"\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=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000000\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00226afd6dd0a2ec69ab61c1b6557554e1d7\u0022\u003ETuesday, 27 January 2026\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022CharacterBold\u0022\u003EThe Speaker\u003C/span\u003E took the Chair at 2 p.m.\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000002\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002294f6e652deb2de1305902e22e409f219\u0022\u003EStart of Sitting Day\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00225704195618bd96f76f6710033f65a0bd\u0022\u003EKarakia/Prayers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022 data-id=\u002275a3140957cb35ecaf3fd92b1874dcab\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000004\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002275a3140957cb35ecaf3fd92b1874dcab\u0022\u003ESPEAKER (14:00)\u003C/span\u003E: Almighty God, we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests, we acknowledge the King and pray for guidance in our deliberations that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom, justice, mercy, and humility for the welfare and the peace of New Zealand. Amen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000005\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022130ae9cdb53e788688e267134eb4eac7\u0022\u003EResignations\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022d2fd55ed308fe793d86b0c97d006a80f\u0022\u003ERt Hon Adrian Rurawhe\u2014New Zealand Labour\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00222c3759fc4f1ef2fcda77e693c3118e71\u0022\u003EResignation of Member\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022 data-id=\u0022295fa33d25a38bfa527c4ced61a7ab4e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022295fa33d25a38bfa527c4ced61a7ab4e\u0022\u003ESPEAKER (14:00)\u003C/span\u003E: Members, I wish to advise the House that I have received a letter from the Rt Hon Adrian Rurawhe resigning his list seat in the House, effective 11.59 p.m. on Friday, 6 February 2026.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00227c8ee88a1e8f20542f7265187c8577ef\u0022\u003EObituaries\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00227e36dcac85b470db445d06d29062f2bc\u0022\u003EDr William David Sutton\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022 data-id=\u00221276bf1ddc46774680cc0e83b6bb4d26\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221276bf1ddc46774680cc0e83b6bb4d26\u0022\u003ESPEAKER (14:01)\u003C/span\u003E: I regret to inform the House of the death on 6 December 2025 of Dr William David Sutton, who represented the electorate of Hawke\u2019s Bay from 1984 to 1990. During his membership of this House, he chaired the Commerce and Marketing Committee and was a member of the Local Bills Committee, the Road Safety Committee, and the Committee on the Maori Fisheries Bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI desire, on behalf of this House, to express our sense of loss and sympathy with the relatives of the late former member. I now ask members to stand with me and observe a period of silence as a mark of respect for his memory.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMembers stood as a mark of respect.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00228dc8c8c8d59e0c917af2ff0dd2319c7e\u0022\u003EMotions\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002295bde21ca56d223d003fe7e29cb9ef35\u0022\u003EMount Maunganui\u2014Landslide\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022 data-id=\u0022a7e005a82272f5b49093962913152443\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a7e005a82272f5b49093962913152443\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister) (14:02)\u003C/span\u003E: I seek leave to move a motion without notice relating to the landslide at Mount Maunganui and other major weather events of the past week.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a79ac38c30d7142a908ec696a11c0f60\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Is there any objection that course of action? There appears to be none.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022582d978aa0bf1525b47aab8e34b7bca7\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON\u003C/span\u003E: I move, \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThat this House express its deepest condolences to all of those who have lost loved ones in the landslides at Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay, and in the flooded Mahurangi River\u003C/span\u003E.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EJust before 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, a large landslide came down from Mauao, at Mount Maunganui, following a sustained period of heavy rain. The landslide slipped down into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park and, shortly after, it became apparent that several people were unaccounted for. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), police, and ambulance teams immediately got to work on the rescue operation to save the people who were missing in the landslide.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor three long days, everyone in the country was longing for a miracle\u2014none more so than the families of the missing people, who endured the agony of knowing where their family member was and yet being unable to reach them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOn Saturday, we were devastated to receive the news we that we had all been dreading, and police confirmed that the six missing people could not have survived and that the rescue operation would therefore move to a recovery.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESharon, Max, Lisa, Jacqualine, Susan, and M\u00E5ns were people just like us: grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sons, sisters, and brothers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is a tragedy for the families, and for the communities of Mount Maunganui and the wider Bay of Plenty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMount Maunganui is a place where many people have made happy memories. Every summer, it attracts visitors from across New Zealand and from overseas. It\u2019s not hard to see why, with the beautiful beach, the friendly locals, and of course Mauao. Mauao welcomes hundreds of people every day who want to experience nature and the fresh air, watch the sunrise, connect with their friends, process and gain perspective on the daily challenges of life, and take in the spectacular views from the top. It was described over and over to me by locals as a place of great joy and wellbeing that grounds them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe beachside holiday park at the base of Mauao has to be one of the best spots in the country to spend your summer. It is a particular cruelty of this awful event that families have gone from the happiness of a summer holiday in this Kiwi campground to facing the unimaginable grief of so suddenly and unexpectedly losing a loved family member.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESome of those who we lost were far from home, and I thank locals and police who have given everything to support the families over these long and painful days since the landslide occurred.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in the recovery operation, including our incredible FENZ, police disaster victim identification, and contractor teams, who have worked tirelessly on what is a very confronting and challenging scene.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI also want to thank our first responders and the brave local heroes who put themselves into harm\u2019s way to help others in the initial aftermath of the landslide.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo those on the front line and supporting in the background\u2014the emergency services, medical staff, iwi, community leaders, and volunteers\u2014thank you for your professionalism, your care, and your strength. Maximum efforts are ongoing to recover all six people and to return them to their families so that they can begin the sad task of preparing to farewell them appropriately.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESadly, two other families have lost their loved ones through these recent weather events. Another family is still waiting for news, after a man went missing in a river near \u014Cp\u014Dtiki. To the family who lost their beloved boy and his grandmother in the landslide at Welcome Bay, and to the family of the man who was lost in the flooded Mahurangi River and the family of the man who remains missing near \u014Cp\u014Dtiki, our hearts and our thought are with you all too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMy thoughts are also with those who have lost their homes, their farms, their livelihoods, and their possessions in floods and landslides. Five regions declared states of emergency last week: Whang\u0101rei, Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki, Bay of Plenty, and Tair\u0101whiti. Response and recovery operations are now under way in each region, and I want to commend everyone involved. I have seen the huge efforts going into the response from central and local government, from iwi and community organisations, and I\u2019ve also seen and heard stories about Kiwis helping their neighbours, marae opening their doors to the community, and people delivering food to emergency service personnel who are working 24 hours.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is an unfortunate reality that we continue to have these extreme weather events, but each time our response gets better and better, and each time we see the very best of New Zealanders. There is much more work to be done over the coming days and weeks, with the immediate focus being on supporting those families and individuals who have been displaced. Our Government is committed to doing what is needed, working with councils and communities on the recovery and the rebuild.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to end by acknowledging again the nine lives lost in these recent weather events and the heartbreak that their wh\u0101nau and loved ones are carrying. Though I know it does not ease your pain or your sorrow, to the families who have lost loved ones in this tragedy, I want you to know this: the whole country is with you. Every New Zealander is grieving with you, and while we cannot take away your pain, we can carry some of its weight alongside you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs Scripture says, \u201CBlessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.\u201D That comfort comes through community, through presence, through aroha, and through looking after one another in the days ahead.\u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EKia kaha, kia m\u0101ia, kia manawanui.\u003C/span\u003E Be strong, be brave, be steadfast. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f4666ee931f458f9605a3f55a72def8e\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The question is that the motion be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221eee191991284f59b9f8bb4ea78cbd10\u0022 data-id=\u002203322a2013a86c1601ed7da190589a69\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221eee191991284f59b9f8bb4ea78cbd10\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002203322a2013a86c1601ed7da190589a69\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) (14:07)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, thank you. I lend the Labour Party\u2019s support to the motion and also extend our deepest sympathies and our aroha to all those who have been affected by the recent severe weather events in the North Island. To those in Tauranga and P\u0101p\u0101moa, in particular those who have lost their lives, those who have lost people who they love, we extend all of our love and support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo the families who are living with uncertainty now, we also extend our support to you. We acknowledge those who have been injured, those who have displaced, people dealing with flooded homes, with slips, with closed roads across the wider region\u2014all those who have been affected.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe extend our support to all those who are helping. To our emergency first responders, Fire and Emergency, the police, urban search and rescue teams, civil defence, paramedics, council staff, iwi, contractors, and volunteers working in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, we say a very, very sincere thankyou. In Mount Maunganui, the situation has remained high risk and very changeable, and it\u2019s correct that decisions have been made with the safety of rescuers in mind as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to acknowledge all those in the community who are being asked to respond to too many of these sorts of events. For the vigils, for the support for families, for showing up for strangers, thank you. To our marae up and down the country, a very warm thankyou. When we are tested by these severe events, we see the very best of New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOur marae perform such a valuable role in our communities. In times of tragedy, they open their doors and they open their hearts, not just to M\u0101ori but to all New Zealanders, and to those from around the world who find themselves in these difficult situations. We extend a very warm thankyou to them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo those who are doing the unsung work behind the scenes, the little things like keeping those involved in the rescue operations fed and cared for, themselves\u2014a very sincere thankyou to all of them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELast week\u2019s landslide in Mount Maunganui has led to the tragic loss of six lives. Families are facing unimaginable loss as that recovery work continues to return their loved ones to them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Tauranga City Council has announced a full and independent review into the events leading up to the landslide. It is important for the families and for all of New Zealand that that review is conducted transparently and that there is public confidence in it. I want to indicate to the Government that we extend our full support, as the Opposition, to any support the Government can extend to that inquiry. I would encourage the Government to give it the full powers of a Government inquiry so that it can have public support and public credibility. Following events like this, I believe that is the least we should be offering to the victims. I understand that WorkSafe has also indicated it will be conducting its own investigations, as I\u2019m sure the coroner will be. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENearby, in P\u0101p\u0101moa, a separate slip took the lives of a grandmother and a grandchild\u2014a terrible reminder that these events aren\u2019t isolated. They are becoming all too common. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is important in moment like this that we don\u2019t leap to conclusions and that we allow time for all of the evidence and all of the facts to become known, but the House does have some responsibilities here. We must support the families and the affected communities immediately. We must ensure that the independent review can run its course properly, transparently, publicly, and without people rushing to judgment. We must ensure that all of our agencies have the support that they need to keep people safe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn 2023, only three years ago, we saw flooding in Auckland, followed by the cyclone across the East Coast. Many of the communities that were affected by those events find themselves being affected by the most recent events over the last few weeks, as well. Many are tired and they\u2019re stressed. They\u2019ve had enough, and I want to particularly acknowledge that some of our most vulnerable communities\u2014those who have the least\u2014find themselves sacrificing the most in these events, but the burden of these events falls on all of us as New Zealanders. We must all share that burden. We must all extend our support to those who have been affected, and so, once again, on behalf of the Opposition, I extend our deepest sympathies to those who have lost their loved ones and all those who have been affected. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225e65b51223cf4eb8aa02a982d92f8959\u0022 data-id=\u0022f946ba54734dbc5e3c2c0c1fa139e84b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225e65b51223cf4eb8aa02a982d92f8959\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f946ba54734dbc5e3c2c0c1fa139e84b\u0022\u003EHon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader\u2014Green) (14:13)\u003C/span\u003E: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koe e te M\u0101ngai. Au\u0113 te mamae\u2014au\u0113 te mamae e. E hotuhotu ana taku ng\u0101kau ki a koutou kua t\u0101haetia e te parawhenuamea. Haere atu r\u0101 e ng\u0101 mokopuna, ng\u0101 tamariki, ng\u0101 m\u0101tua, ng\u0101 kaum\u0101tua. Haere ki te p\u014D uriuri, ki te p\u014D tangotango ki te p\u014D e au ai te moe. Hoki atu ki te poho o \u014D t\u0101tou t\u016Bpuna, kia okioki tonu koutou i roto i \u014D r\u0101tou aroha m\u014D ake tonu atu. Takoto mai, takoto mai, takoto mai r\u0101. Waihoki e pari ana te aroha ki ng\u0101 poutiriao o Mauao tiamana, ng\u0101 iwi o Ng\u0101i Te Rangi, Ng\u0101ti Ranginui, Ng\u0101ti P\u016Bkenga me Waitaha me \u014D r\u0101tou hap\u016B. E ng\u0101 mokopuna o Mauao, e p\u0101katokato ana ki te kite i te p\u0101mamae o \u014D koutou t\u016Bpuna. Kei konei m\u0101tou hei pokohiwi ki \u014D koutou taumaha. Ko Mauao te maunga i k\u016Bmea e te patupaiarehe, ko Mauao te whakaahuatanga o te aroha, e papaki kau ana ng\u0101 tai ki Mauao. Kia kaha tonu koutou.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E[\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EGreetings, Mr Speaker. Oh the pain\u2014oh the pain. My heart cries to you all who were taken by the floods. Go well, grandchildren, children, parents, and grandparents. Go to the deep darkness, the profound darkness, the darkness where you will rest soundly. Return to the bosom of our ancestors, so that you may rest in their love forever more. Rest peacefully. Our sympathies extend to the guardians of Mauao, the chairperson, the tribes of Ng\u0101i Te Rangi, Ng\u0101ti Ranginui, Ng\u0101ti P\u016Bkenga, and Waitaha and their respective subtribes. To the grandchildren of Mauao, our hearts ache to see your grandparent\u2019s pain. We are here to shoulder your burden. Mauao is the mountain that was dragged by the fairy people, Mauao is the embodiment of love, as the tides crash against it. Remain strong everyone\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis past week has been marked by unimaginable tragedy for wh\u0101nau across Aotearoa. The loss of life on Mauao at Mount Maunganui, at the Mahurangi River, and in P\u0101p\u0101moa has been a bitter reminder of the fragility of life. Young people at the beginnings of their lives; families seeking a peaceful break over summer; a nan just caring for her mokopuna at home; a man just on his way to mahi\u2014they were husbands, mums, sons, friends, wives, nephews, teammates, and so much more, all of them deeply loved and all taken suddenly and far too soon. At a time when wh\u0101nau and friends were coming together, like many of us, to rest and enjoy time together specifically, such loss becomes even more harsh. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOn behalf of the Green Party, I want to send our deepest thanks to the emergency responders also working on the ground, trying to get answers for wh\u0101nau in pain. I also want to send our gratitude to local community members who have opened their arms, their homes, and their hearts to support their neighbours in this time of immense grief and struggle. These are the expressions of our values of care and compassion in crisis that should make us proud to be New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese events are powerful reminders for all of us in this House of the responsibility that we hold for the systems that care for people when there\u2019s an emergency, that keep them safe when disaster occurs, and that reduce the chance of these disasters happening. We absolutely, at all times, and especially when there is loss, need to look at ourselves honestly and ask: are we sure that the compassion and care that the people on the ground doing the mahi are demonstrating is matched by the wisdom, the foresight, the planning, and the care that we here in the House\u2014are we showing likewise?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe know that these are not one-off events. We know that we are going to have to be honest with ourselves the more and more that we know this stuff is going to come. Are we planning to the best of our ability? Are we utilising all of the resources that our communities and people deserve us to resource them with to prevent these occurrences, to ensure that communities are getting the help they deserve when we are in crisis, to make sure that we are putting the resource in the right places, and to understand exactly what is happening with the geographical nature of our land and our maunga and the way that our land is moving? Are we on top of all of that so that we are not just standing to express sympathy for when we continually lose life and livelihood but that we\u2019re actually shifting our entire culture to be ready to face up to the fact that this is not unprecedented and this is not unplanned? We know that it is going to come more and more and more, and we have every opportunity to put our minds together, to collaborate together. I know we all want to protect our communities\u2014every single one of us in here. Are we being honest about the challenges that we are facing?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI finish by going back to the wh\u0101nau feeling pain. We all have been seeing the names and the faces of people whose lives have been lost and of their loved ones expressing that pain publicly, and it is for us to bear witness and share as much as we possibly can and shoulder some of the pain that they are experiencing right now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs a m\u0101m\u0101 and as a nanny, I couldn\u2019t help but particularly take the advice of Max Furse\u2019s mum, who was one of the young people lost under the maunga. She said to us and she implored to all of us: hug your babies, as life can change in a moment. I felt that one particularly deeply. But I acknowledge every single human and person lost was loved and will be missed by many people across our communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo, Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to express our aroha, to share the pain, and to call for us to be honest and brave in our outlook for today and for the future. Kia ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022440a125e85954bae9f5d470b7551e4f3\u0022 data-id=\u00226b7c00627f029082fbff087870bfd2c3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022440a125e85954bae9f5d470b7551e4f3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226b7c00627f029082fbff087870bfd2c3\u0022\u003ECAMERON LUXTON (ACT) (14:20)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to take the ACT Party\u2019s call and speak to speak to this anniversary day in Mount Maunganui, which was like no other before. This year we have been a mournful place. From the main beach to Maket\u016B, everybody has been glancing to our maunga\u2014the mountain caught by the morning light. This place\u2014Mauao\u2014the hot pools, and its campground have been a holiday site for generations: a place of recreation; our landmark from sea and land. It has always been a sacred place since T\u0101kitimu and Tamatea. You souls whose lives have been taken: you are now a part of this place for ever. P\u0101p\u0101moa and the Mount are a long, thin coastal strip connected by the same unbroken beach, and we all look to the citadel of the area where this life has been taken.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOn Wednesday last week, the rain we experienced was intense. The wind forced it into every exposed crack; it flooded our streets and saturated our soil. Something was going to happen that night, but hopefully nothing more than a power cut, my wife and I said to each other before bed as we thought of those moving stock and managing the horticultural blocks. But the next morning, though, even when the rain had stopped, it was clear that something much worse had happened. As the eighth and 10\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C/sup\u003E and 12\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C/sup\u003E emergency vehicle went past, sirens ablaze, we all\u2014up and down the coast\u2014knew something very serious was happening.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo the first responders who made their way through to Mauao, the bystanders who were first on the scene: New Zealand thanks you. The members of the public who performed gallant acts before and after, and the recovery teams there right now: we thank you. I believe I speak for many when I thank you, too, Christopher Luxon, our Prime Minister, and Mark Mitchell for your on-the-ground presence in Mount Maunganui this week.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs with the tragic weather events of Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland anniversary floods of 2023, we in Mount Maunganui and P\u0101p\u0101moa now see, too, the raw earth and broken lives that these isles have faced and will continue to face. On the corner of Leinster Ave, in the mall at Pilot Bay\u2014as close to the cordons as it will be allowed\u2014the site is a site of flowers and remembrance; it\u2019s acting as a gathering place. Many people have visited this site because this tragedy is also a national one. It is a place full of bouquets and messages. There is also a Swedish flag there. Being there feels sombre. There is grieving all throughout as people are looking to the north-west, to our citadel, where this life has been taken. How does one begin to speak to the loss of a loved one or of a child in such tragedies? We can but mourn with you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESlips have affected this land since it rose from the sea\u2014bush-clad hills as well as pasture. Without a doubt, trees, their deep roots stabilising the earth, hold back geological change, but with many old slip sites around the hills paying homage to our past events.What has been deeply disappointing is how quick some voices have politicised this tragedy and hijacked it for their own agenda. We must understand these events and what has preceded them, but remember that New Zealand has always had extreme weather. We have always had slips\u2014no law, no slogan, and no protest can stop rain from falling and hills from moving.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat can save lives is practical action, sound land management, proper hazard identification, robust safety practices, and effective emergency response. Those are the questions that matter if we want fewer families grieving in the future. None of them involved trying to change the weather. What happened in the Mount was a tragedy. People lost their lives. Families are grieving and that must come first. If we are serious about honouring those who died, we will focus on evidence, engineering, and preparedness\u2014accountability, not ideology. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022 data-id=\u0022aac96d33dc79cc6740fb7936dfb27d33\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022aac96d33dc79cc6740fb7936dfb27d33\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader\u2014NZ First) (14:24)\u003C/span\u003E: On behalf of New Zealand First, we offer our heartfelt condolences and prayers for those who have died in the weather-related incidents at Mount Maunganui and P\u0101p\u0101moa. We also feel for the families left behind, who have lost their loved ones in such tragic circumstances. New Zealand First also applauds and thanks our brave first responders, who have been working tirelessly, not only at the Mount but in the other affected areas in Gisborne, Thames-Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Northland, and East Cape. The response of ordinary New Zealanders coming together and supporting those impacted in these communities has been most heartening. The outpouring of care and attention is evidence that Kiwis have a deep-seated quality to look out for each other in times of adversity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhile the hard work to help those areas to recover and heal has only just begun, as outlined by the Prime Minister, Cabinet has today signed off on the funding to get the help to where it\u2019s needed as soon as practicable. The recent events are a timely reminder that New Zealand remains deficient in resilience in coping with extreme weather events. While progress has been made in local and central government planning, forecasting, and resourcing, more needs to be done. Progress has been made: in October last year, regional infrastructure Minister Shane Jones announced Government investment of close to $97 million into 32 flood resilience projects across New Zealand, helping to protect more than 30,000 homes and around 350,000 hectares of land. That brought the total number of flood resilience projects supported by the Regional Infrastructure Fund to 74, with nearly $200 million committed since August 2024 to protecting regional communities from the impacts of flooding.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs we\u2019ve said, more needs to be done. The measures required to help improve the resilience of our communities require cool heads, calm analysis, and working with the facts. That can be frustrating for some who want to jump to immediate solutions and who are quick to apportion blame. There has been an alarming degree of so-called experts, commentators, and, dare we say, some of those in the media who are guilty of being Monday morning quarterbacks. It\u2019s appalling that, with the bodies of victims still to be recovered, some have rushed to be adjudicators based not on fact but on emotion and hot reckons. That approach will serve no one nor achieve sustainable long-term solutions to improve resilience against weather events. Let\u2019s examine the facts, acknowledge the needs, apply the appropriate resource, and get on with it as fast as possible to try to ensure such tragic results of extreme weather events aren\u2019t repeated in the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e0e2403c87194ab09a0bd954cda7ab12\u0022 data-id=\u002217ba19fcb0bf1e65d0e066cac46464a2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0e2403c87194ab09a0bd954cda7ab12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002217ba19fcb0bf1e65d0e066cac46464a2\u0022\u003ERAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader\u2014Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori) (14:27)\u003C/span\u003E: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ETe ao o te parera e rere poupou ana ki runga o Mauao. Pounga hoe mai n\u014Dhou Tamawera hinga rawa T\u016Btaekaniwha. Takina te p\u014D, takina te ao. Pap\u0101 te whatitiri, hikohiko te uira ki runga Tauranga e. K\u014Druk\u014Dru k\u014D ana rari e kore rar\u012B. K\u014Druk\u014Dru k\u014D ana rari e kore rar\u012B.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ETangi t\u0101kotokoto ana ki ng\u0101 hu\u0101nga, ki ng\u0101 t\u0101ngata kua riro atu ki te p\u014D. Koutou kua ngaro i ng\u0101 mahi whakaruke a T\u0101whirim\u0101tea i roto i ng\u0101 r\u0101, i roto i ng\u0101 wiki. Hoatu r\u0101 koutou, hoatu r\u0101 koutou i runga i te ara k\u014Drero kua parangia e te tini, e te mano. Koutou kua haere ki tua o reit\u016B ki tua o reiao, ki te huinga o te kahurangi, ki te k\u0101hui o Matariki, haere, haere, whakangaro atu r\u0101.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E[\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThe north-western wind blows high above Mauao. Along the path that Tamawera followed to kill T\u016Btaekaniwha. Night comes, day comes. Thunder crashes and lightning flashes over Tauranga\u003C/span\u003E. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003ESuch abundance and beauty could never be paralleled.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EI weep for the relatives, and all those who have departed\u2014those who were lost in the destructive winds of T\u0101whirim\u0101tea in the days and weeks that have passed. Go well on the path that has been laid down by the multitudes. All those who have passed over to the spiritual realm, to the gathering of ancestors, to the cluster of Pleiades: go, farewell\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI also support the motion moved today. I want to mihi to the rohe impacted by the severe weather: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EIkaroa R\u0101whiti\u2014kei te tangi; Te Tai Tokerau\u2014kei te tangi; Hauraki-Waikato\u2014kei te tangi; T\u0101maki Makaurau\u2014kei te tangi; Waiariki\u2014kei te tangi\u003C/span\u003E [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EIkaroa R\u0101whiti\u2014we weep; Te Tai Tokerau\u2014we weep; Hauraki-Waikato\u2014we weep; T\u0101maki Makaurau\u2014we weep; Waiariki\u2014we weep\u003C/span\u003E].\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese particular areas who have been hit severely hard by the weather events are having to ravel through that particular issue as we speak. As we buried my auntie yesterday, I know that many who came up from Te Araroa and from Wharekahika Hicks Bay had to climb over landslips to get there. Tamariki that were involved in the basketball competition in Tauranga maunga were stranded in Rauk\u014Dkore and Whangapar\u0101oa, looking for a way home. Whilst we had people flying in there to assess the damage and to see what was going on in there, people who actually lived there couldn\u2019t return home. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn every crisis it is M\u0101ori\u2014hap\u016B, iwi, and marae\u2014who respond first. When COVID hit this country, it was a similar issue for our small communities: who were the last to be seen, the last to receive any resource, and it is the same in these weather events. We are the first to get hit, we are the first to respond, and we are the last to receive any support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo I, too, acknowledge the first responders. I, too, acknowledge those who have been working tirelessly day and night to recover those who are still lost under our tipuna maunga, Mauao.\u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EKei te tangi ki a Mauao, kei te tangi ki a P\u0101p\u0101moa, kei te tangi ki a Whakat\u014Dhea ki t\u0113r\u0101 i mate ki roto i te awa o Waioweka\u003C/span\u003E. [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EWe weep for Mauao, we weep for P\u0101p\u0101moa, we weep for the Whakat\u014Dhea region, and for the drowning in the Waioweka River\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI agree with Marama Davidson, responding to these particular issues is becoming too often these days. Once upon a time, it was a once-in-a-hundred-year event\u2014unprecedented. Now, we are here every year around the same time talking about the same issue. Yes, we\u2019ve heard about resilience funds, but that is not what my communities are talking about; they haven\u2019t seen any of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo when do those resilience funds hit those small communities who respond first? It\u2019s their tractors; it\u2019s their chainsaws. They have no water. They can\u2019t even access the moana because of the slash\u2014the sludge that comes down those rivers: no tuna, no k\u014Dura, no kina. When does the resilience fund hit those areas?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhy is it that we have to fly in there to have a look at things? Talk to those communities, send the funds straight to them, start building resilience in those communities, because it\u2019s their urup\u0101, because it\u2019s their marae, because it\u2019s their homes, it\u2019s their whenua, it\u2019s their moana. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAnd, yes, as human beings, we do have a responsibility. As human beings\u2014and some of the capitalist ideas here in Aotearoa, the responsibility lies in this room. The slash that comes down those rivers\u2014yes, we may have the job to cut those trees down, but who owns those trees? Who is responsible for taking the rubbish off our whenua? Who is responsible for ensuring that they leave that whenua the way they found it? The percentage is too high in regards to leaving that slash behind because it\u2019s the communities today that are revelling from that particular mess.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo resilience: the funding and the resourcing must come from here, but the ideas and the resilience must be driven by those particular communities, our maraes, our urup\u0101, and our whenua. There will be insurance issues\u2014because there were insurance issues in the last weather event down at Te Tair\u0101whiti\u2014that we must sort out because people will be left homeless. They are now jobless; schools are closed. This is the reality.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe don\u2019t need any more people flying in and out; we need to make sure that people are home with their families, that people are supported, that there\u2019s water being dropped in there, that there\u2019s food being dropped in there, that kids are not stranded on the other side of those slips waiting to get home. The priority must be those communities. \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EKei te tangi ki te hunga kua riro atu ki te p\u014D, kei te tangi ki ng\u0101 rohe\u003C/span\u003E. [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EWe weep for those that have passed and for those regions\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut let\u2019s get our minds together, let\u2019s work with those communities, and the resilience of those communities must be driven by those communities. Empty the pocket; empty the bank.\u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ETukuna atu ki a r\u0101tou ng\u0101 rawa kia tarea an\u014D hoki e r\u0101tou ki te whai i te oranga e whai nei e r\u0101tou. Kia ora t\u0101tou\u003C/span\u003E. [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EGive them the resources they need to pursue the solutions they seek\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022406acc1d22bab132073619a10a2f959f\u0022\u003EHon Member: \u003C/span\u003EMr Speaker?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022 data-id=\u0022d2543c2db3f4f804c1d38294872fb08b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d2543c2db3f4f804c1d38294872fb08b\u0022\u003ESPEAKER (14:35)\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s only party leaders who speak to these motions. So the question is that the motion be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a9bd180fcdc2f789924c309b107de9f0\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ll ask members to stand with me for a moment as a mark of respect for those who have lost their lives. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EMembers stood as a mark of respect.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00222462274ac7b1a1cb85cec4eb0d45997d\u0022\u003EGovernment Business\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e35862a25efbb97ccde007e1da8ba8ec\u0022\u003EPrime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022 data-id=\u0022d9d22edba3155d4c76ddc556da174762\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d9d22edba3155d4c76ddc556da174762\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister) (14:36)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, I present the Prime Minister\u2019s statement.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229ff9cc319003456051f9fd327f8daecf\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: That paper is published under the authority of the House and copies are available at the Table.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002293a0d36795fac031ad4f9afeff9f1133\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON\u003C/span\u003E: I move, \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThat this House express its confidence in the Government and commend its programme for 2026 as set out in the Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo every farm worker, plumber, and police officer; to every teacher, builder, and cricket coach; to every office worker, hairdresser, truck driver, and student; to every mum and dad getting the kids ready for the start of the school year; to every New Zealander from Kait\u0101ia to Invercargill, and New Plymouth to Akaroa: welcome to 2026.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EParliament is back, the Government is back, and National is back, fixing the basics and building the future now. We knew it would be a big job to turn New Zealand around after a very tough period of time. Inflation climbed to 7 percent; mortgage rates skyrocketed; the nation\u2019s debt tripled; unemployment began to rise as businesses buckled under the impact of high interest rates, choking regulation, and a real loss of confidence. Fewer than half of our young people were attending school regularly, educational achievement was in decline, ram raids were rampant, violent crime was on the rise, gang activity flooded into public places like \u014Cp\u014Dtiki and highways across the country. Fixing that track record, fixing the basics, has been two years of incredible hard work in Government, from businesses large and small, and from every single New Zealander.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI feel more confident than ever that the recovery has now arrived and that Kiwis can look forward to a year that is brighter than the last few have been, because we have reined in wasteful spending, keeping inflation down, although we\u2019d like to see it fall even further. Interest rates have dropped considerably, with families saving hundreds of dollars a week as they refix onto lower rates and now, after last year\u2019s two-speed recovery, we\u2019re seeing real momentum, real momentum. Business confidence is at a 12-year high. Growth in manufacturing is higher than at any time since 2014. Tourism continues to soar, with expenditure up 29 percent in the last two years, and now the construction industry, which was thrashed by years of high inflation and high interest rates, is getting back to work. Building consents are up 20 percent, job ads are up 43 percent, and\u2014thanks to farmers and growers and manufacturers and tourism operators up and down New Zealand\u2014exports keep going from strength to strength, rising by $12 billion in just the last year alone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EDon\u2019t just take my word for it: two weeks ago, Doug Steel from BNZ called recent manufacturing data a \u201Cripsnorter\u201D and that growth was coming through with gusto. Three days earlier, Christina Leung from NZ Institute of Economic Research said the recovery was gaining traction. The same day, Miles Workman from ANZ said, \u201CEconomic activity is on the up, and that\u2019s translating into business investment and hiring.\u201D Earlier that week, Chris Sinclair, chair of the master builders in Christchurch, said everyone\u2019s pretty positive: \u201CAll the professionals \u2026 the designers and the engineers are busy.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere is still a long way to go but I want to see more Kiwis seeing and feeling the impact of the recovery in their communities, with more job opportunities and a chance of a promotion or a pay rise. For the first time in a long time, there is real momentum in the New Zealand economy, and our team is working hard to keep things moving. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s not just the economy, because when it comes to education, this Government is also fixing the basics. As Prime Minister, I am determined to give the best possible shot in life to every child growing up in New Zealand today. When we entered office, our kids were falling behind. Eighty percent of our 13-year-olds were not where they needed to be at in maths. Half of them were not where they needed to be at in reading. Now, in just two short years, we have achieved a huge amount. We\u2019ve banned mobile phones; we\u2019ve insisted on an hour of reading, writing, and maths every single day; and we\u2019ve introduced a raft of changes to get back to teaching the basics brilliantly, with whole new curriculums for maths and English in primary schools. The results\u2014the starting results\u2014have been phenomenal, because already, the number of new entrants achieving where they should be in phonics has gone from 36 percent to 58 percent. The number of students exceeding expectations has doubled. There is always more to do, but we are fixing the basics in education. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf I take law and order, between 2017 and 2023, violent crime rose 30 percent, gang membership went up 50 percent, retail crime doubled, and ram raids quadrupled. Kiwis were absolutely sick of it, so we embarked on a programme of major reform to keep Kiwis safe in their home, at their work, and in their community. We have cracked down on gangs and banned their patches in public. We have delivered tougher sentencing laws so that offenders do real time. We have given more powers to police and put more of them out on the beat. Yes, there\u2019s more to do, but the overall results have been exceptional: 38,000 fewer victims of violent crime, youth offending down by 16 percent, and ram raids down by 85 percent. When it comes to violent crime and retail crime, this is a Government that is fixing the basics.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAfter two years, we are seeing real progress in our efforts to fix the basics of the economy, of education, and of law and order. Now, we are focused on building the future, because if we want to leave a legacy of prosperity, of ambition, of hope and opportunity for our children and our grandchildren, we now need to push for more to build the future. Whether you\u2019re driving trucks or making coffee, herding cattle or getting ready to take on the world, I want to unleash the extraordinary potential of this country so that everyone can get ahead\u2014so that kids growing up in Christchurch, like me, can see a real future for themselves here in New Zealand, raising a family, building a career, or starting a business. A more volatile and a more uncertain world underscores the importance of controlling what we can. The more we are building the economy at home, the more we are ensuring a future for every single New Zealander here at home; and the more we are developing and diversifying those relationships abroad, the stronger New Zealand gets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EGrowing our share of trade and investment offshore is critical to that plan to build the future. As everyone saw in the days just before Christmas, we concluded an historic and comprehensive free-trade agreement with India, the largest country in the world\u2014the largest country in the world, and a vibrant part of the global economy. It\u2019s a deal that eliminates and reduce tariffs on 95 percent of New Zealand\u2019s exports, with almost 57 percent duty-free on day one. That\u2019s a deal that works for agriculture; it works for horticulture; it works for viticulture, forestry, manufacturing services, and a raft of other industries. It\u2019s a deal that puts our exporters back on a level playing field with Australia, and it\u2019s a deal that will support this Government to build the future through higher exports, stronger businesses, more jobs, and higher incomes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf we\u2019re serious about building the future, we also need to increase our level of ambition on retirement savings, supporting greater levels of financial security for all New Zealanders. Later this year will mark the first of what I hope will be a series of increases in default KiwiSaver contribution rates from 3 percent to 3.5 percent. Over time, I hope those KiwiSaver contribution rates will keep rising to 4 percent in 2028 and then higher again to 6 percent once National is re-elected. It\u2019s not just about ideology or politics; it\u2019s just plain common sense. Why? First, to support New Zealanders\u2019 financial security against the backdrop of an ageing society; second, to establish a spine of national capital available to invest in our businesses and our infrastructure here at home\u2014and we\u2019ll need to get richer to build the future; and third, because when Kiwis go to work, they deserve to get ahead. By closing the gap with Australia on superannuation contributions, New Zealand will become a more attractive place to stay, work, and to raise a family. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, the good news is that employers and employees have plenty of time to prepare. But over time, higher contribution rates will mean much larger KiwiSaver balances, and I think everyone in this House can agree that that\u2019s a very, very good thing. It\u2019s a big change, and, of course, it\u2019s critical to our plan to build the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, as I spoke about earlier, this Government is already fixing the basics in primary and intermediate schools so that every child gets the very best possible start in life. But when those students get to high school, the qualification they ultimately receive should be just as brilliant as the education they received when they were just starting out. In August last year, we announced our plans to do exactly that and replace NCEA. The changes are fundamental\u2014instead of getting a word, students are going to get a grade out of 100 for the subjects that you study. They\u2019ll have stronger vocational pathways and higher standards for literacy and numeracy. It\u2019s a big change, but it\u2019s a big part of our plan to build the future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhy are we doing it? We\u2019re doing it because, on this side of the House, we know that a world-leading education system is the only way\u2014the only way\u2014we get to unlock the potential of every young person growing up in New Zealand today. It\u2019s the only way that we\u2019ll attract critical investments in digitalisation and technology in the coming years\u2014improving the performance of our hospitals, our infrastructure, and our justice system. It\u2019s the only way that we\u2019ll access higher paying jobs and make sure Kiwis get the same shot at life that young people today in Australia or Singapore or Ireland get. It\u2019s the only way that Kiwi businesses will access the talent they need to compete with the rest of the world, lifting exports, growing faster, and raising incomes for every single New Zealander. When it comes to education, this Government is fixing the basics, and now we\u2019re also building the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, finally, housing and infrastructure: for two years, this Government has been fixing the basics. We\u2019ve been fixing pot holes and repairing roads so that Kiwis get to work faster and safer. We\u2019ve cleared away a jungle of red tape in the Resource Management Act (RMA) already, enabling greater development of housing, renewable energy, aquaculture, and mining. Fast track is now consenting real projects\u2014housing developments in Drury and Milldale and Nelson and Riverhead, and the port expansion in Auckland\u2014enabling more cruise ships and more tourism expenditure in our largest city. We\u2019ve expanded gold mining at Waih\u012B; and new quarries in Auckland\u2014supporting new roads and new development. While there is always more to do, the results, so far, are encouraging because work has been pumping out on critical new roads like \u014Ctaki to north of Levin, the Melling Interchange, and, of course, the Hawke\u2019s Bay Expressway. The good news is housing is more affordable and home ownership is growing, with first-home buyers now 29 percent of the market\u2014the largest share we\u2019ve seen in 20 years\u2014giving Kiwis more opportunities to be able to get ahead. We ended the war on landlords from the last Government, and we cancelled the taxes and the red tape that, actually, punished tenants and sent rents skyrocketing by $180 per week. Now, rents are stable, with no growth in the last two years, helping Kiwis to be able to get ahead. