether with solutions, and you empower, you encourage,and, most importantly, recognise the importance of personalaccountability.

We need better than robbing our youngpeople of the belief in opportunity, and I think we need alot better than insulting our older New Zealanders for theirhard work in doing the unthinkable, which is obtainingwealth and making a profit.

I will go from this now totalk about the practical stuff, the practical stuff thatthis Government is doing to turn things around, to deliver.I will talk specifically about the areas for which I haveresponsibility and the practical steps and the successesthat we can see. Firstly, as Minister of Customs, I thinkthat we have to give credit to a ministry that is largelyunheralded and unseen for the huge contribution thisdedicated team delivers. They help us build the economy.They collect over $17 billion worth of revenue. Theyfacilitate the trade agreements that are so cleverly andstrategically negotiated. They truly are unheralded. Thehard work behind the trade agreements that are signed isoften unseen. The ability to facilitate and make thetechnical and administrative processes work needs to berecognised.

Not only do we have a presence here in NewZealand but we have a presence around the world. We havededicated representatives who continue to meet and negotiateand facilitate trade around the world. They break up thebottlenecks of trade. They make sure that when there's ahiccup, there's someone on the ground to make it happen. Andwe will continue to expand their presence around thecountry, because New Zealand has an outstanding reputationin international trade. We have an outstanding reputation ofgetting things done, and we will continue to grow thatreputation.

Not only do we facilitate trade but wealso facilitate travel. We have developed the New Zealandtraveller declaration form, which is online, and just beforeChristmas, we've had a nearly 70 percent take-up in the useof the online traveller declaration. This is exactly, as theprevious speaker talked about, the use of technology, theadvancements that we can achieve to get better things done.We are also upgrading the eGates, and we have allowed eGatesto expand to include a large number of other countries tomake it easier to get into this country.

But,unfortunately, the fact is we need to protect our borders,and our vulnerability from organised crime continues toexpand. We have to protect our border to protect ourreputation of being a safe place to travel to and a safe andeasy place to do business. And that is the investment wewill continue to make and expand from Customs to ensure thatour borders are safe, because, unfortunately, the levers oflegitimate business will often end up with crime followingshortly behind. And we are doing an outstanding job. But Iknow, with Police and Customs' reputation of working welltogether, that we can do better. We can do cross-agencybetter support to attack the organised criminal businessesthat undermine our most vulnerable communities, the scourgeon our society that organised crime brings. I know we can dobetter, and this is why we have stood up the ministerialadvisory group to ensure we can facilitate bettercooperation across all agencies that will help combatorganised crime.

Finally, I would like to touch onaged care because it is something that I hold dear and closeto my heart. We have work under way, and I look forward tothe outcomes of the Health Committee around the review intoaged-care services and the current aged-care review aroundthe funding model, which will implement new solutions. Wehave to be innovative, and we can do better, and I lookforward to a cross-partisan approach to dealing with thesesolutions so we can have a long-term stability in thedelivery of aged care. But we need to, importantly, rememberthat over 85 percent of our over-65s are living completelyindependently and well without any intervention from theState. So we have to recognise that some people have got itright, but we need to make sure that we have the stop-gapmeasures to provide the support when people needit.

We talk about ageing in place, that does not meanwe're constraining people to live in unsuitable conditions,but we want to protect their ability to live in thecommunities they know, and we know there are tremendoussolutions—whether it's papakāinga, whether it's kaumātuahousing, whether it's an Abbeyfield house. We know there aregood solutions, and we need to do more of it, and we can,and we will. We have also, under New Zealand First, thecommitment to build 60-square-metre subsidiary dwellings inthe coalition agreement. We will support subsidiarydwellings because that will support multi-generationalliving. It will free up housing and will create a betterenvironment for those that are vulnerable to livein.

We will continue to work in this Governmentbecause we are the yes; we are the can-do. We know how torun farms, we know how to run businesses, we know what itmeans to employ people, we know what it means to worry aboutmaking payroll, and we know that it's OK to make a profit.Thank you, Madam Speaker.

CAMERON BREWER(National—Upper Harbour): I just wanted to usethese 10 minutes to take the public through what we'reactually debating here, in accordance with Standing Order362(2)—why we are actually debating with six 20-minutespeeches and 66 10-minute speeches. And some of theOpposition are going on a conspiratorial rampage ofspeculation and revisionist history. I don't know where theywere for the past six years! But I want to stand up and talkabout what's actually in, what I would argue is, the mostcomprehensive and ambitious Prime Minister's statement toParliament. It does not deserve to remain in the bowels ofParliament or at the back of the parliamentary website. Itneeds to have some light shone on it.

I think that thebiggest indicator of the change that's happened fromGovernment to Government is the recess—the summerrecess—where it was starting to become a two-monthparliamentary summer recess, basically mid-December to aboutmid-February. And that was the last Government's level ofambition. Well, not anymore. This is why you've gotParliament, for the second year, back and running in sessionin January, and that will continue. It's less than a monthnow, and that is the most demonstrable thing I can point to,to anything, as far as how ambitious this Government is.Look at that summer recess, and that really sets the tone.Not only does it set the tone for this Government but itshows how lazy the last Government were—how lazy theywere.

I want to take you through some of thehighlights of the Prime Minister's statement to Parliament,just to shine some light on what good things this Governmentis focused on—the high energy of this Government, themotivation of this Government, and the three keywords:growth, growth, growth. As the Prime Minister said in hisstatement, this Government was elected with a strong mandateto change course, and let's not forget that: elected with astrong mandate to change course. Since then, this Governmenthas embarked on a series of big changes to change thatcourse, and already we are seeing some positive signs.Already we are seeing some rays of sunshine—a long way togo, but it's happening.

We're seeing inflationdropping significantly, we're seeing interest rates startingto fall, and we're seeing wages continuing to rise. ThisGovernment, in 2025, will relentlessly focus on unleashingthe growth—grow, grow, grow—that we need to liftincomes, strengthen businesses, and create opportunity. Wewill no longer listen to the word no. We are a yesGovernment—we are a yes Government. We are a can-doGovernment. And whether it's through the fast-trackinglegislation that was passed last year, whether it's throughthe comprehensive Resource Management Act reform that wewill see unroll from this year, whether it's rewriting ourhealth and safety laws, or whether it's enabling our farmersto grow with much less red tape, that is our determination.And, frankly, New Zealanders deserve it. New Zealandersdeserve to see those rays of light at the end of the tunnel,because they deserve higher incomes, they deserve qualitypublic services, and they deserve stronger local businessesand stronger communities.

That is why this Government,for the first time in a long time, is in this debatingchamber in January. And it has dragged the Opposition backtoo. It's dragged the Opposition back from holiday to comehere in January. And, in fact, if you're the Prime Minister,I think you're back on about 3 January. But he's anexception—he's an exception. And so 2025 will be anothermassive year as we do everything we can to unleash thatgrowth—grow, grow, grow. If you've got three words toremember, those are the three that you remember. And wherehave we been? Where have we been? Do you remember the giddyheights of 7.3 percent inflation in the first half of2022—7.3 percent inflation—the robber in the backpocket, as our exceptional finance Minister, Nicola Willis,would say. And now we are close to 2 percent. We are wellwithin that Reserve Bank mandated band—2.2percent.

So what we are seeing is the official cashrate (OCR) falling three times in the last six months, andwe've got another decision by the Reserve Bank on 19February. So we will wait and see. We are seeing interestrates starting to come down after successive OCR climbs andinterest rates skyrocketing, and inflation and everythingelse. We are seeing them coming under. And we know what thatmeans for homeowners, don't we? We know what that means forhomeowners when interest rates come down. That has meaningfor the average lender with a home loan, hundreds of dollarsevery month in savings just because of getting interestrates under control. And that is the best thing you can dofor a lot of families: get those commitments to the bank,reduce them, and give them more discretionary spending toput into local businesses, put into local communities,invest in their families, invest into extracurricular thingsfor their kids, go away on a break. That is why we arecommitted, unsexy as it is, I know, but that is why we arecommitted to reducing inflation and lowering interestrates.

Let's just reflect on Budget 2024 for a bit.Who remembers tax relief for 83 percent of Kiwis or 94percent of households? Who remembers that with our taxpackage, with the average-income houses benefiting by anaverage of up to $102 per fortnight? Who remembers—thenumbers continue to increase—our FamilyBoost payment forthose with kids in early childhood education? Over 50,000FamilyBoost recipients there already that have receivedpayments—50,000 families already—and that will continueto increase as people become more aware of that FamilyBoostpayment that's available through the Inland RevenueDepartment website. And that was Budget 2024, just a snippetof it, and now we've got coming forth—and the financeMinister announced it in the Finance and ExpenditureCommittee today—a Budget date. Write this down: 22May—22/05/25, OK? 22 May—that's a good way to rememberit, eh? 22/05/25 And that will be another great day for NewZealand. It will be aimed at working New Zealanders, and weare focusing on the Government's priorities for Budget2025.

As the Hon Nicola Willis articulated in theFinance and Expenditure Committee today, and as she hasthrough the media, and the Prime Minister's statementreinforces that, lifting economic growth through measures toaddress New Zealand's long-term productivitychallenges—productivity—that's what we are focused on.No one else has been for the last six or seven years. ThisGovernment is focused on the shameful productivity recordthat we have crept into as a country. We are implementing asocial investment approach to drive better results, and youwill see the Social Investment Agency really ramp up underthe guidance and shepherding of the finance Minister thisBudget. We are keeping tighter control—tight, tightcontrol—of Government spending. You will see that with anumber of high-priority Government policy commitments andcost pressures that will be sorted throughreprioritisations, going from the back line to the frontline, going to those public services that the public so, sodeserve.

And we are delivering a sustainable pipelineof long-term infrastructure investments, and we're alsocommitting to building the north-west dedicated buscorridor. We are going to do that, aren't we, Mr Penk? We'regoing to do that out in the north-west of Auckland. And MrPenk has also effectively lobbied for a Kumeū bypass too.And so, with this Government, there is a project foreveryone. And so I am so proud to be part of thisGovernment. A year ago, the Prime Minister promised thatthis would be a Government of action, and we've heardleaders over the last six years make lots of promises, lotsof 1 o'clock statements, lots of speeches and no delivery.We all went broke in the interim, but this is a PrimeMinister of action. These results will come through inBudget 2025. We have had a great year, but the next comingyear will be even better. Help is on the way forhard-working New Zealanders. Thank you.

KATIENIMON (National—Napier): Can I say what aprivilege it is to be able to speak after my wonderfulcolleague Cameron Brewer, the new chair of the Finance andExpenditure Committee, because he did an excellent job atreminding everybody what was in the Prime Minister'sstatement. Because so many people keep forgetting becausethey're talking off piece about all sorts of conspiracies.Like my friend says—so here we are to remind you. It isall about economic growth. And, gosh, we love to talk abouteconomic growth.

We're going to get the job done. AndI just want you to imagine what that's going to look like.Because we were doing it last year too, but we're about totake it up a notch. So let me talk about what we did lastyear. We passed the Fast-track Approvals Bill. I was verypleased to be part of that in the Environment Committee.We're going to be getting kicked off with the furtherResource Management Act (RMA) reform very, very soon, andI'm excited about that too. But hear me out on six projectsin Hawke's Bay that we're seeing come across the line verysoon on the Fast-track Approvals Bill.

We've got ahousing development for a post - Treaty settlement group,which the Opposition voted against. Funny that. Affordablehouses for iwi, business, park, recreational grounds—thisis going to be huge. We have more housing development. Wehave the reconsenting of a hydro dam that powers most ofWairoa. We have the four-lane expressway, which is going tobe doubled. It is getting done at a great rate of knots. Itell you: every single time I drive on that road, more isbeing done. They're clearing the road. They're using siltfrom the Hawke's Bay cyclone to lay the foundation for thosefour lanes, which is so exciting. We've got the Tukitukiwater storage, which is unlocking potential for growth inhorticulture in Hawke's Bay and to back our farmers. We aredoing water pumping for Napier City Council, which is verynecessary, given the recent situations we've had withflooding. All of these things are going to go a really longway to get us where we need to go with economic growth,because it's about productivity and it is about getting thejob done.

My colleague Cameron Brewer talked aboutFamilyBoost—getting more people into a position where theycan go back to work, where they can earn higher incomes,because we know that the best way to get ahead for people isto get into high-value jobs. So we need to grow the economyso that everything they go to work to do is worth more forthem. We introduced charter schools, which are about to getgoing, and, gosh, we've got some interest. The opportunitiesare endless. And if we talk about what we're going to do forthe economy in each of our local areas, we have a chance topartner up our schools and have those students learningsomething that's going to go a long way for the economy thatwe are growing. We brought back the 90-day trial forbusinesses with employees of over 19 people to bring backproductivity into the workplace, giving employers the powerto get in there and take risks so that we can get back tobusiness.

But let me not just talk about what we didlast year. Let me talk about where we are going. You knowwhat, we just heard from Minister Judith Collins and thework that she has done on introducing the Gene TechnologyBill. My goodness! Now, let me talk to you about an exampleof what that means for Hawke's Bay. There is currently anapple being grown in a lab—and, yes, that's right. It isstuck in a lab because we haven't got the laws to make ithappen on the ground, and we are changing that. Now, afterCyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay a couple of yearsago—we're nearly at the two-year anniversary—it wipedout 80 percent of our horticulture sector. To grow backthose trees—to replant them and grow them back—it'sgoing to take six years at least before we get fruit onthose trees that we could sell. Now, once we pass that GeneTechnology Bill, we can plant trees that will grow fruitwithin a year. What that means for our economy is huge. Soif anyone questions the bills that we're passing and itsrelevancy to economic growth, I point you to that example,and, boy, it's exciting.

I mentioned before theupcoming RMA reform. We need to build things faster. Now, Ihave a perfect example in my own neighbourhood in Mārewa inNapier, the day that Minister Penk, our wonderful Ministerfor Building and Construction, announced the granny flatslegislation—60 square metre or less secondarydwellings—my neighbour started building. The foundationwas being laid. It's the path I walk past with my dog when Igo for my dog walks in the morning. And I have been watchingthe building take place, and it is nearly done. They arejust doing the deck on the outside. Now, how cool is that.There is another house for somebody in my neighbourhood, andit is just perfect.

Let me talk about the digitalnomads changes. Now, how exciting is that. I want to takethis opportunity to invite every future potential digitalnomad to Hawke's Bay, because it's currently 30 degrees inHawke's Bay right now. What a place to be a digital nomad. Ihad someone just say to me, "Oh, hang on. It's not likeBali." Well, actually, it is a bit. Ha, ha! We've got somepretty good temperatures. It's pretty nice. Butwe—

Stuart Smith: The food'sbetter.

KATIE NIMON: That's right.The food is better, Stuart Smith, thank you. And the winetoo. We can take that offline. Ha, ha!

But at the endof the day, everything we are doing is about growing theeconomy. We need to stimulate our very, very much sufferinghospitality industry. Because ever since COVID-19, they havenot had the belief in them that they can give us what weneed as a country. Because if you look at the restaurantsthat you have in your region, they are there because oftourism. We are able to go to our amazing Italianrestaurants, Indian restaurants, Pasifika restaurantsbecause our tourist economy props them up. And we areopening the doors to more and it is so exciting. Because ifyou grow the economy, you grow incomes. And if you growincomes, you actually grow the superannuation as well. It'sabout time people realised those on-flowing effects of thedecisions that we make because it is exciting.

Now,I've got some even more exciting examples of economic growthin my electorate. You might not realise that in the smalllittle humming industrial area of Onekawa, there are someamazing international businesses that are absolutely takingthe world on from a small industrial area in Napier. Let'stake Kwetta, for example, formally Red Phase. They've justbeen in the paper for—very shortly after the PrimeMinister's state of the nation address talking about ourfocus on investment and on growing the economy and takingour businesses global—securing $17.5 million to take theirbusiness to the next stage.

Now, you might go, "Whatis Kwetta?" Kwetta is an amazing business. They createelectric vehicle (EV) superchargers. Oh, that's another ideathat we had as the National Party Government. Isn't thatwonderful—supercharging our EV-charging network. Now theseguys are actually making it happen. And they don't just sellto New Zealand. They sell to Australia. They sell to theEuropean Union. They are global. Now, they have a bigpartnership now with Z Energy. And if you see more Z Energysuperchargers popping up around your neighbourhood, you knowthey are being built in Onekawa in Napier. Now, these guysare doing amazing work and the sky is the limit for them.They don't look at Hawke's Bay and go, "Oh, this is ourlimit." They look at the world. And that is what we need tobe doing with our businesses, and that is what ourGovernment is saying is we are here to back them. BecauseKwetta support other local businesses.

Let me justtake you down the road to another little local businesscalled IMS. Now, IMS—I was in there the other day—theydo manufacturing services specifically for helicopter parts.But what else do they do? They build Kwetta's superchargingEV shells. Isn't that amazing. So it all stays in our localeconomy. We sell internationally, we bring that money backto New Zealand, and we power ourselves up. So a littlecompany in Hawke's Bay called Kwetta, which is able to powerup our grid by 10 times and get more power than is otherwisethere to anyone else, then being built by IMS fabricators,who are creating what's called Cloudburst andGround-Effects, which is a fertiliser bucket and a fireattachment to drop water on fires which, obviously, forAmerica is a very big deal at the moment in LA. They areputting $100,000 at least a year into going overseas andpitching their products to the rest of the world. Now,that's an incredible investment.

And when I went tomeet with them the other day, they said, "This is the bestannouncement you could have made to stop work with CallaghanInnovation and get money going into Invest New Zealand andget the investment coming into our businesses. Because weare open for business and we want to get out there, but wewant New Zealand to believe in us too." So these companies,they build our amazing conveyer belts. IMS has built theTaylor manufacturing conveyer belts. And Turners andGrowers, who are putting the apples out of the orchard andthrough the conveyer belts and out into the world—all ofthis plays a part.

Now, might I bring your attentionin the last minute that I've got here to talk about RocketLab. Now, Rocket Lab's another international example who areabsolutely unlimited. In fact, the sky is certainly not thelimit; the sky is beyond the limit. Now, they're launchingrockets from Māhia Peninsula, which I always like to takethe opportunity to remind everybody is in the Napierelectorate. So we are launching rockets out of the Napierelectorate, and, boy, we are lucky. But Rocket Lab also hasthe opportunity to bring tourism. We have people coming fromfar and wide to watch rockets get launched in Hawke'sBay.

Now, how lucky are we that just down the roadMōrere hot springs has reopened, which had been closed foryears because the Department of Conservation didn't have afocus on commercial activity. Well, we have brought thatback. And we have indications from our Minister ofConservation that we are out there to mean business, andconservation and tourism go hand in hand. So let me tellyou: things are happening in Napier, and it all comes downto the direction that we have from our wonderful PrimeMinister, and we are here to grow theeconomy.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: The nextcall is a split call—the Rt Hon AdrianRurawhe.

Rt Hon ADRIAN RURAWHE(Labour): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Istand here today in support of the amendment to the motionmoved by the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, and I do so for a numberof reasons. You see, the Government has choices that itmakes that impact on the economy. And I say to membersacross the House, it has made some choices that haveimpacted negatively on the economy. In particular, we heardthe Hon Judith Collins telling us that the Government can'tdo this and it can't do that—it can't just turn on a tapof money, but it did turn on the tap of money. It turned onthat tap of money for landlords—$2.9 billion of it. Theimpact on the economy has been huge. We've been in arecession for nine months out of the 12 months that thisGovernment has been governing, and, I say to the House, itneeds to do a lot better—so much better for all of ourpeople—to improve the economy.

The economy and thechoices that the Government has made has impacted negativelyon a lot of people. I'll give you an example. Well, theGovernment can't go and save all these private companies,but it has a responsibility to make certain that theenvironment for those companies to exist—like in Timaru,like in Ruapehu, like in Tokoroa—so that they have thebest economy to be able to survive. In actual fact, if youhave a look at the impacts of the decisions that thisGovernment has made, it has negatively impacted and hascaused huge unemployment. That's why we see so many peopleleaving Aotearoa to go to Australia. There won't be a singleperson in this Parliament that does not know young peopleand older people who have left because there are noopportunities for them here.

And I say to theGovernment that it has failed. They have failed to addressthe cost of living. Inflation has reduced after COVID-19. Itwas trending downwards anyway. But why are we in arecession? That's the question that I'm asking, and the onlyanswer I can see from the factual information that I'vereceived is that they have made choices that have impactedon the economy negatively. And I say they need to dobetter.

I, also, am very concerned about discussionsthat I've had with people who work within the public sectorwho are inundated with work after many of their colleagueshave been made redundant. And so it looks to me like we'rein a similar situation to where we've been before. We're inphase one of the privatisation journey, I believe, and phaseone starts: start defunding. And what's happening out there.The work is still coming in. There is a backlog of work inthose Government departments and ministries. Things are notgetting done. In about 12 months' time—maybe less—theGovernment's going to tell us the system is broken; we needto sell it. That's what's coming. That will be phase two,and then phase three will be somewhere around the nextelection. So I say to members across the House, that's notgood enough.

Privatisation by stealth where theGovernment is actually the mechanism by which that happensis not right. We need to do much, much better, and, as theRt Hon Chris Hipkins said in his speech, we're going toreverse some of those things. We think that we could do amuch better job.

I point also to a number of otherthings that the Government has made, like I can't figure outwhy they cancelled ferries just to buy more expensive onesthat are smaller—things like that. They just don't makesense. I think the Government is lost in their own theoriesof how things should be operated, and, like they say, theycan't see the forest for the trees. Kiaora.

INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri):I have a very clear message for this Government and thisPrime Minister: Southerners can't stand this Government,quite frankly. And that is the message that is comingthrough loudly and clearly. That is the message that led tothe appointment of a brand-new Minister for the SouthIsland. And yet, crazily, the new Dunedin Hospital does notseem to be in his top three priorities. Very strangeindeed.

And the reason that Southerners can't standthis Government is because Southerners believe in trust, intrusted relationships, and this Government cannot betrusted. It's callous. It's been callous to the disabledcommunity: there are people in Invercargill who are veryactivated and leading some of the best work in New Zealandaround the cuts to the disabled community. We've seen thelanguishing of the Dunedin Hospital; we've seen the ferrydecision, as alluded to by my colleague. And not only doesthe ferry decision disadvantage South Islanders but,actually, in my own electorate of Taiere, with the HillsideWorkshops—$105 million investment from the LabourGovernment, the revitalisation of the local economy, jobsfor young people, that is all now in jeopardy thanks to thelack of decisions and the crazy decisions, quite frankly, ofthis finance Minister.

Southerners don't like thisGovernment because Southerners, many of us hail fromScotland, and the Scots are known to be very good with moneyand with fiscal prudence and we are not seeing that fromthis Government. In fact, what we have seen is not only theworst austerity since 1991 but cuts and economicmismanagement that have led to record people leaving to goto Australia.

We don't trust this Government becauseof the decisions that are affecting our own communities. Forexample, Kāinga Ora have just announced the mothballing, ifyou like, of a housing project in Kaikorai Valley, and theregional manager actually wrote in the letter that there hadbeen a lot of money spent on doing plans and on doingredesigns and yet there is no return on that investment, itis absolutely wasted and down the drain.

Today, at oneof the schools in my electorate, there were kids that wenthungry, who couldn't get their school lunches because thisGovernment have botched up the school lunch system so badlythat the schools were not on the list of the new provider.So the school had to cook up some sausages. Some of the kidshave gone home hungry, we've been told, and if you see whatthey were served yesterday, it didn't look veryappealing.

The other reason, the main reason, that wedon't trust this Government is the spectre of privatisation.We are seeing the sweating of assets. But, more foreboding,are the signals that are being made by the person who isabout to become the new Deputy Prime Minister, DavidSeymour. The one thing about David Seymour, to give himcredit, is that he will speak openly about his agenda. Wehave not seen the National Party do that. And yet today,Christopher Luxon in question time in the House could onlycaveat his discussion about privatisation, saying, "Not inthis term of Government." Clearly, there is a privatisationagenda.

Cuts are the start, getting reports done onState-owned enterprises—which is exactly what's happeningat the moment—is the second part. And, yes, certainly theywill have that agenda going forward, and we know the cost ofthat very dearly in Dunedin. Awanui Labs are about to go onstrike, and I got a very hard-hitting email today from theoutgoing past president of the medical lab science group whotalked about the corporate millions and millions of dollarsthat are being plundered from the system—taken out,defunding, having them run on pretty much an empty gas tank,which leaves only the life-necessary services available nextweek. And this has been going on for a very long time. It'sexactly what will happen to the rest of the healthcaresystem if indeed David Seymour, the next Deputy PrimeMinister, gets his way and enables people to opt-in forprivate healthcare.

But the hospital's the big one.Last year, the hospital and cost of living were levelpegging in our research. It is by far and away the biggestissue in the electorate. People need a decent hospital andthey're really sick of the financial mismanagement, thehaemorrhaging of $120,000 to $150,000 per day that thisNational Government doesn't make a decision. The medicalschool in Dunedin will get kneecapped if there isn't adecent hospital, and we've already seen that none of thebusiness cases for the Waikato Medical School stack up, andthey put in jeopardy the Otago Universityprogramme.

So New Zealanders don't want the division,they don't want a Government that ignores the South Island.They want to know that they can get ahead. They want avision, and they want a united New Zealand, and that's whatLabour will give them at the election.

DEPUTYSPEAKER: Just before I take the next speaker,interjections are fine but when someone's speaking, havingpeople from each side of the house literally yelling at eachother is not an interjection. So can we just—I know it's atense debate, but we might just have to restrain ourselves awee bit.

Hon ANDREW HOGGARD (Minister forBiosecurity): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Look, it'sgood to be back, though if I could suggest everyone stopsasking me how my holiday was—I had a long list of farmwork to do and barely touched most of that list.

Butit wasn't just me; I'd like to show some appreciation to theMinistry for Primary Industries staff who also had to do alot of work over the summer holidays. Not only was therestill the work required to manage the bird flu incursion butalso we had a fruit fly show up—thankfully only one. AlsoMPI welfare staff were also busy over the summer break aswell, so appreciations for all their hard work.

Now,some of you during the summer may have experienced a bit ofaverage summer weather. Rather than be disappointed, youshould be ecstatic, because rain in summer means grassgrowth. Grass growth means more production on farm, whichmeans more jobs, more economic return for this country. Thismay come as a shock to a few people on the other side of theHouse who, going by yesterday's speeches, seem to believethat economic growth gets driven by nanny State—well,driven into the ground maybe.

Last year was a goodyear for New Zealand farmers. The war on farming ended, anda number of actions were taken that made farmers' lives mucheasier, which my colleague Mark Cameron already commented onearlier, so I won't go down there.

But this year,there's a lot more work to do. We've got a lot more on theagenda. It's going to drive farmer confidence even more,because as I've spoken about before, confidence is key.Without confidence, you don't feel like investing in yourbusiness, you're not driving production and productivity,you're not creating jobs, and you're not creating wealth forthis country, so the actions we take this year are going tobe vital for driving and improving not only farmerconfidence but business confidence.

Top among the listof things that we need to be focused on is, of course,Resource Management Act reform, and my colleague Simon willundoubtedly talk about that very soon, but I just want toshare an example of how broken our system is. Now, to get toFeilding, recently I've had to travel through some roadworks; they've just sort of started. I've noticed thatthey're not doing a lot of work there every day—a lot ofroad cones out but not much happening.

Now, why isthere not much happening? Well, it's because they can'taccess enough gravel to do the work to build the road. Whycan't they access the gravel? Well, because the councilwon't reissue itself a consent to allow for gravelextraction to occur from riverbanks. Instead, thesecontractors must now try and bring in gravel from furtheraway—higher emissions, higher costs, slows everythingdown. This is the challenge of our resource managementsystem where we just can't say yes to things; we can onlysay no. A council can't even say yes to itself; it says noto itself.

Now, of course, we can get gravel, thecontractor, by digging up holes in productive paddocks andextracting the gravel from there. This makes no sense,destroying a productive piece of land instead of removingwhat is, in effect, a flood risk on our riverbanks. Sothat's just a perfect example of how broken our system isand why it needs to be fixed.

It's not just aboutreplacing the broken things this year. I'm really lookingforward to getting into work on biodiversity credits. Theyare a tool that has been talked about. Farmers are keen onit. We have a nation of farmers that have done more forbiodiversity on their farms compared to anywhere else in theworld, with little or without any subsidies whatsoevercompared to other nations. Yes, other nations' farmers aredoing biodiversity work, but they're subsidised to help themdo it. Ours do it out of love and passion, and this year Iwant to be able to work on being able to provide somerewards to them for doing that.

Finally, I just wantto touch on food safety. It's one of the portfolios I'vegot. Last year, I heard anecdotally from a number of foodbusinesses about regulation, red tape, costs that were beingimposed on them. We saw the Business New Zealand report thattalked about that and also just talking to bigger businessesabout the challenges they've got. So this year, my bigmission over the next few months is to get out there, talkto small and large food businesses, really get anunderstanding, get into the detail of what regulations areneeded and what aren't, and make sure that we have a systemthat is not duplicative, that makes it easy for businessesto get food to all the customers around the world but alsomaintain our world-leading food safety standards.

Thisyear is a key year for our Government. We need to be drivingthat growth forward, and the key thing here is reducing redtape. We need to put a slasher through it, and that's what Ihope to do in my portfolio areas. Thankyou.

SIMON COURT (ACT): Thank youvery much, Minister Hoggard, for setting the scene of why weneed to put the Resource Management Act (RMA) through ashredder.

This Government has had a hugely productiveyear in 2024. We've set some big wheels in motion and we'velaid some important foundations for growth, and in 2025, NewZealanders and those looking to New Zealand from overseasare going to see some of the results of the hard work thatwe've already done. But there's more to do.

The PrimeMinister has made the point very clearly that New Zealand,over many decades, has become a "no" culture. People whopride themselves as being pioneers and are used to saying"Yes, we can." have found themselves tied up in red andgreen tape. Nothing exemplifies this more than the examplethat Minister Hoggard just gave of a council unable to issueitself a consent to get gravel out of a river—gravel thatis a flood risk and that needs to be removed. Gravel willcontinue to build up in rivers because—guesswhat?—rivers are at the bottom of the hill, with that bighill being a big mountain like the Tararuas. These arenatural processes, and the resource management system needsto be fundamentally reformed so we can take advantage andmake the best use of our natural resources, not find thatwe're trying to fight floods and fires and get things builtwith one hand tied behind our backs.

There's anexample I could draw on in Auckland, as well. Now, believeit or not, big cities like Auckland, of over a millionpeople, produce thousands and thousands of tonnes of wasteevery day. Some of my colleagues in the Green Party mightsay, "Well, what about zero waste? Why don't you stop it?"Well, it turns out that despite all of their friends—TePapatūānuku—we haven't been able to stop producing wasteand putting it in landfills, and that is why Auckland needsa new landfill.

Now, nobody wants a landfill nextdoor. I know that because I lived next door to one—200metres from the machines—for a couple of years. But modernlandfills are needed so that we actually have a sanitaryplace to put waste that comes from our cities.

Thepeople wanting to advance the consent for the Aucklandregional landfill have spent tens of millions of dollars andhave spent over half a decade trying to explain toregulators and decision makers what's going to happen if5,000 tonnes of waste a day doesn't have a landfill home. Ifit can't be collected, your city is going to grind to ahalt.

Steve Abel: Why don't you justgo and burn it in Waimate?

SIMONCOURT: Steve Abel says, "Well, why don't we burnit?" Can you imagine trying to get a consent for waste toenergy under the current RMA? There are too many peopleallowed to object to these developments. These areabsolutely vital pieces of infrastructure that we need inorder to keep our cities operating.

Too many peopleare allowed to object on all kinds of grounds—spiritual,environmental, traffic—but, in the end, these facilitieshave to be built, and it's not just landfills. It'srenewable energy, it's bridges, it's roads, and it's waterand waste-water treatment plants that the resourcemanagement system needs to allow to proceed. That is why in2025, in my role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to theresource management reform Minister Chris Bishop, I'll beworking on replacing the resource management system based onproperty rights that recognises that our system isfundamentally broken, and while we can make some tweaks tothe current system to ease the pain, we can't train theResource Management Act donkey into being the racehorse weneed to unlock economic growth.

The new system willfocus on property rights because when people have strongerproperty rights, they can say yes to investment and they cansay yes to innovation and they can say yes to hiring moreworkers, based on being able to develop their property. Areplacement system is going to eliminate, as far aspractical, the opportunity for every Tom, Dick, and Harry,and random, to turn up and object to vital infrastructureand resource developments.

Our expert advisory grouphas delivered a blueprint to replace the Resource ManagementAct before Christmas, and I look forward to working withMinister Bishop on turning that blueprint into a true reformbased on property rights. It's that kind of initiative thatis going to unlock our economic potential as a nation so wecan get on with building, get on with developinginfrastructure, and get on with unlocking our economy, whichis so desperately needed. Thank you, MadamSpeaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): Thank you. I understand this is a splitcall—is that correct? Scott Willis.

SCOTTWILLIS (Green): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's2025, but Kiwis, hearing the Prime Minister's vision thatthe Government is going for growth, would be right inthinking that we're simply doing a re-run of the 1990s. Iheard a confused soap salesman hoping like hell that sellinghis story will make people buy his dud product before thebusiness goes bust—all soap and suds, empty of substance,ultimately leaving Kiwis with nothing but dirty dishwater.That's all the Prime Minister could musteryesterday.

But we do have a tremendous opportunity inAotearoa, and I'm heartened by the passion for people andplanet that we encounter all around the motu, both tangatawhenua and tangata Tiriti, who all understand that we can'tafford the myth of limitless growth or limitless resources.People understand the folly of believing that technology isalways going to be there to save us. There are so manyopportunities, but this Government seems not only completelydisconnected but are also unable to deliver.

Takeenergy. The Prime Minister told us that, this year, theywill progress legislation to enhance our energy andelectricity security and implement an offshore renewableenergy permit. All good. If only there was some depth to hiswords, some connection to community or industry to unlockthat potential. So far, the Government has missed its owndeadlines to deliver a National Policy Statement forRenewable Electricity Generation. They said it would bedelivered six months ago. They've missed their own deadlineto deliver a national energy strategy. They said it would bedelivered by Christmas. And, more than that, so far theGovernment has said no to any restructure of the electricitymarket, despite an already prepared bill in the ballot thatwould enable innovation and competition in both retail andgeneration markets and help drive down electricity pricesfor consumers.

Instead, the Government is looking toattract more overseas investment. How's that going? Well,BlackRock, the largest investment fund on the planet with$19 trillion under management, pulled out and left SolarZeroat the end of November, two years after purchasing it. Staffcontractors in the New Zealand Green Investment Fund havebeen badly burnt—no holiday pay, no contractors paid. Intotal around $4 to 5 million is owed, and New Zealand GreenInvestment Finance is potentially out of pocket by $100-plusmillion. Many of those contractors out of pocket are smallfamily-owned businesses. Around $1 million is owed to these30 or so businesses. All up, some 250 families are impactedby BlackRock's exit, and nearly all employees andcontractors spent the Christmas period on the unemploymentbenefit. The Prime Minister has not even responded torequests from affected staff and contractors.

Is thisthe growth that the Prime Minister is advocating for?Growing unemployment? Growing business hardship? ThisGovernment simply can't see that an economy is not separatefrom the natural world. The economy is a wholly ownedsubsidiary of the environment. The Prime Minister appears tohave been drinking some of the same Diet Coke that Trumpdrinks, and he's parroting his "drill, baby, drill" talk.But what I want the Prime Minister to know is there is nogrowth on a dead planet.

To date, all we've seen fromthis Government is a lost opportunity to provide asustainable pathway forward. They talk about a culture of noand have said no to rail-enabled ferries to connect theSouth. They've said no to the southern hospital, forgettingtheir pre-election promise. They've said no to clean,healthy rivers. And, this summer, one of our favouritecamping spots by the Manuherikia was filled with toxicalgae. They've said no to any meaningful emissions reductionplan, placing their faith in unproven technology,demonstrating that this Government has now become amodern-day cargo cult.

HŪHANA LYNDON(Green): Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. I stand tospeak on community. I stand to reflect on the way that mahitahi has been rolling out across Aotearoa over the Christmasbreak, where we saw over 300,000 submissions come in on theTreaty principles bill. But further, mahi tahi didn't stopthere. Mahi tahi's been going on for generations becausethere's Māori, non-Māori, tauiwi, tangata Tiriti—we worktogether every day. And on the weekend, we saw a perfectexample of tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti standingtogether in Bream Bay to say "no". No to sand mining inBream Bay; no to the fast track, because our community stoodand said fast track is a fast track to destruction, and2,000 whānau, 2,000 mokopuna, 2,000 kaumātua, residents,and community stood and said it's a fast track todestruction in Bream Bay. The community has beenmobilised.

We have over 8,000 signatures right now ona petition that sees community and tangata whenua stand sideby side and say, "Not in our rohe. Not in our rohe will sandmining be allowed on our ākau in Bream Bay, te Paepae oTū." Because that's unity, that's standing for te taiao,that's standing for our tomorrow. Because if McCallumBrothers gets let loose in Bream Bay, we can only see thedestruction of ngā taonga o Tangaroa, just like they did inPākiri.

And I speak to those members of the Housethat know the Pākiri community and know the destruction of80 years of sand mining in the Pākiri community. In Aprillast year, McCallum Brothers were rejected by theEnvironment Court, and now they've turned their attention toBream Bay. Our community and tangata whenua say kāhore,they said kāhore clearly on the weekend and said "no". As acommunity, they say fast track is a fast track todestruction. That's what the community is saying and that'swhat tangata whenua are saying.

Now, our mokopuna,they train at Bream Bay, at Ruakākā, they go out andthey're young lifesavers and they're out there training.It's a beautiful thing. If sand mining starts in Bream Bay,the water will change. Just like in Pākiri, our whānaustood in the marae, at Omaha Marae, and said they can't sendtheir mokopuna out into the moana anymore because of thesand mining. It's too dangerous for the mokopuna, you can'tget any horse mussels anymore, and the tara iti are at risk.They stood there and showed photos of 30 years ofdegradation—only 30 years—but it's been going on for 80years in Pākiri, and this company could be set for 35 yearsto dredge 9 million cubic metres of sand from out of theākau of te Paepae o Tū, Bream Bay, five days a week, sixhours a day. Like a thief in the night coming into therohe.

And they will mine and they will take the sandout of this community and impact ngā taonga o Tangaroa. Themoana, the ability for these mokopuna to be able to trainand enjoy, the ability for us to hī ika in this importantkainga of Whangārei-Te-Rerenga-Parāoa.

But that'snot the only fast track, no, no, no. We have six coming intoWhangārei, six fast track projects of which we know thatthe community has also stood alongside tangata whenua beforethe environment commissioners and said "no" to Northport,and the commissioner said kāhore, and yet—there we goagain—the fast track goes and lists Northport as a projectand yet it's already lost, just like McCallumBrothers.

That's the problem, it's that we're puttingprofit before people and the environment. Our residents, ourcommunity of sand mining in Bream Bay can see through thehaze, see through the rhetoric. They can see exactly what itis because, ultimately, we want to enjoy the ākau, we wantto enjoy the moana and all of those taonga that we benefitfrom as community and as tangata whenua. And this community,these tangata whenua, are standing up right now—and it'sgoing to continue on.

So what are we going to do?Continue to ignore the voice of community, if we're reallytalking about localism? Because fast track's closing thedoor on community. Fast track's not going to let thecommunity have a say on these consents because it's all donewithout transparency. That's the problem with fast track,and it's coming to a neighbourhood near you, e te whānau.Be careful. The fast track's coming to get you and it's afast track to destruction. Kia ora.

Hon JAMESMEAGER (Minister for the South Island): Well, thankyou, Madam Speaker. Look, I just wanted to start mycontribution on a slightly more serious and sombre note byacknowledging, of course, the passing at the start of theyear of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming. I want to send my bestwishes and thoughts to her family and, of course, to thefamily of Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay as well. On theJustice Committee we have a lot to do with the Police familyand it's always a tragedy when someone loses their life inthe act of service for this country. So I wanted toacknowledge Lyn, and just to note that I am intending tomake my first visit to Nelson as a Minister tomorrow andalso hopefully next week as well, so I hope I get a chanceto pay my respects to the police in person.

Can I alsojust take the opportunity this year to acknowledge NikkiKaye, a good friend of mine, and, of course, a friend ofmine, Chris Allen, who passed away in a tragic accident athome last year.

Madam Speaker, happy New Year to you.Happy New Year to colleagues across the House, and, ofcourse, happy New Year to our Prime Minister, and to endorsewholeheartedly his statement and to reject the terribleamendment to that statement. I support the Prime Minister'sstatement, of course, and the Prime Minister's mission tosay yes—to make us a country to say yes. Say yes,Francisco Hernandez. Say yes to growth, say yes to moretourism, say yes to more exports, say yes to more food andfibre in Mid Canterbury and South Canterbury, say yes tomore technology, say yes to more productivity, say yes tomore jobs. And speaking of more jobs, the Prime Minister isso enthusiastic about creating new jobs, he has createdseveral new jobs, and some of those I want to talk abouttoday.

Of course, I'll start off by the mostsignificant new job that I can think of, and it's thepromotion to chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committeeof Cameron Brewer. A flawless performance this morning. AndI'll tell you what—oh, I can't actually say what I wouldlike to say because I'm sure it was done behind closeddoors, but what a wonderful performance Mr Brewer had andI'm sure he was roundly supported by all members of thatcommittee.

Of course, the other new job I wanted totalk briefly about was the job that the Prime Minister askedme to do for him and for the country. I think it was lastSaturday now, at the Black Clash at Hagley Oval, when I gota call from the Prime Minister and he asked me to step up tohis team and become part of his ministry. I'm very proud toplay that role and I'm very proud to be the country's firstMinister for the South Island, along with my ministerialresponsibilities for hunting and fishing, for youth, andassociate transport.

I was very upset to hear thecomments of the Leader of the Opposition saying I was fartoo young to be handed such a portfolio. I was just sodisappointed about the message that sends to tens ofthousands of very young people like me, and like Katie Nimonand Tom Rutherford and all of the young people across thecountry, that they are not old enough or experienced enoughto have a say in our democracy. I was so disappointed inthat, but, as the Minister for Youth, I will be doing mybest to make sure that the message to our young people is:"Don't listen to that disappointing Christopher Hipkins. Hewas a youth once, he remembers what it was like. Listen tous. Listen to the support that we will give you. You canengage in the process. You can be the Minister for the SouthIsland too, despite being so young."

