"\u003C!DOCTYPE html\u003E\u003Chtml xmlns:xlink=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\u0022 xmlns:xsi=\u0022http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance\u0022 xmlns:mml=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Chead\u003E\n    \u003CMETA http-equiv=\u0022Content-Type\u0022 content=\u0022text/html; charset=utf-16\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cmeta name=\u0022viewport\u0022 content=\u0022width=device-width, initial-scale=1\u0022\u003E\n  \u003C/head\u003E\n  \u003Cbody style=\u0022font-family:sans-serif; font-size:100%;\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00222d5deec90ba74ff7ae15f48799a99ad7\u0022\u003ETUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2015\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e165970ad1354f36b60a6106cafe16fb\u0022\u003ETUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2015\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000002\u0022\u003EMr Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000004\u0022\u003EPrayers.\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000005\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022a81cc06868c64c97a3deaec015deb3c6\u0022\u003EResignations\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002216accd46c60e49cd9a041556a6b074f6\u0022\u003EMike Sabin, Northland\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022 data-id=\u0022de89778ad0df4d848d329c811afdcfe0\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022de89778ad0df4d848d329c811afdcfe0\u0022\u003EMr SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Honourable members, I wish to advise the House that I have received a letter from Mike Sabin resigning his seat with effect from Friday, 30 January 2015.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f3eddd648e334364a46d955fb442d408\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00224de6a5191390494baef93d9b0df27772\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022 data-id=\u0022728bb88737eb4aca842f2d5e93fcef8e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022728bb88737eb4aca842f2d5e93fcef8e\u0022\u003ERt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That this House express its confidence in the National-led Government and commend its programme for 2015 as set out in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement to Parliament. Mr Speaker, can I take this opportunity to welcome you and other members back to the House for the parliamentary year and to remind the House that New Zealand went to the polls on 20 September 2014. For the third time the New Zealand public delivered a clear mandate to this National-led Government. The message was pretty simple: carry on. Carry on making the country wealthier, carry on making this a more vibrant country, carry on making this a more multicultural and globally connected country, and carry on making New Zealand a successful little nation we can all be proud of. That is what they said. And for the third time the public allowed us to work with our friends in the ACT Party, United Future, and the M\u0101ori Party. I want to take this opportunity to thank them for being part of what is a strong and stable Government. It has been for the last 6\u00BD years and will be for a further 2\u00BD years for the 9-year period, and then beyond, hopefully, in the years ahead. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWe went into the election campaign last year with a pretty simple slogan: \u201CWorking for New Zealand\u201D. Working for New Zealand. We went there because this is a Government that is working for New Zealand. Growth last year was at 3.2 percent; on average, it will be 3 percent or more for the next 3 years. Wages have gone up 15 percent over the last 5 years. Employment: 80,000 new jobs were created in the last 12 months and 217,000 more New Zealanders are in work than 5 years ago. When it comes to Kiwis and the decisions they make, very, very few of them are going over the Tasman to Australia\u2014in fact, we had the smallest net loss across the Tasman since 1994. It has got to the point where the Government is now running job fairs to make sure that New Zealanders in Brisbane and in Melbourne who left under the previous Labour Government know to come back to New Zealand because there are jobs here for them. On the weekend we had the Sevens here in Wellington. They could not fill that stadium, but Helen Clark could\u2014every single year she could fill the Westpac Stadium with Kiwis wanting to leave. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThe cost of living is good for New Zealanders. Inflation is at 0.8 percent\u2014it is low. Interest rates are half of what they were when this Government took over. The balance of payments deficit at 2.6 percent is a third of what it was under the previous Government. We are getting close to surplus, and when it comes to the debts that this nation has, by 2020 they will be under 20 percent of GDP. That is a third of what they were projected to be when we inherited those terrible policies of the free-spending, free-wheeling Helen Clark administration of 1999 to 2008.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ESo how can we summarise all this? Quite simply. New Zealand is a country of people who now live longer, earn more, are better educated, have better health, and are less likely to be victims of crime. That is why the New Zealand public, when they went to the polls, resoundingly asked us to come back and to be the Government for a further 3 years, and that is the programme that I want to lay out for you today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EBut just before I do that, let me make the contrast that is on display between this active, busy Government and the do-nothing Opposition over there. Andrew Little has been the leader of the Labour Party for 84 days\u201484 days. In 1873 Jules Verne thought you could get around the world in 80 days. Well, in 84 days Andrew Little has not even got around his caucus let alone the world. He has not even got around the four people who voted for him. He is not Andrew Little; he is Dr Dolittle. This man does absolutely nothing. Granted, his predecessors whom I faced managed to stagger from gaffe to crisis and back again in 84 days, but this is a man who has done absolutely nothing. No\u2014I am wrong. He has had two ideas\u2014two ideas\u2014in 84 days.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ENo. 1 has been to give M\u0101ori sovereignty. Under Andrew Little they can write laws only for themselves, but they are not allowed to buy an ex-State house. They are not allowed to buy a State house but under Andrew Little they will be allowed to write laws only for M\u0101ori. The other great idea he has had in 84 days is to hold a workshop about what a job is. That is a novel concept for a Labour MP\u2014I am prepared to admit that\u2014but it is hardly the stuff that sets the electorate on fire. No, this is it. This is the summary of 84 days of Andrew Little. It is a success. Why? Because he is not David Cunliffe. That is it. That is the reason why \u201CProject Little\u201D is working. But we are a busy Government; they are a do-nothing Opposition.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ESo let us move on to what the Government is planning to do over the course of 2015 and the years ahead. Resource Management Act reform: this is a House that so often talks about the cost for New Zealanders of buying houses. Let us see how many of them are prepared to stand up and back the Government\u2019s agenda to make the Resource Management Act work better for our country and for New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThe Business Growth Agenda\u2014350 initiatives that make it easier to do business with the Government, that see more money invested in science and technology, that see our export markets grow. It will see a Food Safety Science and Research Centre established at Massey University to educate young New Zealanders. It will see four additional centres of research excellence and three information and communications technology graduate schools there for young New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to the workplace, this is a Government that will be advancing legislation that will balance the need for the creation of jobs with the safety of those who go to our workplaces each and every day. In those critical areas of forestry, construction, and agriculture, this will be a Government that will champion legislation over the course of the next 12 months to make it safer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to wages, this is a Government that will raise the minimum wage in 2015, as it has done every single year that we have been in Government\u2014every single year. We already have the highest minimum wage to average wage ratio of any country in the OECD, but in 2015 the minimum wage will rise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EInfrastructure: when you want a country that operates efficiently and effectively, you need infrastructure. That will mean more roading projects. The Waterview Connection in Auckland\u2014Alice, that massive, big machine that is digging the tunnel through there at Waterview, has already turned around and is heading back towards Auckland. That will see that $1 billion - plus project completed over the course of the next few years. The Waikato Expressway: my friends in Hamilton there talk so wonderfully about the commute from Hamilton to Auckland now. Christchurch motorways are being built. Northland, that place we love so much; Northland, those people we respect so much\u2014they need to get to Auckland on the road, and this Government will be supporting P\u016Bhoi to Wellsford, not just with planning but with a road. That is on top of the 11 regional roading projects I unveiled last year and the $100 million going into urban cycleways, because we know that people want to get around their cities on their bikes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EUltra-fast broadband: this is a Government that is getting New Zealand wired for the world. Five hundred and seventy thousand homes can already connect to ultra-fast broadband\u201469,000 of them have taken it up. And if you live in Whangarei or Te Awamutu or \u014C\u0101maru, your city or place has been fully fibred under a National-led Government. Labour was opposed, yet National is getting New Zealand wired up.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWe on this side of the House know we are not going to get rich selling things to each other. We are, as a nation, getting rich if we sell things to the world, and our trade agreements will reflect that. In a few months\u2019 time there will be the signing of the free-trade agreement with Korea\u2014a very important partner for New Zealand. The Gulf States are looking much more closely at a free-trade agreement. And the Trans-Pacific Partnership\u2014what does the Opposition actually think? Does it want a free-trade agreement with the United States, a $17 trillion economy? Dr Dolittle does not know. Half the caucus says yes; half the caucus says no. You would not have a clue. Its political support partners, the Greens, do not want a bar of it. They do not want to sell goods and services on an unrestricted basis to the United States. The active, busy, National-led Government says yes; the Opposition says no.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EClimate change\u2014an issue that this House cares about. This is the Government that will be taking to Paris later in the year a target that New Zealand can adhere to when it comes to climate change, along with solutions in science and technology when it comes to agriculture.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EHousing is an issue of considerable concern to New Zealanders. Who does not want to own a home? But this is the Government that has not sat around and done nothing. Under this Government, 100 special housing areas have been approved\u2014100 special housing areas; 84 of them in Auckland. Last year 2,000 new homes per month were constructed under a National-led Government\u201424,000 homes in the last 12 months. That is double the rate from when we took over, and you can see it in the GDP and employment activity. In 2014 residential construction alone was $10 billion, and there is plenty more of that to come.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EAnd when it comes to social housing, this is not a Government that thinks Housing New Zealand has to own every home; this is a Government that is prepared to go out there with community housing providers, as I announced earlier in the year, and say to people: \u201CWe will supply more income-related rents. We will allow iwi to actually own homes. We will allow the Salvation Army and Presbyterian Support and other community groups to have the homes. There will be more homes available. The bottleneck and logjam that are there will be unblocked with a far more sensible scheme.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003ENew Zealand has voted in the Government because it does things for them and their families. And foremost in that is the creation of jobs. No one is more proud than when their youngster gets a job or when they make sure they can keep their job or get another job. Two hundred and seventeen thousand jobs have been created under this Government in the last 5 years. And what the effect of all of the stronger economy means is that the Government has more money, even in these very challenging conditions, to spend on things that matter to New Zealanders. This year\u2014free doctors\u2019 visits for 400,000 New Zealanders under 13 years of age. This year there will be an extension of paid parental leave from 14 weeks to 16 weeks, and a year after that, on 1 April, an extension from 16 weeks to 18 weeks, and for those who are not eligible for paid parental leave, the parental tax credit will increase from $150 a week to $220 a week. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to ACC, with good management we have sorted out the mess we inherited from Labour, and we will see motor vehicle ACC costs drop by $130 per car, and the levies on employers and the self-employed will also drop. When it comes to the most deprived kids in New Zealand society, look to the Budget of 2015 for some ideas on what the Government will be doing in that area. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EEducation: we all know that nothing is more important than helping young New Zealanders to get an education. This is the Government that is putting $359 million this year into a series of initiatives that will keep good teachers in the classroom for longer, that will mentor teachers and principals. When we see a failing school, we will not do what Labour and the Greens and others in this House have done and turn a blind eye and imagine it does not matter; we will attract a good principal to go to that school and turn it round. And this is the side of the House that supported national standards and the roll-out of technology to our schools. We see more kids in early childhood education and more M\u0101ori and more Pacific students coming out. Education is working under National, but there is a lot more to be done.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to our corrections facilities, Wiri prison will be opened, I think, in 2015, and by 2017 every prison in New Zealand will be a working prison where our prisoners will be expected to get skills and get the opportunity to take a job when they ultimately leave prison.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to M\u0101ori, this is a Government that is actually doing something for M\u0101ori in New Zealand\u201446 deeds of settlement signed under this Government; under the previous Labour Government, one to two a year were signed. At the rate that Labour was going, it would have taken until 2060 to achieve what I think National will achieve by 2017. This will be a Government that will reform and rewrite the Te Ture Whenua M\u0101ori Act, which will see 1.4 million hectares of land available for development, $8 billion worth of value to the economy, and thousands of jobs. The Government will not forget those who are vulnerable in our communities. There will be more work done on child abuse, domestic violence, community security and safety, and on using technology to enhance the police.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EIn 2015 there will be a review of the intelligence agencies to ensure that our laws are fit for purpose and that we have intelligence agencies that can keep New Zealanders safe. When we have seen intelligence legislation in this House that makes New Zealanders safer, far too few political parties have been prepared to step up and support it, but when we saw the crises in countries like France, recently, in Canada, and in Australia, we did not hear a word from the Opposition. They are not prepared to support legislation to make New Zealanders safer, but they are as quiet as little lamb chops when things happen outside of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EIt will be a busy year for foreign affairs. We are on the Security Council in 2015 and 2016. Issues like Ukraine and Iraq and Syria, the Middle East, and the war on Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will be all important for us, as a good participant on the Security Council, to debate and discuss. This will be a Government that will take seriously its responsibilities when it comes to standing up to ISIS. As I said in Waitangi, I will not, as leader of New Zealand, stand back and see Jordanian pilots burnt to death, I will not see young children beheading soldiers, I will not sit back when people are thrown off buildings because of their sexuality, and then be lectured by the left about human rights. They do not care enough about human rights to do something about it. No wonder they are looking down in shame.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to Christchurch, the big job of the rebuild of Christchurch will continue. The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will become a departmental agency.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003EThis is going to be a busy year for the Government. We were elected by the people of New Zealand and were given the biggest mandate in the history of MMP to carry on the work we have done in the past and want to do in the future. We are not here to fill in the green seats; we are here to do a lot for New Zealand. It is a pretty simple message: it is a lot over here, and it is a little over there. And I tell you what, New Zealand is hungry for a lot, and only four people over there wanted \u201Ca Little\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022 data-id=\u0022810fa182901548fb8124bb7a22a2d76c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022810fa182901548fb8124bb7a22a2d76c\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That all the words after \u201CThat\u201D be deleted and replaced with \u201Cthis House express no confidence in this National-led Government because this is a government that has lost its moral compass and turned a blind eye to the deplorable actions of its MPs; that is fixated on selling off our state houses rather than building more homes; that is leading us into a war with no clear goals and no exit strategy; that has more Kiwis out of work and in poverty today than when it came to power; and that now has no greater ambition for New Zealand than changing our flag while leaving the real issues to fester.\u201D Apparently, that was the speech of a leader of a nation. Apparently, that was the sort of speech that we are all meant to be inspired by, rise up to, and feel good about. But it was typical of this Prime Minister\u2014nasty pettifogging, with no direction and nothing to offer. He has had 2 months on the beaches and he has come back with nothing more to offer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EBefore I go any further I want to say how pleased I am to be back, and to wish you, Mr Speaker, and all my colleagues a happy New Year. It has been a great summer break. Some have had a good holiday. Todd Barclay went on a voyage of discovery. He discovered his electorate\u2014\u201COh yes, there is a deep south!\u201D\u2014after years of living in Wellington. Chris Bishop went kayaking in the Hutt River and he wound up a bit like his political career: hard up on the rocks, with no future. Amy Adams spent her holiday going around and unpicking everything that Judith Collins did not do. So it has been a very successful summer for some. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EThis is a Government that has mastered the art of something very, very special. Kirkcaldie and Stains and Smith and Caughey\u2019s would be very proud of them. This is a Government of window dressing. This is a Government that has mastered the art of window dressing: giving the appearance of doing something\u2014giving the appearance of doing something\u2014even though what it is doing is something completely different; or repeatedly promising something that it never delivers on, like the fiscal surplus. How many years now, Mr English, has the Government promised a surplus and not delivered? How many more years are we to go? What is it now\u20142017 before the surplus, before the great fiscal managers of the National Government produce something, produce a tangible result? That is the window dressing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003ELet us talk about housing and housing affordability. Those members talk about housing affordability. Their plan, their magic plan, for housing affordability\u2014get this\u2014is to sell State houses. Not a single extra house, but the selling off of State houses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002254a96c543cf64533b19b221f1547736f\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: What about Homestart?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224d0f846cd2534b01b2e255a3e8c26026\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: Poor old Nick Smith, the \u201CDr Strangelove\u201D of the National Cabinet. Poor old Nick Smith, with his great plan to help housing. He is going to reform the Resource Management Act in ways that we do not know about\u2014because he cannot tell us. There is great talk about section 6 and great talk about section 7, but we do not know what it is. What is the change? And if he does have change, what difference is it going to make to the people trying to get into a house? What difference is it going to make? Not a single difference. Not a single new house will be built because of their policies on that side of the House\u2014not a single new house. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003ELow-income and middle-income Aucklanders are struggling to get into a house. I heard a story this morning about a professional Auckland couple in their 30s\u2014probably a little younger than Simon Bridges. They have done their OE and they have come back. They have done very well on their OE, because they could afford a deposit. That was one thing. They had no help from their parents. But they now have a mortgage. They have a modest Auckland house with three bedrooms, and do you know what the mortgage is? It is $750,000\u2014$750,000 for first-home buyers in Auckland, a young professional couple. That is what the National Government has given us when it comes to housing. And it will talk about: \u201COh, we want more houses. Oh, we\u2019re going to change the law to give us more housing.\u201D It is just more window dressing\u2014just more window dressing from the \u201CDr Strangelove\u201D of the National Cabinet, Nick Smith. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EThe Government has done nothing to add housing supply. Oh, that is not quite true. It has the special housing areas.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225ed10ff16d17491fbe23b580bdf8343b\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: How many houses?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022822aa68d7b304a2199bcb039c7c8dd50\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: Fifteen houses\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d8ae26cef5c54121a43413c5818c8b27\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: 15.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dfe2e49eb880462faee46103eec6f0bb\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014or 50? Am I over-estimating it? I might be\u201415 houses. Oh, that will help. That will help the poor old Aucklanders trying to get into their houses. That will help the Aucklanders who can no longer live near where they work and who have to live in the far north, north of Auckland, or even down in Hamilton now if they want to work in Auckland. That is the product of this Government: just more window dressing. No idea, no plan, no policy, and no plan to do anything that is going to make a difference. It says that selling 8,000 State houses will make the difference. And it says, and here is the other bit of window dressing in selling the 8,000 State houses: \u201COh, they will all go to the community housing groups.\u201D There is not a single community housing group that can afford 8,000 State houses. The community housing groups cannot afford to buy up those 8,000 State houses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EJohn Key knows that when he makes that promise he is promising thousands and thousands of State houses to his mates, the property developers, because that is what this plan is about. It is not about adding houses. It is not about making housing more affordable. It is not about helping those who cannot afford to buy or cannot afford to rent in the private rental market. He is about just flogging them all off, because that is what National did last time it was in Government, and John Key is no different to the last lot. This mob just sells State houses because that is what it does\u2014looks after its mates. More window dressing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EAnd then we come to unemployment. You know, the weird thing is this. You look around the rest of the world\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e81eeeca51f04b08b921c738127bc4e4\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: 80,000 new jobs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ccb31f95a09749a3ab581a3f5a69d486\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: You look around the rest of the world, Dr Smith, and unemployment is going down. Unemployment is coming down. We all got through the global financial crisis. We all got through it. At the time at the start of the global financial crisis, we were No. 1 in the OECD in terms of our unemployment\u2014the lowest level of unemployment at the beginning of the global financial crisis. When I gave my state of the nation speech 2 weeks ago, we were ninth. Two weeks on, we are now 10th. We have slipped when it comes to employment. Unemployment in this country is going up. Unemployment in this country is going up because this Government has no plan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002263776108-58dc-4cab-baf1-95282c61d0de\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229338ecd44271439891299f2ad25dc721\u0022\u003EHon Paula Bennett\u003C/span\u003E: You left it at No. 11.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022df4d36bff87541c193f351ebb34c9728\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: It has got Paula Bennett. She will massage the numbers and she will shove people off the unemployment queue, but the Government has got no plan to create jobs, to add jobs, to reduce unemployment, and to get people living in dignity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EUnemployment has gone up. Unemployment has gone up by another 3,000 people in the last 3 months. You know, these are the spring and summer months, when employers take people on. These are the good months, and unemployment has gone up by 3,000. That is why the Reserve Bank is holding interest rates. It has no confidence in the future of this economy under this Government. That is what is happening in this country, and that Government gives us more window dressing. It will spin the numbers. It will spin the numbers, but the people who are living it know what it is like. They cannot afford to make ends meet. They cannot get a job. The families are struggling. That is New Zealand today for far too many New Zealanders, and that Government does not care, because that is the nature of it. It will just dress it up. It will just make it up as it goes along and hope that nobody notices. Well, I have got news for John Key: people are noticing. People are noticing because they are hurting. When unemployment goes up in the prime months when employers take people on, then they know something is wrong. When people are struggling to make ends meet, they know there is something wrong, and there is\u2014and there is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EHas this Government given us anything? Is there a single measure it can point to that is going to add more jobs? You see Steven Joyce sitting there, and his single biggest contribution as Minister in charge of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is zero-hour contracts\u2014the nastiest, most brutal form of employment, which only ever happened in the time he was the Minister. Even employers come to me and say: \u201CThis is appalling. We can\u2019t have this. We shouldn\u2019t have it\u2014zero-hour contracts where people can be obliged to turn up to work, and work not be given and no pay be given.\u201D What an appalling state of affairs that Steven Joyce has led the employment market into. People look at it and they are horrified, their parents look at it and they are horrified, and their grandparents look at it and they are horrified. Employers come to me and say: \u201CHow is it that a Government could allow this to happen?\u201D The good, responsible employers who are looking for good, responsible people say \u201CWe would never touch zero-hour contracts, but those people down the road, they are doing it, and this Government shows no interest in doing anything about it.\u201D Well, we will in Labour, and you will see our member\u2019s bill that will actually deal to that issue. Steven Joyce\u2019s single biggest contribution is zero-hour contracts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a88841d8cc3a43be80de0f528c37a2ff\u0022\u003EHon Annette King\u003C/span\u003E: Then there\u2019s Skycity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227d6f12defdcd47a1a8f28ac5542c5be8\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: And then there is Skycity. I am glad you asked, Mrs King, because the convention centre is very important. Remember how important it was to New Zealanders? We must have a convention centre\u2014we must have one, because the market for international conventions down at the bottom of the world is so big, apparently. They are falling over themselves to come down here\u2014never mind that Rotorua and Hamilton cannot fill their convention centres. Pay that no mind, because the National Party knows best and they went off and did a deal\u2014they went off and did a deal. Who did the deal? Oh, John Key. He had a dinner with the Skycity executives, and here were all these other people lining up, all these other people thinking it was going to be a fair process, an open tender, and they thought they would have a chance to put up their proposal and say: \u201CYes, we can build a convention centre.\u201D But no. Not under the National Government, not under the masters of the universe. The masters of the universe, John Key and Steven Joyce\u2014oh dear, not them again. They got around the negotiating table, and what a deal\u2014what a deal. The masters of the universe, John Key and Steven Joyce, negotiated the deal of the century. Well it sure was if you are Skycity. But for the taxpayer, what have they done? What have they given us? What have they given us? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EThis is what Treasury said when it looked at it. Treasury said that it had \u201Cstrong concerns that the private benefits to Skycity will exceed public benefits to New Zealanders.\u201D Whoops! The masters of the universe did such a fantastic deal that their own officials have trounced it\u2014their own officials have trounced it. What did the Auditor-General say about the process and about John Key\u2019s negotiating skills and Steven Joyce\u2019s negotiating manner? What did they say about that? They said \u201Cwe do not consider that the evaluation process was transparent or even-handed.\u201D But that is all right because when you are the Prime Minister promising the nation a free convention centre, there are no bounds. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EBut whoops! It is not free. Oh no! The free convention centre is going to cost us. Will it be just a little bit? Oh, we can afford the odd million here and there, just a little bit, just to get it over the line. How much do they want to squeeze out of us? It is $140 million\u2014$140 million for the casino, for the gambling experts in Auckland who have had this exclusive licence for so long. The deal that John Key and Steven Joyce, the masters of the universe, negotiated\u2014the free convention centre\u2014is going to cost us $140 million. Well, that is what they call economic development. That is what they call a plan for the future. Well, it is a plan for Skycity\u2019s future. It is doing very well. It has got the licence for 2048 and, mark my words, that mob will not walk away from it. They have put too much into it. There is too much at stake\u2014there is too much at stake. Those are the economic issues. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EWhat about the standards of the Government? What about the promise of 2008 that \u201CThe Government I lead will be a Government of good standards.\u201D, and its chance to do something, its chance to demonstrate that National actually is a party of standards in Government? It was confronted with it at the end of last year. One of National\u2019s MPs was under a police investigation. One of its MPs\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b4ecb56a1c4d4cacb66e5aff46f49ae8\u0022\u003EMr SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! I invite members throughout this debate to be very careful. We know that there was a court case, and we know that all details were suppressed. [Interruption] Order! There is Standing Order 115. Should any members think I should consider this matter differently, I invite them to use that Standing Order and write to me. At this stage no member has done so. I invite Mr Little to continue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022992c5569b0984cc9a184f791a5bc7da4\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I understand and appreciate the caution you are expressing. I make no reference at all and make no comment beyond the fact that it is on the record that a MP was under a police investigation. He is not the first. That Government well knows, because it has drawn the attention of the public to other MPs under a police investigation\u2014a police investigation that led to no outcome at all. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EBut here is the point. We had an MP under investigation, who was then allowed by this Government to chair the parliamentary committee\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002214be04050b8b4791ab9aff1a961e4a1c\u0022\u003EMr SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! [Interruption] Order! I have given a ruling that I had given considerable consideration to. If the member continues in this vein, I will have no choice but to terminate his speech. I have given a ruling whereby we acknowledge there is a court case of which all details were suppressed. [Interruption] Order! This is a time when this Parliament has a responsibility, a duty, to respect the jurisdiction of the court, and I expect that to occur today. I invite Mr Little to continue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d7550d190bd845d3b106bd165b2d4ceb\u0022\u003EANDREW LITTLE\u003C/span\u003E: I absolutely understand the principle of comity between Parliament and other branches of government. That is absolutely crucial. I have made no reference to any core process. I just want that to be on the record\u2014none whatsoever\u2014but standards of public life are important. Standards of public life are important, and the way we, as MPs in this House, conduct ourselves is important. Whether or not we are party to a conflict of interest and whether or not our parties and our party leaders know we are subject to a conflict of interest\u2014that is important to every citizen in New Zealand. Every single one of us is required to exercise proper and appropriate standards of conduct, including, when we are in conflicts of interest, to declare that and act appropriately. If our leaders know that we are in a conflict of interest, it is incumbent on the leader to act appropriately and properly. I just say this to Michael Woodhouse and Anne Tolley: the truth will set you free. We will come back to this. The truth will set you free. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EI want to go on to this very important issue that the Prime Minister has correctly raised, although in rather an unfortunate manner, and that is the challenge that the world faces in dealing with an outfit like Islamic State, or ISIS as it is known. It is brutal, it is horrific, it is ugly, it is revolting, and it has appalled every single citizen who has seen it. Every person who respects democracy is appalled by it. The challenge is this: after 10 years of training of the Iraqi army by the best-trained, best-equipped, best-resourced army in the world, what is it that we can do now that is going to make a difference? After US$25 billion of training for the Iraqi army, what is it that our people and those around the world who are invited to join might do? Let us not be panicked. Let us not be panicked into a response to deal with the most brutal and the worst outfit, which does not operate to any rules, does not operate with any borders, and does not observe any conventions, but is nasty and brutal. Japan tried it and dealt with them, and their hostages were killed brutally. Jordan tried to deal with them, and their pilot was brutally killed in the ugliest, most appalling fashion. What is it we are going to do? What is the mission, Mr Key? What are you asking New Zealanders to agree to\u2014to put our people in harm\u2019s way\u2014that is going to make the difference? That is the question. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders are sensible, practical people. We all see it. We all feel the urge to do something, but we want to know that what we do is going to make a difference. That is the challenge that the world faces: not to rush in there, hoping that we might find out what to do when we get up there, but to know what it is before we get there and to understand that the most and only effective measure so far has been air strikes by other forces, which is something we cannot do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003ELabour\u2019s focus is very clear. We are about an economy that is going to generate jobs\u2014real jobs, good jobs, jobs that mean good living standards and good incomes for people. The right laughs at us. The members laugh at us because they do not care about the people who are struggling to get jobs at the moment. They do not care about those who are on the unemployment queue because it is going up because this Government does nothing about it. We will take that challenge on. We will work with the sector that is generating the most jobs at the moment, the small business sector\u2014the most ignored business sector in the country. It is funny how you talk to members of that sector and they say: \u201CThis Government has done nothing.\u201D What do they want? They want access to easy, readily available education\u2014stuff that tells them how to get started and what to do. For those who have been in business for a while and are wondering how to take advantage of better economic conditions and how to expand, they want some assistance to do that readily accessible. Those dealing with the multitude of Government agencies want to know how to do that efficiently\u2014to have one point of contact to do it. It is all possible. It is all achievable. This Government does not care. It does not care about the small business sector, because that is not where its mates and the donations come from. That is the truth of it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EWe will be a party that is serious about housing, about affordable housing, and about adding to housing\u201410,000 houses a year over 10 years. That is our policy. That is our measure. That will make a difference. That young professional couple in Auckland are now saddled with a $750,000 mortgage and are terrified if either of them loses their job, because that will be it, that will be their lives gone. But no one else will be put in that position. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003EWe will address the single biggest issue that New Zealanders are concerned about: the growing inequality. If the Prime Minister wants to talk about separatism, I will talk about it to him. I will talk about those who are being kicked out of the housing market\u2014obstructed\u2014and those who are living in palatial residences. That is the separatism that I am concerned about: those whose incomes are getting less and those whose incomes are getting stratospheric. That is the separatism I am concerned about, not the stuff that the Prime Minister is concerned about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022106966ef-8cc3-434a-9dbe-dd76b708c2a1\u0022\u003ENew Zealand deserves better. New Zealand deserves leadership, a real leader who is prepared to confront the real issues, prepared to deal with the issues that New Zealanders have, with respect and with dignity, and to deal with them in a way that is going to make a difference, generate jobs, and give dignity to people who need it most. That is the challenge facing New Zealand, not what this Government is talking about: fiddling and faddling and more window-dressing, which is what we have got under this mob.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022 data-id=\u0022166cc50baa69426cbe60f831cc138e5c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022166cc50baa69426cbe60f831cc138e5c\u0022\u003EDr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader\u2014Green):\u003C/span\u003E Before I begin my formal speech, I would just like to acknowledge the death of Dr Apirana Mahuika. This is a moment of great sadness for the Green Party, and we would like to join with Ngati Porou in sharing their sadness at the passage of Dr Mahuika. He was a leader like no other. He was unashamedly ambitious for his people, as well as for all M\u0101oridom, and he had friends right across the political spectrum. In my own dealings with him, I always found he had an amazing capacity to take on new ideas. He was interested not only in the M\u0101ori economy but also in how the M\u0101ori economy could benefit from the growing green economy. We will miss him very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIt has been an extremely hot summer in Wellington. All over the country it has been hot\u2014even in Wellington. All across the country green fields have been turning brown, rivers have dried up or slowed to a trickle, and, unfortunately for our farmers as well as for our native plants and animals, the threat of drought now hangs heavy over the land. Will 2015 be another record year for the climate?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003ELast year was the warmest year on record around the world. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000. I hear the Prime Minister making jokes about it because he is a science-denier. This is the 38th consecutive year that the average annual temperature has been above the long-term average\u201438 consecutive years. The trend is pretty clear: our climate is heating up, and we are facing, in the words of the climate change Minister, Tim Groser, \u201Cthe great challenge of our age\u201D. He is right; climate change is the greatest challenge of our age. Runaway global warming hangs over us like the threat of a nuclear winter did during the height of the Cold War. Just as they did during the height of the Cold War, parents are looking into the eyes of their children and are asking: \u201CWhat kind of a world are we leaving behind for you?\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EBut I am not going to focus this speech on the dire consequences of doing nothing on climate change. I am sure all of us have heard the science\u2014at least most of us have. We have read about the wicked storms, the wild fires, the droughts, the risks to agriculture and forestry, and the threats posed to our homes and wildlife. We have probably even seen some of the changes firsthand in our own backyards.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EWe have known about climate change for some time. Margaret Thatcher gave speeches about climate change in the 1980s. Simon Upton, as part of a National Government no less, came close to passing a climate tax in the 1990s. And the Kyoto Protocol came into force in the 2000s, promising concerted and coordinated global action on the climate. We have had a few more false starts since then, but we have seen how a polluting industry can organise powerfully to secure its own short-term interests at the expense of our children. As a result, carbon emissions have continued to grow unabated around the world, but particularly here in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EAs a people we have one of the highest carbon footprints in the developed world, and the Ministry for the Environment has stated in its annual report that our country\u2019s net emissions will continue to go even higher\u2014up a further 50 percent by 2020. People often think that I have made a mistake when I say this. They say: \u201COh, you mean to say New Zealand\u2019s emissions are going down 50 percent by 2020.\u201D\u2014but sadly, no. The actual truth is that since John Key has been Prime Minister, New Zealand\u2019s net emissions have increased by 20 percent, and according to the Ministry for the Environment climate pollution will increase by 50 percent by 2020 under the current policy settings\u2014because, of course, the current policy settings subsidise climate emissions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIf climate is war, the New Zealand Government is fighting on the wrong side. It is on the side fighting for global climate catastrophe. Two decades after Simon Upton\u2019s courageous, but ultimately failed, attempt to get action on climate change, it is time we changed sides and joined those trying to cut greenhouse emissions, instead of continuing to dramatically increase our own emissions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIn New Zealand one does not have to look very far to find conscientious objectors to the Government\u2019s war to accelerate climate change. We are a can-do country. New Zealanders generally look forwards, not backwards. We are a people who do not fear the future. When faced with a challenge New Zealanders protest, we invent, we forge ahead with practical solutions. I am thinking of people like the New Zealander Ian Wright, co-founder of Tesla Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturer, who is now developing electric drivetrains for trucks in California. I am thinking of people like Dayle Takitimu, an indigenous rights and environmental lawyer, who has led her iwi, Te Wh\u0101nau-a-Apanui, in their struggle against deep-sea drilling off the East Coast, working alongside Dr Apirana Mahuika. And I am thinking of people like Mike Bennetts, who is taking liquid fuel company Z Energy from being in the middle of the problem to at least the start of the solution by investing millions of dollars in the development of sustainable biofuels here in New Zealand. And there are many, many more.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003ESome of our best and brightest are realising that our prosperity relies on a thriving environment and that the threat of climate change brings opportunities to be smarter about how we do business, smarter about how we can create and conserve energy, and smarter about how we organise to create social change to mobilise in the face of climate change\u2014smart green economics and smart green thinking in action.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EAnd then there are those in Government who are stepping up to the climate threat. Dunedin City Council has taken the first steps to divest from fossil fuels, realising that dirty energy has no place in our prosperous future. At an even smaller level, the community board in Eastbourne, Wellington, is pushing its local council to fund a cycleway around the bays\u2014one that will double as a protective sea wall to help repel increasingly severe, climate change - driven storm events and storm surges, which threaten to close the only road in and out of Eastbourne. Victoria University has divested from fossil fuels.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EOverseas an increasing number of corporations have taken up the challenge. They are recognising both the threat that is climate change but also the opportunities of a low-carbon economy. The massive Norwegian pension fund, worth over a trillion New Zealand dollars\u2014yes, that is $1,000 billion\u2014has recently divested from 32 coal mining companies as well as tar sands producers. The fund argues that these companies face a grim future as action on climate change limits their future production. Stanford University in the United States has divested from coal, and, my personal favourite, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, established by the heirs to the famous oil magnates the Rockefeller brothers, is getting out of oil and fossil fuels.