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EImportantly, a wave of renewable project generation is under construction, creating jobs and providing the energy that we need to keep growing and keep power prices as low as possible for every family. In short, when it comes to housing and infrastructure, in just the two years we\u2019ve had, we\u2019ve been able to fix the basics, and, now, as I say, we are building the future. We are replacing the RMA with two new bills designed to unshackle growth and development by abolishing around half of all resource consents, promoting growth and creating jobs\u2014how wonderful is that going to be? That is going to be fantastic. We\u2019re building Roads of National Significance in a town near you, supporting businesses to grow and making it faster for Kiwis to get to and from work. We\u2019re signing long-term city and regional deals that build real partnerships between local and central government\u2014promoting growth, creating jobs, and lifting incomes for the long term. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s a wonderful statement, and I encourage everybody to read it, of course, but in conclusion, let me sum it up for you: we are on a mission to fix the basics and build the future. We have made tremendous progress so far: ending the era of wasteful spending, supporting lower inflation and lower interest rates; increasing visible policing and a taking a tougher stance on law and order\u2014driving down violent crime, retail crime, ram raids, and youth offending; strengthening achievement in our classrooms, whether students are just starting school or needing an opportunity to catch up; and, now, as I say, we are building the future. We are growing the economy to create more jobs and more opportunities for Kiwis, with rising exports, investment, and productivity. We are spending taxpayers\u2019 money carefully so that we don\u2019t burden our grandchildren with more debt. We are upgrading the schools, the roads, the hospitals that you rely on, and we are delivering resource management reform that makes it so much easier for businesses to get to construction sooner. We are supporting New Zealanders\u2019 financial security for the long term with greater levels of savings and investment. There\u2019s more hope, more opportunity, more ambition, and, ultimately, greater prosperity so that Kiwis can get ahead. Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022493b7bb7cc0494115253c633c32059d4\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The question is that the motion be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022dfd13186be4354f37f0a0199c69cf4d7\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221eee191991284f59b9f8bb4ea78cbd10\u0022 data-id=\u0022704c501f263a1a2a47dc463a3454110a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221eee191991284f59b9f8bb4ea78cbd10\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022704c501f263a1a2a47dc463a3454110a\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) (14:50)\u003C/span\u003E: I move, \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThat all the words after \u201CThat\u201D be deleted and replaced with \u201CThis House has no confidence in this Government, who have failed to deliver on their promises, are out of touch with New Zealanders, have continued to promise a recovery that never arrives, have choked off economic growth, forced thousands of Kiwis out of their jobs, forced up the cost of living for New Zealand families, and created the conditions that have seen record numbers of New Zealanders lose hope and leave the country for good\u003C/span\u003E.\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003E\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor a moment there, I thought I had stepped out of the House and into the local laundromat, such was the level of spin and dirty laundry being stuffed into the corner. When New Zealanders were looking for vision, when they were looking for hope, when they were looking for something to give them an idea that the Government knew anything about what it was doing, they would have seen nothing from that contribution. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s interesting that the National Party front bench has woken up after the Prime Minister finished speaking. They didn\u2019t seem to have much life in them while he was actually talking. In fact, I was worried we were going to have to break open some of those CPR machines in the lobby to make sure there was still a pulse on the other side of the House, because there was no evidence of it while the Prime Minister was delivering his address. If the National Party backbench can\u2019t get enthusiastic about the Prime Minister\u2019s address, what hope do they have that New Zealanders will be the slightest bit interested?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is a Government that is out of touch, it is out of ideas, and it is fast running out of time. New Zealanders are hurting and the Government seems completely oblivious to that. The cost of living, far from getting better, has continued to get worse for Kiwi families. They promised it was all going to be simple; it was all going to be fixed really quickly. Everything was going to be better because they were just going to be better at everything. They couldn\u2019t really tell people how it was going to be better, but it was just going to be better.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELet\u2019s judge their track record. In fact, I\u2019ve got a few numbers which really highlight their performance. The thing is, numbers tell us quite a story, so let\u2019s go back to September 2023 when the New Zealand Treasury released their economic forecasts and let\u2019s compare how that\u2019s worked in practice.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBefore the election, the New Zealand Treasury was forecasting that our economy would grow 1.7 percent in 2024. After Nicola Willis got hold of it, what happened? The economy shrank by half a percent. They were forecasting the economy would grow by 2.3 percent in 2025. After Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon got their hands on it, it shrank by a further 0.6 percent. In fact, the economy today is at least a percent smaller than it was before they decided to fix it\u2014smaller than it was before they decided to fix it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ERemember their talk about Government debt? Government debt was out of control. Government debt was forecast to be 40 percent of GDP this year. So after they fixed it, what did it turn out to be? It turned out to be 43 percent of GDP this year. So having fixed it, we\u2019ve now got more debt than we were going to have.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EUnemployment\u2014they were going to fix unemployment. How has that turned out? Unemployment is forecast to stay higher for longer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThen they said they were going to fix inflation, so let\u2019s compare the forecasts into the future now compared to what they were before the election. By 2025, inflation was forecast to be 2.5 percent. That was last year\u2014forecast to be 2.5 percent by last year. After they fixed it, 2.7 percent\u2014higher than what had been forecast before.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBy this year, 2026, inflation was forecast to be 2.1 percent. After they fixed it, it\u2019s now forecast to be 2.4 percent, but, in fact, those forecasts were before the most recent numbers, which show it\u2019s now over 3 percent again\u2014outside of the target band once again. It\u2019s interesting to note, of course, what is making up that inflation: that inflation is being driven up by Government\u2014Government fees, levies, and charges forcing up inflation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI noticed the Prime Minister was boasting about rents coming down because of their tax cuts for landlords. Why is it one of the major factors contributing to high levels outside the target band in just the last quarter? If rents are coming down, how can they be contributing to inflation? It simply doesn\u2019t add up. It\u2019s another one of those promises. I remember this time last year being in the debating chamber when Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis and the National Party Cabinet confidently promised that we had turned a corner\u2014unemployment had peaked and things were going to get better\u2014and then the economy shrank again and more people lost their jobs, and businesses went into liquidation and things got worse for New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWages are stretched because they\u2019re not keeping up with increasing costs. Power bills continue to go up, basic groceries cost more every week, and Kiwis\u2019 hard-earned money is evaporating faster than you can say, \u201CTax cuts for tobacco companies\u201D, because this Government has its priorities all wrong, and businesses and Kiwis are facing an even more uncertain future than they had been before.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe heard nothing from the Prime Minister today about how they\u2019re actually going to turn that around; it was all more \u201CLet\u2019s do nothing and hope things get better.\u201D That seems to have been their prescription: let\u2019s not do anything and just say that things are getting better, and if things aren\u2019t actually getting better, just hope that people believe they\u2019re getting better because we\u2019re saying they\u2019re getting better\u2014even when all the evidence is saying exactly the opposite.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat was a speech all designed to lower New Zealanders\u2019 expectations. I have to say, when it comes to this Government, their expectations are already very, very low. They\u2019re not really expecting very much from this Government, and even then the Government is still managing to disappoint them\u2014a Government running away from its own track record, a Government that is not focused on the things that actually matter to New Zealand families, a Government that simply wants to find other people to blame for the problems that it has created.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor those who have lost their jobs, what\u2019s their message? Well, David Seymour says, \u201CJust put a smile on it. It\u2019ll be OK.\u201D Nicola Willis says, \u201CWell, don\u2019t take it personally.\u201D It is pretty damned personal when people have lost their jobs. It has a pretty major impact on their families, and they have every right to feel disappointed by this Government, which has seen more New Zealanders losing their jobs because of the decisions that it has taken.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat about the promised action on the cost of living? Not only have they failed on their targets around inflation, and bearing in mind that one of their key measures of success is interest rates coming down for mortgage holders\u2014interest rates are going back up for mortgage holders now\u2014but how many families actually received the $250 a fortnight that the National Party promised them at the last election?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA quick question for Nicola Willis or Chris Bishop\u2014any of them over there: have you found one? Is there a single family that they have located that has received the $250 a fortnight that the National Party promised them? Is there a single family? There is not one single family that has got the $250 a fortnight that the National Party promised them at the last election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELet\u2019s talk about prices: inflation outside the target band again\u20143.1 percent. That really understates it. If you\u2019re a family in the supermarket buying a loaf of bread, bread is up nearly 60 percent under this Government; power bills, 12.5 percent. Council rates are going up 8.8 percent. Only the people on the other side of the Chamber seem to be surprised that, when central government takes money away from local councils, they increase the rates to compensate for that. It\u2019s basic economics, but they seem to have been caught by surprise by it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EEven things like milk is up 15 percent; beef has jumped nearly over 20 percent, and the Government\u2019s surplus? Remember, Nicola Willis\u2014I remember this well\u2014said on the campaign trail that, \u201CGetting back into surplus by 2027 simply was not good enough\u201D and that she was going to get there sooner. So after she fixed it, how has it turned out? Not one surplus in sight in the forecasts. Not one surplus ever projected by the Treasury under Nicola Willis\u2019 leadership. The only way she gets there is by inventing her own new maths formula. The new maths of Nicola Willis says, \u201CWe can get into surplus if we just take these other, inconvenient calculations out of the equation and put them over there with the dirty laundry in the laundromat, in the spin machine. Let\u2019s pretend those don\u2019t exist, and then we\u2019ll get into this magical mystery surplus at some future point.\u201D Actually, based on the measures that every Government for the last 30 years has been measured against, Nicola Willis does not have a surplus in sight, and debt is continuing to grow under this Government\u2019s leadership, despite all of their rhetoric.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne of the votes Kiwis get to exercise before we even get to the general election is to vote with their feet. Last year, record numbers of them did just that. That\u2019s our future talent that we need; it is our future workforce. New Zealand can do better than simply training people for other countries. We can give them reason to stay here in New Zealand, but this Government isn\u2019t willing to do that, and it isn\u2019t willing to tackle the big challenges that really face the country. Haven\u2019t we seen that even evident here today? The continual denial that our economy actually relies on our environment; an absolute denial that we rely on the world around us to earn our living. This Government are in total denial of that. They don\u2019t seem to get that if you run down the environment we rely on to earn our living, there are consequences of doing so. Their track record on issues like climate change is absolutely abysmal. Their weak and contradictory positions on the issues facing the world at the moment are simply embarrassing for New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen we destroy and degrade our environment, when we stretch the ecosystems that we all rely on beyond their natural limits, we simply expose the country to more risks: economic risks, natural risks, more floods, fire, more heatwaves, more food insecurity, more economic instability. These are the consequences of ignoring the major challenges facing our planet. But when we protect and restore the environment that we rely on, the opposite happens. We create good jobs, we create more security, we create more opportunity\u2014and this Government have slammed the door shut on all of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOn the world stage, New Zealand has had a reputation as a principled and independent voice in international issues. That is being sorely tested by this Government. Having a Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Prime Minister constantly contradicting themselves on the world stage is an embarrassment for New Zealand. Other leaders around the world will be looking at New Zealand and saying, \u201CWhat is their position? Do they support the World Health Organization, as the Prime Minister says, or not, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs says?\u201D This is a Government that cannot come up with a clear and coherent position. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo those who call themselves patriots: true patriots don\u2019t stand idly by while other people run down the contribution of New Zealand\u2019s military forces in conflicts around the world. They don\u2019t stand by and let other people say disgraceful and insulting things about New Zealanders who have lost their lives in international conflicts and say nothing about it. They stand up for New Zealanders. They don\u2019t put New Zealand last, unlike some in this debating chamber. They stand up for New Zealanders; they stand up for our proud independent reputation around the world. They stand up for the rule of law internationally; they speak out against the abuse of human rights, not just in the countries that they don\u2019t like but, actually, in any countries that are violating the principles of international law and the principles of human rights. They don\u2019t pick and choose; they remain principled; they remain independent. New Zealand deserves better than what they are getting from this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI believe in a country where our wages grow; where affordability is actually tackled; where Kiwis have an opportunity to build a life for themselves here in New Zealand; where our future generations don\u2019t have to choose between staying in the country that they love with their friends and their family and having access to the opportunities that they deserve. Far too many are having to make those choices at the moment, and we can do better as a country. I want New Zealand to be a country where families don\u2019t have to struggle week by week to figure out whether they\u2019re actually going to pay the bills; where those who are creating jobs are actually backed to do that, and they don\u2019t get called \u201CC-listers\u201D and talked down to by a Government that should know better. A pro-business Government does not describe aspiring New Zealand business leaders as \u201CC-listers\u201D; they get behind them, because that is the future of our country\u2014that is our future potential that this Government are simply running down.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe need to grow the economy to benefit everybody, not just the lucky few. We need to back New Zealanders. We need to ensure that Kiwis get access to basics like three free visits to the doctor so that they can stay healthy every year. This Government simply hates the idea\u2014hates the idea\u2014that someone else might have a few ideas about how to make life easier for New Zealanders, because they have completely failed to do so. Kiwis will be able to go and see their doctor when they need to under a Labour Government. Under a National Government, they\u2019re lucky if they can even find a doctor to go and visit, because the doctors are walking off the job because of this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe will back Kiwi business to create good, well-paying jobs. We will end National\u2019s fire sale of New Zealand\u2019s assets, because we have seen how that works out. Remember when they said that if they sold off the power companies, we would get cheaper power? How\u2019s that worked out for New Zealand families as power bills continue to go through the roof because the power companies have prioritised making huge dividends for their shareholders rather than investing in new power generation that might actually help New Zealanders. It\u2019s not just householders: businesses across the country are going to the wall so that big electricity generators can make record profits. It is not good enough. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is a Government that\u2019s simply not willing to tackle the big challenges facing New Zealand. It\u2019s time we had a change of Government so that we can actually fix those basic fundamentals that Christopher Luxon seems to think just putting slogans around actually fixes. Jobs, health, homes, cost of living\u2014those are the things that New Zealanders care about\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226b99476d584f47b19420b8154e6947dc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f4e5839665dc2b98cade60239e7b81d\u0022\u003EHon Nicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: Not a single policy idea\u2014not one!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221eee191991284f59b9f8bb4ea78cbd10\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002238cc631fdbcf7ee68ff2b7e76f2d12cc\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014Oh my goodness me, Nicola Willis has woken up now! It\u2019s interesting it took her this long. She had nothing to say\u2014I thought that she had passed out while Christopher Luxon was speaking\u2014but now, suddenly, she\u2019s roared back into life. Welcome back to Parliament, the Minister of Finance. My goodness me, we\u2019re going to have some fun critiquing her track record in the House this year\u2014and boy, oh boy, there is plenty of material there. No amount of overriding confidence can make up for the total lack of competence that we have seen from the Minister of Finance over the last three years. I\u2019ll say to Nicola Willis: when I go and visit business leaders in Auckland, and I talk to them about the relationship between Labour and business, and they say to me that \u201CThe best thing we could have from a Labour Government would be for Barbara Edmonds to be the Minister of Finance\u201D, I take a huge amount of confidence in that, because they\u2019re sick of being abused by the Minister of Finance. One would expect a business audience to be all lining up behind the National Party, but they have a had a gutsful of being told how bad they are by this Government. This is a Government that doesn\u2019t back anyone but themselves. They simply look for people to blame for the problems that they have created.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EIt is well and truly time to put this Government out of its misery. The good news is the clock is now ticking and they will be out of their misery by this time next year, when a new Government will be in place in New Zealand, one that will give New Zealanders hope, one that will create opportunity for New Zealanders, and one that will deliver on the promise of Aotearoa New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229d9b892adf8272749db96778db0e6cb8\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The question is that the amendment be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022 data-id=\u00221fc197c65f883095a87c3a62dcdecca5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221fc197c65f883095a87c3a62dcdecca5\u0022\u003ECHL\u00D6E SWARBRICK (Co-Leader\u2014Green) (15:10)\u003C/span\u003E: We\u2019ve just heard from the Prime Minister that the plan is working, the deliverables are being delivered, and the synergies are being vertically integrated, and I am here today to say listen to them. Day by day, law by law, and deal by deal, we are becoming the country that National, ACT, and New Zealand First want us to be, and that is a tragedy because that is a country where communities are flooded while the Government prepares to subsidise fossil fuel corporations with a $200 million taxpayer handout.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is a country where homes are swept away by torrents of water and mud while mining projects are waved through by fast-track processes that rewrite the law for corporate donors. It is a country where communities are evacuated, where bridges and roads are swept away, where wh\u0101nau are sleeping in schools and community halls because their homes have been red-stickered, and where towns and cities and marae where people have lived for years, decades, and centuries, are no longer safe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor many people living in Christopher Luxon\u2019s New Zealand, the power is out, the water doesn\u2019t run, the roads are closed, the hospital is overwhelmed, and the jobs are gone because the mills and the factories have been shut down during a vicious recession driven by this Government\u2019s so-called year of growth. The bedrooms are cold and damp because the heaters and dehumidifiers are off because people cannot afford their energy bills, their rates, their insurance, or their groceries. Two hundred New Zealanders leave the country every day in search of a better life. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is the country that the Government wants. We are living in it, and the future that they are promising us is more of the same. So when they tell us their plan, we need to listen to them. When Christopher Luxon tells us that we need to work harder, longer hours and to take shorter holidays, I want New Zealanders to listen. When David Seymour says that he wants to gut our founding constitutional document, listen to him. When Shane Jones tells us that our oceans and our forests and our national parks and our conservation estates need to be opened up for mining, listen to him. When Brooke van Velden tells us that she thinks that the workers have got too many protections and too much security, listen. When Louise Upston tells us that she\u2019ll punish the young people who won\u2019t work the jobs that don\u2019t actually exist, listen. When Paul Goldsmith promises to criminalise homelessness for people who the Government has ensured cannot actually get into housing in the first place, listen. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EElections these days feel, often, for a lot of people, like they\u2019re just about marketing, advertising, brands, slogans, focus groups, and politicians saying that they care about you and that they have a vision for the country, a hope for the future. But the reality is that we are living in the future that this Government promised us two years ago. Take a long, hard look at it and listen to the people who have governed this country for the last two years, because they have told us and they have shown us who they really are. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EYesterday, I was at Whakapaumahara Marae in Whananaki. They had had a month\u2019s worth of rain in a day. Everybody mucked in and cleaned up. Climate scientists have warned us for decades that burning more fossil fuels and ramping up intensive agriculture means a warmer atmosphere, warmer oceans, and more intense and frequent storms, and their warnings are now our reality. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI am not going to pretend that the future is going to be a sunlit utopia. There will be more storms and there will be more floods, but we can be a country\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002259868761f03245a8e15ed00313c9bfe4\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: There always has been, for goodness\u2019 sake!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e1e84e1c4a4f4562c616f586c090ba63\u0022\u003ECHL\u00D6E SWARBRICK\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014that prepares for the storms that we know are coming. We can build real resilience\u2014Winston Peters\u2014instead of mining and extracting and destroying it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EMuch of the world is actually already into this clean, green energy transition to solar, to wind, and to distributed grids because it is cheaper, it is cleaner, and it is more resilient, and yet this Government is locking us into an energy system that is brittle, fragile, and yet hugely expensive for the regular person and far more profitable for shareholders. They aim to make us more dependent on fossil fuels\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022295465deb699d57b967711fe4c7da66d\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Fairy tales.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002291e99d909afe5beb1d369b7a3303d4e8\u0022\u003ECHL\u00D6E SWARBRICK\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014and, at the same time, more vulnerable to their effects. But we can choose to keep the lights on and the hospitals open during the climate emergencies that we know are coming, and we can lower power bills and create warmer homes at the same time. \u201CGreen fantasy.\u201D, Shane Jones will say, but it\u2019s just what competent Governments in other countries are already doing, because why wouldn\u2019t you?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe should be very sceptical of any politician who tells us that what the rest of the world is actually already doing is madness and that it is somehow impossible, when the proof is unfolding before our very eyes. We should ask why they have taken such a crazy economically and environmentally destructive position, and we should ask whose interests they are really serving. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe know that the country is fed up with politicians just bickering back and forward with each other while the world burns and life gets harder for regular people. That is why the Greens have spent the last two years putting forward sensible, fully costed policies to our challenges for real responses to the crises that we are facing: for taking on corporate greed to create an energy sector that works for the public interest, instead of lining the pockets of shareholders; for expanding community energy projects to help New Zealanders cut bills and emissions; for warm, dry homes for everyone; for creating tens of thousands of good, green jobs that will rebuild infrastructure, plant trees to protect from erosion, and restore the ecosystem to reduce flooding; and for sustainable manufacturing to revitalise our regions and communities with meaningful, well-paid work, making the things that Aotearoa and the world need. When members of this Government tell us that that sounds insane to them, that is because they like their plan. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere is this ancient story about an emperor. He is obsessed with clothes. He spends a lot of money on these fancy garments and is one day visited by men who promise him the most magnificent clothes that are supposedly invisible to those who are either incompetent or stupid, and he commissions them to start work. Numerous officials go in and check on these invisible clothes being produced that don\u2019t actually exist, and each affirm that all is going well because none of them wants to be thought of as stupid or incompetent. When the con men finish their work, the emperor arranges for a parade in front of all of the town. None of the townspeople wants to be thought of as stupid or incompetent, and so nobody mentions that he is naked, but, eventually, a child calls out the truth and the spell is broken. The emperor has no clothes; all he\u2019s got is stories and power built on those stories. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat emperor is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and every politician in here who believes that they can suck the life out of nature and blow it in to an economy. It would be more admirable to believe in the tooth fairy than in the Prime Minister\u2019s neo-liberal economic playbook, because at the tooth fairy has never hurt anybody. The climate and inequality and biodiversity crisis superpowered by corporate greed, knowingly made worse by Christopher Luxon and every single member of this Government, is hurting people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENature doesn\u2019t care about the ruling economic orthodoxy or the opinions of those who profit off of upholding this story. Nature doesn\u2019t ask for permission. Nature isn\u2019t made-up\u2014like the rules in this place are. Rivers swell with a storm. The sea eats away at roads. The trains are cancelled because the sun has warped the tracks. No amount of PR or focus-group slogans can convince nature that Christopher Luxon has managed to fudge the numbers and, you know, \u201CDon\u2019t worry about it, we\u2019ll hit our targets\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EEvery single year for the last 10 years, New Zealanders have experienced a severe climate change - charged weather event, and in just the last seven years, this has cost the insurance industry alone $6 billion in payouts for damage. This is increasing insurance premiums for regular New Zealanders, and it sits behind increasing rates for local government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EClimate change is a tragedy. It is loss and devastation. It makes daily life harder and more expensive, and the Government has knowingly and intentionally made climate change worse, and they\u2019ve also gutted funding to deal with its impacts. Just like the emperor walking naked at his parade, the only thing that is keeping Christopher Luxon in his job is our country\u2019s willingness to believe his story, the story that growth is coming, that it will trickle down, that the worst rates of unemployment projected since I was born are just all part of the price of recovery. The power of this Parliament, the power of the Prime Minister, and the power of his very, very rich friends exists only in our willingness to believe their fairy tales. \u201CWe can\u2019t afford it\u201D, they\u2019ll say about housing the homeless while handing out $3 billion to landlords. \u201CThere is no alternative\u201D, they\u2019ll say as they gut pay equity for hundreds of thousands of our lowest-paid working women.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf New Zealanders have one incredible skill, it is knowing when somebody is absolutely full of it. New Zealanders know, despite what Government politicians are telling them, that this story that this Government is selling is not true, because they can feel it. When they\u2019re sitting on the bus, getting a jump scare as the Prime Minister pops up in their news feed, talking about economic recovery. As they drive past more makeshift mattresses, as people sleep rough outside of storefronts. When they get the news of more friends moving to Australia for a lower cost of living and a better quality of life. When the brochure in their letter box shows smiling real estate agents trumpeting the return of house price growth, but them and their flatmates have started naming the slugs in their bathroom.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat feeling of one\u2019s experiences not gelling with the stories that we tell ourselves is called cognitive dissonance. It results in quite a profound sense of discomfort. And that discomfort is deeply personal because we have been told for our entire lives, by the people in this place and those who spend a lot of money to put some of us here, that not winning at this game\u2014which, by design, most people cannot and will not\u2014is somehow a personal failure. I need New Zealanders who are listening right now to know that this is not their personal failing to be losing at a game that is actively rigged against them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOver the last nine years, the least wealthy households in this country have seen their debt rise by $6.3 billion. In that same period, the wealthiest have seen an increase in their wealth of $455 billion, or half a trillion. People will rightfully point out that this period includes when Labour was leading the Government. It does, and we took that fight, at that time, to Labour on their decisions to continue to entrench a tax system that they know\u2014that they know\u2014sees our firefighters and our nurses and our teachers and everyday hard-working New Zealanders pay double the effective tax rate of the wealthiest in this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is why I\u2019m in the Green Party\u2014because we know the things that we say are not immediately popular or sexy or retail. We are not in politics to be in power at all costs. We are in politics because we actually want to do something. We know that doing something in politics\u2014well, it\u2019s really, really hard. There\u2019s some really, really powerful people out there who are pouring a lot of money into ensuring that people believe that there is no alternative. They have spent decades building up institutions and thinktanks to make it easier for people to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders need to ensure that they do not believe this story, because we know and we have seen the real Aotearoa. When we don\u2019t find leadership in this place, we find plenty of examples across this beautiful country. Our firefighters and our first responders risking everything to save lives. Nurses going overtime on already stretched hours to check in on their patients. Teachers looking out for the kids who turn up without books or without lunch. The bus driver welcoming passengers onto their commute with unbridled cheer. The millions of hard-working New Zealanders who just look out for each other and do their little bits to pay it forward. We are a country of people who make things and who make things work. That is who we are.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002208fb25c730e39ed7e25a2a3baf9e69ee\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Not the Greens\u2014they don\u2019t. They don\u2019t work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8b3055b4f977745b786cda58485784e\u0022\u003ECHL\u00D6E SWARBRICK\u003C/span\u003E: We have enough. Our country is filled with talent, creativity, and hard work\u2014Mr Winston Peters\u2014but, for most of our entire lifetimes, we have been told that the thing that we call the economy will deliver us salvation. People have worked harder and harder and harder, for longer and longer and longer, and they\u2019ve got less and less and less in return. The rules of this economy are killing us and the climate necessary for life on Earth as we know it. That\u2019s not hyperbole. Our soil is poisoned. Our air is poisoned. Our politics is becoming twisted and toxic and poisoned. The economy that this Government champions is just a set of rules that privilege immense greed at the expense of everything and everyone that we love.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe can afford to fix our infrastructure and our hospitals and our schools, and build a climate-safe future. We cannot afford to allow the super wealthy to siphon off the hard work of everyone else, where just 119 households now sit atop a treasure pile worth more than everything owned by 2 million New Zealanders; where billionaires can afford lawyers to fight community and conservationists to try and get another helicopter pad, while kids are going hungry. Instead, imagine an Aotearoa where people don\u2019t have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet; where there is time for family and the things that we all love; where we understand that without nature, there is no economy; where catching up with a friend in a different city or town doesn\u2019t mean selling an arm and a leg to get on a plane, but an adventure on a train network that our country prides itself in; where, regardless of where you are born in this country, you get the best possible start in life through the highest-quality early childhood education because we made a decision to fund it just like we do our public schools; where we decided that everyone\u2019s basic need for a doctor or a dentist is actually a non-negotiable because no one deserves to be in pain and all of us deserve the ability to get well and to contribute to our communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s not rocket science. Plenty of other countries have made these kinds of decisions. Once upon a time, before it was infected by sad fairy tales of greed at all costs, this place used to make those kinds of decisions too. That is how you build a country\u2014by realising that we all need each other; that we\u2019re not 5 million random, isolated individuals all running around in competition with each other, but that we can work together to create things that no one person can ever do alone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EDemocracy doesn\u2019t work when it\u2019s just fancy people in here, arguing back and forward amongst each other. This year, more than ever, we want New Zealanders to recognise that every conversation that they get to have with their fellow New Zealanders is an opportunity to start creating the kind of country that we all deserve, to find the things that we have in common, and to start building our world from that basis. My message to those New Zealanders is that you don\u2019t need to know everything, you don\u2019t need to be perfect, but no one is coming to save us. This is so much bigger than just one election. This is about the stories that we are willing to believe and the country that we build on those foundations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo believe this Government when it tells you that it is focused on profit at all costs, and believe me when I say that if I can achieve just one thing in my time in this place, it is for regular New Zealanders to understand their power, to believe in themselves and in the Aotearoa that we can create if\u2014and only if\u2014we dare to believe in each other.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis Government, like the emperor, is naked. They have nothing but their trickle-down fairy tales that they are begging New Zealanders to believe. We can instead believe in upholding the dignity of everyone and the health of our planet. From that place, we can act. Bring on 7 November. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226e1ef2baa19e4b8b9dc9ee8604ae7dba\u0022 data-id=\u00228e23074dddc490ee01d19eab6445abc5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ef2baa19e4b8b9dc9ee8604ae7dba\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228e23074dddc490ee01d19eab6445abc5\u0022\u003EHon DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader\u2014ACT) (15:30)\u003C/span\u003E: My favourite part of that speech\u2014and let\u2019s be honest, there wasn\u2019t a lot, but the last bit, \u201Cwe can act\u201D, I thought was quite good. Actually, the ACT Party caucus was having a bit of a sweepstake: was that speech written in business class or on ChatGPT? I can\u2019t tell you the odds, but someone made a bit of money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMr Speaker, I want to welcome you and my parliamentary colleagues, Nicola Willis, and fellow leaders in the coalition Government, back to Parliament, and, of course, my ACT colleagues. We have an enormous amount of work to do. There are those who will promise that if they\u2019re in power, everything is perfect, and yet if they\u2019re out of power, only months later New Zealand turns into some sort of existential hellhole. I think New Zealanders are smart enough to know that it\u2019s not quite like that. What you actually have is a group of people implementing policies to make this a better place for all of us, and we should be judged on the progress that we\u2019re making in doing it. I want to spend a bit of time in this speech talking about why I\u2019m proud to lead a political party, ACT, that is part of this Government that is taking on the real challenges and making good progress in doing it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to start with a set of values. A lot of people will have stories from their summer holidays, and I remember one from many summers ago where I did something I hope every New Zealander will do at some point. I stood at Cape Reinga and looked out at 10,000 kilometres of Pacific Ocean. There\u2019s something about that moment that tells you something about being a Kiwi, because you realise just how brave wave after wave of settlers had to be to choose New Zealand, to choose to come to this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI remember asking somebody once, \u201CDo you think that your ancestors really wanted to be here?\u201D This person told me a story. Her family tried to come from England to New Zealand, but they were shipwrecked on an island in the Indian Ocean. Only two family members survived. They found themselves eating birds and whatever they could scrounge together until they were rescued by people who were sort of on the edge of the piracy movement, shall we say. But they did eventually manage to get themselves back to England. Now, this conversation took place in Auckland, so you can probably guess what they did. They scrounged together a few pennies and they got on the next boat to New Zealand, and their descendants are Kiwis to this day.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMany New Zealanders have a story like that\u2014admittedly, not every one quite as out there as that one. But if we wanted a story that united us\u2014that we are each settlers or descendants of settlers who\u2019ve taken a big risk to make our home in these islands and to give our children a better tomorrow\u2014then it\u2019s a pretty good one, and it comes from our geography. I saw it one summer standing at Cape Reinga looking at 10,000 kilometres of ocean.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s also a story that tells us something about ourselves: that we\u2019re not people who just lie back and take it. We are pioneers. We are adventurous. We want to make tomorrow better than today through our own efforts. I heard from people like that all through this summer: a five-year-old girl, just got her uniform, excited about starting school for the first time\u2014I\u2019m not sure that excitement will continue for the whole 13 years, based on my experience, but right now she\u2019s absolutely pumped; somebody who\u2019s just started a new business, and it\u2019s going so well that their goal for the first quarter is to take on their third employee; or a tradie who was supposed to be coming to fix someone\u2019s roof, and they said, \u201CLook, mate, I\u2019m snowed, but I can have a look at it in May.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAll of these stories remind me of something about New Zealand: that the spirit that brought us to these islands is still there. All through our lives, we strive to make tomorrow better than today. That\u2019s the New Zealand that I think we can be proud of. Remember, I haven\u2019t mentioned when your ancestors got here or which wave of settlers. We all have it. It unites us, and it unites us in having the ability and the power to act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat is the thing that sometimes holds us back? It\u2019s that zero-sum thinking. It\u2019s that tall-poppy culture. It\u2019s that thought that if only we could pull down someone else, our problems would go away. We heard this in Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick\u2019s speech. There\u2019s two kinds of people: there\u2019s people who, when they find slugs in their bathroom, they clean their bathroom, Chl\u00F6e, and then there\u2019s people, as she said, who start giving names to the slugs in their bathroom. At least there are no slugs in the bathrooms on business class, are there, Chl\u00F6e?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe face a choice in this country. Are we to be a positive-sum society where we\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002296742c17e180829af6355654c73c7d4f\u0022\u003EHon Dr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ef2baa19e4b8b9dc9ee8604ae7dba\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022de58fcfffbc76e8343bd8860aee77528\u0022\u003EHon DAVID SEYMOUR\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, here we go.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d86716a603c676ae19a53b96c17210b0\u0022\u003EHon Dr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: Just that the member was not\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222c2bef0520046c22e8336c76b37512af\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Just a moment. I haven\u2019t called the member.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226e7972e0ca7994d3ca8837592467c0e1\u0022\u003EHon Dr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, I\u2019m sorry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a2d138cbb839455d9754acbe91a75102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226c9e9a6ab9190e7ee1f7afceac5b7c8d\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, the Hon Deborah Russell.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c37e719a05b61c37c0efdb209a85ecae\u0022\u003EHon Dr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s just that the honourable member was not referring to this honourable member by her full name, as is required in this House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ef2baa19e4b8b9dc9ee8604ae7dba\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002235b4d111b3d142e480b68fdbe2e54280\u0022\u003EHon DAVID SEYMOUR\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, I would like to refer to Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick by her full name, and Deborah Russell, I think it is, who is taking on the big issues. I mean, you can imagine the disappointment of Chris Hipkins back in his office thinking, \u201COh man, I\u2019m trying to climb Mount Everest, and this is my Tenzing.\u201D It can\u2019t be too encouraging, can it? The only good thing I can say is that the tax students at Massey are much better taught these days. That\u2019s the one big improvement that we can point to with Deborah Russell.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBack to this Government and our efforts to improve this society, drawing on the values and the qualities that have made this country what it is. One of the things that we have to do is save money and deliver public services more efficiently. I\u2019m proud to work with our finance Minister, Nicola Willis, because we have saved literally tens of billions of dollars in two Budgets, and we\u2019ve got another one coming this May that I\u2019m quite sure will save even more.