So Mr Hipkins,I'm very disappointed in those comments, but we'll move onfrom those because I wanted to talk about that portfolio ofthe Minister for South Island. I've heard some morecriticisms earlier on, from Peeni Henare, and it's veryheartening to see that the Labour Party now have aspokesperson for the South Island in Ingrid Leary because ofher passionate speech before about southerners. And ofcourse, Ms Leary is a proud southerner—such a proudsoutherner that when she ran for Parliament in 2020, shesaid, and I quote, "If I don't win my seat, I'm never takingthe plane back to Dunedin." Well, I'm sorry Ms Leary, butbeing a southerner is not about being a fly by night andtemporarily inhabiting there. Mr Francisco Hernandez didn'twin his seat and he's still a proud southerner in Dunedin.Scott Willis didn't win his seat and he's still down south.Kahurangi Carter didn't win her seat and she is still aproud southerner. Jo Luxton didn't win her seat and she isstill a proud southerner.

So I say to all the membersof the Labour Party: embrace the fact that we have voice andrepresentation for the South Island across the aisles. I amlooking forward to working with every single member ofParliament who wants to achieve our goal of growing theSouth Island, growing the South Island economy, growing morejobs, more hope, more opportunity for the South, becausethat's what New Zealand needs. New Zealand needs growthacross the board from the South Island, the North Island,Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, Kāpiti Island, theAuckland Islands, and whatever islands want to become partof the South Island; the growth is what we need.

So,I'm very, very proud to play that part in this turn-around,and there has been a turn-around job so far and we have seensigns of progress. Inflation is down to its target range.Interest rates are falling, and with that comes fallingmortgage rates, providing welcome relief for Kiwis who havebeen doing it tough over the past couple of years as we sawinflation go out of control and interest rates through theroof. Business confidence is back. It's a good start, but weneed more. We need more investment. We need more trade. Weneed more goods to market.

In terms of what we want todo down in the South Island, nothing is more important thanthe food and fibre that we grow down there. Food security isvital. It is absolutely vital in 2025. It is vital for therest of the world. We are a nation of 5 million that feeds45 million. It is absolutely vital that we continue to doour part in agriculture, and the food and fibre sector iscrucial to not only our success but also to the world'ssuccess. Feeding the world is what we do best. Think of thefirst shipment of frozen meat leaving Port Chalmers in 1882.It sparked an absolute frenzy over in Britain, selling fortwice as much as what you could get here in New Zealand.And, of course, Te Wai Pounamu has been exporting foodacross the world well before 1882. It will continue to do itwell after 1882, well after 2025, and for as long as we wantto continue playing our role to feed the world and to growincomes and to have a country which is based on what we growand what we sell and what we do and what we make. We'llalways be exporting food to the world. I hope the partiesacross the aisle will always support that.

We do needto do more. We definitely need to do more. We need to domore to support our agricultural sector in terms ofsupporting water storage. I'm talking about the Waimea Dam,I'm talking about the Klondyke ponds, I'm talking aboutrules to make sure that irrigation and water storage becomesa permanent activity and that farmers don't need to jumpthrough hoops and red tape and court cases in order toactually get access to sustainable levels of water so thatthey can grow the food and fibre that we need to feedourselves, to feed the world, and to get it around theworld.

We need to do more in Resource Management Actreform. We need to do more in renewable energy. I lookforward to members across the House coming down to the SouthIsland and opening up the largest solar farm at Lauriston.You are all welcome to cut any ribbon of any colour. I don'tcare how big the scissors are, but I invite you to come downto Lauriston, open up that solar farm and see what it doesfor renewable energy in the South.

I want to talk alsobriefly in the, well, 2½ minutes I've got left, abouttourism because tourism is the other major contributor toour economy. We heard the Minister for Tourism talking abouthow it is our second largest exporter, and in terms of theSouth Island, we well and truly punch above ourweight.

The South Island is 25 percent of ourpopulation, but we produce 40 percent of the internationaltourism spend, 31 percent of the domestic tourism spend, and43 percent of the guest nights in the country are spent inthe South Island. So we will play our part in Nicola Willis'growth story and I hope members across the House willcontinue to support more tourism, because if people likeGinny Andersen don't want tourists to come to Wellington, ifpeople like the member for Ikaroa-Rawhiti don't want peopleto come and visit the East Coast of the North Island, we'llhave them in the South Island. We'll have them down on theOtago Peninsula, we'll have them down in Akaroa, we'll havethem down in Timaru and Milford Sound and Nelson and Tasmanand in the mighty West Coast. We will have the touriststhere. Because every time you get a tourist there spendingtourist dollars, that is money into the back pockets ofhard-working Kiwis. That's money and income for the cafeowners, for the retailers, for the taxi drivers. When peoplesay no to tourism, they are saying no to food on the tableof those hard-working New Zealanders.

So I very muchlook forward to joining the Mayor of Queenstown and makingmy pitch to him as to how we can work together to ensurethat we get more tourists into Queenstown, into CentralOtago, and do it in a way which meets the infrastructureneeds and meets the infrastructure concerns, using thingslike the International Visitor Conservation and TourismLevy, using things like the general taxation pot and thefunding that the Government provides, and creating thoseregional and local deals.

When you do come to theSouth Island, make sure you go hunting and fishing becausewe have some of the most beautiful lakes and rivers in thecountry. We have the most beautiful scenic game tour guidesand blocks. What I say to people who want to come huntingand fishing is do make sure you get your licence. Go to yourlocal licence retailer and get an annual fishing licence sothat you can go fishing anywhere in the country and playyour part to making sure that we have sustainable fisheriesand habitats.

Look, I could go on for hours and hoursand hours about the benefits and the merits of the SouthIsland, but I wanted to conclude by saying this: this isn'tabout North versus South; it is about the whole countryplaying its part. It's about Taranaki - King Country playingits part. It's about the Far North. It's about Te Atatu.It's about the mighty Hamilton playing its part in theGovernment's growth agenda. So, I'm very proud to be part ofthis Government, I'm very proud to be serving my country,and I look forward to working with all members across theHouse in doing so.

DEPUTY SPEAKER:This is a split call—Hon Phil Twyford.

HonPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Thank you, MadamSpeaker. Fact: National is pulling $2 billion out of thepublic health system right now to pay for its tax cuts forthe well-off, for landlords, and for tobacco companies, andthat has real-life consequences in our communities. In mycommunity in West Auckland, at Waitakere Hospital last year,one-quarter of all the shifts were below the safe staffinglevels for nurses. I'll say that again: one-quarter of allthe shifts at our local hospital in West Auckland were belowthe safe staffing levels, at a time when Health New Zealandhad instituted a hiring freeze on nurses. What's more, theemergency department at Waitakere Hospital in West Auckland,more often than not, according to the nurses there, hastwice the number of patients that it has capacity for. Thisis a direct consequence of National's austerity policies inthe health system.

They've also restored the $5prescription fee at the counter, meaning that more peoplewill pick and choose what medicines they can afford, theywill get sicker more quickly, and they will end up inhospital. The other day, I was at the Te Atatu South MedicalCentre, and the staff there explained to me that they arehaving to put up their fees; 97 percent of all the ProCareGP practices in Auckland are putting up their fees, some ashigh as $70. Why? Because National is underfunding thesubsidies for GP practices, and GP practices cannot maintaintheir services with the low level of funding they'regetting. As a result, GP practices are closing their books.People cannot get in; they cannot enrol at their local GP.GP practices are cutting services like after-hour services,and the result of this is that more people are putting offgoing to the doctor. They can't get in to see the GP;they're either turning up at the hospital emergencydepartment, and often clogging that up, or they're simplynot getting the treatment they need, so they are gettingsicker more quickly and, ultimately, they are paying thecost for National's funding cuts. It's a false economy, asalways, because people end up getting sicker and having togo to hospital.

National is also—and this issomething that's not yet widely known—cutting the supportfor home help for older people. The other day, I spent timewith Joop and Hendrika Lankreier of Henderson. Joop's 97;Hendrika, his wife, is 93. They've both recently sustainedinjuries that make it very difficult for them to do evenbasic housework like vacuuming, but they live on their ownin their own home. They want to continue livingindependently. It's Government policy, and has been forages, to encourage people to age at home and look afterthemselves and be self-sufficient, but to do that, peoplelike Joop and Hendrika, they need a helping hand. They needto be able to get home help in so they can continue to liveindependently in their own home. But Joop and Hendrika got aletter from Health New Zealand saying, "We are no longerfunding home help for people like you who are aged andliving at home." Joop was furious when I talked to him. He's97; he said, "I've paid taxes all my life. I expect thiskind of support, and when I need it, it's not there." Thisis incredibly short-sighted, and it's another example ofNational underfunding the health system. It's death by athousand cuts. It's classic National: run down the publichealth system, introduce fees, cut the services that areavailable, and then, when the service is on its knees, youstart talking about privatisation.

Only the other daywe had the man who will be the next Deputy Prime Ministerraising the prospect of privatisation of the public healthsystem. We have a public health system that by internationalstandards delivers high-quality care with fair access forall. It's not perfect, but we have to look after it. Theseeconomic geniuses on that side of the House are putting thepublic health system at risk, and I want to say this: thepeople of New Zealand will not stand forit.

HELEN WHITE (Labour—Mt Albert):Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to talk about the PrimeMinister's statement, from the point of view of the eyes ofmy constituents. Now, the eyes of my constituents have beenrather put upon recently when Shane Jones gave a speechwhere he referred to the people of Sandringham asswivel-eyed. So I thought they'd had their fair share ofbeing, really, abused by this Government. But, in the PrimeMinister's speech and repeatedly before, there were commentsmade by the Prime Minister about his intention or his wishthat we run roughshod over the views and the actual needs ofmy community at Eden Park.

In Eden Park, there hasbeen a restrictive policy on concerts, which went to anumber that was dictated by a resource management process. Ilive in that area, and what I did, as any responsible localMP would do, is I surveyed the members of that communityabout how they felt. And they weren't saying no—theyweren't saying no. I surveyed and, like, one in nine peopleresponded. It was a good survey. They were very responsiveto the survey and they were interested and they werepositive about the move in concerts to the 13 concerts. Theywere positive about that move because they know that that'shelpful for the small businesses in their community. Theywanted things like more events in that stadium, so it wasused well.

But what I don't expect is that theirinterests are utterly ignored, that the Prime Minister, whenhe's down in the polls, will ignore any interest they'vegot. He's not putting it next to his beach home in OnetangiBeach and he's not putting it next to his house either. He'sputting it next to my community and saying that they mustpay a price, without thinking about that community, becausehe's down in the polls. It's not necessarily a logical thingto do for small business, which is suffering in Auckland. Wehave a recession in Auckland that's very serious. But if wewant to help small businesses, I suggest that we do somethings that are really active—(a) we involve the communityin our decisions, and (b) we think about the things thathappened last year when this Government actuallysteamrollered through and retracted a law that would havemeant that the small businesses in my area got paid andwithout delay by big businesses.

We had an Act whichdid that, and what happened last year was, for some reason,it was urgent that that was taken away. So now our bigbusinesses can delay payment to our small ones. Xero didreally good research on this and it warned—it warned inJuly last year—that people were paying a price for this.There was an exponential growth in the delay of payment toour small businesses. It cost our small businesses last year$827 million in one year because our big businesses areusing our small businesses as banks because they cynicallycan. And what did this Government do to protect the smallbusinesses in Sandringham? It did nothing. It said avoluntary code was coming, which, by the way, doesn't workin Australia. And when I have asked questions of theMinister, I have found that it's just been "Oh, New Zealandbusiness—Business New Zealand's doing something." At themoment, I cannot see that any work has happened on even avoluntary code.

What is wrong with a Government thatfavours big business actually taking the money that is notowed from small businesses? What is wrong with them? What iswrong with a business that will do that rather than lookafter those small businesses? Instead, it would rather tradethe rights of an area and trade any kind of cooperation andlocalism, which, by the way, it promised when it was goinginto Government. It trades that, it disrespects that, itdoesn't involve people. It runs the risk of a community thatwas saying yes to more concerts, that was involved andactive and engaged in it—it runs the risk of souring itsrelationship with all those people, and, quite frankly, it'sas contemptuous as a statement which called my constituentsswivel-eyed. That's how contemptuous it is.

It is notOK. It is arrogant behaviour, it is out of touch, and itsays that the people in my area don't count. It doesn't helpthe Auckland economy; it is ham-fisted; and it is very, veryunfair on my community. I'll be standing up forthem.

DAVID MacLEOD (National—NewPlymouth): I am pleased to provide my comments onthe significant strides our Government has made over thepast year and our bold plans for the future. The last fewyears have been very challenging for New Zealand—there'sno doubt about that—and it is still tough for very manypeople in our communities today. But we are now seeing theearly signs—the green shoots, as Cameron Brewer putsit—of recovery and growth directly as a result of the verybusy 2024 that this coalition Government has had.

Whenwe were elected, the Government inherited a New Zealand thatfaced high inflation, high interest rates, and rapidlyrising debt. However, since our Government took office, wehave been acutely focused on reducing the cost of livingpressures and have implemented policies that have led to adrop in inflation, interest rates falling, and have quelledthe rapidly increasing debt on our balancesheet.

Budget 2024 provided much-needed relief tofamilies across our country, particularly to middle-incomeearners, and the FamilyBoost programme, which has been takenup by so many, has helped also. There's also good newsahead, with business confidence for consumers and businesseson the rise, and growth is expected to rise to a healthylevel this year.

Our focus this year has been clearlyarticulated as unleashing economic growth, or as once againthe MP for the upper north says, "Growth, growth, andgrowth." We aim to create an environment where businessescan grow and thrive, hire more staff, and invest in theirfuture. This includes comprehensive reforms such as thefast-track legislation and reforming the Resource ManagementAct and changes to the health and safety rules.

In2025, we have already, in what must be a record time, signeda trade deal with the UAE, eliminating tariffs on 98.5percent of our exports. Along with recently announcedchanges, we are working on attracting more investment inscience and technology for it to deliver what New Zealanderswant and what New Zealand businesses need.

We knowthat high-quality infrastructure is also critical foreconomic growth. As already mentioned, we have passed thefast-track legislation which is to expedite 149 nationallyand regionally significant projects. These include newhomes, roads, and renewable electricity projects. As I'vealso mentioned, we are overhauling the Resource ManagementAct to make it easier and cheaper to build and get thingsdone—doesn't that make sense?

Our Going for HousingGrowth Plan aims at increasing housing availability bystrengthening planning rules and removing unnecessarybarriers that frustrate so many, and thank you to the HonChris Penk for your work on that space.

Another areaof note is delivering better results for the $70 billioninvested annually in social services. The Social InvestmentAgency will establish a Social Investment Fund to testdifferent ideas and improve Government contracts with socialservice providers. Our goal is to break the cycle ofdisadvantage that challenges so many and ensure that everyNew Zealander benefits from strong economicgrowth.

Everybody knows the health system is far fromwhat we want and, indeed, what we expect, and we are takingsteps to stabilise it. We have reintroduced priority healthtargets and replaced the Health New Zealand board with acommissioner to provide service delivery and financialcontrol.

In education, we are focused on raisingachievement and closing the equity gap. We have set anambitious target for student attendance and curriculumlevels and we are rewriting national curricula to help withconsistency and, ultimately, success.

Restoring lawand order is a top priority. We are investing in morefront-line police officers, greater rehabilitation foroffenders, and prison capacity. We have also passedlegislation to crack down on criminal gangs and introducedmeasures to reduce youth offending. Our goal is clearlycentred on safer communities for all.

Our Governmentis committed to taking bold action for a prosperous futurefor New Zealand. We are moving from a former Government thatwas delivering no and slow for our economy to an economybased on yes. We are focused and we will deliver. Together,we can build a country of aspiration, ambition, andopportunity. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon TAMAPOTAKA (Associate Minister of Housing): I move,That this debate be now adjourned.

Motionagreed to.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thisdebate is adjourned and set down for resumption next sittingday. The House will resume at 7.30 p.m. thisevening.

Sitting suspended from 6.03 p.m. to 7.30p.m.

###

Sittingdate: 30 January 2025

DEBATE ON PRIMEMINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 29January.

SPEAKER: I might just take ashort pause while those who have to leave the House are ableto do so rapidly, quietly, and withoutdiscussion.

Hon TAMA POTAKA (AssociateMinister of Housing):

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Twelve months ago, the Prime Ministerdelivered his first state of the nation speech and assertedAotearoa New Zealand as the best country on this side ofPapatūānuku—planet Earth—and any other planet, forthat matter. When he wakes in the morning, he's thinkingabout the country we are going to create for our owntamariki and mokomoko to live in. We won't shy away from thechallenges that have arisen like rain clouds hung over astorm that hung over our incoming Government: rampantinflation; out-of-control interest rates, with the highestlevel in more than a decade putting more pressure on whānauthroughout the country.

But the Prime Minister made itclear that we will be making tough choices. Tough choiceswould be made to set us on a path of economic growth toimprove the lives of Māori and, indeed, all New Zealanders.We won't wait 16 years and we've started to deliver someprogress well within 16 months: growth, forecast to reachover 2 percent in 2025; business and consumer confidencerising, with average mortgage interest rates falling for thefirst time in over three years; and whānau seeing keyreforms in housing, infrastructure, health and safety laws,and planning rules that will drive productivity and empowerlocal businesses.

It's primarily through strongeconomic growth that we will need to lift incomes, deliverquality public services, and improve equality of opportunityand equal citizenship for Māori. Many cohorts of Māorihave disproportionate challenges with health, housing, andeducation.

National-led Governments in the past haveworked very hard to deliver better outcomes for Māori andall New Zealanders and on Treaty issues. We started theprocess 30 years ago with the historic Tainui settlement inWaikato and have negotiated many, many settlements sincethen. We need to crack on and deliver more of those. In thelast year, we have advanced eight Treaty settlements withthe stewardship of Minister Metekōura Goldsmith and I lookforward soon to delivering the Ō-Rākau bill, which willreturn the land to the tīpuna and iwi at Ō-Rākau andthose that fought there.

Completing Treaty settlementsis a priority for this Kāwanatanga. They're critical tohelp facilitate the future prosperity of iwi, hapū, and allNew Zealanders. You can see, in Waikato, in particular,Kirikiriroa, the amazing work that Waikato-Tainui have beendoing not only to support the growth, health, wealth, andwellbeing of their own people but also of the entire regionand the entire country—amazing potential.

But thinkabout this: it is reported that the economic delta, thedifference of the Māori dimensions of the New Zealandeconomy compared to the rest of the New Zealand economy isaround 60 percent on both a revenue per capita indicator andan asset per capita indicator. If we get to equality ofopportunity, that amounts to a nearly $40 billion gap inrevenue and a nearly $140 billion asset gap. Narrowing thisdelta, this economic delta, in our view will contributesignificantly to Māori household incomes and theproductivity of iwi and Māori assets and to tax revenue,and reduce spending on welfare and social services.

Weaim to facilitate better conditions for Māori economicgrowth using levers that align with improving GDP per capitaand reducing legislative and regulatory burdens: in placeslike Māori land, improving the legislation, facilitatingchange there and helping with better productivity;effectively engaging with more iwi and Māori organisationsand businesses who seek to make a massive contribution tothe infrastructure re-imagination in New Zealand; and, ofcourse, the productivity of iwi- and Māori-ownedbusinesses, particularly in high-export markets.

Weare on the right path to supporting growth. As we know, over20 significant iwi- or Māori-led partner projects are inthe fast-track process, spanning a variety of industriesthat will help rebuild the economy, boost renewable energy,grow infrastructure, develop aquaculture and mining, andbuild homes to fix the housing crisis. Like the BeachlandsSouth development, which many of our whanaunga iwi who arehere today are invested in out on the coast from Clevedon;the Muriwhenua aquaculture project up in Te Tai Tokerau,involving many of the Te Hiku area iwi; the Ngāti Waewaehousing project in Arahura; and the Ngāi Tahu industrialland development in Christchurch—all part of thefast-track process.

We seek to facilitate betterconditions for boosting that economic growth and will fireup Aotearoa New Zealand to be a small leading advancednation with greater equality of opportunity. We will notachieve that if we don't support Māori economic growth in aprudent, reasonable, and absolutely passionatemanner.

We're going to cut through red tape, make iteasier to hire, expand, or launch new ventures, and I've gotMinister Bayly who's really focused on doing that in theCompanies Act. We're also seeking to grow partnerships inthe housing space and recently announced $82 million inaddition for housing projects across the motu, some of whichare led by very close whanaunga of ours, for example, thewhanaunga brother of the member for Te Tairāwhiti, PatrickTangaere, and George Reedy on the East Coast doing somehousing down at Kaiti. Kia ora. Thank you. Our Going forHousing Growth plan will see affordable homes to be built,planning rules simplified, and major projectsfast-tracked.

We also know that a lot of whānaucontinue to do it very tough under the cost of living crisiswe've inherited, and Māori are disproportionately affectedby that. It's our responsibility as the Government, asrepresentatives of regions and people throughout thiscountry to grow equality of opportunity and equalcitizenship for whānau and for Māori. This year, we'llcontinue to implement the social investment approach underthe wise guidance of Minita Willis, Manu Pūtea, to drivebetter results for Government's investment in socialservices and improving outcomes for whānau.

Growingequality of opportunity means working harder to break cyclesof disadvantage, more hard evidence, more power in the handsof communities, and a much clearer focus on outcomes formoney spent. It means taking a harder look at education andemployment and committing ourselves to ambitious targets todo better. For example, we know that many, many of our youngpeople, our tamariki find it hard to go to school. Theattendance rate—40 percent of tamariki Māori didn't makeit to school regularly last year. But we do know that insome instances and some examples, like Te Wharekura oKirikiriroa in Hamilton, they have an amazing attendancerate—over 80 percent regular. This is in a decile 1 schoolover on Enderley near Five Cross Roads. Phenomenal.

Wealso know when we came to office, thousands of whānaumembers were living in dank, dark emergency housing, andwe've worked very hard to ensure that tamariki and mokopunacome out of that housing, particularly those that have beenthere for 12 weeks or more. So we've seen after makingdecisions and really focusing ourselves on action, nearly3,000 tamariki have come out of emergency housing in thelast 12 months. I think that's progress. That's what Ithink. Others, they just like to make catcalls andcriticisms, but I think that's progress.

Growingequality of opportunity—we need to support our māhita,our kaiako, and kura, and we've done that by helping withintroducing a clearer curriculum, a better approach tostructured literacy and numeracy under the Manu MātaurangaErica Stanford, a smarter assessment in reporting, andimproved teacher training. This has been rolled out inphases, of course. Starting in term 1 this year, schools andkura will teach the updated English and te reo rangatiracurriculum grounded in evidence-based structured literacy.These are our future rangatira and we are here to tautokothem.

I look forward to the reopening, reimagination,and restart of Tipene, St Stephen's in Bombay on 6 Februarynext week, and the mahi that Nathan Durie and YvetteMcCausland-Durie have been undertaking over many years withthe stewardship of Joe Harawira and others—AwiRiddell;

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—to ensure thatthat kura comes back into action.

Growing equality ofopportunity means that when our tamariki and mokopunagraduate, we've created the right economic conditions forthem to gain employment, own a business, earn a decentincome, and set the course for their lives.

Thechallenge or one of the challenges we face when we talkabout the equality of opportunities to equal citizenship isthe social delta that exists between—

HonWillie Jackson: What does thatmean?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: —ourcommunities and the rest of New Zealand. What that means,for the member from—oh, no; I don't think he actuallyrepresents the region, but what that means is that there isa difference of around $2.5 million to $5 million per annumif we move the income of Māori from here to the averageincome of the rest of New Zealand. Now, that is worthfighting for, because that enables our whānau to makecareful choices about their health and wellbeing, theirenterprise, their education, and a whole range of othermatters. But ensuring that our whānau, our tamariki, ourmokopuna are engaged in education, whether it be mātaurangaMāori or some other mātauranga, is very important tonarrow that delta.

We have potential. Actually, we'vedelivered on potential. We only have to go to places likeHamilton—Willie, you're allowed to come here sometimes.We're right in the middle of the Asia-Pacific, a liberaldemocracy with well-established institutions. We're avibrant, multicultural, multi-iwi nation, actually, and wewill build strong on our bicultural foundations.

As Isaid earlier on,

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Government can't do this alone, and it'sactually not just for us; it's actually for everyone to worktogether in that kotahitanga moment to bring the success ofour mahi tahi and our kotahitanga under the Treaty together.Ngā mihi ki a tātou katoa. Kia ora.[Applause]

Hon WILLIE JACKSON(Labour): Oh, he got a clap—he got aclap!

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I suppose a lot ofpeople will be wondering what we're talking about here, MrSpeaker. We're talking about a response to the PrimeMinister's speech. It was all lovely stuff from the Ministerfor Māori Development. The question I've got from us is:why didn't the Prime Minister say one thing about Māori?Like, just one thing—one thing! He didn't even mention theword "Māori".

But here we had this charismatic,exciting Minister for Māori Development trotting out hisboring speech that has been written by his researchers.Couldn't get off his notes. I was thinking about it, and Ithought I'm not going to read my speech today—I'm notgoing to read my speech today—because after hearing thatboring speech, I was thinking "Why didn't the Prime Ministermention Māori?" Well, there you go, his Māori MPs. I mean,as everyone knows, I'm not a person to get too personal inthe House here! But I need to take a little bit of timehere, because a lot of our people are here and they want toknow who's representing them, who their representatives inGovernment are, so I thought I might just introduce them, MrSpeaker.

We have McLeod over there—and I've got totake it easy. I know he's got a few aunties up in theaudience there. I want to congratulate him because he's justbeen promoted to the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee.Well done, and if you can remember to clear your campaignexpenses at the next election, you might actually become aMinister. But he's a promising individual—$186,000 indebt, but never mind.

He replaced myfriend—

SPEAKER: No, I'm going tostop the member there and remind him of the comment he madeearlier in his speech that he doesn't get involved in thissort of personal politics that so many others do! So I'llhold him to that. We are debating, as he said, for thisHouse to understand, the Prime Minister's Statement and Iwant to hear his response to that.

Hon WILLIEJACKSON: Well, my response to the statement isthis. Why didn't the Prime Minister talk about Māorithings? What I'm saying today is: look at who his Māori MPsare. Now, we're looking over there at Mr McLeod, and hereplaced my good friend Dan Bidois. I mean, he's sopromising and I think he's one of the best young Māori MPsaround. So I want to apologise to Mr Bidois today, because Ithink I called him an Italian once and he was a Frenchman.But I know he's got a big future—I know he's got a bigfuture.

Shane Reti's not here, though. He is the mostprincipled of the Māori MPs—of that there is nodoubt—because he didn't want to deliver this Government'sterrible Health budget: underfunding, under-resourcing thiscountry. Shane Reti is one of the best—one of thebest—and I want to mihi to him today. I haven't had achance to wish him all the very best.

But hey, there'shelp on the way, because we have a young brown hope and he'sthe new Minister for the South Island. He might be able tohelp you out, Mr Speaker. His name is—what is hisname?—James Meager. He's a good man, James. Icongratulated him. I was really proud of James, youknow.

Rawiri Waititi:Hēmi—James!

Hon WILLIE JACKSON:Eh? No, I interviewed him and I think there's a lot of hopefor Māori. I think there's a lot of hope for Māori in theNational Party, because when he was interviewed, James wasinterviewed by a real young, brilliant interviewer. I thinkhis name was Hikurangi Jackson or something! Anyway, he wasinterviewed by this brilliant young interviewer. And whenJames was asked what—

RawiriWaititi: Matt Doocey's the best Māori overthere!

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: No,Rawiri, listen. When James was asked "What's it like to beMāori?"—you know, what's being Māori to you, what doesthat mean—James' response was "Well, I don't know but I'llcheck in my diary later on and, and I'll work that into myschedule." He's going to go right to the top. That boy couldbe the Prime Minister of the National Party. With that sortof response, there's no doubt he's got a big future in theNational Party! But I do wish James Meager—I'm serious. Itold him to have a listen in today. He's a good young man.All the best to him.

But without doubt the shiningstar of this National Party is the one and only Tama Potaka;there's no doubt about it. The Minister Potaka—you know,he's trying his best, but as you heard today, he's about asexciting as a rock. And one day he's going to have to learnto come off those notes. I see my old friend Mahara Okeroahere; he knows about this sort of stuff. He needs to talk toMahara. He's got a bit of charisma, a bit of excitement. Ithink the Minister's problem is some of his mates, you know.I was thinking Jamie Tuuta, Julian Wilcox, CheWilson—maybe that's the problem, Minister, in terms ofwhat you're doing at the moment. But I just want to wish allthese people, all these Māori, all the best. But that'swhat our people are looking at today. No wonder the PrimeMinister didn't mention Māori in his speech.

But froma serious perspective, there's one Māori who deserves amention today, and that is, of course, Mr Potaka's very goodfriend David Seymour. It is a shame on this Prime Ministerand a disgrace in terms of this Government that they haven'tput him in line. He deserves to be straightened out. I am soproud of our people and all New Zealanders who are comingforward in terms of these Treaty submissions. And we have aPrime Minister who doesn't mention the Treaty principles inhis speech; all he can say is "We're the yesGovernment—we're the yes Government." Why doesn't he justput David Seymour in line? We think that Seymour's eitherwilfully blind or wilfully deaf because he consistently says"I don't know what they're talking about. Can someoneexplain it to me?" Hundreds, thousands of people areexplaining it to him. They are saying very clearly "You aretrying to break the special relationship that Māori hadwith the Crown. You are trying to break Article 2 rights."It's as simple as that.

Those are not special rights.Those are not privileged rights. Our people are notprivileged. If we were privileged, we wouldn't die sevenyears earlier than everyone else. If we were privileged, wewouldn't be 50 percent of the prison population. If we wereprivileged, we wouldn't be three times more unemployed thanPākehā people. This rubbish, this lie about us being aspecial privileged people must stop.

It's the PrimeMinister's job to get this ACT Party in line. It's the PrimeMinister's job to support our people. When 60,000-pluspeople—might be 80,000—turn up at this Parliament, whatis the response from the Prime Minister in his speech?Nothing. Not a word in terms of Māori. Nothing about whatSeymour's doing. He is not managing a coalition. That is hisresponsibility, that is his obligation, and Seymour'scausing mayhem out there. I'mproud—

SPEAKER: Remember that thereare rules about—use the member's full name, not justthe—

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: DavidSeymour, Mr Speaker. Tama Potaka's good friend and relation![Laughter] There is an obligation—I'm sure you'dconcur with me, Mr Speaker. A bit of decorum, please. Thereis an—

Hon Tama Potaka: Point oforder—point of order.

Hon WILLIEJACKSON: Oh, now it's getting all touchy andsensitive. It's taken you awhile.

SPEAKER: Whoa! Can I just,before I take the point of order from the Hon Tama Potaka,just explain to the gallery that the rules are that thegallery can't participate in the debate. I understand thatpeople will involuntarily laugh at something that's found tobe humorous, but please don't commentback.

Hon Tama Potaka: The allegationof a relationship that is completely fallacious should berescinded.

SPEAKER: Yeah, I thinkthat's a fair comment.

Hon WILLIEJACKSON: OK. I don't want to really upset theMinister, but can I say—

SPEAKER:Just—[Interruption] Hang on—whoa, whoa! Justwithdraw, then we've got it all tight,yeah.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Ohwithdraw. Apologise too? You want me to? I apologise to mygood friend the Minister; I know it's a sensitivesoul.

I really need just to come back, in my lastcouple of minutes, to this Prime Minister's speech being soimportant, so crucial. So we want some leadership here. Wewant him to manage the coalition. We want him to manage theACT Party, who are causing mayhem out there in terms of NewZealanders at the moment. I'm so proud of all our people whoare rolling up—wonderful submissions from people like AniMikaere; Kiritapu Allan this morning did a great submission,really, really good; Chris Finlayson—you know, rightacross the spectrum, we're getting these wonderfulsubmissions. So get them in line and get your New ZealandFirst mates in line, Mr Speaker. They're causing mayhemright now.

SPEAKER: Hangon—[Interruption] Whoa, whoa, whoa.[Interruption] You know that I don't take a politicalposition. I even consider you a friend, so for goodness'sake, don't start.

Hon WILLIEJACKSON: But we want a Prime Minister to manage andto organise. He calls them "We are the yes party." Yes?Well, we know this. It's yes to the tobacco companies,right? It's yes to the lobbyists. Who else is a yes to? It'syes to anything the ACT and the New Zealand FirstParty—

Hon Member:Landlords.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Tolandlords. But most of all, what we've heard lately, it'syes to privatisation. That's what this Prime Minister's saidand he's saying "Oh, no, not in this term." We know morethan anyone how bad that can go. We will never go down theirtrack and we need a Prime Minister who will stand up and sayno to privatisation, who will support New Zealanders, whowill support hard-working Kiwis right across the spectrumwho are in fear of that type of policy. We have seenRogernomics in Hāwera, we've seen it in Pātea, we've seenit in Porirua, we've seen it in Māngere—New Zealandersstruggling.

We ask the Prime Minister on this day tostand up not just for Māori but for all New Zealanders.Now's the time. Labour absolutely opposes this Government.Kia ora, Mr Speaker.

Hon SIMON WATTS (Ministerof Revenue): I move, That this debate be nowadjourned.

Motion agreed to.

Debateinterrupted.

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Sitting date:11 February 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'SSTATEMENT

Debate resumed from 30January.

Hon SIMON WATTS (Minister ofRevenue): Well, it's great to be back, speaking inthe House today. This Government is energised, focused, andready to take on the challenges and the opportunities that2025 holds. I am very proud to be part of Prime MinisterLuxon's Government—a Prime Minister who is getting NewZealand back on track and ensuring, overseas in particular,it is known that New Zealand is open for business. The PrimeMinister has been very clear in setting 2025 as a year fordriving economic growth—a year where we don't just recoverbut actively strive to build a brighter, stronger future forNew Zealand and New Zealanders. And we are not starting fromscratch.

Last year, this Government put in significanteffort to lay a foundation for growth, focusing on whatmatters most to hard-working New Zealanders. We deliveredtax relief, putting more money in the back pockets ofhard-working families—the first time in 14 years Kiwisfelt a difference in their household budgets. We eased theburden on early childhood education costs, with over 65,000families making FamilyBoost claims. In just the first 15days of this year, nearly 22,000 FamilyBoost claims werepaid, providing immediate financial relief for parents. Wetook decisive action to get spending under control, cuttingwasteful spending where it didn't deliver value for NewZealanders. We have seen inflation come down, an encouragingstep in terms of us getting economic stabilityback.

But we know there is still more to do, and weknow that times are still very tough for New Zealanders;2025 must be the year we not only recover but we alsothrive. It is time to be bold and is time to for us to sayyes—yes to a growing economy, yes to higher wages and morejobs, yes to supporting our small-business community and keyexporting sectors such as our farmers, yes to backinginnovators, and yes to a country where every Kiwi has theopportunity to succeed. New Zealand can have this futurewhere hard work is rewarded, families get ahead, and NewZealanders stand proud on the world stage. A growing economycan make all this possible, which is why that is our toppriority this year.

The Prime Minister has asked me tolead our energy portfolio for this country. Unlocking NewZealand's untapped energy potential is critical to drivingthat economic growth. Access to affordable and secure energyand electricity is this Government's priority. New Zealandis brimming with untapped opportunities in the renewableenergy space, from wind to solar to geothermal. Thepossibilities are vast and this is exciting for New Zealand,but we must harness this potential. We are advancingElectrify NZ—our plan to double the country's renewablegeneration has started.

And how about fast track? Weare going to add another 3,000 megawatts of new renewableenergy capacity, boosting New Zealand's electricitygeneration by almost 30 percent, removing regulations andmaking it easier to build. In parallel, we're alsoprogressing legislation to enhance energy and electricitysecurity, including a new offshore renewable energy permitregime to unlock more opportunities for offshore wind.Secure and affordable energy will not only keep ourhouseholds warm, our businesses moving, but it will createmore jobs, it's going to increase economic growth, and it'sgoing to increase productivity across this beautifulcountry.

Another area I have responsibility for isclimate change—not only that, but in terms of the contextthat Electrify NZ will support our country to deliver on ourclimate commitments. Last year, we released our Government'ssecond emissions reduction plan. Our plan shows that we cangrow the economy and deliver our climatecommitments—effective policies that can lay the foundationto meet net zero targets as early as 2044. This is the yearthat we are building momentum. We're looking at the ClimateChange Response Act to reduce unnecessary regulations andreporting, ensuring that that Act will operate moreefficiently so we can focus on actually doing the doing andimplementing actions to reduce emissions. We're also lookingto establish better emissions trading scheme marketgovernance so we have better, credible markets to drive thatclimate transition.

This Government understands theimportance of making our communities and businesses andeconomy more resilient to a changing climate. We recognisethat climate change poses significant risks to ourinfrastructure, environment, and way of life, and we arecommitted as a Government to proactively making sure that weensure the ongoing sustainability and security of thiscountry. The effects of weather events disrupt livelihoods,they strain emergency response systems, and it highlightsthe urgent need that we have as a country to be moreprepared and adapt to the impacts of that changing climate.This year, we will advance legislation to establish a clearframework for climate adaptation, addressing the criticalchallenges posed by extreme weather.

Another of myareas of responsibility is local government. A strong andwell-functioning infrastructure network is essential fordriving economic growth. It gets our businesses andhouseholds moving. Addressing New Zealand's long-terminfrastructure deficit is critical to unlock productivity,attract investment, and improve connectivity. That is whythis Government is taking decisive action to close thatinfrastructure gap across this country. Last year, weestablished a framework for regional deals—a partnershipbetween central and local government to ensure that wedeliver critical infrastructure and unlock economicpotential across this country. These regional deals willfoster collaboration between central government and localgovernment, working together jointly to accelerate long-termvision realisation in our regions and cities, and this iscritical to accelerate economic growth and productivity.This year, this Government hopes to have the first regionaldeal agreed to, and we hope to make progress on other dealstoo.

Last year, we also took decisive actions toimplement Local Water Done Well, ensuring that control ofwater assets is returned to local communities. We believe,on this side of the House, that local councils supported bya strong framework are best placed to manage waterinfrastructure effectively and sustainably. As part of thatpolicy, the first two new bills were passed in August,providing councils with the certainty and clarity of apathway to develop their water service delivery plans. Theseplans will prioritise high quality, financially sustainablewater services that are due to be submitted to Governmentlater this year. In the months ahead, we will continue towork with councils to implement this programme.Additionally, we're committed to passing the LocalGovernment (Water Services) Bill, further reinforcing ourapproach to locally managed, well-funded, efficient waterservices.

My fourth responsibility is revenue andtaxation. A well-designed tax system is essential fordriving this country's economic growth. As revenue Minister,my focus is on improving fiscal sustainability bysimplifying tax, reducing compliance costs, and addressingintegrity issues so businesses and individuals can investand innovate and contribute to our economy. We need to drivethat economic growth agenda. We've made economic growth andproductivity one of the six pillars of this Government's taxand social policy work programme. We're currently doing workon the foreign investment fund rules that lead to doubletaxation and encourage investments and talent to stay awayfrom New Zealand. But we want to attract more of this talentto this country. We want to retain that talent and not driveit away, so we're exploring potential changes in the rulesto ensure no one is disadvantaged against other taxpayers.We're also progressing work in regards to the tax exemptionof employee share schemes to support start-ups in the techsector as part of the current Taxation (Annual Rates for2024-25, Emergency Response, and Remedial Measures)Bill.

In conclusion, we look ahead, for this year,with a commitment to economic growth. That commitment isunwavering. Our agenda is jam-packed with actions to driveeconomic growth, to create jobs, and to sure ensure thatevery New Zealander has an opportunity and, importantly, thecertainty to get ahead. We're not just talking about growth;we're going to deliver it. We've got a clear plan. We'redecisive, relentlessly focused, and we're going to make NewZealanders enjoy the rest of this year and make themvaluable.

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (DeputyLeader—Labour): There was so much faux enthusiasmin that speech and exaggerated energy. Clearly, thosemembers have been told to come to the House to lift theenergy and to make out that everything is OK, but we on thisside of the House and in the rest of the country know thatis not. Meanwhile, the coalition is falling down aroundSimon Watts, but he's still rattling off the lines, justlike his Prime Minister does. I think in the first fewminutes, we heard "back on track" and we heard "open forbusiness", "driving economic growth", and "brighter,stronger future for New Zealanders". Just like his leader,just like his Prime Minister, he can't deviate from the keylines. In fact, he read that whole speech word for word, andI don't even know if it was a speech that was uniquelywritten for him. I think it was probably just the key linesthat were given out to everyone as a guide as to what totalk about in their speeches.

Anyway, we have the fauxenthusiasm, and we had the over-exaggerated energy fromSimon Watts, but the reality is that across the country,morale is low. I don't recall ever having seen it this lowbefore, even during some of our darkest times, including thepandemic. We've lost over 10,000 jobs in the public sector,which that side of the House seems to want to celebrate.There have been 13,000 jobs lost in building andconstruction. We're not hiring in our health sector, despitethe demand and the need for more health workers. We'relosing nursing graduates to overseas. We're losing recordnumbers of New Zealanders going overseas because that sideof the House have not taken care of what is fundamentallyimportant to New Zealanders, and that is just ensuring thatthey have jobs to go into.

It's not just because ofthe job losses that morale is low; it is the divisivenessthat's being caused by that side of the House. I,ultimately, fundamentally believe in New Zealanders and thefact that we are good people, and we all believe in NewZealand being the fair and safe place that we can raise ourchildren in. But that Government has just shot an arrow intothat belief.

What we've seen is divisiveness causedmostly as part of their absolute attack on Māori, whetherit be the Treaty principles bill or the undermining of tereo Māori, even the undermining of Māori names for publicservice agencies, and we have seen this done time and timeagain, but particularly in light of the Treaty principlesbill. It is not heartening to hear National and New ZealandFirst stand up and say that they won't support that billpast second reading, because they allowed that bill to go tofirst reading. They allowed that divisiveness to be causedamongst New Zealanders. Luxon did not have the leadership tostop it getting past that first post, and here we are,having this horrific, horrendous debate when we should havemade more progress than what that side of the House haveallowed us to do.