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EHaving understood that change is inevitable and that first movers have the advantage, companies like Walmart, Mars, and Procter and Gamble are helping to create a revolution in the power sector by switching to 100 percent renewable energy. Forty-three percent of Fortune Global 500 companies now have clean energy targets, and some corporations have even set an internal price on carbon to drive innovation, despite the fact that Governments have not set one. Unilever\u2019s chief executive office, Paul Polman, a global leader in sustainability, recently said: \u201COur share price is up 25 percent in the past 4 months alone, showing the world that you can address tough issues without touching the economic viability of your business model.\u201D However, no one person or business\u2014not even one the size of Unilever, a \u20AC50 billion company\u2014can win this climate war alone. Business relies on clear signals from Government about the long-term price path of carbon before it can reasonably be expected to commit the large amounts of capital needed to shift to a low-carbon future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIt is now time for this House to play catch-up and to work with those who are helping the transition that the New Zealand economy needs to make to a low-carbon future. We need a partnership approach linking individuals, communities, non-governmental organisations, businesses, and Governments across the globe. Dealing with the threat of climate change is not only going to define us as a people, it is going to define the very nature of leadership.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThis House\u2019s record on climate change has been weak. The last two New Zealand Prime Ministers of our times\u2014Helen Clark and John Key\u2014will be remembered as expert political managers, as indeed they are, but neither really got on top of the big one: runaway climate change. To be fair, towards the end of the Clark Government it did manage to get an emissions trading scheme implemented despite significant resistance, but the Key Government immediately weakened the scheme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EWhen you look at New Zealand\u2019s actual emissions over the course of the 21st century they have consistently increased. And when you understand that New Zealand\u2019s emissions are set to increase by 50 percent in the next decade, you realise that there is a huge historical cost to the managerial style of politics that has dominated New Zealand politics for the last decade. How will we manage the sea when it is lapping at our doorstep?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThe enemy of climate change will not be defeated by coal-driven political management and business as usual. Abraham Lincoln, Kate Sheppard, and Michael Joseph Savage achieved remarkable victories for slaves, women, and the poor, in moments of great political courage and conviction. Our great leaders\u2014the ones we remember\u2014stepped outside the current of history and showed how we could live better, how seemingly impossible hurdles could be overcome with effort and ingenuity. They defined the spirit of the age and expanded the definition of what it means to be human. Their inspired leadership was a gift of love\u2014no less.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to the war against climate change we can no longer live in denial by saying we are so small that we do not matter\u2014the mantra of this Government. That is not the Anzac spirit. That is not the spirit of the M\u0101ori Battalion. If you excuse the sporting metaphor, imagine if the All Blacks believed that when they ran on to the pitch to face a country ten times as large as theirs. The climate crisis is a universal call to arms, and we in this House need to play our part.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIn John Key\u2019s post-election interview with John Campbell on TV3, he said: \u201CI will lead a Government that leads for all New Zealanders. I don\u2019t want to pass everything 61 votes to 60. It\u2019s a really bad place to end up as a Government, just passing everything with the barest of majorities. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right way to govern.\u201D I was heartened by his statesmanship, his sense of inclusion, and his offer of good will. Surely climate change, the greatest challenge of our times, is one issue above all of them that we need to find a way to work on across the House. Our children\u2019s livelihoods are too important to play partisan politics over.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003ENational plus the Greens plus Labour plus New Zealand First plus the M\u0101ori Party\u2014if we voted on legislation that halted our growing carbon emissions and made polluters pay, it would send the strongest political signal that we mean business on the climate. To whom, besides ACT, could the climate science deniers\u2019 lobby turn to look after its interests? It sounds deceptively simple to choose collectively an energy-efficient, low-carbon path for our economy rather than the Government\u2019s current choice of an energy-intensive, high-carbon pollution economy, one that at some point\u2014we do not quite know when\u2014is going to end catastrophically. Once we get the price on carbon right and we have the supporting incentives in place, we have the dynamic market economy, the scientists, the business people, and the social innovators that can do the rest.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThis century will be the century of sustainability. The countries and the businesses that lead the shift to sustainability will dominate this century. How much harder could New Zealand push in crucial climate negotiations if we could show the world that we have our own house in order, instead of it being in a mess, and that we are beginning the necessary transition and the world has not collapsed? But if this Government continues with the business-as-usual, pollution-economy approach to the climate, we will fight it all the way. Our children\u2019s future demands that we do so. The Green Party will work with the Key Government if this Government changes course and introduces policies to actually cut emissions, but we will fight it with everything we have got if it continues down the current path of increasing emissions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThis climate fight should unite us in this House against a common enemy, climate change, rather than divide us between the lines of short-term expediency versus long-term prosperity for our children and for our country. The Greens remember which side we were on in the battle over apartheid in 1981, and we know which side of the climate fight we are on in 2015. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EBan Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that we are the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But he also said we are the first generation that can end poverty. Alongside climate change, tackling inequality is the Green Party\u2019s other main priority. Like climate change, inequality denies our children the opportunity of the prosperity that they deserve. Inequality denies our children their health, their education, and the simple hope for a better future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EWe have been waiting 30 years under economic orthodoxy\u2014the spell that economic growth will deliver us out of inequality and poverty. How many times have we heard from this Government and Governments past that we just need to grow the economy first to enable us to address inequality and child poverty? Well, per capita GDP has grown by 40 percent since the late 1980s, while child poverty rates have doubled. New Zealand went from a child poverty rate of 11 percent in the late 1980s to 24 percent today. There are 35,000 more children in severe poverty in New Zealand today than there were when this Government\u2014this National Government\u2014came to power. That makes a total of 205,000 New Zealand children living in severe poverty. One in four Kiwi kids lives in poverty. Somewhere we have gone terribly wrong. These are children going without the basics like fresh fruit and veges, raincoats, and medicine. These are kids three times more likely to be admitted to hospital, five times more likely to die of cot death, and 27 times more likely to have rheumatic fever. They are likely to stay sick for much of their lives and die young. Our rates of child poverty are unconscionable. They are immoral.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThe costly interventions and wasted potential also have a dramatic impact on economic performance. In what is likely to be a seminal finding, the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the world\u2019s leading economic thinktank, found late last year that inequality hurts economic growth significantly. The OECD showed that New Zealand\u2014one of a handful of developed countries where inequality has grown fastest since the mid-1980s\u2014has experienced the biggest loss of economic growth as a result of inequality. The OECD estimates that New Zealand lost 10 percentage points of growth over the last 20 years due to our record levels of poverty and inequality. No country besides Mexico has had a worse record than us.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThe OECD has found that \u201CThe gap between rich and poor is at its highest level \u2026 in 30 years.\u201D, that \u201Cinequality has a negative and statistically significant impact on medium-term growth.\u201D, and that \u201CPolicies that help to limit or reverse inequality may not only make societies less unfair, but also wealthier.\u201D Put positively, policies that limit or reverse inequality in our society will not only make people\u2019s lives fairer, they will make New Zealand, as a whole, wealthier. Doing the right thing about inequality will reward us economically. And why is it like that? It is pretty straightforward. The OECD and many others have confirmed that income inequality undermines educational opportunities for disadvantaged people, especially children, lowering their chance to upskill and break out of the poverty cycle. We are not talking just about 1 percent or 5 percent of people missing out on the basics, this is about the bottom 40 percent of families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EThe Green Party\u2019s \u201CFeed the Kids Bill\u201D is having its first reading in the first weeks of Parliament. It is a small, possibly imperfect, response to the fact that hungry kids cannot learn at school. Let us govern in the interests of all New Zealanders and vote to send this bill to a select committee, to turn it into the kind of legislation that will leave a significant legacy for our children.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EIn 2015\u2014in this year\u2014we can end child poverty and take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Are we going to see in this political term a resumption of business as usual, a style of political non-leadership that manages its way through the next 3 years doing whatever it takes to stay in power? Or can we escape the trap of the perfectly human instinct to protect our short-term interests, and provide real leadership?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb49ee66-7ca7-472d-a4a1-b099fd594dfa\u0022\u003EWe have done it in the past. The year 1981, with the anti - Springbok Tour protests, was the defining year in which many New Zealanders provided leadership on racial equality and opposed apartheid. In 1987 the passage of the nuclear-free New Zealand Act was the culmination of years of leadership by many New Zealanders on going nuclear-free. The year 2015 is the year for leadership on climate change and inequality. The Greens are ready to provide that leadership, and we look forward to working with many other New Zealanders who also are providing leadership on these critical issues. We sincerely hope that the New Zealand Government is one of them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022 data-id=\u0022dcf06b157d684b8a88bc8681219c781f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dcf06b157d684b8a88bc8681219c781f\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Mr Speaker, Happy New Year to you and all other colleagues. Our respects from New Zealand First to Api Mahuika\u2014it is indeed the end of an era; he was an outstanding M\u0101ori leader and a great New Zealander\u2014and also to Rex Pollock, who recently, sadly, passed away in Tauranga. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003ETo begin this parliamentary term let us ask three seriously pertinent questions. What condition are we in as a country? Are we moving in the right direction?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022042b3234ee3d485391639fea78ee390c\u0022\u003EHon Gerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, we are.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224824aab1ac7a414d9e82fc570692309f\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: We will leave Gerry out of that because any answer Gerry gives is not worth the air it passes on. And are we building a fair, stable, and prosperous society? Right now the backbench members of the National Party are beginning to have their knees knock because they know we are not. First of all, what about the quality of public discourse in New Zealand? You see, National is about shutting down public debate. One of our most brilliant literary people wins the Man Booker Prize, makes a comment about her country, and what happens with this highly educated, liberal National Party? Well, it comes out and attacks her, not because of what she said but her right to even say it. How shallow is that? And that goes for the political debate as well, because what those members want is the kind of blind obedience that certain in the financial sector love if it is serving their minority interests. And of course the types like Gerry Brownlee are only too happy to serve them because that is what they have always done. That is what they have always thought of\u2014themselves and their own privileges. And we have got public sector\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225b6b1d74-9e5e-42ba-a922-85b0ea7f5ab6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229737112bec95499887835ebca2ae93a9\u0022\u003ESimon O\u2019Connor\u003C/span\u003E: Name the book, Winston.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022857cf8d46d5343ce90710ecfd4530ac0\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: The Luminaries. Do you want me to read it to you? [Interruption] See what I mean? Tell me. That is the kind of arrogance that the backbench of the National Party is going to have to deal with very shortly because it is going to be sent a message. The message will come with great clarity, and it will know that not long after that it may be doing what the backbench of the Australian Liberal Party is doing\u2014standing up for itself for a change, apart from being wanton puppets. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022badb0a39-849c-462a-b32f-77fc017c9fc2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022382437cdbc68427f8d2b694f829faec9\u0022\u003EHon Simon Bridges\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, like yours do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d5e22380a0bc40c59da633e52e0174f3\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, New Zealand First is a party of dynamism, as you can see\u2014of experience, of youth. Which other party went up by 62,000 votes at the last election? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022db3e0f4d934a46629c416c4452ef5e86\u0022\u003EDenis O\u2019Rourke\u003C/span\u003E: We did.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002269382f1081e7479da79ff818c6f169e0\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: I know. That party had millions of dollars and went up 72,000, and we had nothing and went up by 62,000. That tells us that when it comes to efficiency of spending money, New Zealand First is the party to back. But then I know that about 30 or 40 percent of the National Party supporters are themselves beginning to think that now. We get the correspondence. They are beginning to get worried, especially the farming sector, especially the dairy farmers of this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EBut the point is that National members are about creating a myth\u2014and using Government departments\u2014that all is well. And the sad thing is that so many in the commentariat have gone along with them and this mainstream myth that New Zealand has been doing exceptionally well. When you look at our growth in GDP, exporting\u2014no, that is down; manufacturing, no, that is collapsing. No, but, apparently\u2014[Interruption] Oh, there is the lady from Christchurch. She looks at me with a curious look. I know she is very wealthy, but when manufacturing goes from 33 percent of GDP and is now heading towards 26 percent, I think you in Christchurch should take notice, not nod your head as though you do not know anything about it. And what is the export imbalance with imports right now? Got any idea? Is it heading to $12 billion? Well, where are you going to be when that happens, when you are coming to getting a job and keeping your business sustainable? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003ENow back to reality here. The idea that you have got a competent Government when inequality and poverty are growing at a greater rate than in nearly every other developed nation, and homeownership is now being denied to a whole generation of Kiwis\u2014before the election there was no housing crisis; after the election: \u201CWe\u2019ve got the solution. We\u2019ll change the Resource Management Act and all of a sudden we\u2019ll have all these houses. We\u2019ll change the Resource Management Act and all of a sudden, by some miracle, the housing crisis will be settled.\u201D What has happened to public debt? Well, our debt is up six times now to $65 billion under those people who claim to be managers of the economy. The truth is that the National Party\u2014if you want to really understand the National Party\u2014no longer works for ordinary New Zealanders; it works for a well-off, moneyed bunch of cronies both here and overseas. And, boy, does it pour the money into propaganda. I mean, for every dollar that we had at the last election, it had $40. It sprayed it around like confetti and just got home. We have got to take our own responsibility for that, because we could have stopped it. It is not our fault, of course. We did our best\u2014make no bones about it\u2014but the reality is that this expenditure from here and overseas to buy elections is going to come to an end. What we have seen is the wholesale transfer under National of New Zealand\u2019s wealth into the hands of the few\u2014and many offshore. Whether selling power generators, flogging State houses now, or decimating the Resource Management Act, the underlying agenda is always the same: the favoured few will benefit at the expense of the many. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EBut sooner or later New Zealanders will wake up. Sooner or later in Northland you will see them respond. Sooner or later they are going to send you a message. Mr Foster-Bell, are you in or are you out? Come on, put your hand up and tell us. Are you going to run, son? Tell me, are you going to run? This will be fascinating. Oh, I know he is keen\u2014I know he is keen. Do not worry, gentlemen and ladies over there, if there is one party that is thinking seriously about it, it is New Zealand First. I know that numerous comments have been made by the Prime Minister. He is getting a bit nervous himself. He had the audacity to talk about a thing like age. Well, Mr Prime Minister, we do not dye our hair and we are not losing it\u2014we do not dye our hair and we are not losing it. And if I was you, I would just get on with trying to run the country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EWhilst we are at it, he is also giving away the country\u2019s birthright. Look, 95 percent of the banking sector is owned by Australia. That is the Ned Kelly policy. A torrent of profits and dividends and other payments every year go offshore to foreign-owned banks and you have got not one single policy from National to stop this outflow. The media is massively owned offshore\u2014Fairfax and APN are both Australian. Insurance companies are nearly all overseas owned. And farmland and business and residential property are being sold like confetti.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223872ae3d3944ec0964a2116b94f269d\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Who wrote this disappointing rant?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225573373a70fa49f8a8842e2098eac9eb\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Unlike that member over there, we are able to write our own speeches. We do not need a dumb researcher to write it. We can do it ourselves\u2014always have done, always will be able to. Do not ask questions about who wrote this speech. What you are trying to say is: \u201CWho will have the brains to interpret it for me?\u201D. That is what you should be asking: \u201CWho on my side has got the intelligence to interpret it for me, because, clearly, sitting over here and putting my hands up for somebody in the Mafia will not do any more.\u201D National members, of course, do not want to know the truth. National members do not want to know where the sales are going to. They do not want to know how many of our houses are being sold. They do not want to know how many houses Bayleys are selling in China every day now. They do not want to know whether the buyers are coming from Luxembourg, United States, Canada\u2014they just do not want to know. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EMeanwhile, we have got people struggling with stagnant wages in a now growing high-cost economy. Ask any person coming back from London or elsewhere, and they are quite shocked to find how expensive it is\u2014[Interruption] No, not for Gerry, because Gerry has always had it good. Gerry has always been on the pig\u2019s back\u2014he has always been on the pig\u2019s back and it shows. I am talking about ordinary New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fa111002e249469d918a71f01031aa61\u0022\u003EHon Gerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Must be a very big pig.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022226f356cbd2745b78d8e6216355f30f3\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Well, actually, it is a hippopotamus. It is not a pig; it is a hippopotamus. But the reality is that I am talking about ordinary people struggling to make families work in this country. Overseas buyers have an insatiable appetite for our land. Do you know why? With the world\u2019s massively growing population, they know that arable land is going to be more and more a high-price product. Do not blame them; blame the dumb people in politics who do not get it. Look, even Michael Field, who used to write for the New Zealand Herald\u2014here it is: \u201CNZ farms eyed as \u2018boltholes\u2019 for world\u2019s super rich\u201D. It is all there on 20 January in the New Zealand Herald. Then you go to the next one, on 7 February, 1 week on. Here is Bayleys putting out its press release saying\u2014this is just what is happening, according to Bayleys real estate, in Canterbury\u2014that a bevy of foreign landlords is now at the Overseas Investment Office, and that is what New Zealand wants. We have enough landlords of our own overseas investment and talking about creating jobs, but it goes go on to say that they are snapping up properties in Canterbury and all over the country because rentals are going through the roof. The member from Christchurch over there, of course, will not do a thing about it because he is in their league. Exploitation of ordinary people\u2019s needs, desires, and wants is what National members are about, by their silence, because in failing to act, they are saying: \u201CThis is good enough for us.\u201D There are those two articles, and we are saying that we need a register. We need to know what is going on, just like Australia, which has one, and so many other countries. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EAnd then, on immigration, over 50,000 a year came last year, in the last 12 months. All where to? Auckland. Needing housing? Most desperately. What is my Samoan friend who is now the Minister for Pacific Peoples doing about that? He knows that the people who are missing out are his people, that they are being squeezed out everywhere, but no, no; he is probably like the M\u0101ori Party. He wants to go to the airport and give them a p\u014Dwhiri and make them all welcome. Well, you know, charity begins at home, and it begins with the M\u0101ori Party recognising that the biggest losers in all this argument are the people they purport to represent. That is why the M\u0101ori Party\u2019s vote is in decline. That is why it is all over, Rover, because when it had a chance to put its people first, it decided to go for the baubles of office. How tragic is that\u2014how tragic is that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002254c3e820a4fa49a481b09bd80e534b20\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s a bit rich.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226d4ebeeda34e47afadcd73e3658ba329\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: I know, son. I have resigned and walked out of office more often than you have had hot dinners. So do not say that it is a bit rich for me. Only an ignoramus would say that. Learn some history, righto? What sort of Government would allow an influx of that many\u2014over 54,000 a year\u2014with no jobs, no accommodation, or say, as Mr Key did today, that 81,000 is a record for new employment in New Zealand? How stupid is that? We have had record employment every year for the last 55 years, because it is axiomatic, is it not? If you increase the population, you might just get more and more employment, but what is the level of unemployment? It is 140,000 who cannot get 1 hour of work a week because when you get 1 hour of work a week, you are off the register. Well, invite that sort of deceit into your own mental processes, but we think it is a fraud on the population and we think it is repugnant in our society. Incomes are stagnant. There is a chronic housing crisis\u2014140,000 cannot get 1 hour of work a week, and the health system is straining at the edges. There is massive immigration and growing inequality. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EAnd then, of course, a key issue, mentioned by my colleague Mr Norman in the previous speech, is climate change. Well, you know, we were the first party to say that the emissions trading scheme is a rort, and it is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222ddd724cf8154df8a633ac1957fafc6d\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: You voted for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fcf9045b09d344999560b6eefa9a5593\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: We said that the emissions trading scheme was a rort. Yes, son, we voted for it when it was $25 per unit. We did not drive it down to $2.35. That is what Mr Nick Smith did. So do not make that stupid statement, because some of us remember what we voted for, and he destroyed the forestry industry all at the same time. Mr Smith, of course, is famous for running with the hares and hunting with the rabbits. That is what he is famous for. This is the guy who said: \u201CACC is in absolute crisis. I must do all this and this and this.\u201D It was a total public relations fraud of course, and then, of course, ACC found it was in serious surplus. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EBut back to the point. Today we learn that Skycity is going to be an eyesore. Second question\u2014how is Skycity going to improve it? The Prime Minister says that the taxpayers of New Zealand will, and the ACT Party wants to support that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b5b2411d546c420fa7b386b0cd689fd6\u0022\u003EDavid Seymour\u003C/span\u003E: Absolutely.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ea41171205ad448a9db59bcebfc1308e\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, absolutely. No doubt about it. The ACT Party is so dumb, of course, that when it announced that it was going to change the Resource Management Act, it did not wait to find out what the details were; it just said it would support it. This is meant to be the most intelligent party in Parliament, with all this experience, and that member is asked: \u201CWhat do you think about the Resource Management Act changes?\u201D, and he said he will support it. Do you know what is in it? No. Do you know what its content is? No. \u201CBut then again, I don\u2019t have to because I am a puppet.\u201D That is what he really said. \u201CI\u2019m there because the National Party put me there.\u201D Oh, we know that. Even New Zealand First got more party votes in Epsom than they did. True\u2014we got more party votes in Epsom than they did. Look, how can you possibly predicate a political career when you are a puppet and when, every time John Key says \u201CJump\u201D you say \u201CHow high?\u201D. He is now in charge of the alternative school system and yet he knows nothing about education. He knows exactly nothing about education, but, then again, his predecessor was one John Banks and he knew even less. So that is the ACT Party\u2019s contribution. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThen we have the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In June last year we were all told, 3 months out from the election, that we were not going to the Middle East. The election was hardly over and all of a sudden the Prime Minister is concerned at these massive breaches of human rights. Did you see his posturing in the House today? He went into a fit of concern about human rights abuses by ISIS. What did he say about Boko Haram? Not a murmur, not a mutter, not a syllable, not a sound. His concern, and the Government\u2019s concern, is to be in the club\u2014the club that says that if you go to Australia and you work there for 21 years and you get tipped out of your job you do not get the dole any more, you do not get fundamental rights any more. Or if you are in the UK they have changed all our privileges there. Is that the club he is talking about? Or is it the club that belongs to the United States, which says: \u201CWe\u2019ll give a free trade agreement to Chile and Morocco but we won\u2019t give one to New Zealand.\u201D\u2014this great democracy for the last 155 years. Only nine of us have that great, proud tradition, and that is the club he wants to suck up to every day? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EPrime Minister, we need somebody to stand up for our country\u2019s interests and our values. The Prime Minister should not think he can walk on to the stage of New Zealand politics and, with no parliamentary debate and no consensus, send people into danger, and maybe imperil this country as well without the decency of a democratic decision by this Parliament. On the issue of the two flags\u2014we have got Hone\u2019s flag and we have got the Prime Minister\u2019s flag, until, of course, it looked a bit like the ISIS flag, and now the Prime Minister has changed his mind and he wants the silver fern. What a diversion that is! And as for separatism, well, who signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Who has got the two-prison system, the two flags, and race-based local government now sweeping throughout New Zealand, and Wh\u0101nau Ora? They are policies based on race. That is the National Government\u2019s legacy. That is what it has done, and to criticise Mr Little\u2014well, I cannot use the phrase, but it is a bit like some utensil calling the other one black. It is pretty sad, is it not, really? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EThen, of course, we have a $1 million by-election in Northland that should not be happening. It was avoidable, because the Prime Minister and many of his colleagues knew the circumstances well before 20 September 2014. They knew the circumstances, and the Prime Minister is going to be found out. Anybody who knows Northland knows it is a rumour mill, and if they know the National Party they know it is an even bigger rumour mill, and the very idea that the Prime Minister did not know until December 2014 is utterly preposterous. When the police commissioner says he did not drop the ball, well, whom did he tell? Anne Tolley? I think so. I know Northland. You know Whangarei. News gets out there before it even gets to the court. News gets out there before it even gets to the police station. If you get picked up on a driving charge at 1 o\u2019clock, and at 1 minute past 1 everybody knows. But the only person who does not know is this inveterate Minister famous for, as Enid Blyton would say, \u201Cforgettery\u201D. The Prime Minister, the No. 1 Minister, does not know about all the great serious crises happening in this country. Whether it be the Coatesville raid, the SIS, the Government Communications Security Bureau, he just does not know. On this issue, which will be extremely embarrassing to the National Party\u2014and its hypocrisy will know no bounds when it comes to fundamental human rights\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c24546b47ff04759aee91472c5f0fcf6\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222ebf1f13ff140609235fac3b1e4a177\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: I am not concerned about the sub judice issue. I am talking just about the political issue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c3fe844f913040d5bfe5e8a82dd51f13\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard)\u003C/span\u003E: No\u2014the word that member used.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229b55ca19f8534cc99b4c4dfcefda41de\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, that is right. Thank you very much. I am glad you grasped that, Mr Assistant Speaker. That is very important, because the sub judice rule does not mean that this Parliament is constrained in a way that I fear we might be. But it is going to be deeply embarrassing, and our message to the people up north is: \u201CHang on, because help\u2019s on its way.\u201D Our message to people up north is: \u201CHad enough? Send them a message. You won\u2019t change the Government but you sure will make them listen for the very first time.\u201D And to the people in Kaipara paying all those rates for the disaster on the Mangawhai Heads, and Kaikai, Kait\u0101ia, Kae\u014D, Kawakawa, and all those forgotten territories, our message is: \u201CDon\u2019t give up. Hang on. Help\u2019s on its way, and the campaign will start soon.\u201D Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022 data-id=\u00227c415e733b7a42e29a471972f334a31e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227c415e733b7a42e29a471972f334a31e\u0022\u003EMARAMA FOX (Co-Leader\u2014M\u0101ori Party):\u003C/span\u003E E Te Mana Whakaw\u0101, nei r\u0101 te mihi mahana ki a koe, otir\u0101, ki Te Whare katoa. \u0100, te tihi o Hikurangi Maunga, te p\u0101p\u0101, T\u0101kuta Apirana Mahuika, wh\u0101rikihia ng\u0101 kupu \u0101taahua o T\u0101kuta H\u014Dhepa Tamehana, ka m\u0101t\u0101nawe te manawa, ka haehae taku kiri. Ka noho nei m\u0101tou, ka tangi, kua hinga he t\u014Dtara haemata. E te p\u0101p\u0101, waiho m\u0101 m\u0101tou \u0101u mahi whakahirahira e kawe, \u0101u wawata kia tutuki. Haere atu r\u0101 koe ki t\u014Du Kaihanga, ki ng\u0101 ringa mahana o Te Atua. \u0100, i a koe e takoto ana kai t\u014D marae o Tikitiki, ka rere ng\u0101 mihi whakanui i a koe, ka tika. E te p\u0101p\u0101, moe mai r\u0101, moe mai r\u0101! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003E[Mr Speaker, warm greetings to you and indeed to the entire House. To the summit of Mount Hikurangi, fatherly figure Dr Apirana Mahuika, I lay out the beautiful words of Dr H\u014Dhepa Tamehana. The heart is scarred and I am lacerated. We sit here and lament that a strong growing t\u014Dtara has fallen. Oh fatherly figure, leave your magnificent work and your aspirations for us to address and fulfil. Go forth to your Creator and to the warming arms of the Lord. And while you lie in state upon your courtyard of Tikitiki, tributes extolling you fly about, and rightly so. Rest, fatherly figure, rest!]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EAs we mourn the loss of a great leader of our nation, I rise today in quiet reflection on the work of this significant man. The calibre of this man will not be seen again in Te Ao M\u0101ori. He belonged to the ilk of a grand and noble generation. His legacy reminds us of our very foundation as a nation. In this 175th year since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, it is right to formally acknowledge the sacred covenant that our nation is built on and that he and his kind fought so hard to uphold. With the week of celebrations and commemorations complete, this is our moment to dream big, to dream loud, and to be proud. This is our time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding unification document of our modern nation, and to consider the partnership between M\u0101ori astangata whenua and the Crown. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EWhat does it mean to live up to the promise of Te Tiriti? When Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed we had a strong and vibrant community based around our marae and our culture. We were developing a robust economy, trading with early tauiwi visitors and settlers, and traversing the Pacific to trade on foreign soil. The M\u0101ori Party challenges this Government\u2014indeed, every Government\u2014to honour the obligation it has in exercising k\u0101wanatanga to support partnership with iwi and ensure that M\u0101ori retainrangatiratanga, or self-determination. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EIn 2014 we heard a lot about the rock star economy. The Prime Minister has outlined much about that rock star status today. The thing about a rock star is that they build their success on their fan base. In order to keep it at the top of the charts, a true rock star must keep the fans happy. In essence, they must be accountable. Some here may remember Sid Vicious\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002214d4296491c0490db8e8fe1040f9c3bf\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Who?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002237e5b516161640a49b8d22c990efc0ba\u0022\u003EMARAMA FOX\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014Sid Vicious\u2014who once said: \u201CYou can\u2019t arrest me, I\u2019m a rock star.\u201D But in real life, his status meant nothing. When it came to doing what was right, he should have been doing the right thing. And so when I compare our economic status as M\u0101ori 175 years ago, and I look at all the posts that flood our Facebook accounts, I have to wonder who constitutes the fan base being propped up by the rock star economy. The thing is if we are to dream big and live up to the aspirations of those who invested in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we have to insist on doing all that we can to restore our communities to the state of relative prosperity they enjoyed at first encounter in 1840. We owned 100 percent of Aotearoa. M\u0101ori were compared by health standards to the richest of European royals. We must restore our fan base. We must take decisive action to tackle poverty and its insidious effects. We must leave no stone unturned, and in this I welcome the opportunity to work with the Government to tackle the crippling effects of poverty. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EWe can start with putting greater income in the hands of those who need it. According to statistics, between 2009 and 2014, a couple with children had their benefit increased by a mere $31 a week over that period, while a single superannuitant had their income increased by $56 per week. We absolutely agree with the Children\u2019s Commissioner that we must take a wide lens to this issue. Targeting benefit levels to bring them in line with the cost of putting healthy food on the table is a start. Let us be clear: the establishment of a ministerial committee on poverty\u2014the Budget packages the M\u0101ori Party has consistently negotiated since 2008\u2014has established that the elimination of poverty is our top priority. We are duty-bound to take poverty seriously, to make poverty a thing of the past, and to avoid getting distracted by token simplistic approaches. It is evident to us that poverty of the hand is in fact surpassed only by poverty of the mind and poverty of the spirit. It is simply not sustainable to say all our answers will come when we have school cafeterias in place to feed the kids. We need to raise benefit levels and extend the in-work tax credit to families living on a benefit. We need to create ongoing employment and to continue to support the amazing initiative established by the M\u0101ori Party for M\u0101ori and Pacific trade training, cadetships, apprenticeships, building school scholarships, and recruitment incentives for teachers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EWe are thrilled that trade training schemes like He Toki ki te Rika in Christchurch are producing fantastic results. Graduates are in paid employment or are undertaking further study. Partnerships between iwi, industry, and training providers are game-changers, resulting in industry and training providers reviewing the way they work with M\u0101ori. Ninety-six percent of the graduates from the M\u0101ori Affairs cadetship programme have remained in paid employment or have gone on to further studies. All this leads to the M\u0101ori unemployment rate being the lowest it has been in 7 years. Do not get me wrong. We are utterly delighted with the investment we have been able to create in successful futures for so many of our young people through these schemes, but there are two areas of ongoing priority we cannot ignore. We must increase benefit levels and, at the same time, we must continue to lift the minimum wage. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EThe M\u0101ori Party asks the question: what gain is there by retaining the income abyss between life on a benefit and life in work? Professor Jonathan Boston suggested that the gap between those in work and those on a benefit has increased by 25 percent in a generation. What we want to know is why the gap needs to be so huge in order to incentivise people to work. We have to remember that two out of five families in poverty are also in work, so simply getting into work is not in and of itself the answer. Both benefits and wages are too low, and more direct, immediate action is required. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EThe M\u0101ori Party is not afraid to ask the hard questions. We do not want any piecemeal solutions. We do not need any tokenistic apologies or suggestions of constitutional change without sound policy or strategy to make sure that it is not just media-grabbing rhetoric. We believe in a value-added future\u2014a future where the investment we make today will create optimism for tomorrow. We welcome the difference being made in social housing. So many poor families are paying far too much for their housing. We are pleased that those with high housing needs who live in properties run by approved community housing providers can get the same support that people in Housing New Zealand properties do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EThere is more to do. A warrant of fitness on social housing will ensure the Government does not abdicate its responsibility to protect the most vulnerable wh\u0101nau. I was grateful to attend the launch of the Te Tai Tokerau economic development strategy, working to build on the development of the Northland area for M\u0101ori. That strategy recognises that $2.4 billion was the contribution that M\u0101ori in Northland made to that economy every year. M\u0101ori in the Northland area, in Te Tai Tokerau, are the highest numbers of M\u0101ori entrepreneurs in the country. We must recognise that there is value added in M\u0101ori strategy. Working with iwi, as the Government has agreed to do, will ensure that we can bring to pass the actions of those strategies and not just the dreams. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EIf the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is to come together in a unifying way, we need to uphold its principles. It is time to make a tangible difference to the lives of our tamariki mokopuna; to recognise that we need to do so to ensure, instead of flinging abuse from the cross benches, that we can work together with the Government tirelessly and relentlessly to recognise M\u0101ori as value added to this country through real recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi; to find ways to enable all of our tamariki to thrive without fear of abuse, without embarrassment of disparity, and without hunger; and to ensure they and their wh\u0101nau are housed in warm and safe homes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003EE Te Mana Whakaw\u0101, nei r\u0101 m\u0101tou o Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori e t\u016B ng\u0101tahi ki te taha o te K\u0101wana i runga i te wawata o Te Tiriti, hei hiki i aua wawata o ngai t\u0101tou te iwi M\u0101ori, hei h\u0101pai i ng\u0101 hiahia. T\u0113n\u0101 koe, t\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3d9fd88-4715-419d-be08-e1c4eda7d09e\u0022\u003E[Mr Speaker, we of the M\u0101ori Party stand in unison with the Government upon the desire that the Treaty will raise those aspirations of ours, the M\u0101ori people, and elevate the needs. Thank you and us.] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022 data-id=\u0022785eb5f8bccd40a891886d0abf2f0f65\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022785eb5f8bccd40a891886d0abf2f0f65\u0022\u003EDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E One of the benefits of being a younger member of the House is that sometimes you can learn a thing or two from some of the older members of the House, and from one, who may be the oldest of all, we got three very good questions. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWhat state is the country in? Well, it is an interesting fact that if you look at the polling data across the world and you look at Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and you ask the people in each country: \u201CIs your country heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?\u201D, New Zealand is the only one of the five where people persistently have said the country is heading in the right direction, for the last 6 years straight. When the member asks the question: \u201CAre we heading in the right direction?\u201D, the people have answered the question. Maybe he thinks they are stupid. What he will find out\u2014what he will find out if he stands in Northland\u2014is that the people there have moved on too. That place has changed since the 1960s. If he stands there it will be a very sad political death. However, I have heard that he may be leaving me a couple of backbenchers in his will, so it may not be all bad. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EAre we getting towards a fairer society? That is a question that I would like to address in this speech. The country is in a good state, and we are heading in the right direction. I learnt this on the 175th anniversary of our nation\u2019s founding, up at Waitangi just last week. I probably speak for many New Zealanders when I say that I had stayed away all of my life because of the acrimonious pictures on the TV screen that put me off visiting Waitangi on 5 and 6 February. What a warm and pleasant experience. I had to say a prayer on a marae\u2014almost two new experiences in one day. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWhat I found when I watched the TV at the end of that day was something astonishing and surprising. I thought Andrew Little had wanted to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand\u2014I really did. All his behaviour up until that point had suggested that he wanted to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand. We heard from the co-leader of the Green Party that he knew which side of apartheid he was on in 1981. But does Andrew Little know the answer to that question, or is he actually trying to bring it back right here in New Zealand? Perhaps he agrees with Sir T\u012Bpene O\u2019Regan, the normally sensible and respectable man, who said that P\u0101keh\u0101 New Zealanders do not know their history. Well, let me remind Andrew Little, and anyone else who has any doubt, of what some of our history is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EPerhaps we should start about 400 years ago when Martin Luther challenged the Inquisition and nailed his theses to the door of Rome. Perhaps we should talk about William Wilberforce, who campaigned valiantly for years to end slavery in England, or Abe Lincoln, who did it across the Atlantic, in the US. Perhaps we should talk about Kate Sheppard, who said that both women and men should be able to vote equally here in New Zealand. Perhaps we could come forward a little way, to Fran Wilde and Louisa Wall, who said that people should be treated equally before the law, regardless of their sexuality. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EOur heritage and our history is the creation of a free and equal society where everybody is equal under law, and that is one of the greatest achievements any country has ever made. If Andrew Little really wants to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand, he had better back-pedal quickly on the idea that we should be backing down on the wonderful achievements that our country has managed in becoming one of the most diverse, free, and harmonious societies that this world has ever seen. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWhen we come to the question of housing affordability, it is worth thinking how far we have come on that topic. The Demographia index has been comparing median household incomes with median house prices every year for 8 years. When it started doing it, Helen Clark used to say: \u201CIf only they would put some unaffordable European countries in, New Zealand\u2019s housing affordability might look a little bit better.\u201D Well, how far we have come\u2014we now have a Government that accepts there is a housing affordability problem in New Zealand. We have a Government that is actually addressing the root causes of housing unaffordability in New Zealand. What are those causes? If you study the phenomena, it is not the tax system. Sydney, Vancouver, and Los Angeles have much more unaffordable housing than us and they also have a capital gains tax. It is not the banking system or the interest rates. Many, many markets across the United States and Canada all have the same banking system. They all have the same interest rates, but only some markets are deeply unaffordable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWe now have studies of the approach of hundreds of urban housing markets to urban planning. What do we discover? It is those that take on constrictive urban planning regimes, and say: \u201CThou shalt not build there.\u201D, that find themselves with a shortage of land on which to build, and, as a result, a shortage of houses. It does not matter, as the Labour Party would have it, if the Government builds the houses, because even builders working for the Government cannot build houses on no land. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EThe initiative that this Government will take up is to clean up the Resource Management Act, take out the vagaries, and make the Resource Management Act about science\u2014science: physics, chemistry, and biology. The Resource Management Act should be about biodiversity. It should be about air, water, and soil. It should be about the physics of noise, of traffic, of shading. But it should not be about vague concepts that lead to ephemeral goals pursued by urban planners denying an entire generation of New Zealanders the opportunity to own a home. How far we have come\u2014we are now reforming the root cause of housing unaffordability. I give the support of the ACT Party to National on reforming the Resource Management Act at its roots, at sections 5, 6, and 7, and focusing them on science rather than the kind of ephemera that we hear from the other side of the House. The first step towards building more houses is to free up land upon which to build them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EAnother thing that happened over the last couple of months that I would like to add to the Prime Minister\u2019s address is that a number of partnership schools have opened. I have got bad news for the Opposition: boy, are they performing off the charts. The number of students enrolled is going through the roof. It is 440, up from 360 last year. The Post Primary Teachers\u2019 Association is terrified of the ongoing success of these schools. Vanguard Military School\u201496 and 100 percent pass rates at level 1 and 2. [Interruption] The member there should go and visit, and see what it does for the kids who choose to attend this school. But her ideology is more important than those kids getting skills, getting qualifications, getting jobs, and feeling good about themselves. That is why she is going to be staying over there. You could visit any of the other schools where the results are outstanding, in particular for the context of some of the challenges that they face. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003ENext month we are going to see Sir Michael Jones and Willie Jackson opening partnership schools. This policy has momentum. It is diverse. It is unstoppable. You wonder why the Labour Party is in so much trouble in this House. It is because the ACT Party is now doing its job for it. We are delivering what Peter Fraser promised as education Minister in 1949. I know it is hard, Tracey Martin, but you need to accept this. If you really care about\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228199a7df9da84ab59538e9fdfa820a9a\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c4c61aca98884ded942677f7f33ebb2f\u0022\u003EDAVID SEYMOUR\u003C/span\u003E: I beg your pardon, Mr Assistant Speaker. If the member really cares about delivering on the promise that every child will develop to the full extent of their powers by our education system, then we must be able to let in new methods. I actually agree with one of the things that Eleanor Catton said. She said that when you have success, too many people are there to beat up on you unless they can collectivise it for themselves. Imagine a world in which the approach of the teachers union, in which the approach of the Opposition, and in which the approach of even Tracey Martin, was such that we admired people who have taken risks, gone out on a limb, been creative, and enrolled their kids in order to find ways to address one of New Zealand\u2019s most urgent problems.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWould it not be nice to live in a country where Eleanor Catton\u2019s concern about tall poppy syndrome was addressed and we could actually try new things to make kids\u2019 lives better without such negative wailing from all over the Chamber. But, unfortunately, we fight on, and I am very proud to do so with my colleagues from the M\u0101ori Party, from United Future, and from the National Party. We are going to deal to the Resource Management Act because when you see that child poverty numbers rise from 130,000 to 285,000 as soon as you include the figures for housing affordability\u2014or the effect that has on family budgets\u2014then you know the No. 1 thing we can do for child poverty is expand the supply of housing for New Zealand families, and have we not come a long way in addressing that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWe know that we are coming into a world and a century when the premium on skills will be larger than it has been at any previous time, and it is going to be more important than ever that all New Zealanders have the skills. We are unleashing social entrepreneurship in order to achieve that goal. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022 data-id=\u002269dc43691d0a40028ebf996cd8608ae8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002269dc43691d0a40028ebf996cd8608ae8\u0022\u003EHon PETER DUNNE (Leader\u2014United Future):\u003C/span\u003E I am pleased to support a large proportion of what is contained in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, and generally to work with my colleagues in National, ACT, and the M\u0101ori Party towards its attainment. But there is one area that my predecessor, David Seymour, outlined that I could not disagree with more, and that is his argument about changes to the Resource Management Act. The suggestion that that is a silver bullet to our housing crisis is risible, fatuous, and unbalanced, and those that proclaim it deserve that title as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI think that before people put the Resource Management Act into its grave they ought to think about what it replaced. No one wants to go back to the days of 54 different pieces of planning law and of the Town and Country Planning Act, which was derided up and down the country as cumbersome, ineffectual, inconsistent, and chaotic. There is a majority in this House, I believe\u2014a clear majority\u2014for making sure that the Resource Management Act is fit for purpose in terms of its procedures and practices. That can be achieved, and it could have been achieved as long ago as 2013, when the National Government first proposed changes, if there had not been the intention at the same time to change the purpose and principles clauses\u2014particularly, clauses 6 and 7\u2014of the Resource Management Act. There is no need to tamper with those provisions to achieve the efficiencies in the legislation that the vast majority of the members in this House would seek. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI say to the Minister for the Environment that he should look to every editorial writer in New Zealand; he should look to everyone who has expressed impartial concern on this\u2014not the developers and the commercial interests, but people who have expressed an impartial concern. They have all urged him to move with caution. I say to the Government that if it chooses to do as the Prime Minister himself said last year and proceed with moderate and pragmatic changes, it could well attain significant support in this House. But if it continues with the attitude that it has shown to date on this issue, it will get it through at the very best by one vote. That would be a travesty and that would be a mark of inconsistency, because all of the case law built up over the last 20-odd years of the Resource Management Act would go out the window. The certainty that is being proclaimed for change would be replaced by the uncertainty of having to start all over again. It is a simple nonsense, and yet the Government could resolve the matter fairly quickly were it not prepared to want to have its cake and eat it too. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI want to talk about a couple of other measures that were contained in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech that I think deserve the House\u2019s paying some attention to. In the statement there was a reference very late in the day to the appalling situation now developing as a result of the barbarous activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. No one can condone what has been occurring. No one can say that it is in any way acceptable or meets any reasonable standard of human behaviour. The difficulty comes in what an effective solution is. When one looks at the Middle East generally, the immediate conclusion to be drawn is that Western intervention over the last century, be it from the time of the Balfour Declaration right through to now, has had one universal outcome: failure, division, and more intense bitterness and rivalry than was in place before it started. So when we determine as this country what our response to that appalling situation should be, we need to be guided by the history. Maybe Sir T\u012Bpene was right and P\u0101keh\u0101 often do not know their history if we seem determined to blunder in and repeat the mistakes of the past. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EWe need to be working alongside responsible Governments in the area, encouraging them first off to seek solutions to their own issues and to seek their own solutions, not have them imposed upon them by us acting in a \u201CWe know best\u201D sense from the outside. It is a difficult balance because we cannot stand by and let barbarism continue, but at the same time we cannot act in a way that is simply going to fuel those fires more strongly for the future. One of the challenges that New Zealand faces is to draw that responsible line. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI must say in this regard that the intervention last week of the British Foreign Secretary on his visit here was anything but helpful. This Chamber carries the plaques that remember the consequences of the last time the family acted together: Gallipoli, and the mindless slaughter of Australian and New Zealand troops in the pursuit of a British objective; Passchendaele; and the Somme. So to come here and say to New Zealanders today: \u201CWe love having you on board. You\u2019re part of the family, but you\u2019ve still got to queue up at the aliens gate at Heathrow.\u201D is unacceptable in the extreme. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EI would have thought that a well-briefed visiting politician would understand the sensitivity of New Zealanders on these issues. After all, in the 1980s the more the United States administration of Ronald Reagan told us what our anti-nuclear policy was not to be, the more we embraced the stand that the New Zealand Government was taking. We are like that as a people. Here is this patronising figure from abroad loftily telling us that we are in the club, that we are part of the family, and that it would be lovely to have us along for the next round of unmitigated slaughter. It is simply unacceptable. New Zealand should draw the line very strongly when it comes to that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThere is one other area that the Prime Minister touched on that is also extremely important, and I think we can actually start to make some progress. There is to be a review this year of our security legislation. I think that is good. It is proper. But it needs to be conducted in a transparent and open way. There are two steps that I think need to be taken sooner rather than later. The review has to be established by 30 June this year. I think the form of the review needs to be made public well before its establishment, and I think the draft terms of reference need to be published and socialised around this House, in the first instance, and more broadly before they are adopted. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThis is not a political issue; this is a New Zealand issue. We are talking about New Zealand\u2019s security interests\u2014New Zealand as a nation, our domestic security, and our international security. It is not a game of political one-upmanship but a game of ensuring that those who operate in that very peculiar world are accountable, are transparent, and have very clear lines of operation that Parliament has ordained for them. Last year the then-director of the Government Communications Security Bureau gave an extraordinary speech where he spelt out the objectives of his agency as he saw them. One of them was advising the Government on military strategy. That is not the role of an intelligence agency. It might be the belief of those who like wearing trench coats and walking around in the shadows and what they think is the role of an agency, but it is not the role of a responsible agency today, particularly against the backdrop of the revelations that people like Edward Snowden have made and that various other whistleblowers around the world have shown about the way in which these organisations operate. No one is actually saying you do not need them, but everyone seems to be saying they need a more open and accountable environment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003EThe review this year provides that opportunity, and I sincerely hope that the Government takes the chance to ensure that what arises is a robust, credible set of organisations that can meet both the test of public scrutiny and the test of time, because increasingly, as tensions grow, the challenges that they will face in terms of providing credible, independent intelligence to the Government of the day will also grow. If there is any doubt about the competence of that, then I think we are in a very sad way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f555a23a-d230-4f03-80ba-a44e6ec8bd29\u0022\u003ESo 2015 is the centenary year of the forging of our first nationhood, really, on the rugged hillsides of Gallipoli and the start of the campaign where New Zealanders first became part of the world through their participation in World War I. The year is shaping up to be an extraordinary one. I think that an improving domestic economy and the opportunities that that will provide in terms of jobs and future opportunities for young people in particular are important. But the whole rate of technological growth and the way in which things are changing\u2014I saw a thing before I came down here today that said that the top 10 jobs in industries in Australia did not exist 10 years ago. That is the rate of change. We are positioned on the cusp of that. Broadly speaking, the measures that the Government has been following over the last few years position us well to take advantage of the new opportunities that will arise. There are no blank cheques in politics and, as I have said, there are issues that I think are important that do need to be addressed along the way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u0022a32febeb90754ea4bd9efc300fd59026\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a32febeb90754ea4bd9efc300fd59026\u0022\u003EHon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery):\u003C/span\u003E Mr Assistant Speaker Mallard, can I begin my contribution this afternoon by congratulating you on a recent significant event in your life. We all, I am sure, wish you well from this point. I also want to offer greetings and best wishes to the House as we start this new year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EMore important, I want to support the motion moved by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John Key, and oppose the amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister outlined in his very extensive speech the very wide programme that the Government is currently running. He outlined some of the achievements of the last few years, but, overall, I think he indicated that this is a Government that is responsive to the needs of New Zealanders, that does recognise the difficulties that are in people\u2019s lives, and that also wants to encourage New Zealanders toward the sort of prosperity that this country can enjoy on the current policy path that we have. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThere were a number of things that have come through in this afternoon\u2019s contributions and they seem to focus both on national security and on the issues of jobs and housing. I want to make a couple of comments. Firstly, there were 217,000 new jobs in the New Zealand economy in the last 5 years under the leadership of the National Government. That does not happen because a Government has policies; it happens because people are able to respond to the policies a Government has. It is the private capital inside our economy that creates the opportunities that provide the jobs. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThe Business Growth Agenda, with its 300-plus initiatives, is about opening markets for New Zealand. It is about getting rid of unnecessary red tape from businesses and creating an environment where the free flow of capital goes into the productive sector to provide those jobs\u201480,000 new jobs last year alone. That is the sort of progress that we want to see year on year on year. It contributes to the overall3-plus percent economic growth that we can expect for the near future. It will make a difference to the prosperity of New Zealanders. I did not hear one thing from the Leader of the Opposition today that would convince us that there is anything more that we should be doing. But I can tell you that if there is more, we will find it and we will do it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EOn the issue of housing, which has been brought up by almost every speaker, I think there are a couple of things that I would take an adverse stance to Mr Dunne on. His belief is that the Resource Management Act simply needs a little bit of change but no change to the purpose because if you change the purpose, you destroy a whole pile of case law. He actually says that the case law now drives what you can do under the Resource Management Act, and that is the very problem that we are trying to solve. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EIt must be great if you are a developer hearing the likes of the Labour Party, New Zealand First, the Green Party, and now Mr Dunne saying they do not want to see changes to the Resource Management Act, because it is that Act that creates the scarcity\u2014the unnecessary scarcity\u2014of land for development that ensures that you do have that price moving upward. We have seen that there is now a quantifiable gap in the amount of housing that is needed in New Zealand to get to a steady state, to get to a state where places like Auckland will have to put in only about 14,000 to 15,000 houses a year to keep pace with things. That gap is what forces the price, and that gap is largely created by scarcity of land and by Resource Management Act rules that ensure that those who are in a position to put big capital into their developments can sell them at a premium. We do not mind people making a few quid, but we are not going to have the sort of soft protection that a law like this provides in the guise of it being environmentally friendly. It is utter rubbish and Mr Dunne is in the wrong space on this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EI also found it fascinating that when the Leader of the Opposition started talking about affordable housing today, he started out by telling us about the terrible story of a young couple who had just bought their first home and had to take on a $700,000 mortgage. Well, let me tell you, I did a bit of quick calculating. What that would mean is that that young couple had to have an income between them of somewhere in the vicinity of $207,000 a year to be able to afford the repayments on a 40 percent mortgage. If the Leader of the Opposition is actually telling us that people on joint incomes of $200,000 a year are their target, then he has failed before he starts. We have a programme that will start in April of this year allowing young people to combine their savings by way of KiwiSaver and their own resources at much, much lower levels to buy into housing. What he also says is that because he does not want Resource Management Act change, he accepts that there is going to be this massive escalation in first home prices. That is the sort of thing that you are getting out of the Opposition members. It is never going to take them anywhere because it will not provide opportunities for young New Zealanders. It is totally the wrong face. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EThe other issue that has come up this afternoon, somewhat repeatedly, has been the issue of the nation\u2019s security. People will have heard the \u201Cpassioned\u201D way in which Mr Key spoke about his reaction. I think that typifies the reaction of most New Zealanders watching on their screens, seeing in their social media, learning about the evils of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or, as it is better named, Daesh. Giving it the title of being an Islamic State is unreasonable to everyone who proclaims the honest and peace-loving aspects of the Islamic religion. So let us call them Daesh, these evil people who have desire to take over a significant part of the world, if not the whole world. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EWhen we look at their tactics, it is ridiculous for anyone to say that a country like New Zealand would be immune from that type of activity; we are not. No one can accuse this Government of rushing to war, as one or two speakers have suggested today. We have been extremely cautious in the way we have gone about things, and we will continue to be cautious. There has been no decision made about what sort of contribution we might make, but I do want to inform the House this afternoon that I have asked the Chief of Defence Force to begin some preliminary training of troops who may be asked to assist in a capacity-building mission in Iraq. That is one of the things that we are currently considering, but I want to make it very clear that the request made of the Defence Force today does not pre-empt any decision Cabinet might be making about a contribution. It is simply recognising that things are moving very, very fast in this regard and that we do not want to be caught on the back foot. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003ESince the initial decision we have had some of our military people in the Middle East go into Iraq to have a look under their own reconnaissance at what the situation is. Then, of course, we have had an interaction with the Australians, considering what a wider mission might be. But that mission, if it were to be approved, is very much to have a focus on the training of Iraqi troops, on increasing the capacity of the Iraqi security forces. To those who say: \u201CWell, look, that\u2019s no good because the Americans spent all that money over those 10 years and it failed.\u201D, all I will say to them is this: it failed because there was a corrupt Government there that allowed that military security force to fall apart. There is a Government there now trying to bring all parties together, and I want to make it absolutely clear and repeat the view of the Prime Minister that it would take an invitation from the legitimate Iraqi Government for us to be involved in any capacity-building exercise. So, to sum up, no decision has been made. There is a lot more work to be done, but there is a preparedness should we get caught short, and I think that is perfectly reasonable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EI want to reserve my final comments for the Rt Hon Winston Peters, who keeps doing this dance of the seven veils about perhaps going to stand as the candidate in Northland. Well, I want to say, and if I can quote to you, that he said of a former member of Parliament who was then a list member of Parliament going to stand in a seat that the member was a carpetbagger who conveniently forgot his pledge to serve diligently as a list MP and that he took taxpayers for a ride by not resigning in order to campaign for the by-election seat. I want to say, then, that if Mr Peters stands by everything he said, when is he going to resign? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003EWell, he will not be resigning because he will not be standing. He did not stand in Helensville. Everyone remembers in 2010 that he was out there and was going to be in the 2010 election challenging the Prime Minister. He was the guy who was going to take him down, but what happened? He limped off into the corner and nothing happening there. In 2011 he ended huge amounts of speculation when he kept saying he was going to stand against Simon Bridges in Tauranga. There was big loud noise and lots of headlines\u2014Winston was going to do it\u2014but what happened? Off in the corner again\u2014off in the corner again. Then, of course, there was the same old act in the last election. As soon as Colin Craig was in the picture, Winston was up there standing alongside him on the hustings, saying: \u201CThis is the seat I\u2019m going to stand for. I\u2019m going to take Mr Craig down. I\u2019m going to take the National Party down. I\u2019m the man.\u201D And what happened? Straight back to the corner. Well, Pita Paraone, let me tell you that you are likely to be the New Zealand First candidate. Good luck to you. See you on the hustings.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022 data-id=\u002291dbc5aa55354f5a936f18d9acc8e05a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002291dbc5aa55354f5a936f18d9acc8e05a\u0022\u003EJACINDA ARDERN (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E I wish to begin by joining those who have acknowledged Ngati Porou\u2019s loss. There are certainly some leaders in this country who will not, and cannot, be replaced, and \u201CUncle Api\u201D was one of those people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EI also want to welcome you back to the Chair, Mr Deputy Speaker. You could be forgiven, though, for feeling like you never left, especially listening to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement at the beginning of the sitting of this Parliament. He started with a motion of confidence, as is the practice in this House\u2014a motion of confidence in his Government. He claimed that his Government is working for New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EI decided to listen quite keenly to what evidence the Prime Minister had to back up the statement that his Government is indeed working for New Zealand. The first thing that he mentioned in his speech was\u2014amongst the poor-taste jokes\u2014job creation, and this notion that this has been a Government that has somehow focused on creating employment. But just because you say it does not make it true. Of course no one is denying that there have been new jobs created in New Zealand. Of course there have been. Every time a new start-up employs a new individual\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220233f55394c241308d03a95d81d45ca5\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: 80,000.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b1ca52a25e90432fa0de6ed7af99c7c0\u0022\u003EJACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, 80,000 new jobs\u2014but how many jobs have been lost? How many jobs have been lost? How many unemployed individuals are there as a result? I think we need to correct your figure, Mr Smith. There are 46,000 more New Zealanders unemployed today compared with when that Government came into office\u201446,000 more New Zealanders unemployed. Surely that is the number that matters. That is the number that represents individuals who find themselves seeking employment, cannot get into work, and have been in that situation as a result of lax policies around job creation. In just the last quarter the number of Kiwis out of work grew by 8,000. The thing that is most devastating about those numbers is\u2014as Andrew Little pointed out in his state of the nation speech at the beginning of the year\u2014it does not have to be that way. If you make employment, job creation, and work a focus of your Government, it does not have to be that way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThe last Labour Government, for instance, maintained unemployment levels at 4 percent or lower for 4 straight years from 2004 into 2008. We had the lowest unemployment in the OECD. Today we are 10th. [Interruption] In amongst all of the other countries, Mr Smith, that have experienced the same global financial crisis, we are 10th. That is not something to be proud of, but we personally believe that we can be the lowest again if we focus on job creation. It is not just about the jobs we create, though. It is also about the jobs that we hang on to. There are a number of jobs in sectors like manufacturing, where we have had extraordinary job losses, and it did not need to be that way. If we work with business, if we work with unions, if we work with entrepreneurs, then it is possible to attain the goal that we are aspiring to as a Labour Party. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EWe have put a particular focus on small business, and for good reason: 41 percent of new jobs are coming from that sector. It is an incredibly important sector in the business community, and yet we have had a tendency to pay mere lip service to the issues that are quite unique to that sector of the business community. The Inland Revenue Department is particularly focused, for instance, on consulting with larger corporates when their needs and their way of doing business are entirely different from those of the small to medium sized enterprise community. That is just an example of how we could be making sure that we tailor our response to not only policy but the basic day-to-day filing of forms. Interaction with the Government could be improved enormously if we just listened directly to that sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThere are some new challenges that we need to focus on as well. What are we doing to support businesses\u2014not start-ups\u2014that have actually been here for 10 years or more and want to go to the next level but do not have the time or the energy to ensure that they have the capacity to do that? What are we doing about them? What are we doing about businesses of the baby boomers, who have not had the time to even form a succession plan, and when they leave their business, their business goes? What are we doing about them? There are so many opportunities that we just need to tap into and that is what Labour will be focused on over the next few years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThe second piece of evidence I heard from John Key that this Government is apparently working on for New Zealand was the mystery higher incomes that everyone is meant to be experiencing. Notice that he always refers to \u201Con average\u201D when he uses that statistic. My one simple question is: higher incomes for whom? Because if, for instance, your income is outstripped by the cost of living and your ability to put a roof over your head, does it count? Well, the average New Zealander certainly does not feel better off. That is particularly exacerbated by the housing situation in Auckland in particular, and there is no denying it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EMy challenge to Mr Key, and, actually, to all of the National Government, is to take five, maybe 10 young people aged between, say, 20 and 35 and ask them how they feel about housing in this country. Ask them about the prospect that they have of owning their own home, how daunted they feel about the possibility of their ever entering into the property market, and how that threatens their financial security for the rest of their lives. This is not something being beaten up by the Opposition. If the members on that side of the House were talking to those young people, they would know that it is, genuinely, in their minds, an absolute crisis. How could a real, genuine response from that Government be to simply sell State houses? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThis is something I also do not understand. State housing is one of the biggest issues that I have people coming into my office about. It is one of the most significant. There simply are not enough houses. I would really like to hear\u2014genuinely, hand on heart\u2014National members tell me that the lack of State housing in their areas is not an issue. If they genuinely believe that it is an issue, how is selling these houses going to improve the situation? I would wager that there are as many members on that side of the House who have as many qualms about this policy as we do. It is not just the tragedy of housing for those who are most vulnerable, for my entire generation, and for those who are yet to come into the housing market who are suffering under the lack of action from this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThere were the other bits of evidence that the Prime Minister rattled off in his speech that were somehow meant to convince us that this Government is working for New Zealanders. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)\u2014international issues\u2014was one of them. I take great offence at the implication from the Prime Minister in his speech that by challenging his plan, somehow we do not care about human rights. We cannot shut down debate on the question of whether we send our troops into conflict to face dire consequences like death on the battlefield just because the Prime Minister thinks that by raising the debate we do not care about human rights. That is insulting. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002244550f1be8394773a5ac1ff10de4baea\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Just turn the other way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fb5d8ab59d1e44c0899ed8fa1346f14b\u0022\u003EJACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: That is insulting. Of course we care. The issue is not whether or not ISIS is brutal. That is not in question\u2014of course it is brutal. The question is not whether or not the international community should react\u2014of course we should. The question is what the most effective course of action is. That is the debate that we are under an obligation to put before that Government, and it is yet to satisfy that question as to what the most effective course of action is. It is insulting, Mr Smith, that you think that by challenging the grounds on which you are putting this\u2014the explanation and evidence under which you propose putting our troops into battle\u2014we somehow do not care about human rights. That is absolutely insulting. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EFinally, the Prime Minister mentioned that under the banner of helping children in poverty and vulnerable families\u2014something we have been waiting 6 years to hear more from the Government on\u2014the Government is finally \u201Clooking at ways to help families and children in material hardship\u201D. Material hardship is only one of five measures of poverty. It is one of five. He has clearly used the words \u201Cmaterial hardship\u201D on purpose. If he were genuinely interested in looking at the poverty children are living in, he would not exclude income poverty. That is where this crucial debate lies. Until we address that, we will not address the hardship our families are living in. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister may claim that National is working for New Zealanders, but for which ones? Housebuyers? Those on zero-hour contracts? Children without enough to get by? Families working hard but going nowhere? Any Government that genuinely wanted to work on behalf of all New Zealanders should be doing something about them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022 data-id=\u0022bca4c48bc0fa4906b866e9088c447b5f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bca4c48bc0fa4906b866e9088c447b5f\u0022\u003EHon AMY ADAMS (Minister of Justice):\u003C/span\u003E Mr Deputy Speaker, it is a great pleasure to be back in the House for 2015, and it is certainly a pleasure to welcome you back to your role in the Chair, a role that you have taken to with some gusto and are performing very well. Look, I am delighted to be back and looking ahead to another year of the whole National-led Government delivering genuinely better outcomes for New Zealanders. You heard it from the Prime Minister today. We were elected with the strongest mandate this country has seen under the MMP system of Government. Every single one of us is committed to using our time here to make New Zealand a better place for its inhabitants. We are not here to think about how we can preserve our own political careers, how we can further our agendas, or how we can last the longest in this place. Most of us have come from successful careers in the wider world. We have come here because we are passionate about this country, we are passionate about making a difference, and we believe that under John Key\u2019s leadership and with the team we have, we have a team of people who absolutely can do that. That is what gets us up every morning. That is what we are committed to this year and throughout this term. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EThis year you are going to see an incredibly busy programme of action from the National-led Government. You have heard the Prime Minister talk about it this afternoon. My colleague the Hon Dr Nick Smith will be right at the forefront of that with some of the most important reforms that are facing New Zealand, I think, particularly reform of the Resource Management Act, which anyone who looks at it sensibly knows is fundamental to getting the outcomes this country needs, both economically and environmentally. It is not serving anybody well. I wish my colleague the very best with advancing those reforms that he has worked very hard on. Similarly, in the freshwater space where excellent progress is being made, in the housing space, in the creation of more jobs, and in the creation of better healthcare for all of our community and particularly for those under 13, we will be working to provide better outcomes for all New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EAs well as doing that, we understand that it is our job to play our part in the international community. The security of our people is fundamentally any Government\u2019s first concern. In the world that we inhabit we all understand that security is no longer just a domestic issue. Security means taking our part in the international community, taking it with great caution and care, but knowing that it is not enough to sit at home and say: \u201CGosh, isn\u2019t it terrible what\u2019s happening to those people?\u201D. Sometimes action is required. It is a very difficult decision and one that is taken with extreme care, but we know that playing our part in the international arena is a core part of what keeps our country safe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EI want to take the rest of my time this afternoon talking about some of the areas that I am going to be focusing on in my portfolio. I want to start with the issue of connectivity. I am passionate about the fact that New Zealanders\u2019 connectivity to each other and to the world is an absolute foundation stone of our success. I can tell you that over the time we have been in Government we have seen a step change in New Zealanders\u2019 ability to connect with each other and connect to the world. Just recently Statistics New Zealand has announced that we have now seen a 34 percent increase in the number of Kiwi homes connected to the internet since 2006. We have seen significant increases in average speeds and we are moving up the OECD rankings. Last year Akamai noted that New Zealand\u2019s speeds had increased over that year by 37 percent, placing us now well ahead of Australia, which is always comforting. TrueNet also for the same period noted that our average speeds are up 34 percent. So whatever measure you want to choose, one thing is being noticed internationally, and that is that New Zealand is making incredible steps forward in both its connectivity and the speeds available to New Zealanders. We are now second in the OECD for the growth of fibre subscriptions, so in 1 year we have seen 144 percent growth in fibre subscriptions. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000207\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EThis has not happened by accident. It is not just the inevitable march of technology. It has happened because this Government has committed now $2 billion to the roll-out of better broadband for our cities, our towns, and our rural communities. We do it because\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228a1cb04e-8a86-44d1-9004-6e158e220339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022864b5cc7fc7147939eefd4782787539e\u0022\u003ETim Macindoe\u003C/span\u003E: And what a difference it makes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022362f569d2e4e41a6be325d15d6eec7d9\u0022\u003EHon AMY ADAMS\u003C/span\u003E: Exactly that. We know that connectivity means that every town\u2014the smallest village, the smallest rural community\u2014can then trade with the world and build their own futures. That is what this Government believes in: providing the tools for regional, provincial, and rural New Zealand to access the world from wherever they are. That is why we have committed $2 billion, and that is why you are seeing from us a big move now to go beyond our first target of 75 percent of New Zealanders connected with fibre to the home to now 80 percent of New Zealanders as the goal we are working on this term. We are spending $100 million more than we have already committed to rural broadband infrastructure and another $50 million to ensure cellphone black spots are filled. This is why New Zealand is increasingly seen to be at the forefront of connectivity. This will be our agenda to continue that rapid pace. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003ELet me talk now broadly about what is happening in the justice space. Again, we have a story that I think every one of us on this side of the House is rightly very proud of. We are seeing crime at the lowest level for 35 years. I want to acknowledge the Ministers who have worked before me, yourself included, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Hon Judith Collins, the Hon Simon Power\u2014all of those Ministers who have worked over the last 6 years in this space. The record that we now stand on is a very strong one. But, as ever, there is more we can do. We are not going to sit back and say: \u201CIsn\u2019t that great? We can now put that one in the \u2018done\u2019 box.\u201D There is more work we have to do. This Government set itself a very bold goal of better public service targets across all of the areas of service that matter to New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228a1cb04e-8a86-44d1-9004-6e158e220339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b967e790b71f4991a797289b88ed8c07\u0022\u003ETim Macindoe\u003C/span\u003E: And we\u2019re delivering. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f4b7fa70bb742f79c3e55daa3b63383\u0022\u003EHon AMY ADAMS\u003C/span\u003E: We are delivering, but they are hard. We deliberately made them hard targets because we wanted to stretch the Public Service and ourselves. In the justice space all of our four targets around total crime, youth crime, reoffending, and violent offending are on track to meet those targets. But if there is one area where I think we have to make better progress, it is under that broad umbrella of violent offending. The thing that makes me sit up and really look at these figures the most is that half of our violent offending is related to family violence. We have one of the highest rates of family violence in the OECD. That is not something that I am prepared to accept and I am sure every member in the House would agree with me that as a country we cannot continue to accept this level of family violence. Fifty percent of our homicides are family violence - related. That means that on average we lose 14 women, seven men, and eight children every year to family violence. Every 6 minutes there is a notification to the police for family violence. This is not something that New Zealand should put in the too-hard basket. It is not something we should simply accept. All of us have to take steps to change this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EI would love it if there was a simple initiative\u2014well, it would not be simple\u2014that the Government could run that would simply fix it. I am certainly open to all suggestions from around the House and around society as to what the Government can do. It is not just an issue for the Government; it is an issue for every neighbour, every friend, every relative, and every colleague when they see someone and think about how they can reach out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003ESome of the things that we are going to be doing in this space are certainly building on what has been done before. We have seen the roll-out of the victims\u2019 offender levy, which I remember our opponents across the House said would never work. They scoffed and said: \u201CYou\u2019ll never get it paid.\u201D There has been $16.5 million raised already\u2014a 75 percent collection rate, which is far and above anything that we had predicted and certainly yards ahead of what the doomsayers on the other side said would happen. Those funds are now providing better services for victims so that they can play their part in the justice system. We are going to go further than that. We have to look at more intensive case management for those most at risk. We are going to be appointing a Chief Victims Adviser and rolling out the safe home programme nationwide. We are just kicking off a comprehensive review of the Domestic Violence Act and how protection orders work in this country, because there is room to do that better. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EWe have to look more closely at how the court system provides for the victims of domestic and sexual violence. In my view there is not a system that will make appearing in court, telling your story, and having that evidence tested simple or easy, but absolutely we can do better and I think we must do better. We cannot have a country where we have senior members of our society telling women: \u201CDon\u2019t come forward because the process is too horrific.\u201D We will never get on top of the problem if we are telling victims not to come forward. We have to encourage them to come forward and we have to build a system that supports their doing that. That is going to be at the forefront of my time in the justice sector. I believe that we can do more. I have said before in this House and I will say it again that my door is open to anyone in this House who wants to work constructively with me on that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003EThat is just one of the issues under way in the justice sector. We will be doing a lot of work this year around continuing the good work to ensure our courts work faster and more efficiently, and that cases are progressed quickly. We will be looking at the ongoing review of our privacy legislation to ensure the right information is being supplied to the right people at the right time. And, as I have been talking about just recently, we are going to have to take steps to address the issue of deported criminals coming back when we do not have a good record of that, so we can monitor them. We have a busy programme of work. It is a Government I remain incredibly proud to be a part of and I want to wish all members a successful 2015.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225f1453f8-c44e-4ce6-b699-64d600322276\u0022 data-id=\u0022d8c73344c76d43b88c073b6a2bda7616\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225f1453f8-c44e-4ce6-b699-64d600322276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d8c73344c76d43b88c073b6a2bda7616\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I note that this call is taken by the Green Party and will be a split call, 5 minutes each. I call Denise Roche.