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhy does that matter? For the simple reason that when the Government sucks up money, it is really sucking up resources. When the Government borrows money, it\u2019s competing for the funds that people are borrowing to invest in their business and to buy their first home. When the Government wastes less, very simply, the people eat more. So to be part of a Government that is wrestling down record deficits, that is wrestling down enormous interest payments\u2014nearly $10 billion a year, just paying the interest on the debt those guys borrowed\u2014I know that we are ensuring that the poor will eat more because the Government is wasting less.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s little things, like making sure that we can deliver the school lunch programme with the same return rate as Labour\u2019s programme but at half the price. I see there are members indignant about this. Ask the children not what they think but what they do, and they send them back no more than they did under Labour\u2019s programme, but we\u2019re spending half as much money. Now, if every MP on the Opposition side saved as much money as I saved with that one initiative, we would very nearly be back in surplus. The problem is we\u2019re in deficit because they have the opposite effect when in power, and that\u2019s why we must keep them right there.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve done the sums as an ACT Party, and we calculate that if you gave your party vote to ACT in 2023, then the savings of ACT Ministers and policies on your behalf is $57,000 per voter. Now, that\u2019s a pretty powerful party vote for ACT, saving $57,000 from the taxpayer. If you really care about that five-year-old starting school and the wider young generation in this country, then you will stop borrowing on their account, which is what \u201Cirresponsible spending\u201D means. That\u2019s the point I make to New Zealanders under 40 in this country: you will be paying far more debt off than those over 40, so if you care about the future of this country, you\u2019ll balance the books and make a careful use of taxpayer funding. I\u2019m proud to say that our party and this Government is making an enormous contribution to saving for the next generation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf we want to make life more affordable, then we\u2019ve got to reduce the amount of time tied up in red tape. I see here Chris Bishop, and I see Simon Court; these guys are heroes. If they can halve the number of resource consents applied for in this country and add $3 billion a year to GDP simply by saying, \u201CLook, if you want to get activity on your own property and it doesn\u2019t harm anyone else, you don\u2019t need a consent anymore, because it\u2019s not anyone else\u2019s business.\u201D\u2014if we could just put that simple, common-sense principle into law, then we can really get cooking with gas in this country. That is how you save money and ensure that our society becomes wealthier. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat is an enormous bit of progress, and I\u2019m proud to say that resource management reform based on property rights is a change the ACT can proudly claim to have driven. But you see it in anti-money laundering, the bane of the existence not so much of drug dealers and criminals\u2014I understand they don\u2019t like it\u2014but ordinary people just trying to go about organising their affairs. Nicole McKee is fixing that, just as Brooke van Velden fixes the Holidays Act so that people can get paid the right amount.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIsn\u2019t it interesting\u2014the Labour Party, how often do they get in behind Brooke van Velden ensuring that workers will get paid the right amount? Do you hear any praise? Do you hear any positivity? Of course you don\u2019t, but Brooke van Velden is doing it. She\u2019s fixing employment law so that if, for example, you sexually harass someone in the workplace and you get fired, you can\u2019t then take a claim against your employer on a technicality. That\u2019s been the disgraceful reality of unbalanced employment law that Brooke van Velden is fixing so that businesses can get on with actually producing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThen we talk about those rental ones. If they\u2019re Green voters, they\u2019re busy naming their slugs, we\u2019ve just heard from the Green Party. We have ensured that rents are down in real terms. And how have we done that? Well, first of all, we\u2019ve applied the most\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229340db0d6051493982fc3db81fee975a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022902ff0eed74b7c24e038cf5aeec609f5\u0022\u003EChl\u00F6e Swarbrick\u003C/span\u003E: People are leaving the country!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226e1ef2baa19e4b8b9dc9ee8604ae7dba\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002219b1c99d86eba0a85a4ce9a23c24fe92\u0022\u003EHon DAVID SEYMOUR\u003C/span\u003E: Well, Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick says people are leaving the country. If she thinks that\u2019s the answer, she should join them. That\u2019ll be the most popular thing she\u2019s ever done.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat we have done, in actual fact, is applied the same principles of tax law to rental property as any other business: interest is an expense and you can deduct it from your income for tax purposes. There\u2019s no magic, and it\u2019s not a tax cut for landlords, any more than putting tax on cigarettes is a tax on dairy owners. Most taxes, in the end, fall on the end user, and in the case of taxing rental property, the tax was falling on the people trying to rent homes in an inelastic market. That\u2019s why getting rid of that tax has ensured that rents have fallen in real terms. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo has reforming the Residential Tenancies Act: reforming the Residential Tenancies Act as though landlords might actually be the property owner, meaning that they can actually get rid of someone troublesome\u2014well, that\u2019s actually ensured that people are more willing to enter the market, and, ironically, tenants have more choice. This is how a real market works in a society where people are trying to make a difference in their own lives and asking, \u201CHow can we make tomorrow better than today?\u201D, rather than asking the Government to solve every problem.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve also ensured that actually producing a buck is easier, too, because that\u2019s the other side of being able to afford things. Yes, we\u2019ve dealt with taxes and red tape and regulation, making it easier to build homes and rent it out, making it easier to build supermarkets so that people can have a more affordable life in this country\u2014that\u2019s all true. We have done all of that, but we\u2019ve also made it easier to deduct your tax when you buy a new plant and equipment in your business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019re also systematically dismantling the red tape and the regulation, such as the significant natural areas. We\u2019ve got rid of the climate policy that would have driven sheep and beef farmers out of business so production could happen overseas, to the benefit of foreign farmers who emit more than hard-working and efficient New Zealand ones. We\u2019ve also ensured that people are going to be able to work as contractors and have clarity about how that contract works\u2014again, Brooke van Velden, making it easier to do business. These are just some of the things that this Government is doing, in the spirit of our founding and our origin story as a country, to make it easier for people to provide for themselves and spend less time paying taxes that the Government waste and complying with rules that don\u2019t actually make the boat go faster. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s no point being able to afford your groceries if someone nicks them on the way home. In this country, we, for too long, tried an experiment that was almost too stupid to be true. But remember who was in power at the time. They decided that, if only we were kinder to criminals and we waited long enough, eventually they would be kind back. See, the others have kind of moved on, but Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, they are still continuing on in this vein. I saw the other day\u2014I thought this must be artificial intelligence, they must be using the same apps as Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick writes her speeches with\u2014they had something on their Facebook that said, \u201CTe P\u0101ti M\u0101ori will get rid of prisons.\u201D I thought to myself, (1) why would they do that when M\u0101ori are the biggest victims of crime? And (2) are they going to get rid of the prisons for everyone? Would they release the Christchurch terrorist? I\u2019d love to hear the M\u0101ori Party member get up and answer that question. Would they let a white supremacist murderer out of prison as part of their policy, or are there some standards? And if there are, why don\u2019t they use them to protect everybody else who is a victim of sexual and violent crime in this society? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat this Government\u2019s done\u2014and Nicole McKee\u2019s here\u2014is we\u2019ve reintroduced three strikes. She\u2019s also ensured a 20 percent drop in the time taken to get through the criminal courts, because justice delayed is justice denied. There\u2019s far more coming where that was. We\u2019ve seen a 16 percent drop in youth crime. Karen Chhour has shown it is possible to run an Oranga Tamariki (OT) facility without KFC. That\u2019s right, OT without KFC is what this Government is delivering with our Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. Incidents and assaults in those facilities have gone down because she set some basic rules, and because she cares. Karen Chhour has been to all 58, I believe\u2014or very close, already\u2014Oranga Tamariki facilities, because, for once, we have somebody who embodies that story of suffering at the bottom of the system and rising to the top to fix it for all the others. That, for me, is a true New Zealand hero in Karen Chhour.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe can now evict people from K\u0101inga Ora (KO) if they are harassing their neighbours. Imagine those basic values that, if the State gives someone a house at a significant discount, they actually have to be kind to the rest of the community, because they\u2019re benefiting from this community spirit. It may seem normal and commonsensical to many people, but it was not the norm\u2014where, as an electorate MP, I\u2019d hear people abused to within an inch of their life; people doing unmentionable things that could get me kicked out of Parliament if I told you what they were, Mr Speaker. Now, if they do it, they get kicked out, because guess what? There\u2019s other people waiting in the queue, and that queue is shrinking because KO is finally being managed competently.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAll of these policies\u2014and I\u2019ve just been giving you a small selection; really, just the ones that have come into mind as I\u2019ve been speaking to you\u2014are all grounded in the most basic set of values. That set of values outlines the difference between this side of the House and that side of the House. On this side of the House, we believe in that origin story: that if we hadn\u2019t made a brave journey and we, our ancestors, hadn\u2019t settled here, we wouldn\u2019t be here. We wouldn\u2019t be Kiwis. Therefore, what it means to be a Kiwi is to have ambition, to be adventurous, to be a pioneer, to believe that life isn\u2019t like bad weather; we can change it through our actions and our choices; to believe that we can choose a brighter future; we can fix the things that matter and find ourselves in the greatest little country on earth. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s all going to depend on asking who has acted with integrity, who is being consistent on the policies, not just in the last year, in many cases for the last 10 years. When others may have taken one or two or more positions on the same issue in the same period, the ACT Party has advanced these values: that each Kiwi has the right and the obligation to make a difference in their own life. Year after year, speech after speech, debate after debate, and, quietly, as I stand here today, after two years in Government, I\u2019m reminded of another great Kiwi saying or song, and it\u2019s this: I feel as we go into 2026 \u201CNow we\u2019re getting somewhere\u201D. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022 data-id=\u0022e7abea3415b10b8fd541186dd65a70fd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e7abea3415b10b8fd541186dd65a70fd\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader\u2014NZ First) (15:51)\u003C/span\u003E: This marks the first address in the House for this year, being election year, and after two years of us in Government trying to turn the mess around that we were left with by the previous Government. We then watched the Labour and Green party leaders rise to their feet and there we were thinking to ourselves, this will be a time for focus, for imagination, for visionary experiences that evince confidence when the public hears it, where the public thinks to themselves, \u201CThese people know what they\u2019re talking about because they\u2019ve actually been there before. They understand how business works and how society works.\u201D It\u2019s a moment for great inspiration where you stand back and you say to yourself, \u201CThank heavens we\u2019re in politics.\u201D So this is inspiring in the extreme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000207\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EUnfortunately, that didn\u2019t happen today. In fact, depressing\u2014extraordinarily depressing today. It reminded me, particularly when they both finished their speeches, of a singing group called Status Quo who had a song that went like this: \u201CWhatever you want, whatever you like, you pay your money, you make your choice, whatever you need.\u201D And over and over again, that\u2019s what they said. No explanation of their appalling management of the economy when they were all by themselves. The fact that they ran the second most rigid COVID response all by themselves, and we\u2019re still recovering from it. A large part of our institutions in this country are still recovering from the second most rigid application of the COVID rules of any country on earth. They think they can walk away and say, \u201CBecause we left you with these massive debts, that somehow in the next 24 months you should have turned it all around.\u201D That\u2019s how numb they are of the facts. There are few people there that know how to run the school tuck shop. It shows in the way they speak. If you deny that, put your hand up and tell me who you are. What\u2019s your record of making money\u2014private money\u2014when you put it all on the line yourself? Hands up. Come on, tell me, what\u2019s your experience? Not a murmur, not a mutter, not a syllable, not a sound. Out there, you people who are voting, when you\u2019re watching, ask yourself this: \u201CWell, if that\u2019s their record, how will they handle my money?\u201D That\u2019s the critical thinking we have to be concerned about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First has played an integral part in this Government. It\u2019s not been easy because there have been massively serious, inherited problems in so many areas, and we did it on the back of a huge pandemic that we had to get on top of, having paid the price for rash decisions and lockdowns that didn\u2019t work. That\u2019s the record analysis of the rest of the world. So why aren\u2019t we saying it at our time in history right now?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere have been a number of major achievements, though, that we\u2019ve made over the past two years and there are many more to come over the next 12 months. Can I just mention some things that we are dealing with as a political party. We\u2019ve got, for example, Shane Jones and his portfolios where he\u2019s got a marvellous record, second to none in being a \u201Ccan do\u201D Minister. That is, not talking, getting out there and do things over and over and over again. And all of a sudden in the debate today, we realise we\u2019ve heard of some climatic disasters and they\u2019re starting to look back and say, \u201CWell, who spent what, where, and when?\u201D Oh, they\u2019re not saying that the Provincial Growth Fund was a waste of money anymore, are they? All of a sudden they\u2019re saying that that might have been a brilliant idea. In fact, \u201CIt\u2019s a brilliant idea, can you help us going forward?\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWell, we\u2019d like to say, \u201CWell, if you had three times the money, we\u2019d do three times as much.\u201D But that\u2019s for after the next election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022456a882f34fc52b7c79307827d692fab\u0022\u003EHon Judith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: I need my defence\u2014defence. Don\u2019t take my defence money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002263984d03e9268a6c49f1c277c44c9b6f\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Well, we\u2019re very proud, Minister, of defence and our support for defence because we understand the need, when we\u2019re out in the real world, to walk amongst people who don\u2019t look over our shoulder and think we\u2019re all bull dust\u2014who look over our shoulder and say, \u201CYou\u2019re worth listening to because you\u2019re part of the solution; you\u2019re not part of the problem.\u201D That\u2019s the difference. I\u2019m having this marvellous moment now\u2014that you\u2019ve given me the deviation at the moment\u2014to have some poor Ministers of foreign affairs and others banging on about what we should have said with respect, for example, Afghanistan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAfghanistan was a case where we were there, we may have been associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) but we weren\u2019t part of NATO. If we were to respond, then the Minister of Defence, the Hon Judith Collins, was the right one to respond. That\u2019s what a methodical, organised Government looks like. And she did. Why she did so much that it was in yesterday\u2019s \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EHerald\u003C/span\u003E editorial on the very day that he was opening his mouth and letting the wind blowing his tongue around\u2014right? On the very day you\u2019re saying, this was in \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThe New Zealand Herald\u003C/span\u003E. But out there in the mainstream media, would they say, Mr Goff, excuse me, don\u2019t you not know that? Do you not know you\u2019ve got a Minister of Defence?\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat was her job to do the job, as the Prime Minister recognised, and as I recognised, and there he is, banging away, Mr Goff. And my question to Mr Goff is: \u201CHow do you think Hipkins feels?\u201D He\u2019s meant to be the leader of the Labour Party. We know he\u2019s not, of course, but how do you think he feels? Or if you\u2019re the foreign affairs spokesperson, how do you feel when he\u2019s banging on about those issues? Or if you\u2019re like Ayesha Verrall, spokesperson for health, how does she feel? My question to the mainstream media is: why don\u2019t you get off your broad half acre and ask them how they feel, because that\u2019s what real politics is about?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut back to the other achievements. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002244fecaf706e81c984b4821ac7fe61fc8\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: More, more!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220934eb9ef15a741e7b8003281be9c956\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Well, sometimes you\u2019ve got to be thinking, you know, here we are in 2026, you\u2019d think we surely have made progress in politics because we\u2019ve got all these new utilities, we\u2019ve even got artificial intelligence now. But no, the game\u2019s got worse. The polls are unreadable; they\u2019re unimaginable. They\u2019re all over the place. There\u2019re gaps of 14 percent sometimes in the polls and no one\u2019s saying to each other that this is not good for a first world democracy. Let\u2019s sort things out.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EThe point really is: we\u2019ve taken serious portfolios and my colleagues have done a great job, portfolio after portfolio and spokesperson after spokesperson. The reality is that New Zealanders out there are beginning to understand that. But in just one year, we sorted out the previous Government\u2019s $4.2 billion farce when it came to the Cook Strait ferries. They were charged with going out and spending $401 million and buying two ferries. Now the man from Palmerston North over there, Tangi Utikere, who\u2019s now looking away in shame, he\u2019s been the spokesperson taking me on, and I\u2019m here to give him an answer today. They were charged by me in May of 2020 to buy two ferries for $401 million\u2014that\u2019s what I inherited. They were buying two ferries all right, but the cost of the ferries was less than 20 percent of the total cost because they went and bought two massive, big ferries and they had no infrastructure. So 80 percent of the cost was going to be blown on the infrastructure which would have taken five or six years to build for ferries that size. That\u2019s what I inherited. And now my question to the mainstream media and half the darn unionists in this country is: can\u2019t you understand economic facts? We\u2019re going to save you $2.3 billion at least.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb80a9df83044b88a00c174ea7a61925\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a20e14bf69e8b34d33fd8a0fb79d9b39\u0022\u003ETangi Utikere\u003C/span\u003E: Really?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223b86aea6c5ee3807fd34912856775c2a\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, really. You know, maybe more, actually\u2014maybe more. I\u2019ve got some good news for you. I\u2019ve been to China, to the shipyard, and their enthusiasm knows no bounds. I think we\u2019re going to be early with the arrival of these ships, and our job is to get the infrastructure ready. We\u2019re going to surprise you, and guess why? Because this party\u2019s backed by people of experience. This is not our first shipbuilding exercise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn fact, as Judith Collins will tell you, we\u2019re out there buying ships, buying planes, ordering these things, unlike these amateur-hour people who\u2019d come to step up to do the job and no one says to themselves, \u201CHow will they go when they pace all these civil servants who\u2019ve been around 10, 20, 30 years; will they be walked all over? Well, of course they get walked all over. That\u2019s why they make these dramatic, terrible mistakes. You\u2019ve got a man called Renney coming into Parliament. He\u2019s going to be your new superstar. He was Grant Robertson\u2019s economic adviser. He had a code word which was \u201CB and H\u201D. It\u2019s not \u201CB\u201D for what you think it might be\u2014but it should have been\u2014it was \u201CBorrow and Hope\u201D. That\u2019s all he had to offer. I know; I was there. I was staggered by things when I saw the economic plans being laid out, because they had no idea where it was all going and what, in time, it would all cost. Worse still, they had no idea that expenditure these days has got to be something that will last 30, 40, or 50 years; whether it\u2019s infrastructure or whether it\u2019s people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe educate young people to be great citizens and productive earners for the country, and we make sure our health system understands that, so that they can be productive for the country. We make sure people get a fair go and live longer and work longer, because they have been great for the country. We have a system of understanding on this side of the House, and it\u2019s based on realpolitik, not dreaming theory out of Massey University. We don\u2019t want sociological claptrap running our country. Most of those people can\u2019t even turn the toast around in the toaster properly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhile rail was woefully mismanaged, things are back on track. We\u2019ve even ensured that rail made a serious profit last year. The railways are back on track, heaving logs, dairy, grains, cement, and, yes, Shane Jones, coal. Ever heard of GDP? Ever heard of jobs? Well, that\u2019s what we\u2019re about. You\u2019re looking at a party of realpolitik.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221ac7053806d9725fab70c321b0f404b2\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Hear, hear!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a283d4d17b1220226832ffa875221cc7\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: You like that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022286cbdf0ebb2dbfdd7d1cbe58121e7ec\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Hear, hear! Hear, hear! Hear, hear! Reality\u2014reality!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf9e1eb91ef740868a26db659355f7e9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002224204a44c2237641cef8d790adc2c18b\u0022\u003ERt Hon WINSTON PETERS\u003C/span\u003E: Not \u201CLight-rail Labour\u201D, \u201CTradies-on-push-bikes Greens\u201D and the h\u012Bkoi, \u201Ccar-koi\u201D show ponies in the M\u0101ori Party. No, we\u2019re talking about real transport, and, this year, you\u2019ll see major advances after years of hard work. The Auckland City Rail Link\u2014hallelujah everybody\u2014is going to open before the general election. Years of work to ready our largest population centre for a better public transport system will finally pay off. On Thursday, the line reopens after\u2014that\u2019s this Thursday\u2014the last many weeks long closure because we\u2019ve been out rebuilding the best part of the network from the ground up. Sixty-six new freight locomotives\u2014I\u2019m going to say this really slowly; 66 new freight locomotives\u2014will arrive from Spain, replacing the entire South Island fleet of almost 50-year-old locos\u2014that\u2019s locomotives, not Labour Party supporters\u2014and some of the poor performing locomotives in the North Island. Freight keeping on schedule is everything, and reliable assets like this will boost KiwiRail\u2019s performance.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe don\u2019t dream up utopia in puffs of smoke; we talk to the workers, the unions, the freighters, the commuters and get the infrastructure built. What we\u2019re building will be around in 50 to 100 years from now. We\u2019re taking up where Bogle left off with the same sense of inspiration. He built more in 10 years than the next 130 years, and he did it with horse and carts. Now, we\u2019ve gotten more advanced than that, but we\u2019re getting back to make sure that we\u2019ve got great alternative transport in this country, because as the Mainfreight head said to me one day, \u201CWinston, rebuilding railways is a no-brainer\u2014it\u2019s important.\u201D Last year, the Auckland electric network was extended to Pukekohe, and the third main line was built at the busiest junction of the whole network. These are just two of the projects we started in 2020. Others talked about it, but we did it. I mentioned the two ferries, so I won\u2019t mention that again, because we\u2019ve got to move on. We\u2019ll spend no more than $1.7 billion on the ferries and port infrastructure. That is $2.3 billion less than the Labour project had got to. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to make sure you understand this as well: our thanks go to the Interislander\u2019s crew for their dedication. Over Christmas\u2014it was the other freight company that failed\u2014they had a staggering success rate, over that period, at 100 percent reliability. When did you ever hear us, anywhere in railways and the ferries, getting that sort of performance? That was their performance over Christmas, and I salute them. We need them to do that. They moved 52,000 passengers and 17,000 vehicles. What\u2019s more; we\u2019re proud of the engineering heritage that goes behind that too. By the way, we\u2019ve saved the Matarua Railway Station. It\u2019s a long way from Wellington, I know, in the deep South, but it\u2019s an icon that needed to be saved with a little bit of money and a bit of inspiration and an understanding that, long term, it\u2019ll be great for the Southland economy as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, on foreign affairs, well, we\u2019ve repeatedly said over the last two years that we are in the most difficult, complex, and challenging times of the last 80 years, and being careful matters. I know there are those out there who want to protest and shout and scream and virtue signal and say things, and at the end of the day, the next question is: how will they change anything or advance anybody\u2019s cause anywhere in the world? The answer is they have not. We have been very careful. Of course we believe in multilateralism, of course we believe in the rule of law, but I want to remind some people who have been spouting on about the rule of law that for the rule of the law to operate properly and it be of any sense and value to the world, historically and today, then it has to be enforced. That\u2019s axiomatic. Don\u2019t people understand that? If you want to defend a terrorist called Maduro fromVenezuela\u2014in the economy that was the number one in South America and is now being run broke by a terrorist\u2014who had $15 million placed on his head by Joe Biden when he was the president of the United States, and in the closing two weeks before he left, he put another $10 million on top of his head, so it was $25 million. When Joe Biden did that, none of these people said a word\u2014not a mutter, not a murmur, not a syllable, not a sound\u2014until somebody else did it. You see their kind of politics? Their politics are hypocritical in the extreme. It\u2019s not consistent. Would I support Maduro not having that happen to him? Of course not. He is a terrorist and appalling for his own people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the end, our job as a country\u2014way out here in the South Pacific, just north of the penguins, but one of only nine democracies since 1854 with a proud record\u2014is to watch ourselves, be careful, and ensure every decision and everything we do and everything we say advances the collective interests of the New Zealand people and, in doing so, the collective interests of our front yard, almost one-third of the Pacific, the blue continent, our Pacific neighbours. We\u2019re out there, ladies and gentlemen, going as hard as we possibly can. We\u2019ve been to every Pacific Islands Forum country now. It hasn\u2019t been easy. We\u2019re only one short, and we would have been to all of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations\u2014we\u2019ve only got Brunei to go. Our point is that New Zealand was always a country whose destiny relied upon our success internationally as a trading nation, and we\u2019re doing our best in foreign affairs to back other Ministers to advance this country\u2019s cause.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBack to the point about today\u2019s debate: that was staggering. There have been times when Mr Brownlee\u2014oh, sorry, I can\u2019t bring the Speaker into this, but I know he will understand what I\u2019m saying\u2014there are some times when the Opposition rises and you think \u201CActually, I don\u2019t like our chances come the next election.\u201D Well, this wasn\u2019t one of those occasions. I thought our chances just went that way after that performance because if that\u2019s the best they can do, I can see why some of them are retiring. A lot more are going to retire before the next election. Now, if I can speak to them about a job in the future and that might help with their retirement, then feel free to give me a call. We\u2019ve got lots of jobs we still might need people with experience to have. But nothing\u2019s more miserable in this game than to come into Parliament knowing that if you\u2019ve got this leadership, the team, the management, and the plan that you can win and have to say to yourselves, \u201CI\u2019ll be going all the way till 7 November 2026, and the day after, things will look all the same\u201D. Alas and alack, that\u2019s what you\u2019re facing if you\u2019re in the Opposition, but over this side of the House, our job is to recognise that we\u2019re the only group of parties that can do better for this country and get on and do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226b99476d584f47b19420b8154e6947dc\u0022 data-id=\u002291131f012a4deb4dee719b008fad2797\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226b99476d584f47b19420b8154e6947dc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002291131f012a4deb4dee719b008fad2797\u0022\u003EHon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance) (16:09)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, Parliamentary colleagues: happy New Year. 2026 is going to be a very busy year for this Parliament because, as representatives of the New Zealand people, we have a lot of work to do to make their lives better, to fix the very basics in their life\u2014ensuring that we have inflation under control, that interest rates are manageable, ensuring that our police have the powers they need to arrest those creating crime, ensuring our education system is educating people. But more than that, we also need to build a future for this country that addresses longstanding problems that too many in this Parliament have lamented and too few have dug deep to address. We do so against the backdrop of a world that is more volatile, certainly, than it has been in my time in Parliament.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs we embark on this task, and as the Prime Minister\u2019s statement sets out, we have an extremely busy work agenda. I caution colleagues on the other side of the House not to take New Zealanders for fools, to credit them with the intelligence to know the difference between, on the one hand, beautifully describing a problem\u2014which is what \u201Chapless Hipkins\u201D is an expert in\u2014and, on the other side, actually coming up with solutions and actions that address those problems. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI will tell you what I heard from our Opposition colleague: what he said was \u201CI want every New Zealander not to worry about the bills.\u201D Well, guess what, mate? We all do. \u201CI want foreign leaders not to say things I disagree with.\u201D Well, precious son, welcome back to the Auckland University debating club. \u201CI want our country to be better.\u201D Well, I\u2019ll tell you what, Mr Hipkins, Kiwis are smarter than that. They look to the people in this House not to simply say, \u201CYou know what, we want more people in jobs.\u201D, but to say how they\u2019re going to do that. They want to hear more than, \u201COh, and some people don\u2019t have savings.\u201D Well, how are you going to increase their savings? They want to not hear absolute contradictions within the same speech. Did you hear it? He discovered numbers over the break and he went and he read a few Budget documents and here\u2019s what he said: \u201CTurns out we\u2019ve got to do something about the debt.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWell, welcome to my world, Chris Hipkins. This is the same leader who spent the past two years opposing every single savings initiative put forward by this side of the House. \u201COh no, just spend the money.\u201D, he said. He\u2019s also discovered, over the break, this thing called inflation. Well, you know what, colleagues, this is where we\u2019ve got to take New Zealanders seriously because what Mr Hipkins has illustrated is that he has not learnt his lesson. Because New Zealanders well remember the generational high of inflation that occurred on his watch: 7.3 percent, colleagues; more than double what it is today. Colleagues well remember that wasn\u2019t a blip. Oh no, that wasn\u2019t one quarter; that was sustained\u2014those out of target inflation rates, price increases\u2014for three years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000237\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, what Mr Hipkins wants you to believe is, \u201COh, no, no, no, I\u2019ll be better next time.\u201D I put this to you, colleagues: how can he be better next time when he\u2019s offering the same prescription? And what\u2019s the prescription, colleagues? It\u2019s pretty simple. What you do is you spend more, you borrow it more, and then you tax more. That is literally the full description of the Labour Party policy agenda so far. No plan from \u201Chapless Hipkins\u201D, simply platitudes that, frankly, would be better in a Hallmark card. Next he\u2019ll be saying I want to wipe every tear from every eye.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe need to do better than that. Let\u2019s talk about actual reform and what it looks like. It looks like the fast-track legislation which is creating jobs across the country as we speak. Well, he opposed that. It looks like the tax relief that is still going into New Zealanders\u2019 bank accounts today, that he opposes while also saying he wishes they had more money. It looks like the Investment Boost tax policy which encourages firms to invest in the growth of their own businesses. Just watch my words. That one will be on the scrapheap. Never saw tax relief he could agree with. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt looks like rates caps\u2014so that New Zealanders who are being slaughtered by their rates bills actually can look to a future in which local government gets that under control. Well, guess what else he opposes? He doesn\u2019t like that one either. You\u2019ll be sensing a theme, Mr Speaker. I\u2019ll tell you what else it looks like; it looks like replacing the red-tape nightmare that is the Resource Management Act and sorting that out. Well, we\u2019ll see where they get to on that. It looks like setting tangible targets for our health system, saying to them: instead of on things like opposing a McDonald\u2019s in W\u0101naka, we\u2019d like you to do more hip operations. Well, guess what? Labour opposes health targets, too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt looks like fixing our education system, ensuring that when my kids are at school, what they actually get now is a maths textbook and instruction on a clear curriculum of knowledge. Actually, he was the education Minister who oversaw a period in New Zealand where educational achievement declined. If he truly cares about those with the least privilege\u2014those from the poorest homes\u2014how does he look himself in the mirror knowing he robbed them of the basics of education, that should be a God-given right in this country?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWell, we\u2019re not just looking around saying, \u201COh, well, we\u2019ll give boards of trustees some nebulous goals and we\u2019ll do some more tikanga training.\u201D We are ensuring that we are focused on educational achievement, structured literacy, structured numeracy, a clear curriculum, replacing NCEA, proper professional development for teachers. We are fixing the basics. And what have we heard? Oh, Willow-Jean Prime is the spokesperson, so we haven\u2019t heard a thing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is what reform looks like. But I do want to give a bit of caution here, because over summer\u2014and in fact colleagues will have done this and I\u2019ve done it for two years\u2014I talk to what I call my normal friends; you know, the ones who don\u2019t really watch all the news alerts on Stuff, sometimes watch TV, and aren\u2019t obsessed with politics. They\u2019re good people, in fact, we should all hang out with them more often. What they said to me is: \u201CLook, man, oh, man, the past few years just feel like it\u2019s been really tough. First we had COVID and that felt like the worst thing that could ever happen, and then after COVID, we had that time where, like, prices were going up, house prices were exploding, we had that really, really high inflation, my mortgage bill was going up. It was crazy. And then, after that we found that the economy actually went into a downturn and it\u2019s been really hard to dig ourselves out.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThey said to me, \u201CYou know what, I get it. I see what your Government\u2019s doing. Basically, you\u2019re saying there is no free lunch. We need to get the books in order, we do need to make tough choices, and ultimately this economy will grow, and we see it and we hear it, but gosh, we want you to know how hard it is. It really is hard.\u201D So my message to New Zealanders is: we get it, we hear you, but do not let the wool be pulled over your eyes by politicians who only say, \u201CI get it, I hear you, it\u2019s tough, I\u2019ll be nicer.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThey need to come up with ideas, plans, solutions, actions. On the other side, there are none. On this side, there is a burning ambition for reform because we believe in this country\u2019s immense potential. In a world that is unstable, we are safe, we are secure. In a world that wants for natural resources, we feed 40 million people around the world. In a country this small we\u2019ve created world-leading firms: Xero, Halter, Rocket Lab. We\u2019ve got the smartest people. In a world that wants for critical minerals, we have plenty; we just tie them up in red tape. We have the goods to succeed, but we won\u2019t get there by sitting back and lying in the mud of the problem, wallowing in it. Instead, we need to get on, make tough choices, make reforms, take action. That is what this Government is doing, and smart New Zealanders will vote for that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022 data-id=\u0022d2cfd8d2990eecf820d1bd3ba547d96f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d2cfd8d2990eecf820d1bd3ba547d96f\u0022\u003EHon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour) (16:19)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, happy new political year. It\u2019s good to see all of our colleagues back.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EThe opening debate of the political year is on the Prime Minister\u2019s statement. It\u2019s an opportunity for the Government to set out its programme for the year, to cheer itself on a bit. What did we hear from the Minister of Finance\u2019s speech? Well, over half of it spent in attacks on the Opposition. There was no attempt to set out their own programme, no attempt to say what was good about their programme. Instead, it was just a series of, frankly, quite malicious attacks on the Opposition. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222c6463d70604436695b4f49ebe8951ef\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223223eb6eb009c8c2339b4e6878e384b6\u0022\u003EHon Rachel Brooking\u003C/span\u003E: Unsurprising.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b13aa8ffbae34ee4972a7ab313f6b300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f4d59c88a15981da9cdd299b820dac6c\u0022\u003EHon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL\u003C/span\u003E: So\u2014and it\u2019s unsurprising, because the Minister of Finance is failing in her job. She is not doing well. We can tell that by the way that ordinary New Zealanders are doing it tough. Now, let\u2019s recall that Nicola Willis leading into the election in 2023 said that her plans would fix the economy, and, in fact, if her tax plan didn\u2019t work she would resign.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWell, in the pre-election update in 2023, we were predicting that growth would be at 1.7 percent in 2024 and at 2.3 percent in 2025. Nicola Willis\u2019 fix for that: 0.5 percent down in 2024 and 0.6 percent down in 2025. Has she resigned yet?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the pre-election update in 2023, it was said that debt was about 40 percent of GDP. Now, that\u2019s pretty reasonable by world standards. In fact, it\u2019s the level that we can sustain in New Zealand. But Nicola Willis said that was too much and she was going to get debt down. What is it now? It\u2019s at 43 percent. Has she resigned? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENicola Willis told us that we would fix inflation. There\u2019s been some interesting stuff happening with inflation too. Just in the last few days, we found out that inflation has gone up to 3.1 percent. It\u2019s really interesting. Comparing September 2025 to September 2024, inflation was just at 3 percent, but if you dig into the figures, it was actually at 3.046 percent. They were saved by the rounding gods back then.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI dug into the December 2025 figures. Perhaps it was just something to do with the rounding. Perhaps inflation was only just over that 3.05 to round it up to 3.1 percent. No such luck. Between December 2024 and December 2025, inflation was 3.108 percent. Under Nicola Willis\u2019 watch, in the last year, inflation has gone up. She promised\u2014she promised. She said, \u201CI will fix inflation.\u201D She has not done so. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe need to think what that means for ordinary New Zealanders. Those are economists\u2019 figures, and sitting in this House we debate them a lot, but what does it mean when we say that inflation has gone up like that? Well, underlying that is a food crisis. In the last year, a 2-litre bottle of milk has gone up 15.8 percent. It\u2019s now nearly $5 to buy 2 litres of milk. In the last year, meat has gone up 8.2 percent. That means we\u2019re paying more to eat some meat in our meals. We\u2019re a meat-eating nation. That\u2019s what we do. In the last year, bread has gone up 58.3 percent. Those are the Stats New Zealand figures that have come out just in the last week. That\u2019s a huge increase in a basic, a staple that mums rely on when they go to the supermarket to get the bread for the school lunches.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor ordinary New Zealanders, the squeeze on their pockets is real and it\u2019s fascinating to see how that has played out. There was some data out just a few days ago that came out from Stats New Zealand, and Retail New Zealand commented on it. What it showed was that despite a bit of a surge in November, in the black Friday sales, in December, retail spending was down year on year on December 2024. People are scared to spend money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s a little bit more than that, too. The amount spent on credit cards went up. People are reaching into credit to pay for day-to-day expenses, and now retail sales seem to be declining. Our retailers were relying on a good December to get through, but it hasn\u2019t happened. What does that mean? We\u2019re going to see retailers closing. One that spoke a little bit to my heart, because I love crafts, was Minerva here in Wellington\u2014can\u2019t sustain it anymore. They\u2019re closing. That was announced just in the last few days.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe problem is that when a retail business goes, it\u2019s the owner\u2019s income. It\u2019s the people who work there\u2014that\u2019s their income too. That means more families relying on benefits. It means more families who do not have an income. It\u2019s not just a business going out of business; it\u2019s people losing their income, and that squeeze on the back pocket becomes even more real. That is the way that Nicola Willis says she has fixed this economy. She has made a series of choices about this economy and how it will be run. She has made a series of choices that actually have got us into trouble.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EPeople say, \u201CWhy is it like this?\u201D Over on that side of the House, they blame the last Government. Well, frankly, that\u2019s wearing pretty thin. They have been in power for over two years now, and more to the point, they made big promises about fixing it. Have they done so? They have not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThey made a choice to stop building social housing. They carried on with the existing projects, but they stopped all the future ones. What are people working in that industry to do when their pipeline of work is disappearing? Well, they\u2019ve packed up and left.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThey made a choice to fire masses of public servants and that choice has flowed right through into the streets of every town. Particularly in Wellington, we\u2019ve seen businesses closing down, but it happens elsewhere too, because people who do not have money in their back pockets do not spend it in the local shops.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThey made a choice to under-fund the health system, so that people cannot get the treatment they need on a timely basis. Those are all choices that the Government has made and they\u2019ve had the immediate impact on the people who\u2019ve lost their jobs, on the operations that have not been performed, on the homes that have not been built. They\u2019ve had a long-term impact on all of us, and that was their choice.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHere on this side of the House, our focus is on jobs, it is on health, it is on homes, it is on the cost of living. Those are the policies we will be working on this year to ensure that all New Zealanders, not just the rich few, have an opportunity, with a bit of hard work, with a bit of input into their communities, to get ahead, to thrive, to have a roof over their head and food on the table, and the capacity to go out and participate in our society, to enjoy all the great things that New Zealand has to offer.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019re asking New Zealanders to consider this. We\u2019ve got a big task ahead of us to build for the future, to make our country better again, but to do it not just for the few but for the many, to ensure that the Government in this country works for all of us. Whether we live in an isolated settlement in Northland; whether we live in Christchurch, which is flourishing at the moment; whether we live in Wellington or New Plymouth; whether we are a farmer or a builder, a teacher or a nurse, we want to make this country better for all of us.