Morale is also low because NewZealanders were promised by that side of the House that thecost of living challenges that they faced would beaddressed, that all of their problems would go away, andthat they would no longer struggle to put food on the tableor pay their rent. But has that changed? No, it hasn't. NewZealanders are still struggling with the cost of living.They are still struggling to pay what are even higher energybills and are still struggling to pay what are even higherrates bills. They are struggling with the everyday costs ofliving, including some costs that have been imposed by thatside, like more expensive public transport, which was madecheaper by this side of the House when we were inGovernment. They are struggling with their rents, despite apromise from that Government that if they gave landlords atax cut of over $2 billion, then that would help with thecost of rent for New Zealanders. Well, it hasn't helped, andrent continues to go up.

Morale is still low for NewZealanders, lower than I've ever seen before, because thatGovernment is delivering stuff that nobody actually askedfor. I don't recall, in the election campaign, theGovernment or the political parties that now make upGovernment coming out and saying they were going to give a$217 million tax break to the tobacco industry, that theywere going to get rid of our world-leading smoke freepolicy. I don't think anyone asked for the tax breaks forlandlords, and I certainly don't think that any NewZealander expected or asked for the privatisation agendathat we're starting to see become more and more apparent inthe conversations, discussions, and policy agenda that thatside is revealing.

It's sad, because the leadershipfrom the Government has seriously been lacking. We've got acoalition Government that can't agree; in fact, they comeout publicly speaking against each other, with the mostrecent example being with David Seymour and his mis-advised,ill-advised letter to support Mr Polkinghorne and hiscontradictory position compared to Prime Minister Luxon. Andthen we also have a Prime Minister who is not willing tobring or pull his Ministers into line when they misbehave,when they behave out of step, and when they do not abide bythe rules that are in the Cabinet Manual.

Thereis clearly a lack of leadership coming from Luxon, and youcan see it in his own colleagues whenever he stands up tospeak already. We can see that there is a lack of trust andconfidence in the Prime Minister, and it is only a matter oftime. Now, the election is supposed to be at the end of nextyear, but let's see if we even make it that far.

ButKiwis are feeling disheartened. They are feelingdisheartened because this country has not been put on anykind of track. In fact, it has been derailed from the trackthat it was on. The promise to take New Zealand and NewZealanders forward has not been honoured, and, instead, wesee New Zealand and New Zealanders fallingbackwards.

We have a leader who not only isdemonstrating his lack of leadership with the way he manageshis own coalition, but we see his lack of leadership in thefact that he will not show up to integral occasions thatthis country expects their Prime Minister to show up to. Hedid not show up to Waitangi for Waitangi Day. Why did he notshow up? Because he did not want to face the criticism thatwas going to come his way for the lack of leadership and thedivisiveness that he has allowed to occur.

I thinkit's really important that we do talk about what Kiwis want,because we didn't see any type of vision in the statementthat came from the Prime Minister or any reference to whatNew Zealanders want. There was just an attack on theOpposition and the blame game played again for what heassumes or asserts that the previous Government didn't doearlier.

Kiwis want to be able to feed theirwhānau—a pretty simple ask—they want to be able to payfor the roof over their heads; they want to have a job, andthey want to have a job that has good working conditions andthat pays well; and they want to live in communities thatsupport and care for each other, and all of these things arethings that we have not seen delivered by that side of theHouse. New Zealanders want to know that things can bebetter, because at the moment they are feeling disillusionedand there is a lack of hope across the country because ofthe political agenda that this Government has brought to thetable and put on New Zealanders, and I say "put on NewZealanders" because not everything they have put on thetable was campaigned for before the last election. So, as Isaid, these were not things that New Zealanders askedfor.

We are seeing some changes in the way NewZealanders are thinking with regards to their politics. Now,we certainly don't put all of our energy towards polls orpay too much attention to them, because, ultimately, we knowthat the only poll that matters is the one that happens inelection year, on election day. However, there have been afew polls that have come out this year, and they are notspeaking in favour of the Government on that side of theHouse. I think that that is a clear indication that the NewZealand public is not happy with the performance of thatGovernment. They are not happy with what that Government hasbeen doing for, against, or on behalf of them asKiwis.

I think it also speaks to the fact that Kiwiscan see that they do have an Opposition who has beenlistening, that they do have an Opposition that is unified,that they do have an Opposition that is ready to lead. So,already, not even 1½ years into the term of thatGovernment, Kiwis are looking somewhere else—and itcertainly isn't to that Government—going into2026.

Hon SHANE JONES (Minister for RegionalDevelopment): It will take me 110 minutes—sadly,I only have 10—to list the achievements that my smallcontribution over the last 15 months represents to thesuccess of our Government. But let me start with fast track,which is traceable back to the coalition agreement agreed tobetween my leader and the leader of the National Party: 149projects. Well, there'll be no more clutter, no moreideological bum fluff from my Opposition—no, straight downthe guts. We won't have these grandees, self-appointed,trying to block development, squash initiative, ruinentrepreneurialism, and, quite frankly, imperil regionalfiscal solvency.

I am astounded, however, that there'sa tiny group who live in concrete houses who don't want usto extract sand in Tai Tokerau. This group is led, I'm told,by a person called Juliane Chetham, who happened to beappointed under the old fast track on to a body of decisionmakers that turned down a valuable piece of infrastructurein the Bay of Islands. Why is that person able to pursue anobvious conflict of interest under our fast track? Suchamateurs and such inappropriate behaviour will be ruledright out—right out of court.

Let us think about theways in which fast track is going to boost Te Tai Poutini.Fast track is going to boost Otago. Fast track is going toactually do something practical as we adapt to climatechange. Now, as you know, I'm largely a doubting Thomasabout all the shrillness to do with climate change, but I ama man of fidelity, and I will remain faithful to theposition of the Cabinet that we must find ways to adapt interms of climate change challenges. To do that, we need torescue projects out of the bog, out of the bureaucraticthicket, so they can be approved in a remarkably shortperiod of time.

The last politician who brought aprofound idea forward as to how we might change theelectricity settings in New Zealand sits on the other sideof the House, and I was his colleague, and something of afellow traveller. The energy electricity settings: we've gotvarious reviews under way. The people that have promised toensure we don't have another wicked winter—now, they're onnotice. If we go through a set of problems, where we've beenpromised and assured by the barons of the electricity sectorthat we won't have the most expensive power prices thiscoming winter—in the event that they cannot deliver, Ilook forward, along with my colleagues, to ramming changesthrough to finally tame the beast that represents theunaccountable forces inside our electricity sector.

Ofcourse, mining will generate royalties, and those royaltieswill be made available at an acceptable percentage to theregions where the mining activity takes place. In thatrespect, I have to acknowledge the former Minister of Energywho encouraged me to ensure that we shared the spoils ofmother Nature's bounty as we open up these massive vistas ofutilisation, rescue our current account deficit problems,and ensure that we don't rely on the Congo and other suchplaces, and, by the way, the party I belong to will neverever agree to buying Congo carbon credits.

There areother parties who want to imperil our fiscal solvency andcommit such fanciful, dangerous, life-threatening ideas, butwe want to use our own resources: gold, coal—coal beforegold. Coal will be available and used in New Zealand welltowards 2050, and if it comes to pass that from time to timewe can create wood pellets without a Crown subsidy and wecan move on from coal, let the market make that choice. Weshould be agnostic, and we should also accept that we've gotno place for this intellectual conceit that I hear from thegremlins sitting over there that, somehow, by outsourcingresponsibilities to the banking sector, they can stop Chinaand India creating coal-fired power stations—a level ofintellectual ideological conceit that is bringing oureconomy down to its knees.

But wait, that is all aboutto change because we have a member's bill, and that billwill tame the excesses and the luxury beliefs of the peoplewho sit in these irrelevant sustainability units riddledthroughout the various banking sectors and the 200 financialinstitutions where directors face criminal liability andwhere climate obligations are so onerous they can hardlymeet these compliance standards. The Ministry of Business,Innovation and Employment, by the way, is consulting aboutthis madness, which I hope turns to be a discretionaryactivity and is not an enforceable obligation upon ourcommercial companies. It is wrong to outsource theresponsibility for changing the weather to Westpac. It iswrong for financial institutions to indulge in changingregional industries so that they can please the small numberof people that, along with themselves, create chemtrails asthey jot off to other places, including the UN. That's whythat bill is going to tame that excess which was passed in2022—in the event that some unkind members on this side ofthe House blame me for that perfidy.

In relation towater storage, it was extraordinary to see the Labour Partymember gushing enthusiastically about Waimea. They votedagainst the Waimea dam.

Hon DavidParker: No, we did not.

Hon SHANEJONES: They voted against the Waimea dam, and ittook New Zealand First to rescue the scheme. Water storageis now the new green. We will be dedicating out of theRegional Infrastructure Fund a substantial—actually, Ineed to correct myself. The first regional water scheme thatwas both funded and successfully consented was through thefast-track legislation, which is why we've borrowed fasttrack from Labour and made a few modest improvements—whichis astounding that they cannot agree with it. But time willpass and they will be agreeing. Water storage is the newgreen. We will have much more of it, and I look forward toreplicating the extension of the marine farming permits till2050.

There are far too many permits and consentsrequired in New Zealand. The vast majority of them are animposition on our economy and they represent no way ofincreasing environmental positive outcomes. Marketgardeners, hear from me: I will support the work that wasleft off by David Parker after the courts struck him down.You should not be hobbled by unrealistic nutrient and waterstandards, reducing your ability to feed the citizens of NewZealand. Also, those of you in the agricultural sector: wedon't want you to be blighted with unnecessary permits andconsents. We want an Resource Management Act system wherethere is more latitude and more flexibility, because unlesswe have that, far too much money will be spent on servicingthe deadweight costs of unnecessaryregulation.

Tomorrow, I am introducing new policiesfor the fishing industry in the broadest set of changessince the quota system of 1986, I will have very sensiblethings to say about the sad presence of cameras on boats—amassive intrusion and reflection of State surveillance ofindustry, which our party is diametrically opposed to—and,of course, I may make a few remarks about a dolphin thatdoesn't exist, otherwise known as the Māui dolphin. It wasa contrivance, a fiction, put together by some underemployedacademic down in the South Island, where all the Māoriswere fighting with each other over the ownershipquota.

In respect of the purpose of our RegionalInfrastructure Fund, I want to assure New Zealanders thatnot only is it well run but it is going to deliver concreteopportunities to improve local infrastructure, whether it bewater or community energy, as was announced, and I want tosay to Māoridom as well that the bill which you are jumpingup and down over will never pass. Focus your energy andintention on economic empowerment, and stop believing in theshrill, green rhetoric that, somehow, Māori can solve theproblems of China, Russia, and India with some mātaurangaMāori and stop them from generating coal-fired powerstations. Come back to the kūmara vine and takeresponsibility for solving our own problems at the kitchentable, and then you'll have the support, Māoridom, of MatuaShane.

Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON(Co-Leader—Green): Thank you, MrSpeaker.

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It is with thewellbeing of our environment, of our natural world, that ishow we will look after the people for generations to come.Tēnā koe e te Pīka.

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I firstly mustacknowledge the aroha from across the House that I was veryprivileged to receive in noting my return back to Parliamentafter some time away on medical treatment. It is a reallyhuman and beautiful thing to be able to share collectivelywhen we are watching another member of this House goingthrough tough times, and I hope we continue to see that. Iam really grateful and received goodwill messages from rightacross this House. That is what our people of the countrylove to see as well. So I do acknowledge that. Thank you, MrSpeaker, for allowing me that.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Kia ora, on behalf of theHouse.

Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: It isalso my first day back in Parliament after many months away.So I am, naturally, feeling a little bit nervous aboutwhether I remember how to do this job, but also deeplygrateful to be able to come back to this House, to be ableto come back well and stand in a job that I am so honouredand so passionate and get to continue to do, especiallywhere I can respond to the Prime Minister's statement. WhileI wasn't here in the House, I am taking this opportunity toraise the visions and the issues of the Green Party and whatwe offer to Aotearoa that directly contradict the PrimeMinister's visions, the Prime Minister's statements that helaid before us in this House here today.

I want tooffer another saying to this House.

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We have just come back from anincredible week up in Waitangi to celebrate Te Tiriti oWaitangi. People and Governments come and go. Governmentsrise and fall, but our whenua endures, and the Treatyremains eternal.

I had a little bit of a scour throughthe Prime Minister's statement. I've got the pages righthere in front of me for my notes, and I failed to find anymention of Te Tiriti in any part of his statement. Andthat's a real shame, given what we have just experienced onthe ground as the Green Party in Waitangi and across thecountry: the absolute excitement and kotahitanga fromcommunities for a positive vision where Te Tiriti actuallyupholds the work of protecting people and planet for all ofus here today and for our mokopuna to come. It's a shamethat the Prime Minister's statement was not able to pick upon the fact that the leadership in kotahitanga, theleadership in pulling people together, people of all diversewalks of life, people of all diverse backgrounds are showingthat leadership, are showing that they are streaks ahead ofthis Government and of the Prime Minister's statement whenit comes to us working together on the foundation of TeTiriti being a document that promised people to take thebest care of each other.

Unfortunately, the PrimeMinister's statement is devoid of a long-term vision formokopuna to still be able to endure, to still be able toenjoy our whenua, our healthy oceans, our healthy, thrivingrivers, our natural world, our ngahere, our soils, to stillbe able to enjoy our clean air. I saw in the Government'sstatement some stuff about—well, basically, "drill, drill,drill; mine, mine, mine; degrade, destroy, destruct ourenvironment." And it was something like: ruthless pursuit oftrade, "unleashing the economy", and rolling back a cultureof no. How about a culture of yes to protecting our taiao?How about a culture of yes to Te Tiriti bringing ustogether? How about a culture of yes to ending poverty andmaking sure our tamariki in schools, for example, getquality, healthy, and on-time lunches? These are the yesesthat the Green Party has always fought for and has stoodfor.

I saw in the Prime Minister's statement areiteration of what they are doing in the fast-tracklegislation and their pursuit of constantly degrading theenvironment for generations to come. The very short-termthinking. The short-term thinking for the benefit of theirwealthy few. We know, we have seen, time and time again,that the destruction of our environment has never once ledto wealth distribution for people who need the support themost, for people who are struggling the most. We have notonce seen polluted rivers end poverty. We have not once seendestroyed oceans end homelessness. We have not once seenruined soils uplift everyone's lives. And this countryAotearoa, of all countries in the world, surely must be ableto come in line with what we are hearing from the people onthe ground.

My uncle from the North—MinisterJones—has just finished minimising the power of communityby trying to say that it's only a few voices trying toprotect our environment, trying to protect our rivers,trying to protect our earth from mining, drilling, andexploitation. How dare he? I heard you; I heard thosepeople. We have been working with those strong, powerfulmovements on the ground for decades. They are generations instrength. Those voices who understand how important it is toprotect our taiao for mokopuna, to make sure that everyoneis living a life with dignity. Because this country doeshave enough. It does have enough to be prosperous withoutruining and destroying the thing we've got going for us. Itcertainly does have enough to end poverty; we have unveiledplan after plan, election after election to do exactly that.We certainly have enough to end homelessness; we haveunveiled plan after plan, election after election to makesure everyone has a home, and we don't need to destroy theprospect of snapper being in our harbour for mygrandchildren to do it. We don't need to destroy the notionof Kōura swimming in our seas to end homelessness and endpoverty.

This is the vision that the Greens havealways put forward and those visions are actually echoedfrom the power of community. Generations who haverelied—and Mr Jones is from the Hokianga like I am. Heknows that our whānau had been dependent on our thrivingHokianga harbour for hundreds of years. He knows like I dothat the degradation that we have seen just in the lastcouple of generations has actually meant that it's hard tofind Mullet and Flounder—Founder that I grew up enjoyingin the Hokianga. That the more that we unleash the pollutionextractive activities that this Government is championing,the more we deny our children those legacies of ourbeautiful taiao.

So I wasn't sure if I'd remember whatto say, but I did have some things to say. I wasn't sure ifI'd remember what it felt like to be in this House and feelthe importance and the privilege of speaking on behalf ofcommunities who understand where our prosperity really is,who understand that right here in Aotearoa without relyingon a few wealthy mate foreign investors, we have what ittakes—we have what it takes. The beautiful vision for allof our children being fed, having homes, having whānau,feeling safe, and community connections being strong acrossour different-lived realities.

Did you see—did wesee all of the different whānau who turned up for the hikoifor Te Tiriti. The communities and the people are showingkotahitanga in action and it is something I failed to see inthe Prime Minister's statements and all of his big visionsabout "drill baby drill, mine baby mine, wealthy few mates".That's what can sum up the Prime Minister'sstatement.

I'm really proud to be able to stand heretoday and address directly how that is a harmful anddangerous vision for our mokopuna—for all of ourmokopuna—and that the Greens understand a better future ispossible with what we have right here. We can see everyoneliving a beautiful life. Thank you, MrSpeaker.

SAM UFFINDELL(National—Tauranga): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It'sencouraging to hear, on National Lamb Day, that there's anincreased optimism and positiveness amongst our farmers, whoare the background of our national economy. God bless ourfarmers. Compared to this time last year, look at where weare now. We've got falling interest rates, lower inflation,and I look at the other side of the House; they've got theirheads down. They should be up, smiling. These are everydayKiwis who are going to pay less in their mortgage costs, andthat is a very good thing.

We are focused onturbocharging—or setting the foundations toturbocharge—economic growth in New Zealand, andhard-working Kiwis might wonder what that means. Well, letme tell you what it means: it means increasing employmentopportunities, higher wages, increased innovation, and newbusiness opportunities. Growth is forecast to reach 2.1percent of GDP this year, according to Treasury, andbusinesses will be excited about that. Consumer confidenceis rising. These are clear signs of economic recovery. Weknow it's still tough out there, but we know there are greenshoots—there are blue shoots—and we are in for a growingcountry, a growing economy.

We will continue to cutthe red tape, the enemy of red tape, which burdens countriesand communities and businesses and saddles them with costsand time obligations and takes money out of the pockets ofhard-working New Zealanders—the endless and needlessbureaucracy which we have seen across New Zealand. We aregoing to inject urgency, and we are going to get on andbuild the infrastructure our country deserves. It's veryexciting to see 149 fast-track projects helping to addressthe infrastructure shortages that we have. And we have somesignificant deficits. It is very good to see that we aretaking a proactive, forward-looking approach to addressingthese critical shortages.

I'm proud to be part of aGovernment that helps New Zealanders keep more of what theyearn by providing tax cuts for the first time in 14 yearsand that rolls out FamilyBoost to support low and middleincome families with early childcare costs. We've workedhard to reset for better outcomes for Kiwis. Whether you'rea farmer, an entrepreneur, or an investor, the NationalParty and this Government is looking out for you. We'refocused on attracting more international investment, and Iheard that was scoffed at, unfortunately, by earlierspeakers in this House. We need more investment in thiscountry and, if you look at OECD reports, New Zealand isvery bad at getting money into New Zealand. We are not anoverly wealthy country and, when you look at who we wouldlike to compare ourselves to, we are falling behind. We needmore capital coming into New Zealand, and it's very pleasingto see the steps taken by this Government, this year, tohelp make that more of a reality.

With inflation nowunder control and interest rates coming down, and wagesrising faster than inflation, we expect the unemploymentrate to start to decrease. It has beenincreasing—

Hon Ginny Andersen:When?

SAM UFFINDELL: And we hear thesnipes from the other side, as if they had nothing to dowith the economic catastrophe that this country finds itselfin now! Like they had nothing to do with the healthcarecrisis that this country also finds itself in, which ourvery hard-working Minister Simeon Brown is cleaning up. Weknow that one of the best ways to lift our productivity isin the regions, to ensure we have the skills and theworkforce we need. And we have worked very hard to make surethat we are getting our immigration settings right. Wecontinue to advance trade agreements, and the Hon ToddMcClay has done a fantastic job of getting around the world,getting out there, putting forward New Zealand's case, andthen bringing home new opportunities for our farmers, forour growers, and for New Zealand businesses. It is a verygood thing.

I'm also very excited to see reform in thescience sector, and we've been clear that we need to unlockgrowth in the science and technology sector. We need to backthis, because this is a key area where we are going to geteconomic growth. There's a lot of Kiwi ingenuity out there,but we need to make sure that we have the rules andregulations in place. We need to make sure that we continueto roll back the red tape and bureaucracy that stiflesinnovation, that soaks up time and money, and that makes itreally hard for Kiwis to get ahead. If you're setting up anew company and you can look at the other places around theworld where you could get ahead—you're a global labourforce; companies can move around—we need to make sure thatwe are competitive compared to other countries, to keep themand to keep the workers here in New Zealand.

I justwant to talk about Tauranga for a little bit, because I wasvery happy to see a number of items in the fast-trackSchedule—a number of very important items—and the firstone I'm going to talk about is the Port of Tauranga, whichhas been stifled for years. It is absolutelyinsane.

Grant McCallum:Disgrace.

SAM UFFINDELL: It is adisgrace. It really is a disgrace. This is the biggest portin New Zealand. It is where we get our goods out to theworld. It is how Kiwis get money back. They have to get itout there in the world, and then they get the funds back.We're at capacity. When I first went for member for Taurangain 2022, we were already two years away from capacity. Over2½ years later, we've hit that mark. We've hit that markand we're still no better off. We have had minoradjustments. It's still tied up in the Environment Court.That Government, that Minister over—I'm not going to callhim out on it. I won't; I'd feel a bit mean doing that. Theprevious Government had the opportunity to deal with that.They had the opportunity and they squanderedit.

Tom Rutherford: Nevervisited.

SAM UFFINDELL: "Nevervisited", I'm hearing from Tom Rutherford. "Nevervisited"—we did hear that as well. I'm very curious, MrRutherford: how many people do you think we've taken to thePort of Tauranga since we've been the localmembers?

Tom Rutherford: Nearlydouble digits.

SAM UFFINDELL: Nearlydouble digits. We understand, and our caucus understands,how important the Port of Tauranga is. We need those wharfextensions. We need that third berth. We need that dredging.We need the ability to put us on the map to make sure thatour trade is able to get out there in the world. We need tosupport our businesses, support our growers, support ourfarmers, and support the Port of Tauranga.

There aresome other big infrastructure changes happening, hopefully,in our area. We have the Takitimu North Link Stage 2; StateHighway 29, including a new bridge—the Ōmanawa Bridge,much needed. We have some hydro dams also in there, in theKaimai's—very exciting. We have some wood chip factorieson the Schedule. All of these are creating fantasticregional jobs. We also have a number of housing projects onthere, and I desperately hope, as I know Mr Rutherford doesas well, that we can get a few of these over the line. Weare at capacity in Tauranga. We need more houses. TaurangaCity Council needs to provide more houses. Western Bay needsto help with that. We're at capacity, so we need theinfrastructure. We need this all ticked off.

One ofthese projects, Te Tumu, is a huge plot of land that goesout from where Pāpāmoa ends. You fly over it and you see abig cut—it just stops. You've got all this beautiful beachdown there—all this opportunity. Twenty years, they havebeen dithering about on this, trying to get the council torezone it, trying to get the infrastructure in place, tryingto get all the parties in there to agree to access. This hasgot the potential for over 6,000 houses, to house over15,000 people. Twenty years, the developers have beenwanting to go on this, and here we are stuck with some ofthe most expensive housing in New Zealand. It is a disgrace.And we wonder why we are so poor when people have to pay somuch of their money towards accommodation costs. And youknow who it hurts the most? The people who that partypretends to represent. And it hurts. It hurts themtremendously. We've got a number of housing projects onhere, and I desperately hope that we get all of them overthe line and that they get the support they need from localand central government to get them built quickly, becauseTauranga and the Bay need that housing. We need itdesperately.

We've got a lot of other big industriescoming along there. We've got the Rangiuru Business Park.We've got a quickly expanding kiwifruit sector. That's goingto help deliver more jobs and money for New Zealand, but itneeds the workforce that they needthere—

Cameron Luxton: Hear,hear!

SAM UFFINDELL: I'm gettingheckled by the other member in the Bay of Plenty! This isgood. I am very proud to be part of a Government that isunshackling the burden of red tape and bureaucracy that hasstifled economic growth, that has stopped housingdevelopment, that has stopped any sort of sensibleinfrastructure development, as we continually say, "Oh no, Idon't think we can do that. No, it's too hard. No, no, thatperson might get offended. We just can't do it." It's notgood enough, and if we want to stay as a First World countrythat can deliver First World healthcare and education andhave a country that our children want to grow up in, we needto grow up really quickly and we need to start deliveringthat country for New Zealanders. We need to grow oureconomy, and our Government is focused on that. Thank you,Madam Speaker.

TODD STEPHENSON (ACT):Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's great to be back in theHouse. Hopefully my summer tan hasn't quite worn off yetbecause it was only a few weeks ago that we were actually onholidays in this beautiful country. It's always a great timeto reflect, when you're on holidays, and I was lucky enough,of course, to be down south in beautiful Queenstown and thesurrounding areas, spending time with family and friends andgetting to really reflect on the year.

But I amexcited to be back in this House and I am excited to bespeaking in support of the Prime Minister's statement and ofcourse giving our full-throated support to this Governmentand ACT's contribution to it. But what I did learn over theholidays was that Kiwis are still doing it tough. I mean,you can't turn around the mismanagement—the economicmismanagement—of the last few years in a matter of days ormonths; it is going to take time. We know Kiwis are hurting;you know, prolonged periods of high interest rates haveaffected Kiwi households and budgets but I'm proud thatwe've started to make some inroads on that by gettinginflation under control.

I'm also really pleased thatACT is actually looking to the future. We really do wantthis to be a country of hope, a country where people do wantto bring up their children and, actually, a place whereKiwis can live and thrive as they want, actually doing thethings that they want to do, whether that's with theirfamilies, whether that's in business, in education. Sothat's really what ACT wants to see for thiscountry.

When I was down south, obviously I alsoreflected on the different industries we have down there. Wehave tourism which is, in Queenstown now, starting to see areal resurgence which is great because obviously we employ alot of people in the hospitality and tourism industry andit's great to see that coming back. As I ran into differentinternational travellers, I would always make sure I triedto get them to part with as much of their money while theywere in the country as possible because I knew that wasgood.

Then I thought further south to our rural andfarming community in Southland, where I grew up. Again, theSouthland farmers had a really tough year, particularlyspring last year. But again, I know that as aGovernment—and particularly as ACT—we are making surethat we're actually going to get rid of some of the burdenon our rural communities; actually deal with some of the redtape and regulation that they face so they can get on withcontinuing to be the most efficient farmers in the world anddelivering our amazing produce and exports to theworld.

Then I thought again about the other thingswe're really going to be focusing on this year:deregulation. Again, for the first time, this Government hasa Minister of regulation where his focus is actually cuttingred tape and that's to allow businesses and otherorganisations actually get on and deliver what they're bestat. So that's going to be exciting to see.

Over thelast couple of weeks, we've seen the launch of the first ofthe charter schools. That's really saying, "Actually let'sdo things a little bit differently.", because we want toinvest in kids' future because, actually, education is a wayto help some of the productivity issues that we have in NewZealand. That's going to take a while, but let's get on withit; let's not muck around, let's actually get these schoolsopen and kids going to them, which is reallygreat.

Then the other thing I discussed with peopleover the holiday, too, was health. Again, we've talked a bitabout that today in this House, but we are going to becontinuing to focus on health. Again, ACT; very focused onwhat we're responsible for around Pharmac, more medicines;making sure we get those to Kiwis quickly.

Then theother thing I had some discussions about was equal rightsand, really, the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand.Again, I'm very proud that ACT has opened up this discussionand that we are actually having a conversation about whatthe Treaty should mean and could mean for bringing ustogether and going forward. So I've got a lot of hope forthis year. I know that this Government's going to be very,very focused on delivering the things for Kiwis we have saidwe would do. That includes continuing to ensure that we aregetting value for money, for services that they are payingfor in their taxes. I know that our Ministers are going tobe working very hard in the preparation of the next Budgetbecause we've got to be very, very careful with taxpayers'money and ensuring we're actually delivering services thatpeople need.

So I look forward to continuing tocontribute as part of the Government on this side of theHouse, and I look forward to 2025.

CAMERONLUXTON (ACT): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's apleasure to rise in response to the Prime Minister'sstatement because it gives me a chance to talk about ACT'spolicies, which are pushing New Zealand in the rightdirection.

We campaigned that when in Government, wewould cut back on the red tape and stupid policies that werestifling the good life that Kiwis expect, and that is whatwe are doing: the restoration of 90-day trials, the repealof the so-called fair pay agreements, consultation and workbeing under way on the Holidays Act, and a nationwideroadshow for improvements to health and safety law, which isbeing led by our wonderful Minister Brooke van Velden. Theseall show ACT's commitments to creating a better regulatoryenvironment for Kiwis and their businesses so that ourentire country can flourish. This delivers on ACT's promiseto rein in the costs that we all face simply to supply toeach other and to do business with each other.

We arecutting the unnecessary red tape in the building sector. Asa licensed building practitioner, I know how tough it canbe, with delays and regulations hampering building effortsand ratcheting up the costs. That's why, with ACT inGovernment, we have introduced legislation to improverecognition of products from overseas so that buildings canbe built efficiently, effectively, and at a more affordableprice. I'd like to give a shout-out to Minister Chris Penkfor his solid work in this area, because this coalitionGovernment has delivered regulatory relief forearthquake-prone buildings, and we will continue to push forbetter regulation of our built environment.

I'd justlike to also say to those in the building sector who aredoing it tough: many of you, like me, will remember the 2008crash when so many skilled tradies went to the wall or leftthe industry. I hope that this time the members who are inthis House take the lessons which the last Government hasleft us: that loose fiscal and monetary policy might feelgood in the boom, borrowing and spending like it doesn'tbelong to you, but when the crash inevitably comes—becauseit will come—the result lies on the workers, the tradies,and the families who carry the pain for theprofligacy.

With housing, ACT has also pushed tocreate a better rental market for Kiwis. We have ended whathas felt like a war on landlords with tenants as thecollateral damage. The rental market thrives on confidence,and providing housing from one person to another without theconfidence that fundamentally underpins people's ability torent out and let out to each other. We expect—all of usexpect—to treat each other with respect. We should treatour properties with respect, and when someone doesn't feellike they can defend the ability to manage and maintaintheir property and that they will receive the rent—whichis another part of respect; paying your rent—what wouldmake someone want to invest and let out a property and takethat risk?

With ACT in Government, the respect forproperty rights is returning. We've brought back interestdeductibility for residential rental properties, which willease the pressure on rents. The basic law of supply anddemand says that when supply is low and prices are drivenup, you'll get more supply. Interest deductibilityencourages investment and development so that more housescan be built for the rental stock. The Residential TenanciesAct has also provided great news for our rental market. Theintroduction of pet bonds allows for tenants to have theiranimal companion with them without being a burden on theirlandlord. Bringing back the 90-day, no-clause terminationmeans that landlords will have the ability to takeopportunities with tenants that they might not otherwisewithout facing terrifying risks.

ACT is driving realchange. We know that the economy has been hard for someKiwis, but we are committed to continue the change that NewZealanders need. Everyone in ACT—Ministers, MPs—arepushing hard to see these changes to get New Zealand back onthe horse. To name just a couple more, Nicole McKee isproviding anti - money-laundering reform, Simon Court isdoing reform in the Resource Management Act, and my friendLaura McClure's member's bill is aiming to allow for themutual termination of employment. We've been hard at it, andACT will continue to push real change as part of thiswell-functioning and happy coalitionGovernment.

Hon GINNY ANDERSEN(Labour): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.Wellington's economy didn't just hit a pothole under thisGovernment; it's in the ditch, the wheels are off, and theengine's on fire. This Government has made it incrediblyclear that it does not care about people's jobs. And, asunemployment reaches record highs, we see not only 10,000jobs gone in the public sector but 13,000 jobs gone in theconstruction sector, and 70,000 New Zealanders packing upand moving to Australia.

If this Government wants tostimulate growth and wants to get things going, it is mostcertainly not doing that to the Wellington economy. In fact,the price we pay for tax cuts for landlords is theWellington economy being driven into the ground, and itcontinues to have a high level of uncertainty, and that iswhat causes so many problems in our local economy goingon.

I feel sorry sometimes for Chris Bishop, who holdshimself up as being a proud boy from the Hutt, and NicolaWillis, who talks a lot about being a proud Wellingtonian,because so many people in this region know that their handsare all over the downturn in our local economy that hurtslocal families, that has caused local businesses to close,and that continues to hang like a shadow over ourregion.

In the first three quarters of 2024—wehaven't got the fourth quarter yet—we saw 163 companyliquidations. We saw restaurants, bakeries, familybusinesses—long-standing Wellington institutions—shuttheir doors permanently. Martha's restaurant, cookingbeautiful Myanmar food over 25 years in Wellington, closedits doors last month, never to open again. A greatestablishment. Pandoro bakery had been working and operatingright across Wellington for over 30 years. Again, anotherlocal business closed its doors.

What thisGovernment's economic plan for Wellington is is to fire theworkers, close the businesses, and then act surprised whenthe tills stop ringing. To top it all off, we have nocertainty about the ferries, a completely important criticallink between the North and the South Islands, fundamental tothe local economy, and we have absolutely no certainty aboutwhere that is taking us. And it is this level of uncertaintythat causes ongoing economic strife in Wellington, becauseit is the threat of more cuts, it is the fact we have nocertainty around the ferries that causes property prices inWellington to decline as much as 25 percent. And it is thosemiddle New Zealanders who bought a property for which, now,they are paying a mortgage that is worth more than the valueof their property that hurts so much.

And as thosefamilies, who now don't get free public transport for theirchildren, who get lower-quality lunches in schools, who haveto pay higher rates for their local council and have all ofthose increased costs—those are families that arestruggling under what National promised would be a betterlife. It has, most certainly, not delivered that.

Whenwe look at those polls and start to see people open up theireyes and realised that they voted for change, but it was notthis type of change that New Zealand families voted for.Most New Zealanders wanted a better opportunity, and thosein Wellington are still suffering hard with no hope of itgetting better in the future. We only need to look at thingslike Callaghan Innovation. Over 500 jobs through NIWA, GNS,and Callaghan—science and research jobs—have gone inWellington. Here we have a Prime Minister and a Governmentwho's talking about productivity and innovation and tryingto be a smart economy while firing our top research peoplein the Wellington region. It is absolutely ludicrous. Thatis the area that we as a Labour Government invested in andthat needs to be continued to be invested in. Shutting downCallaghan Innovation is not how you get productivity goingin the Wellington region, and it's not how you getproductivity going in New Zealand.

The constructionindustry is an interesting one as well, because when thisGovernment came into power, they looked at a range ofdifferent construction projects, and a lot of them theypaused, they cancelled, or they re-costed, and that changehad a massive impact on those workers. As already stated,13,000 construction workers have gone over to othercountries and have taken up jobs, and it is thoseeconomists, such as Bernard Hickey, who have noted that hasbeen a key factor in driving down this economy andincreasing the slow uptake of getting inflation undercontrol. It is those decisions that have further entrenchedthe recession that New Zealanders are experiencingnow.

One interesting one, to take an example that'simpacted significantly on the Wellington region is theproject of RiverLink. When in Opposition, Chris Bishop was abig proponent for this. In fact, he was with a sign yellingfor Melling, he loved it so much. Now, you would think, asthe Minister of Transport and for Infrastructure and thelocal MP, that we might have seen some shovels in the groundwhen they were meant to be started last year. But, no, wehave not seen that. The only information that we canget—because media have asked questions and had no answers.I've asked questions, written parliamentary questions.There's no clear answers: "It's not in the public interest.That's commercially sensitive."

That project waspaused, and the workers who were still being paid by theway, because contracts had been signed, were told to re-costit and bring it in at under a billion dollars. I understand,from local contractors and local information, that a keybridge, a cycle and pedestrian bridge, that connects theWestern hills into Melling Station is now not funded. Andthat is a critical link. And so the regional council, theWellington Regional Council, has said that that trainstation is not operable. It's not feasible to operate thattrain station without having that critical link that theGovernment refuses to fund. So here we have a biginterchange being put in for the primary purpose of reducingtraffic congestion, and one of the consequences of this isthat it will be, potentially, removing the railway station,which would be obviously quite a good way of also reducingcongestion.

It is really concerning that the threeparties that were in that agreement—which are the HuttCity Council, the Wellington Regional Council, and WakaKotahi—have now gone their separate ways, because theWellington Regional Council said, "We can't wait any longerfor decisions to be taken around costings. We will go aheadalready with the flood protection work." And that is underway. But there is still no certainty for local people in theHutt as to what is happening with this critical piece ofinfrastructure. There is no clarity about what it will costthe taxpayer. And the other question that no one is able toanswer is: how much are the daily costs of those contractsthat were signed. All of those contractors have deals. Therehas been speculation that that fee is within the millionsper day or week, because there are fees being paid out byWaka Kotahi without any shovels in the ground.

For aGovernment that talks up productivity, for a Government thattalks up infrastructure and getting our local economy going,why on earth would you not proceed and get a critical pieceof infrastructure, such as RiverLink well under way? I don'tknow.

The other big factor we need to look at for theWellington region is our healthcare services. It'sincredibly concerning that the threat of privatisation stillhangs. It was great to finally get an answer out of ShaneReti about what's happening with the Awakairangi birthingunit, because after six months of answering questions, heanswered questions two days before he lost his job to SimeonBrown. Now, we understand that there is an empty unit whichwas promised to be used for a special-care baby unit over ayear ago. That unit is still empty, and it is still costingthe taxpayer for it to be rented out. And we await—Iunderstand that the Minister's seeking a special briefing sohe can understand why there is an empty unit that was meantto be used as a special-care baby unit, which the taxpayercontinues to pay a lease for. There are many midwives,midwifery groups, and advocates within the Hutt Valley whowould love to get an answer on that one.

So, to wrapup, New Zealanders deserve a whole lot better than the loadof absolute rubbish we have, driving our Wellington economyinto the ground at no regard whatsoever for jobs, not onlyin the Public Service but also in the construction sector.And this has caused a downward spiral of jobs going, shopsclosing, and there being real concern about certainty in ourlocal economy. For a Government that's meant to be soamazingly great on the economy, they are dismally failingWellington, and Wellingtonians know it.

DrLAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green): Thank you, Madam Speaker.We've heard, in the Prime Minister's statement, that one ofthe key aspects is economic growth. I would actually like toaddress an adverb and an adjective that the Prime Ministerused first. We have heard that particular adverb being usedconsistently, and that is "ruthlessly". This is concerningfrom an etymological level, because if you look at theCambridge Dictionary, "ruthlessly" is defined as "notkind to someone or something and causing pain." It issynonymous with cruel, cold-bloodedness, and heartlessness.That was an adverb that the Prime Minister proudly used overand over again. From a linguistic perspective, the PrimeMinister could have used "determined" or even "tenacious",but no, the Prime Minister used "ruthlessly in pursuit".That is the leader that we have for this country, and thatis the direction that we are seeing this Government takingin pursuit of that economic growth: of causing people andthe planet pain.

We have heard, in the statement bythe Prime Minister, about privatisation, but I want to givean example of when privatisation or commercialisation goeswrong, in a state that is unsustainable and inequitable:this is around retirement villages. We have heard from thepeople who are living in retirement villages of the pain andsuffering and the sheer profiteering that is being caused,where those companies profit and, basically, prioritiseprofit over the lives of our seniors. This is incrediblyconcerning. A couple of things: this is one of the reasonswhy we are having the Retirement Villages Act review, and wehave yet to hear from the Government on what that is goingto look like.

We have heard, from the residents, ofthe way that they are being treated unfairly, of the waythat they are being removed at the sign of early-onsetdementia, of any sort of inconvenience to those companies.We are hearing from people who have given up theirlife-savings in order to get a spot in these retirementvillages, where they are not owning those properties but arelicensed to occupy and, at the smallest change, they getkicked out with no chance of recuperating their capital. Infact, they don't even get any capital gains from the moneythat they put into these requirement villages. On top ofthat, they're also getting up to a 30 percent deferredmanagement fee deducted from that. To give an example, ifyou were paying 10 years ago for a retirement-villageapartment or a condo or a house at $1 million and ten yearslater you want to move, not only do you not get the capitalgains from the increase in value of that; in fact, you getup to 30 percent deducted. So you will only see $700,000back of the $1 million that you put in, which means youwon't have the money to buy something else, becauseeverything else is no longer affordable.

On top ofthat, we are hearing people who are being roped into, bymeans of the contract, by the retirement villages, that theyare not paying their capital until another tenant has beenfound. We've heard stories of people whose parent passedaway and those retirement villages are asking them tocontinue to pay management fees and not giving them capitaluntil they find a new tenant, which could be one year downthe track. These are our parents; these are our elders. Whenyou have a loved one pass away, at your most vulnerable,this is how these profiteering companies are treating ourpeople.

I want to give a shout out to the RetirementVillage Residents Association for the ongoing work thatthey're doing, despite the fact that these people should beretiring and enjoying their life. Instead, they have to comeup and fight these companies. We have allowed the Governmentto cruelly and heartlessly profit off the bookends of ourlives, from early childhood education to retirementvillages. Our elders and seniors have given a lot toAotearoa. Frankly, the least we can do is ensure that theylive in dignity and not be profited off. Thankyou.

CELIA WADE-BROWN (Green): Tēnākoe, Madam Speaker. I respond to the Prime Minister's speechand I want to make three key points. The speech wasdominated by "growth", "growth", "growth", and "no", "no","no". So, first of all, this negative coalition Governmenthas already said no far too often: no to environmentalprotection for our taonga species, be they birds, bats, or,dare I say, frogs; no to safeguarding iconic sites likeBream Bay from extractive industries; no to decent wages andbenefits, and a resounding no to local government and thefour wellbeings that they look after. This isn't leadership;this is neglect.

Secondly, let's refute the outdatedbelief that GDP growth is going to solve all our problems.High GDP per capita means very little when wealth isconcentrated in the hands of a wealthy few while themajority struggle with the cost of living or evenhomelessness. I'm going to quote from the UNICEF's 18threport card on child poverty in OECD countries: "Notably,the countries that managed to reduce child poverty areneither the wealthiest nor the countries that experiencedthe strongest economic growth … Conversely, the greatestleaps backwards occurred in some of the richest members ofthe OECD and the EU. … If sufficient political will ispresent, governments have a variety of policy tools toprotect and promote the well-being ofchildren."