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022 data-id=\u00222ffa0e76fb314463bbc459bd6922ce99\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222ffa0e76fb314463bbc459bd6922ce99\u0022\u003EDENISE ROCHE (Green):\u003C/span\u003E I want to join with previous speakers in the House to send my condolences to the people of Ngati Porou for the sad passing of Dr Apirana Mahuika. A great leader has fallen and we acknowledge that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EI have been perusing the statement that the Prime Minister tabled this afternoon in the House, which outlines the programme of work that National is looking at introducing this year. I note that in his opening statement the Prime Minister outlines the four priorities of the Government. One of them is to responsibly manage the Government\u2019s finances. This comes hot on the heels of the Prime Minister\u2019s comments today that he has not ruled out putting more taxpayers\u2019 funds into the supposedly free convention centre that Skycity is building in Auckland. That does not strike me as responsible fiscal management. For a Government of so-called business people, this Government has got appalling negotiating skills. It cannot even negotiate a cost-neutral deal. New Zealanders were supposed to be getting a free convention centre. The Government\u2019s own papers show that the original deal negotiated goes $67 million in favour of Skycity for that deal. Right from the start this Government has bent over itself to give Skycity every opportunity to squeeze more profits out of New Zealand taxpayers and to pass those profits on to its shareholders. Skycity posted a profit of $69 million this year and it is coming back and asking the taxpayer for a bailout so that it can increase those profits. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EThe deal that this Government originally negotiated with Skycity is set to deliver it $35 million a year so that the $402 million convention centre will be paid off within 10 years. These earnings result from the concessions that this Government gave to Skycity, including the changes that this Government brought through legislation through the House the year before last, and that legislation was passed by only two votes. This Government is saying that it wants to govern for all New Zealanders. That is a woeful track record so far. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003ESkycity is obviously the better negotiator. The concessions it got for the convention centre deal include an extension of its casino licence for another 25 years, effectively ensuring that Skycity has the monopoly on gambling at casinos in Auckland, and that concession alone is worth millions of dollars. The free convention centre is also paid for with the addition of 230 pokie machines, 12 automated gaming tables, which will accommodate up to 240 gamblers, and 40 additional card tables. All these gambling concessions add up, essentially, to a whole new casino added on to the one that Skycity has already got. The Minister for Economic Development, Steven Joyce, said in 2013 that for little, if any, investment by taxpayers, the convention centre would be built. But even before this latest approach by Skycity for more money, the taxpayer would still be paying for this deal. The Government\u2019s own papers show that there will be 6,500 children impacted by problem gambling as a result of that deal, and the misery that we will make these children suffer is the price that we will pay. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EWe have a Prime Minister who is not ruling out bailing out the cost overruns that Skycity says is the result of its latest design for its hotel, its casino, and the convention centre. That overrun is about $140 million\u2014a 25 percent increase\u2014and you cannot blame Skycity for coming back to the Government to do this because a snake is a snake, after all. But it is time that we cashed in our chips and walked away from this deal. As Kenny Rogers says: \u201CYou\u2019ve got to know when to fold them.\u201D It is time to walk away. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022 data-id=\u002255588032d24141a289b4d0b2c04d2926\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002255588032d24141a289b4d0b2c04d2926\u0022\u003EGARETH HUGHES (Green):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, Mr Deputy Speaker. Ng\u0101 mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. It is great to be back. Happy New Year to all the members. I would actually like to congratulate the Prime Minister, John Key. I mean, what is it, his seventh Prime Minister\u2019s statement, and I think this is the first one where he did not try to blame Helen Clark for everything going wrong in the country. He had to look in the mirror a bit himself. But listening to some of the speeches you can see exactly why young Kiwis are tuning out of our country\u2019s politics. What they heard was negative name-calling, pointless point-scoring, partisan\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002206ca61d8336e41e4a011e209119ecbb3\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: He\u2019s the expert!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022466dbaafe17e48648b5c2f7ef05a3706\u0022\u003EGARETH HUGHES\u003C/span\u003E: We know that Nick Smith was one of our country\u2019s youngest ever members when he came in and he has got to ask the question why Kiwis are not participating. They tune into this House and they are sick of all this partisan point-scoring they are seeing. What they want to see is less of the Dr Strangelove, less of the Dr Dolittle comments, and what they got instead was Dr Norman, who actually finally gave them what they want, which is a real debate about the issues, a real discussion, a real focus on solutions, which is not what we heard from the Government side. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EWhat Dr Norman spoke about was the issues, and he talked about our priorities, which are climate change and inequality. This is something our Prime Minister could not mention even once in his speech. We have seen the Pope, the US President, and the Chinese President all make climate change\u2014the greatest threat of our generation\u2014their priority this year, but our Prime Minister could not mention it even once. It was in his written speech, but it did not make it into the Prime Minister\u2019s comedy set, but the extra funding for oil and gas in New Zealand\u2014extra subsidies from New Zealand taxpayers for what is already one of the wealthiest industries in the world\u2014did. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EAt a time when we have seen the oil price bottom out at around 50 bucks a barrel, when investment is declining all around the world, at a time when we know that climate change is one of the most important threats facing us, and even the International Energy Agency says we cannot afford to burn two-thirds of the oil we have already found, at a time when you see Stanford University, the Norway sovereign wealth fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Victoria University, Dunedin City Council, and the Anglican churches all divesting away from fossil fuels, we see our Prime Minister wanting to invest in more of it from taxpayer subsidies. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EWe know that climate change and inequality are environmental, social, moral questions and challenges, but they are also economic and, as we know, when it comes to inequality the OECD has estimated that 10 percent of New Zealand\u2019s gross domestic product has been slashed as a result of our growing inequality. Likewise with climate change. We have seen from the Stern Review that we could be at risk\u201410 to 20 percent of our global GDP. What we heard from the Prime Minister and National, as a party that cannot get a surplus, is flogging-off of the assets, and now it is looking at people\u2019s homes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EUnder National, Kiwis work some of the longest hours for some of the lowest pay and pay some of the highest costs of living in the world. It is a sign that the National Party does not have a plan for our economy. It is a gambling plan, as we heard from Denise Roche, when it comes to Skycity, and as we hear with its big picture, its big plan for the New Zealand economy: hope that someone foreign finds something in the bottom of the ocean, it is oily, we can export it, and they do not leave too much of a mess. That is not a plan for our economic future or a richer New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EA future for New Zealand is a smart Green economy, one built on innovation. The latest statistics from the Parliamentary Library show that research and development spending from the Government has actually declined 3 percent. It is great it has got a target. It has got a target for business to spend 1 percent of GDP on research and development, but the way the Government is going about it, it could not spend any less, because we already spend less than half of what average OECD countries do. If we want to have a richer economy, we need to invest in innovation and research and development to kickstart a smart Green, innovative economy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EAnother area totally ignored by National is the clean energy phenomenal economic opportunity\u2014a sector that Bloomberg has just said has almost reached a bumper year, with more than $310 billion in capital investment last year, an area PricewaterhouseCoopers says is a $22 billion economic opportunity for New Zealand. In New Zealand, our solar sector has grown 300 percent in the last 2 years, despite the uncompetitive barriers in the market that National has put in the way. Every 2\u00BD minutes another American business or house goes solar. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to the IT sector, sadly, under National, a quarter of New Zealand families still do not have internet or computer access. At the current rate National is addressing it, it is going to take 227 years for all New Zealanders to finally get online. But at least the Minister Amy Adams is not standing still. I saw she put out a very important press release today urging Kiwis to change their passwords. So we have got changing passwords and changing the flag but no plan for a richer New Zealand, just a plan to gamble when it comes to dodgy deals, trying to bet against the house with Skycity, and hoping someone finds some oil, when the world is moving to a smart Green clean energy sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EThis is the challenge we issue to the Government. We are going to stand up for a smart Green economy, one that tackles the challenges of inequality and climate change. We are looking forward to the next 3 years. We are excited about the opportunity because, ultimately, our vision is one shared by tens and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who do want a richer New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022 data-id=\u002265036697c5c543109753f57ca0772333\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002265036697c5c543109753f57ca0772333\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment):\u003C/span\u003E It is great to be back in Parliament as part of John Key\u2019s team, which is implementing its ambitious programme for New Zealand. Today\u2019s speech from the Prime Minister said it all. New Zealand is going well. We have got a plan to keep New Zealand moving forward, and we are getting on and delivering the things that we got such a strong mandate in September to deliver on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EA quick rebuttal to a couple of the comments. Disappointment\u2014I live in hope that one day we will have a Green Party in Parliament that actually is concerned about improving our environment. A change of leadership I note is well overdue, but I just hear the same old, same old. I also have to note that there is going to be a by-election in Northland, and I read on the wires that Mr Peters is going to be having a crack and he has been saying that this is the opportunity for Northland to get help on its way. Well, let me just put the facts of the record straight, because the way that MMP works is that if Mr Peters does succeed in Northland\u2014and I have got far more faith in the good sense of the people of that region than to elect that has-been, but if they do elect him\u2014guess where help is on its way from. It is from Invercargill, because what would happen would be that if the people of Northland vote for Winston Peters, they would elect to Parliament a Ms Ria Bond, the next New Zealand First member on the list, from Invercargill. I know that there is some unusual Winston-speak, but I do not think the people of Northland will be voting for a new member of Parliament from Invercargill, which has a great member of Parliament in Sarah Dowie. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThe focus of my contribution on the Prime Minister\u2019s statement is our environment and housing programme this year. But, first, can I rebut the litany of negativity we have had from members of the Opposition this afternoon. You see, New Zealand is doing well, and members opposite hate it. In fact, I cannot recall a time in my 25 years as a member of this House that New Zealand\u2019s vital economic statistics were in such good shape. Let us have a look. Economic growth\u20143 percent per year projected by Treasury, another 3 percent next year, and another 3 percent the year later. The cost of living was running at 5 percent when we became Government. New Zealanders were going backwards in their standard of living. Inflation is under 1 percent\u2014the lowest in the 25 years\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000237\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223a2a089df23344dfa42e7227d29165e5\u0022\u003EDenis O\u2019Rourke\u003C/span\u003E: Interest rates are going up.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b1244f6336744888a6170d5d7b151cf7\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014since I have been a member of this House. The member from New Zealand First has got the cheek to mention interest rates. Well, as housing Minister I have got an interest in that. Do you know that interest rates are at the lowest level they have been for 40 years? In fact, I saw in an ad in the paper that you can get a first-home mortgage at 5.4 percent. The last time you could do that was in 1967, when I was in nappies. I look at job growth\u201480,000 new jobs in the last year. That is something of which we should be proud. I have a simple message for the whingers opposite, and that is \u201CTell me a country right now that is doing better than New Zealand. Tell me a country right now that is doing better than Godzone, here in New Zealand.\u201D Kiwis know it\u2014Kiwis know it. I will tell you why Kiwis know it. Do you know that in the last quarter\u2014the last quarter of 2014\u2014for the first time in 25 years, more New Zealanders left Australia to live here than the other way round. People are voting with their feet with confidence in the programme of this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThose growth challenges I spoke of in jobs and in terms of the number of people living in New Zealand bring with them growing pains, and housing is one of those that I want to talk about. This Government is on the case with a comprehensive and considered programme of reforms to increase both the supply and the affordability of housing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022701ba2090a644c6e804cf8f0accdff1f\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Hasn\u2019t got a clue\u2014hasn\u2019t got a clue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223dd2c209fd347f19bb49cf8674ffb5d\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Well, here is a clue for you, Mr Cunliffe. If we look at the Productivity Commission report, what did it say was the biggest increase in the price of housing? The price of sections. In fact, it said that the price of a section since 2000 has gone up from $100,000 a section in Auckland to $300,000. That is an increase of 300 percent. But if you look in terms of the price of a building, that has actually gone up by half that. Another way of looking at it is the fact that where a house used to be made up of 40 percent for the section price, today in Auckland that is 60 percent. And if we look at the report that has come out from the Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust this year, the report from the Registered Master Builders Federation of New Zealand\u2014all of them say that the core issue is dealing with the issue of land supply. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003ESo I am aghast when I hear members like the Leader of the Opposition saying \u201CWhat\u2019s the RMA got to do with the issue of housing affordability?\u201D. Well, let me tell him. What is the law that governs the creation of sections and land price? It is the Resource Management Act. And I say to this Parliament that if there is a member in this House who is seriously concerned about housing affordability, knowing that the biggest increase has been in section price, you need to look at the law that governs the development of sections, and that is the Resource Management Act. That is the Resource Management Act, and when I hear the Leader of the Opposition and other members in this House steadfastly refusing to consider change to that Act, I say that they are the enemy of the young family who aspires to own their own home. Let me give just a simple example: a 29-hectare block of unimproved land in Auckland\u201429 hectares\u2014going from a value of $890,000 in 1998 to $115 million since then solely because of the metropolitan urban limit that has put a rigid barrier around the growth of Auckland, which has enabled that landowner to make over $100 million at the expense of young families who want to aspire to own their own homes. And members opposite refuse to deal with the regulatory issues that are at the heart of that issue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ebb508a393fc44bf8cb14f113dcd5d74\u0022\u003ESu\u2019a William Sio\u003C/span\u003E: How many houses?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002207cf1672806a47c7b15d362eda73c3a8\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: The member opposite has just interrupted. He said \u201CHow many houses?\u201D. Well, let me tell you about the number of houses. When we came to Government in November 2008, 1,000 houses were being built per month. Do you know how many houses last year were built? It was 2,000 houses per month\u201424,000 houses. Residential building investment in 2014 was $10 billion. That is the most that this country has ever invested in residential housing both in dollar terms and real terms, and it shows the progress that we are making as a Government. I say\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002204474dff1d1446bcad8c0b43fc7ead50\u0022\u003EDenis O\u2019Rourke\u003C/span\u003E: That is not nearly enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9a4c7a358fa4c1f9ea533ecce9263ca\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: The member says: \u201CIt\u2019s not enough. We need to do more.\u201D We agree, and that is why on 1 April we are introducing the most generous support for first home owners since the days of the State Advances loans and the days when you could capitalise your family benefit. That programme worth $430 million, the biggest new expenditure that this Parliament and this Government have planned, is going to help 90,000 New Zealanders with a grant for them to be able to pull together a deposit to own their own home. When members opposite say: \u201CWhat\u2019s the Government doing?\u201D, I say that actually investing $430 million and helping 90,000 young, modest-income families get their first home is the sort of programme that we need to pull forward. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThere are changes that we are doing around the Building Act. There are changes that we are making. Do you know that last year more apprentices in the building industry were supported by this Government than ever before in the history of New Zealand? I originally put in my speech that there were 5,000 extra new apprentices last year. I just had a phone call message through, saying that they actually had a record month in December and the number is, in fact, 5,500\u2014another step that we are taking in terms of growing that industry. So I say, yes, I am looking forward to bringing resource management reform to this House. I suspect it will be one of the bigger bills that come before the Parliament this year, and it will be a litmus test as to whether members opposite are full of noise or whether they are serious about addressing the long-term affordability issues for Kiwi families, and whether this Parliament is prepared to give Kiwis a fair go in being able to own their own home.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022 data-id=\u002271f58676b26d467c92684a5aed3186f2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002271f58676b26d467c92684a5aed3186f2\u0022\u003ETRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, Mr Deputy Speaker, and welcome back. It is lovely to be back again in the House. It is unfortunate, however, to start the year with a senior member of the Government being so confused as to think that when the Rt Hon Winston Peters wins the seat of Northland\u2014should the board decide that that is what it will do\u2014somehow the overhang in this Parliament does not just disappear. Mr Nick Smith seems to have been misinformed by his researchers, and I suggest he goes back and has a look at the Act, and he would see that it has nothing to do with Invercargill. It is actually what the people of Northland would get. Should they see the light and make sure that they elect the Rt Hon Winston Peters\u2014should he stand\u2014they would get the whole team of New Zealand First actually up there in Northland fixing Northland College, for example. Northland College is a school where this Government tore down half of its buildings and did not bother to go and rebuild them, so its students have to sit their exams in the hallways. Or there are the other schools. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EOne of the other things that the people of Northland will get\u2014and let us talk about the area of education\u2014is that failing schools like Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru would be shut. Those students would be pulled out of Whangaruru and appropriately resourced in the current alternative school programmes, the teen parent units would be increased and monitored more effectively, and all these other things are what would happen for Northland, should Northland finally say to National: \u201CWe will not give you a free ride.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003ETell me how many members of Parliament have come out of the north who have been members of the National Party, and name the things they have done for that area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022522f94e63bc94f07a77bdf6b37b2cdfe\u0022\u003EDenis O\u2019Rourke\u003C/span\u003E: None.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002245d792130d51479b8a177795d1c15fb8\u0022\u003ETRACEY MARTIN\u003C/span\u003E: There you go. And actually, I think what is more important is that the only person who answered that question is my colleague behind me, because no member of the National Party could say a single thing that any of its representatives have done for the north. So all I can say to the north is that if the board of directors of New Zealand First decides that we will stand a candidate in that electorate and if the Rt Hon Winston Peters is that candidate, the north will finally\u2014finally\u2014have a person, have a candidate, and have a representative who absolutely would stand for them, and finally they would get some voice in this House. That would be all I would say about Mr Smith\u2019s inability to actually understand the Electoral Commission and the rules around MMP\u2014not that National likes MMP. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003ECan I just take a moment and acknowledge that this is Safer Internet Day and acknowledge the work of NetSafe. The Hon Amy Adams there has also tweeted out about Safer Internet Day. It is an issue, a growing issue with regard to our young people or even just our communities in general. The Prime Minister made a small statement\u2014a small acknowledgment of the legislation around cyber safety and cyber-bullying that will be coming back into this House. Could I say to the Minister that if she would like to take a moment to have a good look at new evidence and new information that has come to light since that bill left the select committee, she might like to consider making a wise move such as Nikki Kaye did around the Food Bill and send it back to the select committee. There is some very, very interesting international information that has come to light since that bill left the select committee and it really should be sent back there for some more comment. But I will leave that with the Minister. I know she has been spoken to about it by other parties. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003ELet us take another single sentence that the Prime Minister made in his speech. He said: \u201CGood progress is being made on Better Public Services results.\u201D Really? Do we think that the reason the Prime Minister made a single cursory mention at all in that statement about violence against women is that this Government does not actually have a single target to address what is one of the most major issues affecting 52 percent of the voting public of New Zealand? This is a major issue because 52 percent of our population is female. Violence against women, which then leads on to all sorts of consequences for children, was not even mentioned, or it had a cursory mention. There were two words, I think. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EI want to acknowledge that the Minister of Justice, Amy Adams, actually stood up and was very passionate about things that she was doing in her ministerial role. But they are all things that are going to be done after a woman has been beaten, after a woman has been attacked, after a woman has been raped, and after an incident has happened. Where, oh where, is the plan from this Government to actually move this along\u2014to change these social circumstances? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EWe had a Minister sent by this Government. In 2012 the Minister of Women\u2019s Affairs\u2014the previous Minister, not Louise Upston\u2014went to the United Nations and in a speech there, when she was reporting back under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, she made a statement that the National Government was working on a successor to the 2004-09 action plan on gender equality. So I wanted to know how this was going. What was in that action plan, Minister, that you told the United Nations about\u2014stood up at the United Nations and said that your Government was addressing this issue for women? So I wrote a question for written answer. I asked the current Minister for Women, Louise Upston, what was the successor to the 2004-09 action plan that she said to the United Nations this Government was working on. The answer was the Better Public Services targets, specifically the following: to reduce the number of people at working age who are on a benefit, to increase participation in early childhood education, to increase infant immunisation, to reduce assaults on children, to increase the proportion of 18-year-olds with National Certificate of Educational Achievement, level 2, and increase the number of 25 to 35-year-olds with advanced training qualifications. That is the plan. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EThat is the plan to address the issue of violence against women in this nation\u2014one that the Government fully admits is an issue, one that Amy Adams just positively, passionately spoke about. That is the plan: to immunise more 2-year-olds. That is unforgivable. What that says is that the Government does not have a plan. The Prime Minister slides over the top of it when he makes that statement because not a single thing there is going to help those women who are out there being paid less than their male colleagues who are doing the same job. I do not know whether this Minister was deliberately being obtuse or whether this is actually the policy of this Government, but perhaps some of the other speakers might like to take it up. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EWe have seen that domestic violence has risen as an overall share of violent offending over the last few years under this Government. The Prime Minister stood up and suggested that everything is good and well and lovely and that we are on the right track. I have to say that the Prime Minister\u2019s speech and parts of the speeches that followed reminded me of speeches back in the 1990s. Mr Smith mentioned growing pains a minute ago and said that of course we are going to have growing pains. What it reminded me of was when the New Zealand public was told: \u201CNo pain, no gain. Hold on, New Zealand. Keep letting us do this to you. Keep letting us cut your services. Keep letting us drive you down. Keep letting us sell your assets and make you dependent upon charity, because at the end of the day it will be good for you.\u201D That is what we continue to hear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EWhile we are talking about relying on charity, let us not fool ourselves. This Government is going to sell the housing stock of New Zealand, which belongs to us\u2014to New Zealanders. It is going to sell those houses, it says, so it can provide more flexibility, and so on and so forth, in the housing market. Let us get real about this. Right now those houses are assets on the Government\u2019s books. It has to maintain those assets. It has to make sure it monitors them and looks after them. The moment the Government sells them, all we get is a budgetary item that says the Government will pay somebody else for the ability to actually rent a house. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EWhat will the Government do next? It will cap that amount of money when the Salvation Army, or whoever else, has got that asset and needs to maintain it. Then the Government will say: \u201CWell, the maintenance is your problem. That\u2019s your problem. We don\u2019t own it. It\u2019s your asset now, and we\u2019re capping this amount of money.\u201D, and the Salvation Army will go out of its way to continue to try to provide housing for people because that is what the Salvation Army does and that is what the other NGOs do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EThat is what this Government works on\u2014emotional blackmail. It is making more and more people look after their fellow New Zealanders on a charitable basis because it refuses to pay for it, at the same time as it opens profit-making schools and hands over hundreds of thousands of New Zealand dollars to people making a profit out of children who have to go to school. That is the true state of this nation. That is what should have been in the Prime Minister\u2019s original speech. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First will take this fight to any place in New Zealand that it is required to take it, but we will fight for it. We will continue to stand up for New Zealanders and we will continue to stand against the policies of this Government. Kia ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022 data-id=\u0022657e92ee158b46308a80935053c105a4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022657e92ee158b46308a80935053c105a4\u0022\u003EHon TIM GROSER (Minister of Trade):\u003C/span\u003E I am rising to support the confidence motion. I rise in support of a confidence motion about a Government that has the privilege of leading a very confident country. I think that the positive mood of this country\u2014it is obviously a subjective matter in part\u2014is very obvious. It is based on a number of things. Some of them have absolutely nothing to do with whoever is in charge of the Treasury benches. We have had some great sporting successes that we all celebrate. The weather has been great\u2014probably too great for some of our farming folk; let us hope that the rain gives them a little bit of relief. But there is a sense of confidence around the country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI think that that is reflected, first of all, at the political level. The people have spoken. I listened to some of the speeches today wondering what on earth is going through people\u2019s minds. Is it a \u201Cthe public have once again made a terrible mistake\u201D scenario? The reality is this. As the Prime Minister said in his opening statement today, we have been given a very clear mandate to carry on in a third-term Government, and we are just brimming with new ideas. We have got some wonderful fresh talent, which has come into the House at the last election, and I think that those members will serve whoever forms the leadership of the National Party in a generation ahead of us. They will be a tremendous base on which to renovate and keep the country and the party moving forward. We are in a very confident position. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EIn terms of results on the street, first of all, we can clearly see those in a number of areas. I do not have a great deal of professional input into those areas, but I know that crime rates are at a 35-year low. People are safer on the streets. Is this good enough? Absolutely not. What are we going to do? We are going to carry on and try to drive that trend line even better. That is the theme of our third-term Government. As you listen to the speeches that will inevitably be made over the next 2\u00BD years about tired \u201Cthird-term-itis\u201D, just look at the facts. As somebody once said, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. This is where we will be coming from. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI want to talk now about the economy, because it is absolutely central to what I think is the confident mood of this country. I think it is central to why we were re-elected by the New Zealand people for a third term, and I think it is central to why we feel very confident about what we are doing. We have a very clear idea about what the next steps in this process are. Economic fundamentals lie at the heart of this. There was a famous, very hard-line Treasury secretary in Australia called Dr John Stone, inevitably giving rise to the phrase \u201Cthe Stone age\u201D. He said something along these lines: many politicians decry economic fundamentals and believe that these are the concerns only of ivory tower academics, but the history of Western democracies is littered with the political bodies of those who said those things. Ultimately, economic fundamentals will impose themselves on people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI am well aware of the old dictum \u201CThe public wouldn\u2019t know a deficit if they fell over it in the street.\u201D, and you could say the same thing of a number of these issues, like total factor productivity. Probably not many people sit around at dinner parties worrying about trends in total factor productivity and whether we are in surplus or not, but finally, actually, Governments need to be concerned about economic fundamentals because these will impose themselves on things that people very much understand. They will impose themselves either positively or very negatively. Right now we are seeing a drama unfold in Greece around the issue of \u201CGrexit\u201D, which is all about economic fundamentals. Successive Governments on the left of centre in Greece spent like drunken sailors. Admittedly, it was not just their fault. The people who lent them money were also reckless in lending them more and more money to the point where debt to GDP ratios exceeded 200 percent. But the reality now is that the poor Greek people in the street are suffering from a lack of attention to economic fundamentals, and it is a long, hard road back up from there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EIf Governments do not discharge their premier responsibility on the economic front and do not pay attention to the fundamentals\u2014maintaining sound books, keeping competitiveness in check, making sure there is discipline on public spending, and trying to protect people who are vulnerable while also maintaining incentives to work\u2014the people in the street, who, yes, may not know a deficit if they fell over it, will find out the hard way. What we are seeing now, I think, in New Zealand are very clear signs\u2014and I do not think they arose just in the last few months; I think we have been seeing them for at least 12 to 18 months\u2014that the sound attention, led by our Minister of Finance, Mr English, is starting to produce things that people in the street really can feel and really can relate to. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EOn the fundamentals, I think the key issues are that we are moving away from the projected very large surpluses into what will be, we think\u2014we hope\u2014a paper-thin surplus. It has been a very tough ask. It has been very difficult to manage the books without slashing and burning. All the talk about slashing and burning is just fantasy and political rhetoric. We have done exactly the opposite. We borrowed heavily during the global financial crisis to protect the poor and vulnerable people of this country, but we have somehow managed to get through that and still get the books back to a very sensible position. We are quite happy that Crown debt is projected to be 20 percent by 2020. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EWe have also, thanks to the very able leadership in the Reserve Bank, got monetary policy into an interesting position. The fact that we have an official cash rate at the moment of 3.5\u2014I think it is 3.5\u2014is actually a sign of strength. It is way above other people\u2019s interest rates, but, actually, the countries in serious trouble are the countries with either zero or close to zero interest rates or essentially negative interest rates. They have run out of any capacity to use monetary policy in a creative way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI recall a very important hedge fund manager saying recently in the Financial Times that there are certain things we all wish could be un-invented: nuclear weaponry, chemical weaponry, and boy bands\u2014I leave it to members to speculate on why he added boy bands into that. He said then, crucially: \u201CI confidently predict we shall add quantitative easing to that list.\u201D So the United States is now starting to deal with the realities of essentially zero interest rates, which have massive distortions, and this will not be easy. Europe is now going to go down that same track. The fact that we have got a relatively high interest rate\u2014although still the lowest for many years\u2014is actually a sign of the underlying strength of this economy. It is another reason that will translate into things that people in the street can understand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EWhat we now have is\u2014let us start to look at what the people have. First of all, the people have more jobs, a huge number\u2014I think from memory the figure that the Prime Minister quoted in his speech was 217,000\u2014and I think 83,000 people have been employed in the last year. The really intriguing thing about this is, by the way\u2014even that well-known right-wing commentator Rod Oram said it; I heard it on talkback\u2014that the important thing to focus on is not the minor flick up from a very low 5.4 percent to 5.7 percent, but the extraordinary growth in the participation rate, which means that finally people who have been a bit marginalised feel confident enough to come back into the workforce because they know that there are jobs there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EI was very intrigued over the weekend. The United States job market figures are very interesting in terms of the political debate here in New Zealand because in spite of the vast difference in size\u2014US GDP is about 100 times larger\u2014there was a tremendous increase in the number of jobs created in the United States in January, and this is extremely positive. But, actually, exactly the same thing happened. The unemployment rate flicked up a tick or two, by, I think, 0.3 percent, but all of the commentators in the United States said that the really important thing is that the participation rate also increased. American working-class people who have been marginalised by this crushing situation in the United States economy have now got enough confidence to come back and look for work. Yes, it has flicked up the unemployment rate a little bit, but it is a great sign for the United States that its participation rate went up to 62.8 percent. That figure is interesting\u2014our figure is 7 percentile points higher than that. We have got an amazing job record. This Government has got an amazing job record. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003EYou know, although we will hear rhetoric over the term of this Parliament about \u201Cthird-term-itis\u201D, we are dealing with a country that is confident, with a Government that is confident, and with a very clear vision of what needs to be done. We are going to carry on, as the Prime Minister has said.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022 data-id=\u002227be62f8d79d44dd930a1b72f3899f08\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000275\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002227be62f8d79d44dd930a1b72f3899f08\u0022\u003EHon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E That was a speech that rivalled the Prime Minister\u2019s in that it was skeletal, I think, in its lack of substance. It was, at best, underwhelming; at worst, barren of any plan or substance apart from a fleeting reference that life is good in New Zealand because we have had one hell of a good summer. And that is true\u2014the weather has been great. Mr Groser even managed to take credit for that. I thought that belonged to the Deity and mother Nature and other powers that be, but Mr Groser seems to think that the weather is within his gift to give. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EMr Groser talked about the fact that the Government had been accused of \u201Cthird-term-itis\u201D and he asked for some facts to back up that thesis. Can I give him a few: Richard Worth, Pansy Wong, Judith Collins, and the former member of Parliament Mr Sabin. I will say no more. They are facts that bear out that the standards that the Prime Minister went to the country with\u2014and it is true, he won a phenomenal election; he does have a mandate; his Government does have a mandate to govern\u2014and people, it would seem, did, and do, believe the promises that the Prime Minister and the Government made. When the Prime Minister talked about higher standards, when the Prime Minister talked about lifting Parliament beyond the place it had been for some time, the community indeed believed him and voted for him. Sadly, in recent days, what we see playing out within our judicial system in respect of a former member of Parliament does not bear that out. It does not bear that promise out; in fact, it is contrary to the commitment that the Prime Minister made. But I am sure the facts around that situation and around the various Ministers involved within it will come to pass, as they always do, in the cleansing nature that is the parliamentary Chamber. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EMr Groser also talked about employment and waxed eloquent about how wonderful things were. He made a point, which I thought was stunning in its arrogance. He said that people, the communities, do not understand the fundamentals of an economy. That was his thesis. A number of Ministers have made that comment over a number of years. I think that comment is made at their peril. People do indeed understand the fundamentals of an economy. They understand that, fundamentally, in order to gain security for your family and in order to gain wealth and have a good and decent life, you need a thing called a job. That is a fundamental that the communities in New Zealand, like the 46,000 more people who are unemployed since this Government took office\u2014there are 46,000 more people unemployed since this Government took office\u2014and the other thousands of people who are unemployed do understand very clearly that the fundamental thing you need to survive, let alone prosper, in our little economy is called a job. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EI note that our leader in his state of the nation speech was quite fanatical about the notion that the Labour Party\u2014its very being\u2014will be devoted to providing low and the lowest unemployment rate on our globe, and I note that the last Labour Government, of course, achieved that. We had the lowest unemployment in the OECD from 2004 to 2008. That is a fact. That is not hyperbole; that is a fact. And that is something that Andrew Little has committed himself to return to, not what we have today. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003ECommunities also understand the fundamental proposition that in order to survive and grow with your family and achieve wealth and have a decent life, even if it may be a modest life, you need a roof over your head\u2014something called affordable housing. That is something that this Government has been in denial about since it came into office, and we now have the grand plan in respect of housing, which has a couple of elements to it. One is the special housing unit, and Dr Nick Smith got up day after day last year, talking about the number of consents that had been granted in respect of housing. That may well be a factual truth, but, of course, a consent, as Dr Smith would know, is simply permission to build. It is not the completion of a built dwelling. We know that, I think, 15 houses\u201415 houses\u2014have been built as a result of the Government\u2019s special housing unit. By \u201Cbuilt\u201D, I say for those opposite, I mean built and certified so that people can move into them, you know, and not a piece of paper that says: \u201CYou may build a house, developer.\u201D, and that developer or whoever else it is might sit on that piece of land for 2 or 3 years. A piece of paper called a consent, I would argue, would not keep the rain off like an iron roof on a built house would, but maybe that is a fundamental that the Minister for Building and Housing does not quite get. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003ESo I would disagree with Mr Groser. People do get it. They understand that to have a good life, fundamentally, you need access to a decent health system when you need it. We know what is happening there, and we know of the stripping of resources that has occurred over time, thanks to the Government. We all know that because people come into our offices for assistance. It is very rare that people come into your office when you are an MP to dish out a bouquet of flowers and say that everything is wonderful. It is more often that people come into your office because they have an issue or because they have a problem. So, fundamentally, people know that if they are to survive and they are to prosper in, you know, the nation that Mr Key outlined\u2014the prosperous society, or whatever the slogan was that he used\u2014they need a house. They need a job, and a sustainable job. They need a job that does not allow them just to tread water\u2014because I have never met people who say that this is as good as it gets; especially parents wanting better things, as every generation does, for their kids to be better. They need not just any old job, but a job where they can grow, where they can gain promotion, and where they can gain a higher income. They want to do better in life. They believed this Government, as far back as 2008, when Mr Key and his then shadow Ministers talked about the prosperous society, ambitious for New Zealand\u2014those sorts of things. That ambition seems to have crumbled into mediocrity, crumbled into sort of treading water, and lapsing into going from crisis to crisis, bout of amnesia to bout of amnesia. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EThe people who are lost in all of that, in the internal machinations of the National Party as it embarks on \u201Cthird-term-itis\u201D, off the back of, yes, a large mandate, but \u201Cthird-term-itis\u201D has taken effect pretty quick, are the people whom this Government and this Parliament are charged with serving and paid to serve\u2014our communities, the lost and lonelies, and those people who struggle each day to survive. They hope that the promises John Key made over three elections will at some point come true, if ever they leave their preoccupation with their own foibles, their own discredited Ministers, and their own MPs and former MPs who do not bring, as we sit here today, a great deal of credit to this Parliament. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EThe Government needs to come up with a plan that is outward-looking, not some sort of battle plan to hold the line, as it has done since the election, which is inward-looking and myopic. It does centre on jobs. It does centre certainly on housing. Cities and towns up and down this country\u2014every night you watch the news and there is another series of stories about younger people, and not so young people actually, who just cannot get into that property market. What we hear from the other side is that the best shot for those at the bottom of the heap is to transfer ownership from the State system to the community sector or the private sector. Changing ownership from one entity to another, selling a house from one entity to another, does not build one additional house and it does not increase the housing stock one iota. It may do if the guarantee was that the proceeds from those sales, all 100 percent of them, went back into a regenerated housing stock. But we know, and at least I suppose the Prime Minister has been honest about this, that he has said he will in no way guarantee that the proceeds from those sales will go back into the housing stock. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f9c512a8-d532-4ef9-ad51-0fe8d752a893\u0022\u003EI suppose that is slightly better than the Bolger Government, pre-1999, which sold thousands of them and never made any commitment, never said anything, and frittered the money away, and not one dime went back into renewing the housing stocks. I suppose there is a bit of honesty. Now we know that the money is up for grabs. But I say this. I would like a member to explain to me how transferring the ownership of a house from entity A to entity B adds to and increases overall the housing stock one iota. All it does is relieve the Government of responsibilities, and that seems to be the biggest policy plank\u2014the relieving of responsibilities that we see time and again from this Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022 data-id=\u00227e3f1803153f437180f9208fdb956b5f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227e3f1803153f437180f9208fdb956b5f\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch)\u003C/span\u003E: I understand the next call is a split call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022 data-id=\u0022d13fd721515a4bf89ddfc14f12b782e5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d13fd721515a4bf89ddfc14f12b782e5\u0022\u003EEUGENIE SAGE (Green):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe, Mr Assistant Speaker, and welcome to the new year. It is very good to be back here, refreshed and invigorated after the summer break. I, like many of us, enjoyed time at the beach, swimming, making sandcastles, and just mucking around in a boat. Those are some of the great Kiwi pleasures. That is why it was encouraging when the Prime Minister\u2019s statement said that National proposed to develop policy to improve the responsible use, management, and conservation of New Zealand\u2019s ocean environment. But how can National improve the responsible use of our oceans when at the same time it is promoting risky deep-sea oil drilling? What the Prime Minister says and what National actually does are two different things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders love their beaches. They enjoy them over summer in particular and they want them open for swimming, for fishing, and for boating, not closed because of oil spills. That is what National is risking by its subsidies to the oil exploration industry and by opening up so many of our ocean areas to permits for more deep-sea drilling. The deeper you go, the riskier it is. So National is prepared to allow drilling even in areas that are supposed to protect M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins. We have got only 55 M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins left, yet National is prepared to allow exploration in an area that is supposed to protect them. It is paying only lip-service to protecting our oceans. The Prime Minister also talked about having a policy for a greater range of marine protected areas. At the moment we have got 45 marine reserves. That is less than 0.5 percent of our marine environment that is protected, and that is tiny given that this National Government has opened up more than 12 percent of our marine environment to oil and gas exploration. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EWhat National seems to be proposing now is not legislation to really protect our biodiversity through no-take marine reserves, which are safe from oil exploration, which are safe from fishing, but simply recreational parks. We may need some recreational fishing areas, but we really need some no-take marine reserves where our distinctive biodiversity is genuinely protected. We have not heard anything from the Prime Minister about that. We need those reserves, not just around the coast but in our deep oceans beyond the 12 nautical mile limit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EBut National\u2019s lip-service to ocean protection is most evident in relation to climate change and its failure to take real action to reduce our emissions. There was a significant study on ocean temperatures that was published last week in Nature. It showed that ocean warming steadily increased between 2000 and 2013. It showed that the increase in the temperature of the Earth\u2019s oceans was equivalent to putting 2 trillion 100-watt continuously burning lightbulbs into the ocean. What is most worrying is that not only is this temperature increase happening on the ocean\u2019s surface but it is happening up to 2 kilometres deep. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research has been involved in those studies through it putting out some of the Argo floats that help to measure the temperature. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EBut what the Prime Minister and what the National Government do not seem to be recognising is that this increase in ocean temperature will affect our weather patterns. It will contribute to more frequent and intense tropical storms. We are a coastal people. More than 65 percent of New Zealanders live within 5 kilometres of the coast. More intense storms, combined with sea-level rise, will expose more areas to coastal hazards and to coastal erosion. The cost of this to our country will be immense. The human misery will be immense. Just last year we had seven severe weather events. They cost the insurance industry $135 million. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EWe can take action to arrest our emissions. We can take action to be on the right side of history in tackling climate change. The Green Party has a platform and a comprehensive programme of action to arrest our emissions. We will be working this year to promote those policies, to convince the Government to take its head out of the sand, to take action to reduce our emissions, and to tackle climate change so that we can bequeath to our children a stable climate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022 data-id=\u0022cf2f6e70bed84556916f68fc6437d7b0\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022cf2f6e70bed84556916f68fc6437d7b0\u0022\u003ESTEFFAN BROWNING (Green):\u003C/span\u003E Today the Prime Minister John Key said that this year the Government will establish a food safety science and research centre at Massey University. He said that it is to protect consumers, enable innovation, and minimise costs for business. The Government will also introduce legislation to strengthen the framework underpinning our food safety system. There are great opportunities in this but I fear\u2014and there is a lot of history behind what has happened around food safety in this country\u2014that it will not go far enough for New Zealand consumers. Effectively, this is a response to the melamine scare and the botulism scare in our dairy industry. It is absolutely important that we have a food safety regime that does make sure our exports meet the standards that our export markets expect. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003EBut, increasingly, there is a very sad picture of our rural environment. It is a high input, high pollutant model of farming that leaves farmers exposed on the global market, especially when the price of milk falls. If there is any hint of a food safety issue, we stand to fall and fail a lot, lot more. The Government\u2019s endless fixation on growth at any price, and exporting away our riches, is hurting our people and our planet. The environment that we travel through when we go through the country is rarely anything to be particularly proud of, and it has changed. It used to be diverse and it gave a feeling of safety around the food produced there, and some sort of sustainability, and it is going rapidly in the other direction. The great experiment\u2014an industrial model of oil dependence and chemically based food\u2014is clearly unsustainable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003EI use, as an example, Roundup, which used to be advertised with \u201CYou can drink the stuff\u201D\u2014glyphosate being the active ingredient. We do not even seem to test for it in our waterways. We are using it increasingly, hectare after hectare. Massive areas are being used for various farm management systems. The reality is that this glyphosate is damaging the microbiology of our soils and deteriorating the sustainability of that very soil. It becomes less porous, it cannot handle the rain the same, and it cannot handle the drought the same. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003EA story in Stuff today that has just come through from Washington shows a report saying that people eating organic food are exposed to only half the level of pesticides as in non-organic food. Other reports show that there are at least four times as many pesticides in non-organic food. Sometimes people see organics as unaffordable. Do we really want a tiered society where only the rich who can afford to eat it\u2014or choose to in that sense\u2014are the only ones who can have a healthy diet? This Government and the previous Government of National chose not to advance the organic system. It chose not to help the Organic Advisory Programme, which was so successful in helping people convert to organics. What does it do? It has done away with environmental monitoring in many, many cases. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003EWhat we could have is some very good progress indicators if we move towards organics. Glyphosate is showing up in breast milk. But where is the Ministry for Primary Industries even looking to see how much glyphosate is coming through in food? We have to remember the herbicide-tolerant swedes in Southland, using a chemical that is banned in China. How much of that chlorsulfuron went into those swedes and turnips that the cows ate? In the swedes\u2019 case, some died. In fact, a lot of cows died. That material, that information in its full form, has not come out yet. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228999c217-9b84-4577-b9b1-bcc8e9c7a395\u0022\u003EWe think the Government should support the organic sector and move towards a more sustainable society. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022 data-id=\u0022af5a4e74dc1f4ccb9de8fa5216c58457\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022af5a4e74dc1f4ccb9de8fa5216c58457\u0022\u003EJONATHAN YOUNG (National\u2014New Plymouth):\u003C/span\u003E Happy New Year. Welcome back to the House. I am very pleased to stand in support of the Prime Minister\u2019s statement and support the confidence that this side of the House has in his leadership and also in where he is taking this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EI just want to comment on some of the statements that one of my fellow members of the House, Eugenie Sage, made that will, I think, demonstrate perhaps why New Zealand, though holding the issues of the environment as a very high value, also trusts our Government in terms of its development of our resources. She raised the issue of M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins and the marine reserve off the west coast of the North Island and decried this Government because of permits that it has granted that touch on some of these areas. We know that over the last 40 years of exploration offshore there has been no detrimental effect on the M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphin population. In fact, it is a population that many people do have concern about, because, as she said, there are only 55 adult members of that species who are of breeding age. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EBut as science has shown us, the greatest threat to the M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphin is not, in fact, human intervention and exploration offshore by the oil industry. At Massey University, where they do biopsies of beach-cast M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins or what they consider to be M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins, they have discovered that, especially on the west coast of the North Island, every one that they have found beach cast has been infected with toxoplasmosis, which is a parasite. Of those that are infected, just under half suffered death because of that. It is a parasite that affects the M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphin and it is something that comes off, I guess, the water and the streams that come off the land. It affects them in a very detrimental way. In fact, what they have also discovered is that the dolphins they have done biopsies on are actually Hector\u2019s dolphins and not M\u0101ui\u2019s dolphins. So there is some research, in fact, around this on their mortality. Suffice it to say that it is not actually petroleum exploration that is the great threat to the species. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EOf course, let us keep it to the science, because we also know that Labour, in its election conservation manifesto, made a determination that it would not allow any drilling to occur in a marine reserve. We know that that was speaking specifically of the west coast of the North Island in a particular area where the Pohokura field is. I am sure that, by now, Labour would understand that in order to develop that field, which is producing 40 percent of New Zealand\u2019s domestic gas supply, and in order for that field to continue, it would have to, at some point in time, go into a second tranche of exploration and drilling to get what is called the side pockets of that field to keep producing. This is absolutely critical to the New Zealand economy. Gas is one of the best hydrocarbon fuels. It is three times better than coal in terms of its carbon footprint, in terms of its reduction of impact. It is considered to be a transition fuel. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EWhen the M\u0101ui Pipeline sprang a leak in 2010, over 1 week of repairs while that pipeline was shut cost the New Zealand economy $200 million, and agriculture $40 million as part of that cost. So we do understand that gas is very important for the New Zealand economy. It fuels industry as well as fuelling homes. So we understand the issues around the environment, and we do have policies that protect it, but at the same time I believe we have a responsible attitude towards using our resources and our reserves. I think that this is why the general public has confidence in this Government. We hold those things in balance. We do not say we are going to go and explore the oil fields and the gasfields of New Zealand and produce at the expense of the environment. In fact, you will find that the explorers, as well as the fishermen, are all environmentalists. They all care for the environment. They are very protective and very careful, and they have the highest health and safety records, perhaps, of any industry that operates in New Zealand, because they know about the issues around social licence. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EAll of this is to say that I believe that this Government under the leadership of John Key understands the complexities of these issues and handles them for the betterment, the progress, and the building of the economy of New Zealand in such a way that we do not compromise on our environment. You would have to say that the Taranaki region\u2014the region that has petroleum exploration in it\u2014is one of the pristine environments as well. Tourism goes hand in hand. It is a great environment that people come to and enjoy. So we demonstrate that we do it very, very well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EI just want to say that is the reason why I believe we have had a Prime Minister, a leader of our party\u2014in fact, we have had only one leader of our party over the last 8 years, whereas the Opposition has had five over the last 8 years. So I think that sort of solidarity, that sort of consistency, and that sort of confidence, not only from the public who has voted in National for three consecutive terms now, but a caucus who stands solidly behind him, demonstrates that we know where we are going, we have a vision, we have a purpose, we have a plan, and we are making great progress along that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EWe have a Cabinet stacked with experience, talent, and energy. We have 14 talented new MPs, unlike that lot who struggle to find one or two new MPs, but found five new leaders over that same period of time. We have rejuvenation. We have new ideas, fresh ideas, fresh energy, and great representation in our country. We have had effective relationships with our confidence and supply partners over the last 6 years\u2014ACT, United Future, and the M\u0101ori Party. Wherever I go people talk very positively about our relationships, particularly with the M\u0101ori Party. I think that what it demonstrates is the breadth of our ability to relate to New Zealanders. In fact, you go around New Zealand and people always talk about the Prime Minister as somebody who is very approachable. He is the sort of person you could speak to in a pub, yet, at the same time, he is very comfortable talking to world leaders. So he is approachable. I think this is where people feel this Government is successful; we are connected to them. We hear them and we translate their aspirations into policies. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EWe have seen some tremendous advantages as we have been in Government. The economy is growing. We have all heard those figures. Average wages increased 15 percent over 5 years. Look at the last year. Look at inflation and see wage growth in comparison. It is three times higher than inflation. That is a great indication that this economy is strong, it is growing, and it is offering a future to New Zealanders. We have 80,000 more people employed than a year ago; 217,000 more people employed than 5 years ago. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b060320bb21449cc817f828476238f60\u0022\u003ETracey Martin\u003C/span\u003E: 80,000 employed; 70,000 work visas\u2014how\u2019s that work out?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229eb6428d02cf4616baddede81e593995\u0022\u003EJONATHAN YOUNG\u003C/span\u003E: They squawk and bark from the other side of the House, but I think what we are seeing is that New Zealand is becoming one of the most attractive places on this planet to live. It is a great place for us to enjoy. But let us be sure that all of this happens because of a good plan, a strong plan, strong leadership, stable Government, and a policy set that is consistent with the aspirations of New Zealanders. We are not lurching one way or the other way; we are making steady progress. I am very happy to support the Prime Minister\u2019s statement and where we are going as a country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002259aeed8295374bb7b660f702b1e7f25d\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch)\u003C/span\u003E: The next call is a Labour call and a split call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022 data-id=\u00221bb160747afe4879b2ac961d6c1bd9a0\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221bb160747afe4879b2ac961d6c1bd9a0\u0022\u003EKRIS FAAFOI (Labour\u2014Mana):\u003C/span\u003E Can I extend to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and to all other members of Parliament a happy New Year, and also to the officers of Parliament who look after us. I wish all my parliamentary colleagues varying degrees of success over the next 12 months. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003EWe have heard a lot about the Prime Minister. That party across the way trades very much on his brand. There is a lot to be said about a back story. The Prime Minister John Key\u2019s back story is all about the State house boy who made good\u2014went to university and went away to the US and made $50 million. It is a great back story. It has done him well and National has got a third term in Parliament. But there is a problem with that back story now, because John Key\u2014who was raised in a State house, who had the benefit of a State house upbringing\u2014wants to sell off 8,000 State houses. So the very opportunity that the Prime Minister took for himself\u2014the help of the State\u2014he wants to take away from over 8,000 families around this country. There is a difference of political ideology here, and right now there is a stark difference. We did not hear a peep out of this Government about the wholesale sale of State houses before 20 September, but as soon as we have a state of the nation address this year, John Key says 8,000 State homes are on the block. Do not forget, this is a man who had an upbringing in a State house and the opportunity of a State house and he does not want the most struggling families in our country to have the same opportunities that he had\u2014of a State house\u2014because he wants to sell off those State homes. This is a Prime Minister who has forgotten where he has come from. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003EI grew up in a State home, too, Prime Minister, but when I get to this place, I am going to fight for those families who need a State home, not sell them off. I have not forgotten where I have come from. I have not made $50 million but I will fight for the State homes that those families, who are in desperate need, need right now\u2014need right now. I heard Nick Smith, a former housing Minister, say that the problem is the supply of land. Well, Mr Smith, come to Porirua, where you demolished 16 or 17 houses about 5 years ago and that land still stands empty. Your department has done zilch for the last 5 years to increase\u2014that Minister\u2019s department, that Minister, and this Government have done nothing over the last 6 years to replace those 17 homes that were taken away from that community. Where are the replacements? Where are the State homes that those families were living in? Where are those replacements? This is a Government that says: \u201COh, we can\u2019t get our hands on land.\u201D There have been plans for 22 new units for that land. Where is the Government? Is it building them? No. It has not done one single thing. Then in Hazard Grove and Esk Place\u2014right in the heart of Cannons Creek, where some of the lowest-paid people in this country live\u2014it plans to demolish more homes. Is there any plan to replace those homes? Not one. It is going to sell that land. It will probably go to a developer, who will make a tidy little income out of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003EThis is a Government that will sell off State homes and take away opportunity from those people who need it. It will sell that land off to developers and it does not care. I am not going to sit here and listen to Nick Smith or the Prime Minister say they are going to give opportunities to the most vulnerable Kiwis when they have done nothing to replace the homes\u2014the 17 homes\u2014that the Government made a decision to demolish and that it made a decision not to replace. This Government has done nothing for those families who need more homes, and then it has its Housing New Zealand officials say: \u201COh, there\u2019s no demand in Porirua East.\u201D Well, come spend a day at my office, where we get a deluge of people. Two-thirds of the work that comes through my electorate office is Housing New Zealand work, and this is a Government that has its officials say there is no demand in Porirua East, just like there will be no demand in South Auckland. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003EAnd you say, Mr Young, that you are connected to the communities. You guys are so out of touch when it comes to State housing. You can snigger, Mr Young. You can snigger, but that side of the House does not realise just how deep the hatred of your State house policy is, because there are a lot of good people who have done good\u2014just like that Prime Minister there\u2014who do not like what you are doing. They live in their own homes but they got a start in a State home. They do not like what you are doing because the opportunity that they got, and that some of the people across that side of the House got, you are taking away from them and you should be ashamed of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022 data-id=\u00220382a66cf91940859562d7642e54a95f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220382a66cf91940859562d7642e54a95f\u0022\u003EJENNY SALESA (Labour\u2014Manukau East):\u003C/span\u003E Mr Assistant Speaker, I would like to wish you a wonderful year and I would like to wish all my parliamentary colleagues a wonderful year for 2015. The state of the nation speeches from the leader of the National Party and the leader of the Labour Party draw a clear line between the two parties. Labour stands for jobs whereas National stands for selling off our State houses. Labour\u2019s vision is that New Zealand will once again have the lowest unemployment rate in the developed world. Having a job provides people with a sense of purpose, whether it is a paid job or an unpaid voluntary one. When people have jobs, they have more dignity, they have more self-respect, and they are better able to pay for rent and better able to afford the basic necessities of life. They are better able to give their families the best chance for a good future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003EWhen the National Government came into office in 2008 the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent. But let us go back a few years to late 2004 and 2005 when the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent. It went up slightly to 3.9 percent in 2005 and it went back down to 3.8 percent for the last three quarters of 2005, where it stayed. This was a time when here in Aotearoa New Zealand we were proud of having the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD. That was under the Labour Government led by Helen Clark. Now the very best that this current Government has done in 7 long years is bring the unemployment rate down to 5.2 percent\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002210442a8ab09f42e4923a7bd296b7a80b\u0022\u003EHon Ruth Dyson\u003C/span\u003E: What?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002290040aa39efb4e96ad23abf5616cc19a\u0022\u003EJENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: 5.2 percent. And now we are beginning to go in the wrong direction, with unemployment that has risen from 5.4 percent to 5.7 percent, according to the household labour force survey from the last quarter in December. In addition to the rise in the overall unemployment rate, we have gone from having the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD to being the ninth in the OECD late last year, and now we have slipped further down to being the 10th in the OECD for the lowest unemployment rate. This is simply just not good enough. Labour\u2019s goal is to ensure that New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate amongst OECD countries once again, where we used to be just over 10 years ago. It is harder for Kiwis to find a secure, good job that pays a decent wage nowadays. This shows that the current Government cannot make the rock star economic recovery work in a way that delivers fairly for all New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003EKiwi families have gone without and done it tough for far too long. The economic recovery that we constantly hear about from the National Government is a jobless recovery. Why is it a jobless recovery? Because it is an economy that is apparently growing, but at the same time unemployment is also increasing. Currently there are 38,000 more unemployed people than when National got into Government in 2008. There is something wrong with this picture and with how our economy is being managed. Labour is focused on jobs and we have put creating jobs at the top of our priorities. The long-term economic plan to create jobs and to assist businesses to grow is at the top of our agenda, through the Future of Work Commission. The Future of Work Commission has five work streams, for technology and security of work. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003ELabour has always been and will continue to be the party of work and for workers. Contrary to what the Prime Minister stated earlier on today, the work of the commission is not to define what a job is\u2014no, not at all. Labour knows what a job is. We are all about jobs. The more relevant question is when, if at all, this current Government is actually going to deliver on an unemployment rate that is as low as it used to be when Labour was last in Government, and why it is taking ever so long to get there. By the way, Labour got the unemployment rate down to 3.5 percent in 2007. The question is: can you do it? Is it possible for you to deliver an unemployment rate that is lower than that? Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022 data-id=\u0022ec23852e736e48ba830320a3c400fa92\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ec23852e736e48ba830320a3c400fa92\u0022\u003EDENIS O\u2019ROURKE (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E People in future generations will look back and curse the Key Government\u2014not because of the massive debt that they will inherit, not because of a lack of genuine economic development, not because of the legacy of a 1960s-style transport system, not because of the failure to diversify the primary sector, not because of the stratification of Kiwis into a have-not and have society, and not for the many other negative results of a backward and neglectful neo-liberal Government, which future generations will be left to cope with. It will be because the worst legacy of the Key Government will be the impacts of its resource management reforms. Those impacts will have a very long-lasting effect and will be largely irreversible. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EIt was a National Government, actually, that finally enacted the Resource Management Act, although it was the Palmer Labour Government that really can take credit for it. For the first time it meant that modern, forward-looking legislation put environmental security first and it made the assessment of environmental impacts on development proposals effects-based. In so doing it provided a sound basis for planning in New Zealand. This was especially so for local government, which then produced district and city plans to ensure that land and other resources were well used, which avoided significant degradation of that land and those resources and provided a sound basis for continued economic development. All of that is now under threat from the retrograde policies of the current Key Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First agrees that the Resource Management Act processes need significant improvement. We agree that there is too much silly red tape. We agree that there is too much unnecessary delay. We agree that costs are far too high. We agree that there is too much duplication between territorial and regional councils, and we also want the Resource Management Act processes to be much easier to use, so that the need for lawyers can be minimised. We pledge our support for anything that will put forward those objectives. For example, proposals directed towards reducing and simplifying planning documents do have merit and so do fixed time limits for the processing of straightforward non-notified consents. So would approved exemptions for technical or minor breaches be helpful in the case of urban land use consents. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EBut\u2014and this is the big but\u2014the Government wants to go much too far by undermining the effects-based decision-making under the Resource Management Act and it wants to put economic development equal with environmental security. That, of course, is actually impossible. One must logically have priority over the other. What it really means is that the Government is going to have poorly restrained economic development in priority, in effect, over environmental security. That is actually, fundamentally, what it is doing. It is bad and it is wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003ENick Smith\u2019s recent media stunt\u2014in which he stood before a stack of district plans to announce his attack on the Resource Management Act\u2014convinced very few thinking people that the proposals will in fact do anything at all to solve the housing crisis, while at the same time stripping away too many of the Resource Management Act provisions for environmental security. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EIn particular, a number of the probable changes will substantially limit the ability of submitters to put forward evidence as to the environmental impacts of proposals and for that evidence to be properly considered. Even more troubling are the probable proposals for greater central government intervention in planning and consent processes. That really means that the Act will become activity-directed instead of effects-based. So that is a fundamental and very negative change to the Resource Management Act, which I hope people out there in the community are really starting to understand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EWe are expected to believe, somehow, that these dangerous and fundamental changes will result in a fast build of the homes the country needs. The Minister for Building and Housing used the Motu report to try to convince us that there are 40,000 fewer homes than there would have been had the Resource Management Act already been amended as proposed, and that the lack of such changes adds $30,000 to a new apartment or $15,000 to a new home. That document was not a cost-benefit analysis of the Resource Management Act. In fact, it was nothing more than a review of how developers felt about what the additional costs were. It is non-scientific and is utterly meaningless, and yet the Minister used it as his justification for the proposals. In fact, all planning and regulatory imposts, including the Resource Management Act processes, account for only 4 percent of the cost of a new home, according to Local Government New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003ESo the Government wants to unnecessarily compromise the fundamental working of the Resource Management Act without doing anything positive in those methods to solve the housing crisis. People will not save anything like $30,000 on the cost of a new apartment, nor $15,000 on the cost of a new home. In fact, Nick Smith has not even claimed that they would. In fact little or nothing will be saved, and no more land will be made available than under the existing provisions of the Act, under which social and housing needs are already perfectly adequately accommodated. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003ESo what we are seeing on one level is just more incompetent National Government, willing to compromise the Resource Management Act with no benefit to go with it. On another level we are seeing an elaborate smokescreen\u2014a hoax\u2014to cover the fact that housing has become unaffordable to a very large sector of first-home seekers, because of a failure of Government to actually intervene in the housing market. In actual fact, this Government did absolutely nothing for 5 years while the housing crisis developed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EIt reminds me a little bit of the past Argentinian dictator Juan Per\u00F3n, whose Government built elaborate facades to be filmed and shown to the masses without any actual substance behind them\u2014a very good analogy, I believe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022abf8e07bcd024a89a110f27e3500aecb\u0022\u003EStuart Smith\u003C/span\u003E: A very boring one though.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224d98264b2178444c8cb0fa1d1135ce98\u0022\u003EDENIS O\u2019ROURKE\u003C/span\u003E: This is in sharp contrast to what a New Zealand First Government would do. If anyone wants boring, just look at that member over there. He is the epitome of it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First would ensure not just sound planning but also that the Government was involved directly in the housing market. We would have a State agency to buy land and see that it was appropriately developed, and sections would be sold on concessionary terms. There is a lot more that we would do to make sure that something genuine was done to assist New Zealanders into homes. There is absolutely no excuse for this country to attack the provisions of a well-working piece of legislation, the Resource Management Act. We should improve its processes, but there is no need at all to change the fundamental provisions of the Act. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002247c29b78-eee0-4c91-afdf-7b07be780e1a\u0022\u003EIn a nutshell this Government is simply not doing enough. It waited 5 years, as I have said, before it did anything at all and then it has done too little. Now it wants to put the Resource Management Act up as a straw man to knock down and to use as a smokescreen to pretend that it is doing something about the housing crisis. But the last laugh will be on the Government itself as more and more Kiwis see the magnitude of the Government\u2019s ineptitude over Resource Management Act reform and its utter failure to deal effectively with the housing crisis. Shame on Mr Key. Shame on his Government for even considering that path. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022 data-id=\u002234175122f54f4566859bfd2d3ac01aa3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002234175122f54f4566859bfd2d3ac01aa3\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That this debate be now adjourned. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00225d4125ceccf04ddda61ea20af9b63645\u0022\u003EEducation Amendment Bill (No 2)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002232b3a95869f444f8a98c6699b7ce2e75\u0022\u003EThird Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022 data-id=\u0022fbc6f2ea95064b1a9102d37d51f4c29d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fbc6f2ea95064b1a9102d37d51f4c29d\u0022\u003EHon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time. This is an important bill for the education sector, system, and profession. The bill strengthens the education profession by establishing a new professional body for teachers. It both clarifies and strengthens the regulatory framework and the disciplinary regime for the teaching profession, modernises governance arrangements for universities and w\u0101nanga, establishes a legal framework for the code of practice for the pastoral care of international students, establishes an independent contract disputes resolution scheme for international students and their education providers, and strengthens quality assurance arrangements in the tertiary education sector. The bill also makes an administrative amendment enabling the Secretary for Education, after consultation with the Auditor-General, to determine the form of school boards of trustees\u2019 annual financial statements. Taken together, the amendments to the Education Act 1989 made by this bill will ensure that New Zealand\u2019s education system is equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the modern learning environment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EThis bill proposes the establishment of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ), a statutorily independent body for the teaching profession and the leadership within it. The bill reflects the recommendations of the 2012 review of the New Zealand Teachers Council and the 2013 report of the ministerial advisory group. It represents comprehensive sector-wide engagement on the transformation of the New Zealand Teachers Council into a body to provide leadership to the profession and strengthen its status in the 21st century. I wish to thank the very able people who led and contributed to those reviews and the consultation and advice that laid the groundwork for this legislation. Amongst the many people involved in this work I wish to thank Dr Judith Aitken, Robyn Baker, John Morris, and Pauline Winter, who were involved in the review of the New Zealand Teachers Council. I would like to thank Barbara Ala\u2019alatoa, Nancy Bell, Irene Cooper, Professor Alister Jones, Lynda Reid, Peter Simpson, Arihia Stirling, and Patrick Walsh, who formed the ministerial advisory group, ably charged by Dr Graham Stoop, that recommended the establishment of EDUCANZ. Their recommendations are given effect in this bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EAs an independent professional body EDUCANZ will use its skill, expertise, and authority to promote educational leadership, accountability, and consistently high standards across the education system and drive continuous improvement of quality assurance processes. EDUCANZ will be governed by a board of nine members. The majority will come from the education profession, and all will be appointed on the basis of individual skills and experience. Together they will provide the necessary capability and balance. The board will not take representative positions on parts of the sector but will be expected to take a system-wide set of perspectives. There will be an open and public nominations process to identify appropriately skilled candidates. As is the case with other statutorily independent professional bodies, the appointments process will provide for the protection of the public interest\u2014in this case, in education. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EThe EDUCANZ board will set its strategic direction in consultation with the broad education sector and can make independent comment on education policy, in keeping with its independent role. The council will also be able to enter into contracts for the provision of specific services. The measures set out in the bill present significant new opportunities for strengthening the profession and support EDUCANZ\u2019s independent leadership outside the constraints of both Government and industrial organisations. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EThe bill also creates a regulatory environment that promotes accountability and high standards, including consistently high standards of entry into the profession and ongoing competence of teachers and education leaders. The bill clearly separates registration, which recognises that a graduate is qualified to become a member of the profession, from the issuing of practising certificates, which recognise the competencies and experience required to work successfully as a teacher. The bill provides a new audit and moderation function designed to ensure that appraisals for the issue and renewal of practising certificates reach a consistent standard. The audit and moderation function is a response to both persistent reports of inconsistency and a lack of rigour in assessments and ensures constant raising of the quality of teaching and leadership. The council\u2019s ability to set its own standards for the profession will further contribute to this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EThe new professional body is a cornerstone of our Government\u2019s programme to raise the status of the profession and publicly recognise the value it contributes to New Zealand. This is the culmination of 3 years of widespread consultation, discussion, deliberation, and consolidated review. We know that we must attract the best and the brightest to the profession, raise the profile of teaching and its contribution to our nation, continuously improve the quality of teaching practice, and invest in capable and inspirational leadership. We must do this for our children and young people at all points in their learning pathway, whether at early childhood institutions or in primary or secondary schools. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EThe council will strengthen the disciplinary framework by having open proceedings unless there is good reason to withhold information, enabling the investigation of matters on its own motion, referring all matters of serious misconduct to the disciplinary tribunal, and developing a code of conduct. The bill bolsters and simplifies the disciplinary regime for teachers to ensure high standards of conduct and a timely, effective, and fair response to possible misconduct. The new disciplinary procedures will give parents even more confidence that the professional quality and personal attributes of the education workforce are of the required standard when dealing with their children. A national professional code of conduct will clarify the standards that are expected of teachers and the consequences of not meeting those standards. This differs from a code of ethics, which establishes the values and principles of the profession. A code of conduct was one of the recommendations of the ministerial inquiry into the employment of a sex offender in the education sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a72943bf992e42748963b0210584ea2f\u0022\u003EHon HEKIA PARATA\u003C/span\u003E: The bill has generated a lot of public interest, reflected in the number of submissions received by the Education and Science Committee. The committee\u2019s careful consideration resulted in a small number of important changes to the bill, helping to further clarify the intent of the bill and the functions of EDUCANZ. Again, I wish to thank the members of the committee, both past and present, for their thorough consideration of all aspects of the bill and their work throughout the process. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003ETo support the change to EDUCANZ from the New Zealand Teachers Council, there has been a very skilled transition board ensuring a well-planned and seamless transition to the new arrangements. The transition board has played a key role in shaping the direction and vision of the new body with the profession. Much of this work has been undertaken over the last year and is now ready. The board of EDUCANZ, once appointed, will be able to consider this as part of its initial work. I want to thank that transition board, in particular Nancy Bell, Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith, Hon Steve Maharey, Paul Matthews, John Morris, Richard Newton, Hoana Pearson, Dr Margaret Southwick, Arihia Stirling, Linda Tame, and Allan Vester, who have provided great leadership throughout the EDUCANZ transition board.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EI would also like to again express my deep appreciation to the board and staff of the New Zealand Teachers Council, in particular to Alison McAlpine as chair and to Dr Peter Lind, long-time director, and latterly to Rob McIntosh in his recent acting capacity. I also want to acknowledge the seamless transition and the professionalism of the staff of the council, which has engendered this transition. The Teachers Council has developed a broad body of work in over a decade of operation that sets a strong platform for the new body. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ead03-bf7f-496a-a02f-ce52859c58c1\u0022\u003EIn conclusion, the teaching profession makes a powerful and critical contribution to lifting student achievement. The quality of teaching and the education leadership have a direct impact on educational success. Supporting a transformed professional body is one of a number of reforms by this Government to grow the quality of teaching, leading, and learning, and is the cornerstone of our quality teaching agenda. I commend the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022 data-id=\u002203bb3e7310f24c1596d7a5f94f6db67f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002203bb3e7310f24c1596d7a5f94f6db67f\u0022\u003ECHRIS HIPKINS (Labour\u2014Rimutaka):\u003C/span\u003E The Education Amendment Bill (No 2) represents a hugely wasted opportunity to make some changes that would genuinely increase the quality of teaching in New Zealand and genuinely lead to better outcomes for New Zealand students. The review of the New Zealand Teachers Council was welcomed by the whole profession. There was nobody in the teaching profession who thought that things were going swimmingly well and that there was not room for improvement. Everybody whom I have spoken to in the teaching profession believes that there is a significant role for a regulatory body like the Teachers Council to set the standards of entry into the teaching profession, to review and manage the registration and renewal of practising certificates, and to manage the competency and disciplinary functions that the council should have. Everybody accepts that there is a role for that body, and the teaching profession want to ensure that it is a quality body that will genuinely be owned and driven by the profession. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003ESo right from the outset this bill is flawed and the measures in this bill are flawed because it simply removes the autonomy of that whole teaching profession and gives away complete control of the regulation of the profession to the Government. All of the appointees on the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ) will be selected by the Minister of Education. What other profession that we genuinely believe is a profession and that we genuinely respect the autonomy of would we do that to? We do not do it to lawyers, doctors, or engineers, and we do not even do it to real estate agents. Yet the Government seems to think that it can take complete control of the profession. I can see the knowing smile from the Deputy Speaker, but it is absolutely important that we ensure that if this is going to be a professional body for teachers, teachers feel that they have some ownership over it, and they simply do not. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThe Minister of Education mentioned in her opening remarks in this debate that there was widespread consultation and there were a huge number of submissions to the Education and Science Committee. That is true. There was widespread consultation and there was a huge volume of submissions to the select committee. Those submissions were listened to but they were not heard. The Government members sat there on their email checking their messages. They did not listen. The overwhelming feedback from the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who came along and gave up their time to have their say on this bill was that they were opposed to it and that they did not support the provisions of the bill. They made some very constructive suggestions for improvement, because, like I said, there is not a teacher in the country who does not want the education system to be better. That is why they go to work every single day. They want better outcomes for Kiwi kids and they have been completely ignored by this Government and the changes that are being made in this legislation. So although there was widespread consultation, it was listened to but it was not heard. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThe Government is going to handpick all of the members of this council. I went and had a look at what other jurisdictions do. In Australia they have elected representatives. In Scotland, in England, and in all of those other countries where we look to compare our education system, they all have some form of elected representation on the professional body for teachers\u2014not here; not in New Zealand under a National Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThis bill creates a huge duplication of roles and confuses responsibilities rather than clarifying them. For example, the bill gives the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand the responsibility for sharing best practice. Is that not the role of the Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and so many other Government agencies? Now it is being given to another agency, and it is simply dissecting that very important task down even further and confusing more roles. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EAnd, of course it adds to the burden of costs on individual teachers themselves, because who pays for this? It is not the taxpayer. It is not the Government. It is actually individual teachers. Their teaching registration fees are going to go up. Most teachers that I have spoken to would say: \u201CWell, what are we going to get from this increase in the cost of our teacher registration?\u201D. A lot of it is simply going to go into bureaucracy. Another example is that the bill requires 10 percent of all practising certificate renewals in any given year to be audited. That audit will be a paper-based process undertaken in Wellington. It will not result in one additional appraisal of a teacher in their classroom\u2014not one. It will not result in one additional person sitting in somebody\u2019s classroom, monitoring their teaching, and giving them constructive feedback on how they can be better teachers. This is going to increase bureaucracy. It is going to increase bureaucracy, which individual teachers will pay for. It is not going to increase the quality of teaching and learning that take place in our classrooms. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EWhat we need to do is take best practice and make it common practice without making it standard practice. When we make it standard practice it becomes form-filling compliance, a bureaucratic exercise, and it completely defeats the purpose, and that is what this bill does. Everyone will have seen news stories about people who simply should not be in classrooms because somehow they have fallen through the cracks and something bad has happened. Let us be clear about this: the provisions of this bill would not have changed the outcome in any one of those cases. Not one of those people who should not have been teaching would be prevented from getting into the classroom by the provisions of this bill. It would not have made one bit of difference. We all agree that we do not want people who should not be in classrooms to be in classrooms, so how can we effectively do that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EIt actually starts with quality professional development from the top of the system to the bottom. School boards of trustees need quality professional development when it comes to the recruitment and appraisal of school principals. School principals need quality professional development when it comes to the recruitment, appraisal, and professional development for their teaching staff. And yes, principals need support on how to deal with teachers who are not performing, because at the end of the day who is responsible for removing teachers from classrooms who should not be there? In most cases, in almost every instance, the first port of call for that is the school\u2019s principal. And if the school\u2019s principal is not being supported in that role, then we are going to end up with teachers in classrooms who should not be there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThis bill does nothing\u2014absolutely nothing\u2014to deal with that. It does nothing to provide the additional support to where it will actually make a difference. These are not functions that should be undertaken by regulators; these are functions that should be undertaken in schools by getting the right support in the right place. This bill simply is not going to deliver on any of that. There is a disconnection, for example, between the Education Review Office, which will go in and audit whether a school is doing what it should do in terms of its teacher appraisal processes, and where the support comes from. So if a school is found to have ineffective leadership, there has not been early enough intervention in there. If it is found that a school does not have the right systems in place for the development of its staff, the follow-up is so critical, and yet there is a real disconnect. Those are the things that we should be debating. Those are the things that the Government should be working on fixing. This bill does not address any of them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThe Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is being set up to fail from the beginning. It is being set up to fail because it does not have the support of the profession because the profession does not have any say on who is going to be on its governing body. It is set up to fail because it is being given a massive increase in its remit compared with what the Teachers Council had, and yet, as we know from past experience, the Teachers Council had not fully got on top of the remit that it already had. There was room for improvement there, and it was making incredible strides. It was making big improvements, but to throw more responsibilities on to it before it has really nailed down what it was already doing is simply irresponsible, and yet that is what this bill and this Government are doing at the moment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EAnd is there not an enormous double standard at play here where the Government talks about wanting to increase the quality of teaching and increase the status of the teaching profession and yet it says that charter schools do not have to employ registered and qualified teachers? And then it talks about EDUCANZ having to have openness as its default setting, and yet the charter schools have no such provisions. They are not subject to the Official Information Act. And this Government still will not release their quarterly reports from last year, so while schools are enrolling new kids for this year, the Government still will not tell anybody how those schools actually performed last year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003EThis is bad legislation. It is bad for the teaching profession. It is not going to result in better education for New Zealand kids. That is what the Government should be focused on. This is going to increase bureaucracy and increase red tape, and it is not going to result in the removal of one ineffective teacher from any school in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022 data-id=\u002282b29c612540423f9a73dd05badc562e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002282b29c612540423f9a73dd05badc562e\u0022\u003EDr JIAN YANG (National):\u003C/span\u003E I rise to speak on the third reading of the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). Before I come to the content of the bill, I would like to emphasise that the National Government pays special attention to education. We have made a consistent effort to ensure a good education for all, because we share the Kiwi concept of giving everyone a fair go. I would like to note that of 32 developed countries surveyed in the OECD\u2019s 2013 Better Life index, New Zealand devoted the highest percentage of public expenditure to education. According to the OECD, New Zealand is a top-performing country in terms of the quality of its educational system. We are very proud of our world-class education system, but we can make it even better and we must make it better because a good education is an essential requirement for a skilled, creative, and productive workforce, and this is exactly what this bill is trying to achieve. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EThe purpose of this bill is to help the education sector meet the challenges and opportunities of modern learning and promote high standards of safety and accountability. The bill will strengthen the regulatory framework for teachers with the establishment of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, or EDUCANZ; it will improve the discipline and reporting requirements that protect children; and it will continue to improve the accountability of the education profession. It will also strengthen and streamline the quality assurance framework for the tertiary education sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EIn addition, the bill makes a good effort to protect our international students. It establishes a new legal framework for a revised code of practice for the pastoral care of international students. It also establishes an independent contract disputes resolution scheme for international students and their education providers. I used to be an international student, and I fully understand the importance of pastoral care for international students. International education is a significant service export and a key contributor to the Government\u2019s Business Growth Agenda. International education contributes around $2.6 billion to the New Zealand economy. International education is also important to our cultural and social links with the world. So I commend the bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022 data-id=\u0022a66b76d5701649a0ab9863f99e624ac8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a66b76d5701649a0ab9863f99e624ac8\u0022\u003EKELVIN DAVIS (Labour\u2014Te Tai Tokerau):\u003C/span\u003E I would like to address three particular issues related to this bill. First of all, the Labour Party does not support it. Secondly, the first issue I would like to address is the make-up of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ). Chris Hipkins has already alluded to the fact that the Minister of Education is going to be the person who appoints the members of the council. As Chris Hipkins said, there are no other careers or places of work where the people who work in the sector are not elected to represent their sector. It just goes to show that the voice of teachers is not being listened to. As a former teacher and as a former principal, I would like to think that the people who were representing me on any council were people whom the sector had put there\u2014at least the majority of them. I see in the first draft of the bill that there was going to be a maximum of five teachers put on to the council; however, there was no minimum. So what we are saying is that there could have been a case where absolutely no teachers were part of that council. I know that teachers would find that abhorrent. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EThe second point I would like to make is around the appraisal audits. I see that 10 percent of appraisals for re-registration are going to be audited. I think that what this does is it undermines or underestimates the complexity of teaching\u2014the complexity and the dynamic nature of being a teacher. EDUCANZ is going to be responsible for auditing 10 percent of appraisals. What I would like to know, then, is what the criteria are that those appraisals are going to be subject to. We have got 2,000 or thereabouts schools in New Zealand, and every one of those schools does its appraisals according to its own needs. So there is not a standard format for appraisal, and yet the council is going to come along and audit them and say to this school over here \u201CWell, your appraisal system is good.\u201D and to this school over here \u201CYour appraisal system isn\u2019t good.\u201D But based on whose criteria? Is it based on what suits the council? Nobody knows, so we need to actually have some criteria, but that is problematic in itself because then if we have criteria for appraisal, we are absolutely going to narrow down appraisal and the curriculum and education to what the council thinks is important for education. That is unacceptable because education and teaching are such dynamic work. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EWhen we look at the breakdown of the curriculum\u2014at least, when I was still teaching, some 7 years ago, there were seven curriculum areas. Each of those curriculum areas was broken down into strands. Each of those curriculum areas was broken down into levels. There are so many aspects of the curriculum that a teacher could be appraised on. So what is important to EDUCANZ? Is it what is important to the communities of those schools? I am not sure, because we do not know what the criteria are. But if we do have criteria, then we narrow down the way teachers are going to teach and be appraised, and that is not good for education. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EIf we focus the appraisals solely on the curriculum, then that absolutely ignores the rest of the work that teachers do. For example, are teachers going to be appraised on the extracurricular work they do\u2014the sports teams they coach, the music groups they coach, running a school fair, having a school drama or play, all the duties they do, and the camps they run? Are teachers going to be given credit for the broad nature of the work they do, or are their appraisals going to be audited, basically, on a very narrow set of criteria? It is really important that teachers are recognised and valued for the dynamic nature of the work they do. It is such a relentless job, and they are not getting credit for what they do in the schools on a daily basis for all the children in our communities. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EThere was some count-up of all the different objectives throughout the curriculum. There are thousands of specific objectives. Are teachers going to be appraised on each of those? Which ones are the most important? If we take the subject of maths\u2014there are five strands, I think, from memory\u2014a teacher could be appraised on how well they teach number. So they may get a whole heap of children over the national standard in number but not in measurement for whatever reason. Does that mean they are a good teacher in maths, or a bad teacher because the students are achieving in one strand but not in the other? In maths alone there is number, there is measurement, there is geometry, there is statistics, and there is algebra. How do we determine how good a teacher is or whether they deserve any increments in their pay if we have some sort of EDUCANZ-imposed appraisal system? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EThen we have English. There is written language, oral language\u2014there are so many ways. So a teacher could be teaching reading really, really well but not doing so well in written language. How is EDUCANZ going to say that in the school over here, the teachers who are doing really well in reading but not so well in writing deserve to pass the audit for their appraisals? It is just such a fraught concept. I just do not think that it is going to work, and I do not think that it is going to be fair on teachers, because, as I say, it is such a dynamic job. I think that Parliament needs to recognise and needs to really understand the relentless nature of teaching, the paperwork, the number of objectives, and the number of curriculum levels. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EWe have curriculum levels, but then over the top come national standards. Where does that leave the curriculum levels that we used to assess children against, which could make up part of appraisals? Now national standards have turned up and been imposed on schools, and again it just makes this whole auditing of appraisals fraught. I am talking only about the primary sector. I was never a secondary teacher, so I do not know how much more complicated it is for secondary teachers, but I also wonder whether the same standards for appraisal are going to be imposed on secondary schools as are imposed on primary schools. I have real concerns about that part of the bill in particular. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003EAnother part of the bill that I have concerns about goes specifically to clause 38, which inserts new section 353. It says\u2014this is referring to registration of teachers\u2014\u201C(1) The Education Council must register an applicant under section 352 if satisfied that the applicant\u2014\u201D. Then we go down to subsection (1)(e)(ii): \u201Chas (in accordance with the provisions of any relevant enactment) been granted an exemption by the chief executive in respect of every conviction for a specified offence listed in schedule 21.\u201D So there is a list of offences in schedule 21 where a person can apply to be a teacher and get exemption even if they have committed one of these specified offences. These offences are (a) sexual violation, (b) attempted violation, (c) sexual conduct. Why on earth would we try to grant any exemption for anybody who is guilty of any of these offences? It starts at (a) and goes down to (z). So there are 26 pretty abhorrent types of offences, and yet we are allowing the possibility of somebody who has been convicted of one of these offences actually becoming a teacher. I think that that part of the bill is really quite ridiculous. Why would we want to employ anybody who is guilty of any serious sexual type of crime? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003ELabour opposes this bill. I have those concerns around the make-up of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, around the appraisal, and also around that section that I have just spoken about\u2014around the list of offences that teachers could get exemptions from. Labour does not support this bill. Kia ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022 data-id=\u00224901af5b311841a6b4952c7e95f87201\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224901af5b311841a6b4952c7e95f87201\u0022\u003EHon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment):\u003C/span\u003E This is another important bill that will improve our education system. I would like to thank members for the work they have done on the bill. Their suggestions and amendments have improved it. I have listened carefully to the two previous Labour Party speakers. I have to say that we respectfully disagree with their connotations on the bill, and I suspect that will be true for subsequent speakers as well, although we shall wait and see. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EI want to focus on the areas of the bill that are related to my role as the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment. The changes proposed are the latest in a series of reforms made by this Government to improve the performance and quality of tertiary education in this country. We have reduced the spending in low-value areas, such as student loans for people who consistently fail their courses, and we have improved the way the system targets need. We have set performance incentives on providers and students and have improved information for students about the performance providers and the outcomes of their study, and our approach is paying off. The tertiary system delivered a record number of qualifications in 2013. Also in that year 26,200 Bachelor\u2019s degrees were completed by domestic students, up by just over 4,500 since 2010. Right through the 2000s the number of degree graduates flat-lined, despite big increases in tertiary funding by the previous Government, so these results are great to see. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EWe are also in the process of improving outcomes for M\u0101ori and Pasifika students. The number of M\u0101ori students enrolled in qualifications at Bachelor\u2019s level or higher increased from 17,500 in 2007 to 22,100 in 2013, and the number of Pasifika students enrolled in qualifications at Bachelor\u2019s level or higher has increased from 8,570 in 2007 to 12,602 in 2013. There is more work to do, but the direction is positive. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThe changes to university and w\u0101nanga governance proposed in this bill build on these gains. There are four major changes from the current model. Firstly, councils will decrease in size, from 12 to 20 members to 8 to 12 members. Universities and w\u0101nanga will choose their council size from within those limits. Secondly, council membership requirements will be made more flexible by the removal of specific representative requirements. Thirdly, the Minister and councils will be required to appoint members with relevant knowledge, skills, or experience. And, fourthly, the duties and accountabilities of individual council members will be clarified, including the circumstances in which a member may be dismissed. All university and w\u0101nanga councils will be required to have at least one M\u0101ori member to assist the Government\u2019s goal of raising achievement for M\u0101ori, and I would note that that would not involve significant change to current arrangements. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThese changes will support councils to respond effectively to a rapidly changing employment market, to adapt to new challenges from changing technology and teaching, and to operate more strategically and effectively in an increasingly competitive international university environment. The changes will help address the difficulties large councils can have with timely decision-making and communication. They will bring university and w\u0101nanga councils more in line with the governance bodies of other organisations of all types. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThe changes are particularly important for w\u0101nanga. The current governance settings were not written with them in mind. The changes will allow increased flexibility for w\u0101nanga to reflect their unique stakeholders, particularly iwi, on their councils.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003ESome members of this House have expressed concern that these changes would compromise institutional autonomy or academic freedom. That is simply not the case, as a reading of the Act will tell you, as these are guaranteed\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002214b067b0f9b54a2cbbe5f18105d0784a\u0022\u003EDr Megan Woods\u003C/span\u003E: So all the vice-chancellors are wrong\u2014the vice-chancellors of all 11 universities are wrong.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b688af330d144275b8801be51016f9aa\u0022\u003EHon STEVEN JOYCE\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014just for the member\u2019s benefit\u2014by section 161 of the Education Act 1989, and, again for member\u2019s benefit, that section is not changing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003ESome members have claimed that council members will owe their duties only to the Minister, or that the Minister will be able to remove council members if he or she disagrees with a council member\u2019s decision. That is also incorrect. Members will owe their duties to the council and the Minister, and the Minister could remove a council member only on the recommendation of the council and with just cause. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003ESome members have also expressed concern about staff and student representation on councils. These changes will mean it is for institutions to decide whether they want staff and student representatives on their councils, and given the feedback from institutions about the contributions of these stakeholders, I would expect that many institutions will choose to retain that representation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EUniversities and w\u0101nanga will not be expected to transition to the new councils immediately. They will have until 30 June next year, which will give them plenty of time to draft new constitutions and statutes in consultation with their stakeholders, and, if required, to hold elections for new members. However, those institutions that wish to transition to new councils immediately will be able to do so. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThe bill will also improve the tertiary education system\u2019s responsiveness to the needs of international students. International education is very important to New Zealand. It contributes, the latest figures say, $2.85 billion a year to our economy and over 30,000 additional jobs for New Zealanders. The leadership statement for international education has set the goal of doubling the total value of New Zealand\u2019s international education sector from where it was a few years ago to $5 billion by 2025. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EInternational education also showcases New Zealand to the world and improves our connectedness as a country. It provides us with lifelong ambassadors. Graduates return to their home countries and share their experiences with their friends, families, and colleagues. International education also enhances teaching and research, as students share their knowledge with New Zealand teachers and researchers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EOf course, if New Zealand is to sustain and grow the international sector, international students and their families must have confidence that they will be well cared for and have a great experience in this country. This bill strengthens the legal framework governing the care and support of international students and improves the responsiveness of the education system to the needs of those students. This bill creates a strengthened legal framework for a revised code of practice for the pastoral care of international students. The bill targets intervention to providers who are not complying with their obligations under the code. It requires that all reasonable steps are taken to protect international students in a timely manner and to ensure that they have a positive experience in this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThe bill also establishes a dedicated independent contract disputes resolution scheme for international students and improves the student fee protection regime, which covers both domestic and international students. The bill also strengthens quality assurance to promote accountability and high standards. To protect the quality of tertiary education, the bill strengthens enforcement and offence provisions. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a244152-977c-48d2-bf53-4f3a369a27a9\u0022\u003EThis bill builds on the strong foundations of the tertiary education system and the Government\u2019s commitment to continually improving that system. It makes important changes to the governance of our universities and w\u0101nanga so that they can respond more quickly and strategically to the challenges of modern-day tertiary education. The bill will create a more robust regulatory framework for our international education sector, and it will improve the quality assurance of our tertiary providers. I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022 data-id=\u0022f8204e923eae42bfa85708d62890a3f5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f8204e923eae42bfa85708d62890a3f5\u0022\u003ECATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. T\u0113n\u0101 koutou e te Whare. In my first speech of the year I would just like to mihi to Ngati Porou whanau, hap\u016B, and iwi and acknowledge their loss of their rangatira Apirana Mahuika. Moe mai e rangatira. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EOstensibly, this bill is about tidying up the governance of universities and making the Teachers Council into a more effective body, although how this is achieved by changing the names, confusing the functions, cutting the representation, and annoying enormous numbers of teachers and education professionals is anybody\u2019s guess. In 6 years of being on the Education and Science Committee I have never seen so much unity and solidarity from all parts of the tertiary education sector against this bill and so little of even an attempt by the Government to explain why it is needed. A great idea is that a bill should have a reason. If the Government is going to gut the governance structures of universities, it should at least have the intestinal fortitude to explain why this is necessary. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EVirtually no academic or student who came before the select committee said \u201CThank you, Government. What a fantastic idea.\u201D Au contraire\u2014when the main supporters of the bill who appear at the select committee are the Gloriavale fundamentalist Christian school, from a closed community, who discourage university education on the grounds that it might give people ideas, my guess is that it is time for the Government to stop and ask itself why this bill was drafted. My guess is that Steven Joyce thought he had a great idea, as he often does, and thought it would make university governance more business-like, so let us cut the numbers. That was all the evidence he needed in order to do this to university councils. My colleague Gareth Hughes will speak more about that later. However, the 1,525 submitters told the Government it was wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003ESo what does the bill say now? Did the Government hear those submissions? There was one modification to the bill around the teachers\u2019 right to have a maximum, not a minimum, set on their own council. That is the only change we managed to achieve after all of those submissions. So I would say that the score to the Government is ideology, one; listening skills, nil. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThe changes to the Teachers Council itself are fraught with contradiction. On the one hand the Government says it is tightening things up to make sure that teachers are properly registered, which is a good idea. We all support that. We all think that the proper registration of teachers is critical. On the other hand the Government is expanding the way in which the limited authority to teach can be applied, which will facilitate more unregistered teachers. So we are so worried about the risk to children, except when we are not. Having it both ways does not actually work. Maybe I have digressed into the absurd idea that the Government should have some consistency in education policy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EI listened very carefully to the Minister of Education\u2019s third reading speech. She talked about things like constantly raising\u2014I am quoting\u2014the quality of leadership, setting standards, and raising the status of the profession. I am fascinated by what this rhetoric means, because it was not clear in the bill and we could not get answers to our questions about it. The Minister said there were 3 years of consultation to create this confusing piece of legislation. I do not know who was talked to in the 3 years but I do know that 90 percent of 1,525 submitters were extremely unhappy when they came before the select committee. Perhaps the consultation was an example of my father\u2019s very special definition of the word \u201Cconsultation\u201D\u2014being a cross between a con and an insult. Either way, it did not build a constituency in the education sector that was prepared to come to that select committee and show any support whatsoever, whether they were from the tertiary or the compulsory sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThe other aspects of the Teachers Council changes include confusing their function with a new broad, undefined role, and changing the code of ethics to a code of conduct, and that has been a very controversial issue. It is designed either to insult the profession or to attempt more control. Let us hope it is not about controlling teachers in terms of their voice. We have had enough Eleanor Catton intellectual-bashing in this country lately, and it is really important that we show some respect for teachers and their right to their intellectualism. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThis bill gives us a low-trust model, and it is very, very concerning when the code of ethics is replaced with a code of conduct. The Minister actually referred in her speech to the code of conduct being different from the code of ethics because there would be consequences if you did not meet the conduct standards. She said this part of the bill was inspired by a famous sex-offender case in schools, and I think she is referring to a case where the person basically lied their way into the classroom and was not caught even though they faked their name and also hid their history. I am not sure that any code of conduct or code of ethics would stop someone who is prepared to go that far, to fake their name and to have so little ethics. I am not sure that a piece of paper called a code of conduct is going to intimidate them into responsible behaviour. It certainly is not even going to catch them. The consequence for this kind of offending against children is not a slap on the wrist with a code of conduct; it is getting arrested, and so it should be. So what are we trying to control by getting rid of the ethics concept and turning it into a code of conduct? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EReturning to the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ) function, the Government took out the word \u201Cteacher\u201D. Although the Minister has been at great pains to say they want to raise the status of the teaching profession, the word \u201Cteacher\u201D is no longer in the title. I am all for the \u201CAotearoa\u201D bit. It is overdue that we acknowledge we are in Aotearoa, but what is actually wrong with the word \u201Cteacher\u201D? Let us see who pays for this body. This body is paid for out of the fees of teachers. So if they want a user-pays system, then the Government should at least listen to the users who are going to pay. How quaint is that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThe Minister said today that the board\u2019s role was to set consistently high standards and continuous improvement\u2014to what? Why? What is the Education Review Office\u2019s role for? What are they going to do that the Education Review Office and the other agencies that were described by other speakers going to do? The Minister said something about undertaking contracts. What kinds of contracts? For whom? Is EDUCANZ, paid for out of the teachers\u2019 fees, going to be contracting out, and for what purpose? We never got answers on any of this. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EWe had a weird fight in the select committee about how many members of the Teachers Council in the new EDUCANZ would be from the education profession, because originally the draft said there would be a maximum number of teachers with practising certificates. The Government said this was a mistake in the original drafting, but, cynically, some of us thought it did it on purpose to draw the heat and then look as if it was listening by amending the draft. Fancy me being that cynical\u2014it is hard to believe, is it not? Would any Government do that with a piece of legislation? But, actually, either that or it is incredibly bad at drafting laws. Which is it? No one really believes the Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThe issue of appointment and not election\u2014again, if the piper is paying for the organisation and if the teachers are the pipers, should they not be the electors rather than the Minister? If the Minister believes that the status of the profession should be raised, she should trust the profession and build teachers\u2019 status by allowing them to have responsibility for their own professional body. It is actually that simple. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003EThe moderation clause is also frustrating. Ten percent of the registrations will be audited annually through a paper-based appraisal. I think this was well covered by the previous speaker from the Labour Party because he was a teacher and he knew exactly why it was not going to work. Excellent work. Kelvin Davis made a really clear case\u2014\u201Cactually listen to teachers\u201D. He was like the many who came. So that one is not going to work either. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000405\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003ESo my message\u2014not to the Government because I have given up trying to give them messages, but my message to the education professionals here, trying to do their best for the students of this country on every level, whether it is tertiary or compulsory\u2014is simple and it is in Latin. I did not do Latin at school, but I think this fits: nil carborundum. Now I did not really know what nil carborundum is so I had to look it up, and I always thought that \u201CNils Carborundum\u201D was a 1970s Norwegian punk folk singer with stringy long blond hair. But it turns out that \u201CNils\u201D is not that character. It turns out that what it means\u2014and I am quoting\u2014is: \u201CDon\u2019t let the bastards grind you down.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003ESo I urge the teachers and the university staff and the governors: do not be ground down, keep standing the ground for education and its vital role as critic and conscience of society, and be the professionals who put children first. We need to raise the status of teaching, we need to protect our kids from people who are abusing the system or, at the very least, being boring, because that is one of the worst faults of teachers. However, this is about leadership in the schools. This is not about changing the law in a way that insults the profession at every level. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ee528dc-7870-4553-95ed-5ec0cab60f07\u0022\u003ESo, nil carborundum, people. We actually have to keep standing up for what is important. The Government can grind away with its ideology, but most people who enter education are motivated by a higher mission and a higher purpose, and that higher mission is actually about children getting the best they can from the system. It is not a business, folks. Steven Joyce is living on \u201CPlanet Steven\u201D, but it is not a business. It is about education, and it is about a bill that fails to make it better. Kia ora t\u0101tou. We oppose the bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022 data-id=\u00220065c6a7fe074ed383ef1d4f5123663d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220065c6a7fe074ed383ef1d4f5123663d\u0022\u003ETRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, Mr Deputy Speaker. Firstly, can I acknowledge the teachers who have all in the last 2 weeks returned to the classroom. I hope they had a break. I know that with the schools that I have driven past, teachers have actually been there at least a fortnight before the students have returned, doing preparation, making sure that they are up to speed, and having teacher-only days to set the course for the rest of the year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EI want to reiterate what Catherine Delahunty just said, which is to hold on. I mean, it has been 7 years\u2014we are entering our seventh year, I believe\u2014of the attack on the teaching profession by the National Government, and all I can say is to support what Catherine has said to you. This Government cannot last for ever\u2014hold on. We will get through at the end of the day. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EThis is a profession that only the most honourable of us actually enter. Out of I do not know how many thousands upon thousands of teachers there are in this country, in the last 10 years, or something like that, there have been only 55 of them who have caused any serious misdemeanour or whatever. Yet this code of conduct conversation that goes on in this bill\u2014the rhetoric from this Government\u2014would suggest to parents that their children are in peril when they go to school. The code of conduct alterations in this bill are, we believe, a knee-jerk reaction to a mistaken belief out there\u2014which has been encouraged, assisted, and helped along by National to shift across its programme of privatisation and distrust of the public education system\u2014that you cannot get rid of a teacher. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EI went to the Vanguard Military School, because I have an open mind. Unlike what some people might accuse us of being, New Zealand First is open to having a look at things and seeing whether they work for children and for New Zealanders, and so we go and have a look. I went to Vanguard, and it was very interesting. A haka was put on by the children\u2014a lovely haka. I do not know what you would call the gentleman\u2014I do not think he is a principal; I think he is a general manager. He said to me as we walked away: \u201CYou would never be able to get a full school haka at a public school.\u201D. I said to him: \u201COh, how funny. There are 1,500 children at Mahurangi College who can do their own school haka. They don\u2019t have to borrow it off Ng\u0101ti Wh\u0101tua.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EThen we went to his office and he said: \u201COh, but you can\u2019t get rid of teachers\u2014you can\u2019t get rid of teachers.\u201D That is what Mr Seymour thinks too. That is why Mr Seymour\u2014in that insidious little voice that he has\u2014starts to push education policy through the National Government, because he also believes that you cannot get rid of teachers in this country. But we have appraisal processes, we have competency, we have laws of natural justice. But the code of conduct\u2014you have a listen to what it says in here. It is specifically there. Here you go, this is from the revised departmental report of July 2014: \u201CThe lack of a code of conduct could make employers\u2019 assessment of professional conduct arbitrary and problematic.\u201D That is actually a really nice way to say that if we want to get rid of you, we want to get rid of you now; that if we do not like something about what you are doing in your classroom or if you stand up against us because you are standing up for that child because you believe that that child should not be ostracised or excluded or whatever, you will have broken the code of conduct and we will fire you. That is what this is about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EThis is about making sure that teachers do as they are told. That is what this is about, because the Government mistakenly seems to believe that the teachers are its employees. The Government seems to think that teachers are its employees and, therefore, its employees should do as they are told or it is down the road with them. The boards of trustees employ the teaching staff; the Government is merely the paymaster. The boards of trustees are the people who, through the direction of the principal, are responsible for the employment and the appraisal and the competency of those employees, and it is all there. There is no need for a code of conduct\u2014there is no need at all\u2014but it is a quick way to fire somebody, and it has come out of the business association, I guarantee it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EOut of 1,525 submissions, only 13 were in support. There is consultation for you. It is getting tiring. What a shame it is to start the political year again trying to explain to National Government Ministers that consultation is not asking everybody what they think and then doing what you want anyway. I know that the National Government Ministers find consultation incredibly irritating\u2014I know they do. Mr Finlayson has said it before. He said that it is nothing but a waste of time. Ms Parata did the same thing again around Christchurch. I know it is annoying. Democracy takes time. Democracy takes energy. Democracy means you have got to work with other people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EUnfortunately, the National Government does not like democracy, which is why we had the Minister of Education repeat the word \u201Cindependent\u201D three times in her contribution here this evening to try to get that embedded into the psyche of the New Zealand public, when what is true about the bodies that are being organised here is that they are all Minister-appointed. If she does not like you, you will not get on. If he does not like you, you will not get on. They can say it is at arm\u2019s length\u2014left, right, and centre\u2014but it is not. Until there is true democracy and the people who pay for the body get to elect the people on to the body, it is not independent. It is a farce, and it is a misrepresentation of that word \u201Cindependent\u201D and a misrepresentation of this legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EI want to pick up on one thing, however. Dr Jian Yang, chair of the Education and Science Committee, said in his contribution that this Government gives special attention to education. Poor things. That is all we can say about that: poor things. You have had the special attention of this Government for 7 years. Again I say, as Catherine Delahunty said, hold on. Do not let them grind you down. We are coming. We will get there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EI say to the rest of New Zealanders who are not teachers that teachers are people too. Teachers are people too. They deserve the same respect inside their workplace, they deserve the same levels of natural justice, they deserve the same rights as everybody else. A teacher said to me the other day: \u201CIf my students do well inside my class, they are rewarded. They get a pat on the back. They have worked hard, and their parents take them out for tea or something. If my students fail, it is my fault.\u201D That is what is being perpetuated by this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EUnfortunately, Mr Davis said the same thing. Mr Davis said in his contribution that teachers do really well in reading but not so good in writing. I will guarantee you that every person who is a registered and qualified teacher inside a mainstream school\u2014not a person inside a charter school\u2014can read and can write at an appropriate level. This is not about the teachers\u2019 reading and writing; it is about the students. We have lost sight of the students. We have turned them into numbers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EWe have got a new league table out in the last couple of days that now sets iwi against iwi. How interesting. We now know which iwi outperforms which other iwi, depending on where their rohe is and how they have identified themselves in mainstream schools. How useful is that to the contribution of education in this country? So you have got Ng\u0101ti Whakau\u0113 now standing up and saying: \u201CWe are at the top of the iwi trail because that league table tells us so.\u201D How useful! If you were any other iwi, why would you self-identify inside our schools? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003EMr Joyce talked about the fact that this bill is to make tertiary governance more streamlined, more flexible, more whatever. There is no proof of that\u2014no proof of that at all. But I will tell you exactly what this is, New Zealand. Not a single university came and supported this legislation\u2014not a single one. The w\u0101nanga did not come to submit. The w\u0101nanga did not put in any submission around this bill, but when we pressed the public servants what we found out was that this came from the w\u0101nanga. This is a nod to the w\u0101nanga. The removal of the student voice, the removal of the staff voice, came from the w\u0101nanga. I suggest the staff and students ask the w\u0101nanga why.