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002233a8db41ad0c4278b7eb829406824bb5\u0022 data-id=\u00228cd9f4a9ac8b8dd54cd098584ef01ca1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002233a8db41ad0c4278b7eb829406824bb5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228cd9f4a9ac8b8dd54cd098584ef01ca1\u0022\u003ESTEVE ABEL (Green) (16:29)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It can be told what somebody values, not only by what they say but by what they choose not to say\u2014not only by what they focus on but by what they ignore, deny, and remain silent on. There is a word glaringly absent from the Prime Minister\u2019s statement and from his state of the nation speech a few days ago: that word is \u201Cenvironment\u201D. The cradle of nature by which our existence is held doesn\u2019t get a mention by this Government. Much of the Prime Minister\u2019s obsession with economic growth contains, implicitly, his commitment to the destruction and sacrifice of the environment for the profits of the few. His Government may have ended the war on landlords, as he put it, but it has declared the war on nature.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister only talks of money\u2014of growing the economy as the highest aim of his Government. He never mentions society, community, the good of the people, or the health of the people\u2014and even in the shadow of another extreme weather event, he doesn\u2019t mention the existential challenge of our generation, climate change. As if we live only in an economy, not in a country in a nation State, he never mentions the founding agreement, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. His ideology is money\u2014the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few, while most people can\u2019t afford to put food on the table. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI sought out the original definition of \u201Coligarchy\u201D from 2,400 years ago, by a gentleman called Plato. He describes the oligarchic character thus: \u201CThe further they go in the process of accumulating wealth, the more they value it and the less they value goodness \u2026 The oligarch is one in whom reason is forbidden to make any calculation or inquiry but how to make more money \u2026 Ambition is forbidden to admire or value anything but wealth and the wealthy or to compete for anything but cash or cash value \u2026 To the money-loving businessman, honour and admiration and office are reserved for the rich, and the poor are despised.\u201D That defines the attitude of this Luxon Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EPerhaps the most glaring example of this Government putting the value of private wealth over goodness is that the newly to be passed primary legislation designed to supposedly protect our environment will now be centred around the protection of private property rights. How glaring an example can you get of the sacrifice of the commons and the common good for private profit? The short-term sugar hit of Aussie mining is more important than the precious species that this Government jokes about sending to extinction. Whether on the Denniston Plateau, or in the beautiful native forests of Coromandel; on the spectacular landscapes of Otago or in the deep ocean of Taranaki or the precious crystal springs of Te Waikoropup\u016B, they shall destroy what is irreplaceable and what is not theirs but is our common inheritance\u2014and they will destroy it so that a mere few can have more money. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELuxon\u2019s state of the nation speech spoke of making money by making rockets and milking cows\u2014but if those rockets are supplying data for US invasions of sovereign States, and those cows are so overstocked that people can\u2019t drink the water from their kitchen tap because of nitrate contamination, then all he\u2019s done is sold our souls, our rivers, and our public health for the profits of the few. Chasing the miserly royalties of boom-and-bust mining and drilling that leave a toxic legacy of arsenic and cyanide tailings dams is no match for New Zealand - owned industries based on renewable resources like wood and wool and wine, and our creative and innovative wherewithal. That is the path that the Greens support\u2014for nature and people, where communities are put first, not the profits of the few. That is the way to a fossil fuel - free future where we can have lasting livelihoods and a decent life.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen the oligarch speaks, he never mentions the common good and the public good. He never mentions the inheritance of beautiful nature that it is our duty, in this generation, to protect, preserve, and pass on to our descendants. He doesn\u2019t mention them because he doesn\u2019t care about those things\u2014and so is manifest Plato\u2019s simple and ancient truth: the higher the prestige of wealth, the lower that of goodness will be. That is already the Luxon Government legacy. Kia ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022118dc670349fc30c8c679178aac56082\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: Tamatha Paul\u2014and, I\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s two five-minute calls.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00229ec6b21860ff42a8bfcfbf955e54750a\u0022 data-id=\u0022c488f6a9cb88c2ce972e3ad05c113a71\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229ec6b21860ff42a8bfcfbf955e54750a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022c488f6a9cb88c2ce972e3ad05c113a71\u0022\u003ETAMATHA PAUL (Green\u2014Wellington Central) (16:35)\u003C/span\u003E: Kia ora. Crazy how we wrote our speeches independently, but we\u2019re basically saying the same thing but in different fonts! That is great to see.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, he said the word \u201Cgrow\u201D 56 times. \u201CGrow\u201D the economy; \u201Cgrow\u201D a business; \u201Cgrow\u201D export markets. But he\u2019s not growing New Zealand\u2014I think we all know that\u2014because everyone is leaving, and he\u2019s selling off the parts that remain of our precious country to the highest international bidders. But how can the Prime Minister lament about the need for growth and then, in the very same sitting here in the House, feign concern about the constant natural disasters that continue to happen year on year? I don\u2019t know how much mental energy the Prime Minister actually gives to thinking about the environment, but I would assume, based on his statements today, that he and his Cabinet hold a philosophy that we are somehow separate from or superior to our environment. What we have seen this year and every year that a one-in-a-hundred-year event happens\u2014which seems to be every single year\u2014is that we are not separate from our environment, and that we are in fact an extremely vulnerable part of our environment. We are very much at the mercy of mother Nature every single second that we breath.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOver summer\u2014I had a great summer, by the way; I hope you all had a great summer, too\u2014I was out fishing on Whang\u0101rei Heads, and there was a thunderstorm. I remember just sitting there\u2014the thunder was so loud, I was covering my ears; my dog was terrified; the ocean picked up\u2014and I just thought, \u201CWe are so small.\u201D Us human beings are so small in the context of the force that is nature. What it reminds me of, over and over again, is \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003E\u201Cm\u0101uiui whenua, m\u0101uiui moana, m\u0101uiui awa, m\u0101uiui t\u0101ngata\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u2014if the land is sick, if our oceans are depleted, and if our rivers run dry, the people can be nothing but sick. Rather than tending to her\u2014rather than tending to nature\u2014one by one, we\u2019re leaving. We\u2019re abandoning that duty. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EEven today, before question time, I said farewell to one of my really good friends, Sakura, who is leaving to Melbourne tomorrow. Over the weekend, I heard that my partner\u2019s brother and his young family are leaving to Australia in just a few months. And who can blame them? Why would they stay? They have nothing. I have to say, and share a bit personally, that, even before I was a politician, I never wanted to leave Aotearoa, because, in my heart, I know that I want to raise my babies at the base of their mountain. I want my babies to learn how to swim in the \u014Chiwa Harbour. I want my babies to have their only language as babies to be te reo M\u0101ori. I know that this is what my friends and my family want, too\u2014even in their respective cultures\u2014but they\u2019re trading that off for survival. They\u2019re choosing to go to a place that they know nothing about, where they have nothing\u2014they have no support. That family I was talking about, they know nobody. I\u2019m worried about them; they\u2019ve got two kids under two years old, and they have nobody to support them there. But how can they stay in a place where they can\u2019t survive? That\u2019s the trade-off that young New Zealanders are making: do we stay here in the place that raised us, so that our wh\u0101nau and generations to come might know exactly where they come from; or do we have to put first being able to feed them, being able to put shoes on their feet, making sure that they have everything that they need?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhakapapa is important; I know some people in this House think it\u2019s airy-fairy, but whakapapa is important. Not just M\u0101ori whakapapa, even Scottish whakapapa\u2014I\u2019m wearing my tartan from old Robbie Burns Day, which was recently. All whakapapa is important, and what I want Christopher Luxon to know is that if you just only value money, that money that you earn and accumulate at the expense of everybody else will never fill you up to not feel empty inside, because you don\u2019t know who you are or where you come from.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000275\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EChristopher Luxon\u2019s New Zealand encourages us to be selfish and it encourages us to be greedy, but that is not who we are. I have been to almost every continent on this planet. There is nothing like the courage and the kindness of the people in Aotearoa, and I\u2019ll never stop believing that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e13c0cfff1694ee6966ced2df467878f\u0022 data-id=\u00225c6fb78370bd736ee51353dc8dbe9abd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e13c0cfff1694ee6966ced2df467878f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225c6fb78370bd736ee51353dc8dbe9abd\u0022\u003EHon KAREN CHHOUR (Minister for Children) (16:40)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on the Government\u2019s programme for the year ahead. Since day one, the focus of this Government, alongside rebuilding the economy and reducing the cost of living, has been restoring law and order.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn my role as Minister for Children, I have been focused on ensuring our system encourages and teaches young people that they can be more, they can dream big, and they can achieve so much in their lives. The front-line staff who work with these young people are some of the most inspiring and hard-working people you could meet. To the staff and the organisations and everybody up and down the country who works through the holidays and work with these young people, I want to thank you on behalf of a very grateful nation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019m proud of the results that have been achieved in reducing serious youth offending and I\u2019m proud of the staff who have motivated these young people into a better way of living. Teaching through words, kindness, examples, and also through clarity that crime does affect and hurt others. Social workers and mentor teams and support teams not only support the people who commit the crimes but also the sibling groups. They support entire families to make sure that they\u2019re engaging with our education system and seeking support for their health and wellbeing and other needs. We do not lock up and throw away the key. We support them to grow up to be credits to their communities; not to victimise their communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn my role as Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, I\u2019ve been focused on meeting with survivors and ensuring that their voices are heard. There is still work to be done and actions can be slow to bear fruit, but we are listening. We want perpetrators to learn from and hear the voices of survivors\u2014the powerful voices that should inspire perpetrators of harm to never hurt anyone ever again. Sadly, not all perpetrators take this opportunity to better their lives. But this does not mean that we should not continue to try and we should not continue this work. It is hugely important but it does mean we must be realistic about the world that we live in.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat we keep hearing from the Opposition\u2014Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, in particular, most recently\u2014is that being tough on crime is somehow being tough on M\u0101ori. That is both wrong and hurtful to all victims of crime. As M\u0101ori, we are among the most victimised people in New Zealand. We are more likely to be victims of crime than any other ethnic group. This Government is being tough on crime to protect M\u0101ori and all other New Zealanders that are victims of crime. They are trying to protect and care for those who are abused, exploited, assaulted, and often killed. We\u2019ve seen the experience of a Government that believes punishment and consequences are a low priority. In the end, it was only the vulnerable who suffered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen this Government started locking criminals up, that reality started to change, and long may that continue. Under Labour, 37 percent of M\u0101ori reported being victims of crime. Today, that figure has dropped to 33.5 percent. There are fewer M\u0101ori victims because there are consequences again. So what is the Opposition\u2019s response to fewer M\u0101ori being harmed? Often it is to cry racism. For Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, instead of holding offenders accountable, they want to abolish prisons altogether. Their message to criminals is clear: \u201CDo the crime and you\u2019ll not do the time.\u201D The message to victims is also clear: \u201CDon\u2019t bother coming forward. Don\u2019t bother speaking to what you\u2019ve been through, because you don\u2019t matter.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo let\u2019s be clear: being tough on crime is not being tough on M\u0101ori; it is being tough on the criminals who all too often ruin M\u0101ori lives. This Government will not apologise for that. I will not apologise for that. I hope and believe that everyone who comes to this place seeks to do good and to make our country better. We share that aspiration and we should never let our different views around how to achieve that take away from our common humanity. That humanity should be cherished, but we also must use our time here to protect the vulnerable and to elevate the voices of those who cannot be here. I\u2019m here to share their words. For far too long, survivors have been erased from these conversations. Pretending prisons are the problem, while refusing to confront harm, only protects the perpetrator of that harm, not the victims. Ignoring violence does not heal our communities; it only encourages it. Accountability is not oppression. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe reality for our young serious offenders is that they are on a pathway to adult corrections and a lifetime in and out of incarceration, unless they are given a chance to turn their lives around and grab hold of those opportunities. But this isn\u2019t about just giving them another chance; it\u2019s an investment into keeping our communities safe. If we can intervene in their lives early, we can protect our communities from significant harm. It is not a form of kindness to just give up on our young people when they do wrong, when they hurt others, and when they are causing havoc in their communities. This is not care. This is not good parenting. This is apathy. This Government will never give up on these young people, nor will we let them continue towards a path straight to adult offending and continue a cycle of criminality and victimisation in our communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe know there is not a singular solution to young offending. This is why we are undertaking pilots like the military-style academies and making our youth justice residences safer and with better rehabilitation. In less than one term, we have achieved what seemed unachievable only three years ago. If we are entrusted by the public with another opportunity to continue this work, the results can only get better.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESometimes, people ask me how I manage with the tragic and often heart-breaking stories I hear as both Minister for Children and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence. My answer is, when appropriate, to have a laugh, because, if you don\u2019t laugh, sometimes you might cry. With that in mind, here is my attempt at a joke. While Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori may be against any form of punishment for offenders, there are similarities between being one of their MPs and being incarcerated. Like being a Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP, a judge has the ability to sentence you to it. Like being a M\u0101ori Party MP, you might not always love your cellmates. Like being a Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP, being incarcerated provides an opportunity for individuals to question the poor choices in life they have made\u2014one of which might have resulted in the most unfortunate but avoidable fate of being a Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP. They have almost served their term, and I\u2019m sure this is one sentence that most New Zealanders won\u2019t mind abolishing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis year, we will be dominated by the election, but we in Government will continue to improve lives and make our communities safer. We are listening to the victimised, protecting the vulnerable, and, hopefully, turning around the lives of those who think they can hurt others without consequences. The past few years have spoken clearly: those days are over and long may that continue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224680dcac294f4cd5bdd3a5a7ed5a3bb9\u0022 data-id=\u002213812cf79e107522056a55ba547df572\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224680dcac294f4cd5bdd3a5a7ed5a3bb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002213812cf79e107522056a55ba547df572\u0022\u003EHon PENNY SIMMONDS (Minister for the Environment) (16:49)\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s a privilege to rise in support of the Prime Minister\u2019s statement. It\u2019s also a privilege to be a member of this National-led Government that is fixing the basics and building the future. But, as I rise, I\u2019d first like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the recent passing of New Zealand\u2019s longest-serving mayor, Sir Tim Shadbolt. A mayor for Invercargill for 26 years, Sir Tim was unconventional, always unexpected, high risk, hilarious, and deeply loved. To Invercargill, he was a promoter, a public relations expert, a comedian, a communicator, and a compassionate mayor. He was a man of many dimensions. In Invercargill, we saw the very best of him, knowing how much he valued being loved and respected by southerners.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESir Tim was a loyal and enthusiastic supporter of Invercargill\u2019s local polytechnic, the Southern Institute of Technology. He was also a firm believer in locals knowing what is best for their communities and that, in order to fix the basics and build the future, equitable and local access to vocational education is foundational, both economically and socially, in the ripple effects for individuals, families, and the wider community. I think that speaks to some of the speeches that have been given today that say economics can\u2019t go hand in hand with social good.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ECreating more skilled jobs, higher incomes, and more affordable housing for Kiwi families will only be possible with a strong vocational education system throughout New Zealand that supports a strong economy. Under the overly centralised model of the previous Government, it has been very difficult for polytechnics to meet the real needs of their communities, to build the future for the people in those communities. Local employers, industries, and learners have told us clearly that centralisation for vocational education doesn\u2019t work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe vocational education sector has had some really tough years under the previous Government, but now, after two years of very careful management and remedial work, we are seeing a recovery taking place. With the foundations laid last year, vocational education and training will shift into full momentum in 2026. The system is now stronger, more responsive, and geared for growth, with regional polytechnic councils fully empowered, 10 polytechnics reestablished, and four more polytechnics under consideration. Active industry skills boards. Industry and employers are back at the heart of work-based learning, making decisions about what skills industries and employers need to build the future of this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EReturning decision-making to the regions and to industries puts control in the hands of those closest to local labour markets: the people who best understand what skills are needed and how to deliver them. Regional polytechnics will once again be able to tailor training to the priorities of their communities, and they\u2019ll do so in partnership with employers and industry leaders. This will help regional economies by equipping people with the skills that employers need. Restoring local governance means that these communities can now respond more directly to economic demand and growth opportunities, because locals know best. The focus is turning outward, towards opportunity, innovation, and the skills New Zealanders need to thrive. Apprentices and students will train in a practical and a purposeful way, whether on campus, online, or on the job, all connected to real work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn a year when New Zealand is fixing the basics while building the future, vocational education is not on the sidelines; it is at the centre of New Zealand\u2019s ambition. It supports the industries that are the engine room of our economy. Each year, it serves more than 250,000 learners. That\u2019s a quarter of a million people building their future, their industries, and their communities through a pipeline of confident graduates ready to step into real employment opportunities. This is about more than education; it\u2019s about regional jobs, stronger local economies, and ensuring industries have access to the skilled workforce that they need to grow.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThinking back to Sir Tim, he and I travelled widely, recruiting students, with a lot of stories that wouldn\u2019t be fit for this House, but he always, always personally assured families that Invercargill was safe and that their young person would be cared for, and he meant it. He attended countless orientations, prizegivings, graduations, and cultural events, staying connected with the students he had helped to recruit. Our job is to make sure that learners are connected, that learners are getting the right skills in the right place at the right time, preparing our regions to grow.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Green Party talks about growth as if it is a bad thing. Our industries and our people must be able to compete to get ahead. That\u2019s why this Government is rebuilding a vocational education system that delivers on its promise, equipping people with the basics that they need to support local businesses and local industries to back regional success and grow the economy. That\u2019s the kind of system New Zealand deserves, and that\u2019s what we are building.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have gone past thinking that everything from the centre is the way to do it. We have gone to where we know the growth can occur: back to the regions, to the communities, to the industries that know what they want. They know what is needed to be able to grow our communities. We are fixing the basics and building the future, and we are putting the vocational education system at the very centre of this economy and this country to ensure that our people and our industries have the skills that they need to ensure the economic success of this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOnce again, I acknowledge the recent death of New Zealand\u2019s longest-serving mayor, Mr Tim Shadbolt, an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things in Southland. Once again, I reiterate that it is a privilege to be a member of this National-led Government, which is fixing the basics and building the future. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224eeb694c55ab4633a7c9a1c69024072a\u0022 data-id=\u0022b7652ff7029627465c992e65aacdf575\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224eeb694c55ab4633a7c9a1c69024072a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b7652ff7029627465c992e65aacdf575\u0022\u003EDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader\u2014Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori) (16:57)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you. What kind of leader stands in front of a nation that is hurting worse than it has ever hurt before, that stands in front of te iwi M\u0101ori, who has pleaded with it to stop doing what it\u2019s doing, to the point that we\u2019ve had record submitters, record protests, unprecedented pleas? A Prime Minister that declares that recovery has arrived. Well, I don\u2019t know who the heck this Prime Minister and this Government are talking to, but it\u2019s not the people in our electorates. It is not the people on the ground. It is not those who are choosing between whether they can afford kai on their table or power in their houses.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat kind of Government celebrates $11 billion in savings when those savings have been at the expense of thousands of jobs, of people who just want to be able to live on their land with their wh\u0101nau and be able to have a decent quality of life? What kind of Government says the recovery has arrived when record numbers of our citizens are going offshore to Australia, record numbers of rangatahi, and when we look at those, we\u2019re looking at a Government that is saying, a Prime Minister who\u2019s stating, \u201CRecovery has arrived.\u201D, yet Maori unemployment is at 12.7 percent, three times higher than for non-M\u0101ori. What is he listening to? Where is he going? This Prime Minister is clearly not talking to those in the construction industry, talking to those who are trying to go through school, talking to nursing graduates, talking to teachers, talking to those laid off at Kinleith, talking to those in polytechnics, not talking to anyone who actually lives in this nation, except the elite few.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is not leadership. This statement is not that of a leader who deserves to be looking after this nation. It\u2019s cruelty dressed up as economics, and we will not be silent while they continue to tell us that poverty is their progress.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe stand here in the shadow of R\u0101tana, who was guided by the pou\u2014by Te Tiriti and by the pou\u2014of looking after our people, looking after the wellbeing, looking after m\u0101tauranga, and looking after justice. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E\u201CThis recovery has arrived.\u201D Four words. Over 72,000 citizens are leaving Aotearoa in this Government\u2019s time. That means one person per every seven minutes is leaving Aotearoa. One person per every seven minutes from our homes, from our community, from our schools; graduates, those that are qualified apprentices, those who are experienced in businesses, those who are experienced in management and leadership\u2014draining out of this place because there is no other way that they can see to get the quality of life that they are prepared to work extremely hard for. I\u2019m hearing from nurses, teachers, builders, all of them\u2014labourers\u2014all ready to go out and leave their communities because they do not feel there is any other option. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is the real story that this statement, completely, is devoid of. We\u2019ve got a Prime Minister who promised more jobs. Where are they? We\u2019ve got a Prime Minister who promised higher incomes. Where are they? M\u0101ori are overrepresented, and younger cohorts leaving. What that means for us is that this Prime Minister does not care, has never cared, and cannot see the M\u0101ori that he is affecting. This leaves w\u2019\u0101nau, community, a whole major generational gap\u2014our marae. The whole cost of living is a reality check that this Prime Minister is trying to gloss over and state we should all pretend. This Prime Minister says, \u201CRecovery has arrived.\u201D Well, maybe in his elite world, because in my world where I live, the pain that I\u2019m seeing on the ground, those that are losing hope would not be taking heart by the Prime Minister\u2019s statements.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen we\u2019ve got wages up 2.1 percent versus a 3.1 percent inflation, that equals real wage cuts. Costs are exceeding our wages. I\u2019m just going to say that again, in case it\u2019s not understood: the cost of living is exceeding our wages, making it really difficult for people who probably even would have voted for this Government once upon a time. We need this Prime Minister to get out there and see how minimum wages are increasing below the cost of goods means that poverty is deepening in Aotearoa. Poverty has now come into middle-class New Zealanders, and we\u2019ve got a Government that sits there and says, \u201CThe recovery has arrived.\u201D He needs to go to his local PAK\u2019nSAVE and sit there at the counter when we\u2019ve got people working out what they can afford to pay for in their trolleys and what they can\u2019t. He needs to go out and see our kaum\u0101tua who think it\u2019s a luxury now to eat protein, to eat meat\u2014the very meat that is growing on their whenua. Where does this Government kick out? Because it\u2019s certainly not in my community. He needs to go and see the families who are deciding whether they can afford to travel to the doctors or not because they can\u2019t afford to put fuel in their car. The unemployment forecast is at 226,000 on jobseeker versus his predicted 195,000. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have a Prime Minister that is absolutely selling the Resource Management Act, selling our environment, on the pretence that that\u2019s what development should look like; on the pretence that infrastructure should be at the cost of our community, at the cost of enabling sea bed mining, enabling extraction, fast tracking beyond the approval not only of the Treaty but of those communities worst affected by this. We\u2019ve got National Ministers writing new rules, greenlighting things I\u2019ve never seen written before.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve got a Government that takes pride in its law and order. And, absolutely, we would abolish prisons, because we have, as M\u0101ori, over 50 percent of the population in prison; 61 percent in there have drug and addiction habits; 70 percent can\u2019t read; 80 percent have head injuries; 87 percent were unemployed before they got into prison. See the model of what poverty does to us? See how it immediately impacts us? We must stop this justice system that is about imprisoning our way through justice. We have to create opportunities for people to be able to address their drug and addiction habits; opportunities for those 18-year-olds that are in prison because they couldn\u2019t afford to pay their traffic fine. We need to be able to end cycles that are making sure that families can continue to be well. But, no, let\u2019s just lock them, throw the key. \u201CI\u2019ve locked them, put the key in, thrown them away forever.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is the thing that really astonishes me, because we\u2019re a party under attack because we believe in transformation. We\u2019re a party under attack because we highlight the issues that are plaguing us as M\u0101ori, and it makes this Government, this Prime Minister, extremely uncomfortable\u2014a Prime Minister who\u2019s happy to mihi to iwi when we arrive for crisis, but can\u2019t see what iwi M\u0101ori, wh\u0101nau, hap\u016B do every day. Every day, we have solutions for our people. Every day, we look after our kaum\u0101tua. Every day, we sit there and address the fact that M\u0101ori have dementia, we have no beds, and Te Whatu Ora\u2019s failing them. Every day, we live in a health system that\u2019s failing worse than the previous Government before, and that was bad enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve got no acknowledgment of M\u0101ori anywhere in this statement, because this Prime Minister only wants to see us when he\u2019s comfortable with us. This Prime Minister only wants to see te iwi M\u0101ori when it\u2019s economically opportunistic for him, and that\u2019s an absolute sin. We\u2019ve got a Government that\u2019s got no commitment to te reo M\u0101ori, no commitment to the taiao, no commitment to housing, to health, to inequities. In fact, nothing worse puts this Government off than accepting and realising the damage of the inequities that they continue to put on our people and our communities. No relief of power, no community renewable energy solutions, nothing innovative\u2014just \u201CThis is what I\u2019m going to do; I\u2019m stating to you the same thing I\u2019ve done in the last couple of years.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe trouble, and the absolute horrific part of all of this, is that there are communities out there, there are iwi running hauora entities that are taking the weight of the health system. There are iwi out there with massive educational opportunities that could sit there and show you this is a new, innovative way of being. There are iwi out there prepared to partner at scale\u2014at scale, not at comfort\u2014to be able to address the housing situation, to be able to invest more in papa k\u0101inga, to be able to invest more in communities. But, no, this is a Government that believes that \u201CRecovery has arrived.\u201D I could never think of anything more bereft of the truth or the facts. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI think the real sad part about this is that we need to make sure that this Government is reminded every day of the magic that iwi M\u0101ori are doing out there. It\u2019s not just something that happens when you couldn\u2019t get there until days later, Prime Minister; it\u2019s something that iwi innovatively do all the time: protect their taiao, protect their tamariki. They are prepared to work and help break cycles that were created and perpetuated by Governments way before you and will continue to do if we don\u2019t talk about the fact that we need transformation in Aotearoa. We are too wealthy to be having the depth of poverty that we see and experience in Aotearoa. The saddest thing is that we have the opportunity to build a nation, but as long as we have leaders led by a Prime Minister who\u2019s in total denial of the harm and he shirks at every headline that we say we want transformation and justice\u2014and, yes, in prisons and education\u2014shame on you, Prime Minister.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022 data-id=\u0022a5f6f27da44d363e29cac3600db26c18\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a5f6f27da44d363e29cac3600db26c18\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES (Minister for Resources) (17:07)\u003C/span\u003E: New Zealanders, I\u2019ll have you know, the matua has been engaged in high-level discussions to grow the economy in inverse proportions to the last contribution, because I don\u2019t need to hear the words; I already know. There would have been some rank opposing the stairway to economic heaven, otherwise known as mining; otherwise known as using the resources, as she would say, of Tangaroa, the God of the sea. Well, let the \u201CGod of rhetoric\u201D make a few observations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EThis is a year of delivery. The small part of responsibility that I\u2019ve had has been focused on consistent delivery. Now, as the co-leader of the M\u0101ori Party said earlier today, there is a great deal of woe, pain, and insecurity related to these weather events\u2014and, sadly, as Parliament stood today and observed a period of silence for our fellow New Zealanders, visitors, who have perished. But, folks, this Government has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into flood mitigation, flood adaptation\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224eeb694c55ab4633a7c9a1c69024072a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222102c4e028825bb52245ee56168276a6\u0022\u003EDebbie Ngarewa-Packer\u003C/span\u003E: You call that climate adaptation?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c958cfb0bdd08f99379ccd1484b5eede\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014because\u2014oh, let me remind the other co-leader of the M\u0101ori Party, who unwisely observed that, somehow, her and the matua could be in the same waka and form a Government together. No, no, no. The matua\u2019s waka sails to a rising sun, with a great deal of skilled navigation. The waka she represents is holed. It\u2019s what we say in Ng\u0101puhi: it\u2019s pakaru. The South Island is pakaru\u2014it means it\u2019s dented, bent out of shape. But that\u2019s not just waka; that\u2019s the political philosophy of that co-leader of the M\u0101ori Party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs I said at R\u0101tana Marae, 180 years ago there was a climatic event, bad weather on the shores of Lake Taup\u014D. What I said to the young ariki from T\u016Bwharetoa, I said, \u201CE tama, the name of your tupuna is Horonuku, \u201Choro\u201D being to collapse; \u201Cnuku\u201D, the land, Papat\u016B\u0101nuku.\u201D Inclement weather caused the side of a hill to collapse, 180 years ago, and the ariki was buried\u2014180 years ago. So please don\u2019t tell me that all of a sudden these weather events\u2014as unfortunate and dangerous as they are, that New Zealand is not capable of adapting and learning. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELook no further than the man in front of you, who has delivered the money on behalf of the Government to boost stopbanks, rebuild roads, and improve the capacity of infrastructure. That\u2019s the delivery, not all of these extraordinary, fairy tale - like accounts that somehow, if we tax cows, if we close down industry, if we destroy jobs in the South Island, that all of a sudden we\u2019re going to have a better climate overnight. We will have a worse economic climate, and not only will that worse economic climate afflict families and communities in regional New Zealand, it\u2019ll drive them out of existence.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is why the fast-track legislation represents one of the best opportunities for the Taranaki region to develop the resources, to create the jobs, and I look forward to that far-sighted institution otherwise known as the fast-track legislation to provide a brilliant opportunity. Now, I know there\u2019ll be some seagulls, some karoro flying around, of particularly strange colours, trying to undermine the process of the fast track, but fair-minded Kiwis realise that it is delivering. It can deliver for Taranaki, and in inverse proportions to the rhetoric we hear from certain members, but, fortunately, they\u2019ll be gone at the end of the year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019m not talking about the colleague from the other side of the House over here. He\u2019ll still be there. But I fear there\u2019s a young man from Whanganui who has an even better tattoo on his face than the other co-leader of the M\u0101ori Party, and he is standing up to provide, apparently, to the Labour Party. I mean, he\u2019s not my cup of tea. He could certainly do with a haircut, but I\u2019ll overlook those imperfections in the context of a democratic contest.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHowever, let me come back to the vexed issue of fisheries.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002227d19573a8ba4d8283b17374978c8ea2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002277f67408324f52eaf44d0e2aa9cddfe2\u0022\u003EGrant McCallum\u003C/span\u003E: Are you bait?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002271d8acf3a6f0476999f9d03b4ae70e7d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002216e0684810b513954c15a15f50148639\u0022\u003EHon SHANE JONES\u003C/span\u003E: I am not berley. We are not going to surrender the solvency, the viability of the New Zealand fishing industry for some weekend spear fisherman who may have seen some random fish out of the cod end of a particular boat\u2019s trawling activity. For as long as I stand here with the privilege of representing our Government in inshore fishing, there will be no termination of trawling, there will be no termination of the inshore fishing industry to suit the misinformation, addled thinking of Greenpeace and their fellow travellers, otherwise known as the ringleaders of the recreational sector.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, no New Zealander has profited in terms of reputation development other than Matt Watson in fisheries. Now, that man has made an art form of stigmatising, tainting, and spreading great bursts of misinformation against the commercial fishing industry whilst himself maintaining a very tidy business. Well, sorry, Mr Watson, in the pursuit of facts, you\u2019ve met your match with the matua.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, of course, the other thing that must not be overlooked amongst this group of people who want to terminate inshore fisheries is they are basically saying they want to unravel the full and final fisheries settlement, otherwise known as the Sealord settlement, entered into in the time of the Rt Hon Jim Bolger, Doug Graham, and Doug Kidd. On this side of the House, we are not going to feed ridiculous expectations that Treaty settlements can be renegotiated as first suggestions on the other side of the House at every generation. Neither are we going to give in to weekend Yamaha, Kawasaki, h\u012Bkoi experts who should have been on a boat rather than on the Harbour Bridge, give in to their desires, and then undo, unravel the full and final fisheries settlement just so they can enjoy better access on the weekend to inshore fisheries. This is a shared resource. It requires balance and it requires a quality of leadership that is both candid, informed, and doesn\u2019t perpetuate this grievance mentality, this colonial guilt that riddles the M\u0101ori analysis, largely on that side of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, why is that being fed? They are trying to feed a sense of permanent grievance with that cult of decolonisation. New Zealand cannot go ahead with that level of burden, that handicap, which is why, as a consequence of various speeches, I\u2019ll be giving at least one or two a year all over the country. I suspect I\u2019ll be giving about 52 speeches as we secure greater levels of electoral support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELook, I won\u2019t talk about the polls\u2014that\u2019s for my leader to say\u2014but the trend is your friend and the trend is heading in the right direction because not only are we going to tolerate an end to unfettered immigration, to my friends from the right side of the House, there\u2019s no way that we are going to allow the foundation culture of New Zealand to be surrendered by that tried but unfair and unhappy set of consequences of being too liberal with immigration.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAt the same time, a good Government is a steward not only of unity but of national consciousness and national cohesiveness. That is why there\u2019s only one party on matters M\u0101ori who focuses on cohesiveness, delivery\u2014and, by the way, please tell me the name of the politician, the leader, and the party who has delivered consistently for Parihaka, Waitangi, the sites of M\u0101ori battle with the Crown, R\u0101tana, and investing in a marae near \u014Cp\u014Dtiki necessary to ensure that the resilience and the community security is boosted. The name of that party is New Zealand First.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022154727523a59431ab210aea1cf707272\u0022 data-id=\u0022f0bcb71b417fe3777fce315accbd44bf\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022154727523a59431ab210aea1cf707272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f0bcb71b417fe3777fce315accbd44bf\u0022\u003EHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour) (17:18)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. We\u2019ve heard from members on the Government benches who have waxed lyrical today about this being\u2014[\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EInterruption\u003C/span\u003E] Keep going?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224cdfceb3207b43e8a21b346f9376ddc7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022333582f5fedf05b0504391046c7d641d\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono)\u003C/span\u003E: I was just checking it was a split call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022154727523a59431ab210aea1cf707272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f2bf9b109f17176b8ce0fea1e0017c46\u0022\u003EHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, yes. We\u2019ve heard from members on the Government benches who have talked about this being a Government that invests in the basics, that this is a year of delivery for this Government. Honestly, I haven\u2019t heard from a bunch of members more delusional than that lot, because that is not what we are seeing. This is a Government that is incredibly out of touch with what New Zealanders are experiencing day in, day out, because what they\u2019re feeling, what people across the length and breadth of Aotearoa New Zealand are feeling is not investment in the basics or delivery from this Government, and I\u2019ve got a couple of proof points that I thought I\u2019d touch on in my contribution in the House today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe know that in September 2023, Treasury was forecasting the New Zealand economy to grow. What did we see instead under this lot? We\u2019ve seen the economy shrink. We\u2019ve seen inflation go up under the stewardship, apparently, of the finance Minister, Nicola Willis. We\u2019ve seen growth, for sure, but in unemployment. We\u2019ve seen growth in record numbers of New Zealanders leaving New Zealand for better futures.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESome people say to me that we\u2019ve always had people leave New Zealand for other shores. That\u2019s true. Firstly, we\u2019ve never seen it in terms of the record numbers that we\u2019re seeing now, and previously, people had a choice. Now, they\u2019re leaving in droves because they don\u2019t see a future for themselves in New Zealand, and that\u2019s what needs to change, but it\u2019s not changing under this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve seen KiwiSaver withdrawals for hardship increase significantly\u2014by 10,000 in 2025 compared to 2024\u2014with no sign of that getting better. It\u2019s no surprise that people now have to tap into their retirement savings just to get by, because we\u2019ve seen food prices soar as a result of decisions made by this Government. Milk, meat, and bread have increased by 60 percent under a Government that was elected to fix the cost of living, but has only made decisions that have made the cost of living worse for all New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to touch on what the disability community has been facing, because some have been doing it tougher than others. We\u2019ve seen decisions made right from 18 March by Ministers opposite that have led to\u2014and it\u2019s laid out really well in a recent report called \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EWhaikaha, Whaimana: Our Voices Count\u003C/span\u003E, by Disability Leadership Canterbury, who have outlined in great detail the increase in psychological harm and the severe economic strain that disabled people and carers have been put to because of decisions made by this National coalition Government. There is the increase in social isolation for disabled people across New Zealand, who now have reduced access to community activities and respite. There is the strain in relationships, the worsened health\u2014I mean, it\u2019s got so much harder for everyone to access doctors when they need it. The cost has increased, and that disproportionately impacts disabled people, as well. There is the erosion of human rights, the loss of autonomy, the loss of dignity, the narrowed life opportunities, and the undermining of the Enabling Good Lives approach, all as a direct consequence of decisions made by this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI could go into housing. In Maungakiekie alone, where I live, we\u2019ve seen this Government scrap 11 projects. That\u2019s 510 homes that would have been built in the Maungakiekie electorate alone. They were part of the 3,500 homes scrapped by this Government that would have been built otherwise, and I could go on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe incompetence of this Government, their lack of delivery, and the fact that they claim to be investing in the basics, and they think that by their saying it ad nauseam, New Zealanders will believe what they spout\u2014it is incredible. That is coupled, of course, with the embarrassment of this Government on the global stage, given what we\u2019re seeing with geopolitics currently.