Thirdly, the Prime Minister and MinisterWillis are enthusiastic about having many more tourists.Unchecked tourism growth—overtourism—is not sustainable.We're already seeing the strain: overcrowded landmarks,crumbling infrastructure, and environmental damage. Talk tothe people of Lyttelton who couldn't get on their busesbecause of the numbers of cruise ship passengers. Talk tothe people in Paihia who couldn't get to the toilets becauseof the queues for the toilets.

A system thatprioritises profit over protection is failing us. We need toshift from fast tourism—quick, shallow, high-carbon visitsto the same few places—to slow tourism that immersesvisitors in our regions, supports local economies, andprotects our natural taonga.

The new Te UreweraHeartland Ride—presumably, a grandchild of the first NgāHaerenga Great Rides—is a shining example of iwi-led,sustainable tourism. The proposed Te Ara Tipuna—a500-kilometre trail for walking, cycling, and horse ridingfrom Ōpōtiki to Tai Rāwhiti—is led by Ngāti Porou.They didn't rush the project through the disruptivefast-track process; they lodged a proper resource consent,focused on environmental and cultural protection. Thatexperience will enrich both locals and visitors.

TheGreen Party champions regenerative tourism that gives backmore than it takes, supporting local businesses, ensuringfair wages, and protecting our natural and culturalheritage. We need partnership between central government andlocal government to provide infrastructure. That might berailways, it might be boardwalks, it might be cycletrails—it would be really good to finish the Five TownsTrail in the Wairarapa—or it might be toilets. But themost important piece of our infrastructure that tourism andother parts of the economy rely on is our natural capital.When I was in Waitangi last week—unlike the PrimeMinister—I saw kina barrens brought about because ofoverfishing by the boats that Matua Jones says don't needcameras.

Tourism operators want quality, not quantity,and the Prime Minister's approach of leading a war on naturelacks the positive vision we need. Let's buildnature-positive tourism, let's empower local government, andlet's do it together: tangata whenua and tangataTiriti.

Hon JAN TINETTI (Labour):Thank you, Madam Speaker, and can I just say it's lovely tosee you back in the Chair. I missed you at the end of lastyear—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): Oh, thank you.

Hon JANTINETTI: —so it's lovely to see you back. I'dalso like to take the opportunity to welcome back twowāhine toa to the House as well—Marama Davidson andLemauga Lydia Sosene—who have had their health issues aswell. Being a fellow survivor, I just take my hat off tothem for their battles that they've been through and beingback, and it's wonderful to see them here.

That beingsaid, morale is low at the moment in this country. I think Iheard earlier today Carmel, our deputy leader, talking abouthow she's never seen it so low. I feel that—I feel exactlythe same. I go out into the traps at the moment and I seethat low morale and what I'm seeing breaks my heart.

Ithink that there were people that tuned into the PrimeMinister's statement hoping that they were going to seesomething different, wanting a sense of hope that was goingto come from that statement. All they saw was a weak leaderwho talked jargon and had no vision for this country.Actually, this country has never seen such a shambolic andincompetent and divisive Government. They are leaving thiscountry in a state, and I know that there are many peopleworried about the mess that's going to need to be cleaned upat the end of next year.

One of the areas that thisGovernment talks about is ensuring equity for our people,and they talk about some of their great achievements. Eventoday, I was just so perturbed when I saw them talkingabout—and it was in the Prime Minister's statement—thenumber of people who have exited emergency housing. Butwhere had they gone to? I have seen babies living intents—a beautiful four-month-old with a young motherliving in a tent because emergency accommodation was notavailable to her. I have seen people living in cars, like Ihave not seen since 2016. And that side over there todaywere going, "Yes, we've done it. We've got them out ofemergency accommodation." Why aren't you asking what ishappening to those people? Why aren't that side over therehanging their heads in shame and then asking the questionsabout where are those people and why are four-month-oldbabies living in tents and not having access to emergencyaccommodation?

It's easy to say that you can getpeople out of emergency accommodation if you just take themoff the list and get rid of them into cars, tents, andgarages. That's what we saw in 2016 and what an awfulsituation it was. I fear that we've got back there in recordtime, because I see it. I'm not even an electorate MP and Isee it coming through my office doors because they can't gethelp anywhere else. They have been to lots of differentplaces and they cannot get that help, and they are notfeeling they are being supported by this Government atall.

What worries me is the impact that then has onour children and on education. I've seen what that can doand how that can put young people back by years and yearsand years in their education, and yet a lot of that is putback on the teachers in the school without looking at thatholistic view of everything that happens in a young person'slife.

We've seen lots of non-delivery and brokenpromises from this Government. Right at the start of theschool year, we are seeing broken promises and non-delivery.One non-delivery, of course, is all the rural bus runs thathave been cut. Even yesterday, I spoke to a few Northlandprincipals who are very concerned about the number ofchildren that are having to walk along dangerous rural roadsto get to school, and they know that those young people areat real risk of not getting to school, or being injured insome horrific way because those bus runs have inexplicablybeen cut. I've spoken to principals in Hawke's Bay whose busruns have been cut. I've spoken to principals on the WestCoast of the South Island whose bus runs have been cut.Right in the rural heartland of this country, young peopleand their families have been completelydisregarded.

We're also seeing non-delivery in thefamous school lunch programme. We're seeing schools that arereally struggling to feed their kids, and this Governmenthad no regard for the delivery of those lunches. What didthey think was going to happen when they cut the cost by $5per lunch? Did they think that this lunch programme wouldsuitably feed all of those kids? They were kiddingthemselves. What has happened is that has been put back onto the schools to make up the difference. We're alreadyhearing of educators who are, out of their own goodwill,giving back to that lunch programme to make sure that theirkids are being fed that. You would think that the cost ofliving would be the highest on the agenda at the moment, buttaking away those lunches, as they're doing at the moment,and not having any regard for the nutrition of those lunchesis disgraceful. They've also taken away many jobs. Theydon't care about people's jobs—with rising unemployment.Seeing so many people who were delivering those lunches arenow out of work—some of those people that I got to visitwhen I was Minister were proud because it was the first jobthat they'd had for quite some time. Suddenly, they are nowout of work and not able to find new work because of theemployment situation in this country—a really disgracefuloutcome that this Government has put in place.

Anotherthing that this Government is doing is opening the door toprivatisation. Now, we've heard many speeches here about theprivatisation throughout the health sector and the growingthought that this Government is looking to privatise in thatarea. But one area that seems to be overlooked is theprivatisation already in the education sector—ECE, earlychildhood education, being the first off the block with theregulatory review that happened there at the end of lastyear and was reported back. Really, all that that regulatoryreview did was say that it would make it easier forbusinesses to operate early childhood centres at the expenseof our children's education and their safety in thiscountry.

Now, when there have been similar situationsoverseas, there have been catastrophic consequences. Whenyou do not put the health and safety of young people at thecentre, there will be catastrophic consequences. That's notsaying that that's a "maybe"; that is a "will be". There areregulations for a reason. Now, given, there always should bea review of regulations, but always put the needs of a youngperson at the centre so that we never, ever put them indanger or in a situation where their lives will be at risk.If you don't think, Madam Speaker, that that is apossibility, have a look at the cases that have happened inthe UK, have a look at the cases that have happened in somestates in the US, have a look at what has happened in someplaces in Australia, where we have seen terrible outcomes ofwhen a similar regulatory review has happened. All that doesis make it possible for businesses to operate easier, so itis profit before our kids.

Then, we also see—let'sgo back to the buses and the privatisation area—that wherethere have been some buses that have been completelycut—and we're talking about maybe 20, 30, 40, 50, and, inone case, 60 kids that have been impacted—communities haveonly coped by businesses stepping up and paying for thebuses. That should be a given—all kids should have theability to be able to get to school, and it should not begiven out to corporates or businesses to be able to providethose transport for their children. That is something thatthe Government should be providing and there should not be aquestion about that.

This Government isbackwards-looking and has no plan for the future. There areso many issues that this Government is causing within theeducation space that I worry about the future of our youngpeople and our Kiwi ingenuity, which we have always nurturedthrough creative thinking, which many teachers are nowtelling me they don't have the ability to do anymore becauseof this Government's focus on narrowing our curriculum. Thatis a scary space to be in. This is a shambolic, incompetent,and divided Government.

TIM VAN DE MOLEN(National—Waikato): Well, thankfully the fancifuland far-fetched fiction flowing forth from the formerMinister is finished. We heard concerns around the schoollunch programme; this is from the same member that justrecently put up a post online decrying the deplorable stateof these school lunches with a picture of said lunch, onlyfor it to be revealed that lunch she posted a picture of wasfrom when she was the Associate Minister of Education acouple of years ago. So I think listeners will take with alarge grain of salt any commentary from that member oneducation.

This Government, though, is squarelyfocused on improving outcomes across the board and it is apleasure to get up every day, and I see that in members onthis side of the House, as part of this Government; a springin their step as they stride forward, confident that we aremaking a positive improvement in the lives of New Zealandersup and down this fine country.

Now, we inherited anincredibly difficult situation; the economy was in a mess,cost of living was through the roof, inflation at recordhigh levels. Now, you can't turn that around overnight butwe have made amazing strides in that space. Governmentexpenditure coming under control was a key part of that.Doing that helped to bring inflation down. Inflation nowback within the 1 to 3 percent band; 2.2 for the last twoconsecutive quarters, now. That's led to interest ratescoming back. All of these factors flow through to a lowercost of living for Kiwis.

Is the job done? No, it'snot, there's more to do, but rest assured that we aresquarely focused—ruthlessly focused—on delivering thatfor New Zealanders because we understand that's important. Ihear that as I travel around the mighty Waikato, thewonderful electorate that I am very proud to represent. Ihear from families in those wonderful communities of thedifficult challenges they've been facing over the lastcouple of years. But I also hear a level ofoptimism—optimism that actually things are coming right.We have turned the corner and positive future scenarios forthem and their families are squarely in sight. So that'sencouraging.

Over the last year, it's been a strongfocus on that cost of living aspect, getting rid of some ofthe red tape and bureaucracy to help unlock our businessesand farmers is another key piece of the puzzle for helpingto drive success. You can look at that in the transportsector and again, in the Waikato, we have a lot of growthopportunity there, a lot of transport projects under way atthe moment, and we've been inundated with a sea of orangefor many years: cones galore.

That's just such a clearsymbol of how far we've gone in overcomplicating things. Wehave lost sight of the fact that every rule, every piece ofbureaucracy or compliance we put in place should have alower cost than the benefit it provides. We've lost track ofthat and, actually, we've got that balance totally wrong,such now that people in their day-to-day businesses, intheir day-to-day lives are encountering frustration afterfrustration, cost after cost that does not deliver atangible benefit to them or their communities or, indeed,the economy.

We are cutting through that and, as Isay, it's a pleasure to be part of that. In the Waikato,we're seeing that tangibly: Telephone Road intersection agreat example of that. Simeon Brown, the transport Ministerat the time, agreed that we needed to reopen thatintersection and it's going to happen. It was a ridiculousdecision to close it. It's getting back open. Great outcomefor the local community there.

We're committed toextending the Waikato Expressway. The plan is to go all theway through to Tauranga; four lanes. A massive economicbenefit to the upper North Island region. That goldentriangle will absolutely thrive off the back of that. I knowmy colleagues in the Bay of Plenty region, as well as thosein the Waikato region, are very firmly committed to seeingthat through as well, and we're hoping to be turning dirt onthat next year. A great outcome for our region in theWaikato. Alongside that, the prospect of a third medicalschool at Waikato University is another very excitingpotential opportunity in the Waikato.

When I look backover that last year, there have been challenges. It hasn'tall been easy and I've heard from constituents echoing someof their concerns around the difficult situations they'veseen. But, as I said, that positivity that underpins thatthings are improving—we are helping this country get backon track and they feel that things are coming right forthem.

So when we look forward now to 2025, thisGovernment has been very clear the focus is squarely oneconomic growth, helping to get the economy firing again;charging so that we can succeed, so that there are more jobsavailable for Kiwis; that they are higher-paying jobs; thatbusinesses can be encouraged to innovate; that newentrepreneurs can start new businesses; that the complianceframework around that is minimised to encourage success, toencourage innovation, to encourage that nimble number eightwire mentality that always used to underpin how New Zealandgot on and succeeded in the world. Yet it feels like we'vesuffocated that number eight wire in red tape over the lastnumber of years.

So it's encouraging, as I say, to bea part of a Government that is getting back to basics andremoving that for the success of our country. Governmentexpenditure is going to be a part of that. There is stilltoo much waste—too much waste. There are a lot ofwonderful programmes going on, lots of interesting thingshappening but actually getting back to basics is criticalfor our success. We need to reduce that expenditure further.That red tape and compliance can be cut back further aswell.

It's exciting to see fast-track applicationscutting through the red tape in the resource managementspace. There are a number of projects in the mighty Waikatothat I'm very much looking forward to being a part of that;those developers, those business owners that are veryexcited about what the potential of fast-track legislationmeans for them. It's about unlocking the opportunity for NewZealand because that tech, that innovation, thatdevelopment, that infrastructure—all of those things thatwill help to drive a stronger economy in New Zealand—willhelp make lives better for all Kiwis. In the Waikato, we'revery excited about that as well. Because, actually, when youhave a strong economy, you can afford to invest in health,in education, in law and order, and in theenvironment.

All of these things that we hear from theother side are very important, and indeed they are, and weagree with that. But, actually, you cannot fund them withouta strong economy, and that is the fundamental premise of whywe are driving so firmly for economic growth in thiscountry. We want better outcomes. When I think about myyoung children and the thousands of other young childrenaround the wonderful Waikato and across the country, I wantthem to have a fantastic future and that means a strongeducational platform. I am so pleased to see the changesthat the education Minister Erica Stanford has beenimplementing to help ensure that we focus on teaching thebasics brilliantly, that we just get back to deliveringquality education to set our young Kiwis up for a successfulfuture so that they can go on to whatever success looks likefor them. Having that firm educational base is absolutelyvital to that, and I am so pleased to see a raft of changesin this place that will help deliver on that aswell.

Again, in health, we've seen a number of targetsestablished last year that have been well traversed. I'mconfident the new health Minister, Simeon Brown, willcontinue to drive firmly for success in achieving thoseoutcomes as well. Because we see far too often, and in ruralcommunities like the Waikato, access to health can be achallenge and that shouldn't be the case, but it has been.We are working on fixing that and that, in part, again,comes from having a strong economy because we have committeda record investment in health expenditure under thisGovernment. We have to be able to pay for that, and that iswhere the economy comes in. And we just don't just seem tohear that echoed from the other side. There's nounderstanding; it's simply spend more on the environment,spend more on health, on education—not so much on law andorder; that doesn't seem to be an issue for them—but,actually, to do all of those things we must have the economyto afford it.

It's simple and we see that inbusinesses and, sadly, businesses have had a tough time overthe last number of years now. Last year, unfortunately, wesaw a number of businesses go into liquidation. That justreflects the difficulty of the situation we inherited.Again, confidence levels suggest that the future is lookingbrighter for those businesses and we look forward tosupporting them, enabling them to get on and succeed, aswell.

So 2025 is going to be a great year for thisGovernment and I'm very pleased and very privileged to havethe opportunity, as the chair of the Foreign Affairs,Defence and Trade Committee, to make a contribution to thatwith a broad array of trade work that is coming before ourcommittee. The trade Minister has been very busy offshore.We have new agreements with the United Arab Emirates, withthe Gulf Cooperation Council as well—both coming beforeour committee, hoping to be implemented this year in thecoming months—which will provide massive opportunity.Ninety-nine percent of goods are going in tariff-free, oncethat's up and running. Huge potential for our economy. We'restill driving firmly for doubling the value of exports, aswell. It's all about that economic growth, and that comes inlarge part from export success. So it's going to be a greatyear. This Government has bold plan; we're going to say more"yes" and get on and deliver for New Zealand. Thankyou.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): Members, we are now at the dinner break. TheHouse is suspended until 7.30 p.m.

Sittingsuspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30p.m.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members, theHouse has resumed. We are on the debate on the PrimeMinister's statement, and it's a Labour Party call—and canyou clarify, is this a split call or afull?

Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan:It's a split call.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Asplit call, OK.

Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN(Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. The PrimeMinister talked about a relentless focus, he called it, onlifting incomes and creating opportunity, but I ask: forwhom? He said—and I quote—"In 2025, we will take actionto end the culture of no". I would really like him to say"yes" for once to disability communities across Aotearoa NewZealand.

In 2024, this Government cut access todisability support funding and devastated disabled peopleand carers. They denigrated carers, accused them of misusingfunds with no evidence. They gutted Whaikaha and movedDisability Support Services to the Ministry of SocialDevelopment—again, with no evidence that that would leadto improved outcomes for disabled people. Providers are nowunder orders from this Government, through Needs Assessmentand Service Coordination services, to turn away disabledpeople from getting support, to cut costs. Residential homeshave a freeze placed on them. Disabled people who've workedfor upwards of five years to find a place and finally gotone are told that they're now back in square one. They'vequietly axed the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill aftermuch hoo-ha on that side when they were in Opposition, andstopped the Enabling Good Lives roll-out as well. All ofthis has led to unquantifiable, unmeasurable suffering fordisabled people and carers.

This report, though, AThousand Cuts, looks at the quantifiable, cumulativeimpacts on the financial incomes of disabled people and howthey've been detrimentally impacted as a direct result ofdecisions that this Government has made. The main ones theytalk about are indexing benefits to the Consumers PriceIndex (CPI) and not wages. We, of course, made the reversechange in 2019, and that, when we index benefits to wagegrowth—the Children's Commissioner at the time said it wasthe single most effective thing a Government could do tolift children out of poverty. They've changed it back toCPI. In other words, the gap between average wages andbenefit levels will cumulatively increase year onyear.

Now, why is this important? For a number ofdifferent reasons, but 50 percent of people on jobseekerbenefits have a health condition or a disability that meansthat they can work limited hours or cannot work. With thispolicy, this Government this month, in February this year,is expected to save around $670 million at the expense oflow-income households over the next three years from whenthey made the change.

Cutting school lunches, bringingback prescription charges will disproportionately impactdisabled people. I want to read a quote from a person that'sbeen laid out in this report. Carers are also affected byprescription charges being brought back. A lady in her 50sadmitted to hospital because she had stopped taking herheart medications: when she was discharged, she came back insaying that she would get them now as they are now free. Shesaid although she was working, her husband is disabled andthey struggle to get by. Her health is the lowest priority.And then, of course, they've brought back charges for publictransport, which was either free or half-price for thoseunder the age of 24.

So what is the impact of all ofthis? A carer not in paid work whose children use publictransport to get to school will incur a cost of just under$2,500 a year due to this Government's decisions. A soleparent on minimum wage who has a child with a disability anduses public transport will face an increased cost of over$5,700 a year because of this Government'sdecisions.

What else have they done? Thousands of NewZealanders leaving New Zealand. Jobs—they don't seem tocare about jobs; that's dropped off the radar: 33,000 morepeople unemployed after this Government has taken office.Cuts to front-line services as well. Why? To fund $14.7billion in tax cuts, and about 2 million New Zealanders getnothing, or $2 a week, because of that. Only 3,000 get the$250 a fortnight that the Prime Minister promisedwilly-nilly to almost everyone on the campaign trail.Two-point-nine billion dollars in tax cuts for landlords;$216 million to one tobacco company.

They're failingthe economy, they're failing people; I haven't even touchedon how they're failing the environment. If I was thisGovernment, that's taking New Zealand backwards, I would notbe so proud, because their decisions have made life harderfor everyone except those who are wealthy andsorted.

Dr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour):Thank you, Madam Speaker. David Seymour wants to privatisethe health system [Interruption]—yes he does. Andhe started to lay the groundwork—and we've heard him dothis on a couple of occasions—by suggesting that peoplejust need to get over their squeamish feelings that theymight have about privatisation. I don't know who he's beentalking to, but everybody that I've spoken to since he saidthat was not squeamish about it; they were outraged, andrightly so. But we shouldn't be surprised, because DavidSeymour's libertarian drive for privatisation is deeplyrooted in that belief that private ownership and marketcompetition are just simply more efficient and effectivethan Government. On this side of the House, we know thathealth is a public good. Reduced access and inequalities andinequities are absolutely what would be on the agenda and onDavid Seymour's agenda if he had his way. Private companiesprioritise profit, by definition, over public good. Leadingto reduced access for lower-income individuals andmarginalised communities, because they are always the peoplethat suffer the consequences of those largesse and thatlibertarian view.

But healthcare, as I said, is apublic good because it benefits all of society. A healthypopulation contributes not only to economic productivity, itcontributes to the growth—the mythical, magical growththat everybody's always after—stability, and overallsocietal wellbeing. So it might be really easy for us to sitback and think, "Well, it won't happen because it's onlyDavid Seymour suggesting it. David Seymour's not the boss."But after 14 months of this Government looking more and morelike Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is not the one callingthe shots, I wouldn't be too sure.

In all the talkabout going for growth that we've heard—relentless talk,an awful lot of talk, and not an awful lot of plans beinglaid out. But in all the talk about going for growth, MrLuxon forgot the one area in which there has been realgrowth. Anybody know what that is?

HonMembers: Unemployment.

Dr TRACEYMcLELLAN: Unemployment—the growth inunemployment. There are 33,000 more people unemployed.Māori and Pasifika unemployment is double the nationalrate, and that is shameful. And yet there is still no plan.We've heard nothing concrete—just slogans and vacuousstatements.

Mr Luxon likes to talk a big game, andwe've all heard him talk a big game in the media, we'veheard him talk a big game in the House, all over the place,but the numbers don't lie. There are 12,000 fewer peopleworking in construction than when he became Prime Minister,and that is scandalous. We all know that that is an industrythat once it ebbs, it's incredibly hard to get back up onits feet.

The Government likes to celebrate the factthat it's tackled the cost of living. Remember they used totalk about the cost of living all the time. But back in thereal world for people—which is most of us who aren't luckyenough to be wealthy and sorted—the prices continue toclimb. Everyday prices for everyday ordinary people continueto climb. That's insurance; that's rates; that's energy;transport; and, as my colleague has just also listed, a hostof things that absolutely hit people in the back pocket andimpact on their quality of life.

So it's all very wellhaving listened to the Prime Minister's statement. And yetagain we heard a lot of rhetoric, but the crux of the matteris this Government is taking people backwards—taking thecountry backwards. We know that because that's what peopleare telling us on the ground. That's certainly what we'rehearing everywhere we go. As they say: people are neverwrong.

We're supposedly halfway through thisGovernment, they would lead us to believe. And I don't knowif anybody would like to bet on the Government lasting theirfull distance, but we're supposedly halfway through thisGovernment, and already they're failing on the economy. It'sa simple fact: the cost of living has simply dropped off theradar. I haven't heard anybody talk seriously about the costof living crisis for a long time. They seem to have just letthat go. They're opening the door to privatisation andthey're going to use health as the stalking horse to startthat up. They simply don't care about people's jobs becausemost of them are wealthy and sorted.

We've got theferry debacle. "Nicola no boats"—no ferries. Goodnessknows when that's going to be resolved. And $2.9 billion intax cuts for landlords, tax breaks for tobacco, andshamefully reversing what was our world first smoke-freelegislation, including the world's first smoke-freegeneration, which should have been something that we wereall proud of. The Government is taking us all backwards.It's full of broken promises and badchoices.

CATHERINE WEDD(National—Tukituki): There's a lot of negativityon that side of the House—a lot of "No." It's time to bepositive. It's time to say, "Yes."

I'm proud to bepart of a Government that is backing regional NewZealand—that understands that economic growth is createdin the regions, created in rural New Zealand. As the MP forTukituki, representing regional New Zealand, I'm gettingfeedback all the time from so many people across Hawke's Bayabout how wonderful it is that finally we've got aGovernment that is backing the regions, focusing oncommunity, taking bureaucracy out of Wellington, andinvesting back in the front line and investing ininfrastructure, roads, renewable energy, housingdevelopment. It's just so good. It's so positive. There's nodoubt that Hawke's Bay has benefited from this, and I'msuper excited about all the things that we have done in thepast year for Hawke's Bay.

Let's start withhorticulture. Hawke's Bay is the fruit bowl of New Zealand,and I do like talking about the fruit bowl of New Zealand.We do grow the best produce in the world. Actually, I wasjust out in an orchard yesterday with some little red pears,Piqa red. They're fetching a high-value premium over in themarkets in Asia, because that's where we want to go. We wantto double the value of our exports in the next 10 years, andwe're not going to do it by selling that produce toourselves. We need to ensure that we are improving our tradedeals and improving our export markets across the world.Recent forecasts actually show that the New Zealand appleindustry is about to hit $1 billion for the very first time,and against the odds, following the cyclone. Our Hawke's Baygrowers are so, so resilient. They have not been heldback.

In fact, horticulture has now surpassed forestryas the third-largest exporter for the first time. There isso much potential when we have a Government that backs ourgrowers and backs our farmers, and backs our primaryindustries—a Government that backs economic growth, jobs,and opportunity. On this side of the House, we are enablingour growers to grow. We're cutting the red tape and allowingour industries to grow and create jobs and ensuring we havethe Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workforce that weneed so we can pick our fruit at the optimum time and get itoff to market—thanks to a very amazing immigrationMinister, who came to Hawke's Bay this time last year andlistened and then acted. That is it: we are a Government ofaction. It's not OK to be leaving millions of dollars ofexport quality fruit to rot on the trees. It's importantthat we futureproof our RSE scheme. This means that we cancreate more permanent jobs for New Zealanders and createopportunity in our regions.

We're supporting overseascapital. We're saying, "We are open for business here in NewZealand", so that our businesses have the confidence toinvest and employ people. And we're backing science,innovation, biotech, so we can grow our apples faster, sothat we can create pest resistance, so that we can reduceour emissions. This is all good stuff. And we are supportingwater storage so that we can grow our crops and we canproduce more. Water is the lifeblood—it's the lifeblood ofour regions—and that is why our Government has announcedfunding support for water storage in Hawke's Bay. I was soexcited—$3 million for the Tukituki water storage scheme.This has the potential to provide over 22,000 hectares ofirrigation and environmental flows so that we can get thewater going in the rivers in the dry summer months, so wecan increase those flows. It will unlock economic potential,forecasting up to $300 million of GDP impact, and createover 3,000 jobs. This is huge, unleashing so much economicpotential in the regions—very, very exciting for Hawke'sBay. And we do need water storage.

It's exciting thatwe've got a Government that is saying yes—yes to ourfuture generations. Yes, we will build infrastructure thiscountry so desperately needs—which brings me to theHawke's Bay Expressway; the four-laning of the Hawke's BayExpressway. This is the first road of national significanceto start. And it has actually started. We've got shovels inthe ground. We've got diggers on site. We've got hard hats.You can actually see things happening. It's not ideological;it's not dreaming up big ideas of light rail in Auckland.It's actually getting things done, and it's driving moreproductivity. And there's actually a really good story toit, too, because we're recycling the silt from the cycloneto create the foundation to be able to build the four-laneexpressway later this year. So Hawke's Bay is super, superexcited about that, because this means that we can get ourapples to port faster, our wine to port faster, and off tothe markets, driving more productivity in this country. Butit also means that people can just get around a bit fasterand safely as well.

Which brings me to the speedlimit—this is another wonderful thing for our region.There were so many people going on holiday over the break,travelling across the Napier-Taupō road and being sofrustrated by the 80 kilometre per hour speed limit. Whenwe're driving along these big, straight flats, actually youcould be going 100. Well, news: we are putting those speedlimits back up to 100, which is really exciting. The amountof feedback when we announced that was just huge for Hawke'sBay—lots and lots of very, very excited people that can'twait to drive 100 kilometres per hour back along StateHighway 5 between Napier and Taupō, but also State Highway51 between Clive and Napier obviously going back up to 100,as well. So that's very exciting, not only for drivingproductivity but just ensuring that we can get from A to B alot faster, and just a bit more of a common-senseapproach.

Just over a week ago, we had our new healthMinister come to Hawke's Bay—he'd been in the job forabout five or six days—and he announced over $60 millioninto healthcare in Hawke's Bay: a new radiology department,a new cancer treatment machine. This is huge for Hawke'sBay, because Labour had talked about that cancer treatmentmachine for a very long time but never actually delivered.Well, we are delivering, and this means a lot for cancerpatients in Hawke's Bay. It means that they can get thetreatment in Hawke's Bay without having to travel toPalmerston North. So this is huge. We are a Government ofaction, not just dreaming and not just ideology. We'reactually getting things done.

And education: this issomething that I'm very passionate about. We've got ourwonderful education Minister right here, and I must say,dropping my children off at school after the school holidaysand talking to the teachers about the new structuredliteracy and structured maths programme was super exciting,because they are really excited about this programme.They've seen the benefits of it. They've seen the benefitsthat structured literacy and structured maths creates. Weneed to lift performance and education. It's not aboutlowering the bar; it is about lifting our children up overthat bar. And that's about getting back to the basics in theclassroom— an hour of reading, writing, and maths eachday—getting back that focus and that engagement, and justsimple policies that have been introduced, like banning cellphones in schools. This is such a great policy that I justget so much feedback on all the time from teachers andprincipals, who say, "We're actually seeing the studentsengaging. They're actually learning, and they're actuallytalking to each other." And this is the type of thing thatis simple, it's basic, but it's going to get our childrenahead.

Finally, just quickly, I wanted to touch on ourgang laws that we brought in, because, in Hawke's Bay, wehave one of the largest populations of gangs in the country.I've been talking to police in the region and they're justso happy that they've now got this tool kit where they cancrack down on the gangs. They have the ability to be able tostop gangs from consorting. They can actually do somethingwhen they're wearing gang patches. We don't want to seegangs intimidating our communities. We want safercommunities in Hawke's Bay. This is really important for ourfamilies and our children. There is plenty that ourGovernment has done in the past year, and we've got plentymore to do to get New Zealand back ontrack.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL(Labour): We are facing some serious problems inthis country: the economy is in recession; unemployment isgoing up; productivity is down. There are those who like tosay it was all the fault of the previous Government,entirely ignoring world trends, but I'd like to point to aworld trend: that most economies that we compare ourselveswith, having experienced inflation, have, in the last yearor so, recovered—are now back into growth. Minimal, butit's there. In this country, we are not, and the reason weare not is because of the facile slogans and the emptyrhetoric of the Government that is simply not delivering.They are crashing and burning through New Zealand. There's aPrime Minister who thinks he only has to order something andit will make it come true but who will not do the hard yardsto actually do the work; a Minister of Finance who is fullof cheap debating tricks and no solid policy to work withand for New Zealand to ensure that we do the best foreveryone here. That Government is creating chaos. It isabsolutely shambolic. It is breaking promises, and it istaking us backwards.

I want to focus on the badchoices that Government is making in tertiary education.It's a mess. The reason it's a mess is because theyappointed a Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills whohad one objective in mind—a personal objective only—andthat was to get the Southern Institute of Technology back.So, instead of looking at Te Pūkenga seriously and soberly,and noticing that it was beginning to work, that Ministerdecided to take it apart no matter what—take it apart nomatter that her own officials said it would be best to haveregional groupings of polytechnics; no matter that her ownspecialist group of advisers said, "Put together regionalgroups of polytechnics." Instead, she has charged on withher own plan—the sheer arrogance of ignoring the evidenceand ignoring the advice of her own officials and ignoringthe advice of her own specialist advisers, all because shehad one simple idea in mind. The sector is in despair overit.

Now she's put out some consultation aroundworkplace learning, and the sector is rejecting that, too,because the models that the Minister is offering—now theMinister for Vocational Education—involve charging theindustries more. It's a shame. There is a shambles beingcreated in vocational education. That Minister did nothingfor the universities, and the universities have been takenoff her and given to someone else who might actually dosomething about it. We're just starting to hear today thatfunding is going to be removed from the universities. Thisis a huge problem. If we are to get New Zealand'sproductivity up, if we are going to seriously address someof the problems we need to address in this country, then weneed to have something like about 80 percent of NewZealanders with a trade, a diploma, or a degree. Yet thatGovernment is taking apart the institutions that will helpus all to have a trade, a diploma, or a degree. It is facileand short-term thinking. It is creating huge uncertainty inthe sector.

The previous speaker, Catherine Wedd,lauded the science reforms and said it was taking scienceforward in this country. Tell that to the scientists atCallaghan Innovation, who have no idea what they are goingto do after 30 June this year. That Government has createdmassive uncertainty in the science sector. We have lostaround 500 scientists. That's our future that we've wavedoff overseas—the expertise we need so that we can createthe innovation we need in this country. That Government hastaken funding away from blue-sky science, and while theywere at it, they sort of knifed the humanities and socialsciences in the back. But that blue-sky science is exactlywhat creates the opportunities for innovation that we needto grow this economy. That is a Government that doesn'tcare. It is engaged in a whole lot of short-term thinking.It needed some money to pay for its tax cuts, so it took andtook and took from exactly the sectors that needed long-termsecure investment to ensure that we could grow.

It isa chaotic Government, a Government of shambles, a Governmentof broken promises, and a Government that is simply takingus backwards.

SHANAN HALBERT(Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Our country waspromised to get things back on track by the Government. Wehave to ask ourselves the question, and when we see thepublic, do they feel like they're back on track? They don't.Does the Birkenhead community feel like they're back ontrack when last week they experienced a stabbing in theirmain street and, today, an armed robbery at an ATM? Is thatback on track when they were made a promise by thisGovernment that law and order would be their top priorityand they have not been able to deliver on it?

Therewill be a number of MPs across the House who will befreaking out at the moment because they know what the publicis telling them and they know the promises that have beenbroken and also the risk to the seats that theyhold.

It's good to see the Minister for the SouthIsland in the House this evening. In fact, actually, he'sdelivered a more significant plan for the South Island, in anumber of weeks in the role, than the Minister for Aucklandhas in the 18 months that he's held that particularposition.

The reality of this Government is that theyare failing in this economy. The cost ofliving—[Interruption]

DEPUTYSPEAKER: Too loud. I cannot hear the person who'sspeaking.

SHANAN HALBERT: The cost ofliving has absolutely dropped off the agenda of thisNational Government. In fact, Aucklanders have been leftbehind. They were promised $250 a fortnight in tax cuts. Theaverage family only received a mere $50. Under thisGovernment, Aucklanders have endured rising rents. In fact,the Minister of Housing tried to say that rents in Aucklandhad gone down. Now, which Aucklander that any of us knowsfeels like their rents have actually gone down? No one. Norents have gone down. The Government promised their tax cutsfor landlords would bring down rents, and the Infometricsquarterly economic monitor for Auckland showed that rentalaffordability decreased over the year to September and thatnew dwelling consents are down 12 percent. We know thatthey've put more than 2,000 houses under Kāinga Ora on holdin Tāmaki Auckland alone. They've stopped building. They'vestopped delivering for our largest city in thiscountry.

What I have seen from the Minister forAuckland is, despite my number of written parliamentaryquestions and despite Official Information Act requests tothe Minister, I haven't seen a plan. I haven't seen anydeliverables. The only thing in the two papers that he hasdelivered to Cabinet is that he held the role of Ministerfor Transport, he held the role of Minister of LocalGovernment, and through those work programmes, he wasdelivering for Auckland. When public transport has increasedsignificantly for Aucklanders—it's gone up—and whenregistration fees have gone up and when toll fees are comingin and congestion prices are coming in, life is getting moreexpensive for Aucklanders.

This wasn't the promisethat Aucklanders were sold under the National Government inthe last election. So the question for Aucklanders is: whois our champion? Is it the Minister for Auckland who is nowthe Minister of Health? Where is his time going to comearound in order to deliver measurable outcomes for Aucklandalone? How is he going to get on top of the infrastructuredeficit that we experience? He absolutely hasn't deliveredfor our largest city in this country. He's cut $564 millionfrom our transport and infrastructure programme in the city.Since he is the health Minister now, and listening to thedebacle of question time today, what he did talk about isthe leadership in the health system.

Now, can I remindthe House that, once upon a time, we had a Minister ofHealth called Jonathan Coleman, who appointed LesterLevy—

Hon Matt Doocey: FromNorthcote.

SHANAN HALBERT: That'sright—and who also appointed Dale Bramley. How did thatgo? How did that go, and how have we found ourselves back inthis cycle? So, for Aucklanders, for the people ofBirkenhead and Northcote, this Government hasn't delivered.They're asking questions ofyourselves—

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Themember's time has expired. Thank you.

RICARDOMENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): Thank you, Madam Speaker.It's amazing how many of us can sit through over 20 minutes'worth of ramblings from the Prime Minister outlining hisvision for Aotearoa, and not see a single mention of thewords "poverty" or "inequality" in his so-called vision forgrowth. But make no mistake, because the things that we willsee growing in our country are not going to be the pocketsof those doing it the toughest. This is not my opinion. Thisis from advice the Government has received on their ownbills, and their own policy intentions.

The growththat we will be seeing in this country is a direct result ofthe Prime Minister's vision. Is unemployment growing? Ismaterial hardship for children growing? Is the number ofpeople declined for hardship grants for food growing? Thenumber of benefit sanctions pushing people into deeperpoverty—growing. Rents—growing. All of this comes at theexpense of our communities, who have been promised aneconomy that supposedly will work for everyone. But if youlook, and scratch behind the surface of the rhetoric of thePrime Minister, what you will find is an economic plan thatwill make the rich wealthier at the expense of basicallyeveryone else.

Again, it doesn't take a lot ofsearching, even on Google, to see what the Government hasn'tplanned for our communities. If we take the Social SecurityAmendment Bill that is currently in the Social Services andCommunity Committee, we've been constantly warned byofficials about the fact that this bill will literally putour poorest at risk of homelessness because of the way thatthe policy is designed. People cannot eat your GDP growth;because we have been in the past in areas where we have seenrapid, so-called economic growth. Those are the John Keyyears. What did we see during that time? More people livingin motels; more people struggling to get by.

Economicgrowth and GDP growth does not tell you who's actuallybenefiting from a so-called growing economy. You canactually have a growing economy that depends on making therich richer, on increased house prices, that does not relyon actually supporting everyday people who are simply tryingto do their best. Economic growth—in the simplest waypossible to explain to people—is just money moving around.It does not tell you whether you actually have children thatare currently living in households that are cold and damp,whether they are going to be living in good homes. If so,the John Key years of the past would have delivered adrastic decrease in wealth inequality and poverty, and wedid not see that. We will not see that either under thisGovernment.

The Government finds it easier to go backto the rhetoric of beneficiary bashing to scapegoat some ofour poorest people to then justify policies that will simplymake inequality worse. The Government is relying onincreased rents and house prices to actually drive thateconomic growth. Why do we know that? Because the Governmentis creating visas like this investor visa category thatrelies on investment coming into the country, so moneyflowing in, but with no tangible measurements about howexactly we're going to see the benefits of that investorvisa trickling down to everyday people. I say trickling downbecause the trickle-down economics that this Government isreheating—the Government effectively reheating their ownnachos from previous Governments—has not delivered anysubstantive changes for everyday people.

So I want tomake it really clear, when the Government and the PrimeMinister specifically talks about growth, he is not talkingabout everyday people. He's talking about lining the pocketsof corporations, lining the pockets of multimillionaires.This will come at the expense of communities that arecurrently being gentrified, of people who are being pushedout of their local communities because of increased rentprices. We're seeing that across the country, not just inplaces like Auckland and Wellington. In fact, many of ourregional cities are seeing massive increases in rent prices,and people who are aging in those cities are wonderingwhether they're going to be displaced by corporations andfor-profit investor companies that are simply going tocreate homes for profit, not for people. Again, this is soclear when you talk to people at the front lines who arehelping some of our most vulnerable. It's clear to me thatthe Government members have absolutely no interest inactually connecting to the people on the ground who arestruggling to make ends meet.

I want to take us backactually just to Monday where we were having, again, publichearings on the Social Security Amendment Bill. I saw one ofthe Government members publicly in that hearing askingsomeone about literally a made-up scenario they made about abeneficiary that they created in their heads who wasrefusing to go to work. They actually admitted they didn'teven know that person. They heard it from someone elsepotentially, and this speaks about the attitude that peoplehave towards those struggling to make ends meet. They wouldrather create an imaginary person in their head who simplycomplies with the political narrative they're pushing thanactually go out and talk to people on the benefit about whattheir aspirations are.

Because if they were hearingsubmitters, none of them actually would have supported thenarrative the Prime Minister has pushed around people on thebenefit being bottom trawlers. They've actually been talkingabout how they want an income support system that treatsthem with respect and dignity. I looked at the PrimeMinister's statement; you could find nothing about peopledoing it the toughest. Like, people are not going to belifted out of poverty because we had multimillionaires onvisas coming into the country. People are not going to belifted out of poverty if you literally defund and stripKāinga Ora of their ability to deliver homes for people whoare on the social housing waiting list. No matter how mucheconomic growth we see, those benefits are not going to betrickling down to everyday communities. We've been herebefore and we've seen the impacts of trickle-down neoliberalpolitics that have simply delivered more hardship.

Ithink particularly when we see the Prime Minister'sstatements followed up by, obviously, his Ministers in laterweeks, talk about the vision they want for our tourismsector, for immigration, it's really clear that thewellbeing of workers—for example, our migrant workers whohave helped us to, for example, build more homes, includingpublic housing—are not at the forefront of the GovernmentMinisters, because this Government would rather, forexample, scrap language requirements for millionaires, whilecreating more hurdles for everyday migrant workers to accessresidency visas; particularly those on low wages who aremost likely to be exploited. The Government would rathersimply label them as low skilled, and forget about them,treat them as expendable commodities, instead of members ofour communities who deserve to actually be treated as human.Again, we're seeing more stories than probably ever beforeabout, say, for example, disabled children facingdeportation in this country simply because of how they wereborn. I think to me that reeks of a narrative of a lack ofregard to people who do not comply with this Government'svision of an economy for the multimillionaires.

I feelfor the communities on the ground who at the end of thisterm—because I do genuinely believe that we're headingtowards a one-term Government—will be wondering who wasthis economic growth for? Because it certainly wasn't foreveryday people. It certainly isn't for the kids in schoolsthat are facing lower quality school lunches, who aresetting them up to fail in education. It certainly won'tbenefit children living in poverty; their families are nowwondering why this Government is far more interested inmeasuring school attendance than whether they actually havethe bare essentials. We have a child poverty reductionMinister who's literally far more interested in measuringschool attendance than whether kids have enough. It's almostlike the priorities are upside down. You can't send kids toschool without the bare essentials and expect them tothrive. It doesn't take a lot to know that. It doesn't takea lot of reading or academic knowledge to actuallyunderstand the basics that help our kids thrive in schooland in their homes.