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002207d42dbe-f05a-4a7a-8c23-0eecc14b72aa\u0022 data-id=\u0022ec96e2ec4f764ac9bef488c0d8d79509\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207d42dbe-f05a-4a7a-8c23-0eecc14b72aa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ec96e2ec4f764ac9bef488c0d8d79509\u0022\u003EPAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):\u003C/span\u003E I stand to relieve members\u2019 ears from the previous peroration and also to speak strongly in favour of this excellent bill, the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). I can agree with the previous speaker, Tracey Martin, on one account, and one account only\u2014that this is about the students more than it is about teachers. This is about ensuring that New Zealand children can achieve among the very best in the world, and that every child going through our education system has an opportunity to succeed in life. I am proud to stand by our excellent Minister of Education, the Hon Hekia Parata, and the Hon Steven Joyce, the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, in supporting this legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207d42dbe-f05a-4a7a-8c23-0eecc14b72aa\u0022\u003EI would like to refer to a couple of remarks made by the honourable member Kelvin Davis, whom I have respect for as a former practitioner in this profession. But this is just to correct, perhaps, a misunderstanding that Mr Davis might have around an argument he was making, that it is difficult to audit different systems. Of course, that is a ludicrous argument, given Audit New Zealand can, up and down this country, audit district health boards, local government, central government, departments and ministries, Crown entities, State-owned enterprises, and companies, all of which have different accounting systems and all of which do very different kinds of business in this country. Auditing is about ensuring that the approach taken through their processes is correct, and that entities are following their own processes. It is not about going around dictating and determining what the outcome should be and how schools should run themselves. So that is just to correct that misunderstanding. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207d42dbe-f05a-4a7a-8c23-0eecc14b72aa\u0022\u003EOne other point. Mr Davis talked about a maximum of five teachers being permitted on the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand under the bill. Of course, that was in the original draft, which has been amended to make no maximum number of teachers, but a minimum number of teachers. I think that is a positive change to the bill. But it is an important principle, that people are appointed to this body on merit, rather than representing different interests within the community. I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225f1453f8-c44e-4ce6-b699-64d600322276\u0022 data-id=\u00225e6ee3b2c99d41ddb622ae6d14d73548\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225f1453f8-c44e-4ce6-b699-64d600322276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225e6ee3b2c99d41ddb622ae6d14d73548\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: This is a split call between the Greens and Labour. Labour is taking the first 5-minute call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022 data-id=\u0022fd685bf4d0cf4e48aca763943c58fe95\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fd685bf4d0cf4e48aca763943c58fe95\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour\u2014New Lynn):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora to the Government. Kia ora to New Zealanders. It is our first day back in this House. It was a bit hard getting my tie on. I do not know about members opposite, but it certainly chafes on this neck. I want to say a quick thankyou to all the Kiwis whom I met over the summer break, because I had a good long time off. What I rediscovered, whether it was from Cape Reinga to the South Island, is that New Zealanders are fair, decent, wonderful people\u2014fair, decent, wonderful people. They want to do well; they want their neighbour to do well too. One thing they are not, though, is they are not, by and large, ideological. They are practical. Kiwis are down-to-earth folks. So they would be scratching their heads if they knew what was behind this bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003ETake the charter schools stuff. Imagine a kind of school that has unqualified teachers, that does not have to teach the curriculum, that is not subject to the normal accountabilities, and that gets three times as much money per student. Try explaining that to your average plumber in Timaru. They would go: \u201CWhy?\u201D. The member who has just resumed his seat, Paul Foster-Bell, is trying to dress up this piece of ideology as some sort of social service initiative. Bunkum! It is about the interests of private providers driving a wedge through the public education system. So to the plumber in Timaru: \u201CMate, that is what this is all about\u2014their money, not your kids.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EIn bringing us to the tertiary education bit, for a moment I was tempted to think that Steven Joyce had lost his marbles. Exhibit A is a press report that says 1,600 submissions to one the public hates this piece of legislation. Steven Joyce, the master tactician, has put up a piece of legislation so politically stinky that people voted against it in submissions, 1,600 to one. Why? Why would a smart guy like Mr Joyce do something that dumb? The answer is that this is part of an ongoing ideological agenda. First, they take the guts out of student unions by creating a free-rider problem through voluntary student membership. And then they knacker university councils by taking university staff and students off them. What the heck is a university for if not to educate students and to provide employment for staff? Why would you not want them on your council? The answer that the Government has come up with: \u201CBecause it\u2019s more efficient.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EGod, you can hear Margaret Thatcher, can you not? You can hear Margaret Thatcher from this far distance. Did these Tories learn nothing? I will tell you one lesson they are going to learn again over the next 3 years. It is that New Zealanders have had just about enough of this ideological claptrap, and they want to get back to common sense. They want a school system that is about their kids and where everyone gets a fair go. The kid of a miner or a driver and the kid of a doctor can both aspire to be the best they can be. That starts off at preschool. It goes through primary school, intermediate, and high school, and it goes through tertiary education. They want tertiary institutions\u2014universities, polys, and others\u2014to be responsive. That is why we want students on university councils and staff on university councils, not Margaret Thatchers returned to New Zealand education through Steven Joyce and Hekia Parata. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022 data-id=\u002204abcaf3f61b4e00a9409659b8f5d6c3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002204abcaf3f61b4e00a9409659b8f5d6c3\u0022\u003EGARETH HUGHES (Green):\u003C/span\u003E Kia ora, Mr Deputy Speaker. Ng\u0101 mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to take a call to oppose this bill, the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). The Green Party is opposed to this incredibly flawed piece of legislation because we stand for students. We want to see their voices, along with staff, reflected around those university councils. Catherine Delahunty talked about all the reforms crammed into the bill, which deals with the likes of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ). She spoke very well there. In my contribution I want to focus on the need for student and staff voices on our councils. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EThe honourable member David Cunliffe is incredibly right. We have seen a host of incredibly negative changes gutting the student experience\u2014from the voluntary student membership legislation through to this legislation. The sector should not be surprised by this. What we have seen over the last 6 years is a raft of negative changes that have affected students, and that have made tertiary education less affordable, less accessible, and in some cases downright impossible as they have locked the doors with capped enrolments to students who want to get ahead, who want to benefit the country, and who want to do what is right. Yet National has shut the door to them and made it all the more hard or all the more expensive. And what we see with this enormous bill, which is also enormously unpopular, is another negative change to go on the list with reducing student loan access to people over 55 who want to retrain and get another course, or the postgraduate students who want to get an allowance to get ahead in our modern economy, which in many cases demands a postgraduate qualification, through to the host of other negative changes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EI just wish the Government would actually listen to the people, the experts, and the submitters, but it is clear it did not. Because what we saw when it came to the EDUCANZ part of the bill was that there were 1,032 submissions and only five supported it. When you look at the submissions when it comes to the university councils, only 1 percent supported the Government\u2019s proposed changes. If the Government will not listen to the submitters, maybe at this last late point it will listen to the officials. On the first page of the regulatory impact assessment, the officials advise: \u201CThis regulatory impact statement identifies significant risks with proceeding with the recommended changes.\u201D Even the officials were criticising the bill and warning against it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EWhy is the Green Party opposed to reducing the size of university councils and giving the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment more powers? Firstly, we do not want to see more meddling by Minister Joyce when it comes to our tertiary education sector. This bill further expands his influence and powers. We are seeing the removal of representation of the most significant stakeholders at the councils, who are the staff and students. I do not believe that tertiary education is a corporation that should be run only for a cost, but let us just say the National Party does. If that was the case, any smart business would listen to its customers. It wants to hear from them and get feedback so it can provide a top-notch product or service. In this case, we are eliminating that student and staff voice from the all-important council. What we are going to see is more confusion in management and governance. I acknowledge it may be best practice when you look at some of the business case studies to have small, efficient groups for management. But what the Government is confusing is the difference between management and governance. In fact, when you look at governance, and you look around the world at top-notch institutions, like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it does not have eight people on its board, as the Minister is implying with a smaller group; it has got 70. How many does Oxford University have\u2014again a world-class institution? It has got 30.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EIn fact, we have never heard anyone from the Government explain what the need is that this bill addresses. Where is the mischief, in that term? When you look across the Ditch at Australia\u2014and New Zealand\u2014with the corporate boards, in fact, larger boards have been associated with better financial performance. So we have got fears that the Government is confusing management and governance. We have got fears it is just a further example of a weakening of the students\u2019 voice. We have got fears it is further invasive meddling by Minister Steven Joyce. We have got fears the ministerial appointments on these boards will look exactly like Minister Joyce. In his previous appointments, five out of 30\u2014five out of 30\u2014have been women. One out of 30 has been M\u0101ori. Zero out of 30 has been Pasifika. Twenty percent have been lawyers. We have seen chief executive officers, company directors, and accountants. What we are not going to see are students and staff. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255bb390e-f6c3-498c-bbf6-ea1a8fc993c7\u0022\u003EThe Green Party believes in an affordable and accessible world-class education, yet what we have seen under this Government is fees going up and up\u2014in fact, triple the CPI. We have seen the average student loan up to $24,000 under National, and, just lastly, what we have seen is Government direct funding decline by 4 percent. It is time for affordable, accessible, world-class tertiary education under the Greens.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022 data-id=\u002233f78437587c476e91912cb3f042b7ec\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002233f78437587c476e91912cb3f042b7ec\u0022\u003EMELISSA LEE (National):\u003C/span\u003E I would like to begin my short contribution by wishing everybody a happy New Year. I know it is a little bit late, but in my culture the New Year is just about to dawn. It is the Year of the Blue Sheep.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207d42dbe-f05a-4a7a-8c23-0eecc14b72aa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002203790b3ee55f4052ab12b2422108bfa1\u0022\u003EPaul Foster-Bell\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, very good.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e3057585ea524c9883789508bf23a20b\u0022\u003EMELISSA LEE\u003C/span\u003E: It is the Year of the Blue Sheep.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290ea1538-43e8-4257-bd80-df3ccd1e5f27\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a01a47fb80aa40dabe624af7b5f77297\u0022\u003EKris Faafoi\u003C/span\u003E: You said it!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224d6ba147246d4e73a92e6cd88ea9d612\u0022\u003EMELISSA LEE\u003C/span\u003E: In Korean it is called Eul-Mi Nyeon\u2014Cheong Yang. Yes, it is quite different in my culture versus the European culture. The word \u201Csheep\u201D is actually not what you think you are. So I shall hope that that member will develop a little bit of cultural sensitivity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003EApart from the New Year, I know Mr David Cunliffe talked about how, up and down the country, New Zealanders are fair-minded and they enjoyed the summer. I too have enjoyed the summer. I would like to begin by saying what a fantastic performance by Lydia Ko in becoming world No. 1 at the age of 17 years, 9 months, and 7 days, on 1 February. What a fantastic thing that is\u2014for a Korean Kiwi to become the world No. 1 in golf. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003EIf we follow the analogy of the Opposition members, that only qualified teachers can teach, maybe Lydia would not be where she is right now, because it was her father who actually got her into golf. It was her father who coached her at the beginning, and he is not a qualified teacher, nor is he a qualified coach. But what a fantastic result that Lydia Ko delivered for New Zealand. What a fantastic role model she is. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002218f9e3ea-81c5-4414-af48-d6bb843a9227\u0022\u003EI am standing to support this Education Amendment Bill (No 2) in its third reading. What I would like to say is that there are some members who actually said they did not do any consultation on the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. Well, let me just say that changes are being made as a result of a 3-year conversation. Widespread consultation did, in fact, begin back in 2010 with the Education Workforce Advisory Group report, which ended with the 2013 ministerial advisory group report, which then led to sector engagement on the proposals. I do not know what kind of engagement the Opposition is wanting or what kind of consultation it is wanting. To me, that is actually consultation plenty enough. This is a great bill. I commend it to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022 data-id=\u0022fbcae9da3c7d4438bdbc4a5f0fc04993\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fbcae9da3c7d4438bdbc4a5f0fc04993\u0022\u003EDr MEGAN WOODS (Labour\u2014Wigram):\u003C/span\u003E I would like to acknowledge this House in my first contribution back here this year. It is not with any joy that I am giving the last of my many contributions on this piece of legislation, the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), having sat through, along with many colleagues, literally hundreds of submissions from members of the professions across the teaching profession and across the tertiary sector, and hearing from people who are, as the Government would no doubt put it, the consumers of this product telling us that these were not changes that were wanted. These are fundamental changes to our education system. We have two very different changes weaved together in one piece of legislation. On one hand, we have some legislative changes that are going to fundamentally change how it is that our teaching profession is organised in our primary and secondary schools. Then, hidden under the cloak of this legislation, we are slipping in something that undermines centuries of evolution of how it is that we govern our tertiary institutions and what has evolved across the Western World in terms of how we protect freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and the rights of academics to be able to pursue those lofty goals. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EIt goes without saying that Labour does not support this legislation. We have opposed this legislation consistently throughout because it is bad legislation. This is not legislation that has identified a problem and sought to create a solution. It is, in fact, the latest in a line of terrible education decisions by this Government. Labour believes in delivering a world-class education system for our children; National believes in fiddling with the bureaucracy. We have seen that across a range of education measures over the last couple of terms. Under National we have seen literally a litany of failed initiatives in this area and a decline in our international rankings. This is from a Government that is unable to even pay its teachers. This is a Government that has mucked up education to this extent. This is not something we take any joy from, because when we heard the state of the nation speeches from our respective leaders a few weeks ago, the lines were very clearly drawn. For Labour, it is about jobs and it is about making sure that we have people equipped with the requisite skills and education to take those jobs. In order to be able to achieve that, we cannot bungle our education system in the way that this Government has. This is a Government that is hell-bent on destroying the education sector for whatever reason that it has. National members need to wake up and realise that their vision for education is not that of New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003ELet us take some of the changes in the secondary area that the Government is proposing in this legislation. At present, schools have a great amount of flexibility in order to get people who are not qualified and are not registered where they need to fill gaps. This is called the limited authority to teach. What we heard from schools and teachers coming in is that, actually, this is really useful in some areas\u2014itinerant music teachers being the primary place where this limited authority to teach is used. What happens at the moment, before we pass this bad piece of legislation, is that if a school has a gap and it cannot hire a teacher in that area, it applies for this limited authority to teach. The limited authority to teach applies to that school and it has the right to bring in someone with expert skills but who lacks a formal teacher qualification and registration. What this bill\u2014this piece of legislation\u2014does is that instead of licensing a school to fill a gap, it is going to license individuals to roam the country for 3 years with a limited authority to teach. This is not about schools filling gaps; this is about the Government downgrading the respect for the profession and having people who are neither qualified nor registered teaching our children. I do not want a non-registered or non-qualified doctor treating me if I am ill and I certainly do not want non-qualified and non-registered teachers teaching in our schools. This is too important to get wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EThen we move on to the tertiary education changes that Steven Joyce has slipped in there. He told us that it is all about international rankings. It is all about innovation. It is all about the need for flexibility. This is a solution looking for a problem. Other members have talked about the size of councils. Let us go through some of those. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has 72 members. Is that something slipping down the international rankings? Is that an institution\u2014the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2014that cannot get innovation right? This is simply not going to deliver what the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment has claimed he wants it to do. All the while, New Zealand universities are slipping down the international rankings. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EWe had academics\u2014the vice-chancellors of all of our universities\u2014come and tell us at the Education and Science Committee that they fear what this will do further for our international reputation. A university\u2019s prime asset is academic freedom and the ability of its academics to be academics, and this bill undercuts this. For the Minister to come and say: \u201CIt\u2019s OK. I\u2019m not touching section 161.\u201D is simply disingenuous, because other measures in this bill, subsequent clauses in this bill, fundamentally undermine academic freedom. When you have a Minister not only with the power to appoint but also with the power to dismiss, which is bad enough, and too great a proportion of that university council made up of ministerial appointments, you have a Minister who then goes and changes to whom those appointees are accountable. Are they accountable to the institution on whose board they are serving? No. They are accountable to the Minister. This legislation goes far too many steps too far. It is undercutting the very things that we hold dear about our education system: to have our teachers, to have our university academics, to have our university students represented and having a say in the governance of their institutions. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EWe heard from a number of universities that there were some compromises they were willing to make around the size of their councils. The Government\u2019s suggestion of eight to 12 members was not something that they could work with. They did point out that they were not corporations, they were not a business. They needed to run an academic institution and that is a little bit different. That is something that this Government does fail to recognise and understand. Not one vice-chancellor told us that this was going to make their institution better. Not one vice-chancellor told us that this would make them more internationally competitive. Not one vice-chancellor told us that this would increase their ability to innovate and not one vice-chancellor told us that this was going to make the New Zealand education sector better. For me that is good enough. I have come into politics because I want to institute change that will bring about betterment, not something that is going to undermine. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EIf we look at some of the other tinkering of Steven Joyce when he tinkered around with the governance of our polytechs, if we take Minister Joyce\u2019s own measure of what would be a good measure of whether a polytechnic or an institute of technology is doing well, it is profitability. This has all declined since he tinkered with the governance of our polytechnics and reduced the number and moved to this type of governance model for our institutes of technology and polytechnics. So we have no reason to believe that this is going to work in our universities. We have been told consistently by the very people who know and understand, who have a huge stake in the game in tertiary education in New Zealand, that it is not going to work. We are going to limit academic freedom. We are stifling the student voice. We are stifling the staff voice. And to say that universities can choose to appoint these members to their boards is not good enough. It is our job as legislators in this country to enshrine in the Act that governs how our tertiary education is administered in this country that legislative protection and not just leave it to the whim of an institution that can be downgraded. This legislation is not good legislation. It is not going to improve our education system\u2014whether it be at primary, secondary, or tertiary level\u2014and we oppose it strongly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002277333e3c-5658-4149-9cad-262a0deed378\u0022 data-id=\u0022afd60657fcb64fc18c33b091a6e15d21\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002277333e3c-5658-4149-9cad-262a0deed378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022afd60657fcb64fc18c33b091a6e15d21\u0022\u003ETODD BARCLAY (National\u2014Clutha-Southland):\u003C/span\u003E It is a pleasure to speak in support of this bill, the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). The new school year is under way and I want to acknowledge and thank all of the hard-working and passionate teachers, principals, support staff, and boards of trustees, in particular across the 69 schools in Clutha-Southland. I wish them all the best for the year ahead. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002277333e3c-5658-4149-9cad-262a0deed378\u0022\u003EThis year there will be over 60,000 new entrants starting school across New Zealand and we want every single one of them to have the chance to do their very best and to grow successful and fulfilling lives. This would not be possible without a dedicated teaching profession, school leaders, and parents who make sure their kids are attending early childhood education schools or other schools and who support their learning at home. This is why the establishment of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is so important, as it is critical to the components of the mechanics of the education system. That is what I want to focus on in my short contribution tonight. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002277333e3c-5658-4149-9cad-262a0deed378\u0022\u003EThe establishment of the Education Council fundamentally strengthens the regulatory framework for teachers. It provides a clear separation of registration from the issuing of practising certificates and it improves the discipline and reporting requirements that protect children. This is critical. The protection of children must be a central component to the philosophy and the function and status of the education profession because, in fact, clear reporting requirements also protect the profession. The requirement for the Education Council to develop a code of conduct and enabling the council to refer matters relating to teacher conduct to a complaints assessment committee on its own motion without relying on a third party to make a complaint are examples of how this bill puts the protection of children at the centre. That is why I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca id=\u00228907f9a367db458e8be6e051d100f6af\u0022 name=\u0022division\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA party vote was called for on the question, That the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAyes 61\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand National 59; ACT New Zealand 1; United Future 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENoes 59\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand Labour 32; Green Party 14; New Zealand First 11; M\u0101ori Party 2. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBill read a third time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022d14bb1b3f0d749dfb6294ad227c2ccf3\u0022\u003EImmigration Amendment Bill (No 2)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002277019b357b4a4908a9541b46b1e9b82f\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000455\u0022\u003EDebate resumed from 26 November 2014.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022 data-id=\u0022adfec504ce2a4661b2deca560e076757\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022adfec504ce2a4661b2deca560e076757\u0022\u003ESUE MORONEY (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Can I start this first contribution that I am making in Parliament for the year 2015 by wishing everyone a happy New Year, in whichever culture and ethnicity they choose to celebrate that New Year. For all of us this is a new beginning. Sadly, for this Government, with this Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) nothing has changed, because despite some very good and well-considered submissions to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee on this issue, the Government, again, has failed to listen. The speech that I began in 2014 on this issue had been interrupted by a glorious summer but, none the less, the thing that remains is the Government\u2019s failure to actually listen to people who do take the time to come and make very serious submissions on things that the Government gets wrong in its legislation, and in this legislation it has far too many things wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EThis was a piece of legislation that the Labour Party supported at its first reading, because it is fundamentally important to the New Zealand Labour Party that all workers are protected from exploitation. It is fundamental to the roots of the New Zealand Labour Party that we stand up for workers\u2019 rights\u2014workers of all persuasions. This bill purports to actually defend and strengthen the rights of migrant workers, to stop them from being exploited in their workplace. That is a very serious issue because, of all the workers in the New Zealand workplace, migrant workers are some of the most vulnerable. They are some of the most vulnerable because they depend often on the sponsorship of their employer\u2014the very person who may be exploiting them\u2014for their right to be in New Zealand. So their vulnerability is significantly higher than many other workers in New Zealand workplaces. But the Government has again failed to recognise the power relationship when it has tried to address their exploitation through this bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EOne of the main reasons that the Labour Party cannot support this bill, even though some of the measures in it are very, very good, is that the Government simply refuses to understand that migrant workers need additional protection. They need additional protection in order to make sure that their rights at work are safeguarded. In particular, the Government imagines in writing this bill that migrant workers will be able to go and report their exploitation at work to Immigration New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EThinking about migrant workers and their relationship with Immigration New Zealand and the failure of this bill to protect those workers from deportation, I think most thinking New Zealanders will understand that this bill purports to do something but will achieve nothing because most of those workers will be too fearful in the first instance to be criticising their employer, who has, in many cases, sponsored them to be in New Zealand. Secondly, they will feel a little frightened to be reporting that to Immigration New Zealand\u2014the very organisation that has the power to deport them. This bill has failed to protect workers in that instance. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EFor those reasons and because the Government has failed to properly fund the people who should be monitoring this issue in workplaces\u2014those are the labour inspectors from, well, we used to call it the Department of Labour; whatever the \u201CMobie\u201D thing is called these days\u2014for the Government\u2019s failure in that direction, and because it has failed to make sure that the most fundamental issues are protected for some of the most vulnerable workers in New Zealand workplaces, Labour, sadly, cannot support and is opposing this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022 data-id=\u002296da902de79f47c6b44ab906f47a6d6e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002296da902de79f47c6b44ab906f47a6d6e\u0022\u003EJONATHAN YOUNG (National\u2014New Plymouth):\u003C/span\u003E I am surprised and disappointed to hear from the honourable member Sue Moroney that the Labour Party will not support this bill. There are so many great provisions in it that will protect exploited workers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EWhen we talk about the prosperity of people who live in New Zealand, that includes our migrants. It includes people who come here because they come to follow the dream of a better way of life. It is a terrible thing when people come to this place with dreams and hopes and they are exploited in such a way that they cannot fulfil their ambitions. I do know of many migrants who come here, work very hard, and do find a great future here. It is great to know and note that, particularly in my time when I lived in Auckland and also in Taranaki. We see that, and it is great to see. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EOne of the aspects of how this not only undermines the aspirations and rights of people for a fair day\u2019s pay for a fair day\u2019s labour but also undermines other good, compliant, law-abiding businesses that do pay everything that is required of them by the law. It gives these people who would seek to exploit their workers and pay less, if at all, and be able to tender for work or do jobs at a cut-price level\u2014those companies that pay a proper wage, that pay tax, that pay GST, and that have health and safety provisions and pay for it are at an economic disadvantage. It is important, if we are going to have a society that is prosperous and safe, and where people can earn a good wage, that we put an end to some of this behaviour. It is also important that we acknowledge that we want to see improvements right across the spectrum of the New Zealand workforce, and we want to see wages grow so that there are situations where people can improve their way of life. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EThere are many provisions, as the member Sue Moroney was saying, about people who might be reluctant to come forward. I can understand that. There are, no doubt, lots of people who support them, but in this bill there is also provision to create a safe haven for them, so that if they come forward to Immigration New Zealand, immigration officers will disregard any previous breach of the work-related conditions of that applicant\u2019s current visa, if they have cooperated with Immigration New Zealand and its labour inspectorate by providing evidence of workplace exploitation. It is a hard thing to be able to administer, but we have got to do it. We have got to ensure that we create an even playing field and the opportunity for people to succeed and get the reward for their hard effort. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022 data-id=\u00226ef823777f3f4f599bebb44a2cddf1c9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226ef823777f3f4f599bebb44a2cddf1c9\u0022\u003EIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour\u2014Palmerston North):\u003C/span\u003E The Labour Party and other Opposition parties had, I know, extremely high hopes for this legislation. We recognise, as the Government appears to recognise as well, that migrant workers are amongst some of the most vulnerable workers in our country. I agree with the previous contributor, Mr Young, when he said that there are many migrant workers who come to New Zealand and who make a good fist of what is on offer here. In my electorate in Palmerston North, the university and the hospital, in particular, attract a lot of migrant workers\u2014skilled migrant professionals\u2014who settle in our city and make a very good life for themselves. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EWe also have a number of students who come to study at one of our fine tertiary institutions in Palmerston North, and they may seek to pick up a bit of work. They often try to pick up seasonal work, particularly in the horticulture industry. Those workers and other migrant workers in those industries tend to be those who are the most vulnerable. They find themselves locked into employment situations that are not acceptable, that are not appropriate, and that are in breach of the law, but they are also locked into a very intimate relationship with the person who employs them on those contracts, because, as other speakers have said, often the only reason they are in the country is because of the sponsorship of that person who is employing them. So they feel utterly beholden to them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EI have worked on behalf of migrant workers\u2014and I am sure many electorate members of Parliament have done this\u2014who have found themselves on the wrong side of Immigration New Zealand because their employer has dobbed them in about something, because they have somehow or other got offside with their employer, often over the terms and conditions of their employment. So this is a serious issue. We are glad to see that the Government has attempted to do something about it, but, sadly, and with a considerable amount of regret, we cannot support this legislation because it simply does not do the job. It actually leaves migrant workers just as vulnerable as they were before. We absolutely agree with increasing the penalties on those employers who exploit migrant workers. We absolutely agree that those people should feel the full force of the law and that the penalties should be severe for exploiting migrant workers. But the truth is that it will be very, very difficult to gather the evidence that exploitation is occurring because it is still an extraordinarily daunting thing for those most vulnerable workers to come forward and actually speak up about the exploitative practices that they have been subjected to. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EIt certainly does not help that we have this idea of warrantless searches. Where have we heard that before? It seems to be a favourite of this Government, the idea of warrantless searches. So labour inspectors charging on to a worksite with warrantless searches is going to strike fear into the hearts of these working people. They are not the target of those searches. We know that\u2014members opposite know that; we know that on this side\u2014but the workers are unlikely to understand that. They are going to be in absolute fear that those labour inspectors are going to be coming in to find reasons to send them back to their home country, not to deal with the exploitation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000469\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EMr Young tried to sort of suggest that there are safeguards in place and that migrant workers can come forward and have absolutely rock solid evidence of the exploitation, perhaps something written down, something on paper\u2014I do not know. Maybe they would have to record something\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000470\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022153658595ce745b799d1172e0001f46b\u0022\u003ESue Moroney\u003C/span\u003E: An admission from the employer, maybe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000471\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a09a22730a6448d5b942bb35b2fd55fa\u0022\u003EIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: Maybe the employer could come forward and turn themselves in. But the truth is that of course workers are going to feel that if they do not have a strong enough case, if they have not gone and done the work that the labour inspectorate should be doing to gather the evidence to make sure that they are in a safe position, they are likely to be on the receiving end of the sanctions that are laid out by Immigration New Zealand, not only instead of but as well as the employer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000472\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EThis bill has not done the job, and that is because this Government did not listen when people came to the select committee and told it what was wrong with the bill. That is supposed to be the point of our parliamentary process\u2014if you have not quite got it right at the first draft, you take it to the select committee and you listen to the people who are going to be affected by this legislation. You listen to the people who are in the situations that you are trying to fix and you make your legislation work so that it will actually do the job. But, instead, what have we got? Window dressing. We have got window dressing from a Government that wants to look like it is doing the right thing but is actually not prepared to put the resources in to properly fix the situation. In fact, if this legislation was perfect, it probably in itself still would not fix the problem. Having legislation is one thing; what you need to be able to do is enforce it. There is no point in having any laws unless we have got the police, the Serious Fraud Office, the labour inspectorate\u2014all manner of regulatory authorities that are there\u2014properly resourced to actually enforce the law. The truth is we have neither the labour inspectors nor the immigration inspectors to properly enforce this legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000473\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EI understand that the labour inspectorate has actually been directed to prioritise cases involving migrant workers. That is great. That is fantastic. Obviously, this is a sensitive issue for the Government. There has been too much bad press and it wants the inspectorate to do something about it. But there are so few labour inspectors and they are so under-resourced that in order to prioritise cases involving migrant workers they are having to turn down perfectly good cases from ordinary New Zealand workers, who are also vulnerable. I hope the Government actually understands that. People who are on zero-hour contracts are vulnerable. People who have employers who are unscrupulous and try to keep them in employment agreements that do not entirely adhere to the law are vulnerable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000474\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EWe have laws in place that say that you have got to pay at least the minimum wage and you cannot deduct wages from people. Tell that to the people who had their pay cut because somebody stole from their supermarket or from their petrol station. Was it the labour inspectorate that sorted that out? No, it was the media. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000475\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002262bff29c4dca429380df143901f1afd0\u0022\u003EBrett Hudson\u003C/span\u003E: What\u2019s that got to do with migrant workers? What\u2019s that got to do with immigration?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000476\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f734ad9d33d640249cd57b8bfa9f2ef4\u0022\u003EIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: What has it got to do with migrant workers? We are talking about vulnerable workers. Migrant workers\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000477\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226a6bd25a09cb4dd1b6a97bf291c75db2\u0022\u003EBrett Hudson\u003C/span\u003E: No, we\u2019re talking about immigrants, I believe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000478\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002299198755a75d4241bffceb9a8a123b71\u0022\u003EIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: He says migrant workers are not vulnerable workers. That is what that member over there said. I cannot even remember his name. He said that migrant workers are not vulnerable workers. Well, I suggest you read this bill\u2014that would be a good start\u2014and you actually go back to your caucus room and talk about what the purpose of this bill is, if you think that migrant workers are not vulnerable workers. The man whose name I cannot even remember seems to not understand what this bill is about. I wonder whether he is speaking on it later on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000479\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EMigrant workers are vulnerable workers and they share a lot of interests with other vulnerable workers around the country. But this Government cannot even make sure that people born in New Zealand have security at work. It cannot even ensure that the labour inspectorate can enforce the laws that apply to people born in New Zealand. How is it going to make sure that the laws that apply to migrant workers are going to be enforced? It cannot. It cannot do it. That is why this legislation, flawed as it is\u2014even if it was absolutely perfect, even if they had bothered to listen to the people who came to the select committee, even if it was perfect\u2014still would not do the job, because that party that is in Government right now is not prepared to provide the resources that are required to actually protect vulnerable workers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000480\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003EI do say that it is with regret that we oppose this bill because we agree that it is an issue that is pressing and needs to be sorted out. But this Government did not listen. It has got it wrong. We do oppose this legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225e6b7aaa-8157-4d5e-9940-1bdbcd61ae95\u0022 data-id=\u00222b7f1534177a4ca3920e42bda3e332f8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000481\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225e6b7aaa-8157-4d5e-9940-1bdbcd61ae95\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222b7f1534177a4ca3920e42bda3e332f8\u0022\u003EALASTAIR SCOTT (National\u2014Wairarapa):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of this bill, the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2). I do so for two reasons. The first reason we are reading this bill is because it is cracking down on migrant exploitation. It may not be perfect\u2014it may not be perfect\u2014but it is a couple of big steps in the right direction. Ironically, many of the employers who are exploiting migrant workers are themselves migrants, or have been. This bill allows these people who hold residency class visas to be deported. That is the first reason I support this bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000482\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225e6b7aaa-8157-4d5e-9940-1bdbcd61ae95\u0022\u003EThe second reason is because there is currently an inconsistency in the way we treat the perpetrators of the exploitation of migrants. It all depends on the victim at the moment. So if the victim is unlawful here, then the perpetrator will be treated differently than if the person was lawful here. This amendment bill tidies all that up. It treats people equally under the law\u2014one law for all\u2014unlike what I have heard from the Labour leader recently when he proposed different laws for different groups of people depending on their ethnicity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000483\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225e6b7aaa-8157-4d5e-9940-1bdbcd61ae95\u0022\u003EThat is why I support this bill in this short call\u2014for the tidying up and creation of a fairer and more consistent law regarding the punishment of people who are willing to exploit, unfortunately, migrant workers. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022 data-id=\u00228b2158a49337433fb70d1124d370629d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000484\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228b2158a49337433fb70d1124d370629d\u0022\u003EJAN LOGIE (Green):\u003C/span\u003E It is with a degree of frustration and disappointment that I rise to take this call and inform this House that the Green Party can no longer support this bill, as we did at its first reading. Like the Labour Party and the Government, we agree there is a problem in this country with the exploitation of migrant workers. In November 2013, when this bill was introduced to the House, we shared in this House quite a few stories of the exploitation of workers. We know that this is a very significant problem in this country, where workers are being told they will be fired unless they work for nothing. Over the weekends they are being kept almost as slaves in some situations, in slum accommodations, and have outrageous rent being deducted from their wages for those accommodations. People are being paid well below the minimum wage and they are trapped in that situation. So there was a dire need for this legislation; there really was. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000485\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EAs has already been mentioned on the National Party side, this legislation is important for the protection of those workers, but it is also important for the protection of our economy and the assurance that there will be a level playing field for businesses in New Zealand, because those businesses that are upholding the minimum standards, which are not really that high in this country, of protection of workers should not be competing with other businesses that are not keeping to those minimum standards. They are at a disadvantage in that scenario. We need legislation to rectify that. So we were keen on going into the select committee process to find out what we could do to make sure that this legislation addressed that need. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000486\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EWe spoke to, and worked very closely with, the union of migrant workers to check with it, through the progress of this legislation, as to whether we should be supporting this bill. Sadly\u2014sadly\u2014through all of that process we find ourselves in a situation where we are unable to support this legislation. Although it does penalise employers and puts a cost on breaking the laws, which is very good and very important, it does not provide the protection for workers to be able to come forward and report the exploitation. If it was just the fact that it was putting on penalties and did not have negative aspects to it, we would probably support it. But also hidden in this bill are a lot of unrelated measures that are pernicious and that actually breach what I consider are basic standards of law and good legislation. The issues were raised by the Legislation Advisory Committee, which advised against what this bill is doing. I would like to run through some of those things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000487\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EWe had a message from submitters that as most people in this situation of being exploited are on temporary visas, to enable people to come forward and report abuse, you need to guarantee them the protection of their visa for a period so as to enable them to look for another job if they lose that job, because, otherwise, reporting risks them being sent home. They will lose that job probably because that employer with these penalties will no longer be in a position to employ them. So you have to ensure that they have a job and the protection to be able to stay here and to be able to come forward. The Government adamantly refused to offer that. So there is no commitment to actually enable people to come forward. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000488\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003ESecondly, what this does is it provides the Immigration Service, not the Labour Group, with powers of search into private residential properties without a search warrant. This is the country that has a very bleak history of dawn raids and a very real memory within vulnerable communities in this country of having being targeted by the Immigration Service. This bill introduces extended powers of search into residential properties by the Immigration Service not the Labour Group. Surely, if your focus was on protecting employment rights, you would have given those powers or considered those powers for the Labour Group, not the Immigration Service. When we raised those questions through the select committee process we were told that that was a policy decision. There was no answer for why it was being given to the Immigration Service, bar the fact that it was a policy decision. Basically, that is this Government\u2019s agenda. Who knows what is behind that. Honestly, if I was in that community, I would be worried, because a lot of communities do feel vulnerable in relation to the Immigration Service. If we care about the protection of vulnerable workers, we need to be enforcing and strengthening our labour systems. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000489\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EAnother aspect of this bill that is not being talked about so much, and it is not really related to the protection of vulnerable workers at all, is a very, very strange provision that will enable the Immigration Service to deport people who have residency if somebody has found something in their visa application that was incorrect. They do not even have to have known it was incorrect themselves. It does not have to have been a lie. But if somebody finds something in their original application that was incorrect, even if it does not relate to the reason they were granted their visa, this bill enables those people to be deported. That is extraordinary. We were strongly advised to remove that by immigration practitioners, the Legislation Advisory Committee, and the New Zealand Law Society. Basically, it creates a strict liability provision and removes the causal link that enables deportation at the moment, where the false information is related to the reason that their visa was given. Already we have a law that enables somebody to be deported if they lied or provided false information and that led to them being given a visa. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000490\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EWhat this says is that anything in their entire application, if they got it wrong\u2014even if they did not know they had it wrong\u2014has no relevance to the granting of their visa, and if they have been here for 9 years, the Government can deport them. That is extraordinary\u2014absolutely extraordinary. We asked the officials why we cannot change this. It is because there is the ability for somebody, if the decision has been made, to be able to appeal to the Minister of Immigration to challenge that decision on all sorts of grounds. When we ask why this is in there, we were given no reason. There has not been an increase in false information in people\u2019s applications. The officials really struggled to give even one example of where this has happened. They did give one that did not seem particularly worrying to anyone on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee, and we were all just, basically, a bit bewildered about what on earth this was about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000491\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EAt the suggestion of the committee chair, and with the support of other committee members, I wrote to the Minister and asked that the Minister might want to reconsider this. Firstly, there does not seem to be any reason for it. Secondly, we had been given strong advice that it is not a good idea. And, thirdly, it has got the potential to increase bureaucracy and burden on an already overwhelmed system, if false information has been identified and then somebody appeals and it goes to the Minister or it goes to the tribunal. Those systems are completely overwhelmed already and now this is adding another level of burden on to those stretched systems for something that we have not even been given a case for. But the Minister\u2019s response was that he was not interested. So it really is beyond me what on earth that is about in this bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000492\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002269dfdffa-4227-42b6-875a-fc8033bc25cc\u0022\u003EAlso, we were advised against the fact that this creates a levy that the Legislation Advisory Committee suggested we change because it is basically kind of setting up a tax system. There is no direct identification around what that levy is going to be used for, which is typically good legislation. If you are going to levy something that is not just a general tax, then you identify very specifically what you are wanting to use it for, and it does not do that. So it is kind of setting up an alternative tax system within our immigration system to fund services that are overwhelmed, and this is going to overwhelm them even more because the Government has not funded them properly. So it has very little to do with the very urgent problem of protecting our migrant workers. It is distressing not to be able to support it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022 data-id=\u0022ddab822b14654529b012aacd1de741f1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000493\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ddab822b14654529b012aacd1de741f1\u0022\u003ECLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak against this amendment bill, the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2), but before I start things off I would like to wish you all a very warm and festive season for 2015. I am sure everybody is excited to be back in the House with their legs under the table, as I am.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000494\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EWe have given this bill some serious consideration and a lot of discussion, and we think that what has been said today\u2014albeit it in opposition\u2014is on the right track by opposing this legislation. We feel that the bigger picture has not been really brought to the forefront of the minds of New Zealanders. I think what we need to really get across here is the importance of looking after New Zealand jobs for New Zealanders first and foremost. That is not saying that we do not have issues within our system currently. As recently as last year, I personally was involved in a situation where we had immigrant workers in the lovely Bay of Plenty, in Tauranga, working on kiwifruit orchards. The issue came about because in fact the workers themselves were working for immigrants, and they had been exploited to the worst possible level that I could ever imagine or hope to ever see.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000495\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First spoke up about this and got to the bottom of what was going on. The crux of the matter was that these people were brought out from Fiji. They had had to sell their cars. They had had to mortgage their small properties that they had in order to get enough money together to get an agency\u2014which was, of course, based here in New Zealand\u2014to force them over here to give them the world as far as First World wages, accommodation, and great working conditions are concerned. Of course, when they arrived in this fabulous country, the land of milk and honey, none of that was there for them. They were left with no other choice. They were stranded in New Zealand. They had been here for 6 weeks and had earned themselves $160 working full-time on these orchards, working for other immigrants who had themselves come out to New Zealand, which I find absolutely disgusting. However, these people had no choice. They were stuck in New Zealand, and it was only by New Zealand First\u2019s intervention that we actually got these people sent back home, from New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000496\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EWe have to stop this, but the cure is actually in the prevention and not in these actions, not in this puffery and the fluffery that have been put forward here that this is going to be the cure. This is not going to be the panacea that will fix this immigration problem for our migrant workers. We have to have far more stringent controls on our borders. We have to do far more for the people of New Zealand. We have to look after our people first before we start looking at immigrant and migrant labour for all of the jobs. Currently, as we will all be aware, because it has been touched on earlier on today in several speeches that we have heard, we have 138,000 temporary migrant workers in this country. We have another 100,000 people on student visas who have got extended rights to be able to work in this country, taking away precious jobs from those Kiwis who need them the most. We are not against student visas. We are not against those people coming out to study in our country, because that is good for our economy and that is good for our schools and our universities. But we are against the fact that these jobs are being soaked up and taken away from the people who are the most vulnerable unemployed workers whom we call our New Zealand citizens.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000497\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EWe have got 54,000 people on working holiday visas per annum coming through the country at the moment, and there are yet another 143,000 currently unemployed. These are unemployed people with zero hours of work, and yet there are far more\u2014estimated at some 230,000 people\u2014who have actually got only part-time work who are not considered to be unemployed in this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000498\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EWe have got some serious issues, and they go back some time. If I cast back to a story that was broken by TV3 in November of 2013, it was said here that \u201CThe Immigration Department is \u2018a visa stamping factory\u2019 trying desperately to make up for the number of Kiwis who are leaving, parliament has been told.\u201D Winston Peters spoke up and said that 20 percent of all of these visas that had been stamped had been reported to be unfairly stamped, and under conditions that would not be usual. We are forcing people into this country and we should be spending more time, more money, and more effort on looking after our borders and tightening up those controls.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000499\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EAs early as today in the Dominion Post we had an article written\u2014and you will all be aware of that\u2014about our local New Zealand workers whose jobs have been taken up by immigrant labour coming over from South Africa and India and taking up those media positions for the Cricket World Cup. This I cannot get my head around. If we are a nationalistic country, looking for the best outcome for New Zealand, we should be putting everything in our power into looking after these people who live in this country. I understand absolutely implicitly, and I have sympathy for, and understanding of, the comments that have been made by Iain Lees-Galloway and by members of the Green Party this afternoon. They are vulnerable workers. There are vulnerable migrant workers out there who need our support and help, but if we actually put resource and effort into the areas that need it the most, then that is going to be more beneficial, and that is at our borders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000500\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022919a8e8d-afaf-4342-ad6f-71cbb6024544\u0022\u003EWhen I talk about the Bills Digest\u2014I read through that this afternoon\u2014we have got great words here like \u201CBiometric information\u201D, \u201CExploitation of migrant workers\u201D and cracking down on this, and \u201CElectronic notifications\u201D. It goes on to talk in great length and detail about \u201CDecisions made using absolute discretion\u201D and about \u201CDeportation where information fraudulent, forged, false misleading or concealed\u201D can actually force these migrant labour workers out of our country. But there is only one line here\u2014one line\u2014that talks about border security. Security at our border is the most important thing. I have spent 25 years in hospitality, and there is a saying that has gone around for many, many years that if you can control your room by controlling the people who come into it, you are not going to have the problems that you are going to have later on. That is by having good security measures at your front door to ensure that you have the right people doing the right thing. We oppose this bill. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022859e13f9-33bb-41bb-b2f0-d848eaf25407\u0022 data-id=\u0022265c614f70ea4e0bae6c5216e85b5643\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000501\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022859e13f9-33bb-41bb-b2f0-d848eaf25407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022265c614f70ea4e0bae6c5216e85b5643\u0022\u003EANDREW BAYLY (National\u2014Hunua):\u003C/span\u003E It is great to see everyone back in the House after the long summer break. It is nice to be in the House. It is my pleasure to speak in support of the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2). New Zealand, of course, is a land of immigrants, whether it occurred 1,100 years ago or for those people who arrived in New Zealand yesterday. We welcome the diversity that migrants offer, and, of course, New Zealand benefits from all the skills and cultures that they bring to us here in New Zealand. We recognise that New Zealand was founded on a bicultural relationship, but we are, of course, a multicultural society. In my own electorate, in Hunua, we have had many immigrants. We have had a lot of people of Chinese and Indian origin, and we welcome the contribution that they have made to growing a prosperous Hunua electorate. But in all societies there are unscrupulous employers and people, and this bill is about protecting immigrants from exploitation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000502\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022859e13f9-33bb-41bb-b2f0-d848eaf25407\u0022\u003EThere is currently a gap in New Zealand where employers who exploit unlawful workers can face heavy sanctions, but those who exploit lawful migrant workers face low penalties. This bill is about dealing with that inequity. The penalties are significant for these unscrupulous employers\u2014and rightly so. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022859e13f9-33bb-41bb-b2f0-d848eaf25407\u0022\u003EWe also want to encourage victims to feel that they can come forward and talk about areas where they are being subjected to poor conditions, without the threat of being penalised. I was interested in what Miss Logie said. Contrary to what she did say, this bill is actually about providing the opportunity for immigration officers to disregard any previous breach of work-related conditions of an applicant\u2019s current visa if he or she has cooperated with New Zealand or a labour inspectorate by providing evidence of workplace exploitation. That is what this bill is about: making an environment where people feel that they can come forward and be open without the threat of being removed from the country. We need to create that environment. In essence, this bill is to ensure that migrants enjoy the same working conditions as all New Zealand workers. Not only is this bill good business but it is fair, it is appropriate, and it is just. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022 data-id=\u00229d92b5ae1345472286b8a5bd5305659f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000504\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229d92b5ae1345472286b8a5bd5305659f\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch)\u003C/span\u003E: I understand the next call is a split call. Denise Roche\u20145 minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022 data-id=\u0022666fabcf5b3444fca57aaecd3d3556f9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000505\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022666fabcf5b3444fca57aaecd3d3556f9\u0022\u003EDENISE ROCHE (Green):\u003C/span\u003E I rise to take a short call on the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2), and I join my colleagues on this side of the House in opposing this bill\u2019s passage through the House. There is no doubt that the stated intention of the bill is worthy. It is meant to introduce measures to address the exploitation of migrant workers, and there is no doubt that we definitely need to do this. However, on balance and after careful consideration of the evidence and the advice, the Greens cannot support this bill, because we do not believe that this bill will stop the exploitation of migrant workers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000506\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EWe agree with some submitters, like the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, who advocate for better employment conditions across the board and an employment relations legislative framework that enables migrant workers, and all workers for that matter, to challenge bad employment practice without fear. However, the laws that this Government has introduced\u2014laws like the ability to fire workers at will during their first 90 days on the job, and, more recently, the legislation that was passed at the end of last year that reduces workers\u2019 access to a trade union or to bargain collectively\u2014have placed all workers in greater insecurity than ever before. On top of this, many migrant workers fear deportation if they speak up about being ripped off, because the employer who is ripping them off holds all the cards because the temporary work visa is attached to that job and that employer, and in many cases those employers have sponsored that worker to come to this country in the first place. So the employment relationship is far more intense and far more tipped in the balance of the employer than in normal employment relationships. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000507\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EIn the submission from the Union Network of Migrants, which is the union network for migrant workers, it advocates for a broader application of an open work visa so that in the case of worker exploitation, the worker can be assured of some security while their case is investigated. And we note that this issue has not been resolved during the select committee process. The union also outlines how the bill could be strengthened to ensure that employers who do exploit migrant workers are brought to justice by removing what they call the corporate veil. Basically, that is where an employer is caught exploiting workers\u2014you know, breaching minimum employment standards in New Zealand law\u2014and essentially they just wind themselves up, so they are unable to pay any penalties or, in fact, frequently back-pay the workers what they are owed. So what the union suggests is that the law be extended, as it is being extended under the current Health and Safety Reform Bill that is in front of the House, so that the responsibility for all employment standards breaches includes officers or persons conducting a business or undertaking\u2014what it is calling \u201CPCBUs\u201D under the health and safety legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000508\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222df33ee5-23d6-441c-a9ba-6495aa69f9fd\u0022\u003EWe note the recommendations from other submitters that more emphasis should be placed on enforcement so that there is a deterrent for employers against them exploiting their employees, and we do not see a lot of that happening currently. I understand from the submissions and the research that there are only about 40 labour inspectors in the country at the moment and they are under-resourced, and have only just got to the tip of the iceberg of the many, many cases of exploitation that are happening in this country. We reject the idea in this bill that Immigration Service officers be given extended enforcement powers, because it mixes up the rights of the worker with the immigration issue completely and adds another layer of fear on top of what those exploited workers are already feeling. We are greatly disappointed in this bill. It does not set out what we thought it might do, and it is very disappointing. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022 data-id=\u0022f01d4ea15583456f907027d187696dae\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000509\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022893adc11-ce4e-419c-a079-08f04b3d75f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f01d4ea15583456f907027d187696dae\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch)\u003C/span\u003E: Carmel Sepuloni\u20145 minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022 data-id=\u0022309debf3de8240e5b98a22e3ee8f97bb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000510\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022309debf3de8240e5b98a22e3ee8f97bb\u0022\u003ECARMEL SEPULONI (Labour\u2014Kelston):\u003C/span\u003E This is the first time I have been able to stand in the House and speak in 2015, so can I start by just saying happy New Year to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and happy New Year to all of my parliamentary colleagues across the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000511\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003ELabour initially supported this bill to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and, clearly, we support the intent of the bill, which is, in our mind, caring for vulnerable workers. However, following submissions it has become very apparent that the bill will not significantly tackle migrant exploitation, and there are several issues with the bill that have been pointed out today by my Labour colleagues, by Green Party colleagues, and also by former colleagues who are no longer in the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000512\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EChanges to immigration law to increase penalties for employers who exploit migrant workers will be ineffective without a significant boost to enforcement resources. The No. 1 concern is that we can legislate, but if the resourcing is not in place in terms of the labour inspectors, then who will be monitoring what is going on? As the Green MP before me, Denise Roche, said, there are currently only approximately 40 labour inspectors operating across the country. That will do little to assist us with looking after and monitoring our vulnerable workers, including our new migrant workers. We in this House all know\u2014and we from all sides of the House are all very aware of this\u2014that migrant worker exploitation is growing in New Zealand. We have seen it highlighted by reports in recent years of Christchurch workers not being paid for holidays and annual leave and not being on employment agreements. We know that the law will still depend on migrant workers coming forward. As many of my parliamentary colleagues have said today, that is a highly risky proposition for a worker new to New Zealand, whose visa status often depends on their job. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000513\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EThere are often other barriers, such as English language barriers, that hinder their inability to come forward, and, of course, there is that imbalanced power relationship between that employee and the employer, which could influence whether or not they come forward with any of their concerns. Even with added protections, it is particularly difficult for migrant workers to put their jobs on the line and hope that they will be able to find other work. I am really concerned about the extended powers of search by the Immigration Service\u2014not the Labour Group but the Immigration Service. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000514\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EAs one of my parliamentary colleagues said earlier, we cannot help but hark back to the dawn raids in the 1970s and be reminded of that\u2014the fear that was struck into new migrants, many of them Pacific Islanders at the time. We know that that same fear could be inflicted on new migrant groups now if they have immigration inspectors entering their private residences to undertake extended searches. So if we are talking here about protecting migrant workers, then I fail to understand how intimidating them and going into their private residences and provoking fear amongst them is going to in any way assist us with protecting them in the workplace. Far too many migrant workers in New Zealand have their employment rights abused, which not only harms our migrant communities but also undermines the wages and conditions of all workers in New Zealand. When considering the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) it is important to remember National\u2019s shameful scaremongering about boat people during debate on the first immigration bill, the Immigration Amendment Bill. I am not sure whether anyone has brought that up but I think it is worth reminding us all in the House of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000515\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EIt is good to see the Government, with this bill, putting some thought into assisting migrant workers. However, the changes proposed still fail to address the core issues. We need to create an environment to enable workers to report abuse. Workers are not going to report exploitation if they risk being deported. The failure to provide visa protection for those on temporary visas undermines the entire intent of the bill. The Government also continues to fail to employ enough labour inspectors, as I said earlier, to reduce the pressure on migrant workers to report. That is probably one of the major failings with the bill we have in front of us. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000516\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EThe absolute discretion clause to make decisions without giving reasons is liable to abuse, particularly with clause 8, which makes it clear that the Privacy Act does not apply to reasons for decisions made using absolute discretion. That is concerning. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000517\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EI am going to wind up by just saying that we did support the intent of this bill but we cannot support what we have in front of us right now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00229884e8e8-651f-4f48-a429-70b72d5e2821\u0022 data-id=\u0022dedf967654834b2dadae5014f737960e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229884e8e8-651f-4f48-a429-70b72d5e2821\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dedf967654834b2dadae5014f737960e\u0022\u003ESARAH DOWIE (National\u2014Invercargill):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, for allowing me to take this very short call on the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2). Like the rest of my colleagues, this is the first time I have spoken this year so I would like to wish them all a very happy New Year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000519\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229884e8e8-651f-4f48-a429-70b72d5e2821\u0022\u003EI am pleased that the Opposition agrees with the thrust of this bill. It is extremely important to prevent and to deal to the exploitation of immigrant workers. In Southland we are enjoying an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent at the moment and we are heavily reliant on immigrant workers. In fact, if it were not for immigrants our population would be going backwards. So it is extremely important for us to have this legislation in place and to protect their rights. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000520\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229884e8e8-651f-4f48-a429-70b72d5e2821\u0022\u003EDespite what the Opposition says I think it is extremely important that the immigration officers\u2019 powers are extended so that they can go into employers\u2019 places of work, and search, and seize information to form a case against these employers who are exploiting these vulnerable people. So I have no hesitation in supporting this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022 data-id=\u00221b25ff3f5c0f469bbf4ff41534782079\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000521\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221b25ff3f5c0f469bbf4ff41534782079\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF (Labour\u2014Mt Roskill):\u003C/span\u003E When the Minister of Immigration, Mr Woodhouse, started to speak about this bill, I actually had high hopes for what the Government was going to do. I have been here long enough\u2014I should not have been so naive.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000522\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI have here the Minister\u2019s first statement on the legislation, made in June 2013. He said there would be new measures to combat migrant exploitation\u2014he was going to make it unlawful. Exploitative behaviour would not be tolerated, and the Government would crack down on unscrupulous employers. I thought this was really good. I thought: \u201CAt last the Government is going to do something about a problem that every member of this House knows has existed for some time.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000523\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI know a problem exists because in my electorate of Mt Roskill we have a high migrant population, and when you read the media stories about exploitation, sadly, a lot of those people are living in my electorate. I thought that at last the Government was going to act, and the Opposition, when this bill was introduced, reflected that optimism\u2014we supported the bill. We went to the select committee with the intention of further strengthening it, getting it right, and making a difference, in order to stop the appalling abuse of human beings that happens too often, particularly when a migrant worker is here on a temporary visa. They need the job and they are reluctant to speak out because they know that if they speak out they will be sacked, and if they lose their job they will lose their right to be here. Everything works against them. But at last the Government was going to act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000524\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EUnfortunately, when we went through the process of examining this bill, we found that the reality was quite different from the perception that the Minister was trying to portray. For a start, this bill is not predominantly about stopping the exploitation of migrant workers. This bill is predominantly about making it easier for the Government to deport the people it wants to deport. Secondly, it is about raiding the migrant levy to pay for things in infrastructure that tax would normally be required to pay for. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000525\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EI want to talk on both aspects of what is wrong with this bill. For a start, the bill will be more symbolic than real, for a number of different reasons. Firstly, there is a lack of resources to detect exploitation\u2014and I am going to come back to that. Secondly, there is a misplaced role on the part of Immigration New Zealand. They are the ones who are working on the exploited labour. But, actually, if you want migrant workers to come forward, if you want them to speak out, often they will not come to the agency whose role it is to strictly enforce the provisions of their visa. They are going to be frightened of Immigration New Zealand. If you had an enforcement role, surely you would put that in the hands of the labour inspectorate, whose role it is to stop exploitation. That would have been the logical thing to do. Thirdly, there is too little protection for migrant workers when they do speak out. I want to address each of those areas, but I want to come back to the question of the migrant levy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000526\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThe migrant levy was imposed, supposedly, to help migrants settle in New Zealand more quickly and more easily. God knows there is a need for resources to be applied in this area for people to pick up fluency in the English language\u2014it is absolutely critical. You have to have fluency in the English language to be part of your wider community. Secondly, the migrant levy was imposed to help migrants get a job. The critical issue that members of my ethnic communities talk to me about when they first arrive in New Zealand is getting on the first rung of the ladder to finding a job. There is so much more that could be done with the migrant levy to help people do that. Thirdly, creating a harmonious community is about helping new migrants to understand the culture and the customs that exist in New Zealand. So there is a huge demand on the migrant levy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000527\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThis Government is going to double the migrant levy. But is it going to double the migrant levy in this legislation to help people settle more readily? No, it got caught out in this bill. And who did it get caught out by? The Legislation Advisory Committee, chaired by Sir Grant Hammond. He said that the current migrant levy is for the sole purpose of research into migration and to help with settlement, and he said that it is not a tax. But he said that this new immigration levy is simply a tax. It is going to fund immigration infrastructure that is normally paid for out of general revenue. So here is this Government, which talks so much about looking after ethnic communities, doubling the amount of money that it is ripping off the migrants coming in, not to spend on helping them to settle but to pay for the normal bureaucracy of the Immigration New Zealand division. That is dishonest, and it got caught out by the Legislation Advisory Committee. These are not my words\u2014that this is a tax\u2014these are Sir Grant Hammond\u2019s words. He does not have a political axe to grind, but he knows a scam when he sees one, and this has got scam written all over it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000528\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003ENow I want to come to the question of exploitation. You know, it is hard to believe that the Government really is concerned about the appalling exploitation that is happening. Why? Well, the first thing is that every piece of employment legislation that has come before this House has been designed to remove protections. It has taken away the statutory right to a lunch break and to smoko breaks. It has made it harder for the unions to gain access to the workplace. How can the unions find out about exploitation when those employers who are unscrupulous are not going to allow them into the workplace? And it has absolutely undermined collective bargaining, and collective bargaining is the way in which people who are working honestly in the workforce can protect their rights. So not only has the Government taken away these protections from migrants but it has also taken them away from all New Zealanders. That is the first thing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000529\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThe second thing is that if you want to stop exploitation, you need to detect it. How do you detect it? Well, the International Labour Organization says that having a labour inspectorate is the way to do it and that in an advanced country like New Zealand there should be one labour inspector per 10,000 workers\u2014one per 10,000 workers. Do you know what the actual ratio of the labour inspectorate to workers is in New Zealand, Mr Hudson? Do you know? It is not 1:10,000; it is 1:56,000. We do not come anywhere near the international standards for protecting our workforce against exploitation. Even with the Aussies it is 1:19,000. The Aussies are three times better off than we are. So if the Government really wants to stop exploitation by the unscrupulous employer\u2014not the majority of employers but the unscrupulous employer\u2014then surely it would strengthen the labour inspectorate. There is nothing in this bill\u2014nothing in the declared intentions of the Government\u2014to address that problem.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000530\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThe third area is the one that I talked about before. If you genuinely want to give migrant workers the chance to come forward, make it easy for them. Do not make them go to the agency that is there to enforce visa conditions; let them go to the labour inspectorate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000531\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EThere is something else that could be done. Some years ago I was involved with a piece of legislation called the Protected Disclosures Act. It was quite good for its time. Now it needs modernising, updating, and strengthening. It needs to apply as strongly in the private sector as it does in the public sector. There is nothing here for that. When I go through the litany of cases about people being exploited, I see what we fought against, or our forebears fought against, in the late 19th century and early 20th century. I see people who pay their employers for the privilege of working, because having a job is a condition of their visa to be in New Zealand. I see cases of people being paid $2 an hour or $5 an hour. I am not making this up. These are case studies that have been published. That exploitation is getting worse as our migrant population increases and as our student population with work visas increases. It is a disgrace in New Zealand to see that sort of exploitation. What we need is a real effort, not the window dressing that this bill represents.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022 data-id=\u0022f1aba18b09874db4a77bae91e063b40e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000532\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f1aba18b09874db4a77bae91e063b40e\u0022\u003EBRETT HUDSON (National):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000533\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220f20fd9c50804b4dab6e27a1e4f6e1e6\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, it speaks.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000534\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002296c72fb6a3ec45c690a89962439350dc\u0022\u003EBRETT HUDSON\u003C/span\u003E: It does, indeed. I would just like to just wish you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and my parliamentary colleagues around the House a happy New Year. It is great to be back and to speak on this Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2). If you are looking to change behaviours in a workplace or in an environment, you do not do it by trying to create more regulators and more workforce to look at what has gone wrong. You change people\u2019s behaviours. This is a key part of this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000535\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003ESo what do we do? When you are talking about a power imbalance, what do you do? You punish the perpetrators, not the victims. So what does this bill do? It says that, unfortunately, so many of the people who exploit migrant workers are migrants themselves. So what power does this bill give? It gives the power to deport those exploiters of migrant workers, if the exploiters have been resident for fewer than 10 years. So what do you have? You have the exploited worker, who is suddenly in a position of greater power. If they complain, they are not the ones who will be leaving New Zealand. It is their employer who is going to be thrown out. If you are trying to change behaviour, you address the source of the problem; you do not address the victim. That is what this bill is doing. I commend it to the House. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000536\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003EThe question was put that the amendments recommended by the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee by majority be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca id=\u002280141060b8b14aab975d433c832d5a80\u0022 name=\u0022division\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA party vote was called for on the question, That the question be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAyes 63\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand National 59; M\u0101ori Party 2; ACT New Zealand 1; United Future 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENoes 57\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand Labour 32; Green Party 14; New Zealand First 11.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EQuestion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca id=\u0022f560903a681241509d58549443472ec7\u0022 name=\u0022division\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA party vote was called for on the question, That the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a second time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAyes 61\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand National 59; ACT New Zealand 1; United Future 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENoes 59\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand Labour 32; Green Party 14; New Zealand First 11; M\u0101ori Party 2. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBill read a second time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000537\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002282d5244eb0cd4e93942d9e4f63af1c03\u0022\u003ESocial Security Amendment Bill (No 3)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000538\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022cc2542ca19fa48e7a3b2a903f4479276\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022 data-id=\u002297f7492cf3fd4f5a9641ed1375d03a11\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000539\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002297f7492cf3fd4f5a9641ed1375d03a11\u0022\u003EHon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Social Security Amendment Bill (No 3) be now read a second time. This bill amends the Social Security Act 1964 so that the benefit system treats people in similar circumstances consistently, because if it is not consistent, it is not fair. We need these changes because at the moment the Act allows some people receiving weekly compensation to be treated differently depending on who pays that compensation, and it also allows some students to access a higher rate of accommodation assistance than others.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000540\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EI thank the Social Services Committee for its thorough and careful attention to this bill. Two submissions were made to the committee; however, both urged the Government to increase the amount of accommodation assistance available to students, and the committee rightly ruled that as being outside the scope of this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000541\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EOne submission expressed concern about the possibility of students who are part-way through their studies having their accommodation assistance reduced immediately as a result of this bill being passed. Any adjustment for students affected by changes in the bill will be made when their assistance is next reviewed; it will not be triggered immediately by the change in the law. So for students whose circumstances do not change, the adjustment will most likely be made when they make their next application covering a further period of study.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000542\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EThe changes set out in this bill do affect some students\u2014they are students who have spotted a loophole in the Social Security Act. Using this loophole, they apply for the accommodation supplement rather than applying for the assistance they should receive under the student allowance scheme. The design of assistance for students\u2014student allowance, student loans, and the accommodation benefit\u2014recognises that the students\u2019 future earnings prospects are improved by their investment in study, and it is only right for them and their families to meet some of the costs involved. The accommodation supplement is designed for a more diverse group of people, including full-time workers, beneficiaries, and superannuitants, and we cannot assume that all of the people who get it are doing something that will improve their future earnings prospects. The design of the accommodation supplement simply takes into account their current situation, their income and assets, accommodation costs, the residential location, and the family\u2019s accommodation needs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000543\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EStudents should receive the assistance designed for them. Students who are eligible for student allowances should not be able to take advantage of the system and request an accommodation supplement. So the current wording in the Social Security Act is not clear enough, and it leaves open the loophole that allows people to claim the accommodation supplement if they give up the student allowance and accommodation benefit, or simply do not apply for a student allowance. This bill closes that loophole. It provides clear wording to exclude students who have access to the student allowance scheme from being granted the accommodation supplement.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EThe second matter dealt with in this bill is weekly compensation. Some employers have an agreement with ACC to pay entitlements under the Accident Compensation Act. In return, these accredited employers pay lower levies. This scheme encourages employers to manage health and safety issues in the workplace. If there is an accident in an accredited employer\u2019s workplace, the employer pays the entitlements, the medical costs, and any weekly compensation arising from the accident. The employer continues to meet payments for the period they have agreed with ACC, which can be up to 5 years following the accident. If payments are still needed after that, ACC steps in and picks up the responsibility.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000545\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EPeople who work for an accredited employer continue to pay the same ACC levies and have the same entitlements as before. Their position is just the same as if they worked for an employer who was not accredited. It would be unfair for the social security system to treat people paid weekly compensation by an accredited employer in a different way from people paid weekly compensation by ACC. This bill amends the Social Security Act to make sure that people who are paid weekly compensation by an accredited employer are treated the same way as people who are in the same circumstances but are paid by ACC. This means that weekly compensation, regardless of who pays it, will always be deducted from the person\u2019s benefit payment, rather than one group of people having weekly compensation payments deducted dollar for dollar and another group having weekly compensation payments treated as income.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000546\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000547\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003EThe House adjourned at 10 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id2015021030ce9c8904ec43289698698a78798af1000548\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n  \u003C/body\u003E\n\u003C/html\u003E"