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is a country that should work for everyone. New Zealanders deserve a Government that will ensure that all New Zealanders actually have a choice and that they have decent jobs that will pay decent wages, they have homes that they can afford and that will keep them safe, they have a Government that works towards the wellbeing of everyone, and, when they\u2019re not well, they can actually access the healthcare when they need it in a way that they can afford. That is not this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002275c91eb6ccf24d019842f5b5d510d37d\u0022 data-id=\u0022a5deddd639cbb651be2a29185b9ada33\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275c91eb6ccf24d019842f5b5d510d37d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a5deddd639cbb651be2a29185b9ada33\u0022\u003EHon PEENI HENARE (Labour) (17:23)\u003C/span\u003E: T\u0113n\u0101 koe, Mr Speaker. First, can I offer condolences, as the House did today, to wh\u0101nau who have lost loved ones during the tragic weather events over the past week. \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EKia t\u0101pae ake\u003C/span\u003E [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003ETo add to those\u003C/span\u003E] that have been lost in recent days, I want to acknowledge some close wh\u0101nau who have passed away in the past few weeks, with the first being Judy Cooper, the wife of Rob Cooper\u2014for anybody who knows anything about M\u0101ori health or Wh\u0101nau Ora, Whaea Judy was right by Rob Cooper\u2019s side\u2014and also the brother to Rob Cooper, Mr Gary Cooper. Anybody who knows Niue and the economy in Niue will be familiar with Mr Gary Cooper. He was a pioneer in the Niuean economy, who continued to serve not just Niue and, of course, Niueans here in New Zealand but also New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ET\u0101pae ake, t\u014Dku tuakana a M\u0101tene\u003C/span\u003E [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EIn addition, my brother M\u0101tene\u003C/span\u003E], who, sadly, passed away in Te Arawa. I remember them all, and I want to mention them because when I think about them, I think about what it is we hope for for the future\u2014what it is that those before us have done to make sure that can get the future that this country deserves. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EToday, we heard from the Prime Minister his speech, while I\u2019ve read the statement here that\u2019s been tabled in the House. In his speech today, he spoke for 15 minutes and not once did he mention the word \u201CM\u0101ori\u201D, not once did he mention the people of the M\u0101ori world, not once did he mention a strong M\u0101ori economy, and not once did he mention Te Tiriti o Waitangi on the eve of the time when all politicians find themselves in Waitangi, speaking to the very people in this country who we should be reaching out to, who we should be thanking, and who we should be supporting to make sure that we have an economy and we have a country that continues to deliver for all. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister failed to even acknowledge them in his speech today, but I will read this from the statement that\u2019s been tabled. It says here that \u201CM\u0101ori and Government working together leads to better outcomes for everyone.\u201D Well, they say one thing, but they do another, and what we\u2019re not seeing from this Government\u2014and when I say \u201Cthis Government\u201D, I mean all parties in this Government\u2014is a true reflection of those words that acknowledge that when M\u0101ori do well, everyone does well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAll boats rise in a rising tide. We know that, this side of the House knows that, and when we support M\u0101ori to do well, this country does well. But, sadly, in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement today, he did not mention M\u0101ori, he did not mention the M\u0101ori economy\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224680dcac294f4cd5bdd3a5a7ed5a3bb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222446b453f1a2a2397d3b34f11511a06\u0022\u003EHon Penny Simmonds\u003C/span\u003E: He did.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275c91eb6ccf24d019842f5b5d510d37d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c9a05945f73ea082f0d8cb10069d9de9\u0022\u003EHon PEENI HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014he did not mention M\u0101ori businesses, and he did not mention Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Yes\u2014and I see a bit of confusion in the House\u2014it\u2019s in the statement that\u2019s been tabled here in the House, but it wasn\u2019t in his speech today, and they\u2019ll go and check the \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EHansard\u003C/span\u003E a bit later on and realise that I am right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAlso, sadly, what I hear from the Government members is this continual beat-down on M\u0101ori. The only reference they made to M\u0101ori was around victims of crime. The only reference those parties made to M\u0101ori was around matters of underachievement in spaces where we know we\u2019ve got more work to do, and members on this side of the House have spoken about how the rising unemployment rate in this country is a blight on this country\u2019s prospects for the future. Well, if the unemployment rate sits at just over 5 percent, the M\u0101ori unemployment rate\u2014as my colleague Debbie Ngarewa-Packer on this side of the House pointed out\u2014is a lot higher, and if you dig deeper into those numbers, you\u2019d find that rangatahi M\u0101ori feature even more in those statistics where they are not in employment and they are not in training. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis Government doesn\u2019t care about that, but we know that in order to have a prosperous future, a future that looks after everybody, and a future that enables New Zealand to be the world player we believe ourselves to be, we need to invest in those people. We need to invest in young people, we need to invest in M\u0101ori, and we need to support the aspirations of community where wh\u0101nau right across the country can feel good about where this country is going. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ERight now, the conversations around the barbecue tables around the country over summer weren\u2019t very good for this Government, and this Government knows it. When the polls come out and the Government continues to see that many of their kaupapa\u2014many of the policies that they\u2019ve been trying to drive through\u2014continue to slide in favourability, they will realise that it\u2019s just too late to turn that tide, because as Chris Hipkins said here today in the House, the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking towards 7 November, when this country will have an opportunity to once again make a decision that will impact its future for the positive or for the negative. I\u2019d put it to them that on this side of the House, in the Labour Party, we have a vision for the future, and we look forward to selling that vision to the country right up and down, from the North to the South. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228d19240ed9ca4f5597e2bb804e0e32fb\u0022 data-id=\u0022452ab9fef63ba5965c132a821e9a7f7e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228d19240ed9ca4f5597e2bb804e0e32fb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022452ab9fef63ba5965c132a821e9a7f7e\u0022\u003EHon TODD McCLAY (Minister of Agriculture) (17:28)\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Speaker, thank you. Can I join other colleagues in the House in passing on my condolences to all those affected or whose loved ones lost their lives during the significant weather events throughout the North Island. As a member of Parliament in the Bay of Plenty, we were particularly badly hit, and I want to recognise the sacrifice of a grandmother and her grandson in Welcome Bay, where their lives were lost as a result of the slip on their home, and then all of those who are affected by the slip at the campground in Tauranga. In particular, the two lovely women from Rotorua who were there camping, Jackie Wheeler and Susan Knowles, were very well-known to our community and gave a great amount to Rotorua. They will be dearly missed, and the people and the community of Rotorua is feeling their loss.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese are speeches where MPs get on their feet and they read out the lines, sometimes, that their research units have given them. I know that that\u2019s the thing we have to do, but one of the most important things, I think, that this House offers us is an opportunity to talk about the big issues and it is a chance to have wonderful, warm debates. I know there are members here from many years ago where all they did was come to the House and debate, and they would go late into the night and early into the morning, and they would be ferocious in their approach to these sorts of things. But I think we owe it to the public to have genuine and open conversations about the reality of what\u2019s happening and how every member of this House, generally, is doing their best to try and achieve this on behalf of New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EToday, I don\u2019t want to talk about all the things that the Government has done. There are very, very many of them. I don\u2019t want to talk about all the things the Opposition says that we haven\u2019t done; they keep finding things that they think that we haven\u2019t. Today, I want to talk about something that is not only good for New Zealand, that this House has an opportunity to come together and demonstrate to New Zealand that we can work together, that actually we have done so in the past and we will do so again where it is in New Zealand\u2019s best interests and it will deliver for every single New Zealander.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EYou see, we are a country of 5 million people in two small islands, a long way from everywhere, and we hear it from Labour when they are in Government, or we certainly say it in the coalition, that nobody in the world owes us a living. We must go out and find that for ourselves. Kiwis are good at this. They are good at going out and finding people to make friends with, to trade with, to create business relationships with. Our farmers are the best in the world, but all over the world other Governments put up barriers and they stop us from getting access to that market, from our farmers, to our growers, to those that provide services, to everything in our economy. And successive Governments, although we haven\u2019t always completely agreed, have gone out generally with the support of enough of the House to level the playing field for hard-working Kiwis on the world stage. Because the world is not a fair place; doesn\u2019t have to be a fair place, but it\u2019s the job of Governments to go out there and level the playing field, to open the door for Kiwis to go through.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn this I\u2019m talking about our exporters, the men and women of New Zealand who work hard, they toil, they come up with great ideas, and they sell those ideas to the world. Who would have thought a couple of Kiwis all those years ago down in Queenstown, you know, with nothing to do but tie rubber bands around their legs and jump off bridges, could sell that to the world, and people would pay them to be pushed off bridges\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e66329e431ea47019b41524c6ef2954a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002225508f705c634b3c27fa85747eb97fcf\u0022\u003ECelia Wade-Brown\u003C/span\u003E: It started in \u014Ch\u0101kune.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228d19240ed9ca4f5597e2bb804e0e32fb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227f33c04c93e92a073e2e916158c37c10\u0022\u003EHon TODD McCLAY\u003C/span\u003E: And in \u014Ch\u0101kune as well, and everywhere. Thanks for that important contribution to my speech. The point here is whatever we do in New Zealand, we have to sell it to the world to create the living that we need. And it is important to us. I think all members, whether they like all parts of trade\u2014trade policy\u2014will accept that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe produce enough food\u2014well, 400 million people get 10 percent of their diet from New Zealand every year. We couldn\u2019t eat that ourselves. We would be larger people for it. So we have to level the playing field. And Governments, both Labour- and National-led Governments have done trade deals, and actually, at the moment, we have about 100 free-trade agreements, investment agreements, and double tax agreements with countries of the world. We are small, but we have them with the big guys out there. We have a trade agreement with the United Kingdom, they\u2019re bigger than us. We have a trade agreement with the European Union, they are bigger than us. Last year, we sold $2 billion extra in goods to the EU as a result of the trade deal that was started when we were in Government, completed by a Labour Government, put into effect when we came back to Government. That was over a nine-year period. Trade is not about one parliamentary term; it is about actually us working together to deliver for New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have a trade agreement with China. When we first signed that agreement, we had a couple of billion dollars\u2019 worth of two-way trade. This year we will sell them $22 billion of goods and services from New Zealand. That is nothing but jobs in New Zealand for New Zealanders. We are small, but we are good as a nation at fighting above our relative size, and we have a wonderful reputation from the hard work of our trade negotiators to our exporters overseas, and we need to keep that going.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EJust before Christmas, we were able to announce the conclusion of a free-trade agreement with India, the world\u2019s most populous nation. I\u2019ve had the privilege of being the Minister for Trade and Investment for a second time all those years ago. I got to negotiate with India, and it was hard as other Governments had for a long period of time, but for our negotiators to have concluded a high-quality agreement that means 95 percent of New Zealand\u2019s exports are covered by this agreement. On day one, 57 percent of all the goods we export will be duty free, raising to 82 percent on full entry into force with the other 17 or 18 percent having significant reductions is a very big deal. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI say to you, we are a country of 5 million people; India is 1.4 billion. What do you think we can do with that agreement to deliver for every single New Zealander? It is significant, and I\u2019m not going to go through the large list, because we\u2019ll have time during the course of this week. I\u2019m appearing before the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on Thursday to go into detail and talk about that with those members and the public and the media to start talking about where the opportunity and the benefits are for New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn apples and in kiwifruit, and in wine, and in lamb, and in coal, and in many things that we produce in abundance and are good at, we have tariff-free access. That is good for New Zealanders and good for New Zealand, and, ultimately, this is a relationship that is important. India have very few trade deals. This is one of the highest quality they\u2019ve done with anybody in the world. It is better than their Australian free-trade agreement, although Australia is negotiating an upgrade to their agreement at the moment. It\u2019s a competition and a race to see who can get the best, first. India is about, we hear, to announce a trade agreement with the European Union, a significantly larger group of countries than we are, but we got there before them. I say this, I think our agreement will be as good as theirs; in fact, I think it will be better than theirs. Do you know why? We have 5 million people and they\u2019re 1.4 billion. This opens up opportunities for the future. So as we talk about growth and futureproofing and we talk about the roads and the schools and the hospitals and the things we need in New Zealand, we afford those things by selling to the world, by Kiwis earning more, and by them actually innovating and becoming better at what they do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis trade agreement, as the EU and the UK and the China and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), all of those agreements, deliver for New Zealanders. And without those high-quality agreements and the work of our officials, we will be worse off; we won\u2019t be better off.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFinally\u2014and we\u2019ll talk about this much more when I\u2019m in front of the committee\u2014there\u2019s been a lot of speculation about the things that we had to give. You know, we are a small nation, as I have said, and there is very little we can do to assist India in the areas where they have the challenges that they have. But we are able to come up with agreements that allow us to meet the needs of our economy. We have skills shortages in many areas. Our businesses call for these workers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn this agreement, we have agreed that 1,670 skilled workers per year can come here for three years, and that is all. At the end of the three years, they go back. It\u2019s under the conditions set by current and future Governments of the skills we need, and actually they come and they work, and they will return home. Only in the areas that our economy needs them. If our economy doesn\u2019t need them, we have the ability to change that skill to bring them in. It includes nurses, of which we need some, to the New Zealand standard, to our requirements.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe also want to help with education, with a real focus on Masters\u2019 degrees and a focus on PhDs. And so we have agreed that they can come and they can study here, but there is no commitment on the part of this or a future Government as to the number that would come. That is for the Government of the day to make decisions about. But if they apply for visas and the condition of the Government is they can come in, of course we want them to study here to gain experience, and then return home, which they must do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is a very high-quality agreement that delivers for New Zealanders. As with the last two agreements we were able to do during this term of Government, with the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf Cooperation Council, we\u2019re working hard to ensure that trade remains bipartisan. Since the CPTPP agreement, trade has been bipartisan between the two major parties in this Parliament. There have been super majorities, and the vast majority of this Parliament has supported trade because it\u2019s good for New Zealanders. The Indian free-trade agreement is something that all New Zealanders can benefit from and it will be a pleasure later this year to commend it to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cc5df856d19845fdaba4418087cd3bba\u0022 data-id=\u0022e84c2a19f6405c44dab5e109897a0f3f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc5df856d19845fdaba4418087cd3bba\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e84c2a19f6405c44dab5e109897a0f3f\u0022\u003EHon JAN TINETTI (Labour) (17:38)\u003C/span\u003E: Kia ora, Mr Speaker. Before I address the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, I, too, want to begin by acknowledging the deep mamae that is being felt in the Western Bay of Plenty community following the devastating slips at Mauao and P\u0101p\u0101moa last week. To the wh\u0101nau who have lost loved ones: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003Ee te hunga mate moe mai r\u0101, moe mai r\u0101\u003C/span\u003E [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003Ethose who have passed, rest well\u003C/span\u003E]. To the families, friends, and neighbours left heartbroken, our aroha is with you. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese tragedies have shaken our region to its core. Both Mauao and P\u0101p\u0101moa are places that hold our histories, our hopes for the future, and our wh\u0101nau connections. When the whenua moved, so too did our hearts. But, in the aftermath, we have seen the strength and resilience of the people in the community. We have seen kai being shared, homes being opened, manaakitanga shining bright. That is who we are in Tauranga; we\u2019re a community that stands shoulder to shoulder even in our darkest days. To the people of Tauranga moana: we stand with you. We see your strength, your compassion, and your unity. Together, \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003Eka ora an\u014D a Mauao, ka ora an\u014D t\u0101tou\u003C/span\u003E\u2014our mountain will heal and so will we.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs we do stand together in strength and, I should say, in grief, we must also stand together in a determination, because for too many of our wh\u0101nau, the struggle didn\u2019t start with a natural disaster. Every week, families across New Zealand, and especially in our local rural communities, are facing an economic storm that shows no sign of easing at all. The cost of kai, of rent, of childcare, of power, it\u2019s all going up. While wages simply aren\u2019t keeping pace, more and more wh\u0101nau are hurting majorly. I hear from parents who are choosing between petrol for their car and kai for lunches for their kids. No one should have to make choices like that in this country. This is a country where we have always prided ourselves on the fact that we look after all, but this Government has chosen to look the other way. Why have they done that? Because they have made choices that everyday New Zealanders are suffering from.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EChristopher Luxon promised to make this economy better, and it has only gotten worse. This Government tells everyone here that they should tighten their belts. They tell us that the supports that they\u2019re taking away will achieve a balance. But whose balance are we restoring? Because the wh\u0101nau that I talk to in foodbank lines, the solo parents that I\u2019ve spoken to recently, who often are working two or more jobs, the kaum\u0101tua who are turning off their power so that they can afford to pay their power bill, the wh\u0101nau who are suffering majorly because they don\u2019t know how to pay their rising power bills, they have no balance left to restore. There is no balance left for those people. They don\u2019t know any other way of how they can so-called tighten their belt. They are already doing it tough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELabour believes in lifting up people, not pushing them down, as this Government believes in. We believe that Government has a responsibility to care, which we\u2019re not seeing at the moment, to provide, to protect, and ensure that every child and every wh\u0101nau has the opportunity to thrive. The cuts that we\u2019ve seen to essential services\u2014to education, housing support, and community programmes\u2014are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are real supports that help real people. They are lifelines that this Government has severed. They are the futures that are currently being constrained. That is absolutely disgraceful. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI say to this Government that they need to listen to the voices of our people, listen to the pain and exhaustion that we are seeing daily from those who are working harder than ever to fulfil their needs and their wants for themselves and their families, and yet they are falling further behind. Because leadership is not about lecturing people on personal responsibility; leadership is about collective responsibility. I can\u2019t wait for our Labour Government to be able to show that. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022eb80a9df83044b88a00c174ea7a61925\u0022 data-id=\u002278fa48ad9a56f994c46cccb1f1364dda\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eb80a9df83044b88a00c174ea7a61925\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002278fa48ad9a56f994c46cccb1f1364dda\u0022\u003ETANGI UTIKERE (Labour\u2014Palmerston North) (17:43)\u003C/span\u003E: Kia orana, Mr Speaker, and happy New Year to you and welcome back to parliamentarians across the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELast year, heading into the Christmas break, we talked about the fact that there would be conversations happening over summer barbecues all around the country. My, my, my, have those conversations taken place. The very clear message from people all around the motu is that they are doing it tough under this current Government\u2014that Christopher Luxon, as Prime Minister, is out of touch; he\u2019s putting tax breaks for property speculators and tobacco companies ahead of helping Kiwis when they are doing it tough. That has seen record numbers leaving this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the Prime Minister\u2019s statement today that I was in the House listening to, he had 20 minutes to talk about what was so important about his statement that he tabled this afternoon. He ran out of puff and he gave up, actually, with still more than six minutes left on the clock. I think he took a look at his colleagues over there and realised that they were disengaged; they\u2019d lost interest. He knows that it is better to quit early because he has a plan that is not actually a plan that is being backed by anyone in this Chamber.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders need a Government that focuses on things that really matter: on jobs, on health, on homes, and on real action when it comes to the cost of living. Christopher Luxon promised to make the cost of living better for Kiwis; instead, he is making it worse. When people go to the supermarket and the checkout, they know that things are more expensive. Now, Nicola Willis will tell you that it might \u201Cfeel\u201D as though things are more expensive. The reality check is this: they are more expensive. The cost when it comes to power bills\u2014electricity costs\u2014continue to skyrocket. The cost of everything is increasing. This is a Government that has whacked a drivers tax on people, by increasing the cost of car registrations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThen, when we look and we add to that the ongoing saga that is the school buses in rural communities and other communities all around the country, forcing additional costs on to households when they continue to do it tough. Places like Ashhurst, Longburn, add to the list Rongotea, Shannon, Tangimoana, H\u012Bmatangi, and more. They are looking at private bus services\u2014several thousands of dollars in additional costs. Erica Stanford and this Government could cease this pain right now, but instead they choose not to. They are out of touch.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EToday, in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, I was expecting him to talk about health. I counted, I think, twice when he used the word \u201Chospital\u201D or \u201Chospitals\u201D. I\u2019m not surprised, because there is no substance when it comes to addressing the real health concerns and needs of communities by this Government. They should be ashamed at the state of health here in Aotearoa New Zealand. In Palmerston North, health is the number one issue that constituents engage with me and my team about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, we can talk a lot about the track record. Let\u2019s look at the last 12 months just with this Government. In Palmerston North, there\u2019s been delayed surveillance colonoscopies. I\u2019ve continued to ask the Minister of Health questions about this. The numbers are still in the hundreds of people who are waiting. It is simply not good enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe emergency department (ED) wait times in Palmerston North are simply not good enough. The fact that the children\u2019s ED was closed for part of last year is simply not good enough. The emerging lack of gastroenterologists, amid fears that this will be a reduced service for the people in my community, is simply not good enough. The fact that the coroner indicated that the mental health unit in Palmerston North was far from ideal. The previous Government set aside funding for it, wanted to make a difference, and it was opened by the Government in September of last year. There is still not a single patient or staff member working out of that new facility. It is simply not good enough. This is not a Government that cares about health.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat people and what Kiwis need is a Government that will care\u2014a Government that will provide three free doctors visits for them every year with their Medicard. They need a Government that actually has a plan to address the issues. This is a Government that, actually, is out of touch and continues to be so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHomes and housing is a real issue in many communities. When we think about the number of houses that this Government has cancelled when they were proposed to actually be built in areas in Palmerston North and elsewhere, this clearly indicates that this is a Government that is out of touch and they\u2019re not focused on the real issues. What the community needs right now is a Government that will focus on jobs, on health, on homes, and on real action when it comes to the cost of living. What Christopher Luxon and this Government have done today is they\u2019ve clearly indicated that they have no plan, they\u2019re not concerned about the community, and they would rather, actually, that people continue to hurt. It\u2019s simply not good enough.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f537d6f7e9d0407792892b239af9ec7f\u0022 data-id=\u0022c88bfab1bcefb4b7fa4df7b9b600b807\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f537d6f7e9d0407792892b239af9ec7f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022c88bfab1bcefb4b7fa4df7b9b600b807\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) (17:48)\u003C/span\u003E: Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise in support of the Prime Minister and his statement to Parliament today. It\u2019s a very good statement. I commend it in its entirety to colleagues and to other people who are listening and maybe watching on television this afternoon, because it is a statement that sets out how this National-led coalition Government is fixing the basics and building the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe now know what the election date will be: 7 November this year. It\u2019s not far away. But in the relatively short period of time this Government has had to try and remedy the mistakes, the errors, the mountain of debt inherited by us, I think that we have done exceptionally well. Most of that is about fixing the basics and building the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBefore I go on any further, I want to take an opportunity to talk a little bit about the Coromandel. I have the privilege and honour of representing the Coromandel in this Parliament, and it is one of the regions that has been so impacted this last week or so by heavy weather events that have caused so much devastation and concern and damage to people not only in my region but in other parts of the country as well. I want to initially thank those people who often put themselves and their own families second at a time when an emergency takes place in the community, and that\u2019s our first responders. It\u2019s the members of volunteer fire brigade, search and rescue, Coastguard, who do enormously good work at times when there is crisis and when there is urgency in communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESadly, in regions like the Coromandel, these are issues that arise with reasonably regular occurrence. Until a week or so ago, we\u2019d actually been having a pretty good summer. I had been talking to colleagues about how great it was to see so many of them holidaying and spending time and money in the Coromandel, and that it was the first summer, probably since COVID, when our local businesses had anything like a normal, traditional, classic Coromandel summer, where we have literally hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to spend, as I say, time and money in our patch, and my local businesses need that revenue. To have the summer ruined by this heavy weather event has been devastating.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI had an opportunity to visit several of the communities in the Coromandel with the Prime Minister. I went to Tairua with him, and we could easily have had a similar situation on Mount Paku to the tragedy that occurred in Mount Maunganui with big landslips, houses devastated, and had there been even a few more metres of slippage occurring in that community, the potential for tragedy was very present and very real. Again, local communities, local people stand up in a situation like that and they respond magnificently in a humane, caring Kiwi way, and that is both humbling but also something that I think as New Zealanders, we can be proud of.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI wanted to just share one little story. Tairua was cut off as a community for a day and a bit\u2014a bit more, actually. There was no water, no sewerage. Several houses disintegrated. People were discombobulated, out of their homes, and what have you. The Prime Minister and I spoke to an elderly couple who were without water, without ablutions. I think they had been visiting the local rugby club on foot to use the facilities there. In amongst all this devastation, in amongst all this chaos, really, the older gentleman said to me, \u201CWell, I haven\u2019t got any water, I haven\u2019t got a shower, but I\u2019ve still got some whiskey.\u201D, which I thought was actually kind of nice and appropriate, but just kind of put into context that even in dark times there is a slight glimmer of humour and good nature and goodwill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to also extend my grateful thanks to the officials, to the mayor of the Thames-Coromandel District Council and his team, and to the Mayor of the Hauraki District Council, Toby Adams, and his team. Both those areas are still in a state of emergency. They lead those teams, and to go and see those emergency centres at councils working so efficiently, so calmly, so carefully at a time of crisis is truly heartening. I want to thank those people for the work that they do in terms of the assistance they provide, the clear, calm guidance that they provide, and the work that they do on behalf of our communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESimilarly, in the Western Bay of Plenty\u2014a lot of issues there. There are still roads closed in that part of the electorate. Whangamat\u0101\u2014a major slip there. That\u2019s going to be quite some time before that slip is repaired. There is still a slip blocking folks living in K\u016Baotunu, up where my forebears first arrived in New Zealand back in the mid-1800s and where I have a place, and there are members of my family that are there, as we speak, that are not able to get to Whitianga. I\u2019m told that that piece of road will be cleared in the next day or two, so grateful thanks to the contractors often working under difficult circumstances, challenging circumstances. They do a terrific job, and again they often put themselves at risk and put their own personal situations as a secondary consideration to the considerations of the wider community.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to acknowledge the Government\u2019s support for the Mayoral Relief Fund\u2014$1.2 million. The setting up of the temporary accommodation service has been activated and there has been talk by the Prime Minister and others of further funding and support becoming available by way of improving roading resilience in my part of the world. Many of the roads around the Coromandel were built at a time when issues of the sort we are facing today were not as prevalent, not as common, and not as harsh. What we find is that a lot of those windy, hilly coastal roads were built for a different time. We are asking those roads to do work that were they were never really designed for. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EDuring Cyclone Gabrielle\u2014in fact, just after\u2014we had a situation where State Highway 25 collapsed. The good news about that was even though it was very concerning for many months\u2014far too many months\u2014the repair work that was done was better than what was there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe lesson we learnt from that exercise was that when there is repair work required, don\u2019t just replace with what you had there before. If a bigger culvert is required, put in a bigger culvert. If there are better drainage systems required, then improve the drainage systems. If there are roading, engineering issues that need addressing, then don\u2019t just replace with what was there first off; improve it properly. State Highway 25A has held up pretty well, so the lesson for us there is when we do the repair work, to build for the future. I\u2019m sure that that will be the case as we go forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAgain, we have had a tragedy at Mount Maunganui\u2014no doubt about that\u2014and our hearts go out to those friends and families of the victims concerned. It\u2019s challenging for us as a nation to confront issues of that sort. Sadly, in my time in this place, there have been a number of occasions when we as a Parliament have had to confront and address issues of catastrophe and tragedy confronting our nation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne of the things that we do do quite well in our Parliament\u2014and there are many things that maybe critics might say we don\u2019t do terribly well\u2014is acknowledge appropriately and in a meaningful way situations when we as human beings are confronted by our role as parliamentarians. At the end of the day, all of us in this place are just human beings. We all have families, we all have neighbours, we all have communities, we all have a relationship with the places from which we come, and we all have our hearts there and our minds there. It\u2019s at times of tragedy and concern that I think New Zealanders have traditionally, historically, repeatedly shown that they are good people doing good things under harsh duress situations. I am enormously proud of the way that communities in my electorate have stood up to this latest issue, and I know that in future when they are confronted with something similar, they will do so again. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224cdfceb3207b43e8a21b346f9376ddc7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002219121d416fc6075d3c65486c07f72dba\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono)\u003C/span\u003E: Members, the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7.30.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022CharacterItalicsCentred\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022539ace569e14bb2d9358f0689b8ddaee\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: Good evening, members, and welcome back to this new parliamentary year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002226ddf6eae73277e4c9edb8b855d73f47\u0022\u003EPersonal Explanations\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00229f710541f840d7c4a566b8b001aada23\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 2 to Minister, 16 December\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022a646ba82e8d7979726564a25da7e4679\u0022\u003EAmended Answer to Oral Question\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022 data-id=\u00224fb51ead23f2976b0ef5b538a3e61103\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224fb51ead23f2976b0ef5b538a3e61103\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister) (19:30)\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek leave to make a personal explanation to correct an answer I gave in response to question No. 2 on 16 December 2025.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226630c6c72d7f06724da6b8f32fd4ee38\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There appears to be none.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cd896dd87395460c8de853bbf60dbf66\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002275c3935ed3c1a18fe594c0f5ca9043de\u0022\u003ERt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker. In my answer to the fourth supplementary question from Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick, I said: \u201CWhat I\u2019d [notice] is that it has been good and encouraging to see that this month we\u2019ve had the lowest number of New Zealanders departing New Zealand. In fact, it\u2019s been the lowest this month than it has in any given month of the previous Labour-Greens Government.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EWhat I should have said is: \u201CIt has been encouraging to see that this month we\u2019ve had the lowest number of New Zealanders departing New Zealand since November 2022, or the whole period of Chris Hipkins\u2019 time as Prime Minister.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002227d176863549672859603fdc8a12a60f\u0022\u003EGovernment Business\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00225e3e09d7db5a4c582cd8d3c9a9ca8927\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000405\u0022\u003EDebate resumed.\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022be0656016153e16c456b69407647df49\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: The next call is a Green Party call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bac3dcb6103a48d3bcead8563342a856\u0022 data-id=\u00224bd8d085f227c6d9444e0921ec46747e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bac3dcb6103a48d3bcead8563342a856\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224bd8d085f227c6d9444e0921ec46747e\u0022\u003EDr LAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green) (19:31)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and welcome back to everyone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen we are looking at education, what we have seen in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement is the Prime Minister and their colleagues have been touting the success in education, but I\u2019m here to talk about the data and evidence that supposedly backs some of that. But I want to preface that by saying that education is important. I am, as the Green Party\u2019s education spokesperson, somewhat biased, but I do believe that education is one of the cornerstones of our societies. Education should be about curiosity. It should be about allowing students and allowing children to be able to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. There is an old saying in Chinese that \u201CFailure is the mother of success.\u201D\u2014probably quite a few cultures have a similar phrase, but I think that reflects quite accurately what education should be about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHowever, we haven\u2019t seen that with this Government. Just in terms of some of the things that we have seen in terms of the numbers that have come out, it is important to highlight that when the Government communicates success in education, it\u2019s prioritised confidence over clarity, optimism over evidence, and affirmation over explanations. Education depends on trust, nuance, professional scepticism, and long-term thinking\u2014not slogans, not victory laps, not labels that have been used on something that is a narrow test within the whole pedagogical system.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor example, when we\u2019re looking at the data that has come out in terms of mathematics, we\u2019re looking at a year\u2019s progress, which simply means a gain of 20 to 30 e-asTTle points where the control group has an average of 27.76 points. But the score does not reflect things on things like geometry, algebra, statistics, or conceptual flexibility. So we are seeing problems within the way that the Government has portrayed its numbers. We\u2019re seeing that the trials that have been suggested only test a narrow component of math\u2014but that also was when we\u2019re looking at something like the success that has been stated in terms of phonics. The overstatement in terms of the success of the phonic test is a 40-word test on how well children sound out words. It\u2019s not about reading or understanding. It\u2019s also important to know, when we\u2019re looking at it from a statistical perspective, that the improvement in results in term 3 was not tested on the same students as they tested earlier\u2014so there\u2019s even inconsistencies within the way the Government has tracked its own data. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut this is not all in terms of some of the concerns we\u2019re seeing out of this Government when it comes to education. What we\u2019re seeing in terms of the Government is a power grab of various aspects of the education system and to have total authoritarian control over the education system. We\u2019re seeing a complete lack of consultation and transparency with the sector over the changes to curriculum, over the scrapping of NCEA\u2014the fact that the New Zealand School Boards Association themselves didn\u2019t even know that the amendment was going to be introduced that scrapped the objective of Te Tiriti o Waitangi from section 127 of the Education and Training Amendment Bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is not about wanting our education environment to thrive; this is about dictatorship and this is about control, and that\u2019s what we are seeing with this Government. We\u2019re seeing that the minute that the schools actually stand out and push back against this Government, with more than 1,800 schools reaffirming the commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi\u2014that\u2019s over 70 percent of schools in Aotearoa New Zealand\u2014they are branded as being bullied into it, as opposed to \u201CThis is something that I genuinely believe.\u201D This is how the Government operates. We see that in not just the education portfolio alone. We\u2019re seeing the ugliness of a Trumpian style of politics being played out here in Aotearoa New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Green Party have a vision for education. We want our children to thrive; we want them to succeed. But this is not the way to do it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002233d6c990c64e41428c25aa2fcb7c3bf3\u0022 data-id=\u0022bd747bc3b83287fe4007e52ce1d50251\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002233d6c990c64e41428c25aa2fcb7c3bf3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bd747bc3b83287fe4007e52ce1d50251\u0022\u003EFRANCISCO HERNANDEZ (Green) (19:36)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciated that, in his first speech of the year, the Prime Minister quoted scripture with a beatitude, so I\u2019ll quote scripture right back at him. The quote I picked is: \u201CBy your deeds, you will know them.\u201D What are the deeds of this New Zealand First and National Government? It is economic carnage. Inflation is above the target rate that they\u2019ve set it at. Our economy is smaller than when they took office. Our unemployment is reaching levels that it reached in the great financial crisis. Small-business removals are the highest it\u2019s ever been, with small-business liquidations reaching nearly 3,000. This Government has liquidated more small businesses than the most gung-ho Stalinist commissar.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOrdinary New Zealanders are paying more for less, whether it\u2019s in their supermarket bills or their power bills, while their options and income shrink. If they\u2019re in the regional community, they\u2019re seeing the industrialisation, with their mills and freezing works closing. If they\u2019re in a big city, they\u2019re seeing their jobs in the Public Service, in construction, in hospitality disappear as long-time household businesses, such as Leuven in Wellington, close. At the same time, this Government\u2019s rich donor mates\u2014whether in big tobacco, big fossil fuel, or big landlords\u2014are getting billions in subsidies and tax breaks. The cost of living crisis is a cost of greed crisis that\u2019s being borne by ordinary New Zealanders, not this Government\u2019s rich mates. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELike the \u201C6-7\u201D meme\u2014like the \u201C6-7\u201D meme\u2014this Government doesn\u2019t really make much sense. One party wants to take us back to a 1950s style of economic management. One party wants to take us back to the 1700s. Fundamentally, this Government is too divided to agree on a coherent economic strategy. So, in the absence of a clear plan, what did they agree on and what did they implement? It\u2019s cuts, whether it\u2019s in the Dunedin Hospital or environmental programmes or critical public services that everyday New Zealanders need. This coalition took Labour\u2019s miners cuts and accelerated them to the point that the critical services that New Zealanders rely on are under pressure in our hospitals. Our doctors are having to waste their time cleaning beds and doing admin works thanks to the Government\u2019s cuts to the health workforce. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOur natural environment is suffering from cuts to conservation and climate. Whereas the previous Government deferred programs like the container deposit scheme, this Government has slashed and burned the environment with billions of dollars of cuts to critical environmental programmes. One of the other things that\u2019s characterised this Government\u2019s agenda is short-term thinking. Our nature, which is fundamentally the basis of our economy, has seen massive desecration at the scale of this Government, with our conservation estate being opened up to mining to rich foreigners and our people being made unemployed and being made to flee to Australia\u2014being driven away with the starvation of options and opportunities, with the starvation of the tertiary sector, with the job losses in the polytech sector, and with the underfunding of the apprenticeship schemes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut there is a better way forward. We can choose to invest in our green solutions, which are cost of living solutions. We can choose to break our dependence on overseas energy imports and invest in a transition to a greener economy with homemade renewable energy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe can choose to invest in our people, whether young or old, whether in the North or South Island. And we can choose to tax wealth fairly and restructure our economy in a way that everyday people are not struggling to get by while foreign oligarchs hoover up all our property and reduce us to tenants in our own land.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo do this, we need a change of Government, yes, but we also need a real Government of change. We need real change, not just a return to incrementalist policies that tweak policy settings. We need genuine transformation that actually recognises the intrinsic link between nature and the economy, that recognises that it is actually everyday New Zealanders that make this country go round. Not the donor class, not the billionaire class, and not the people that this Government is serving.