So, my message to the Governmentis pretty clear: turn those priorities upside down or getout. Make way for the people that are out in thecommunities, working hard to support their communities, tohave what they need to thrive, to ensure that they'retreated with respect by Work and Income, to ensure that theyactually are listened to when they're telling the Governmentthat bills that they're putting forward would literally maketheir material realities worse. If we had a Government thatactually listened to those doing it the toughest, wewouldn't be having more benefit sanctions. We wouldn't behaving cuts to benefit increases. We wouldn't be having adefunding of Kāinga Ora. We would be literally doing theexact opposite; taxing the wealthy few so that everybody canbe looked after, so that we can have quality public serviceslike hospitals and primary care services, instead of playingwith the idea of privatising the very same services thatkeep our communities alive and thriving.

So I justwant to reject everything the Prime Minister outlined in hisstatement and ask the question of him; who is going tobenefit from the so-called economic growth that he'schampioning?

Hon MATT DOOCEY (Minister forMental Health): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.Look, the problem with socialism is you eventually run outof other people's money and that's exactly what happenedwith the last Labour Government. They ran out of thehard-working Kiwi taxpayers' money. They sent our debt as acountry ballooning over $100 billion. Every year we willspend over $10 billion a year servicing our debt alone. Ourthird biggest expenditure for this Government—more that wewill spend on two police forces. That is the failure of thelast socialist Government that was a failed socialistexperiment.

And Madam Speaker, like you, I canremember a time in a Prime Minister's statement not longafter that Labour Government came into power a few yearsago, where they were very emboldened and one by one, theLabour MPs got up to declare themselves proud socialists.I'll tell you what, we won't hear them do it this termbecause they know their socialism failed their Government,but most importantly failed this country. And the reality isthe situation this Government finds itself in now is ahangover. We're having to deal with the hangover. Andhangovers are not nice. Hangovers are uncomfortable, butthey dined out on their champagne-socialist values that haveforced this country into a hangover.

And that's why onthis side of the House, we know actually the value of acompetitive economy—a competitive economy that valuesgrowth. And why that is is because unlike the lastGovernment who feels like they know best and will run thecountry with Kiwi taxpayers' money out of Wellington, blowthe budgets, turn every indicator around for the negative,we know exactly for New Zealand; we're a small tradingnation, we need to get out there and compete with the restof the world.

In fact, when you look at othercountries around the world, those with competitiveeconomies, they are the ones with good jobs and incomes.Countries with competitive economies actually have a higherlevel of environmental standards. Actually, countries withcompetitive economies, their people have better livingstandards. That's why we focus on a competitive economy,because in fact, if we can grow our economy, that actuallywill help us as a Government return investment into thepublic services that Kiwis want us to deliver: $16.8 billioninto health, the biggest funding injection ever. And clearlyin the Prime Minister's statement, it outlined five keyareas for a very important area for Kiwis is mentalhealth.

For this year, in 2025, we're ambitious formental health. We've implemented for the first time in NewZealand mental health targets, five targets that will reducewait times, train more mental health professionals, andinvest more in prevention and earlyintervention.

Shanan Halbert: Whatabout OutLine?

Hon MATT DOOCEY:OutLine? So Shanan Halbert says, "What about OutLine?" Well,what about OutLine? How much did you fund them in the lastLabour Government? Zero; zip; de nada. So when you're inOpposition, you'd be the lion you want, but when you're inGovernment, you were a lamb. You sat over here and keptquiet. You did nothing. And now you're in Opposition, youthink you're a lion.

DEPUTY SPEAKER:Minister, don't bring me into the debate. Thankyou.

Hon MATT DOOCEY: Thank you,Madam Chair. There's $16.8 billion for health, five newtargets because we spend $2.6 billion on the mental healthand addiction ringfence funding. We need to know that'sspent wisely. That's why we've created the first target forthose with mild to moderate mental health issues to be seenwithin one week for primary mental health services. Thosewho need more complex care and specialist services to beseen within three weeks. Scotland's got a target of 18weeks; we've set a target of three weeks. Ninety-fivepercent of people with mental health issues going into theemergency departments to be assessed, transferred, treated,or discharged within six hours. We've set a target oftraining 500 new mental health professionals every year andringfencing of that $2.6 billion budget, 25 percent of thatto go into prevention and early intervention.

That'show we'll lift the system, not do what these last lot did,who talked a big game about transformation. Remember thatslogan? The $1.9 billion they traded round like a trophy andended up becoming a millstone round their neck because noone at the front line saw that money. They didn't know whereit went. And the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission saiddespite the $1.9 billion, they could not see any materialdifference. Who could spend almost $2 billion and make nogains—they could. And that's what they left this country:bankrupt and going backwards.

So that's why we'vebrought in the targets and already from the front line we'veseen that is turning around the deliveries and that willdrive down waiting times. But it's also about accountabilitybecause that's how we hold myself as the first mental healthMinister and this Government accountable, by setting clearstandards and holding us to that. And unlike the lastGovernment, when you look at health, they deleted, theycancelled, they stopped every target in health, andeverything went backwards, and shame on them.

The nextthing the Prime Minister talked about in mental health forthis year is the rolling out of the multi-agency response to111 calls. Why's that important? In your time of need whenyou call 111 for a mental health crisis response, you shouldget a mental health response, not necessarily a policeresponse. The police will always respond when there's a riskto the individual or others, but in fact it should be amental health response. In 2017 the first thing the LabourGovernment did when they came into power was cut theCo-Response Team mental health service. We lost six years inthat space and that's why this Government is taking itseriously, and we'll be rolling it out to ensure people inmental distress get a timely response.

The PrimeMinister also spoke about delivering more mental healthprofessionals this year. More psychologists, morepsychiatrists, and what we did—started off with a plan.And that mightn't sound like much because a lot of peopletalk about plans, especially the last lot, but the reasonwas the Auditor-General actually criticised the lastGovernment for not having a mental health workforce plan. Wedelivered in our first year. In fact, no extra funding wasneeded because we found available funding already in theworkforce baseline funding as well. That will double theamount of psychologists over four years; increasepsychiatrists by 50 percent.

Not only that, weannounced a $1 million fund to fund 80 new peer supportworkers and I've already started rolling them out round thecountry. I opened the new peer support service in Auckland'semergency department on Friday. They'll make a realdifference when you come into an emergency department in atime of need, and you'll have someone of lived experiencewho will be there to support you and engage you aswell.

And of course, let's not forget Gumboot Friday.Who funded Gumboot Friday? The public loves it and Labourhates it. Typical. But I tell you what that Gumboot Fridaydoes, that delivers support for an extra 15,000 youngpeople. And I tell you what, you look at the stats ofGumboot Friday, they can respond. They have hundreds ofcounsellors outside the publicly funded mental health systemwho have capacity ready to go, and they can sometimes seeyoung people within 24 or 48 hours.

And then anotherinitiative that the Prime Minister spoke about, theinnovation fund: $10 million; we're happy to top it up more.That was actually not new money. That was money sitting inWellington. Who would believe with all the mental healthneeds, the last lot left money sitting here not doinganything with it. We've got it out to the front line. FundedSir John Kirwan's programme for education and schools; Matesin Construction; Youthline. We've also funded the MentalHealth Foundation with that as well.

The PrimeMinister has talked about getting more money out ofWellington to the front line and that's what we'll do thisyear: drive down waiting times, train more mental healthprofessionals, and invest more in prevention and earlyintervention.

Hon MARK PATTERSON (Minister forRural Communities): It's a great honour to rise onbehalf of New Zealand First to reply to the Prime Minister'sspeech—2025 is not only going to be a good year for ourrural communities, it is going to be a great year.

Thestars have absolutely aligned and I have got great news forNicola Willis. The cavalry is coming and, as usual, they'recoming over the hill wearing Red Bands. This is going to bea massive year for the regional economies of New Zealand.The big growth engine primary sector is really starting tocrank, and that is fantastic news for our rural communities.Dairy prices are looking like they're going to be at recordlevels. The kiwifruit and hort sector is absolutelybooming—it's on a tear. Beef prices are at record levels.Lamb and mutton prices are $2 a kilo higher than they wereat this time last year. Economists are seriouslyunderestimating the magnitude of this upswing and theconfidence that is coming from it. So Nicola Willis, you canstart to sleep at night.

Let's not forget this is whatwe do really well in New Zealand. Essentially, our economyhas been built on our ability to turn grass into protein.Our farmers, our pastoral farmers in particular, are therock stars of world farming in that regard. And wasn't itgreat today, those of us that got to enjoy the National LambDay celebrations out on the lawn and that magnificent lambcutlets that we had out there. This country has got amassive heritage in sheep farming. This country wasliterally built off the sheep's back and it's great to see aday like this—that encourages everyone to come togetherover the barbecue, over some chops, and just celebrate thatgreat heritage and the hard-working men and women that areinvolved in that industry.

The primary sector makes upa massive 80 percent of our export earnings. This is anincredible statistic. What happens in rural New Zealandmatters: $1 spent by farmers is $6 that permeates around thewider communities, not only into our small towns and ourrural communities, into our provincial towns and into ourcities. That will eventually, Nicola Willis, end up in theTreasury coffers as well as our tax take is swelled. AndRicardo Menéndez March: that's how you deliver publicservices in this country.

That's complemented as wellby a Government that understands farming. Do notunderestimate this key component in this recovery—aGovernment that understands farming, primarily because somany of us are farmers or have been brought up on farms andunderstand that you cannot hobble this industry withunnecessarily red and green tape. Resource Management Actreform is at the core of a lot of what we are doing, and boyare the primary sector grateful to have us here.

Ourrural communities also welcome the focus this year, therenewed focus, on tourism. Tourists, as nice as Auckland andWellington are, they do not come to New Zealand to visitAuckland and Wellington. The destinations they want to cometo are Wānaka and Waitomo, to the West Coast, toMartinborough, to Russell, to the Catlins. That's where NewZealand's competitive advantage is. That's why people fromall over the world—high-value tourists andbackpackers—will come so far: to see something so special,and that is primarily in rural New Zealand. Those digitalnomads, we welcome them with open arms. Just saying thatLawrence has free Wi-Fi if they're listening.

So mykey focuses this year are two things: water and wool. Thething that I get asked about most when I'm out and about is"What is happening with wool?" I'm absolutely delighted tohave that delegation and been entrusted by Minister McClayin that. The first thing that we're doing is making surethat Kāinga Ora reopen their tenders so we can reverse thatfiasco—we will have more to say on that soon. To quoteChris Bishop: "We will be the most pro-wool Government therehas ever been."

More good news: the price of premiumstrong white wool has nearly doubled since its nadir inDecember 2022. There is a long way to go, but we aredetermined to do our bit to contribute to doubling NewZealand's export. An export that once was the backbone ofthe New Zealand economy, still about $500 million—we wantthat figure to be in the billions. There is a big swing backtonight. Natural fibres. Wool is biodegradable, it isflame-retardant, it is by some measure carbon-negative, itis anti-allergenic. There is no microplastics or those toxicP-F-A-Fs—PFAFs—that are becoming of increasingconcern.

But this is not only about carpets andinsulation. There is an incredible amount of innovationgoing on. There is filtration with New Zealand wool in thespace station, NASA is using it; in medicinal and bandaging;in acoustics; and the Holy Grail, which is the pigments andparticles, breaking it down into its component part. This isthe game-changer. There was a major investment announcedjust before Christmas for a commercialisation of that inChristchurch. So there is a lot going on.

What am Iparticularly doing? I am in the process of re-establishingindustry leadership that foundered with the end of the WoolBoard, bringing key stakeholders together in what is adisparate leadership structure. Pathways to market: theauction system has completely failed to connect growers withend consumers and value. I am challenging those supply chainparticipants as strongly as I can to change that game, toreimagine how we take New Zealand's strong wool to theworld. But we are on a burning platform and there is no timeto waste.

One of my big aims is to re-establish a NewZealand manufacturing base that has been decimated to fullycapture the value for New Zealand, for jobs in regionalcommunities, and for growth. In the woven and the spunsector, there is capital becoming available. We remainavailable through the Regional Infrastructure Fund and theSustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund to stand by theindustry's side. If projects that fit those criteria comeforward—I'm cajoling them as fast as I can to bring thoseforward.

And New Zealand First, that talks to theRegional Infrastructure Fund, that $1.2 billion fund that wefought so hard within coalition negotiations to get, andthat's where the water storage comes in. Kānoa is sittingon 17 water storage projects on their book at the moment. Weare out there preaching the gospel of growth. We've been outin regional growth summits right around thecountry.

We haven't had to wait for the PrimeMinister's speech—we've been out there doing it and wateris going to be a key focus of that, and for me it is a majoropportunity for New Zealand. It offers diversification intohigher value and higher production, into horticulture mainlyand resilience from climate change or—what is it?—wildweather, as Shane might call it, or volatile weather. But wehad no shortage of water in New Zealand. We just do not havewater at the right place at the right time. We can dosomething about it. We are going to be doing something aboutit. Tukituki was the first cab off the rank and we lookforward to many others to follow.

We also are totallyon board with the growth train with our colleagues over hereat National, getting that back on track and we have been akey driver within this coalition. Fast track was ourinitiative that we took on to coalition negotiation—those149 projects plus the tsunami that are coming in now thatit's been opened up to wider entry. Aquaculture permits,extending those out to 2050, giving that industry so muchcertainty and the ability to attract major, major investmentinto our regional economies. And it's the Māori economythat stands to benefit most—I might point out—throughthat. We are the champions of mining. We are facing thereality that we do need these key minerals; that we are richin these resources, and it is time that we took a differentview to this. There's no point impoverishing ourselves tosend mining and feeling good about taking minerals from theCongo in far worse environmental and labour conditions. Wehave got those minerals here; we will utilise them, and thatis a major opportunity for this country and, of course, theRegional Infrastructure Fund with the potential that itshows for New Zealand.

So we did inherit an economy amess. We had a primary sector under a tsunami of regulationand punch-drunk. We are here to sort out the mess and 2025will be the year that we start to see that delivered. Thankyou.

HANA-RAWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE (Te PātiMāori —Hauraki-Waikato):

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Madam Speaker, before I deliver myfirst speech for 2025 in response to the Prime Minister'sstatement, if you would please allow me to take the firsttime out of my speech to commemorate and acknowledge thosewho have recently passed on. Kahurangi IritanaTāwhiwhirangi: the matriarch of kōhanga reo, the holder ofendless knowledge.

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Theterm "kōhanga reo generation" that I have coined so muchwas inspired by wāhine like Iritana. Not just the physicalrepresentation of kōhanga but being at the feet of oursurviving elders who yearn to teach us knowledge that wasonce on the verge of extinction. From a child who has beenthrough bilingual, mainstream, and kura kaupapa education,tēnā koe

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Kahurangi TarianaTuria: who continues to whisper in my head constantly. Thebravest of them all, who crossed the floor, who walked so Icould run, who I marched for in my first ever hīkoi—attwo years old in my pram for the takutai moana. I vividlyremember watching her at the Parliament forecourt in 2004.Yet 20 years later, we had swapped exact positions for theHīkoi mō te Tiriti

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Ourparty must be strong and healthy to carry on yourlegacy.

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This speech is inresponse to the Prime Minister's statement. Straight to thepoint: within the first 20 minutes of his speech, he did notmention the word "Māori" once—not even once. So what kindof message is that saying as a Prime Minister to thiscountry? The Prime Minister needs to be responsible,accountable, and most of all inclusive of the country theyserve, no matter who voted them in or not.

At the endof this Government's first year of being in power, we sawthe largest protest this country has ever seen, with allwalks of life attending to stand in solidarity for thefounding document of this country. With more than 300,000signatures arriving at the steps of Parliament in oppositionto the Treaty principles bill, which is in fact more votesthan the ACT Party received. This shows how many citizensthe Prime Minister is ignoring. The only thing thiscoalition has done in relation to the Treaty is appointpeople to the Waitangi Tribunal who literally said itshouldn't exist.

In 2025, our job as Te Pāti Māoriis to do everything in our power to ensure our people canembody tino rangatiratanga in their everyday choices, to beself-determined on a day-to-day basis in the decisions thatthey make from the health to the education, groceries, wheretheir tax money is going, the protection of the environment,local government decisions, and the justicesystem.

I'm going to briefly touch on all thoseaspects, breaking down what barriers are right in front ofus to right in front of us. To break down whether it bethrough policies, research, how the general public canengage outside of Parliament.

Something that vividlystood out for me in the Prime Minister's statement—and Iquote—"If you work hard and you are prepared to work hard,you can get ahead in this great country of ours." Whichinstantly brings me to our tax system. What does the PrimeMinister say to the 98 percent of all hard-working people ofNew Zealand who work hard but can't get ahead. Who pay 22 to33 percent in tax, yet the top 2 percent of the wealthiestpeople in this country who earn an average of $39 millionper year only pay 9 percent in tax? If we really want totalk about inequities in this country, we have to start bytalking about how unjust and unfair our tax system is. Thetop 2 percent—311 households, to be exact—need to paytheir fair share, just like the rest of the 98 percent ofNew Zealanders in this country.

When I think ofhealth, I think of how this Government disestablished Te AkaWhai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, in the first 100 daysand intends to privatise our healthcare. Which literallymeans if you can't afford it, you can't access the medicineyou need. Everyone has the right to healthcare. Every personin this country has funding allocated to their NHI number.The funding must follow the patient, not get lost in transitor swallowed in bureaucracy.

When I think of whānaugetting groceries and basic necessities like kai at the endof their shop looking at the receipt with the additionalcost of $50 of GST, I see how this Government rolls in $3.4billion on average from GST on kai yet doesn't want to taxthe wealthiest 2 percent their fair share. This iscompletely unacceptable, and this is what our member's billseeks to address in this exact issue.

All of lastyear, I constantly heard the Prime Minister yapping on aboutMāori children failing in NCEA as he stared down our way,yet he never mentioned the kura Ngā Tapuwae who had 100percent pass rate at excellence in NCEA. This didn't justhappen overnight. Champions, like Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi,who helped shape these education systems that work for us.We have self-determined our own systems that work for us.The only problem is we've only ever been given 1 percent ofthe education budget, no matter who's in Government. Thismust change immediately.

This is what tinorangatiratanga and mana motuhake is about: creating our ownpathways for success. And the proof is in the pudding: a 100percent pass rate and the No. 1 school in thecountry.

When I think of local government like Māoriwards that this Government called for a referendum straightaway. As I asked Minister Simeon Brown eight continuousevidence-based questions, he did not care to answer once. Sowith that being said, local government elections are comingup,

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put your hand up andput yourself right at that decision table.

When Ithink of our taiao over the holidays, swimming in my ownpepeha Waikato River but with the fear of swimming in awhole river of arsenic, like those of my constituents in theCoromandel and Hauraki region in Ōhinemuri, such is thepotential aftermath of mining in that region. Or the manyapproved fast-track mining and development projects inRotowaro, Mangaharakeke Pa, and Hauraki who are stillawaiting hapū consultation.

The solution to climatechange—whether you arrived here yesterday or your tūpunadid centuries ago—is the attitude of kaitiakitanga, thatmust be at the forefront of our country. This is what ourcountry is known for worldwide.

When I think ofhousing, with more than 38.9 percent of people in myelectorate of Hauraki-Waikato living in a damp house andmore than 90 percent of them living in an intergenerationalhousehold. Everyone in this country must have access to awarm, dry house and the right to live in a papakāinga ifthey wish.

When I think of our justice system, the rawreality of tamariki Māori being racially profiled andlegislation such as the gang patch law that shows noevidence that this actually stops crime. Like the12-year-old boy who was stopped by police for simply wearinga T-shirt representing his boxing club. Laws like this showno change in our justice system.

When I think ofvalues in this country and online hate, I believe no matterwhich party you are, every MP would receive this at somepoint. As a 22-year-old, the fear of opening my workcomputer sometimes daunts me, from seeing not-so-niceemails. However, my mama reminded me—she even put it inthe Excel spreadsheet—that out of all responses receivedfor my haka in this House for Te Tiriti, 8 percent werenegative, and 92 percent were positive or in support. Withflooding messages from across the country, the globe, andnearly every continent—89 percent who are not of my race.Just because I'm proud of my race does not make meracist.

This year, 98 percent of New Zealanders arerelying on us; 92 percent of the world is insupport—295,759 people who I am responsible for inHauraki-Waikato, who brought me into this House to be avoice. Which leaves us with the 2 percent needing to paytheir fair share, the 8 percent just being pure haters, andour people are counting on us to remove any barriers,legislation, law or misconceptions and bring transformativepolicies, bills, and a voice for us movingforward.

Now, my name is Hana-Rawhiti, not HanaKōkō, so I can't promise you the world, but if you canhear me right now and your values align to this kaupapa, wehear you too.

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JOSEPH MOONEY(National—Southland): Thank you very much, MadamSpeaker. It's a privilege to rise to speak on this on behalfof my electorate in Southland and, of course, on behalf ofthe National Party. I should say that when I speak ofSouthland, I'll speak of the South because I represent goodchunks of Otago and Southland. When I think of the year ofgoing for growth, the South will help make this happen in avery big way. I think of the words of Sir Tipene O'Regan,who has said, referring to the name traditionally forSouthland, Murihiku, that it's the tail of the whale drivingthe country forwards, and that's exactly what the South willdo for this country.

We are a region which is apowerhouse in the primary sector. We're a powerhouse infarming. We are a powerhouse in the tourism sector. We are apowerhouse in generating energy for the country. We are apowerhouse in the arts and culture. We are a powerhouse inmanufacturing. This is an incredible region that just getson with it and gets it done and makes stuff happen anddoesn't say a whole heck of a lot about what it's doing alot of the time because it's just busy working. We are aproud, proud region that delivers a lot for this country andI'm proud to be a representative for it.

ThisGovernment is relentlessly focused on economic growth. It iseconomic growth that delivers better lives for all NewZealanders. It is economic growth that providesopportunities for our young people to stay here in NewZealand and to see a future for themselves in this country.It is economic growth that will allow us to build the housesthat our people need. It is economic growth that will allowus to pay for the health services that we need. It iseconomic growth that will allow us to pay for the educationthat this country needs.

I just want to touch brieflyon that education point, because this is incredible, thework that this Government's doing and our Minister EricaStanford is doing for the future of New Zealand, for thefuture of our young people who will be the ones who take NewZealand into the future. This structured literacy and thestructured mathematics programmes that are being deliveredaround the country right now and that are going to be rolledout to children across the country are going to make amassive difference to all children—to children who haveneurodiversity, to children who do not have neurodiversityand who are neuronormative.

Hearing that last speaker,Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, just made me think of the factthat for the first time, high-quality, structured literacyand numeracy resources are going to be provided in te reoMāori—for the first time in this country—by thisGovernment, and that is a very big thing. Having worked inthe court system and in prisons around New Zealand, I knowfrom personal experience that up to 70-odd percent of peoplewho go through that system have challenges reading andwriting. If we can help get them the resources so that theyare able to read and write—structured literacy is a waythat has been proven to work—that is going to make adramatic difference in their lives. It's obviously not theonly thing, but it is a very big thing, and I'm very pleasedto be part a Government that is doing that.

The yearfor the South has also kicked off with a great announcementfrom the new Minister of Health, providing certainty aroundthe Dunedin Hospital. That will be built and we'llfutureproof it for growth, and that is a great announcementfor the South, to provide confidence for the people of theSouth. We were always going to do it, always going toprovide a great hospital for the South, but the time neededto be taken to look at that carefully, and it's great thatwe've had certainty provided at the beginning of this yearon that.

This Government has been doing a lot of workto roll back regulatory overload on the primary sector.That, as well as having the knowledge that it has aGovernment that is backing the farmers, and also asignificant uptick in the dairy and meat prices, is showingreal confidence. And there's real confidencegrowing—

Hon Damien O'Connor: Andwool.

JOSEPH MOONEY: Andwool—absolutely. Wool is something that I, certainly, withMinister Mark Patterson, hear regularly, as do othermembers—

Mike Butterick: Magicfibre.

JOSEPH MOONEY: I hear thatit's a magic fibre, as Mike Butterick says—it's a magicfibre. It's a fibre that's helped build our country andhelped build a lot of our houses and a lot of our woolshedsand a lot of our infrastructure around New Zealand over thelast six decades, really, you could say, and more.

Butwe also had the National Lamb Day today, and I just want tosay that I take my hat off to the people of the South whomade this happen—oh, there they are. They're standing up,and we have them in the gallery right now. The people of theSouth are responsible for bringing this, and it's a long andstrong and proud tradition dating back to when the veryfirst shipment of frozen meat went out of the port of Otagoat Port Chalmers to London in 1882—1882. Since then, lambhas had a significant contribution to the economic wellbeingof this country and will continue to do so long into thefuture, and I just want to shout out to all of our sheep andbeef farmers around the country.

More of that—Ishould say that the South has the Edendale Fonterra plant.This is the oldest dairy-processing site and the firstdairy-exporting processor in the world, established in 1881.Today, it is now the largest fresh-milk dairy processingplant in the world—in the world—and that is right therein Southland. Southland alone collects 2 billion litres ofmilk annually, which is the same as the entire Australianmarket. We are a very big contributor to the economicwellbeing of this country.

But this is not all we do.We also produce fruit in Central Otago, which I'm very proudto present with my colleague Miles Anderson. We are thebiggest cherry growers in the country. We are the fruitbowl, certainly of the South Island. We have a competitionwith Hawke's Bay about who is the fruit bowl of New Zealand,and water is very, very powerful with that. So Central Otagois incredibly important—that's part of my electorate aswell.

But it's not just that; Southland also has themost engineering firms per head of population of any regionin the country. In Southland, manufacturing employs 15percent of the workforce and contributes over 13 percent ofregional GDP.

Not only that, but if I touch on arts,culture, and film, I should say that as the chair of theSocial Services and Community Committee, this is somethingof particular interest to me. Arts and culture contributesover $16 billion to New Zealand's GDP, so over 4 percent ofthe total economy. Queenstown Lakes District is thesecond-most creative city in the country, ahead ofAuckland—I'll just say that we are ahead of Auckland,according to Infometrics' Creativity Index—and growing. TeAtamira, established in Queenstown three years ago, now hasalmost 2,500 visitors a week.

But that's not all: wehave incredible arts and culture right across the region.I'll just give a quick shout-out to Gore, which is also inmy area, the Eastern Southland Gallery features theinternationally renowned John Money Collection. We have verywell-renowned people from all over the world who have heardof it and come to it. Not that many New Zealandersnecessarily hear about it, but a lot of people around theworld have, and it's also home to one of the largestholdings of work by New Zealand artist Ralph Hōtere. Notonly that, Gore is also New Zealand's country music capital.We have the annual Tussock Country Music festival, theMataura Licensing Trust New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, andthe New Zealand Country Music Awards. It's all going on inthe South.

But it's not just that. If I can just touchon mining, this Government will lean into mining. We don'twant all of our young people going to Australia to gethigh-paying mining jobs and leaving the country. We can mineresponsibly, and if I remind the House that gold helpedbuild New Zealand, it helped build the South. In fact,Central Otago gold built Dunedin. It built the firstuniversity in New Zealand: Otago University. So this isa—

Hon Member: Greatuniversity.

JOSEPH MOONEY: And it isa great university.

We have a lot happening in termsof this. There's also technology. Technology is growing. Infact, I was in the United States last year at aconference—the National Conference of State Legislatures,where the 50 states come together and have a meeting—andthe two biggest things they were talking about wereartificial intelligence and the energy needed to runit.

We have opportunity in technology. There's anopportunity for New Zealand to again have higher paying jobswhere our young people don't have to go overseas, and theycan create these opportunities here in New Zealand. If Ifocus on Queenstown, it now has Technology Queenstown, whichhas a goal for technology to be a billion-dollar sector inthat region, and a lot of great stuff is happening rightacross the region, again.

Just one of the last thingsI'll touch on is tax bracket adjustments. Now, people havebeen saying that they're tax cuts. Let's just be clear aboutthis: these were tax bracket adjustments, for the first timeit had been done in 14 years. People on the minimum wagewere almost going into the 33 percent tax bracket, and thatwasn't right. This Government moved to fix that, and there'smore money in people's back pocket.

So this is achallenging time, but we have some great shoots on thehorizon in terms of green shoots for the economy, greenshoots for our education, green shoots for health, and greenshoots for the young people of New Zealand that have gotgreat opportunities here in New Zealand. Come South—that'swhere it's happening.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): This is a five-minute splitcall.

Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Labour):Thank you, Mr Speaker. In 1993, people voted me into thisHouse, and people in New Zealand voted for MMP. I hopethere's far less people disillusioned with me than they arewith MMP.

People don't know what is going on in thiscountry. They cannot believe that the tail is wagging thedog, that we are driven by the tyranny of the minority whenthey were trying to get rid of the tyranny of the majorityby getting rid of first past the post. I don't know quitewhat we stand for or where we are going. As a nation, we'vealways stood for collective responsibility and now we seemto be determined to focus on individual rights. Myexperience of New Zealanders and our country is that's notgoing well for us.

People are wondering what'shappening. Why is it—and even the Prime Minister admitsthat life is getting a lot harder for more people in ourcountry. Do you know why that is? Because this coalitionGovernment has driven our economy into recession—into arecession. These are the so-called great economic managers.This is the steepest downturn in the economy since 1991 whenanother National Government brought in the "mother of allBudgets" and almost destroyed the economy then.

Peopleare confused. People are out there; they voted for change,and they haven't had anything delivered to them. What thisGovernment seems to be determined to do is to take from thepast all of that stuff that got us to where we are and thento deny the future. Just as in agriculture, what got us towhere we are won't take us to where we need to be, so toofor many other economies and many other communities aroundour country. But what we're lacking is leadership. Whatwe've replaced it with—or this Government has—ispopulism, responding to reaction from people who weregrumpy. They were under pressure. We'd had COVID, we'd had anumber of things happen internationally. We'd had theUkraine war, we'd had inflationary pressure. People weredisgruntled and they got rid of us. But what has replacedour Government—committed to the collective responsibilityto all—well, it's a bunch of selfish politicians over thatside who want to deliver for their mates or want to deliverfor a few of the sectors in this country.

We hearabout growth. We presume that it might be growth of wealth.I guess we could all aspire to that. Well, your health isyour wealth and if you've been under pressure from somehealth ailment or some disease or some unfortunate incidentthat you may have had to face up to or an accident, youunderstand how important health is. And if you don't havehealthcare, you don't have any wealth, I'll tell you what.This coalition Government has set about, as my goodcolleague Peeni Henare said, a systematic approach to thehealthcare system in this country: firstly, to underfund,not even keep up with the inflationary pressures, not evendeliver on the assets that we had planned for and funded. Tounderfund, then to understaff—put more pressure onindividuals who are doing their very best to carry outhealthcare for New Zealanders—and then to undermine; toundermine the credibility of the public health system thathas been the hallmark of our country. Working together,looking after one another, ensuring that health is thewealth of this country through a properly funded publichealth system.

This is all leading to one inevitableoutcome: the next thing they will do—and the PrimeMinister said not this time, but next, maybe—is privatiseour public health system. They'll look to privatise our ACCsystem and, just as New Zealanders are facing up to hugeincreases in electricity costs—it's been warned. Becausethe last National coalition Government privatised theelectricity system and handed over to their mates theopportunity to charge as much as they can for poor,hard-working New Zealanders who are going to be squeezedthrough the electricity prices.

Up and down thiscountry, people are wondering who we are as a nation, whatwe stand for, and where we're going. They are disillusioned,they want to get rid of this coalition Government that theyjust voted in, and help is on its way because Labour willfront with the policies and the principles that are neededat the next election.

REUBEN DAVIDSON(Labour—Christchurch East): Thank you, MrSpeaker. I rise to speak on the Prime Minister's statementdebate, and I have to start by saying that this Governmentis choosing to leave people behind. They come in claimingthey were elected to solve a cost of living crisis, andsince then, and those great claims, they've insisted onkeeping wages low. They kept wages lower on the minimum wagethan was suggested, but, at the same time as keeping wageslow, they've driven up insurance, rates, rents, and as wellas driving up those prices, they've made cuts to ferries,cuts to hospitals, cuts to the First Home Grant, cuts tofunding for our disability community, cuts to freeprescriptions, cuts to half-price publictransport.

And where did the money go? Landlords andbig tobacco. The message was "survive to '25". Well, themessage back from my constituents is that we got here andyou are making it harder. This Government is making itharder because it is choosing to leave peoplebehind.

This month, thousands of children acrossAotearoa are going back to school—thousands of themwithout uniforms, without shoes, without stationery, withoutlunch. There are children in Christchurch, reported in thePress, who are taking to school a lunch box full ofempty food wrappers because of the stigma of shame thatcomes from not having the food in the house that they needto take to school for lunch. That shame, that stigma, shouldnot sit with those children who go to school; it should sitwith this Government and this House who have made thechoices to leave people behind. That shame should sit withour Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who said that they gotit and also said that they were wealthy and they weresorted. Well, that's fantastic for him if that's the case,but my message back to the Prime Minister is that thesechildren and these people who are struggling across NewZealand now haven't fallen into this poverty; they've beenpushed, and this coalition Government is doing the pushing,because this Government, every day, is making the decisionsand taking the choices to leave people behind.

Now,recently, the Prime Minister has talked about thisGovernment being a "yes Government" and previous Governmentshaving been "no Governments". Now, I don't see it as simplyas that. This Prime Minister certainly wasn't leading aGovernment that said yes to attending Waitangi this year.This Prime Minister, in fact, said no to attending Waitangi.There were members of this House, a large number ofthem—and not only from Opposition parties—who said yesto being able to attend Waitangi in the North Island andWaitangi Day celebrations in other parts of New Zealand aswell. So it can be done.

I think we should think backon this very simple argument of the yes and the no, and Ithink the way that we should actually look at it is can andcan't, because when we were in Government, we showed NewZealand we could be a team of "can". We could build morehomes, we can lift wages, we can have record lowunemployment, and we can have healthy school lunches. Thiscoalition have proven to be a bunch of "can'ts", because wecan't have the jobs, the ferries, the hospitals that NewZealanders deserve, and that ispitiful.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Five-minute call—VanessaWeenink.

Dr VANESSA WEENINK (National—BanksPeninsula): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a privilegeto stand to speak in reply to the Prime Minister's addressearlier this year. As a proud member of the Banks Peninsulaelectorate and representing that wonderful place, there isextraordinary opportunity for economic growth in our region.Banks Peninsula is an absolute gem in the tourism hub ofCanterbury. It also supports farming and fishing andmanufacturing and many other sectors. Driving economicgrowth is important, and it'll be one of the things that ourregion will be able to support the Government's ambitionsin.

However, at the core of why we're doing this—weshouldn't forget the why of this—we're not just going forgrowth for growth's sake. We're going for growth so thatwe've got more resource to be able to spend and invest inthe things that we need.

When we talk about educationand the importance of that, we know that investing in theway that our children learn is absolutely important, andthat's why our literacy resources that are going intoschools are incredibly important—

HonMember: And so well-received.

DrVANESSA WEENINK: And so well-received. That's whywhen we are feeding our children well with these new schoollunch programmes and aiming to feed more—and it astoundsme to hear from people on the other side, who've clearlynever eaten mince in their life, who say that it's uneatableand that it's indigestible. Well, I'm sorry; they're justplain elitist. Those meals are perfectly fine. They areperfectly fine and well-balanced and nutritious and hot, andthose people on the other side have also never had to eat aheated-up ration pack and know what that tastes like.They've never had to feel the pain of being out in the coldand feel what it's like serving their country in any otherway.

So they can sit there in their high and mightypositions, looking down on people who are saying thatthese—actually the feedback that we've had about theschool lunches has been really great. Actually, peoplereally like them. The kids have actually found them reallygood, and when they've gone around to the schools andinterviewed the children there, the children have beenreally disappointed. When they were interviewed, their storyabout how they actually really loved the school lunchesdidn't end up on the news. That didn't get into the newsbecause that wasn't the story that that side are trying totell. They're trying to make an agenda that's nottrue.

We are creating growth so that we have moremoney to invest in our social investment policies. When itcomes down to it, that is the best approach: using data toactually decide where we should put resources to wrap aroundpeople, to invest in them, and to make sure that thosepeople that are in prison have got those educationprogrammes that help them to get out of that terrible cycle.Those are the kinds of programmes that we are investing inbecause we know that it is worthwhile.

We're investingin infrastructure that leads to even more growth and moreprosperity, and another reason why we're going for growthand why we want to grow incomes is that anyone who's doneanything in public health knows that raising incomes is oneof the best things that you can do to improve healthoutcomes. Almost everything else is what falls by thewayside. Absolutely everything else is useless. Getting onwith it and making sure that our economy grows is absolutelyvital.

When we talk about everything that's happeningin the health system, that's the downstream effects ofthings that have gone poorly. That's the downstream effectsof where people haven't had enough money to be able to keepup with preventative things. That's the downstream effectsof having really, really terrible inflation rates that aredriving interest rates that mean that people don't haveenough money in their bank accounts to do all the thingsthat they want to do. So we're fixing the economy. We'remaking sure that those interest rates are coming down.People will start to feel that in their back pockets, andimproving the tax brackets makes a difference.

When weare talking about going for growth, we understandimplicitly—and we have it deep down in the bones of theNational Party—that this is about our need to have moremoney to invest in ways that are smart and invest in waysthat support people, and that is done in a responsible andsocial investment way and in ways that are actually drivingour country forward. Every single thing that we do is aboutimproving the lives of New Zealanders through the servicesthat we deliver, because we'll have more money to be able tospend on those.

Dr HAMISH CAMPBELL(National—Ilam): Mr Speaker, thanks. It is agreat honour to rise and speak in support of the PrimeMinister's statement, and I'm privileged to follow on frommy fellow Christchurch MP, Dr Vanessa Weenink. It is a greatprivileged. We are on the verge of great growth andpotential, and of course this is going to be across manysectors of New Zealand.

We've already seen a change inour economic output. We appreciate it is tough times, butjust in The Press earlier this week, independenteconomists indicated that, since our economic management hascome into play, lower mortgage rates mean that householdswill have, combined, another $45 million a week to spend.Also, calculating the falling mortgage rates in the lastquarter has put an extra $8 million already, and with $200billion of mortgages about to be refixed, that is going togrow even more; it's actually equivalent of 1 percent ofconsumption all at once. This is going to make a huge impacton everyday New Zealanders, something that the other sidedon't want. They don't want everyday New Zealanders to havetheir own money. "If they have money, they should be taxed"is their strategy.

We need to, as a country, do thingswiser. We need this growth, as a lot of my colleagues havesaid, and the benefits that come from it. We need to dothings smarter, and this is something that I talked aboutextensively in my maiden statement in this very House. Ireferred to some of our great scientists here in NewZealand, one in particular who worked on combatingagricultural pests, which saves New Zealand between $300million and $500 million annually. His work has made NewZealand more productive, and we need more things likethat.

We have some great scientists here in NewZealand, and once again, I mention productivity because itis so important. We can do more but use less. This makeseconomic and environmental sense. It's climate action inaction. That's one of the reasons why we're ending thenearly 30-year ban on gene technology. Biotechnology is notjust about growth and economic growth. It's all aboutgreener growth, growth that helps our farmers not only becompetitive on the international stage, but it means they'llbe able to continue to lead the world in their efficienciesand keeping our greenhouse gases as low aspossible.

Once again, it comes back to producing moreby using less. Of course, there are many examples of biotechhere in New Zealand. We've seen some ryegrasses which wouldrequire less water, less nitrates, and of course wouldproduce less greenhouse emissions. These are some of thethings that we have at our fingertips. A former FederatedFarmers national president, Dr William Rolleston, said,"Some of this is the best science since Rutherford split theatom." Of course, this Government has announced the largestreset of our scientific system in more than 30 years, whichwill boost the economy. It will benefit the sector and,also, the country as well.

There are some greatexamples of tech in Christchurch—Christchurch is a greatplace—and I'll just mention some in the mighty Ilamelectorate. We've got companies like Tait Communications, aglobal leader in designing and manufacturing ofcommunication solutions, employing hundreds of people andexporting 95 percent of their products. They invest heavilyin R & D. This is a great example of New Zealand'spotential to excel at high-tech industries.

Anothergreat example is the Christchurch Engine Centre. They'vejust recently invested a further $150 million to increasetheir facilities so theycan—[Interruption]

AndyFoster: That's confidence.

Dr HAMISHCAMPBELL: Exactly. They have got the confidence,with the new Government, that they can overhaul moreengines, and of course most of that goes to export dollars,once again employing hundreds of people.

But that'snot all. We have some great start-ups in Christchurch, andwe are a Government that's behind start-ups and some of thistech. We're making important changes to the foreigninvestment because one of the biggest problems is gettingcapital to these great, great start-ups. We're changing thevisa laws. We're enabling more talent to come and supportthat sector. Changes to the tax threshold for when it comesto employee share schemes. These are things that we need todo, because, as I said, we have some great homegrown talenthere. We need more of it. That's why we need to get theeducation sector going. We're seeing our children fallbehind on the international stage, so that's why we'reintroducing, kind of, teaching the basics brilliantly,because, if you don't teach the basics brilliantly, it'slike building a house without a foundation: you can do theflash stuff for a little bit, but then it's all over. It isgoing to be a great year for the country, and I look forwardto 2025.

Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour):Thank you, Mr Speaker. Why is it that the Government is introuble? Why is it?

Hon Member: We'renot.

Hon DAVID PARKER: They are introuble—they are in trouble. So many of the people thatvoted this Government in a year and a half ago no longersupport them. Why is it the Government is in trouble? Well,it's partly—as the Hon Damien O'Connor said—becausethey're split with division. They're creating divisions insociety—not just within their own Government but also insociety—but it's mainly because New Zealanders have noconfidence in their management of the economy, because theyknow they're mismanaging it.

We've heard time andagain the other side saying, "Oh, we're in trouble. It'stough for New Zealanders.", and that that's because theyinherited bad inflation and they've got inflation down.Inflation in the quarter ended December 2023 was 0.5percent. Multiply that by four quarters, and it was alreadyat 2 percent. Inflation was already tamed by the time theGovernment changed.

What did Nicola Willis do? Shesaid, "Oh no—no, no, no. We've got to be tough. We'regoing to change the mandate of the Reserve Bank. We're goingto take employment out of it."—notwithstanding thatemployment is in the Federal Reserve objective in the UnitedStates and the Australian objective. And she told theReserve Bank in New Zealand, even though inflation wasalready coming under control, to go harder, and what didthey do? They did like they were told and they wentharder.

She talked the economy down, she got theReserve Bank to squeeze even harder, and then she imposedausterity at the same time. As an incoming Government, theyreversed the increases to road-user charges and fuel exciseduty, which was needed to build the roads. So theroad-building programme couldn't proceed, except throughborrowed money, and then they brought forward a Budget wherethey borrowed for tax cuts—borrowed for taxcuts.

Now, you hear them say that they're greatmanagers in the economy. In the last 25 years, 15 Budgetshave been Labour Budgets and 10 Budgets have been NationalBudgets. Of the 15 Labour Budgets: 11 surpluses, fourdeficits.

Andy Foster: Thank you,National.

Hon DAVID PARKER: No that'sLabour: 11 surpluses, four deficits. National had 10Budgets: three surpluses, seven deficits. They always doit—they always do it. They bring forward unaffordable taxcuts, they use it as an excuse to drive down Governmentexpenditure, they pursue an austerity agenda that squeezesthe pips out of the economy, and what happens? Unemploymentgoes up, and unemployment has gone up; people leave thecountry—tens of thousands of people have gone toAustralia—and what else happens? What else happens is yougo into recession, and we're in recession.

So underthis Government: higher Government debt, more borrowings,lower growth, more unemployment. This—

HonDamien O'Connor: What about the cost ofliving?

Hon DAVID PARKER: The cost ofliving—well, inflation is under control, but it was by thetime we left Government. [Interruption] It is—itis. But one of the reasons why since then it's gone furtherfrom having inflation being under control to beingrecessionary is that they've just squeezed it toohard.

Now, it's not just the individual sillydecisions that make people lose confidence—cancellingferry contracts, for example, was a big blue; cancellingProject Onslow before they finished the cost-benefitanalysis was another big blue—it's that New Zealandershave no confidence that things are going to get better underthis Government. That's why unemployment would be even worsethan it is now if it hadn't been for the tens of thousandsof people who have gone to Australia. Unemployment is up,but, worse than that, there's 32,000 fewer people inemployment in New Zealand than was the case when these guystook over, and some of them have left the country.

SoI remind the House that contrary to the repeated platitudesfrom the other side, in the last 25 years, there were 15Labour Budgets, with 11 surpluses and four deficits, and 10National Budgets, with three surpluses and seven deficits,and they've done it again. Remember how they used to—I'mout of time, Mr Speaker.

Hon JENNY SALESA(Labour—Panmure-Ōtāhuhu): Mr Speaker, thank youfor this opportunity to contribute to the debate on thePrime Minister's statement. Boy, it's a hard act to followon from the Hon David Parker, but I will try. I'm here torepresent the good people of Panmure-Ōtāhuhu. We have justover 75,000 people in South Auckland, and the PrimeMinister, when he made his statement, made severalreferences to economic growth and its importance to ourcountry. I agree; it is really important to see our economygrow, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. We are,right now, in recession, and this coalition Government ismaking a lot of choices that are not necessarily the rightones to ensure that our economy grows and that we get off ofthis recession.

Unfortunately, this National-ledGovernment is steering our country off track. Theycampaigned on getting New Zealand back on track, but thereality is that our public services are under attack,thousands of jobs are disappearing, unemployment is rising,and, unfortunately, it is rising especially for Māori andfor Pacific. The majority of my constituents inPanmure-Ōtāhuhu are Māori and Pacific, and so we arefeeling the downturn of this economy. In addition, ethniccommunities are still waiting for some promises to bedelivered that were campaigned on by this National-ledGovernment.

Now, this Government may not likeevidence, but we know that fully privatised healthcare,something that the Associate Minister of Health hasdiscussed, is something that is most extreme in its form inthe United States of America.

Hon ChrisBishop: Also not true.

Hon JENNYSALESA: The Commonwealth Fund reviewed healthcaresystems, Minister Bishop, including Australia, New Zealand,the UK, and the US, and they found—this research was onlylast year—that private healthcare systems ranked last, thevery last, in administrative efficiency, while New Zealandranked third. So the question is: why is it that New Zealandis now considering looking at the US as a possible system tofollow, when the US healthcare system is expensive, it iscomplicated, it is dysfunctional and broken?

This is acountry I lived in for 10 years, and I myself know just howexpensive it is. If you don't actually have private healthinsurance, if you don't work, you'll be out of luck. It isactually only those who work full-time and have privatehealth insurance that are able to access healthcare servicesin an equitable way. So the question is: if we do actuallylook at privatising our healthcare system, who will benefitthe most from privatisation? Certainly not everyday NewZealanders. The only winners are likely to be privatecorporations and those who are looking to make a profit offof people's health, off of people's ill health, and off oftheir wellbeing. Is this the kind of future that our countryshould be looking at? Is this the right kind of action thatwe should be looking at: to dismantle the public healthcaresystem that has served New Zealanders for many, manygenerations? I don't believe so. And I believe that, withthe assistance of ordinary New Zealanders, we can ensurethat our public healthcare system remains public.

Thecost of living issue was also something that thisNational-led Government campaigned on. Has it beenaddressed? Well, we're experiencing the steepest economicdownturn, as our former Minister for Trade spoke aboutbefore, since 1991. Yet, despite this, the cost of livingrelief has vanished from the Government's agenda. Familiesare still paying more for groceries, they're still payingmore for rent, for mortgages, while wages are stagnating andjobs are disappearing.

We have over a million ethniccommunities in New Zealand, most of them living in Auckland,and many work in healthcare, construction, essentialindustries, and many are small-business owners. Theycontribute a lot to our economy. The promise was made by theNational Government that they will have a five-yearrenewable parental visa to reunite families. Now, our ethniccommunities are still waiting. Fifteen months later, thispromise has still not been delivered on. They want action,not just words.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Leader ofthe House): I move, That this debate be nowadjourned.

Motion agreedto.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): This debate is adjourned and set downfor resumption next sittingday.

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Sitting date: 12February 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'SSTATEMENT

Debate resumed from 11February.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Minister ofHousing): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. ThePrime Minister's statement to Parliament lays out theGovernment's agenda for the year ahead. This Government isfocused on saying yes to growth opportunities and rejectingthe negative politics of the past in which we inventedreason after reason to say no to economic growth, becauseit's easy to say no to things. It's the easiest thing in theworld. As any new parent knows, saying no to kids iseasy—as I've discovered. It's incredibly simplistic andit's incredibly easy. Actually, the tough decisions—thethings that make a difference—are when you need to sayyes, and for too long this country has made a habit of justsaying no.

Everyone says that they're in favour ofgrowth—well, apart from the Greens. The Greens are theofficial de-growth party. They're not in favour of economicgrowth, but most rational political parties are, apart fromthe Māori Party—they're also not in favour of growth. Solet's leave Te Pāti Māori and the Green Party out of this,and let's just pretend that this conversation is happeningamongst rational, normal people. So the National Party andthe Labour Party and New Zealand First and the ACTParty—we're in favour of growth, and most reasonablepeople can agree on that.

But the problem with that isthat it's easy to say that you're in favour of growth, butthere's always a "but". "I'm in favour of growth, but growthhas got to be equitable."—as if that's a real thing."Growth has got to be sustainable." "I'm in favour of growthas long as it doesn't involve foreigners making money." "I'min favour of growth as long as it doesn't involve tradingwith the rest of the world." "I'm in favour of growth aslong as we make sure that live animal exports are notallowed." "I'm in favour of growth as long as we preserveevery wetland everywhere in the country."—even if it is,in fact, not a real wetland. "I'm in favour of growth aslong as someone doesn't make a buck out of it." "I'm infavour of growth as long as it doesn't involve trade withthe rest of the world." "I'm in favour of growth as long aswe don't build any McDonald's in Wānaka."—which is thelatest thing, today. "I'm in favour of growth as long as Ican see everything." "I'm in favour of growth as long as Ican see Mount Eden from every part of Auckland."—includingon a particular part of the Auckland Harbour Bridge wherethe toll booth used to be 30 years ago, until we removedit.

"I'm in favour of growth except"—except, except,except. That's been the story for 30 years. We just say thatwe like growth, but we've found every reason under the sunto say no.

We wake up in 2025 and we find ourselves 35to 40 percent poorer than Australia. We find ourselves witha productivity growth rate that's lower than most of ourtrading partners that we'd like to compare ourselves to, andthen—

Steve Abel: It's calledneo-liberalism.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP:See, I told you that they were the de-growth party. TheGreens don't believe in growth. Well, here's the rub:they're the first people to complain about underfunding inhospitals and schools, and all of the living standards andthe public goods that the New Zealand Government should anddoes provide. But, I tell you, here's the rub: how do youhave a better public health system? Growth. How do you havea better standard of living? Growth. How do you have abetter education system? Growth.

In fact, here's thetruth: what are the countries that look after theenvironment the best? Wealthy countries that grow. Thepoorest economies in the world desecrate the environment.They ravish the environment.

I invite the member totravel through the developing world. He would find thedeveloping world going hell for leather on growth, and,actually, half the time utilising natural resources fromfossil fuels to grow, because the great driver of humanhistory is growth. This idea that we should lock ourselvesin a hermetically sealed vacuum off from the rest of theworld and pretend, and wear hemp and eat vegan food all day,is nuts. It is nuts, and that's what the Greens believe.They're entitled to those beliefs, and New Zealanders areentitled to believe in them as well, but I aim and we aimfor better things. We aim for better things. Fast-growingeconomies look after their people better and they look afterthe environment better, and that is why we are going forgrowth.

About 20 years ago, there was an interestingexchange in the House about why Australia has access tobetter cancer drugs than New Zealand, and why Australia hasbetter access to pharmaceuticals. The simple reason is thatthey are wealthier than we are, and Michael Cullen said that20 years ago.

So we've got to go for growth, and thatmeans everything the Government is doing. That means fasttrack, and, yes, there will be projects that the Green Partydoes not like. But I'll tell you what this country needs: itneeds more roads, it needs more mines, it needs morerenewable energy, and it needs more solar farms. It needs tobe easier to build wind farms in this country. It needs tobe easier to do just the simple task of subdividing a house,the simple task of putting a house on a section of farmlandso that people can live in those houses, or the simple taskof adding extensions to houses without going through endlessred tape by the local council and the regional council, andall of the plans that get in the way of that. We need to sayyes to trade. Todd McClay —where is ToddMcClay?

Tom Rutherford: "TradeMcClay".

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: "TradeMcClay"—I don't want to see him in this House ever again.He needs to be offshore, doing trade deals. He's just comeback from the UAE, and we're in the first 14 days—afantastic deal.

We're doing an investment summit inthe coming weeks, in March, and I make a prediction that theGreen Party will turn up and say, "This is really bad. Wecan't have foreign pension funds investing in New Zealandinfrastructure, because it might mean that someone makes abuck." I predict that; in fact, I hope that the Labour Partywon't say that, but we'll see—we'll see. They are vaguelyrational, sometimes, on growth.

We need foreigninvestment. We need fast track. We need trade deals. We needour investment summit. We need planning reform, and thisyear, we've got a big programme of work around the ResourceManagement Act. I'll guarantee you that the LabourParty—TBC—will oppose it, and I guarantee you that TePāti Māori will oppose it.

It's time to stop sayingno to everything and time to start to say yes. It'sinteresting to look back over the Labour Party's response tothis Government's ambitious agenda so far, because we've got"Mr No" and "Mr Slow" over there. "Mr No" is Chris Hipkins,and "Mr Slow" is Kieran McAnulty.

"Mr No"—ChrisHipkins—is not in favour of fast track and they votedagainst it, but it looked like he was in favour of digitalnomad visas. We had this great idea and Louise Upston,Nicola Willis, and Erica Stanford announced it, and wethought that this was pretty good. It went down extremelywell and it had a huge amount of interest from overseas.Chris Hipkins said a year ago that this was a vision for NewZealand: "Digital nomads calling New Zealand home whileusing the international time difference to work productivelyand remotely." Well, I agree, but it turns out that theLabour Party opposes that, like they opposed fast track,even though they came up with the original idea for that inthe first place.

Now, "Mr Slow" over there, when itcomes to the speed limits in the Wairarapa—and let me talkabout the speed limits. There's been quite a bit of debateabout them, and I want to acknowledge Mike Butterick, who'sright down the back of the Chamber, but he's at theforefront of this debate. He's done a fantastic job oncampaigning and overturning it.

Who remembers thepolicy bonfire, when Chris Hipkins came into Government,Jacinda Ardern resigned as Prime Minister, and everyone gotvery excited about life—all the stupid ideas that thatGovernment was advancing. New Zealanders said, "Oh, this isquite good—a policy bonfire.", and Chris Hipkins stood upand said, "I'm getting rid of all the speed limit changes."because he knew they were really unpopular, and he then didnothing about it. I think that the good people of theWairarapa got very excited because they thought, "Oh, thisis quite good. This stupid 80 kilometre stretch fromFeatherston to Masterton—we're going to get rid of that.",but nothing happened, and it took the election of a localNational MP and a National Government to get rid of it. I'mpleased I've made Kieran McAnulty's day aroundthat.

So we've got "Mr No" and "Mr Slow", and thenwe've got "Miss No-show" over there—the financespokesperson for the Labour Party—who is just not part ofthe economic debate. She's got two different positions atany one time. At the one hand, it's "They're borrowing toomuch.", and then at the next minute, it's like "You need toborrow more because we need to invest in this and that andthe other thing."

Then they can't make up their mindsabout the capital gains tax, and I'll make anotherprediction for the year ahead. I'll make another predictionfor the year ahead, because we've got "Mr Piketty"—DavidParker—down the back, alongside the merry crew, and HelenWhite is smiling over there. She's nodding and smiling,because what's happening is there's a—I hesitate to usethe word "coup", but there's a lobby in the Labour Party.Helen White, Phil Twyford, David Parker, and, let's face it,80 percent of the Labour Party membership are going to pushhard for a wealth tax, and the Labour Party needs to sortout its position. Oh, I'll tell you our position: they'reboth dumb ideas. Wealth taxes are stupid and capital gainstaxes are stupid.

I'll tell you what is a good idea:going for growth. That's what this Government is going todo, and only when the Labour Party starts saying yes toeconomic opportunity will the public take them seriously.Thank you very much.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY(Labour): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. ThisGovernment is arrogant, it is incompetent, it isdisingenuous, it is heartless, and it is cruel, and if we goby the previous speech, you'd also think they've given up.That was supposed to be their brightest star. I've seenduller things in the middle of a paddock. That was pathetic.Did you see the level of energy? The most energy that ChrisBishop could bring up, and the most energised his benchmates were, was when Mark Mitchell crossed his arms—thatwas it. That was the best they could come up with. And thereason I think they're so deflated is because they know thatthey have stuffed up. They know that the public is startingto wake up to the fact that they were told fibs during thecampaign. That is why the Government is arrogant—becausethey think because they say it, it must be true. It is nottrue. It is far from true.

Think back to the campaign.Everyone told them that their tax plan didn't addup—everyone—except Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop andChris Luxon. "No, no, we've got it. We're all good." Who wasright? Was it them? No. It was everybody else. And now, theystand up and they tell regions around the country, "We don'thave money for your hospital. We don't have money to replaceyour orthopaedic surgeons. We don't have money to replaceyour birthing unit. We don't have money to fund our roadsthat we promised. We don't have money to fund houses. Wedon't have money to fund early childhood education, despiteour promises—we're going to make it so hard to apply, tosave ourselves money." All of these things come from onething: that party misleading the country during thecampaign, and it's coming home to roost now. They havefailed the economy: 2.4 percent growth in GDP when they tookoffice, and now we're in recession.

We saw it today inquestion time, didn't we? When the Prime Minister comesunder pressure, he just makes things up. So when we wasbeing asked about the economic performance of thisGovernment, he said, "We've been in recession for threeyears.", and everyone's standing around going, "No wehaven't." We've been in recession for nine months—entirelyin your time. And we saw it again today: "Oh, we've built2,000 houses."—bull. Not true. Not even close to true.They have built zero houses. The only houses that have beenbuilt are the houses that the previous Government paid for.Now, they are so desperate to claim some sort of win, thatthey are now claiming the work of other people. But shouldthis come as a surprise? No. Because what do they do whenthey're confronted with their own mistakes? They blame otherpeople. That is the typical behaviour of an arrogant person:claim credit for somebody else's win, and blame them whenit's actually your fault.

They are so incompetent thatthe only thing that they can grasp at now is the failedpolicy of privatisation—the very policy that has led tounaffordable energy bills because John Key sold 49 percentof the power companies. Apparently, the solution to that isto sell the rest. It is dumb—it is dumb. It's been triedbefore; it's failed before. But when you've got nothingleft, what have you got? That is the only thing that theycan grasp.

The reason I say they are disingenuous isbecause they stand up in this House and they say they careabout people's jobs.

Hon Members:Rubbish.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY:Rubbish. They stand there after firing thousands uponthousands of people, after pulling funding out of hospitalbuilds and school builds and social house builds—to thetune of 14,000 people have lost their jobs in construction.That is their decision. That is on their heads. And when weraise it to their attention, what do they do? They blameeverybody else except themselves. Well, they're going tohave to suck it up because that is a direct result of theirdecisions. It is actually the reason why I call them crueland heartless.

Homelessness is growing. That is provenin the Salvation Army State of the Nation 2025 reportreleased today. Homelessness is growing. Compare that to thefindings in last year's report that said we are finallyfinding some momentum and finally making some ground inhousing people. Why? Because the Labour Government investedin houses and actually built houses. We built so manyhouses, they think they can claim credit for 2,000 of themand no one will notice. But we do notice, because we knowthat they have funded and built nothing.

Whenhomelessness is growing, a caring Government that actuallyfollows through with its promises would have done what theysaid they would do during the campaign. Tama Potaka saidthat they would build more social houses than the previousLabour Government. That's a big commitment because that's14,000, right? Chris Bishop said that they would build somany houses that they would eliminate the housing wait-list.And Nicola Willis signed a pledge, with her own name, thatthey would build a net increase of a thousand State homes inAuckland every year. What's happened? They have stopped theexpansion of State houses. Despite all the bluster and theattempts to do witty points of orders, Chris Bishop needs tofront up to the country. His policy means that there will beno increase in State houses. They have only funded communityhousing providers to the tune of 750 houses a year from nextyear. That's all they've funded, so they can't lay claim toanything up to now. And then from 2026 onwards, it's 750 ayear. There are over 20,000 people on the social housingwaiting list, and their solution is to fund 750 ayear.

But the thing that I find most egregious andmost disingenuous is the claim that they have met theiremergency housing target five years early. It's just nottrue. Do they think New Zealanders are thick? That they canturn around and say, "Look at this, we've reduced it from4,000 to 600 just like that." You've got to ask thequestion: why? So if you look into the numbers, everyonethat has left emergency housing to go into a social househas gone into a social house that we paid for and built; 20percent that have left emergency housing are unaccountablefor, and Tama Potaka is on the record to say that he doesn'tcare if they're on the street. If you don't believe me, lookit up—it's in the Stuff article. But here's the thing: theSalvation Army and other front-line providers stood in frontof the Minister and they said, "Your policy is preventingpeople from getting in." He didn't care, because they onlycare about reducing costs, and they only care about meetingtargets—arbitrary targets that don't actually meananything because they don't give a truereflection.

Homelessness is going up—while theystall State houses, underfund community housing providers,and literally prevent people from going into emergencyhousing to make their numbers lookgood.

Camilla Belich:Shame.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY: It isshameful.

Just in the last two weeks ,we havepresented the Minister with examples of people that he haslooked in the eye and said that if you are in genuine need,you will get help. The example today is a Rotorua motherwho's pregnant and who is sleeping in a doorway. The manfrom Christchurch who was sent out of hospital, deniedemergency housing—readmitted to hospital fromcomplications from sleeping in his car. The mother with afour-month-old in Tauranga who was denied the opportunity toapply for emergency housing is living in a tent. And thewoman and her children in the Wellington region who escapeddomestic violence and wasn't even able to apply. This is aresult of your decisions, a result of the Budget that eachand every one of you voted for. No wonder you're deflated,and no wonder your heads are hanging in shame. They deserveto be.

SPEAKER: This is a split call.I call on Tim Costley.

TIM COSTLEY(National—Ōtaki): Well, I guess if you're bereftof your own ideas, you just start talking about everybodyelse's, because I didn't hear one idea on how to actuallyimprove the quality of life for everyday Kiwis in that last10 minutes of whatever that was. All I heard was wanting topoint the finger and deflect from the track record of thelast six years.

If you want to go back, read theHansard from 16 February 2022 when the Salvation ArmyState of the Nation report came out where they said,"Oh, it wasn't just a housing crisis; it was a catastrophe."But of course, the Ministers that day were, "Oh, no, no, no,we haven't done anything wrong. We're making everythingbetter." It's never the fault of anyone over that side; it'sjust a mystery to people like their finance spokesperson howwe landed up in the worst recession in 30 years. It's acomplete mystery, and it doesn't surprise me when I hear thequestions that come from them that it would be amystery.

We actually need to make progress foreveryday Kiwis. We heard it from the last person to speak,Kieran McAnulty, talking about the fact that as a country wehave no money to pay for things. No kidding. Look at whathappened for the last six years under their Government.That's why we need growth. If we want to pay for moredoctors, if we want more teachers and more nurses and moresocial workers, if we want to have better welfare, if wewant to have better public services, we have to pay for it,and that means we need growth.

Growth gives uschoices; it gives us opportunities. It means family can makea few decisions at the end of the week. That's what our planis all about. Yes, I'm proud that we've done stuff likegoing from almost 5,000 households in emergencyaccommodation to 591 in a year. We set a target of sixyears; we did it five years early. That is outstanding. Butthere is more to do, and that's why we're going for growth.So in my five minutes—it's less than that now—let megive you five ideas that are actually going to help us getgrowth.

Firstly, we need a skilled workforce. That'swhy in schools last year we took away the cell phones; westarted doing the basics brilliantly—an hour a day ofreading, writing, and maths; and this year we're bringingback structured literacy, structured maths. I had messagesfrom families of Paraparaumu Beach School, families tellingme how excited they were to see the new textbooks that werefunded coming home. This is of course the first time we'vealso fully funded textbooks in te reo Māori. This came outfrom another principal that says, "We've definitely seen thebenefits of children completing now their maths knowledgework, reinforcing their basic maths skills in our classlearning." They are loving what we're doing because it getsresults, and if we want to have a growth economy, we needthe skilled workforce to deliver that.

Secondly, weneed to improve regulation. It's not just ResourceManagement Act reform or improving the rules and simplifyingthem for building new homes. The things that annoy you liketraffic management—I was speaking with Horowhenua DistrictCouncil staff about this; more than $35,000 in trafficmanagement for an Anzac Day parade. But how do we get to thepoint in this country where we think it's OK that we'respending tens of thousands of dollars to let our veteransmarch down the street when there's a police car up the frontand the back anyway? It's this kind of unproductive spendingthat doesn't create growth. It doesn't help anyone in ourcommunity. It is just wasteful spending that we are focusedon getting rid of. Because if we keep taking this lowestcommon denominator approach, we're never going to grow oureconomy, we're never going to deliver the opportunities thatKiwi families need.

Time ticks on—number three: weneed innovation at home and from offshore. I think of somegreat local businesses in Ōtaki like Stanmore Farm thatproduce grapevine stems for all around the country andoverseas, exporting them overseas. But the technology thatthey have developed themselves on site is amazing. You know,we've seen what Rocket Lab can do. But last year I went tovisit Robinson Research Institute. They've developed hightemperature superconductors to power little satellites; it'sjust gone up on a NASA space station. But there was no planto commercialise it. This is the best and the brilliance ofKiwi scientists. We need to be commercialising theseopportunities so that we bring the opportunity backhome.

Four and five really quickly, we need tostrengthen our international connections. It's not just freetrade agreements; it's getting rid of non-tariff barriers.It's the work that people like our Defence Force do overseasto build those relationships. Number five: it is aboutinvesting in quality infrastructure. In my area, that'sthings like the Ōtaki to north of Levin expressway, 110kilometres an hour on day one. It is going to bemagnificent. That's something we've campaigned for for along time, but it helps get our community moving. But it'salso things like the solar farm in Foxton that thisGovernment has committed to supporting, and we've putthrough the fast track—well, they're open for applicationsnow in the fast track. I look forward to seeingit.

Because if we do these things, if we have theskills starting from a young age, if we improve regulation,if we innovate at home, if we strengthen our globalconnections and invest in quality infrastructure, we willhave a growth economy. Growth isn't a certainty, but withour plan, Going for Growth, we will deliver it for everydayKiwis, so they get the public services, they get the qualityof life, and the choices they deserve.

GREGFLEMING (National—Maungakiekie): I love Waitangiweek—love it! Love being in Northland, love what it isthat we're celebrating up there, love the vision. Last week,of all the things that I had the privilege of doing upthere, my highlight was, I think, on Tuesday when I was ableto visit three different Northland businesses with a numberof our Ministers here. I want to speak briefly to each ofthem today and then pivot from there to one of the mostexciting things that I've seen in our plan for this year,which is to turbocharge Invest New Zealand.

Thosethree businesses were Kawiti Glowworm Caves, Ngawha Springs,and Manea Footprints of Kupe. Every one of those are a hapūowned and directed business and every one of them have beenable to weave the

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Therichness that that brings to the experiences—it really wasan unforgettable day. It was an unforgettable day not justin terms of what we learnt and what we what we felt and whatwe were connected to in terms of those places, but it wasunforgettable too in terms of the inspiration for what ispossible when communities are supported and resourced andenabled to actually develop their own economic growth andtheir own economic independence. Because that's what everycommunity, every hapū, every family in this country wants.They want the ability to be able to look after themselves.They want the ability to be able to create employment andcare for their own. And that is why, as I mentioned in myintroduction, I'm so excited about the turbocharging ofInvest New Zealand.

Rima Nakhle: Tellus, Greg.

GREG FLEMING: I will.Invest New Zealand, under New Zealand Trade and Enterprise(NZTE)—and on this one, can I just acknowledge mycolleague, friend, and former constituent, CourtneyWilson-Yalden

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—coming up there. Under NZTE, in just threeyears, Invest New Zealand has backed 324 Māori businesses,generating $753 million in investments. It is a New Zealandsuccess story that we are taking to the next level; we'regoing to scale it and it's going to have massive impact onMāori communities, on Māori businesses, and across thewhole country as well.

I also want to speak about acouple of businesses in my electorate of Maungakiekie andgive them as an example to the House of how it is thatbusinesses drive community flourishing. These are thebusinesses owned by Will Batts and by Dmitry Gafiyatulin.Will owns the Sentinel Homes franchise. He lives inOnehunga. Dmitry's business is called Reliance Utilities andit's based in One Tree Hill. These two guys are both intheir early to mid-thirties and they stand, I think, asfantastic examples of why it is that we, as a Government,are focused on economic growth and why we believe thateconomic growth is the best way forward to seeing ourcommunities actually flourish.

The single biggestthing in Dmitry's business—he is an energy retailer—thathe needs to be able to provide better services and moreaffordable products to his customers is more energy. Andthat is what fast-track is all about; it's actually entirelyabout driving that kind of rapid development so that we canhave more energy going to businesses like this that willthen help our communities flourish.

In Will's case, heis all about building homes—building dozens of homes forour communities. The three things that he needs more thananything else is residential land, he needs faster buildingconsent processes, and he needs more competitive buildingproducts. Well, we've got great news, Will. We're deliveringall three of those, and we're delivering them at pace.Because Dmitry and Will and dozens and hundreds andthousands of small-business owners like them invest theircapital: they create employment for people, they generateincome, and from that income they pay tax which allows us inthis House the privilege of funding the public services thateveryone needs and deserves. But then Will and Dmitry doeven more: from what's left over after delivering services,building homes, funding employees, paying tax, and feedingtheir own families, they choose to invest further in theircommunity. They give substantially and generously tocharitable causes from the fruits of their business,including, just beginning this week, the co-funding of a24/7 youth worker at One Tree Hill College.

That's thedifferences that businesses make. That's how we make ourcommunities and our hapū and our whānau in this countryflourish, and that's why we're about economic growth andproductivity.

Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER(Green—Rongotai): Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnākoutou e te Whare. The Green Party, from the very beginning,has always been about improving quality of life, aboutunderstanding what real wealth is to people. Real wealth isnot measured in GDP; it is measured in the time that we areable to spend with our children. It is measured in theflourishing of ecosystems of which we are part—being ableto see nature returned to a city like Pōneke Wellington. Inmy electorate of Rongotai, we have a predator-freepeninsula. We have record numbers of native birds comingback to the city. This is a unique position to be in in theworld right now, because the ideology of the last century,at least, has been growth for growth's sake, and that is theideology of the cancer cell. It means we have morepollution, we have more waste, we have more people gettingsick, and all of that may be higher GDP, but it's notactually real wealth—it's not improving quality oflife.

So, I mean, imagine this: we could have anAotearoa where all people have access to a healthy, dry,simple, and lovely home that is powered with plentifullocally generated renewable electricity from wind and solar.You know, having an energy efficient home means you don'thave to use so much electricity, and the electricity we usecould be more affordable if we were investing in the rightsolutions. We could have neighbourhoods where when our kidsleft the house, we didn't have to worry about them being runover by a double-cab ute or some other fast-moving vehicle.They could have the freedom to walk or cycle or scoot toschool, and that is productivity, because that is time savedfor parents. That is less traffic on the road. That ishealthier, happier kids that learn better. The people in theGovernment apparently think that this is a terrible thing,the idea that kids should be able to walk and cycle or roamaround their neighbourhood without being worried aboutgetting run over by a fast-moving vehicle. To them, theydon't understand that that is actually harming our society.It's hurting us. It's costing us.

The best way toimprove productivity is to invest in our people, to lookafter our natural resources, and to get off fossil fuels. Wecan't thrive—humans cannot thrive—if we have an unstableclimate. We cannot live good lives if we are constantlydealing with droughts, floods, and catastrophic fires. Wehave known for quite some time now that our use of fossilfuels and land use that is, you know, overly in agricultureand not in enough native biodiverse ecosystems is drivingcatastrophic climate change, which means we are going tohave an unstable climate and it's going to be more difficultto grow food and we're going to have less access to freshwater. So, globally, we all have this opportunity to worktogether.

The steps that the Greens know that we needto take—which are pretty much the opposite of everythinglaid out in his statement—and the steps that we can takewill not only benefit Papatūānuku, will not only lookafter nature; looking after our peers, our friends, ourcommunities is looking after ourselves. It's all one and thesame.

Here's a really good example of why thisGovernment is so offtrack. I mean, everything they'reproposing is not going to work to deliver the things theysay they want. A perfect example is the fast-track projectin my electorate, Rongotai, a proposal for a road tunnelthat is going to cost billions of dollars. And just in thenews yesterday, it's been reconfirmed that the Government'sown documents show it doesn't save travel time. It makestraffic worse. And this is what we've been trying to tellpeople for decades.

This isn't a culture war: if youdesigned a transport system where more people can walk,cycle, take public transport for the short trips, then theroads we have work perfectly to move freight and to move thethings that need to be moved by road. And that's how citiesall over the world function—in countries that that party,the National Party, said that they admired; places whereless than half the trips are made by car. But yet they'restill going to fast track this project, which is going tocost billions of dollars, and it doesn't even solve theproblem. And then they say we're the irrationalones—projection, much? I mean, the least rational thingyou can do is keep doing the same thing and expect to get adifferent result.

We need a Government that's going toshow real leadership, that understands values, thatunderstands the interconnectedness of our world—and thesolutions are there; they are Green.

FRANCISCOHERNANDEZ (Green): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's aprivilege to take a call in the Prime Minister's statement.It's always interesting, in these things, what's not said isoften more important than the things that are. The PrimeMinister didn't mention the southern hospital even once inhis statement. And no wonder why: we find out why, a fewdays later, when his newly minted Minister of Healthconfirmed that the hospital rebuild would proceed but itwould proceed with less beds than the current DunedinHospital. Now, this is totally unacceptable, but the PrimeMinister must have been glad for the support from the otherlegacy party—from the Labour Party—when they celebratedit. And I'm holding up the quote. It's a very small thing;should have reprinted it. It says, "Fewer beds but still awin for Dunedin." The Greens will never celebrate a cut inthe beds as a win for Dunedin. We will keep fighting withthe people of Dunedin to get Dunedin the hospital rebuildand the southern region the hospital rebuild itdeserves.

What was also interesting in the PrimeMinister's statement is that in the statement he thankedNational Ministers, he thanked National backbenchers, but hedidn't thank a single one of his once and future DeputyPrime Ministers; not a single mention of his coalitionpartners. And, look, no wonder why: this is their secondyear in office, and what have these two once and futureDeputy Prime Ministers actually accomplished? Well, thefuture ex-Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour hasaccomplished—he set up a few white elephant bureaucracies.He's degraded the school lunches programme so that, wherethere were once healthy, nutritious lunches for kids,they're feeding them inedible slop. And earlier this week heram-raided Parliament. No wonder—no wonder—the PrimeMinister isn't dishing out praise for these coalitionpartners. The current Deputy Prime Minister Peters, well,you know, he's picked fights with our allies within thePacific and across the Pacific, so no wonder he's notgetting gold stars from the Prime Minister either.

Theone thing that the Prime Minister did mention in hisspeech—well, more alluded to—was the Government targets.He said that they were making good progress on reducingviolent and youth crime, but what he didn't say in hisspeech is that they're actually wildly off track. If youlook at the latest Government targets update, which wasreleased in September, it shows a sea of red and a sea ofyellow against the Government targets. When we heard fromthe Salvation Army earlier today, they confirmed that thisGovernment isn't delivering better public services for NewZealanders. What they are delivering is crime going up, whatthey are delivering is child poverty growing up, and whatthey are delivering is unemployment going up. So that's whatthe Prime Minister and his Government has said yes to—allthese things going up.

Now, the most egregious thingabout this is that it didn't have to be this way. You canunderstand our scepticism when the Minister in charge ofdelivering these improved public services has now beenreshuffled off and put in charge of delivering economicgrowth. We've already seen what one year of her economicstewardship has delivered to this country: unemployment atrecord levels, poverty at record levels, the economybreaking at the seams, and more and more New Zealandersleaving this country in record numbers. So forgive ourscepticism; she didn't deliver on better public services,and there's no evidence that she'll deliver on economicgrowth, either.

I want to use the last part of myspeech to thank the New Zealanders out there for their workin holding this Government to account. Thank you for all thehundreds and thousands of submissions that you've madeagainst the terrible bills and the terrible legislation thatthis Government has introduced to this House. Thank you foryour continued support, whether you're sharing social mediaposts, whether you're hitting that "Like" button, or whetheryou're donating to the parties of the Left, here. While wehave occasional disagreements, we are all united and we willall make this a one-term Government. Thank you for yourcourage. This is not an easy Government to be living under.Every day, there seems to be another fresh attack on theenvironment, on the people, on Te Tiriti, and it's not aneasy context to be dealing with. So thank you, everyone outthere, for your courage. The tide is turning and we willmake history by making this the first one-term NationalGovernment.

Hon NICOLE McKEE (AssociateMinister of Justice): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'mpleased to be able to take this split call to be able tospeak on the Prime Minister's statement, and, of course,what we are going to do to help build this economy, and whatwe're going to do this year.

In 2023, the ACT Partycampaigned on real change, making sure that we had changethat was going to affect the lives of people of New Zealand.Boy, have we been getting stuck into that. We've grown oureconomy, especially needed after the last effort of the lastGovernment and their "drunk uncle" ways of spending taxpayermoney, with no accountability, and wrapping everybody up incontinuous red tape. This Government is about supportingbusinesses. This Government is about supporting communities.This Government is about removing the red tape and all ofthe regulations that are bounding people up and stoppingthem from going about living their lives. We have listenedto the people of New Zealand and we've been sitting here asMinisters of the Crown, thinking "What is our little bitthat we can do to help improve our economy?"

One ofthe portfolios that I have is in the AML/CFT space—whichis the anti – money-laundering and countering financing ofterrorism space—and we're making changes there. Part ofthe changes that we are making actually come in relation towhat businesses have told us that they need, what customershave told us, what the people have told us.

I'll refernow to a letter that I received from Catherine, who told methat she's of my age—I could tell—"Do you remember whenwe were children and when you went to school when you werefive years old, you were given a little bank account cardand you were taught how to save, and you put money into thebank account, and the people from the bank would come to theschool and they would take your money, take your littlebooklet, and they'd bring it back, and you had typewrittenin there exactly how much money you had, and you were taughthow to save." Catherine wrote me a letter to tell me, "Ican't even open a bank account for my child. I can't do thatanymore." The reason why is because the AML/CFT regime is sostrict that unless she can prove that her child lives inthat house and has some sort of letter that has the child'sname and address on it, she can't prove the existence of thechild and can't open a bank account for herchild.

Then we have the elderly widows, those who haverelied on their husbands throughout their lives to keep themsafe, to take care of the bills and all the bank accounts,then when their husbands pass away, they then have to go andhave a bank account put into their name and transfereverything over, but, lo and behold, they can't find aletter that has their name on it from a utility, like apower bill; they have no proof to say that they live in thehome that they may have brought their children up in overmany, many decades. They too cannot just get on with life intheir elderly age.

So what I can do is help provideregulatory relief for New Zealand businesses and create asystem that's more responsive to the needs of Kiwis. InOctober last year, we announced a major overhaul of NewZealand's anti – money-laundering and countering financingof terrorism regime. We're going to be introducingreforms—some are already here; some are stillcoming—which are going to allow the system to be moreresponsive to industry and community needs. They will bemore agile and more focused on the real risks posed bymoney-laundering and New Zealand businesses. This relief isgoing to have flow-on effects for lower costs on customersbecause there will be lower costs on businesses who aretrying to comply with the burdensome and unnecessary redtape that has been placed upon them.

One of the thingsthat we're going to do in the first instance is make surethat we remove the three confusing bodies that are meant togive advice to our businesses, and make it just one so wecan get on with giving that advice and also get on withgiving that relief. This includes a couple of bills thatI've already lodged that will give small but effectivechanges to Kiwis and to businesses. I'm so looking forwardto this continuing forward through the Justice Committee,because I think everyone in this House wants Catherine andher children and their children to be able to open bankaccounts and be normal Kiwis living a normal life. Thankyou.

LAURA McCLURE (ACT): Thank you,Mr Speaker. Firstly, I think it would be rude of me to notaddress the previous Green member's speech. I think theDeputy Prime Minister in waiting has achieved an awful lotin this Government, as have quite a few of the Ministersfrom the ACT team and across the House. But what I would sayis we have a Ministry for Regulation set up to cut that redtape, the likes of what Nicole McKee has been talkingabout—a hotline where Kiwis can actually tip off this badregulation; something that people have been screaming aboutfor years. This regulation that has been crippling small andmedium enterprises—possibly that regulation that landed mein this position in the first place.

But, secondly,the most important thing that he's probably done is charterschools. And that's quite fitting because this is what todayI'm actually going to speak to you about. This week has beena fantastic week—well, actually, the past fortnight of newand improved choice for parents and for children in wherethey can actually send their children to get education. Fortoo long we've had schools that are not meeting the needs ofour communities, not meeting the needs of our kids, andwe've got a whole array of children that aredisengaged.

Now, the two charter schools in ŌtautahiChristchurch, my hometown, I could not be more proudof—the first time that Christchurch has actually had twocharter schools. We've got Mastery Schools. They are anAustralian proved model. Kids at risk of fallingbehind—maybe they've got a little bit ofneurodiversity—in years 1 to 7 will be brought up tospeed. They'll have tailored programmes that are actuallywhat these kids need. Teaching their level, not just theyear that they're in. We'll also be utilising our traineeteachers, because they've created a programme with theUniversity of Canterbury to actually hire some of thetrainee teachers. These teachers that would otherwise justbe working in a cafe—not that there's anything wrong withthat, but why can't we be utilising these in the classroom?So I'm super excited for them and I can't wait to see whatthey achieve.

Christchurch North College—the nextcharter school to open. That deals with the kids that arefrom year 7 to year 10 that have really fallen between thegaps. Some of these kids have not been at school for betweenone and two years. This school's going to provide theopportunity to get them the education they need and focus onsome of those vocational skills. Because guess what? Goingto university, having higher education, isn't for everybody.But we all know that we need some kind of education to get agood quality head start in life. So I'm very excited forthose kids.

Look, I just want to recount one of thechildren that I actually met at the Christchurch NorthCollege. He was sitting next to me during the pōwhiri, theopening, and he was shaking quite a lot. And it made mereflect on how nerve-wracking it must be if you've not beenin education for a couple of years and you are taking thatrisk, you're getting out there, and you're getting backengaged in that system, how scary that might be. I wanted totalk to these kids and let them know that ACT and thisGovernment actually support them. We want you guys to getback into education and we hope that you have more choice indoing so when you get there.

Secondly, I think thatthese kids, they look around and they think, "What has gonewrong in the system? Where have I fallen through?" Maybeit's that they had some kind of neurodiversity. Maybe it'sthat they couldn't get to school for various reasons. Itcould be that they've got poor mental health. And they'vebeen looking to find ways to be engaged, but there has beennothing. And their poor families—their parents—have beenscreaming out for help. While, yes, there are some servicesout there; none of them can offer the wraparound, tailoredservice that something like Christchurch North College canoffer. And the future is bright for these guys and I couldnot be more excited.

My question to the Oppositionwould be: if having more choice in education, if giving ourchildren the best start in life has become a politicalfootball and so controversial, and you don't want to holdthe hand of that child that is shaking in their boots aboutattending school, then what are we doing here? The publicand parents, they are sick of education being a politicalfootball. They want us to all get along. They want to havechoice where they send their children. This should not be anissue that we continue to flick around. It should be that,actually, you know what, we all actually agree that kidsneed a good start in life. So my challenge to the Oppositionis to go and visit these schools, see what they're about,get on board. If you really care about the futures of ourchildren, then come along, have a look at it, get behind,and we can all have a bright future. Thankyou.

PAULO GARCIA (National—NewLynn): I'm very pleased to be able to stand in thisHouse today and speak about the Government's focus on whatthe important matters are that New Zealanders care about andthat affect all New Zealanders' lives. This Government'sfocus is on economic growth and infrastructure to drive thevery important growth that New Zealand needs, especiallynow. We are delivering with a strong focus on growing theeconomy to make New Zealanders better off—New Zealandersthroughout the country, including New Lynn—by advancingtrade initiatives and pushing for trade relationships to bestronger and more dynamic.