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis year, on 7 November, voters around the country have an incredible opportunity to affect the real, good, green change they need by supporting the party that has stood up consistently for people, planet, and Te Tiriti over the past three years. Thank you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022 data-id=\u002291f45354d888b54ad08191e57782eae7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002291f45354d888b54ad08191e57782eae7\u0022\u003EHon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Defence) (19:41)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I\u2019ve listened to the last two speakers\u2019 contributions, and I have to say I don\u2019t know which countries they were talking about because it\u2019s certainly not our country here in New Zealand, which is the best little country in the world. And as someone who has endured some health issues last year and was able to get excellent treatment through our public health system, can I say that is not the public health system that I see, and that I see from time to time with my physio that I have to deal with. What I see is a group of people who work very hard but also are very aware of the fact that it\u2019s taxpayer dollars that are paying for what they do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo when I hear the Green Party talk about taking money off people, and then just giving this money out, it\u2019s actually those very people\u2014the physiotherapists, the doctors, the nurses, the orderlies, the people who actually work in those hospitals\u2014who are paying for the sort of ambitions that we hear from the other side. And when they talk about the renewable energy, \u201CWe should do that.\u201D\u2014oh my goodness, we\u2019ve been doing that for many, many, many years. Well before those last two contributors were born. In New Zealand we have been a huge pioneer of renewable energy. At the moment we\u2019re around about 90 percent renewable energy. And that\u2019s called the wind and the rain and the water, the hydros, the hydro system set up by National Governments in the 1950s and 60s\u2014those ones. That\u2019s actually what we are using now to keep the lights on, and am I very pleased of the fact that that\u2019s happening.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to deal with a couple of issues. First, the weather events. I want to give a big thank you to our first responders; a big thank you to the Prime Minister and the Hon Mark Mitchell and all the MPs who were there; the mayors; the local government people; everyone who turned up; the fire service\u2014FENZ as they are now; the Urban Search and Rescue people; the Police; the Defence Force. I\u2019m so pleased that the Defence Force kept me informed as to what they were doing and where they were, where these assets were going. That\u2019s one of the reasons you need a defence force: because you never know when you\u2019re going to need them, and it\u2019s not like the weather gives us that much notice. So a big thank you to them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019d also like to deal with another issue on defence. I put out a statement the other day on Afghanistan and our contribution on Afghanistan. I\u2019m going to read it out to you, Madam Speaker, because I think it\u2019s important that all members in the House understand that, as the Minister of Defence, I said, \u201CNew Zealand is proud of the service of personnel who deployed to Afghanistan. We responded to the call for assistance alongside our partners and our people served willingly and with professionalism in challenging and often dangerous conditions. We continue to honour the memory of New Zealand Defence Force personnel who lost their lives in Afghanistan, and we acknowledge the enduring loss felt by their families, friends, and colleagues. New Zealand takes great pride in the professionalism, courage, and commitment shown by all those who served there.\u201D 3,500 New Zealanders served in Afghanistan, 10 of whom never returned. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETwo who did return are in this House, Tim Costley and Dr Vanessa Weenink. Tim in the Air Force and Vanessa on the ground with the Army. Vanessa there as a captain and then later as an acting major. These are very serious contributions made by at least two parliamentarians, and I congratulate them for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI went to Afghanistan as the Minister of Police because we had our New Zealand Police in training the Afghan National Police, and what a great job they did. I looked at the conditions in which they lived and they worked, and in which the people lived and worked, and I can tell you it was dire\u2014absolutely dire. I want them to know that we appreciate their contributions. So I\u2019m very proud of our defence force. I\u2019m very proud of our police, all those who contributed and contribute today to help keep our heads up high, knowing as good, decent people in the world that we are always there to do our bit and often more than anyone else expects. So thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis country is very lucky to have a Government that is focused on fixing the basics and building the future. You can talk all you like about, \u201CWell you\u2019d like to have this, and you\u2019d like to have that.\u201D It\u2019s like 100,000 homes that never got built. It\u2019s all those things you\u2019d like to do\u2014you know, \u201CI\u2019m going to do this; I\u2019m going to do that.\u201D And actually, you\u2019ve just got to understand someone has to pay for it and the people paying for it are the wage and salary earners, the small-business people, all of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe had to get our water tanks cleaned the other day. And the people who own the business said that they were going to come on Monday. And I thought, \u201CWell, they won\u2019t be on Monday. That\u2019s the Auckland public holiday.\u201D\u2014it was in Auckland. Guess what? They turned up on Monday, and they were there working all day. I thought, well, that\u2019s the difference between people who are small-business owners for whom every job counts and for someone who\u2019s thinking back here in Wellington in our system thinking, \u201COh well, someone else will do it, or we\u2019ll wait another day.\u201D I think we need to understand it\u2019s that work ethic, that dedication to getting the job done and having a happy customer that is something that we should be very proud of in this country. And it is actually endemic in our country, and we should be proud of that. We should not be making excuses for the fact that we do need to have more of that attitude.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe are spending our money\u2014the money of the taxpayers, which we all are, as well as those of us who are paid by the taxpayer\u2014very carefully. We\u2019re being very careful about what we do. I congratulate Erica Stanford on the work she\u2019s doing in education. I\u2019m just overjoyed that she is putting basics back into school. That kids are learning to read the same way that I learnt to read, and that is using the phonics method, actually chopping words up and sounding them out and putting things together. That\u2019s how kids learn, not this ridiculous 30-year experiment that was taken over by some academics who probably never, ever taught a child to read. I also want to say, thank goodness we\u2019ve got maths back in the place it should be\u2014back in the classroom. And it\u2019s all very well saying, \u201CYou can use a calculator on your phone.\u201D Well, first off, you want to know what that calculator is and what it does before you ask it to do anything. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut it is important that we stop wasteful spending and that we\u2019ve got inflation under control. We think, now, our inflation rate at the moment is 3.1 percent and that\u2019s where it\u2019s above the 3 percent level. But actually, only two years ago it was 7.1 percent. Why should that matter to everyday New Zealanders going about their business, trying to make ends meet? The reason is this: it puts up the cost of everything. If I look now at the costs that are really still up there, one of the biggest costs are council rates, and I look at the way in which some of our councils, particularly in Wellington and also in Auckland, they\u2019re saying, \u201COh, we\u2019re going to keep it to a seven-point-something-or-other-percent rate increase. Well, what other business in New Zealand behaves like that? What other business is doing that? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe fact is that we have these large councils who think it\u2019s their job to act like mini-Governments. Well, they\u2019re not. They\u2019re local councils. They can collect the rubbish\u2014that would be really good. They can keep the rates under control, and they can look after pests. As far as I\u2019m concerned, just about anything else is complete nonsense. They should get away from it. But that\u2019s because I get to pay the big rates bills and I\u2019m sure plenty of other people in this House do too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is important that we look at crime and the fact that we have had 38,000 fewer victims of crime since this Government came into Government. That is incredible. If we look at ram raids: down 85 percent\u2014what an astonishing outcome\u201485 percent drop. Reduced serious youth offending by 16 percent. That\u2019s 16 percent fewer people being victimised. It\u2019s also probably 16 percent fewer people ending up in the youth justice system because they\u2019re not committing those crimes. And that\u2019s one of the other things. If you let people who are problematic in their behaviours get away with this sort of behaviour, then they will think that that\u2019s OK for them to do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETheir lives, as well as those of their victims, will be ruined by it. Let\u2019s not make that happen. Let\u2019s make sure they know that there is a problem. Of course, there\u2019s been work on capping sentence discounts. There\u2019s been all sorts of work going on in the justice sector, particularly by Paul Goldsmith and Mark Mitchell. I also want to mention Casey Costello and also Nicole McKee. They\u2019ve been doing great work, working together in the coalition Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen you look at things like classrooms, I remember hearing an awful lot from the previous Minister of Education, I think it was one Chris Hipkins, about classrooms. Well, since January 2024, we\u2019ve delivered more than\u2014wait for it\u2014430 new classrooms; 430 new classrooms when we took over a situation where the interest alone on the debt that we were left with is costing us over $9 billion a year. That\u2019s the entire amount that we currently spend on defence, plus corrections, plus police, plus the Ministry of Justice\u2014the entire lot of the justice system and defence\u2014all in interest because of the wasteful spending of the previous Government. So congratulations to our Government\u2014we\u2019re doing a great job.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022fa370c0016e740998a2816116c8e4365\u0022 data-id=\u002222d6b7b87885956d37d39b543e2519aa\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fa370c0016e740998a2816116c8e4365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002222d6b7b87885956d37d39b543e2519aa\u0022\u003EHon ANDREW HOGGARD (Associate Minister of Agriculture) (19:51)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise to speak on the Government\u2019s programme for the year and to commend the Prime Minister\u2019s statement to the House. My summer break was probably a bit different to everyone else\u2019s. I spent every single day doing farm work and there were fences that got built; posts that got rammed; hay that got mowed, baled, stacked; water troughs that got fixed and installed; flow meters got put in; the tail end of the herd got AI\u2019d. Now, just to be clear, that\u2019s not the ChatGPT kind of AI; that is the rubber glove kind of AI.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere was a bit of unparliamentary language when the post rammer decided to have a malfunction, but through all this I absolutely loved it. It reminded me of why I enjoyed farming so much. It was a bit of a challenge to take off the gumboots and put the dress shoes back on and jump in the car yesterday, but for me, it\u2019s a key thing of why I\u2019m here: that I\u2019m here to keep speaking up for rural New Zealand, to progress changes for rural New Zealand, so that farmers can do that stuff they love doing\u2014those jobs they love doing. Doing the stuff they want to be doing, that they got into farming to do; not to deal with red tape and paperwork and spend money. They want to spend their hard-earned cash on improvements to the farm\u2014things that make the farm go better and that look after the cows; all that sort of stuff\u2014not on a whole compliance industry that is built up around them. So that\u2019s why we\u2019re back here, doing this work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAnd 2025 was a big year for rural New Zealand and 2026 will also be a big year for rural New Zealand. There have been a number of things that this Parliament has dealt to over the last year and will finish off this year that have long been a challenge for farmers and have created frustrations over the years and really sapped away at rural confidence. Confidence is so key to any business, big or small. Because, without confidence, if you\u2019re not confident in your future, you\u2019re not investing in the business, you\u2019re not employing new people, you\u2019re not trying new things, you\u2019re not coming up with new products, you\u2019re going into bunker mentality. And when you go into bunker mentality, you\u2019re not spending. When you do have confidence and you are spending, that\u2019s with other businesses, that\u2019s increasing their confidence, and it all just grows exponentially. That is the key thing we need to be doing here is instilling that confidence in rural New Zealand and other parts of our economy that they can invest and that there is a future in this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo key to that, this year is going to be those Resource Management Act reforms. We talked about it last year. We had the first reading\u2014so important. For so many years that Resource Management Act has held this country back. So really important\u2014the key thing, I think, for this year\u2014is making sure that that bill passes. But key to that also is those standards that fit underneath it. Those standards are going to be the things that provide the definition and the detail that makes sense to people to know, \u201COK, here is what I have got to do. So I just need to follow these steps, and I can get on with doing stuff. I can get on with adding to this economy. I can get on with building new things that are important.\u201D, rather than, \u201COh, I have this massive consent process that I\u2019ve got to go through that\u2019s going to sap all my energy away and completely destroy my soul.\u201D So that\u2019s important.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EChief among those will, obviously, be the national policy statement on fresh water. From the ACT Party view, it\u2019s important that we move away from this one-size-fits-all approach\u2014that we move away from vague spiritual concepts like te mana o te wai. We need to be focusing on clear science and clear statements that give people confidence as to what it is they need to be doing, so that they can achieve the goals and get on with doing stuff.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn terms of this one-size-fits-all approach, we need to be looking at catchments and going, \u201COK, what is happening here?\u201D Often, we\u2019ve got these targets that are based on a national number, but not reflecting what\u2019s naturally happening in that catchment. Often what\u2019s coming out of nature could be higher than the national bottom line. So we need to have numbers that are responsive to what is happening in that catchment. They need to be fit for purpose. Also, yes, we\u2019ve got to be aspirational. We should be looking at how we can improve, but we\u2019ve got to be realistic about how we do it. On the positive side\u2014I look at my 28 years in farming\u2014I have never seen our farmers more engaged as they are at this moment around being proactive around the environment. This gives me great positivity for this interface between farming and the environment. Our farmers are really going above and beyond with catchment care groups and other things.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAnother key standard that\u2019s got to be worked on this year is that around biodiversity or significant natural areas (SNAs), if you will. For too long, landowners were, basically, at risk of a council officer looking up Google Maps, thinking to themselves, \u201COh, that looks pretty. That looks significant.\u201D And, basically, painting an overlay and snatching it up. Going forward, those landowners need to have the opportunity\u2014those ones that have had their property rights taken off them\u2014to ensure that those SNAs are reviewed under a far more targeted criteria as to what\u2019s actually significant. Most importantly, in the future, we are going to have a situation where if a council wants to engage in regulatory takings, there will need to be compensation for it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe other key action that happened in the last year that had created massive issues with rural confidence over the last three or four years was around the methane targets and taxes. We\u2019ve removed that threat of taxes on methane, which just would have resulted in a reduction in farming in this country, which makes little sense. I\u2019m sure on the other side they will decry the fact that if we\u2019re not taxing methane then we\u2019re going to have more adverse weather. I\u2019m sorry, that\u2019s not going to be the case. Our farmers are the most efficient in the world. If you want less methane in the global atmosphere, the answer is pretty simple: have more farming in New Zealand. The ACT Party will continue to push for more changes to those Paris commitments that we\u2019ve made. We\u2019ve recognised the science behind the split gas approach, and yet we haven\u2019t really fully embraced it in our Paris commitments. We\u2019re clear: we need to change those commitments, we need to embrace the split gas nationally determined contribution, and we need to have the courage to walk away if that\u2019s what it takes to get common sense. The reality is our global customers are interested in the footprint of their products\u2014the intensity\u2014not any national targets. And good luck to those companies if they think they can reduce their product intensity without ingredients from New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019d also like to take this opportunity to highlight the work of my colleague Nicole McKee to replace the Firearms Act. In rural New Zealand, firearms are a tool of the trade. They are used for pest control, for humanely euthanising animals, and\u2014for anyone that\u2019s gone out to rural New Zealand in the first weekend of May\u2014they are a key part of our social interactions. Her reforms cut unnecessary red tape, restore common sense, and focus enforcement on where it belongs: on criminals and gangs, not rural people doing their jobs. Submissions are open now, and I would say to rural firearm owners: make sure you have your say. It\u2019s great to finally have an adult in the room who knows what she\u2019s talking about and recognises that respect for licensed firearm owners doesn\u2019t diminish public safety; it improves it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFinally, I\u2019ll just quickly finish up on covering some of the key goals I\u2019ve got in my portfolios this year. In biosecurity, we\u2019ve made great progress on the yellow-legged hornet and set up a response to a single fruit fly incursion.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to thank the team at Biosecurity New Zealand for the great work and the hard work they\u2019ve been doing over the summer on both of those. Last year, we signed a number of operational agreements\u2014around foot-and-mouth, avian flu\u2014and we\u2019re going to look to do more of the preparedness work this year, along with also introducing legislation to reform the Biosecurity Act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn food safety, the red tape will continue to be cut where it does nothing to enhance food safety. The good example there is around export exemptions. It is also important that we keep making progress on reducing those application times for agrichemical and vet medicines approval. We need to ensure that we get these essential new solutions and tools into farmers\u2019 and growers\u2019 hands.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the environment space, I\u2019m really looking forward to bringing nature-based credits forward and also having smart and sensible farm plans that will enable farmers to avoid a range of costly consents and Draconian rules.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ERural New Zealand is the economic backbone of this country, and this Government\u2014and especially the ACT Party\u2014supports them and wants them to do well, and we\u2019ll do our damnedest to ensure that they do well. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f36277cb754947fa93977a31a33abd49\u0022 data-id=\u002280e71bac6e1ff4c224147c114965e5dd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f36277cb754947fa93977a31a33abd49\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002280e71bac6e1ff4c224147c114965e5dd\u0022\u003EHon CASEY COSTELLO (Minister of Customs) (20:01)\u003C/span\u003E: Madam Speaker, welcome to 2026. We started with sunshine and complained about the quality of the heat, and we were quickly stopped in our tracks by the forces of nature, the face of tragedy, and the destruction by weather conditions. New Zealanders did what they do: they rallied and they came together. My mother and her close wh\u0101nau in Whangaruru were luckily safe. Although isolated through washed out roads, they were protected by a community that rallied, that came together and checked on each other, and made sure they were safe. It took a while to get out, but they did get out and everything was safe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI would like to acknowledge, where it\u2019s due, H\u016Bhana Lyndon, for her advocacy for the region. She was out and about, standing at Helena Bay talking to our wh\u0101nau, and I would like to thank her for her efforts in bringing that community together. I fully acknowledge how lucky I am that everyone I know and love was safe. My heart goes out to those who are dealing with a very different reality.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI would like to acknowledge Minister Mitchell and the Prime Minister. I was appalled when it was referenced that they flew in and flew out and that their efforts were in any way diminished. It is the hardest thing in the world to sit with someone who has lost people they love and be with a stranger in that tragic moment. That is exactly what they did, and they did it when it needed to be done. I applaud them for their efforts.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, I rise to speak on behalf of New Zealand First as part of the response to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement. Earlier in this debate, we had to endure a bravado on that side of the House that was quite breathtaking. We were followed up with the \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EEmperor\u2019s New Clothes\u003C/span\u003E fable by the co-leader of the Green Party. You know the story: the foolish emperor who was sold a fancy cut of clothes and was forced to accept it because he was challenged that, if he didn\u2019t see it, he was a fool. That is exactly what that side of the House is asking us to accept.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELook at their doomsday narrative, and that is followed by the assurance that they have the answer: they know what to do; you can\u2019t see it because we\u2019re, obviously, fools. Our leader announced it; it\u2019s the borrow and hope strategy. It is: \u201CBelieve it because we say it\u2019s so, and we\u2019ll carry on with this narrative.\u201D The yarn they spin is reliant on New Zealanders being foolish again, and I don\u2019t think they will be, because they won\u2019t forget, as much as they want to paint the picture, the record rental price increases, the record inflation rates, and the record interest rates that we all suffered and toiled under.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000455\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ELet\u2019s not forget the things that weren\u2019t delivered\u2014the houses; the increase in crime; all of the things that we\u2019re now told to forget because, apparently, on this side of the House, we\u2019ve got it completely wrong. Well, no, we don\u2019t have it completely wrong. We don\u2019t believe farmers are the enemies. We don\u2019t want to penalise tradies for wanting to own a workhorse vehicle. We don\u2019t want to make it harder for retailers to do business and put more and more criteria on them on how they do business. We don\u2019t want them to live in fear because of ram raids. Astoundingly, the Green Party is still complaining about these businesses going out of business when they demonised their ability to make a profit. They want them to be in business, but they\u2019re not allowed to make a profit!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThat is the problem. That is the confused narrative that they are asking us to accept. They\u2019re still lecturing this side of the House\u2014the people who have never owned a business, the people who have never toiled to attract and retain staff, the people who haven\u2019t had sleepless nights trying to work out whether they\u2019re going to make payroll. One more time we\u2019re being lectured about the evil of profit. Landlords are depicted as the super wealthy, the robber barons, when they know most rental properties are owned by mum and dad investors, not this big business narrative they want us to believe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is about the people who have toiled and worked and, as they\u2019ve got older in life, have bought a second property and they rent it out to supplement their retirement. That is by the sweat of thy brow. That is the stuff about personal accountability and responsibility, and that is about the hard work that makes New Zealand great. It\u2019s hard work that this Government knows. We are the front-line workers, the farmers, the builders, the business owners, the military personnel that understand the importance of a hand up over handouts, the importance of education as the long-term investment in our future, and that optimising our resources and innovation is essential to our prosperity. What a fantastic team I have the privilege to be part of with this Government and my New Zealand First colleagues, returning to 2026 rearing to get on with delivery.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBefore talking about the year ahead and what we have done and are doing, I would first like to acknowledge those hard-working Kiwi battlers, the front-line services that kept on while this House was adjourned. Firstly, Madam Speaker, I would like to talk about, as Minister of Customs, the hard work of that team, who were tasked with facilitating trade, supporting travellers, and, importantly, keeping us safe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOn Boxing Day, 10 kilograms of meth and 8 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted at the Tauranga port. A few days later, 18 kilograms of meth was intercepted at Auckland Airport. Unfortunately, this is business as usual. This is what is happening at the time of peak travel numbers through our ports and airports. It is this continual effort at our borders that highlights how important it is that we tackle transnational and serious organised crime. The strategy launch that I announced late last year included the priorities and key functions to support enforcement agencies to make New Zealand the hardest place in the world for organised criminal groups and networks to do business and cause harm. The enormous amount of money that these criminal cartels siphon off our economy is eyewatering. It is essential that we come together and strengthen our response, and that is what this strategy does.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First has always been about practical solutions and getting the job done, and our work to combat organised crime is about bringing greater levels of cohesion and cooperation, improving information sharing, and exploring options for a central agency to be responsible for organised crime. I am proud to be part of a Government that is committed to law and order and to continue the legacy of New Zealand First\u2019s commitment to supporting our front-line workers by being tough on crime.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat we know is that New Zealand does not sit in isolation, and we\u2019re reaching out to support our Pacific neighbours. While most of us were still enjoying time with our families, my leader, Winston Peters, was already back in the Pacific, engaging with our Pacific neighbours and strengthening our relationships. It is ironic that the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Chris Hipkins, was critical of how the world was viewing New Zealand. Yet, under his leadership, New Zealand had almost become invisible on the international stage.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have rebuilt our presence and our respect on the international stage. Our response to organised crime includes cross-agency Pacific maritime operations with the Customs Service and the New Zealand Defence Force, building on the activity of last year. We have also had continuing success with the Pacific detector dogs programme, with a target of 30 operational units in the Pacific by the end of 2026. This includes\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220b60f3de86f94cdcba16d6caa82b94e5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cbbd27ff0ce17f66aa21cb85fcdd275b\u0022\u003EHon Damien O\u0027Connor\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, Madam Speaker. Look, I don\u2019t do this and I don\u2019t like to interrupt someone who is speaking, but there is, of course, a Standing Order that says that we shouldn\u2019t read speeches in the House. I appreciate that from time to time, people do, but if people are going to read speeches, they should at least be accurate, and that one is not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002229aeace20ec825f23df430098a035f83\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019m still waiting to know what the point of order is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220b60f3de86f94cdcba16d6caa82b94e5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226e4cf7d5aa71f0adf0349523caeed4f1\u0022\u003EHon Damien O\u0027Connor\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. There\u2019s a Standing Order that says we shouldn\u2019t read speeches in this House. That\u2019s what the member has done\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220e180a9081117ba97ecd2bb987b28c70\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: OK, if you want the Speakers to implement that rule across the House, that\u2019s going to impact an awful lot of people, or were you just picking on one or two in particular?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220b60f3de86f94cdcba16d6caa82b94e5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002211c45d78f1043a0411aa7902f1e46a45\u0022\u003EHon Damien O\u0027Connor\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019d love you to rule that speeches should be more accurate if they\u2019re read.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f92ff1279f509bffabd6b1e74f9a6556\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019m not going to interfere in the content of anyone\u2019s speech, I say to the Hon Damien O\u2019Connor. But as we get into our third year of this term, there will be a lot more emphasis on ad libbed speeches, rather than read speeches, and I can forewarn you of that. But I have been watching and the Minister has added quite a bit of other information, rather than just being focused on what, obviously, is in front of her. Sorry to interrupt the Minister. Would you like to continue?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000469\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f36277cb754947fa93977a31a33abd49\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a501b38a4fc059a46b066cf5beed939c\u0022\u003EHon CASEY COSTELLO\u003C/span\u003E: The concluding part of my speech is really around our Pacific response to organised crime, the importance of our relationships across the Pacific, and the work that we will continue to be doing. As the Minister of Customs, I\u2019m incredibly proud of the work that we have done to build those positive relationships. We are continuing to work to support the customs administration of our Pacific neighbours to develop good legislation to enable them to strengthen their borders, and we will continue to drive better legislation for New Zealand with border security legislation to help enforce our borders and provide the protection that New Zealanders need to live in this great country. Thank you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223b11bafcf5b5427480393ffeef4fe6e8\u0022 data-id=\u00220abbf98f421b4db34a539a68af8d6a46\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000470\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223b11bafcf5b5427480393ffeef4fe6e8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220abbf98f421b4db34a539a68af8d6a46\u0022\u003EORIINI KAIPARA (Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori\u2014T\u0101maki Makaurau) (20:12)\u003C/span\u003E: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003EE te P\u012Bka, t\u0113n\u0101 koe.\u003C/span\u003E Today, the Prime Minister stood in this Whare and he painted a picture of progress: a picture of prosperity, of stability, and a so-called stronger Aotearoa. But for M\u0101ori up and down the country, in Te Ika-a-M\u0101ui, Te Wai Pounamu, and especially in T\u0101maki Makaurau, that picture is a fiction\u2014meaning it\u2019s not real. Mum would say, \u201CIt\u2019s all kaka.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000471\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat it is is a carefully crafted image that ignores the lived reality of wh\u0101nau who have endured two years of anti-M\u0101ori, anti-Tiriti policies that strip away M\u0101ori rights, erase our reo and tikanga, and undermine every part of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. What\u2019s despicable is that they\u2019re OK with pushing many a wh\u0101nau M\u0101ori further into crisis, and nowhere is that crisis more visible and more brutal than in housing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000472\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister said that the Government is committed to solving our decades-long housing crisis and that we are making good progress. Let\u2019s talk about that progress, shall we? Giving a $3 billion tax cut to landlords\u2014is that their progress towards solving our housing crisis? Is it? Building bigger barriers for people to access emergency housing\u2014is that progress? Selling much-needed homes to overseas buyers for holiday houses\u2014I mean, seriously, that\u2019s progress to ending our homelessness and our housing crisis? The only progress these kinds of policies are making is towards homelessness. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000473\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019ve said it before, and I will say it again and again and again until our housing and homelessness crisis is ended: the greatest breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is that tangata whenua have no whenua and have no homes. Homelessness, housing, and anything remotely resembling stability, security, and safety is being denied to far too many of us, and not just to M\u0101ori but to thousands\u2014thousands\u2014of us who call Aotearoa home. There remain over 110,000 homeless people, people without homes across our country, and more than half is made up of our future leaders. Rangatahi are on the streets. A third of homeless people are made up of w\u0101hine M\u0101ori, many of whom are new or expectant mums, and the rate right now is increasing daily, so much so that service providers can\u2019t keep up with the demand. Furthermore, kaupapa M\u0101ori providers who have survived severe funding cuts, just like Te Whare H\u012Bn\u0101tore at the Auckland City Mission, are forced to reject wh\u0101nau with nowhere else to go. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000474\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHomelessness and housing is a crisis we can end overnight. There is a simple solution staring us all in the face: ghost houses\u2014whare k\u0113hua. We have 112,000 of them right across the country, so why not house our people first? That\u2019s not throwing away money; that\u2019s securing our future. Why not cut the homeless crisis at its core and prioritise our rangatahi first? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000475\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAt the end of last year, I delivered my first member\u2019s bill to end youth homelessness, which focuses on the cure, not the crisis. It\u2019s not radical; it is responsible. It is not ideological; it is actually evidence-based. Not only is it by M\u0101ori for everyone; it is rangatahi-centred and rangatahi-led. It is transformational. Now, that would be real progress. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000476\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere are other ways to solve these housing and homelessness crises that we are faced with, but they will require real courage. It will need a Government who isn\u2019t scared to entrench Te Tiriti across all laws and who cares more for Papat\u016B\u0101nuku than for profit, and one Government that prioritises equity for all, including w\u0101hine\u2014our women\u2014youth, our rainbow and takat\u0101puhi wh\u0101nau, whaiora, and whaikaha. That will be the time when a Prime Minister should speak of real progress, but that time is not today. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000477\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is not now, and so, on behalf of T\u0101maki Makaurau and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, I will say this: we will not accept the erosion of our rights. We will not accept this. Our people deserve better. Aotearoa deserves better. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c4ca4cc5411f4905b1e974d906283186\u0022 data-id=\u00225c5a3cac0c17072a9b80ee4ff346e5fb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000478\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4ca4cc5411f4905b1e974d906283186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225c5a3cac0c17072a9b80ee4ff346e5fb\u0022\u003EMARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI (Te Tai Tokerau) (20:17)\u003C/span\u003E: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koe e te P\u012Bka. T\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou e te Whare. Hoi an\u014D, ka aroha ki a t\u0101tou, te k\u014Drero tuatahi i roto i te Whare.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000479\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E[\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EGreetings, Madam Speaker. Greetings to those in the House. I sympathise with us all here with regard to the first speech in the House\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000480\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe first thing that we have to refer to is the loss of life. It seems, from our opening earlier this afternoon, as it should be\u2014the acknowledgments made to our wh\u0101nau in Mauao, P\u0101p\u0101moa, and Mahurangi. And so we should. But what does that tell us? What might that indicate to us as M\u0101ori, as wh\u0101nau, as families across the motu? N\u014D reira, just in that regard, \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003Eka aroha ki a tatou\u003C/span\u003E [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EI sympathise with us all\u003C/span\u003E], so my first speech today is to acknowledge and share with the House my condolences to all of our wh\u0101nau across the motu, and particularly to our wh\u0101nau in *Mauao and *P\u0101p\u0101moa and Mahurangi.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000481\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI did listen with interest, as I\u2019m sure you all did, to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, and I\u2019ve listened to several as we\u2019ve gone through the day. I just want to add my contribution to that and say this: we have reached the third and final year of this parliamentary term\u2014yee-ha, I say. And then we reflect, as we must and as we should\u2014we are forced to confront a very simple truth: our world has changed. So I do agree with one comment that the Prime Minister did say, which was that the last five or six years have been tough. That\u2019s probably the only thing I might agree with.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000482\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut I want to add to that and say we have endured, as we all know, a global pandemic, the Christchurch mosque attack, the Whakaari eruption, Cyclone Gabrielle, and now the most recent and tragic weather events across the North Island. Globally, we have witnessed genocide in Gaza, the invasion of Ukraine, and the unfolding crisis in Venezuela. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000483\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese events do not pass without consequence. The fall out is real, and we carry it. This is precisely when leadership matters the absolute most\u2014not leadership that punishes and not leadership that blames; not leadership that makes wrong the most vulnerable but leadership that stands with wh\u0101nau, that stands with families, and that stands with the people, to lift them up and forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000484\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EYet, in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, he describes the Government\u2019s response as prudent and fiscally disciplined. To make reference to discipline, I suspect that is exactly how many New Zealanders feel. They feel disciplined: disciplined into homelessness, severe, under reported, and growing; disciplined into a 5.3 percent unemployment rate; disciplined into education reforms that choke out diversity; disciplined into a housing programme that looks like it is in our prisons, and now our windows have bars on the windows. If that\u2019s what discipline looks like and feels like, we\u2019re screwed, \u201Cwe\u201D being the most vulnerable; I\u2019m talking about wh\u0101nau and families that are vulnerable, that are unprotected, and that are defenceless. Things aren\u2019t looking good for the most vulnerable.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000485\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBy the way, they might be vulnerable, but they\u2019ve got their solutions; they\u2019ve got their plans. They know what they want and what they need from a good Government. What they need from this House is to be listened to, to be understood, and to be worked with. As a first responder in Whang\u0101rei recently, what I saw from those who are the most vulnerable, the amount of wh\u0101nau and families that came in, was that those who had the least brought the most. They brought kai, they brought towels, they brought socks, they brought taro, they brought their love, and they brought their hands, and they brought it to the marae. So what did we do? Go pick up the keys, open the marae, and make sure we can feed people and look after them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000486\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThese are the things that people with their own solutions and their own ideas are ready to provide. This year, we\u2019re listening, and I\u2019m listening, my Te Tai Tokerau. \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koe. T\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou e te Whare.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002224cf2b07c863455d8ff343c5bc53b590\u0022 data-id=\u0022d8121143f136adc38d18c105f9004a75\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000487\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002224cf2b07c863455d8ff343c5bc53b590\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d8121143f136adc38d18c105f9004a75\u0022\u003EHon MATT DOOCEY (Minister for Mental Health) (20:22)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. How good; what a year 2026 is going to be. Can I first acknowledge you, Madam Speaker, and your news of your retirement? You will be sorely missed. We came into politics together, almost 12 years ago\u2014such a long time ago Parmjeet Parmar was a National MP! That\u2019s how long ago it was. You\u2019ve been a huge advocate. You are a very proud, staunch Coaster and Mainlander, and we will miss you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000488\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt is going to be, as I say, Madam Speaker, a great year, 2026. I think of my electorate of the Waimakariri, in North Canterbury. There\u2019s a lot on the go. Of course, we are going to turn the sod soon on the start of the construction of the Woodend Bypass\u2014tick. Boy, have we waited a long time, because, of course, it was the last National Government that announced the Woodend Bypass in 2017. The transport Minister\u2014who was it at the time? Anybody take a guess? Simon Bridges; that\u2019s who it was. Then that nasty Labour Government came in, and they cut it in 2018. It might even have been one gentleman who\u2019s in the Chamber tonight. That set that project back six years. Think of the cost that it would have cost to build six years ago and now, today. That\u2019s why I get really frustrated when I see the people I represent stuck in congestion in Woodend in North Canterbury, to think it could have been delivered under a National Government. It\u2019s great to see that it\u2019ll be launched and under construction this year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000489\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOf course, we\u2019ve also got the Waimakariri irrigation scheme. My good friend and colleague Mark Patterson came in and announced $15 million; water storage is back, which is absolutely brilliant. North Canterbury will get reliable water storage, and that\u2019ll be a game-changer. In a time of economic headwinds, it is our exporters, it is our primary industry, that\u2019s leading the economic resurgence that we see being led out of Canterbury. Whether it be our sporting record or other indicators, there\u2019s no surprise that Canterbury is leading from the front, because, of course, when Canterbury does well, the whole country does well. It\u2019s great to see we\u2019re backing our farmers in Waimakariri, and then, of course, we\u2019ll be opening the new North Canterbury afterhours medical facility in Rangiora. Won\u2019t that be great for my local constituents?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000490\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs you can see, it\u2019s going to be a great vibe in 2026, and of course, nationally, as we go to an election year, we will be talking to voters, saying, \u201CDon\u2019t put this at risk\u201D, because it doesn\u2019t take you long to think of going back to a time under that last failed socialist experiment that was the last Labour Government. Think of projects like KiwiBuild, Auckland Light Rail, restructuring the health system in the middle of a pandemic. I mean, who in their right mind would do that? And, of course, that taniwha that was three waters. How did that go down? Like a cup of cold sick. Quite rightly, that\u2019s why they were voted out, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to raise awareness of: don\u2019t put this country at risk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000491\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s one area I want to talk about. I mean, we\u2019re still looking for it, aren\u2019t we? That $1.9 billion for mental health that the last Government announced. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission said there was no evidence of it\u2014\u201Cmade no material improvement\u201D. That\u2019s so emblematic of that last Government: talked a big game, put the trophy out. The easiest thing is to make a big announcement\u2014money here, money there\u2014but it failed on the follow-through and implementation. That\u2019s why, for mental health, this Government is very different. Our mental health plan is working: faster access to support, more front-line workers, and a better crisis response.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000492\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EYou only need to look at the latest data coming out of the mental health targets. It\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve had mental health targets in New Zealand. There\u2019s nothing more accountable for me, as mental health Minister, and this Government is setting very clear targets and holding us to account. For primary mental health, the target is 80 percent of people to be seen within one week, and the latest data shows that 83.4 percent of Kiwis get seen within one week for primary mental health. For specialist mental health: to be seen within three weeks, the target is 80 percent; nationally, we\u2019re at 82.2 percent of Kiwis in their time of need being seen within three weeks. Emergency departments: to ensure people are admitted, discharged, transferred within six hours; 66.8 percent under a National Government, a marked improvement from the last Labour Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000493\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat\u2019s really interesting is that, by actually measuring something, you can improve the performance. You capture the data. The data shows that M\u0101ori are accessing mental health services faster than any other community. Not only that, the data shows that our rural communities are accessing mental health services faster than our urban communities. That is happening under a National Government. M\u0101ori are getting faster access to support. Rural communities are getting faster access to support. It shows that, if you have a clear plan and you follow through with implementation, you get the results.