Our trade Minister, ToddMcClay, has been all over the world and constantly on theroad pushing for agreements to be strengthened and putforward. For example, the UAE free-trade agreement that'sreduced 98.5 percent of the duties that are due on NewZealand exports. Wages are now growing faster thaninflation, and cost pressures are reducing. We look forwardto more relief from the Reserve Bank, with an economy thatis fighting back the inflation that it has found itselfin.

In recent years, we've faced many challenges,especially in our cities where the pressures on transport,on healthcare, cost of living, and the effects of crime havebeen keenly felt. But despite these challenges, we aremoving New Zealand forward. The National Government has madeit clear that to alleviate all of these pains that we arestruggling with, the challenges, the way forward is to driveeconomic growth and long-term prosperity for NewZealand.

We stopped wasteful spending. We've providedtax relief. We've had RMA reform, fast track, and new roads,and we are restoring the consequences of crime, including anewly picked from the ballot coward punch amendment bill,that we hope to pass in this term.

The investments inhealthcare are new and record-breaking—$17 billion inhealthcare and new cancer treatments, a refocus on thebasics in education, and making investments coming into NewZealand a much easier and more transparent and clearprocess. We are keeping councils to the basics and we aregetting things moving for all New Zealanders to feel betteroff.

This is what our local businesses need,especially for exporters throughout New Zealand. What a bighelp it is to the growers and all producers of products thatgo all over the world. We can now tap on all of theseopportunities and bring growth to businesses that enablehigher pay, more stable employment. Trade isn't just aboutmaking money; it's about creating those important local jobsthat support our local families and that strengthen ourcommunities.

We're also working very hard to cut redtape and the barriers to growth. It is what 2025 will beabout for this Government. It's all about growth. It's allabout bringing New Zealand forward. It's all about helpingNew Zealanders feel better about living in New Zealand.Thank you, Madam Speaker.

RYAN HAMILTON(National—Hamilton East): Thank you, MadamSpeaker. It's great to rise and speak on the PrimeMinister's statement, and I don't know if I'm breachingStanding Orders by saying it's great to have you back, MadamSpeaker, as well, and the House is brighter for you in it.Kia ora tātou e te Whare. , year of the WoodSnake, happy Chinese New Year. And today is the LanternFestival, which marks the official end of the Chinese LunarNew Year, and I just acknowledge the Chinese community, inparticular those in Hamilton East who have been a tremendoussupport—

Tim Costley: And lucky tohave you as their MP.

RYAN HAMILTON:—for me back home. Thank you, Mr Costley. But it's greatto speak on behalf of Hamilton East, Kirikiriroa Rāwhiti,and on behalf of the city which is now New Zealand's fastestgrowing city—the city of the future. It's truly aprivilege and an honour.

But what a great speech wehad by our Prime Minister only a few weeks ago. What I lovedabout it was it was such a pragmatic speech. He touched onso many things which are so key for New Zealand and oureconomy. He talked about law and order, health,education—

Shanan Halbert: How'sthat going in Birkenhead?

RYANHAMILTON: —productivity, law and order,education—Shanan—productivity, investment, and unlockingpotential. The latent potential that we've been sitting onwithin New Zealand, particularly over the last six years,which we're about to unshackle. We're about to unlock thepotential of this great country, and within the regions, andit's going to be awesome. We've got a productivity plan andit starts with education. Our great Minister Stanford isdoing incredible work there with structured literacy andmaths and educating our future—it's so good to see.Technology and innovation, less regulation, infrastructureinvestment, and investment support. And of course, we've gotthe investment summit in March, a few weeks away, which isgoing to be so good.

Arena Williams:Who's coming?

RYAN HAMILTON: But it'sinvite only, so you probably won't be invited to thatone.

Speaking of economy and boosting all good things,I'm so excited that Hamilton Airport is going to be havinginternational flights from July. And we're excited to sharethat that will bring in about $45 million to the regionaleconomy a year; 100,000 passengers will be leaving and goingforth to Sydney and the Gold Coast, five flights a week outof Hamilton, the city of the future. Very excitingindeed.

I'd like to talk about the idea, the prospect,of this third medical school. We've got short-term healthchallenges which Minister Brown is tackling head on, andwe've got some long term challenges. The medium-termsolution is a medical school in Waikato, and that's before abusiness case at the moment. But I'm optimistic, becauseit's also like a fast track: instead of the usual six-yeardegree, doctors will be able to do it in four years. It's agraduate degree, it's innovative, and it's exciting, andit's a key part to New Zealand's future of our GP shortages.So I'm looking forward to hearing about that.

One ofthe other key points in the Prime Minister's statement wasthe emphasis on infrastructure development. Only recently,we opened up the Peacocke bridge over the Waikato River,connecting east and west, Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge, across ourmighty awa. That was started under the National GovernmentHIF loan, or Housing Infrastructure Fund loan, and it wasgreat to start it and complete it under National—the partythat gets things done, in collaboration with our greatpartners in the coalition agreement.

I'm also pleasedto announce that I'm on the Environment Committee, and we'redoing some awesome stuff around Resource Management Act(RMA) reform: housing, infrastructure, farming, water,emergency, and natural hazards. Fast track—55,000 homespotentially going to be unleashed throughout this country,and 19 projects in Waikato, which I'm super stoked about.The Government, this year, plans to introduce legislation tofinally replace the RMA with a fairer and more efficientsystem based on property rights that make it easier, faster,and cheaper to build, while still protecting our naturalenvironment, because we know we can do both.

Moreover,this Government's focus on creating a high-wage, innovativeeconomy aligns perfectly with Hamilton's aspirations. Justlast week, I met with some individuals at Innovation Park inHamilton at a company called Farm Medix, and they've got atechnology that supports mastitis and foot disease forcattle, and they export that intellectual property all overthe world. They're also looking at a climate technologywhere they can burn slash or other waste products, capturethe carbon, and palletise it into what's called biochar, andearn carbon credits.

Rima Nakhle: Allin New Zealand.

RYAN HAMILTON: Sothere's some exciting stuff happening—all in New Zealand,and especially in Hamilton East, Rima, you'll be pleased toknow. But, Madam Speaker, the future is bright, and I'mpleased just to share those few insights with you. Thankyou.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS(Labour—Mana): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I riseto take a call on the Prime Minister's statement, and Istand by the words by the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins in theamendment to that motion that all the words after that bedeleted and replaced with "This House has no confidence inthis coalition Government because under its incompetent,arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership, New Zealand isgoing backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs, record numbersare leaving the country, and their priorities are wrong andout of touch." I absolutely stand by those words from theleader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Oppositionbecause that's exactly what we are seeing on a daily basisfrom this Government.

I was really interested to see anumber of MPs on the other side during this debate actuallyspend more time, rather than speaking about what they'regoing to do, actually spending more time giving pot-shots tothis side of the House. I noticed quite an interestingstrategy, actually. Half of those National Party MPs weretrying to talk about that Opposition financespokesperson—that Opposition finance spokesperson. Howabout you talk about your Minister of Finance? How about wetalk about the Minister of Finance that one out of threeNational Party voters don't believe can make this economygrow? How about we talk about that Minister of Finance where50 percent of New Zealanders do not trust her to make thiseconomy grow?

So I understand why you've changed thestrategy a little bit to try and throw back at theOpposition finance spokesperson, to try and destabilise theOpposition finance spokesperson, but I've got some news foryou.

Tim Costley: Give us someideas.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: See, hereis Tim Costley, the Ōtaki MP, who is saying, "Give us someideas." Well, guess what, Tim Costley; you're in Government.You are accountable for the last 16 months. So theinteresting thing is that this Government, in the same waythat Tim Costley from the Ōtaki electorate says, "Give usyour ideas."—of course they want our ideas. Of courseŌtaki wants our ideas, because unlike Tim Costley where allpolitics is local politics, part of my electorate in Manacovers Kāpiti, and my office has been open for just overthree weeks. Guess how many cases of homelessness, peoplethat cannot access emergency housing, socialhousing—

Tim Costley: It's been 16months. Where were you for the first 15months?

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: Itcovers the Kāpiti area—and you can keep interjecting, MrTim Costley, but the thing is I'm not going to back down,because the evidence is showing through electorate officesacross this country that this Government is making cuts, isrefusing to build more houses. It's actually just todayconfirmed that they're going to take the numbers ofcommunity housing providers and claim them as their own,never mind the funding. I'm waiting to see where the fundingis to support those community housing providers who do wantto build more houses, but I'm not seeing any fundingcommitment from this Government. So you cannot claim thatall those community housing providers who possibly may getno funding from this Government, that those houses areyours.

Then what you also heard from this Governmentwas just today in the House, there's this new strategy. Sofirst of all, attack the Opposition finance spokespersonbecause it's quite clear the Minister of Finance is rattledby the polls and by the way the economy is falling. Thesecond strategy is fudge the numbers a little bit—just alittle bit. See, the problem is, though, that could workduring an election, but when you are sitting on thosebenches, when you are a Government Minister, when you arethe Prime Minister, you are accountable for your words.That's why Kiwis across the country do not believe thebuzzwords that are coming out from the Governmentbenches.

So when the Prime Minister says that NewZealand has been in a recession for the last three years,well, let's fact-check that. So I did. I asked the Treasurychief economist, has New Zealand been in a recession for thepast three years? Well, actually just for nine months in2024. So, again, as much as the Prime Minister wants to saythat we've been in recession to try and fudge the numbers,to try and convince the country that things were worse underLabour and that they're doing something to improve it, theactual numbers don't lie. The actual evidence from Treasurysays that we have not been in a recession except for thelast nine months under this Government.

The secondlittle piece of fudging which I observed today from theHouse—and it was something that my good colleague andfriend Kieran McAnulty picked up, was saying that, "Yeah, webuilt 2,000 more homes." Absolute bull, I think were thewords that Kieran McAnulty used. Again, it was the LabourGovernment that funded those 2,000 homes and continued thebuild, which is why we have 2,000 more homes.

Everyday I am reminded through the people coming through myoffice in the Mana electorate who were homeless, who cannotaccess emergency housing, who cannot access transitionalhousing because the criteria has been tightened. It has beentightened because this Government is cutting the funding andmaking it more difficult for those Kiwis who need support toget that support.

I heard Tim Costley earlier in hisdebate talk about the lowest common denominator approach.Well, I'm sorry, but on this side of the House, theOpposition believes that a country and a society should lookafter those who cannot afford housing, who cannot affordlunches in schools, who cannot afford to catch the bus totheir rural school.

That is an atrocity, the fact thatfunding to rural bus routes has been cut and that a parentis having to tell their child and teach them, "This is howyou hitchhike safely." Is this the type of society whichdoesn't have any regard to that lowest common denominatorapproach? Well, that's not the society that the Greens, thatwe've heard from Te Pāti Māori, that the Labour Party willstand for, because we believe that you need to look afterthose who are the most vulnerable in your society, thereason being that's how you get growth, that's how you getproductivity, and that's how you get families to go toschool.

I do want to acknowledge the ACT MP LauraTrask who talked about attendance at school. I was a boardmember. That was back in the day of decile 2 schools.Attendance is so important for children to get to school,but what did Labour do to help with that attendance? Socialworkers in schools, lunches in schools, and we helped removeschool fees. But this is a period where children across thecountry, their parents are having conversations about howthey afford to send their children to school when publictransport subsidies were taken away by thisGovernment.

Lunches in schools: in order to save $130million, you're now having lunches arrive late if theyarrive at all. The quality of the lunches—this is thestuff we are serving our children in some of our poorestcommunities. But that's OK, because that lowest commondenominator approach means that, sure, you can give them a$3 lunch, even though I may be having a really fantasticlunch in Epsom. That's not how this side of the House wantsour New Zealand society to go.

So you will see timeand time again, you've heard it from the other side of theHouse: we are going for growth. Yes, growth in unemployment.Those unemployment numbers would actually be higher had125,000 New Zealanders not left New Zealand for overseas.They're going to Australia. One of the reasons which I sawrecently why they're going to Australia—and it goes backto, again, one of the very earliest decisions that thisGovernment made. When this Government came in, within their100-day plan, they removed the remit for maximum sustainableemployment for the Reserve Bank.

RyanHamilton: That's right.

Hon BARBARAEDMONDS: So Ryan Hamilton says, "That's right. Weremoved it." Yet in Australia, lower unemployment, theirinflation levels are better, and 125,000 Kiwis, a largeportion of them are going to Australia because they knowthere are jobs. And yet the Reserve Bank of Australia, guesswhat they have which this Government removed in the first100 days?

Tim Costley: Take off therose-tinted glasses.

Hon BARBARAEDMONDS: They have maximum sustainable employment.I love hearing the other side of the House saying, "Take offthe rose-tinted glasses." Again, every day in my office weare having homeless people, we are having people who cannotaccess emergency housing and transitional housing—thoseare the facts, because you have changed the criteria onwhich people can access help, which is why one in twoPacific children are going hungry, which is why one in 10Pacific people do not have a job. All these figures areevidence. There is data about it. So the people that need totake their rose-tinted glasses off are the ones that aresitting on that side of the House. We know Kiwis are doingit tough. When they're walking through our offices, they'redoing it tough. But instead, all we see from this Governmentis continual name-calling, a lowest common denominatorapproach, and what do you expect from a Government thatdoesn't want to lead?

MILES ANDERSON(National—Waitaki): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'dlike to begin by acknowledging the Prime Minister's addressand his focus on economic growth. It is under hisstewardship that we have seen a focused drive not onlytowards economic growth but also towards enhancement of theservices that a modern day society demands, fromhealthcare—and yes, this will include delivering a Dunedinhospital, which services not only Dunedin but a much widerarea including the Waitaki electorate—to education,infrastructure, and digital connectivity.

ThisGovernment's commitment to bolstering these essentialservices underpins the foundation of our progress. ThisGovernment is saying yes to fostering economic growth andstability for all New Zealanders. Over the past year, wehave witnessed remarkable progress driven by thoughtful andstrategic measures, aimed at enhancing our economiclandscape. Not only have we delivered legislation that willplay a crucial role in progress, like the fast-trackconsenting Act and the Resource Management Act reforms, weare also ensuring that we have a Budget that will alloweconomic recovery to occur. These measures and others pavedthe way for substantial investment in various areas,including our primary industries, mining, and the renewablesector.

The Government's commitment to creating arobust economic framework is evident in the positiveoutcomes we are now experiencing, and we have been cryingout for this as a country.

CeliaWade-Brown: A bit like childpoverty.

MILES ANDERSON: Hold yourhorses. In the Waitaki electorate, our primary industrieshave always been the backbone of our local economy and alsothe regional and national economy, as well. At this stage,I'd just like to give a shout out to the Totora Estate,which will be celebrating National Lamb Day on Saturday andis the birthplace of New Zealand's frozen meatindustry.

Hon Mark Patterson: I'll bethere.

MILES ANDERSON: And I hearMinister Patterson saying he's going to be there. However,agriculture, pastoral, and arable farming, fisheries,forestry, and horticulture are not just economic activities,they're a way of life for many of our residents, and this issomething that our Government supports. Mining is anothercritical sector in our electorate, and I want to highlightOceaneaGold at Macraes and the Oamaru stone quarries inNorth Otago that provide world famous Oamaru stone allaround New Zealand and across the world.

So the miningsector's also benefiting from the Government'sforward-thinking policies. This Government has facilitatedexploration and responsible extraction of mineral resources,which will contribute significantly to local employment andeconomic activity. Moreover, the Government's focus onrenewable energy opportunities is particularly relevant tothe Waitaki electorate. Our region is blessed with abundantnatural resources that make it ideal for renewable energyprojects. The Government's push to electrify New Zealand hasprovided the necessary framework and incentives for thedevelopment of wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectricpower. These initiatives will not only contribute to ournational energy security but also offer local communities apathway to sustainable economic growth, and it will createmuch-needed jobs.

I'd like to highlight the success ofseveral renewable energy projects in our electorate, allbased on the Waitaki Hydro Scheme, for instance, that is ashining example of how we can harness natural resources togenerate clean, green energy. This project has not onlycreated jobs, it also positions the Waitaki electorate as aleader in renewable energy creation. Government support iscrucial for driving such projects, ensuring that theyreceive the funding and regulatory backing needed to come tofruition; this Government is offering that support.

Inconclusion, I extend my gratitude to this Government, ourGovernment, for their unwavering commitment to economicgrowth. So, with that, Madam Speaker, I take myleave.

DANA KIRKPATRICK (National—EastCoast): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's my pleasureto take a call in support of the Prime Minister's statement.It's going to be a great year. We are excited. We haveturned the dial from no to go; from woe to let's go. Sobefore we talk about 2025, I just wanted to take a moment totalk about what we've done already. Let's just bear in mind:2025, the year of the growth mind-set.

So far, we'vedone fast track, 149 projects on the list; inflation's down;interest rates are down; we have stopped wasteful spendingbecause taxpayers expect better outcomes for their money;we've done the Resource Management Act (RMA) reform firsttranche, more of that coming, cutting the red and greentape; and we've dealt with ram raids, reducing those downsignificantly. We've done new trade deals. We've opened NewZealand's trade gateways across the globe, an incrediblelegacy being carved out by our Minister. We are backingfarmers. This Government has done more for farmers than anyGovernment in decades. We've banned cellphones in classes,and we know the benefits of that in our education system.And we've put together FamilyBoost—millions of dollarspaid out to young families to help with childcare, to getpeople back into work. We have focused on foreigninvestment, making that easier, because we want to welcometheir money into out country. And we focused councils backon the basics: get the roads fixed, make the pipes work, andget the rubbish picked up—it's not that hard.

Whatare we planning on doing next? We're planning on attractinginvestors to New Zealand, very clearly a key focus becausewe have to lift that offshore investment from $70 millionback up into the billions where it used to be. We're rampingup our tourism with better settings. If you listened to theOpposition going on and on about how bad it is in NewZealand, why would anybody want to come here? We can stilldeliver the services that we want, that we need, by beingpositive about our story, and welcoming to our country. Weare reforming the science sector for the first time in 30years and we're giving our best brains a reason to stay inNew Zealand for a rewarding career in research andinnovation There's more RMA reform to come. We're continuingto support our agricultural sector because we are the bestin the world and we want to support that and continue withthat legacy. And we're working hard to increase productivityand economic return so we can invest in health, education,infrastructure, and housing.

I want to take a momentto talk about the green shoots of growth already cropping upin the beautiful part of New Zealand that we know as theEast Coast. How good was it yesterday to see the news withthe announcement of the reopening of the Juken sawmill,where an investor has stepped in, bought the mill, and islooking to put back 500 jobs into the Tairāwhiti community.That is a significant change and a turn-around for us.Gisborne has long been the port that exports whole logs andhas struggled to find investors. This is a massive boost toour community at a time when we absolutely need to embracegrowth.

What about in Kawerau, where next month alarge processor will celebrate a $20 million investment intoswitching a massive manufacturing and processing entity fromnatural gas to geothermal steam. It's a great demonstrationof how innovation boosts the region's economy and providessustainable industry for generations to come.

And thenthe emails just keep coming from the likes of Forester NZ,working on exciting developments in the Eastern Bay,reducing carbon emissions, exporting, and growing jobs.Mātai Research in Gisborne, delivering world-leadingresearch, helping dozens of future medical specialists intheir research. And then there's HUTEC, a wonderful companyin Whakatāne employing 90 staff, with 14 apprentices,delivering international engineering projects and headinginto 2025 with an ambitious growth plan. Theseorganisations, among others, are confident to grow. They cansee that the economic tide is turning and they know that thefuture of our country, for the services everybody wants,lies in economic growth—not in handing out money; it takeshard decisions, fortitude, and 2025 is the year of a growthmind-set, bold approaches, and getting the work done. Youdon't get growth by giving away money; you get it byproviding opportunities for everybody.

We live in thefirst country in the world to see the sun. We get up firstevery single day in the world—we're the first to get up.This Government intends to make that count. We are not goingto sit back and wait.

I just want to mention, inclosing, that this week it's two years since CycloneGabrielle ravaged our region and large tracts of the EastCoast. We are grateful for the support of the Government,and the previous Government as well, for getting us back onour feet, but now we need to change it up. We need to thinkgrowth—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): The member's time has expired.

Debateinterrupted.

###

Debateresumed.

RIMA NAKHLE(National—Takanini): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Itoo am in the auspicious position of feeling honoured toalso submit my commentary on our Prime Minister's statementthat he gave in this House two weeks and one dayago.

But before I do that, if I may, I'd like to say"Happy Pongal" to our Tamil community, and I'd also like tosay "Happy New Year" to our Chinese communities, our Asiancommunities. If you're around Takanini, come to ManukauSports Bowl this weekend—starting on Thursday, we've gotthe Auckland Lantern Festival. That's going to be absolutelyamazing.

As I reflected on the Prime Minister'sspeech—and I reflected on it a lot, for a number ofreasons. It's setting the tone for what our absolute focusis this year, and as we've heard, in almost every speech,whether it's from this side of the House or on the otherside, we're acknowledging that we're saying we are focusedon economic growth. Part of my reflections on the PrimeMinister's speech went back to when I was door-knocking, andI speak about door-knocking a lot because I think that's oneof the strongest ways to keep in touch with one'scommunity—my beautiful community in Takanini.

Duringthe election campaign, what's tattooed in my memory is acouple whose door I knocked on in Addison, Takanini. Thiswas a young couple with a little bubba, a little child, andthis couple told me that they both had full-time jobs, andthat the home they were in was a house they purchased justbefore COVID. Then COVID struck, and they told me that fortwo weeks, they had not had any meat because the financeswere quite stretched; the budget was tight. And I'll neverforget that they said thank goodness for their parents andtheir grandparents—who are part of our beautiful Indianwhānau in Takanini—who taught them how to cook withgrains, with pulses, so that they could get that kind ofnutrition without the meat because they couldn't affordmeat.

And then they said to me, "We've never votedbefore, but we are planning to vote this year. Please willyou promise us that what your party is saying that you willdo, you will indeed do." One of the things they asked for:"Please, bring in that FamilyBoost"—they had their littlebubba—"Please adjust the tax brackets like you're sayingyou will. Please get rid of the Auckland fuel tax." And Isaid, "I promise you: what I know is that we will be doingthis." And I'm so happy, and relieved for them, that thoseare just a few of the changes that we've managed to makethat we know are improving the cost of living for thoseneighbours of mine that are in Takanini.

I reflectedon how our Prime Minister commented on this notion of"no"—and the "No-alition" on the other side. I reflectedon how if there was a university degree in saying no, theother side of the House would have PhDs in saying no. Whenwe went through a number of the suite of changes—andthere's a lot more to come—what did the "Doctors of No"say on the other side? No to banning gang patches inpublic—the "Doctors of No" on the other side said that. Noto making sure that repeat offenders are not given more thanthree chances to smash up shops. No to adjusting taxbrackets—that's what the "Doctors of No" said—and no toremoving the Auckland regional fuel tax.

I love thefact that in Takanini, when I went door-knocking in Addisonagain, just on the weekend just past, there were a number ofpeople on the street that I door knocked at who said, "Yep,it's really hard for us. It's very hard for us." And theysaid—no word of a lie—"But please keep going." And therewere two people who said, "Keep going and go harder.",because they know we're making the difficult decisions wehave to make for economic growth, to make life better andeasier for all New Zealanders across Aotearoa. We're sayingyes—yes to FamilyBoost, which we have said, yes to a newschool for 600 students in Flat Bush, and, in particular,the crème de la crème of yesses on this side of the Houseis yes to Mill Road—yes, that's going to happen, and I am,as I said, honoured to give my reflections on the PrimeMinister's statement. We're going forgrowth.

GRANT McCALLUM(National—Northland): Thank you, Madam Speaker.Growth, growth, growth. That's what this Government isabout. I'll say it again: growth, growth, growth. Somethingthat's unusual to the other side of the House, but that'sOK.

If ever there was a region that desperately needsgrowth, it's Northland, right? You just have to lookat—we've underperformed for years. Why? I'll give you thenumber one reason why, and that's called roads, right? Itcomes as no surprise to our members of the House,particularly on this side. In the last election campaign,the number one issue in Northland was roads, well above costof living. The irony being in 2017, we recognised that, andwe announced that we were going to put a four-lane highwayall the way up to Whangārei.

But guess what! Guesswhat happened when the other lot got in. They cancelled it.But guess what! We had started one bit, and the "Minister ofNo" at the time—who criticised it for a long time—andwho is now the leader of the Opposition, the Hon ChrisHipkins, then actually said, "Well, actually, we're openinga road. I'll go and open it, even though I opposed it allthe way through." Feel free to check the Hansardrecords. He turned up. He used to call it a "holidayhighway". Actually, it's now open. It's making a massivedifference to our economy, and we are committed to buildingthe next stage all the way to Whangārei. It is under way.That is all part of our fast-trackproposals—

Hon Willow-Jean Prime:Which bit's under way?

GRANTMcCALLUM: I'd like to welcome the former member forNorthland—who I wish had actually done her job last timeand stood up for that road. It would have been great if shehad, but never mind.

Hon Willow-JeanPrime: Oh, true. I saw you opening the MangamukaGorge, proudly smiling—

GRANTMcCALLUM: Well, that woke it up.

HonWillow-Jean Prime: —cutting thatribbon.

GRANT McCALLUM: Ithink—

Hon Willow-Jean Prime: Gotthe hundred million. Kia ora, you'rewelcome.

GRANT McCALLUM: Ithink—listen, listen, the truth hurts, doesn't it? Boy,the truth hurts.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): Order! Order! We don't need the commentaryacross the House, please.

GRANTMcCALLUM: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Right, and justto put in context the cost of poor roading. When theBrynderwyns—yes, that important piece of road that is justnot far from where I live—was shut, it was $2 million aday at least it cost our economy. That is why we recognisethe importance of roads.

Now, there's another thingthat's quite important in Northland. It's called power.We've had some experience with power—

HonMember: Keep the bolts done up.

HonMember: Nuts and bolts.

GRANTMcCALLUM: —and power outages. So one of thethings that—yes, there happened to be a pylon that fellover, and we dealt with that, and all the issues around thatare well known. But we have now focused on actually buildingrenewable generation in Northland and exporting it to theSouth into Auckland to do our people and our cousins inAuckland a favour. Renewable generation. Remember that. Weare very focused under our policy that we want lots of solarfarms. We're going to speed up the whole process ofconsenting. It's all about fast track.

Now, anotherthing we are very focused on doing in Northland isirrigation, because we understand the importance of havingdams and water to grow things. In fact, you would just haveto look back over history to see the benefit of that. Youlook at Kerikeri today. Its growth derives from a couple ofdams built in the 1980s. That is where that growth comesfrom. Now, there are a couple of new dams being built, oneabout to be opened and filled up in a moment, another one inthe process of, and that will make a massive difference. Weare going to continue to back those sorts of projectsbecause that is how you get growth in the North.

Thebiggest sector in Northland is the agriculture sector, theprimary sector, which I'm proud to be a member of. I mightlike to educate the members opposite, because on 15 Januarylast month, we had into the New Zealand economy fromFonterra, the dairy farmers who work their butts off everyday of the year—$2.4 billion was paid in one day. One day.Rumour has it that in the electorate of Rangitata inAshburton, they ran out of utes. There were so many farmersgoing in there to buy things. That's economic benefit. Therewas no ute tax either, which was quite helpful. So I'd justlike to take a real big shout-out to the agriculturecommunity of New Zealand. Thank you for your hard work. Keepit up.

That is how we're going to grow this economy.It's by supporting those that actually get out there and areproductive and create export goods. Then through the use oftrade deals, we'll get maximum value. It's great to be ableto get up and back our Prime Minister and back this greatGovernment. Thank you.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB(Labour—Christchurch Central): Thank you, MadamSpeaker. Well, I found it extraordinary that that memberstood up and spoke about growth under this Government. ThisGovernment has had no growth. There is more growth on myface than this Government has had and that's a fact. Thefact of the matter is that we handed over an economy thatwas growing—an economy that had 2.4 percent growth perannum. How much growth has this Government had? None. Theyhave gone backwards for every single quarter. The economyunder this Government is in recession. They've been therefor 18 months. No more excuses. It's your turn. Do yourjob.

It's no good just using your corporate speak andsaying there's going to be growth—having a growth summit.Summits don't create growth. What we've got is massiveunemployment. We have got 30,000 people more unemployed thanwhen you took your job. That is enough people to fill SkyStadium. I do not believe Nicola Willis, her crocodile tearswhen she says she feels for New Zealanders, because you knowwhat, she's doing it on purpose. She means what she's doingand she said today in this House that she knows that joblessnumbers are going to go up. The only thing that thatGovernment can grow is the unemployment queue.

Whatare they going to do about it? What are they going to do?What's their answer to this so-called crisis they findthemselves in? Asset sales. They're going to sell our prizedassets. But they're cagey. They're not going to tell us whatthey're going to sell. "We'll talk about that later." Whatare you going to do? Sell our rail again. How did that workout last time? We had to buy it back and fix it up. Talk toyour coalition partners before you go out talking aboutasset sales. Some of your coalition partners do believe inputting New Zealand first, of course. Or are you going tosell our schools and hospitals? Are you going to call up thepension fund and say, "Do you want a slice of this?" Becausedo you know what? The numbers don't add up, ChristopherLuxon—the maths doesn't work. They want a return on theirinvestment. That's just borrowing by another name. Thatmeans that our kids will be paying for the decisions thatyou make. You'll be putting our kidsinto—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): I'll just remind the member—while themember is in full flight, I'm sorry to interrupt, but pleasedon't bring the Speaker so much into yourdebate.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Thankyou, Madam Speaker. The fact though is that Nicola Willis isnot in control of this economy and New Zealand knowsthat.

And who have we got in charge? Who's the CEO? Ishe in charge at all? It doesn't look like it. ChristopherLuxon is watching on with his corporate speak. But while hetells us what he can say about benchmarking, kids are goinghungry. While he operationalises some core competency,people are losing their jobs. And while he drones on about avalue chain and being results driven, Dunedin Hospital'swaiting to be built. And if he wants to talk aboutdeliverables, deliver some ferries. And if he wants a keyperformance indicator, talk about the performance of the manwho's soon to be Deputy Prime Minister who, in uttercontempt of this place, drove a Land Rover on to the stepsof Parliament. And if he wants a laser focus on results, howabout focusing on David Seymour's behaviour when heinterfered with a police prosecution and tried to get thepolice to stop investigating someone who was ultimatelycharged with murder. Or perhaps he should think about afocus—

Laura McClure: Point oforder. I believe that that was a misleading comment becausethe person in question wasn't actually charged under thatinvestigation. So he was not interfering with any criminalproceedings that were yet actually happening. He wasn'tarrested. And I think that what you were saying was—if youcould clarify, please, I would appreciatethat.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Speaking tothe point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): It's not actually a point of order. But yourviews are noted. Thank you.

Hon Dr DUNCANWEBB: Well, Philip Polkinghorne was charged withmurder, if I recall correctly.

Perhaps he's talkingabout someone else who was charged with sexual assault whoDavid Seymour sent the victim's wife to an ACT Party lawyerinstead of to the police. So whilst Christopher Luxon'stalking about action plans, David Seymour seems to berunning the country—running the country into the groundwith his divisive and racist Treaty principles bill, withhis surreptitious Regulatory Standards Bill, with thelegislation that puts the Treaty second and puts himselffirst. This Government is a disgrace.

HonLOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development andEmployment): Thank you, Madam Speaker, and unlikethe negative Nellies on the other side, I'm delighted tospeak in favour of the Prime Minister's statement becauseactually I'm proud to be part of aGovernment—

Hon Dr Duncan Webb:Point of order, Madam Speaker. That was a split call. Theother half of the call was to go to the LabourParty.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (MaureenPugh): My apologies. Sorry, I was distracted. Thankyou.

CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL(Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):

[Authorised reoMāori text to be inserted by the HansardOffice.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by theHansard Office.]

This is my first opportunity toaddress the House this year and I should be excited, but sounderwhelming was the Prime Minister's statement it almostisn't worth rebutting. They say it's about "growth". Youdon't have to go far in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti—not you, MadamSpeaker, people in general don't have to go far inIkaroa-Rāwhiti to find out how off the track indeed thisGovernment is.

On this side of the House, weunderstand that growth starts at the roots. If it's allabout growth, and economic growth means to this Governmentabusing the aroha of locally grown grassroots-basedbusinesses, then this Government is indeed on track.Businesses like Kai Aio in Ruatōria, who will continue todeliver 500 school lunches between Tokomaru Bay andWharekāhika, a 90-kilometre one way trip, and inland 37kilometres to Mata School, at a loss, subsidising it withother areas of this business. They are going to do it at aloss because they understand that growth starts at the rootsand our tamariki are more than just the bottom line. Anyonewho thinks you can make a lunch and deliver it 90 kilometresfor $3 really shouldn't be purporting to be the economicgeniuses that this Government are.

When thisGovernment says "growth", I think what they actually meanis, "Let's stunt the growth and development of workers bycutting initiatives like progressive procurement", aninitiative that has been directly credited with opening andthen keeping open roads in Tairāwhiti during and afterCyclone Gabrielle, mainly on State Highway 35; a roadmembers opposite, other than Dana, probably aren't familiarwith because it is not a road of national significanceaccording to this Government despite the significant amountof product that traverses that highway making a significantimpact to our GDP and, you guessed it, the growth of thiscountry.

I've said growth starts at the roots, and ona recent trip home to Rangitukia—and I didn't just want tosay Rangitukia, this happens to be where it happened—I wasable to visit another home, land which just recently landedfor a whānau with six children, one of many homes initiatedand actually delivered by Labour. Because we understand thatwhen you have a roof over your head, the world is youroyster. Growth starts at the roots.

In spite of thisGovernment's attempts to dim the light, it shines bright inIkaroa-Rāwhiti. Though times are harder, people can see thelight; they have the power to change this Government in justover a year and they're just waiting.

In the meantime,I'm very proud to represent Ikaroa-Rāwhiti in this House, aregion with, incidentally, the highest proportion of reoMāori speakers, a region where, in Tairāwhiti, Māoricollectives hold 73 percent of the food and fibre sectorasset base—growth starts at the roots. In Kahungunu, 61percent and in Wairarapa, a whopping 87 percent—growthstarts at the roots.

I love the feedback I get from myconstituents, and a message I got today was: "Go hard girl,give them the huss." That's what Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is going tokeep doing and that's what Aotearoa whānui are going tokeep doing: we're going to keep giving it the huss untilLabour's back in Government and people can finally have hopeagain, because we know about growth, we know it starts atthe roots and we know we have to grow together. Tēnā koe,Madam Speaker.

Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister forSocial Development and Employment): Mark 2—herewe go! It's really interesting, because some of the thingsthat that member spoke about was absolutely at the heart ofwhy growth is important. She spoke with passion about thepeople she represents, because what she wants to see is animprovement in the quality of their lives, of whānau, ofhapū, of iwi—their ability to live in warm homes, to havestable jobs, and to put great kai on the table. There's onlyone way you get there, though, and you can't sit back andwish or hope for growth. You must be deliberate. You must beintentional. You must take actions every single day to growopportunities. And that's what this side of the Houseunderstands. If I think of an expression that represents thecoalition Government in 2025, it's that we thrive in 2025,because that's what we want for the people werepresent.

So I'm really proud to be part of aGovernment that is making things happen. And if I thinkabout our first year—man alive!—those things in those90-day action plans that were just absolutely pumped out,because the New Zealand public needed to know and have trustand confidence in a Government who would actually deliverwhat they said they would, because they'd had six years ofthe opposite.

So now, unfortunately, we see anOpposition that is really kind of struggling. They've got noplans, no policies, no ambition, and definitely nopositivity. So it is very clear why going for growth isimportant, and it's not because we want, you know, fancystats or fancy figures; it's about what does growth provide.And I enunciated it before and, actually, I think, secretly,members on the other side, they know we're right. They knowwe're right, particularly those who are electorate MPs, whohear it and see it from their constituents day in and dayout. The coalition Government talks about growth, will focuson growth, will deliver on growth because we know that NewZealanders want and need to share in the benefits of thatgrowth.

Often the Opposition will kind of criticise mein my or our Government's ambition to reduce the number ofpeople on the jobseeker benefit by 50,000 by 2030. So, yes,the numbers have gone up and that is, unfortunately, thereality of a low-growth environment. I could sit here andcomplain about all of the circumstances that we inherited,but, actually, we're just getting on and doing the job. Anddoing the job is because we know how much better off peopleare in work, whether it's creating their own income, forgingtheir own way in life, creating opportunities, providing forthemselves and their children, being part of a community andcontributing.

So that's why, despite knowing,unemployment was due to go up. The same forecasts theprevious Minister of Finance had, we had the same levels. Wehad the same forecast projection in terms of theunemployment rate getting to 5.1 percent. It has stillprojected to go further. And I'm acutely aware those aren'tjust statistics; they are people who have lost their jobs,who have lost their employment, and who are doing it tough,which is why our side of the House is unwilling to sit backand allow that to continue. So our approach with a veryactive system in terms of welfare—I'm enormously proud ofthe work that the front-line staff at the Ministry of SocialDevelopment (MSD) have been doing: intensive casemanagement, working with 70,000 of those people on thejobseeker benefit, because they are unwilling to toleratethat that's as good as it gets.

So with that figurethat I gave before, 33,000 job seekers in the six months toDecember who exited into a job in this challenging labourmarket is an extraordinary result. It didn't come byaccident; it came by very deliberate, targeted, integratedwork to get an outcome—22 percent increase on the sameperiod a year ago. And the reality is, for every one ofthose people that are now in a job when they weren't, weknow the difference it makes to them and theircommunities.

And members opposite were like, "Oh,well, you know, you'll never achieve that, so you shouldnever have a target." Probably that's why they took all thehealth targets away, by the way. If you don't measureanything, then you can't be held accountable for theoutcomes. Well, New Zealanders aren't stupid—NewZealanders aren't stupid. They know what the coalitionGovernment arrived to in 2023, and we know that fewer peopleon welfare means fewer children in benefit-dependenthouseholds and fewer children in poverty, which is why wehave set one of our priorities to reduce the number ofchildren in material hardship. And it was interesting. Therehave been comments today on the State of the Nation reportby the Salvation Army and the increases in child poverty.That was the 2023 data—June 2023. And we just say it's notgood enough, which is why we are taking actions.

Sowhat are some of the things we've done to support employmentin addition to what we've done in the welfare space? Makingsure that job seekers know what their obligations are, knowthe steps they need to take to find employment andconsequences if they don't. And do you know what? Onepercent—only 1 percent of our job seekers aren't complyingwith their obligations and under a sanction, which is aremarkable result, because those on the jobseeker benefitactually know. They take steps. It improves their chance toget a job. So that's tricky.

One of the things thathas obviously also been a change for me this year is takingon the responsibility as a Minister for Tourism andHospitality. What do our tourism and hospitality businessesneed? They need customers. Who are those customers?International visitors. So it is absolutely appalling thatwe are sitting at 84 percent of the international visitornumbers that we had in 2019. So we absolutely have tounleash and make sure that international visitors know thatNew Zealand is open for business and we welcome them withopen arms. Whether it is to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, whether it isto Papakura in South Auckland, whether it is to other partsof the East Coast, we welcome visitors any time, anywhere,anyone, instead of putting restrictions on who should come,where they should go to.

So, in addition to visitorsand an increase in visitor numbers, I'm very clear that thesecond part of the priority in going for growth in tourismis ensuring that more New Zealanders get jobs in tourism andhospitality. So when that side of the House talks aboutunemployment and talks about people going on the jobseekerbenefit, since 2019, 30,000 jobs were lost in tourism andhospitality—30,000. Thirty thousand people and theirfamilies were impacted in that period. So that's what I'm atwork on. I want to make sure that we have visitors back sobusinesses all over New Zealand have more customers. Yes,it's directly affecting the tourism and hospitalitybusinesses, but it's the bookstore, it's the petrol station,it is the supermarket, it is the dairy. So it is far more interms of spend and investment and value that tourismprovides.

So, one small example, the digital nomadsabsolutely went off. That's when you realise—oh, we know;we live in a very, very special part of the world. We livein an amazing country, and so to give more visitors theopportunity to have a workcation here on our shores, as wellas spending money in our businesses, is of course a greatopportunity.

I am so proud to be part of a Governmentthat is going for growth, improving the lives and thelifestyles of New Zealand and New Zealanders, and that iswhy we are positive, we are optimistic, we are not restingon our laurels each and every day. This is a coalitionGovernment, and all our MPs are working hard in theirelectorates, making a difference in the lives of NewZealanders.

JENNY MARCROFT (NZFirst): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure tostand on behalf of New Zealand First in reply to the PrimeMinister's statement, which we absolutely support. I'd justlike to acknowledge the Hon Louise Upston, who's justresumed her seat—about the positivity on this side of theHouse, because I think that's a really important focus forthe Government. And it is one of our purposes, which is toensure that we have absolute focus, we have a definitenessof purpose, in terms of achieving economic prosperity, notjust for those who have a business but for everyone in oursociety.

Why is it so important that we do haveeconomic prosperity across New Zealand? Well, we live in areally abundant country, and we really should be focusing onhow we manage those resources that can turn into pūtea, sothat when we need to invest socially we have the money, as acountry, in order to do that, whether it's into housing,whether it's into hospitals, to education, or other socialneeds. But we have to have money in the bank to do that. Soour purpose, of course, is to focus on our economicprosperity, and we have a burning desire on the side of thehouse to achieve that. We will do that by removing the redand the green tape, because those are the blocks that arestopping a lot of the growth around the country in varioussectors. I liken it to this: the roots don't cause thegrowth; it is the creation of a fertile soil in which youplant the seed to germinate, to grow, and to multiply itselfagain and again and again, so that what was originally onesmall seed becomes countless millions. And that's havingthat fertile soil. So creating that opportunity for thatseed to flourish is all about removing the blocks that stop.So we have, on this side of the House, what I'd like to termas an abundance consciousness.

In an earliercontribution from the other side of the House, during thisdebate, the Green Leader said no one is entitled to make aprofit. Now, that's an outrageous statement, and that is astatement which shows absolute poverty ofconsciousness—it's conditioned thinking; it's negative,constrictive thinking. When you have thinking like that, theeconomy will definitely not grow.

We are focused, inNew Zealand First, on very practical, pragmatic solutions tothe problem the country faces, and we come up with greatideas. We have been able, through our coalitionnegotiations, to develop the Regional Infrastructure Fund,also known as the RIF—the RIF was formerly known as thePFG, the Provincial Growth Fund. We are able to, throughMatua Jones, spread out that $1.2 billion across the regionsThe Matua preaches the gospel of growth, and he's been doingthat all of last year with his regional summits. Many of youhave been in attendance, as electorate MPs, to some of thoseregional summits around the country. I've been privileged toattend those in Whakatāne, Southland, up in the north, andin Manawatū as well. Because rebuilding a more dynamic,productive economy, increasing prosperity, and boostingopportunities for all New Zealanders—we need strong localindustries that are vital for our regional communities tobecome economically resilient. So that $1.2 billion overthree years—the RIF is extremely well run and it isdelivering concrete opportunities already.

We're alsoputting money through the RIF, in collaboration withMinister Potaka as well, into Rātana. Money has been spentthere for structural upgrades of the Rātana Pā. InWaitangi, the Treaty grounds have received $10.2 million.Now, not only is it the location of the first signing of theTreaty of Waitangi but also it's our number one tourismdestination: 160,000 people visited the Treaty grounds overthe last year. So it's a really important place that we putsome pūtea into.

Just noting today is 12 February,actually the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty 185years ago by the largest group of Ngāpuhi chiefs, who didthe signing on the 12 February at Mangungu in Hokianga.Today they're commemorating that, so I thought it wasworthwhile mentioning that as well.

The RIF is alsoproviding some really amazing small community energyprojects to ensure those small communities, like those up inthe north where they experience power poverty—Te KaoCommunity Microgrid project will be receiving money so theycan construct a solar and wind powered microgrid which willbe connected to a community battery for all those in Te Kaovillage. A low-cost energy supply to the community—that isan absolutely important piece of infrastructure that iscurrently missing in that community. That will ensurethey've got power security. Waimamaku Community SolarResilience Programme, also about solar power connecting upto battery to ensure that the community and businesses therehave a supply of power.

Flood resilience has been areally important part of the RIF, and $200 million has beenset aside for various projects. New Zealand First believethat climate response is about adaptation, enablingcommunities to have security with these adverse weatherevents that we're seeing more often. So $200 million hasbeen put aside, and 42 projects have been identified, $101million there, and they'll be co-partnered alongside theirrelevant local authorities, co-investing the balance ofthose. Stopbanks, pumping stations, groynes, andculverts—that is the really sensible, practical, andpragmatic solution New Zealand First has beenproviding.

I have some time left and I really want totalk about the blue economy, as the ParliamentaryUnder-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries.Our blue economy is an economy that can grow, and we canincrease the sector to $3 billion by 2035. That's going tobe done in a number of ways.

DanBidois: Mussels.

JENNYMARCROFT: Seafood production—and talking aboutmussels, it's really important because to grow mussels youneed spat. That's the little itty bitty babies. But thewild-caught spat has a very limited ability to survive whenit's been transferred onto the mussel farms. Only about 5percent of the wild-caught spat actually survive, so thereis a project under way—alongside the University ofAuckland, the Coromandel Marine Farmers' Association, theMarine Farming Association, Aquaculture New Zealand,Greenshell Spat Co., and Sanford—to develop an innovativenursery culture system so that we provide some certainty,stability, and sustainability to the mussel growingsector.

Ocean Beach. If anyone's had the opportunity,I do recommend every member of Parliament heads to OceanBeach—it's the old meatworks down in Bluff. It lookspretty grotty; it's an old factory. It looks dilapidated,but go inside the doors and what you'll see is the mostamazing amount of marine farming under way. Thousands ofbaby pāua being grown. Lots and lots of littlewhitebait—Manāki Whitebait are there growing theirwhitebait; they make excellent fritters. And alsoAsparagopsis, which is the red native seaweed, whichhas, potentially, marine inhibiting properties—that isbeing grown in that factory as well. But while you're there,wait, there's more. You must check out the Bluff gindistillery, which is also on the site. So multiple reasonsto go there, I do recommend it.

Aquaculture permitsare really important to ensure that our marine farmers areable to work into the future—$6 million has been saved byfour marine-farm owners—around 200 of them, because theMinister has extended the permits out to 2050. That's been areally important piece of work that has been done to givethat industry some certainty.

Just very briefly, I'dlike to also talk about sustainability being a bottom linefor our fishing industry, which is an absolute success storyin New Zealand. It generates about $1.6 billion in exportseach year—we should be pleased about that. It employs9,000 people directly. But wait, there's more we can do toimprove productivity and efficiency, rather than justincreasing our catch volumes, and that is a focus of theMinister.

The blue economy has so much more room togrow. It'll enable the productivity and the certainty forthose that work in the industry. We have a great productthat the world wants, because we have—

HonRachel Brooking: Tell us aboutshipping.

JENNY MARCROFT: —the mostamazing, clean protein. Lots of noise coming from the otherside of the House—clearly doesn't eat fish. I'm reallypleased that we have a focus, in this Government, on theabundance, and harvesting that abundance, that New Zealandproduces. Thank you very much, MrSpeaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): The next call is a split call from theNational Party.

DAN BIDOIS(National—Northcote): I'd like to begin mycontribution today by acknowledging the recent terrifyingevents in my community in Birkenhead, namely the stabbinglast week and an armed robbery that happened just outside myparliamentary office, in fact, yesterday. This will be veryupsetting for many in my community. I've spoken with thepolice and there will be an increased presence. I'mconfident that police will apprehend the offenders of bothinstances, and I'm equally confident that when they do, theywill face a tougher justice system with the sentencingreform laws that are going through Parliament right now.That is a part of our plan to restore law and order and makeour communities safer.

But we know it's tough timesout there. We know that people are struggling in a cost ofliving crisis. We know that people are losing their jobs andthat the impacts of profligate spending from the last sixyears is coming to fruition. The harsh reality we face as acountry is this: we have public debt in the order of $175billion—that is equivalent to 42 percent of New Zealand'sgross domestic product.

In our view, there are twoways out of this mess: we can tax our way out of it, likethe other side will want to do; or we can grow our way ofit. That is what this side believes we should follow. It isall about growth. As my colleague Cameron Brewer said, thereis a famous quote: "It's all about the economy, stupid." Notthat you are stupid, Mr Speaker; it is, in fact, part of thequote. But we are serious about going for growth, because itis through a better, brighter future and through a growingeconomy that we can build ourselves up, get out of the messwe're in, and build a better, brighter future for our kidsand grandkids right here in New Zealand.

I want tospeak about our growth agenda, because, as an economist, itcomes down to, really, three big aspects of growth: thefirst is capital accumulation, the second is skills, and thethird is innovation and the mixing of those three together.Let me refer to those one by one and tell the House and thepublic what we are doing in those areas.

First, oncapital accumulation, I am really proud of the fact that weare taking foreign direct investment seriously, that we willbe welcoming foreign investors from around the world here inMarch and pitching to them why they should be investing inNew Zealand businesses. I'm equally proud of the fact thatwe are taking up the ambitious programme to reform ourOverseas Investment Act to make it easier to invest in thiscountry, because it's all about saying "yes" and not aboutsaying "no". "Invest in New Zealand"—that's what the PrimeMinister said in his statement. We're going to set up anorganisation devoted to promoting investment around theworld, encouraging investment in our communities. So that isthe first area, it's around capital accumulation.

Thesecond is around skills. We've got a great Minister in EricaStanford, who is ensuring that we are getting the basicsright in our education system. Up and down in my communityof Northcote, educators and parents are saying the samething: they love what we're doing. We're getting back tobasics: mathematics, literacy and numeracy, and making surewe're giving the kids the core skills so that they can getbetter jobs, and better incomes as a result.

The thirdarea is in innovation. I'm really encouraged by theannouncements in our science sector to amalgamate a lot ofthe core Crown research institutes so that we are gettingmore outcomes and focused on economic growth—focused oneconomic growth.

So we know there's a lot to do toturn around six years of wasted opportunity. We know that,actually, there's a lot to do to turn around decades ofunderperformance in our economy. But we're up for thatchallenge, we're going for growth. Thank you verymuch.

Dr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—MtRoskill): Yes, Mr Speaker, it is my pleasure tospeak in the House today in support of the Prime Minister'sstatement; 2025 is going to be a great year for Mt Roskill.This year is going to be a great year for New Zealand. Why?Because 2025 is the year of economic growth for thisGovernment, because we want growth, growth, and growth. Nomore saying "no"; we want "yes, yes, yes."

Theprevious Government was a Government of no. They loved tosay no; no to everything and, guess what, under them, whatdid we learn from them? The cost of living goes up, rentsare going up, inflation is going up, inflation going up,interest rates going up, food prices going up. But they holda few records; let's see what record they're holding: recordnumber of ram raids, a record amount of wasteful spending, arecord number of gang members, a record number of people andchildren living in emergency housing. And what's happened tothat Government of note?

Mt Roskill and New Zealandpeople say no to them. People in Takanini say no to them;people in Northcote say no to them. They will say yes to ourplan because we will get New Zealand back on track. Economicgrowth is important and it's time for us to say yes toeconomic growth, yes to more overseas investment, yes formore trade, yes for more science and innovation, yes formore business opportunity, yes to more job opportunity, yesto rewarding our hard-working Kiwis, and yes to more moneyin our Kiwi bank accounts. And most of all: yes to gettingNew Zealand back on track.

So what does economicgrowth pay for? This means we can say yes to our bettertransport network, we can say yes to fixing our roads, wecan say yes for a better healthcare system, we can say yesto better education, and we can say yes for betterinvestment. So what does saying yes and economic growth meanfor people in Mt Roskill? It means we can say yes to morehousing being built in Mt Roskill, we can say yes for moretax relief for people in Mt Roskill, we can say yes for moreopportunity for Mt Roskill residents, we can say yes forbetter and more education and opportunity for children. Wecan say yes for high income, we can say yes to spend moretime with our family and our loved ones, we can say yes to abetter public service, we can say yes to a better future forthe next generation. Also it can mean yes to more resourcesto go into Mt Roskill schools, parks, roads, and services,because this is what the people of New Zealand, what thepeople of Mt Roskill want.

We want to focus oneconomic growth because this is what the people of NewZealand want. This is how we can help our people of NewZealand have a better lifestyle. We are doing it because weare a Government of people; we work for the people, welisten to the people, we are the people of people. Alwayssay that: it's all about the people, the people, and thepeople. But doing this, we need to have economic growth. Weneed to be growth, growth, growth and more yes, yes,yes.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): The next call is a split call for theLabour Party. I call the Hon RachelBrooking.

Hon RACHEL BROOKING(Labour—Dunedin): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for thisopportunity to talk on the Prime Minister's statement andall this growth that we've been hearing about thisafternoon. Now, I want to talk about some growth: the growthin pollution, the growth of broken promises, the growth ofcynical political moves, the growth of undermining ourconventional safeguards, the growth of economic policy viatext message, and the growth of a radical departure fromprevious conservative National Governments that we areseeing from this Government. I only have five minutes, sowe'll see how we go.

But on pollution and underminingsafeguards: I have to, of course, talk about fast track,which almost every Government MP has spoken about as ifsomehow it has safeguards—and this is a word used by oneof the Ministers in question time today—for theenvironment. It does not. The purpose of that Act is tofacilitate projects, full stop. There is no mention in thatpurpose of sustainable management or theenvironment.

Then we have 149 projects that willbenefit directly from being listed and named individually ina Government bill. That benefit is because some of thoseprojects would not otherwise be consentable. Some of themhave already gone through a process and they have beenrejected. So there is no protection of the environment andit is a way to pollute. Shame on everyone in thatparty—particularly the National Party—because this isnot something any National Party has done before. You canspeed up a process, you can have a fast track—Labour hadthat. You can have a one-stop shop—that's a newinnovation. But this fast track is a way to pollute. And itis a way for specific businesses to get a private benefitfrom a Government project and it is shameful.

We'vealso seen the cutting of what this Government likes to call"green tape" and the defunding of conservation. This willlead to pollution. It will ruin New Zealand's clean, greenimage. That is our competitive advantage. I'm interested ingrowth that leads to more money being in this economy and abetter life for all New Zealanders. So that means havingexports that are high value. We need that clean and greenreputation, and this Government just wants thatgone.

It's also important for tourism, which thisGovernment seems to be relying on for growth. I would remindthem that tourism jobs are normally low wage and that inareas like Queenstown, they do not want more volume oftourists because that comes with a lot of costs. We wanttourists to stay in the country for longer periods of timeand learn about our wonderful country.

So we'reundermining our safeguards against corruption and thisGovernment's been doing things for lobby groups that are intheir ear. This decreases trust and stability in our system.And it's that "trust and stability [of our system] … thatmakes economic growth and prosperity possible in the firstplace." That is a quote from Justin Tipa that he said onWaitangi Day in a very powerful speech that I would urge allmembers of this House to read.

Then we have growth inbroken promises. We have growth in cynical political moves.We've seen that with the Dunedin Hospital, where theGovernment announced, to some relief for many people inDunedin, that there will be a hospital built on the sitethat had long been planned for, but it will have fewer bedsand fewer theatres than what Labour promised and many fewerthan what National promised. So what a cynical move this isthat the expectations are set so low that the promise beforethe election was changed from building a grand new hospitalto perhaps retrofitting a hospital that is in no way fit forpurpose that then it feels like a win because that is howthey set their expectations. This Government isterrible.

And then in the context of economic policiesby text message, we've seen messages to the KoreanGovernment to say, "Oh, those rail-enabled ferries that areso important to the productivity of the South Island and oureconomy—no. No thanks. We won't have those." "Oh, maybe,Bill English, can you do an independent review of KāingaOra which will lead to no more publichouses?"

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): The member's time hasexpired.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE(Labour—Māngere): Talofa, Mr Speaker. This is myfirst opportunity to speak in the House, and I wanted toacknowledge you and thank you for your support, and welldone with the Samoan citizenship bill. I also would like tothank the Rt Hon Gerry Brownlee for his support aswell.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): Welcome back.

LEMAUGA LYDIASOSENE: Can I also thank the Rt Hon Chris Hipkinsand my Labour colleagues, who had to pick up all my duties,and I want to thank them for their aroha and their support.Lastly, I thank my Māngere local community and my family,because they have helped me get back to the House. I'mreally pleased to give a contribution to the PrimeMinister's statement, and I just wanted to acknowledgetuahine the Hon Marama Davidson for her return.Fa'afetai.

What a shambles this Government is. I wantto cover off a few points that are really important in mylocal Māngere community in South Auckland. This Governmentis failing the New Zealand economy. It is pulling outbillions of dollars of financial support that had beensupporting New Zealanders through this tough time; reducingfinancial support, that used to cover so many servicesacross Aotearoa, for Kiwis who were in programmes, who werereceiving really good financial assistance, support—theyno longer have it. The loss of jobs, the extensiveprogrammes for Pasifika, for iwi, hapū, Māori children,young people—many of those programmes have been cut bythat mean-spirited Government. Allowing Kiwis to go withoutthe basics—what kind of country are you creating?

Anabsolute U-turn on vital services that were helping manywhānau across Aotearoa. It's my job as the representativein Māngere, South Auckland, to bring those issues up tothat Government—so mean-spirited, deliberate, targeted.Jobs have been lost throughout many sectors of the country,and we've heard many of the speakers on this side of theHouse talking about all those Kiwis that have goneoffshore—what a shame.

Today in oral question time,the Prime Minister—I just wanted to quote how he talkedabout the encouraging signs in the economy. Where? Sure,landlords: $2.9 billion. What about the tenants of thoselandlords? Who's helping them? Who's caring about them?Ministers on that side of the House have specifically toldofficials to cut vital services—jobs desperately needed:33,000 people who were working last year, the year before,are no longer. Those jobs have gone. A deliberate, targeted,mean-spirited Government.

What about the localcommunities? In Māngere, we had an outstanding budgetingservice. Gone. That was a service that provided language andculture for over 600 families—

Hon LouiseUpston: Someone else has got thecontract.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE: And Iknow the Minister is commenting, but, Minister, that serviceis gone.

Just lastly, what I want to commenton—

Hon Louise Upston: Someone elsehas got the contract.

LEMAUGA LYDIASOSENE: You've had your contribution,Minister.

What I want to comment on is school lunches.There seems to be a lot of messages and phone calls fromprincipals who are advising—and I know Minister Seymour,there was a question in the House today of conduct. MinisterDavid Seymour, your programme of school lunches, a reducedlunch programme, is not working in my local community. Thelunches have not turned up; the lunches have turned up at 10to 3 p.m. What is the point? Those school lunches—ourtamariki are saying, "Who's going to eat that crap?" I amonly quoting the words of our tamariki. You cannot grow ourtamarikis' brains and knowledge and education if we do nothave good support so they can get nutrition.

ThatGovernment is arrogant, is mean-spirited, and is a shambles.Thank you, Mr Speaker.

KAHURANGI CARTER(Green): The Prime Minister stood in this House anddelivered his Prime Minister's statement, which outlined hisGovernment's vision: economic growth, personalresponsibility, and getting New Zealand back on track. WhatI heard was a vision steeped in ableism, a broken vision,one that actively leaves behind disabledpeople.

Ableism is insidious, and it takes effort fromall of us to learn about it and do better. Ableism operatesby determining whose lives and contributions are valued andwhose are dismissed.

Under this current Government,it's crystal clear that those born poor, marginalised,disabled, and without access to stable housing are notprioritised—out of sight, out of mind. Under thisGovernment, the worth of individuals is measured by theireconomic contribution, instead of their innate value as aperson—their innate value as a person who is part of acommunity—and a person who is part of a modernsociety.

This statement didn't include how this veryGovernment has treated our disabled communities over thelast 14 months, but we have heard every day from people whodon't know what their futures look like. We know that 1.1million New Zealanders have a disability, and we've all gotenough life experience to know that at any time, any one ofus may face access barriers due to an accident or an injury.Knowing that this Government has made decisions that haveprofoundly harmed our disabled communities is distressing,and it is not moving our country towards a vision of anequitable and a fair future.

The last 14 monthsincluded restrictions to disability support funding andaccess to equipment like wheelchairs; the scrapping of theminimum wage exemption, which ensured that 900 disabledworkers were treated with respect and dignity; and thetransfer of disability support services from Whaikaha to theMinistry of Social Development without, again, consultationwith the communities that it affects. It has also stoppedEnabling Good Lives. This current Government is clear and ithas prioritised cost-cutting over human rights.

I'vetalked to families who are uncertain about their futuresbecause of this Government's decisions. When we boil itdown, all we really want is stability, safety, and love, andwe can have that when we prioritise access for everybody inour society.

The PM spoke about responsibility, and weall, as lawmakers, have a responsibility to listen to andwork with our disabled communities. Under this Government,ableism isn't just an attitude; it's embedded in thepolicies that govern our lives. We have to do better and wehave to listen to our disabled communities. The systemicbarriers, the lack of access, the withholding ofdignity—it's a deeply entrenched form of discriminationthat continues to make life harder for disabledpeople.

The Green Party has a vision, too—one thatincludes disabled people at every step along the way. Thisis what true partnership is: listening and learning from thepeople who actually have lived experience. It is a visionthat is designed by and for disabled people, one that trulyenables good lives.

CAMILLA BELICH(Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for theopportunity to take a call on the Prime Minister'sstatement. Now, we have heard a lot from the other sideabout "growth", which is a bit new from them. Last year wewere hearing about the cost of living, and I was wonderingwhy we're suddenly hearing about growth when cost of livingis currently still the main concern for most New Zealandersand hasn't really been fixed. I wonder if it's because thereare 33,000 more people unemployed under this Governmentbecause the unemployment rate is so high, because for Māoriworkers it's 9.7 percent and for Pasifika workers it's ashocking 10.5 percent. One in 10 Māori unemployed; I wonderif that's why. Because we know that the best way to addressthe cost of living is through having people inwork—creating the type of economy that keeps people inwork and lets people do meaningful work and have meaningfuljobs. This Government has failed on that so now they'retalking about growth. But as we've heard, there isn't muchof that either, sadly for them.

And I do have awarning for New Zealanders, because we have heard veryclearly in some of these headline statements that the PrimeMinister has made at the beginning of this year that if NewZealanders do not chuck this Government out, as they shoulddo at the next election, this Government is going toprivatise New Zealand's assets. It is going to sell the verythings that our ancestors and our parents and ourgrandparents worked so hard to hold in New Zealandownership. We don't know exactly what they will sell, so wecall on the Government to rule out these changes and theseasset sales but, even better, we call on New Zealanders tochuck this Government out and not risk their privatisingagenda.

The main thing that I want to talk about todayin my short contribution is jobs and health and safety,which are really linked to my portfolio as workplacerelations spokesperson. Now, this Government does not careabout keeping people in work, as I've already said; theydon't care about workers. They listed all of the things thatthey're doing and that they think will be good for NewZealanders, but what about those workers at Kinleith Mill,those 230 workers who lost their jobs? What about the 75people at Oji Fibre Solutions? What about the 170 people atSolarZero? What about the 230 workers at Winstone Pulp? Whatabout the Karioi Pulp Mill workers—230 of them lost theirjobs. Thousands of public sector workers sacked under thisGovernment—what about them? What about their cost ofliving? What about the growth of their family and their bankaccounts? All ignored under this Government.

Also, wecan talk about construction: 12,000 fewer in construction,so good luck building and growing withoutconstruction—shocking. This Government has failed toprotect communities, it's failed to support workers, it'sfailed to protect jobs, and it's failed to support industry.Where is your industry plan, I say to the Government—whereis it? Crickets—crickets from the otherside.

Quickly, before I run out of time, I also wantto talk about health and safety. Now, I heard it quoted thatthe Prime Minister in his state of the nation speech hadmentioned something about health and safety, and I read thequote, and I couldn't quite believe it. I couldn't quitebelieve that someone who used to run an airline which,fundamentally, is about keeping people safe above all else,would actually say these words. Did he read the draft beforehe actually said this? Because this does not sound likesomeone who used to believe that health and safety was thetop priority. Now, what did he say in his speech? He said,"Next, we have to fix our broken health and safety rules"and made a joke about it. He made a joke: he said, "They'reeverywhere."—they're the fastest growing industry. I betthat got a few laughs from the dads in theroom.

Health and safety is not a joke; health andsafety is incredibly serious. It's estimated that NewZealand loses $4.9 million in productivity from not havinggood health and safety rules. And what should we do forhealth and safety? The Prime Minister says, "This year[we're going to] crack on and make big changes." Well, he isout of touch with business. I have a letter here signed byBusiness New Zealand, signed by the Employers andManufacturers Association saying that John Key's rules,which are the rules that Christopher Luxon is talking about,are fit for purpose.

Now, I didn't expect to bedefending John Key in this House, but I have to say thisGovernment is out of touch with business, with workers, withhealth and safety professionals, and with unions on healthand safety. They say they want to tear up health and safety;they call it "red tape", they call it "green tape". Let metell you, it's keeping workers safe and there are going tobe terrible consequences if you go down thispath.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): The next call is a split call from theNational Party. I call Nancy Lu.

NANCY LU(National): I rise to take the opportunity to speakon a topic that is of great significance for our nation'seconomy, but also for every fabric of our society, includingour vibrant and colourful and diversified ethnic and migrantcommunities around New Zealand. On that note, I have to usea little bit of my very precious time to take thisopportunity to wish everyone who celebrates the LanternFestival a very happy Lantern Festival,.Today is the day of the Lantern Festival,and it's celebrated by billions of people around the worldand hundreds and thousands of Kiwis in New Zealand,particularly with our vibrant ethnic communities.

ThePrime Minister's statement talked a lot about one word:growth. It is about economic growth, because economicgrowth, making New Zealanders richer and live better, is amatter for our country immediately, significantly, andurgently in front of us. It is the commitment for thewelfare and prosperity of all New Zealanders, including ourmigrant and ethnic communities. It is about creatingopportunities to expand—for the opportunities for peopleto grow and have better workforce skills, better job skills,better outcomes, a better future, better education, andbetter healthcare for their children and for their family.They've chosen New Zealand because they believed in NewZealand, they have hope for New Zealand, and we are acountry that many of them came together in 2023 to get us inso we could fix the problem that the last Government leftbehind so that we could actually deliver economic growth andget our country back on track.

This is what I hearfrom the ethnic communities when I travel around thecountry. This is what they're telling me: we need growth, weneed to see our country back in shape, we love this country,and we will do everything to get behind this Government tohelp this Government to get our economy back on track. Andfor that, I am very proud to be part of the team supportingthe Prime Minister to get New Zealand back ontrack.

MIKE BUTTERICK(National—Wairarapa): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Iwould begin by acknowledging the Prime Minister'sinspirational address to the House. The statement was abouteconomic growth and becoming a nation that says yes. For toolong we've made a habit of saying no. We used to be acountry of can do. We used to be a country that did stuff,made stuff, innovated, built stuff. And we've become all tooquickly in my working life a nation where it's too difficultto do things, too easy to say no, and when need to flipthat. Lift our aspirations and our ambitions out of thecesspit of negativity and focus on doing, on saying yes, ondeveloping a pipeline of work that contributes to oureconomy, grows jobs and opportunities, creates export incomeso all New Zealanders have an opportunity to succeed. Alarge part of our success will depend on our primarysector.

I'd take a moment to reflect on some of thework trade Minister Todd McClay's been doing. The UAEdeal—$1.3 billion. The fastest ever trade deal. The GulfCooperation Council $3 billion trade deal. There's hugeopportunities for our exporters to capitalise on: 24memorandums of understanding, $340 million export revenueover the next three years. It doesn't stop there. TheMinister visiting India multiple times and they've beenhere. And if there's any chance of getting a deal with Indiaor any other country, Todd McClay will doit.

Suze Redmayne: TradeMcClay!

MIKE BUTTERICK: Trade McClay.If anyone can, Todd can. Todd McClay, take a bow.

Tothe 70,000 businesses associated with the food and fibresector—they're in every town and every city across thiscountry—to the 360,000 people that work in it, I thankyou. The latest Situation and Outlook for PrimaryIndustries report shows $56.9 billion from thesector.

Suze Redmayne: Take abow.

MIKE BUTTERICK: Take a bow. Ourfuture is bright. We need to stayfocused.

TANGI UTIKERE (Labour—PalmerstonNorth): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Look, over summer,there was much dissatisfaction around the Government when wewere at the barbecue and at the beach. Why? Because,basically, families in this country continue to do it tougharound the place. And why might that be the case, sir? Well,simply because this Government is failing on the economy.That has become extremely clear—that this is a Governmentthat is failing on the economy. Nicola Willis seems to talkup her credentials all the time. She talks up a big game,but she is simply not delivering. And all of the indicatorsclearly do show that.

To assist with this decline, ofcourse, the Government are looking to sell off, hock off,assets and open the door to privatisation. That is veryclear that they are looking to open the door toprivatisation. Now, it seems that they have already startedthat particular journey in Palmerston North.

Now, Isee that the health Minister, Simeon Brown, is here today.He has no record in health and safety. Let's just look athis track record in transport and increasing, by a blanketapproach, actually, speed limits around the country,concerns that have been expressed by some communities aroundthere. This is a Minister who has taken on one of the mostimportant and vital portfolios in this country, with a trackrecord not concerned about wellbeing, not concerned abouthealth, not concerned about safety.

So I say to him,what is he going to do about the children's emergencydepartment, ED, in Palmerston North? What is he going to do?Because his predecessor, Shane Reti, who this Prime Ministerbasically threw under the bus and passed this particular jobover to Mr Brown, announced $6 million towards the end oflast year to staff the children's ED department inPalmerston North. We have families, Mr Brown, who go toPalmerston North, and that very unit is closed. Why? Becausethere's no staff. So I say to the Minister, what is he goingto do about it? What is he going to do to reflect the hardwork that the community who fundraised for that particularfacility is going to do so that tamariki, children, canparticipate in terms of when it comes to theirhealthcare?

I also say to the new health Minister,what's he going to do about the surveillance colonoscopiesin my particular rohe? What is he going to do? Last nightthere was a public meeting in Palmerston North organised byPatient Voice Aotearoa—great turnout—

Arena Williams: Tell us aboutit.

TANGI UTIKERE: —and these aresome of the figures. I am going to tell the House; inparticular I'm going to tell the new health Minister aboutthis. There are 852 people in the mid-central area who havehad their surveillance colonoscopies paused. There is morethan an additional 1,600 who have had tohave—

Hon Simeon Brown: Not goodenough.

TANGI UTIKERE: Yes, it is notgood enough. So what are you going to do aboutit?

Hon Simeon Brown: I've gotclinics starting on Saturday.

TANGIUTIKERE: Oh, you've got clinics starting onSaturday. That's going to have about 45 people. What are yougoing to do about the 1,600 that have yet to be assessed?There were people at that public meeting, Minister Brown,last night, who've been on the waiting list for 12, 18months. The recommendation for clinicians advice is that itshould be a six-week waiting opportunity. In case theMinister doesn't know maths, it is far too long around that.We need action, privatisation—this is exactly where it'sgoing to have it. He sits there. I look forward to hearingfrom him. What is he going to do for the constituents ofPalmerston North? Because, at the moment, he has donenothing. He has done absolutely nothing. This is theMinister who's riding on the white horse to save you for theNational Party, doing absolutely nothing for my constituentsof Palmerston North, who are waiting to have a colonoscopy,and your Government, Minister Brown, is failing todeliver.

But then, of course, we know that when itcomes to the cost of living, this has dropped off theiragenda, for the National Party, hasn't it? It's dropped offtheir agenda. Now, there was some hope, but what did theydeliver? Oh, tax cuts—that's right. But, at the same time,they scrap subsidies for public transport. They scrapsubsidies when it comes to prescriptions. They increaserates; they increase insurance—all of these opportunities.The cost of living has dropped off their radar because theydo not care about jobs for people. They don't. When thebuilding and construction industry is losing thousands ofjobs, well, it's no wonder that they're not reallyinterested in this particular space as unemploymentcontinues to rise.

Recently, Kāinga Ora opened—wehad a new development opening in Palmerston North of 50units. Fantastic. The Government cannot take any credit forthat because they didn't actually allocate a single cent toit. In actual fact, they have erected bollards in PalmerstonNorth. Sir, you'll be aware of this, because there is landthat's available for development, had been tagged fordevelopment, that this Government are not going to proceedon. I challenge any member of the Government to front up atplaces like Church Street, other places in Palmerston North,and show us the development that is going to take place tocreate warm, safe, healthy homes forconstituents.

It's not there. Why? Because this is aNational Party and a Government that simply does not carefor the health or wellbeing of NewZealanders.

ARENA WILLIAMS(Labour—Manurewa): Point of order, Mr Chair.There seems to be some confusion over timing. The clockshould, I suggest to you, read another five minutes forTangi Utikere to continue with his speech, given that thereare 19 more minutes in the debate, and the final speaker forthe National Party is only owed another 10-minutecall.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): There's 14 minutes left in the debate, butlet me just take some advice on that, because we're goingbackwards and forwards here as well. The member sat down, hecould have taken the call, but because he satdown—

ARENA WILLIAMS: No, it was apoint of order, sir. Mr Speaker, the earlier time I rose wasa point of order, but I will seek a call now for fiveminutes.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): Arena Williams.

ARENAWILLIAMS: The Prime Minister's statement is meantto give New Zealanders a sniff of where this Government isgoing—some semblance of a vision for not only NewZealand's economy but our children; our future; honouringthe Treaty of Waitangi, our foundational document; andmaking things better for ordinary people in this country.But what did we get? We got a fast-paced hurtling towardsinvestors being able to buy up our properties if they cleara $5 million landmark; they will be able to purchaseState-owned assets later because the Government is workingtowards an agenda of privatisation. This is cut, cut, cutGovernment services, and bring on sales to their mates! Thisis such a disappointing agenda for the Government. It is themost hard-right, neo-liberal Government that New Zealand hashad in a generation.

Yet the irony is that members onthat side of the House might expect, for that pain, for thepain borne by working people, and for unemployment ratesskyrocketing, that they might be getting the economy undercontrol, but they're failing on the economy. The PrimeMinister is nowhere to be seen. Outside of COVID-19, we'rein the steepest downturn in the economy since 1991. WhenLabour left office, we had annual GDP growth of 2.4 percent;it has declined every quarter since National came to office.That will be the legacy of this one-termGovernment.

The legacy of this one-term Governmentwill be: saying no to school lunches. It will be saying noto the 2,200 nurses that we need in our health system rightnow, when they are asking for jobs. This Government did thegood work of training them up; that Government sent thempacking. It is saying no to more doctors. We have an 8.5percent doctor shortage in our health system, and a healthMinister who released that health plan in late-2024 with nofanfare and no media and then was sacked because he washonest about the crisis that the health system is in and isbeing presided over by those Ministers. These Ministers aresaying no to the health system; they're grinding it into theground until it is worth nothing, and then they willintroduce more and more privatisation into a system thatwill mean people who cannot afford it cannot get healthcare.When we have a Prime Minister who agrees with the premisethat failing fast is the right thing to do in our healthsystem, then we will have a health system where sick peopleget sicker, where people lose their lives from preventablediseases. Where we have a health system that is not like anyother in the First World, where people who are sick can getthe help that they need. That is a shame and that is notsomething I would want to be known for, and it's that sideof the House which has brought it in.

Instead ofsaying yes to economic growth, they are saying yes todonors. Only a few developers around the country areenjoying any of the development benefits that fast trackensures, while all other developers, all other housebuilders, mums and dads who want to put more properties intoa property in the city that they could have built on,they're not getting any of the benefits of that. They'resaying yes to more fines and fees.

Under thatGovernment, if you drive an electric vehicle, you are payingmore. You are paying more if you're a taxi driver workinghard in Wellington city and you are paying more if you're ataxi driver working in Auckland—exactly the communitiesthat that Government said it would be delivering for withthe cost of living promises that it made. Carlos Cheung sitsthere and he knows that people in his community are hurtingnow. Rima Nakhle knows that the people in Takanini arehurting because of the fees and charges that this Governmenthas put in place. Tax cuts mean nothing if you're payingmore to drive your car for work.

They're saying yes tosanctions, yes to new crimes, but not for people who aretheir mates. They will write letters of support for richpeople to avoid criminal sanctions while they bring in morepunishments for young Māori, more punishments for youngPasifika, more punishments for young people.

This is aGovernment that is saying yes to all of the wrong things.This is a Government that will be remembered for doing hugeeconomic damage in our country. It is a shame to sit on thatside of the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (TeanauTuiono): Members, the time has come for me to leavethe Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at7.30.

Sitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30p.m.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Good evening. We are on the debate onthe Prime Minister's statement, and we have a National Partycall of nine minutes and 17 seconds.

TākutaFerris: Point of order.

ASSISTANTSPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): I'm sorry, myapologies—I may be misinformed. Were you expecting to havethe call?

Tākuta Ferris: Point oforder.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (GregO'Connor): Oh, point of order. Myapologies.

Debate interrupted.

###

Debateresumed.

Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister ofHealth): Well, Mr Speaker, thank you for theopportunity to speak on the Prime Minister's statement toParliament and, as the last speaker here tonight in supportof this statement, this Government is on the side ofeconomic growth and productivity and backing New Zealandersto succeed. What a great statement that was. It talked aboutwhere we have got our country to in only 14 short months,and where we are going as a country, and setting a veryclear direction and a very clear agenda: that we need togrow our economy.

We just look back over what thisGovernment inherited when we came to office in late 2023:inflation—inflation out of control, left behind by thosepeople on the other side who, as the Prime Ministerdescribes, are like arsonists who've just lit the house onfire and there they are criticising the people, thefirefighters, trying to put the fire out. Well, that's whatthey've been doing every single day for the last 14 months.They lit this country alight with inflation, with theirreckless spending, and we are getting it under control.We've got inflation back into the band; we've got Governmentexpenditure back under control.

We are seeing thebenefits of that for New Zealanders, with interest raterelief coming through and flowing through into people's backpockets. As, I think, Infometrics put it earlier this week,up to $45 million per week should be expected in lowerinterest rates by the end of this year, for people withmortgages up and down their country. That is good news forthe people of Northcote. It's good news for the people ofCoromandel—it's the good people of the South Island andWaimakariri; it's the good people of my electorate, inPakuranga. That is good news. Right across this land, peopleare celebrating as they see those interest rates are comingdown. But, of course, there's a few of them on the otherside who are there still the arsonists—the arsonistswatching as we are putting out that fire.

We know howimportant economic growth is on this side of the House, andit's not just a term that we talk about; it is the benefitsthat it provides for New Zealanders. It's more jobs. It'smore opportunities. It's the ability for people to start abusiness, to be able to get ahead. It's also the ability forthe Government to have choices about what we investtaxpayers' hard-earned money in. It's about being able toinvest more and more in healthcare, in education, in theroads that the Green Party hate but New Zealanders love.It's about investing in more hospitals, in our schools, andinvesting in law and order, which was left in such aterrible state by the people on the other side. I'm so proudof the work that the Hon Mark Mitchell hasdone—

Hon Paul Goldsmith: Oi, oi,oi.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: —gettinggangs under control. And the Hon Paul Goldsmith; he's righthere. He's been working very closely with the Hon MarkMitchell and leading the way on justice reforms while thepolice are, of course, getting law and order undercontrol.

Of course, at the heart of the statement itwas about saying yes; yes to things like more tourism—moretourism into the country. What did theysay?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to morefarming and backing our farmers. What did theysay?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to moremining. What did they say?

HonMembers: No!

Hon SIMEONBROWN: Yes to more solar, wind, and geothermalthrough our fast-track legislation. What did theysay?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes tofast-tracking housing developments up and down our countryso Kiwis—young Kiwis—can get into their first home, andwhat did they say?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to moreconcerts at Eden Park. And of course we all know what thepatron saint of the Labour Party, Helen Clark, says to that.What does she say?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: That's what shesays. Yes to more international investment, attractinginvestment to our country. And what do theysay?

Hon Members:No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Of course,because they are the party of no. They lit the house onfire. They then turned up complaining that the firefightersare putting it out and now we're trying to build that houseback better, and now they're sitting on the sidelinessaying, "No, you can't do that, no you can't do this, no,you can't do that—

Hon ScottSimpson: They've got the sign above thedoor.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, they'vegot "Noes" above the door; they've even got their "Noes"sign here. They are the party of no, no, no. As I said,because we're saying yes, we are able to then invest in moreof the things that New Zealanders rely on and the thingsthat they deserve.

One of my new roles as Minister ofHealth is to make sure that our health system is deliveringfor New Zealanders, and I'm proud of the record investmentthis Government has made in our healthcare system. But, aseverybody knows, there is always going to be a demand formore money into healthcare. There's always new technologies,there's always new investments required, but what we alsoneed to do is make sure the money that is being spent isdelivering the results that New Zealanders rely on and theresults that they expect.

I think it's an absoluteshame what that last Government did to our healthcaresystem. It is one of the crying shames that they have leftbehind after their six years in office—what they leftbehind for New Zealanders. When National left office in2017, the vast majority—almost 90 percent of NewZealanders—were able to get seen and discharged throughtheir emergency departments within six hours. That haddropped back around 20 percent. The number of Kiwis who werebeing able to get an elective surgery and the number waitingbeyond four months was just over 1,000.

Over the sixyears, that number had increased into the tens of thousands.In fact, when we left office in 2017, only 1,037 Kiwis werewaiting more than four months for an elective surgery. Whenthey left office, that was 27,497. That is a 2,551 percentincrease in the number of people waiting more than fourmonths. Shame on them. And when it comes to people wantingtheir first specialist assessment—those people wanting toget their first specialist assessment—918 Kiwis in 2017were waiting more than four months to get their firstspecialist assessment. When they left office, that numberhad increased to 59,818—

Hon PeeniHenare: COVID-19?

Hon SIMEONBROWN: —a 6,400 percentage point. Fail and shameon them; shame on them.

Hon PeeniHenare: Stop rewriting history, MrBrown.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: And what wastheir big idea; what was their big idea? I hear the excusescoming out from the Opposition—the excuses. What was theirbig idea to sort that out? Focus on making sure we did theright number of doctors and nurses, making sure we'refocusing on delivering for Kiwis, making sure we've gottargets in place? No, they got rid of the targets. What werethey focused on? Restructuring the entire health system inthe middle of a pandemic. Shame on them. They're morefocused on the bureaucracy, the back office functions, thenumber of people on the senior leadership team; that's whatthey were doing, sitting around the Cabinet table workingout how many people we can have on the senior leadershipteam rather than focusing on the outcomes forpatients.

On this side of the House, we make noapology that we are on the side of patients. That's why webrought back those targets. We're going to focus the systemon delivering against those targets. That is what we'refocusing on, and it will be a patients-first policy fromthis Government, and that's what we're going to deliver on.I have no doubt there are significant challenges facing ourhealth system, left behind because when you don't measuresomething, you can't manage it, and that's what they did.The first thing they did was to stop the measuring so thatKiwis were left in the dark as to the performance of theirhealth system. We have shone a light on that; we've shone alight on the challenge that New Zealanders face, and we arefocusing the system back on delivering againstthat.

So, in conclusion, this Government has a hugeagenda ahead of us this year. We are focused on the issuesthat matter to New Zealanders. We're focused on growing oureconomy, because, with a strong economy, we can have betterjobs. We can have better-paid jobs, more jobs, the incomesthat we deserve. It means that we can invest in thehealthcare, the education, the law and order that NewZealanders rely upon, and we will deliver that because thatis what Kiwis voted for us to do, and we are not going tostand by like those people on the sidelines complaining.We're going to get on and make the decisions that get NewZealand back on track.

A party vote was called for onthe question, That all the words after "That" be deletedand replaced with "This House has no confidence in thiscoalition Government because under its incompetent,arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership, New Zealand isgoing backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs, record numbersare leaving the country, and their priorities are wrong andout of touch."

Ayes 55

New Zealand Labour34; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 15; Te Pāti Māori6.

Noes 68

New Zealand National 49; ACT NewZealand 11; New Zealand First 8.

Amendment not agreedto.

A party vote was called for on the question,That this House express its confidence in the Government andcommend its programme for 2025 as set out in the PrimeMinister's statement.

Ayes 68

New ZealandNational 49; ACT New Zealand 11; New Zealand First8.

Noes 55

New Zealand Labour 34; Green Partyof Aotearoa New Zealand 15; Te Pāti Māori 6.

Motionagreedto.

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