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000494\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFor more front-line workforce, I\u2019m happy to announce the latest data, out at the start of this year, an increase of over 11 percent more front-line workers now at the front line from when we came into Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000495\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s quite staggering when you look at some of the statistics. The vacancy rates for mental health nurses when we came into Government:15 percent; now down to 7 percent. Drug and alcohol practitioners: 14 percent; now down to 5.5 percent vacancy. Social workers: the vacancy rates are halved. The Auditor-General was critical of the last Government for no mental health workforce plan. We kicked that off in our first year, and that\u2019s why, in 2026, we\u2019re seeing real results. We committed to having 60 psychology clinical interns in 2026; we\u2019re going to hit 74. We had 33 psychiatrists as registrar trainees, and that has been expedited up to 48. We\u2019re making a real improvement.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000496\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne of the most important areas, I think, in mental health is building out a better crisis response. I\u2019m happy to announce that we\u2019ve just completed the roll-out that anyone coming into the emergency department will be now seen within one hour of the police mental health change programme. That\u2019s a game-changer: not\u2014under the last Government\u2014sitting in emergency departments for five or six hours while you\u2019re having a mental health crisis, sitting next to two big police officers with tasers, a brightly lit room, noisy, a lot of people round. People are being seen and handed over within one hour.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000497\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut what I did last week is announce the new four locations for the mental health co-response teams. Just a little background on that: the last National Government announced $8 million to start the roll-out of that in 2017. The last Labour Government came in, after talking a big game in mental health, and cut that programme in 2018. We lost six years on that vital programme. Quite rightly, when people ring 111, they want a mental health response. They don\u2019t want a criminal justice response, but they get that with the police coming round.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000498\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, under this Government, we\u2019re pairing up mental health professionals with our police officers to ensure that people get a mental health response in a time of need. That\u2019s a $28 million programme, and it\u2019s all part of the increased funding in the mental health and addiction ring-fence. When we came into office, that sat at $2.4 billion; it\u2019s now at $2.8 billion, and I expect it to go up further this year because that\u2019s the importance that we place on mental health\u2014that we are committed to getting more money out of the back office and to the front line. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve got more people in mental health roles. But not only that; more money out of Wellington to grassroots organisations, NGOs like our Rural Support Trust, who actually can scale up, and they\u2019re already delivering the work, and this Government will back them in 2026.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002229b8d22182614a1b8b6e8ef03bf61503\u0022 data-id=\u00229979a4521d0c52cdf0c737ea48a4b5da\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000499\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002229b8d22182614a1b8b6e8ef03bf61503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229979a4521d0c52cdf0c737ea48a4b5da\u0022\u003EHon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour) (20:32)\u003C/span\u003E: \u003Cspan lang=\u0022mi\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koe e te M\u0101ngai o te Whare. E tautoko ana ahau i te mihi ki a koe m\u014D t\u014D karere, t\u014D p\u0101nui ka heke iho koe i te Whare P\u0101remata \u0101 te mutunga o t\u0113nei tau, n\u014D reira e mihi ana ki a koe. Tuarua, e huri ana ng\u0101 whakaaro ki ng\u0101 wh\u0101nau, ki ng\u0101 hap\u016B, ki ng\u0101 iwi, ki ng\u0101 hapori i p\u0101 i te \u0101wh\u0101 me te ua me te \u0101huatanga o te rangi i ng\u0101 r\u0101 tata ake nei, i ng\u0101 wiki kua pahure ake nei. Ko taku rohe t\u0113r\u0101 o Te Tai Tokerau, Te R\u0101whiti, te rohe o Ng\u0101tiwai, ki \u0113r\u0101 o ng\u0101 hapori ki Te R\u0101whiti, e mihi kau ana ki a r\u0101tou me t\u0113nei w\u0101 taimaha ki runga i a r\u0101tou. Otir\u0101 e tautoko ana ahau te mihi ki \u0113r\u0101 atu o ng\u0101 rohe me ng\u0101 mate o t\u0113nei w\u0101. N\u014D reira, e mihi aroha ana, e tangi hotuhotu ana te ng\u0101kau m\u014D r\u0101tou kua wehe ki te p\u014D me \u014D r\u0101tou wh\u0101nau e noho ana i raro i te kapua p\u014Duri.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000500\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E[\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EGreetings, Madam Speaker. I support the acknowledgements you have received in regard to your message, your announcement that you will be stepping down from Parliament at the end of this year; therefore, I acknowledge you. Secondly, I turn my thoughts to the families, the subtribes, the tribes, and the communities who were affected by the storm, the rains, and the weather in recent days and past weeks. This includes my region: Te Tai Tokerau, Te R\u0101whiti, the area of Ng\u0101tiwai. To those communities in Te R\u0101whiti, I unreservedly acknowledge them and the burden they carry at this time. I also reinforce the acknowledgements to those other regions and those who have passed recently. Therefore, I give my sympathy, and my heart sobs for those who have departed as well as their families at this sad time\u003C/span\u003E.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000501\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koe, Madam Speaker, I just want to start my contribution by recognising and acknowledging your news that you will be finishing at the end of this year, and also by turning my thoughts, along with others, to those who have been impacted by the latest severe weather events. In my own rohe of Tai Tokerau, particularly on the eastern coast of Tai Tokerau, we were impacted\u2014those communities in Rawhiti and also in Ng\u0101tiwai. I want to acknowledge also those further down the country who have been impacted, and, of course, those who have lost their lives, and those wh\u0101nau who are grieving for their lost ones at this time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000502\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt was incredibly heartening to see, once again, our marae and our communities stand up and support those who had been impacted by severe weather events. We have seen that numerous times in our communities in Tai Tokerau. We saw news where there were tourists who had been caught up in this because, of course, it\u2019s in the middle of the summer holidays. The marae opened their doors, welcomed them in, and gave them hot kai and somewhere to sleep and to get themselves sorted and prepared to be able to go back to their own homes. So I want to acknowledge our marae and our communities for that once again. This is what kotahitanga looks like; this is what it means to embrace unity over division, and this is the type of Aotearoa that I want my children, and all of our children, to be growing up in.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen I think about a future built here in New Zealand and giving our tamariki the best start in life, I want to turn to my education portfolio. What that doesn\u2019t look like is being afraid of six M\u0101ori words in a kids\u2019 book. It doesn\u2019t look like stripping Te Tiriti o Waitangi away from school boards. It isn\u2019t the watering down of our Aotearoa histories curriculum, and it isn\u2019t about forcing our children to learn an imported curriculum. The Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, and the Prime Minister\u2014who was boasting about what this Government has done in education\u2014think that these are all great ideas, but countless experts, teachers, and parents have spoken out strongly about these changes. One can only hope that the emails that the Minister has been receiving about these changes are not being treated akin to spam.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000504\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen I opened up the media in the last couple of days, already education is hitting the headlines. What did we see to start the school year? A teacher shortage. As we know, record numbers of New Zealanders have been leaving the country for a better future elsewhere, particularly Australia. And we know that amongst those leaving, because I have spoken to them\u2014it includes our teachers, teachers who we need here for our tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand. Hundreds and hundreds of teacher vacancies exist around the country at this current time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000505\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThen I opened the news again and I saw a headline about an alleged conflict of interest between the Minister of Education and the now chairperson of the Teaching Council. Dodgy is what those text messages look like to me, to the New Zealand Educational Institute, to the Council of Deans of Education, and to others who saw an exchange between the Minister of Education and somebody who is setting up a training provider, who made enquiries about tertiary funding, who then thanked the Minister when that funding had come through, and then was appointed to be the chair of the Teaching Council.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000506\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETomorrow, we will be hearing the first submissions, on the Education Committee, for the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill, where this Government is taking away the independence, taking away the mana, of the Teaching Council from the teaching profession. It is a ministerial overreach, where now there will be more ministerial appointments to the Teaching Council, where we have concerns that the Minister is giving herself the powers to interfere in the profession, in the curriculum. We have had untold letters of concern, and concerns expressed from the sector. The Prime Minister spoke in his statement today about the importance of education, yet they don\u2019t see it as important to work with the sector. The sector has been shut out of these changes that are being ram-raided through for political expediency, not the best interests of our children.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000507\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe are not seeing collaboration with the sector; we are seeing chaos. We are not seeing respect for our sector; we are seeing ministerial overreach into that profession. We also heard the Prime Minister talk about youth crime and boast about the improvement in the statistics in youth crime. What the Prime Minister didn\u2019t recognise is that the one of the main contributors to the reduction in youth crime has been initiatives started under Labour and continued by this Government\u2014no recognition of this side of the House, who introduced programmes like Circuit Breaker and Fast Track, which have been expanded by this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000508\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EInstead, we have also got the Government investing up to $30 million into boot camps\u2014a failed experiment. The Government was warned of the failure rate of boot camps; ignored, once again, expert evidence and advice; and continued to push forward with military-style academies. It had a huge failure rate. When I asked the Minister questions at the Social Services and Community Committee last year about the next iteration of the boot camps, she was cagey, she was dodgy, and she was not answering the question: when will the next boot camp be taking place? Well, I can tell the House it will be in March, before the legislation has passed through Parliament, before those who are eligible under the legislation will be able to do the boot camp. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000509\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have only just received the evaluation, which was not a glowing evaluation of this programme. It was not showing positive results that justify the spend of up to $30 million into military-style academies. That money could be better spent supporting initiatives around early intervention and prevention and wraparound services for wh\u0101nau, for all of our rangatahi and tamariki who are interacting with the youth justice system. Instead, this Government will continue to spend money on failed experiments, and therefore that is not going to mean that we have less victims in Aotearoa New Zealand. They are spending money on something that has a high recidivism rate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000510\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMy time has gone. I have only just started to scratch the surface of my list. We have quite some time ahead of us in the House this year where we will continue to hold the Government accountable for the failures in terms of the money that they are spending in youth crime and also what they are pushing through, forcing through, without collaborating with the sector in education. We do not support the Prime Minister\u2019s statement.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002288978fb9592a4911a8e47eae04d164f3\u0022 data-id=\u00228b20ba493b328cc9e0a57ed2826645df\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000511\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002288978fb9592a4911a8e47eae04d164f3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228b20ba493b328cc9e0a57ed2826645df\u0022\u003EDr VANESSA WEENINK (National\u2014Banks Peninsula) (20:43)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I\u2019d firstly like to join with others around the House in acknowledging your news of retirement. It\u2019s been a lovely pleasure to have you in the team in National and to be part of that with you. Thank you for the way you\u2019ve supported us newbies, and we are really knowing that we will miss you\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000512\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002235984f61527b4059ae9284acf3c4076b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ac618cfdbc7160f6f47d5dc787cd807e\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh)\u003C/span\u003E: I haven\u2019t gone yet.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000513\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002288978fb9592a4911a8e47eae04d164f3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224a058d2bc6e31606c924c5dc75764f1e\u0022\u003EDr VANESSA WEENINK\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014and I\u2019m sure others around the House agree. Oh, you won\u2019t miss us? OK, that\u2019s fine. That\u2019s fair.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000514\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESpeaking in response to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement today that really carried on from reflections across the House in regards to the terrible tragedy in the recent weather events in the North Island, I\u2019d also like to express my heartfelt sympathies to those who have lost loved ones and also to acknowledge the work of all of those community participants who have been there on the front lines of these disasters and also our emergency services, including the Defence Force.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000515\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister also spoke in recognition of the uncertain times of this world, and he also spoke of his pride and of our national pride in our Defence Force, and especially in our contributions that we made in Afghanistan. The Hon Judith Collins, the Minister of Defence, had previously made media statements in support of our forces, and she actually read some of that media statement as well in the House this evening and very graciously acknowledged myself and other colleagues like Tim Costley, who served in Afghanistan as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000516\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EHaving had these memories of Afghanistan raised, it\u2019s hard for me not to acknowledge again our Defence Force and my colleagues who I served with on my two tours of Afghanistan, but also all of those who I looked after as a medical officer who had served in all of our rotations of various deployments that we sent to Afghanistan, including our special forces, who are very much on the front lines, and all of those who lost their lives, including my neighbour Lieutenant Tim O\u2019Donnell, who I think of quite often. He was one of our first officers that we\u2019d lost in New Zealand for a long time. I remember before he left to go to be the patrol commander of the Romero base that we knew was the most dangerous, he said, \u201CHave a beer for me, Ness.\u201D\u2014have a beer for me. I think he knew that he wasn\u2019t coming back, and it gives me shivers to think of that. It was sad that we lost him. It was sad that we lost one of my medics as well, Jacinda Baker. She was an extraordinary young woman.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000517\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI acknowledge all of those that we lost. I acknowledge everybody who misses those people and thinks of them often\u2014their families, their friends. As time goes on, those memories seem to get stronger. I know for those who have recently lost people in our recent disasters in New Zealand, for those families the memories will be with them forever, and this is such an incredibly tragic time for them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThank you for allowing me that little sojourn into memory, but I want to get back to more positive things. Obviously, being an MP from Christchurch\u2014we\u2019re very positive down there. We\u2019re very positive in Christchurch. It is an absolute star at the moment. We are feeling the positivity of an improving economy. We\u2019re seeing that in sectors across the board. We\u2019re seeing that in manufacturing and construction and we\u2019re seeing that in in our primary industries in particular.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000519\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAs the MP for Banks Peninsula, I have one of the fastest growing suburbs in the metropolitan area of Christchurch, which is Halswell. That is somewhere we are literally building the future. Just this week I was nearby a large area under construction with new retail and new supermarkets that are going in place. What\u2019s really interesting is that it took more than five years to get the consents in place for some of those supermarkets, and there\u2019s been an incredible battle. One of the key things that our Government is doing is bringing in changes to the Resource Management Act, which will mean that planning will be much more simple. Once we\u2019ve fully implemented the new system, it will be a lot less complex. We\u2019ll have a very clear hierarchy of instructions from the law right through to the planning system so that there\u2019s not new and different variations and interpretations in every single council. The construction firms that I\u2019ve spoken to who work across Selwyn and Waimakariri and Christchurch City Council, they have got to work in a situation where they have different interpretations of the law under those different councils. It\u2019s an incredible imposition in cost as well as just time. The amount of time it takes and the cost to get things done in this country is far in excess of what it should be.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000520\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAlso, in the electorate of Banks Peninsula, we are building the future in terms of new classrooms for our schools. We were very glad to announce that there\u2019ll be 14 new classrooms going into Cashmere High, the high school in the electorate of Banks Peninsula. That\u2019s on top of another 10 classrooms that are already under way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000521\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ECashmere High is one of the most subscribed public schools in the country, so more than 97 percent of the children who are eligible to go to Cashmere are going there, and they\u2019ve got fewer than about 30 students that are outside of zone in the school. With 2,500 students at the school\u2014incredibly popular school and with a very good reputation. It\u2019s great that we could announce those classrooms. It was something that had previously been stalling but, thanks to our wonderful Minister of Education Erica Stanford, we were able to get those confirmed and under way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000522\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAlso, a new school in Milns Road in Halswell is going to be fantastic\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000523\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223b111696b9f040d3b1d5339eead7439f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002272c7371e6e5a5f29b924f61ecd6a30e1\u0022\u003EHon Chris Bishop\u003C/span\u003E: What road?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000524\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002288978fb9592a4911a8e47eae04d164f3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f797d60ea831f299493db8ef2b0e0bcc\u0022\u003EDr VANESSA WEENINK\u003C/span\u003E: Milns Road in Halswell. The Minister of Transport will be with me soon down in Christchurch, so we\u2019re looking forward to that. We\u2019re seeing more of those roads around Halswell.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000525\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EAlso, Somerfield School is getting some new classrooms; badly needed classrooms, across there. The infrastructure that we\u2019re building within Christchurch includes some of the roads around Halswell, as mentioned. Halswell Road, that leads into Lincoln Rd is a bit of a\u2014what would I call it?\u2014graveyard for road cones at the moment. It\u2019s quite a spectacular place. The Hon Simeon Brown actually joined me on that section of road last year, I think it was, or the year before. It\u2019s taken its time and currently, for those of you in Banks Peninsula and Halswell, please go ahead and fill out my survey that I\u2019ve got going at the moment on the extra bit of road, the bus lanes, and what we should do about that, whether it should be a Transit 2. So just a little plug there.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000526\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022694c3cef004e40d78a26712dce80070d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002251b068820058a20363bfde1b1f6f8399\u0022\u003ESuze Redmayne\u003C/span\u003E: How do we do that? On Facebook?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000527\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002288978fb9592a4911a8e47eae04d164f3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223f7057c5e324094552df63461b4c6f7\u0022\u003EDr VANESSA WEENINK\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, on Facebook, is the main one. We can find the link on there or just on my website. So thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000528\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis is going to be an exciting year. We\u2019ve got an incredible programme of work to get through in Government but also around the country\u2014building the future of this country. Fixing the basics is already under way, and we\u2019ll continue to do that where it\u2019s required. There are exciting things being built and opened. I should have mentioned this earlier when I was waxing lyrical about Christchurch, but the stadium\u2014we can\u2019t wait for the stadium to open and also the events that are going to be coming to Christchurch as part of our plan to boost those events across the country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000529\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EYeah, we\u2019ve got a great programme coming up in April around Anzac Day with\u2014I think it\u2019s something to do with rugby; people who care about that sort of thing will know more about that. So National is firing away under this year and we\u2019re building the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220750364c2c1444d0ae00bced720f964e\u0022 data-id=\u00228db7334002361ada94e624c1df9b9b06\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000530\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220750364c2c1444d0ae00bced720f964e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228db7334002361ada94e624c1df9b9b06\u0022\u003EHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) (20:53)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and happy New Year to all my colleagues here today; a pleasure to be back here in Parliament. Now, when I sat here this afternoon and listened intently to the speech being delivered by Christopher Luxon, I did wonder whether he\u2019d been in New Zealand for the past year or so, because the picture he painted was vastly different from the one that I see in my local area and the stories that I hear from people that I talked to over the holiday break.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000531\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe two things that he sort of alluded to, which were the same two things that his party campaigned on at the last election, were law and order, and the cost of living. Both of those things I\u2019d like to speak about today. First of all, the only promise that this Government made at the election about law and order was to deliver 500 more police officers in two years. Well, that date has been and gone, and we still do not have 500 more police officers in New Zealand. So to be trumpeting achievements for law and order, for this Government, when the only promise that they made has not been delivered on or failed, because they did not deliver those 500 police officers at all. That in itself has been a huge fudge in terms of trying to say that it will happen in two years or three years. We\u2019re really unclear about what that means for New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000532\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt also means that the ratio between how many police officers compared to how many people in New Zealand has significantly declined, compared to the previous Government. Under Labour, we promised 1,800 additional police and that was delivered on, over our period of time and Government. This Government promised 500 and failed. I think it\u2019s important to note that. That\u2019s not the only thing, though, that they\u2019ve failed on in law and order. I\u2019d also like to draw your attention to the fact that methamphetamine has increased over a one-year period by 97 percent\u2014the single biggest increase in New Zealand\u2019s history for methamphetamine finding its ways into New Zealand homes and streets, which has wreaked havoc up and down the country to communities, and causes ongoing issues; additional issues such as retail, crime, family violence, other issues within wh\u0101nau are all made worse by the prevalence of methamphetamine within our communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000533\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhat happened right before we saw that spike? We saw Government cuts to areas like Customs where front-line Customs jobs were taken away by Nicola Willis\u2019 economic cuts. All those Government departments were required to cut 6.5, 7 percent, 8 percent. That meant jobs gone from Customs, intelligence jobs, people that actually put their heads together, and decide how they\u2019re going to counter\u2014fighting drugs coming into our country. It\u2019s only when we saw that significant spike of 97 percent more in methamphetamine that we started to see a reinvestment. Only then do we start to see a group set up to investigate how they would counter this and how organised crime would be countered in New Zealand. Absolutely unable to understand how this Government can trumpet that it\u2019s achieved on law and order when it\u2019s failed to deliver 500 police officers, and a 97 percent increase in methamphetamine over a period of 12 months.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000534\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut it doesn\u2019t stop there, because we also have the Ministerial Advisory Group on Retail Crime, chaired by no other than Sunny Kaushal. What we\u2019ve seen in the past few days is the majority of those members have resigned. The head of Retail NZ\u2014you think of the experience and the expertise that Carolyn Young would have brought to that group and was able to lead. A great opportunity for Retail NZ to have input into good, forward-thinking policies that would actually help get on top of retail crime. Because of the dysfunction of that group and the way that person was treated, and others, we have seen a mass exodus from that advisory group to the point that it is dysfunctional.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000535\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI think that what New Zealanders see is that it\u2019s a group largely set up to help Sunny Kaushal line his pockets, with the amount of catering, office space, and other luxury items he\u2019s able to put together along with his salary of over $900 per day, which is what I have seen, has no tangible benefits. The reason why some of those members of that retail crime advisory group resigned was some of the measures that were being recommended by the chair, Sunny Kaushal, were considered dangerous. It\u2019s not just those in the retail crime group who walked away because they thought the suggestions were dangerous for New Zealanders, the New Zealand Police also gave clear advice that citizen\u2019s arrest powers and people on the streets detaining people who could be violent or dangerous may lead to loss of life in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000536\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut no, the Government trucked on anyway and kept him in that position, still trying to show that they\u2019ve made some kind of difference in retail crime, when the reality is they\u2019ve wasted money on ideas that were offered to our Government for free and declined because police advised that they were dangerous.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000537\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe last one in law and order I\u2019d like to point at is the boot camps: the absolute dismal failure and waste of money that boot camps have offered New Zealand. The reality is when the Prime Minister stood up in his address this afternoon and stated how ram raids had declined, well, they started declining under our Government, and the reason they declined were programmes like Kotahi te Whakaaro, programmes like Circuit Breaker, those wraparound, quick response services that were put into place under Labour. This Government, right now, knows that they work because not only have they kept those programmes, but they\u2019ve expanded them because the evidence speaks for itself. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000538\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOver 80 percent of young people who go through those programmes do not go on to reoffend, whereas it is the absolute reverse under boot camps. Well over 80 percent\u2014as we know from the failed trial\u2014reoffend in New Zealand. But they\u2019re not giving up because it sounds good. So they\u2019re going to keep on saying boot camps even though all the evidence demonstrates they do not work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000539\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn the Prime Minister\u2019s opening speech, talking about the wins they\u2019ve had for law and order, when they\u2019ve got no 500 cops, methamphetamine rates through the roof, boot camps are an utter failure, and the retail crime Ministerial Advisory Group has just imploded\u2014I fail to see how he points to any mark of success in that suite of measures.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000540\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut that\u2019s not the only thing he talked about; the cost of living is something that National campaigned hard on and the cost of living bites New Zealanders every single day. New Zealanders are hurting and they know that this Government promised them\u2014they promised them\u2014that they would make things better, that life would get better, and it\u2019s got worse. It costs more for food, it costs more for bills, it costs more for rates, it costs more for every single step of the way because this Government has pushed all those costs out into the areas.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000541\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAnd what\u2019s their solution for things like that? Oh, just cap rates. That\u2019ll fix it. What a National solution that one is. All those people who were promised that they would get relief from the cost of living crisis, they have not received that. We know, in Wellington alone, the number of people who have lost their jobs, who have become unemployed, who have had to take up part-time work at a lower rate that they would have got and struggle to be able to pay their mortgage, struggle to be able to pay their rent, and struggle to be able to put food on the table and give their kids food to eat each day\u2014good healthy food. When we see the cost of bread going up by 60\u00A0percent\u201460\u00A0percent increase in bread\u2014that is absolutely unaffordable for some families in my areas.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000542\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn order to eat healthy and to live, life has got harder, not better, under this Government. And Kiwis know that. They know that well and good and that comes back in the polls. People know that they promised they would get debt down\u2014it got worse. They promised that they would get inflation down\u2014it hasn\u2019t. They promised they would grow the economy\u2014it shrunk. Everything that they\u2019ve promised has not happened.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000543\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe reality is that New Zealanders want jobs; they want an opportunity to earn; they want to be able to stay here in our country, to put roots down, and have a future for their families. But what this Government has done is drive Kiwis offshore in record numbers\u201470,000 gone. Those people are bright, have opportunity and so much to offer our country, and this is such a failure of a Government that has driven those people into other countries. We want to build a country where there are jobs, where there is affordable healthcare, and people can have a home, jobs, health, and homes. It\u2019s not too much to ask\u2014it\u2019s not too much to ask. And we will be working strong grassroots right across New Zealand in those communities where they\u2019ve lost jobs, where they can\u2019t afford food, and we will be telling them that it was that National Government that failed them and that is why we need to change this Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223b111696b9f040d3b1d5339eead7439f\u0022 data-id=\u0022d76b77b5ac76821228cb9a56ccd1b24d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223b111696b9f040d3b1d5339eead7439f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d76b77b5ac76821228cb9a56ccd1b24d\u0022\u003EHon CHRIS BISHOP (Leader of the House) (21:03)\u003C/span\u003E: I move, \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThat this debate be now adjourned\u003C/span\u003E. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000545\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000546\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000547\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00226e57af4878d54323b10a5e3e003a2abb\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000548\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00222e95a329d559df1aec5b28e1243e95dc\u0022\u003ELegislation Amendment Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000549\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00229a7494c39a4ce4ca9de411797cc0568c\u0022\u003ELegislative Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022 data-id=\u0022500a2cc3f68969ca77cff2ba2d424e01\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000550\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022500a2cc3f68969ca77cff2ba2d424e01\u0022\u003EHon JUDITH COLLINS (Attorney-General) (21:03)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I present a legislative statement on the Legislation Amendment Bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000551\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c51c3c3e52d1d47c96f17d2b5d5ee7b6\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000552\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002200c863d8fed97da043032a2d19e0b1da\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022 data-id=\u00224979fecb24a7483a3507fac791e80e56\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000553\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225d867066726345c4928a50b531fad0af\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224979fecb24a7483a3507fac791e80e56\u0022\u003EHon JUDITH COLLINS (Attorney-General) (21:04)\u003C/span\u003E: I move, \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003EThat the Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a second time\u003C/span\u003E.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000554\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe broad purpose of the Legislation Amendment Bill is to make legislation easier to find, use, and understand. The bill seeks to improve access to secondary legislation by amending the Legislation Act 2019. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000555\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESecondary legislation is law made under a delegation from Parliament. It includes regulations, orders, rules, exemptions, by-laws, notices, and instruments, with many different names. This type of law is made by Ministers and by departments, occupational regulatory boards, and the like. The bill will require publication of secondary legislation, together with key information about that legislation, on the agency\u2019s website or another website prescribed in regulations. Everything will be identified, indexed, and linked, and it will, over time, turn the New Zealand Legislation website into what it should be: a one-stop shop for legislation and information about that legislation. It will also enable users to more easily find legislation on agency websites and to know that they are looking at legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000556\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe New Zealand Legislation website will go live in the next few months and it will include a host of new features for making legislation easier to find, use, and understand, including a pilot of the new agency, the secondary legislation service. You can already find thousands of pieces of secondary legislation on the new website as part of that pilot. This bill, once it fully comes into force, will enable a full production service for secondary legislation by setting the requirements for publishing agencies. I encourage everyone watching and listening to check out the new website, if you have not done so already. These are very exciting developments for the 25,000 unique users per day who use the current site. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000557\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFollowing the first reading, the bill was referred to the Justice Committee for consideration. The committee has recommended several amendments to clarify and strengthen the provisions of the bill, all of which I agree with. I want to briefly outline some of the main changes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000558\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe main focus of the submissions and the committee\u2019s consideration related to changes the bill proposes to revision bills to make them a more useful tool for repairs and maintenance of the statute book. The simple truth is that despite this House\u2019s best intentions, the current restrictions have severely limited the usefulness of revision bills as a vehicle for keeping the statute book up to date. Only two revision bills have been completed since the programme\u2019s inception in 2012, and I hope that the third\u2014the Valuers Bill\u2014will soon be passed. While these bills are all excellent pieces of work, something needs to change if we\u2019re going to achieve the original objective of having progressive and systemic revision of the statute book. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000559\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThis bill makes changes that will enable revision bills to be a more effective tool. At present, revision bills mainly seem to re-enact the old law in up-to-date language. These changes will make it easier for revision bills to carry out repairs and maintenance at the same time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000560\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI thank the Justice Committee for its careful consideration of this aspect of the bill and the changes it has recommended, including requiring the explanatory note for revision bills to identify changes that ought to be brought to the attention of the House. I also note that the committee resolved to write to the Standing Orders Committee suggesting possible changes to the Standing Orders to ensure this House will continue to effectively scrutinise revision bills. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000561\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe committee has also recommended other changes to improve the operability of the Legislation Act and support it to achieve its purpose. One such change proposed is in relation to the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 provisions concerning electronic transactions. These provisions are default rules that apply to all legislation and they supplement Part 2 of the Legislation Act, which deals with the interpretation and application of legislation. However, their location in that Act does not make it clear that they apply to all legislation. To address this, the committee recommended that the bill contain a signpost provision in Part 2 of the Legislation Act which points to those provisions in the Contract and Commercial Law Act. This makes it clearer that those provisions have general application to all legislation. The committee also recommended other minor amendments to clarify and adjust provisions of the bill\u2014for example, around what the Parliamentary Counsel Office drafts and publishes\u2014and to clarify how the transition to the new publication system will work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000562\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn conclusion, I want to thank the Justice Committee for its careful and thorough work in continuously improving the bill. It is important work that takes time, and on the note of continuous improvement, I intend to release a short Amendment Paper to the bill to put the finishing touches on these multi-year reforms. I\u2019ll look forward to discussing these during the committee stage. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000563\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFinally, I acknowledge those organisations and members of the public who took the time to engage with the bill\u2019s content and make a submission. Your efforts improving the quality and the accessibility of the law are greatly appreciated. Thank you. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000564\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228145895dd1ee3b429c3adc03c483e8cf\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: The question is that the motion be agreed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226f607d4079164946af0eb589f5753d1b\u0022 data-id=\u0022862c3a411ed5d370535f621933d49a12\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000565\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226f607d4079164946af0eb589f5753d1b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022862c3a411ed5d370535f621933d49a12\u0022\u003EVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour) (21:09)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I rise for the first time this year to take a call on behalf of Labour in support of this bill. Before I do speak to the bill, I did want to add my thoughts and condolences to those who\u2019ve been impacted by the weather events across the country. As a West Auckland - based MP, I\u2019ve certainly seen, and we\u2019ve felt, how deeply these weather events can impact community, and I also wanted to acknowledge, as we come up to the third anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle, that we\u2019ll have community members who are both feeling very much for those who are impacted but also feeling, really, that sense of what happened to them and their communities, too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000566\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI was very excited to see this bill come up as the first bill, essentially, on the Order Paper this year because while it may not be what gets everyone\u2019s blood flowing, it is an extremely important bill, in my view, because it is a constitutional bill. It is about ensuring at its heart that law is known and knowable and that people can access regulation. We have thousands and thousands of pieces of regulation in New Zealand that govern the everyday lives of New Zealanders, and so I did want to commend the Attorney-General for getting us to this stage. It has been a considerably long journey, which I will speak briefly to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000567\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA little bit of history to get us going. In terms of the genesis of how we report and ensure that people know what the law is, traditionally for us it\u2019s been through the \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsTerm\u0022 style=\u0022font-style: italic\u0022\u003EGazette\u003C/span\u003E. The \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsTerm\u0022 style=\u0022font-style: italic\u0022\u003EGazette\u003C/span\u003E has its origins in the \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsTerm\u0022 style=\u0022font-style: italic\u0022\u003EOxford Gazette\u003C/span\u003E, which came about in 1665, when King Charles II moved to Oxford to escape the plague, and that was the way in which the King would communicate in terms of decrees and alert Parliament as to the King\u2019s views. Then, of course, in the 1840s we had gazetted notices being issued out of Paihia, and out of Russell, as well, and that continued and developed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000568\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESurprisingly, it was only in 2014 that our printed \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsTerm\u0022 style=\u0022font-style: italic\u0022\u003EGazettes\u003C/span\u003E were replaced entirely by the online published version, and so that\u2019s probably a lot more recently than many people know. But, essentially, the problem that we\u2019ve had for a number of years is that not all of our secondary legislation is accessible, even via that format. We have Parliament Counsel Office (PCO) - drafted legislation, and they do publish and always have published their legislation. However, if there are pieces of secondary legislation published by the other 120-plus agencies that might produce it, you cannot guarantee that you\u2019ll be able to locate it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000569\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have a serious issue of accessibility, where if someone wants to find that regulation, they could try and first establish who is responsible for making it, and then contact that agency if they can\u2019t find it gazetted or online. It is a considerable amount of effort and, potentially, a considerable amount of money as agencies try and establish what their obligations are, and Parliament really has reduced oversight in terms of being able to very quickly understand what regulations are in place and what powers are being used. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000570\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ESo there was a need to do this work. It started well back in 2016, and I recall that in the last Parliament there was considerable discussion about change. The initial proposals for change put a very high burden on the PCO. Essentially, the PCO were to gather all the legislation and they were responsible for putting it up. Between that Parliament and this one, there\u2019s been an understanding that that would simply be too large a burden, and so those are some of the changes that we\u2019re seeing in this bill in front of us. I think the important thing to know is that that information will still be available. It doesn\u2019t change the accessibility objective, but it is an important change in terms of ensuring that this is doable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000571\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe real attractiveness of this bill, and, I think, the huge constitutional significance, is clause 20, which inserts new sections 77 and 77A. Essentially, that says that those pieces of secondary legislation don\u2019t come into force unless certain minimum publication requirements are met, and that\u2019s absolutely critical, because it\u2019s a fundamental principle of the rule of the law that legislation\u2014secondary included\u2014should be knowable before it applies to citizens. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000572\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, there are some exemptions to this, and I referenced our weather events earlier in my speech. One of the exemptions is in relation to extreme weather events, where it\u2019s understandable that you wouldn\u2019t necessarily need or want to have things published and up first before you had a Government who is taking action. There are other very sensible exemptions as well, including where there isn\u2019t any disadvantage to the citizens, and so that regulation would, essentially, be to their favour, as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000573\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe one thing that was removed that I did quite like\u2014and I can understand the reasons for removal\u2014was that the part around prospective consolidation of changes has now been excluded. Prospective consolidation would show future changes that have been passed, or decisions made, but are not yet in force. I think that is beneficial especially to lawmakers and for us here in the House holding the Government and executive to account, but I can understand that it\u2019s obviously a considerable administrative burden, and so I understand that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000574\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere are two other major sections of the bill. The Attorney-General has spoken to the revision bills. There have been significant changes that were proposed that broaden the scope of when revisions bills can come into play in the House. Now, a revision bill isn\u2019t intended to make huge, substantive changes to the law. It\u2019s intended to ensure that when we need to make updates, we can do that in a consolidated way, as we\u2019ve seen in the past with the Contract and Commercial Law Bill, and this expands that. The select committee made some proposed changes\u2014the Attorney-General has agreed with that\u2014that would in some ways restrict the scope of what was initially proposed. It\u2019s just to ensure that we\u2019re not straying into a space where there were substantive changes being made in bulk without adequate scrutiny by the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000575\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Attorney-General also did mention that the intention of the committee was to write to the Standing Orders Committee about the process of the House. These changes can be made to revision bills. The House still has control over how we want to process every bill in this House. If we want to say that a revision bill skips a second reading, we can do that, and if we choose to give greater scrutiny to revision bills because we\u2019re broadening the scope of what can be included, we can also do that. So I think it\u2019s important for the House to bear in mind that this isn\u2019t necessarily taking us to a place where there is far less scrutiny. There is an administrative need for us to ensure that legislation is updated when it should be, but there is work to do on the Standing Orders to make sure that there are appropriate constraints around that, too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000576\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe other thing I wanted to mention is the changes\u2014the fascinating changes\u2014to legal privilege. At present, the provisions apply to PCO staff members and contractors who hold a practising certificate, and the advice to us was that, frequently, PCO will contract with other providers who don\u2019t hold a practising certificate. These changes will extend legal privilege to those individuals, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000577\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, initially, I did question this. I did question whether it was appropriate to make that expansion, but with my former community law hat on, we have law students working for us on several occasions who are working under the supervision of practising lawyers, and they are also covered by that legal privilege, as well. I do think that this is, again, a practical change that we\u2019re making\u2014a significant one. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000578\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne thing the Law Society raised that we might want to monitor was the fact that PCO don\u2019t draft tax legislation at the moment. It\u2019s probably one of the only departments where the IRD still holds that quite separately, and so I\u2019m looking forward to continuing to monitor whether that\u2019s appropriate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000579\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENo doubt there\u2019ll be some teething issues as this all kicks off and there\u2019s a lot more responsibility on agencies. I, for one, am looking forward to reading through the annual Secondary Legislation Practices Survey, which I\u2019m sure committee members, as well as my colleagues on the Regulations Review Committee, will be eagerly awaiting. Otherwise, I thank the Attorney-General again, and I commend this bill to the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bac3dcb6103a48d3bcead8563342a856\u0022 data-id=\u0022ae11249791308a01c86196b5a4aa60f5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000580\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bac3dcb6103a48d3bcead8563342a856\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ae11249791308a01c86196b5a4aa60f5\u0022\u003EDr LAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green) (21:19)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of the Green Party to speak on the second reading of the Legislation Amendment Bill. While I did make a response to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement before, I didn\u2019t get an opportunity to also offer my condolences to, particularly, those who have lost loved ones in the most recent tragedy. In both Mount Maunganui, as well as P\u0101p\u0101moa, I want to especially acknowledge everyone who has lost their lives and acknowledge their families, but, specifically, Sharon and Max, who were students from my old high school in East Auckland, Pak\u016Branga College. I also want to offer my condolences to the newly named 10-year-old and his grandmother, Austen and Yao. This is also affecting our Chinese communities, as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000581\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWhen it comes to the Legislation Amendment Bill, as the previous speaker has mentioned, this is something that is a long time coming, and I want to just address a few aspects of this. I think one of the things that is in need of an update is the consistency around secondary legislation, and particularly how secondary legislation is interacting with primary legislation on the New Zealand Legislation website. While this might be something that not every New Zealander uses on a day-to-day basis, for those who do, the website itself does offer significant quality-of-life improvements, as well as accessibility in its ability to link primary legislation, and also in terms of hyperlinking secondary legislation, as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000582\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn terms of the secondary legislation component, it\u2019s also important to mention\u2014as the previous speaker Vanushi Walters has also mentioned\u2014that some of the quality-of-life changes are much needed changes in terms of the requirement to publish secondary legislation as it becomes effective. As I have been sitting on the Regulations Review Committee, it has become apparent\u2014and I\u2019m also constantly in awe of both the members who are on the Regulations Review Committee, as well as the support they receive from the Office of the Clerk for that select committee, on the enormous amount of work that goes into tracking down non-compliant secondary legislation, in many ways, whether it is a missed signature or a missed date. We\u2019re hoping the consistency and a new framework will also offer a level of update and the ability for us to ease some of the workload that we do see sometimes going through the Regulations Review Committee, as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000583\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to address something that the Attorney-General has mentioned at the beginning. This is one of those things that is a common practice we see here in Parliament, but it nevertheless needs highlighting. The Attorney-General made mention of an Amendment Paper that is going to be accompanying this bill, and, once again, what we\u2019re seeing\u2014and we\u2019re seeing it as a concerning trend, in general, over the last year\u2014is the number of Amendment Papers that change the legislation in a significant way. In some ways, there is a level of scepticism about whether that Amendment Paper is potentially\u2014and I just checked the legislation website, and that Amendment Paper is still currently not available on that site. I think that a lot of the consideration that we have for this bill will now be in some sort of limbo. We\u2019ll reserve our position on the final reading of this bill, and also upon seeing what that potential amendment, for good or for bad, is going to look like.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000584\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI draw the House\u2019s attention to a number of amendments we have seen over the last two years where significant changes have been made. Probably one of the more high-profile recent changes was the change to the obligation of school boards in having them not need to consider Te Tiriti o Waitangi, under section 122 of the Education and Training Act. Again, that has not gone through a select committee process and it has not had any particular comment during the select committee process from public submitters, and yet it has been introduced by the Minister as part of the committee of the whole House stage overall. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAgain, it\u2019s one of those things that probably is a reasonably common process, but we have seen the Government abuse that level of good faith in the way that we can have that robust discussion and that transparency when it comes to the legislative process here in Parliament, and so I do have concerns. Potentially, it could be quite benign, but, again, we wouldn\u2019t know, because it\u2019s not available for us to look at right now. It will probably drop just before the committee of the whole House stage, but, I guess, as precedent would have it, I do have concerns over the content of any Amendment Papers by Ministers in general. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000586\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI want to also mention other parts of this bill that deserve mentioning. Again, the legal privilege and liability is something that was discussed at length during the select committee stage, and I do want to thank officials for being very honest in terms of the kind of personnel that would be considered under the legal privilege and liability. I think part of the concern that we expressed during the select committee stage was the intent of the legal privilege, which means that even under for an Official Information Act request, certain documents would not be publicly available, and they\u2019d be struck out as part of that. The kind of personnel that it extends to is not simply those from the Parliamentary Counsel Office but also legislation analysts, counsel assistants, contractors, and secondees, and the extension to contractors and secondees was the part that we had particularly robust discussions on during the select committee stage. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000587\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe next important aspect that I want to draw the House\u2019s attention to is the idea of having powers to make editorial changes, and this is to do with the ability to change even things like the title of secondary legislation. There were a lot of questions, and, again, we have received responses from the Parliamentary Counsel Office around what that would entail and some of the scope, and also the limitations on what those editorial changes are going to be.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000588\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EFinally, I want to address probably the most concerning aspect to do with this bill for the Green Party, and that is around revision bills. This is something that we did discuss at length during the select committee stage in terms of what revision bills could potentially mean. The Attorney-General has, rightly, pointed out that since its inception, there have been only two bills\u2014and there are soon to be three, with the Valuers Bill\u2014that have gone through using this process, and they are the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 and the Partnership Law Act 2019. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000589\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe issue that we have with this is that even though there have been additional limitations placed on it, it is still an expansion of the scope of the existing settings. While we recognise that certain settings may have created certain cumbersome processes\u2014and there has been work around some of those processes, such as the Valuers Bill, with the ability for you to introduce Amendment Papers\u2014we need to be clear that revision bills in themselves already have a very light legislative process, where we do not have a first reading. It goes through to a recommended subject select committee, it comes through a second reading, and there is no committee of the whole House and there is no third reading, and so some of the accountability and scrutiny mechanisms we do see do not apply to revision bills. There is a genuine concern that if we do expand the scope of revision bills to make it more flexible and easier and to have more things being passed under that process, what is this going to be able to allow in terms of the loopholes that we have already seen this Government exploit in our legislative processes and in our Standing Orders? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000590\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ETo give an example of that: when you\u2019re looking at the ability to make changes through a revision bill based on the clarification of parliamentary intent, there is no guarantee that that particular process would not be abused. We have seen the fact that the Government has introduced an 11-day submissions process for the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill, despite it not having to go through a debatable motion in the House. We\u2019re seeing those additional issues. This fundamentally undermines the democratic process and the ability for Parliament to have that kind of scrutiny, and so while in other cases the Greens would have been OK with something like this expanded scope, the track record of the current Government and the way that we have seen flippant disregard of our democratic process means that at this stage, unless we do change the settings of the changes to revision bills and also the changes to how we look at Standing Order 276 around revision bills, the Green Party cannot support this bill, currently. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022443f23de4cbd464f91833e6c466c98c0\u0022 data-id=\u002252ecb80cd9a7be7a36ef9bcaea924a85\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000591\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022443f23de4cbd464f91833e6c466c98c0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002252ecb80cd9a7be7a36ef9bcaea924a85\u0022\u003ETODD STEPHENSON (ACT) (21:29)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to take a short call on the Legislation Amendment Bill. ACT shares the concern of many New Zealanders that, actually, it\u2019s quite hard to deal with Government. There are too many rules and regulations and too much bureaucracy, but this bill actually starts to address one of those issues, which is that if you are subject to laws, you should actually be able to find those laws, understand them, and access them in one place. This bill is very simple: it\u2019s bringing legislation to the people so that it can be understood and it can be in one place.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000592\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EI also hope that it will actually have our Government departments and agencies change their behaviour so that they will have to explain to the citizens of New Zealand the laws and rules that they\u2019re subject to. I have no hesitation in commending this to the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225f6c5b1a97f24773a8aaeb3a8e3b0e7b\u0022 data-id=\u0022078f04a3db2832b32c2817859b591a1b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000593\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225f6c5b1a97f24773a8aaeb3a8e3b0e7b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022078f04a3db2832b32c2817859b591a1b\u0022\u003EJAMIE ARBUCKLE (NZ First) (21:30)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to support the Legislation Amendment Bill in its second reading. This is a common-sense piece of legislation that addresses a fundamental requirement of a free and democratic society, which is that the people must be able to find and understand the laws that govern them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000594\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s really disappointing to hear that one of the Opposition parties is now not supporting this bill. Through the first reading, we had that support through the whole House, and also my understanding was that through our select committee process, we also had that support, but, for some reason, tonight that has fallen away.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000595\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne of the key principles of the New Zealand First Party is to have open and accountable Government, and so this bill really is around that fundamental principle, which we support. Having a single point of access for all our laws makes a lot of sense. The New Zealand Legislation website, where you\u2019ll be able to find your secondary legislation, will no longer be a maze to go to find the pieces of legislation that you require. We\u2019ve had that situation recently, where you would find pieces of legislation hidden away in newspapers or on agency websites, and it was just a maze to come across what you were trying to find. On that, I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000596\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022160a3ebc6fd7418195cf4dac2e019ecd\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: Celia Wade-Brown\u2014sorry, what call are you taking, Ms Wade-Brown?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e66329e431ea47019b41524c6ef2954a\u0022 data-id=\u00223b7eb65255140e2b5559145308f26056\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000597\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e66329e431ea47019b41524c6ef2954a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223b7eb65255140e2b5559145308f26056\u0022\u003ECELIA WADE-BROWN (Green) (21:32)\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019m taking the Green Party\u2019s split call with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, and they don\u2019t seem to be here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000598\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d936ea51b2f08457fdc420c8a121391a\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: No\u2014have you made that arrangement with them?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000599\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e66329e431ea47019b41524c6ef2954a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002268776f1806b4cd0ac61233070b84f815\u0022\u003ECELIA WADE-BROWN\u003C/span\u003E: No; I\u2019m just speaking next.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000600\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002298cf6f61b90e525105b7a431755c7a63\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: Sorry, this is the Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000601\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224cdfceb3207b43e8a21b346f9376ddc7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ff91c5b8bb1dbc2b268bdd4b52c42946\u0022\u003ETeanau Tuiono\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, they\u2019re not here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000602\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e6753df9ec5b349eaa68c64db80a2ea0\u0022\u003EHon Members: \u003C/span\u003EThey are here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000603\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fafec467804e973c9daed177e10a4b7f\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: No, no, sorry\u2014this is a Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori call. This is a second reading, so unless you\u2019ve made an arrangement with them\u2014just hold on. [\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsCharacterItalics\u0022\u003ESpeaker seeks advice\u003C/span\u003E] My apologies\u2014that is, the Greens are taking the second part of the call, and so it\u2019s a five-minute call. Thank you\u2014my mistake. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000604\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e66329e431ea47019b41524c6ef2954a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022695a4e511e3ec35bafe8db2a7c4132a1\u0022\u003ECELIA WADE-BROWN\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It\u2019s understandable, Mr Speaker\u2014no problem. I\u2019m speaking for the first time in this calendar year in this House, and I would definitely like to add my condolences to the families, to the wh\u0101nau, and actually also to the small businesses that have been hugely impacted by the recent weather and landslides.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000605\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI do rise, though, to speak to the second reading of the Legislation Amendment Bill on behalf of the Green Party. I rise not as a member of the Justice Committee and not as a lawyer\u2014I think we\u2019ve got quite a few lawyers in the House\u2014but as spokesperson for digitising government, and I would like to commend much of the bill. The clarity of having primary and secondary legislation accessible is a good aim. From the point of view of making good use of today\u2019s technology, there are some good steps. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000606\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe scrutiny of secondary legislation and the ability for the general public, for advocacy groups, and for MPs to actually find the details is definitely important, but I have some reservations. Our party policy does say that we should have comprehensive and accessible legal information\u2014for example, through the internet\u2014and the values and principles of the justice policy include the principles of openness, accountability, and transparency, and so it\u2019s a pity one can\u2019t vote for three-quarters of the bill, rather than vote for or against the whole thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000607\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBefore I move to reservations about the revision bills, I want to say a few words about resourcing. The New Zealand Law Society Te K\u0101hui Ture o Aotearoa, in their submission, referred to how the Law Commission identified that in the 1990s, the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) was severely under-resourced, which was the reason for some of the practices at that point that are being changed within this bill. If we look at new section 130, \u201CFunctions of PCO\u201D, in clause 44, they are quite significant. Establishing and maintaining the legislation website\u2014which will be more complex to do, even though it will be easier for the public to see\u2014is not a cheap exercise. I am concerned that past Budgets have not sufficiently resourced some of our parliamentary services, and I would just hope that if we are going to make the PCO responsible for these things, Budget 2026 will actually adequately resource this and other parliamentary services.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000608\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI come to the reason why, at this stage, we are voting against. Although we\u2019re reasonably happy with many of the provisions, we are uncomfortable with the ability of revision bills to be a little wider than we would have hoped, and, as my esteemed colleague Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan pointed out, it can mean less scrutiny. We may be convinced by the Amendment Paper. It would have been nice to have seen it a little earlier so that we could perhaps be happy with this, but as we are at the moment, we have our reservations about this being another way of slipping legislation through. We have seen urgency used, we have seen submissions and select committee timing curtailed\u2014I mean, we\u2019re looking at people being told in December that they should submit in February, which, in theory, if you don\u2019t have any holidays, if you don\u2019t have any children to look after, and if you don\u2019t have all sorts of flood mopping up to do, might be feasible. But, actually, having that is a problem, and we will be voting against the bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002290f442a79aea4ce0aeae083763135935\u0022 data-id=\u0022fd88ba960c673abf3956be311edbe559\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000609\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002290f442a79aea4ce0aeae083763135935\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fd88ba960c673abf3956be311edbe559\u0022\u003ECARL BATES (National\u2014Whanganui) (21:38)\u003C/span\u003E: Thanks, Mr Speaker. I just want to acknowledge you, as this is the first time I\u2019ve stood up to speak in the House this year, and I just acknowledge all those experiencing challenges across the East Coast.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000610\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsContinued\u0022\u003EI just want to acknowledge the Justice Committee for the work they did in bringing this legislation back to the House. My colleagues on the other side of the House are going to spend a lot of time in the Justice Committee this year as we do work to make this country safer. That\u2019s a big part of the job of the Justice Committee. This is not quite related to that, but it is an important bill and, therefore, I commend it to the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220750364c2c1444d0ae00bced720f964e\u0022 data-id=\u0022dd24db7759d897473eca0e9d3d561cce\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000611\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220750364c2c1444d0ae00bced720f964e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dd24db7759d897473eca0e9d3d561cce\u0022\u003EHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) (21:39)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Labour supports this bill. We know that it is a good way of increasing the accessibility of secondary legislation by providing a single point of access. There\u2019s been a lot of work that\u2019s been put into this bill. The bill provides for a system of legislative and also administrative tools that can work together to improve the quality of access to legislation, and we know how important it is to make sure that that is accessible.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000612\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s a significant task, indeed, because secondary legislation sits in many different parts, and to be able to bring this together in an orderly way, there are new publication requirements that are put in place by this legislation to cater for a variation amongst all the different agencies that are involved in that. These tools will be able to ensure that the system provides not only certainty but also the flexibility required for the system to operate effectively, and it is also taking into account the minimising any legal risk. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000613\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt was really interesting to be part of the Justice Committee and to watch how this is going to operate. While we do support this bill, we note that it pre-empts the passage of the Regulatory Standards Bill in that it provides for clauses to repeal Part 4 of the Act before it comes into force, and we do know that Part 4 would impose disclosure requirements for Government-initiated legislation and even, indeed, potentially duplicate key elements of the Regulatory Standards Bill being processed by the Minister for Regulation. Agencies, in this instance, will need to devote significant resource to be ready for Part 4 to commence, and that will occur in March of this year\u2014so not too far away\u2014and engagement with the House will be required. Instead, existing Cabinet-mandated provisions for disclosure requirements for bills will continue to apply. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000614\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EWe have known for some time that the inaccessibility of secondary legislation can be problematic for certainty if not drafted and published by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). When people talk about secondary legislation, it can sit in many different areas, and it can be rules or notices, or it can be by-laws, and that is a real weakness in New Zealand\u2019s legislative system. It makes it much harder for the Government to do business and for the public to use and to understand the law if we don\u2019t know where all these different parts of secondary legislation are, and so it\u2019s a significant piece of work not only to be able to locate all of the secondary legislation but also enable tools where they can be accessed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000615\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe provisions of the bill and the Secondary Legislation Act provide that under the provisions, agencies would continue to draft secondary legislation, but they would lodge that legislation with PCO for publication on the legislative website. Similar to what our primary legislation does now, the process will now be stipulated for secondary legislation, and so that would include things like, for example, significant safety risks, complexity, and also the cost of PCO for drafting agencies. In terms of what the bill offers as an improvement, it is that it will instead adopt a lower-cost and lower-risk solution which will establish just one, single point of access to legislation. Really, in this day and age, in terms of the advances we have in technology and how, more than anything now, people are finding legislation online, they will be able to use that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000616\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe single, broad policy is to promote high-quality legislation for New Zealanders that is easy to find and is easy to understand, and, to that end, the bill proposes a number of key changes to make sure that whatever the agency is\u2014whether it\u2019s the Ministry of Transport, or even a local council\u2014the relevant administering agency is required to electronically publish agency-drafted secondary legislation and information related to that legislation so that people understand what the purpose of it is and where it is to be used. Many times there might be a by-law in place, but it\u2019s not clear as to what the purpose or even the intent of that secondary legislation is, and sometimes, when things are outdated or outmoded, that can cause confusion as to what is actually intended to happen. So having all of that on the internet and having that accessible to people provides a way to be a lot clearer about what should be occurring. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000617\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe bill makes a number of changes. But the key point is that it is providing rules, powers, functions, and duties for PCO, the Attorney-General, and administering agencies to support these changes, including exceptions and exemptions, and the role of the legislation website includes supporting administering agencies to publish legislation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000618\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s not that sexy\u2014secondary legislation\u2014and I know that many members\u2019 eyes can glaze over, but this has been a piece of work that has taken a considerable amount of time to bring together. I remember that when I was first a member of Parliament back in 2017, when I sat as the deputy chair of the Governance and Administration Committee, this task was being worked on then in terms of trying to locate all the different sources of secondary legislation. The task is a significant one, but I think it\u2019s a good piece of work, which has occurred over different Governments, and it\u2019s good to see it progressing today. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000619\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s important that we know all the different types of by-laws or rules that are in place in order for people to be aware of them, and to make sure also that if there are ones that are obsolete or if that are conflicting, we have a way of searching and finding them and bringing them together. It\u2019s a modernisation of our legislation that\u2019s well overdue, and I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cf22a832d14a4c99ab5dfd16e24446e5\u0022 data-id=\u0022d960cb2a5142fc64f8ec6e73f56ce31f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000620\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cf22a832d14a4c99ab5dfd16e24446e5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d960cb2a5142fc64f8ec6e73f56ce31f\u0022\u003ERIMA NAKHLE (National\u2014Takanini) (21:46)\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s a shame that the Green Party is opposing this bill on the basis of an issue that we discussed at length in the Justice Committee, the result of which would actually ensure more oversight with respect to revision bills. But, as usual, the Green Party just plays with taxpayers\u2019 time and money. I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000621\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e0f7e572c5bceb3867ee40ef3119c41e\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: This is a split call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224781da7e0ee64557a3bcb565f241de8e\u0022 data-id=\u002299ab30c142a28194b5ab03ac9eb21d41\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000622\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224781da7e0ee64557a3bcb565f241de8e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002299ab30c142a28194b5ab03ac9eb21d41\u0022\u003ECAMILLA BELICH (Labour) (21:46)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It\u2019s an honour to speak on this bill. I, regretfully, have not had the opportunity to look at this as part of the Justice Committee, but I have seen the substantive report that they\u2019ve put forward and I know that the Justice Committee is a very busy committee and has taken its time in making sure that this has been well looked at.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000623\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe Labour Party is supporting this bill, and, personally, as someone who\u2019s had to deal with laws and secondary legislation as a former lawyer, I can see why this is such a good idea. Secondary legislation is difficult to find at the moment, even for those of us in Parliament. If I was to say to a colleague, \u201CPlease go and find this piece of secondary legislation.\u201D, often it\u2019s a bit of guesswork as to whether you get the correct version of that. If you look online or if you try and get the versions from some of the printed legislation, it can often be quite difficult, too. So the fact that there is a concerted effort into making sure that secondary legislation is accessible for New Zealanders and is available is a really positive thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000624\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI\u2019m a regular user of the Government legislation website, which I understand is going to be the receptacle of the secondary legislation under this bill. That is a really helpful website. It\u2019s publicly accessible and it is something that most people in New Zealand would consider to be quite a reliable way to access legislation. It is, of course, possible to access legislation in other ways, but I think that as more and more things are coming online, this makes really good sense.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000625\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThere are concerns that people have raised around this bill, and one of the major issues, I think, is the slight lack of clarity on whether this bill will have unintended consequences. I\u2019ve heard some of the contributions tonight from colleagues in the Green Party and also my fellow Labour Party colleagues who have alluded to the fact that there are, potentially, powers in this bill which may do something that we do not intend it to. I think the main section that I wanted to refer to was new section 96(3)(iv) in clause 37, where it states that \u201Cconflicts or adverse interactions between legislation\u201D could be a reason for revision bills to be changed. Now, funnily enough, that does provide a little bit of ambiguity within this bill, and ambiguity is also a reason that things could be changed. It\u2019s really difficult to draft the perfect piece of legislation, but I think the intention for this particular piece of legislation is that the pieces of secondary legislation that are difficult to access at the moment become more easy to access upon publication. But, of course, there is this potential issue here with the fact that maybe it may go a bit far in terms of revision.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EMy colleague Dr Duncan Webb and I have recently been in Parliament when we\u2019ve been looking at minor changes to secondary legislation. I can\u2019t remember, but I think it was the Statutes Amendment Bill, or something like that. In the Statutes Amendment Bill, we looked at a number of provisions, and I think one of them was changing the provision of currency from something like a pound\u2014a very old form of currency\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000627\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b78723aefdc74b11a47482993ca56a74\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022065a2f0ecf8a9a58a1d207770b39ec81\u0022\u003EHon Dr Duncan Webb\u003C/span\u003E: You can remember it, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000628\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224781da7e0ee64557a3bcb565f241de8e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ef0ed6691316b91fb003019b3ce34eb4\u0022\u003ECAMILLA BELICH\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014and I\u2019m sure you probably remember it. Anyway, it was very outdated.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000629\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt was very surprising to see that type of outdated language in legislation, and it is a substantial job to actually keep on top of all legislation, even in this day of digital bills and Acts, to make sure that everything is kept up to date. So, if that prevents Dr Duncan Webb and me from using the House\u2019s time\u2014talking about things like how a dollar is a better term to use than a pound\u2014then, obviously, that\u2019s going to be good use of the House\u2019s time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAdditionally, I think that all members of the public would agree with the premise of this bill, which is that we should be able to access secondary legislation. We have some concerns around how this may be implemented. Hopefully, in the committee stage the Minister can give some assurances as to how this will be interpreted and the intention, and, of course, that forms part of the statutory interpretation of the bill. That would be really helpful, I think, to give the House confidence in how this bill will end up being enacted. I commend this bill to the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022739b3bbed7fe4186aa30494700144b3a\u0022 data-id=\u0022b3077a3420229672ff6cbdc5c06cda0c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022739b3bbed7fe4186aa30494700144b3a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b3077a3420229672ff6cbdc5c06cda0c\u0022\u003EPAULO GARCIA (National\u2014New Lynn) (21:51)\u003C/span\u003E: The Legislation Amendment Bill should be every legislator\u2019s objective: to promote high-quality legislation that\u2019s easy to find, use, and understand. The Justice Committee recommends that we should pass the bill. I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b78723aefdc74b11a47482993ca56a74\u0022 data-id=\u002268c2eb1ca167f30685c6e9e80f80cdba\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000632\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b78723aefdc74b11a47482993ca56a74\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002268c2eb1ca167f30685c6e9e80f80cdba\u0022\u003EHon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour\u2014Christchurch Central) (21:51)\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and it\u2019s good to speak on this excellent piece of legislation. It\u2019s easy to dismiss this as kind of technical legislation\u2014and it is technical\u2014but it\u2019s also about how we make law, and so it\u2019s actually, genuinely part of our constitutional framework, and I think we\u2019ve got to remember that when we come to talk about it. It\u2019s also unusual in a couple of ways. One way is that it\u2019s identifying this concept of a revision bill, and in that sense it\u2019s directing the House. We know that, by and large, we let the Standing Orders deal with matters of procedure for the House, but because of the interface between the Attorney-General and the Parliamentary Counsel Office and the confirmative various powers, it\u2019s probably appropriate that it go here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000633\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIt does a number of things, and I\u2019ll only touch on three, all of which have in some way been touched on already, but I do want to just discuss a few of them. Firstly, secondary legislation. Everyone has noted that there\u2019s now this direction that secondary legislation from particular Government agencies is to go on the legislation website, and that\u2019s, in fact, in one sense an access-to-justice issue. It means that people can find, particularly, rules and regulations, if you like, on the Government-administered website and it\u2019s, essentially, got a quality check.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000634\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI do want to observe, though, that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to secondary legislation, and the number of departmental rules and exemptions that are made within Government departments\u2014which will fall outside of this; it\u2019sthat grey area which falls below kind of an actual regulation but above mere policy\u2014is one area. Then, of course, there\u2019s a huge area of secondary legislation made by non-Government bodies, whether that be testing standards for building materials, whether it be professional rules for accountants, or whatever it may be, and so there\u2019s a whole range of other legislation which actually still won\u2019t be captured. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000635\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIn fact, one of the interesting provisions here is that secondary legislation, with some exceptions, won\u2019t commence until it\u2019s properly published. The problem that previously existed was that there could be secondary legislation which had passed its appropriate legislative process, whatever that might be, but was never publicly available, but it was nevertheless in force. So that was a real problem, and that\u2019s the first thing I wanted to talk about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000636\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe second thing I wanted to talk about is a little more obscure, actually. It\u2019s to do with electronic transactions, which is a matter close to my heart because one of the things that the Legislation Act does is it gives definitions: definition of what a day is, definitions that say that if the legislation says \u201Cman\u201D, it means man or woman, and all kinds of things like that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000637\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EOne of the things it doesn\u2019t do is define writing in terms of electronic transactions\u2014not just electronic contracts and commercial arrangements, but electronic stuff, if you like\u2014and the reason it doesn\u2019t do that is because some clever person put it in the Contract and Commercial Law Act. So way over there in the Contract and Commercial Law Act, you\u2019ve got a provision which deals with what amounts to an electronic signature in all of the law. It\u2019s actually the wrong place to put it; it should be in the Legislation Act, and this cropped up in the Justice Committee. It was essentially out of scope to insert this at the last minute, and our advice was that that\u2019s not a good idea to pull it out of one piece of legislation and put it into another, but, rather, a provision was inserted essentially saying, \u201Cand writing means what it says in the Contract and Commercial Law Act\u201D. So, to be perfectly honest\u2014and I\u2019m pretty sure our counsel would agree with us\u2014it\u2019s a pretty messy solution, but it\u2019s the best we could get to on the day.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000638\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThen, the flavour of the month is, of course, the revision bills. Can I just say that I think that parliamentary counsel are extremely long-suffering, because we certainly gave them a working-over on what could be said to be a minor point, and I heard my colleague Vanushi Walters talk about this. I heard her erudition in respect to, was it King Charles and \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsTerm\u0022 style=\u0022font-style: italic\u0022\u003EGazette\u003C/span\u003E notices and Oxford University, or some such thing\u2014which always astounds me, the depth of her knowledge\u2014but the issue is this. The concept of a revision bill historically has been a modernisation bill, and so you pick up the Partnership Act from 1908 and you say, \u201CYeah, the rules in it are fine, but the language, the ordering, and the expression desperately need to be cleaned up, and so let\u2019s do that.\u201D\u2014and so it\u2019s simply modernisation. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000639\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing, we really don\u2019t need a first reading debate and we don\u2019t need a committee of the whole House debate. We can truncate these processes, but let\u2019s send it to select committee, make sure that people have their say, and get on with it. That makes perfect sense, but\u2014and this is the point, I think, that Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan was referring to\u2014if we then turn it into a general tidy-up, is it appropriate to truncate the scrutiny to such an extent? The real point is this: do we trust the Government not to abuse the expanded rights to use revision bills, because, goodness knows, they\u2019ve abused urgency throughout this term of Parliament, and so that\u2019s the concern.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000640\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EIf you look at the kinds of things that can now be included in revision bills\u2014and I must say that I still have some reservations. For example, in new section 96(3)(b) in clause 37, it says that a revision bill may \u201Cmake amendments to reduce or avoid any of the following: (i) unduly onerous or burdensome requirements:\u201D Now, that sounds fine, but what is \u201Cunduly onerous or burdensome\u201D is very much moot, and those members might think temperature requirements for hot water in childcare facilities are \u201Cunduly onerous\u201D, or they might think that food safety standards are \u201Cunduly onerous\u201D. We don\u2019t; we think things like that are important safeguards. So that is the danger. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000641\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENow, one of the protections is that these are drafted and certified by parliamentary counsel and the Attorney-General. That gives me some comfort, but I\u2019m still concerned that if, as you go through this, new section 96(3)(b)(ii) says \u201Cunnecessary compliance costs:\u201D. Sure, there will be things which are genuinely unnecessary compliance costs, but what is an unnecessary compliance cost? You know, I heard Andrew Hoggard\u2019s speech on farming, and his view seems to be that keeping cows out of waterways is an unnecessary compliance cost\u2014you know, \u201CJust get rid of the green tape and let us do our farming.\u201D That\u2019s the question, right?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000642\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBut my point is well made that there\u2019s an argument to be had, and a modernisation bill would be one which didn\u2019t change the rules\u2014it didn\u2019t change the needle on regulation\u2014but it just changed the language. So the revision bills, now, that can be put before this House are actually not revision bills; they\u2019re amendment bills, and this is my good-faith point: when any Government comes to a revision bill, they need to accept the word \u201Crevision\u201D, and any changes of that nature, particularly in that new section 96(3)(b) needs to be consistent with the original purposes of the Act, and not changing the kind of regulatory burden imposed by the Act itself.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000643\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EI guess that\u2019s my constitutional point. That is why this is part of the framework of our law, because it dictates to this House the constraints under which laws can be made, but like any constitutional framework, it\u2019s imbued with convention, and that convention is important. I think it\u2019s important that all parties in this House adhere to the convention that revision bills do not change the substance of the legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000644\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c4943fd1cf914de0befcb7a16280f910\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221c81b48db590a2f6c54b7263f782cf6b\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O\u0027Connor)\u003C/span\u003E: We\u2019ve reached that time of the night\u2014that awkward time of the night. Because I\u2019ve had indications that there will be a contested call for the Green Party call, I\u2019ll interrupt the debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000645\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EThe debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow. Good evening. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000646\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20260127aded6be4d2c37f3490000647\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022CharacterBoldCentred\u0022\u003EThe House adjourned at 10.02 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n  \u003C/body\u003E\n\u003C/html\u003E"