Sitting date: 28 January 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition): I move, That all the words after "That" be deleted and replaced with "This House has no confidence in this coalition Government because under its incompetent, arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership, New Zealand is going backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs, record numbers are leaving the country, and their priorities are wrong and out of touch."

Kiwis looking for some hope from the Prime Minister at the beginning of this year would be disappointed by that contribution. If that is the best the Government has to offer, it's going to be a very long year for the National Party backbench—as evidenced by the fact that you could see them pulling out their phones after only a few minutes, and frantically dusting up their CVs. The fact that they've given up already is a real warning sign for this Government.

But New Zealanders were looking for more: a realisation from this Government that despite all the big talk last year, it's still getting harder for New Zealand families, it's still getting harder for New Zealand businesses. An acknowledgment from this Government that they have driven New Zealand into the worst economic recession since 1991 might have been a good place to start. An acknowledgment that the deepest cuts to Government spending since 1991 made that situation so much worse than it needed to be would also have been a good place to start. New Zealanders were looking for the Government to finally step up and take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences of them, but they would have been disappointed by that because the Government won't take responsibility for the choices that it has been making.

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

A Government that promised to get New Zealand back on track has derailed the New Zealand economy. You don't just have to take my word for that; look at the HSBC's estimates that said that New Zealand's economy had the largest contraction in GDP last year in the world. The economists that previously called us the "rock star economy" have pointed out that we took the biggest hit in the world in 2024. Forget the rock star economy, Nicola Willis is aiming for rock-bottom! Businesses can see that the Government has derailed the economy. According to the Reserve Bank—who, suddenly, the Government want to claim all the credit for—business investment will be lower at the end of this year than at the end of our last Labour Government. That is the early legacy of this National Government. We see businesses every week going to the wall as company liquidations continue to go through the roof. Companies that survived COVID can't survive National. That is what this Government are doing for the New Zealand economy.

Kiwis are just getting more hollow words and rhetoric from this Government; no real action on power prices, on groceries, on rates, or on transport costs. In the real world—that's the world where people who aren't wealthy and sorted continue to face prices that climb, insurance that goes up, rates that are increasing, energy bills increasing, and transport costs increasing—Kiwis are struggling, and this Government is busy telling them, "It's all OK. It's getting better.", when those New Zealanders know it's not getting better; it's getting harder.

All they're getting from the Prime Minister is more words. He's like a walking Dale Carnegie seminar. He spent the last year talking about the cost of living prices; New Zealanders are still waiting for the fix. He spent the last year talking about growing the economy, and all he did was prove that talking about growing the economy doesn't actually grow the economy. New Zealanders want to see that this Government has a plan, and so far this Government has proven they don't have one.

Oh—no actually, Christopher Luxon does have a good idea. He's decided that the person who drove the New Zealand economy into the deepest recession in nearly 35 years should be tasked with economic growth. The person who made everything so much worse for New Zealanders is apparently Christopher Luxon's magical solution to New Zealand's lack of economic growth. What she doesn't realise and what Christopher Luxon doesn't realise is that Nicola Willis' austerity agenda is utterly incompatible with raising living standards for all New Zealanders.

It's not just about growing the economy but what we grow and how we grow it actually matters as well, and that's a discussion this Government aren't willing to have, because this is the most hard right, neo-liberal Government New Zealand has seen in a generation. They are following the typical right-wing playbook: defund public services so that they struggle, defund public services so that they are destabilised and New Zealanders get dissatisfied. And we know what comes next: privatisation. Because that is what they've done for the last 40 years and that is exactly the playbook that we are seeing now: underfund public services, run them into the ground, cut them and hock them off—that is what this Government wants to do.

How did that work for the railways? When they sold it off, it got asset stripped by its private owners and the taxpayers ended up having to buy it back and bail it out. How did that work with the power companies? Well, if you're a shareholder in the power companies, pretty well actually, because they are gouging New Zealand consumers every day—every day, gouging New Zealand consumers—under this privatised model introduced by the last National Government, who said that more competition would lead to lower power prices. How's that working out for New Zealanders so far now? And they are now promising more of the same. How about the botched Transmission Gully public-private partnership, which ultimately meant that the private sector took all the money, and the public covered all of that risk in the supposed public-private partnership?

Instead, all we get from Christopher Luxon is more hollow words; no real action on dealing with the lack of competition in New Zealand. Here's some news for those members opposite: competitive free markets require rules. Cutting regulation actually helps the monopolies; it doesn't help everyday New Zealanders. When they talk about cutting red tape, they're actually talking about cutting protection for consumers; they're actually talking about making it easier for the monopolies to gouge consumers more, rather than protecting everyday New Zealand consumers.

Instead, we're now seeing, once again, that tired, old rhetoric from the right about privatising assets—and our hospitals, of course, are first in the firing line. I remember, back in the 1990s, going to hospital with a member of my own family, and before we could even get through the door, they had to write out a cheque for the care that was about to be delivered, because the National Party decided a privatised, user-pays model was going to be more efficient. How did that work out? We on this side of the House believe that your access to healthcare should not be determined by how wealthy you are, which is the view on the other side of the House.

Whether you live or die should not be determined by your bank balance, which seems to be the view on the other side of the House. If privatising health is so great, why is it that the privatised American health system costs more per person than just about any other health system in the world and yet delivers worse health outcomes? That seems to be the system that they want to mimic.

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

But this Government don't like evidence and they don't like facts, because, let's be clear, this is a Government that is more interested in entrenching privilege than supporting everyday New Zealanders. David Seymour, our future Deputy Prime Minister, gives speeches where he rails against two standards of citizenship then delivers a speech where he said the country's divided into two tribes—according to David Seymour—the rich and the mediocre. That is the view of David Seymour, our future Deputy Prime Minister, and it reflects the views of this Government. The people that work hard every day are mediocre losers. We know that—Andrew Bayly gave us a hint of that last year, and now David Seymour is reinforcing it, that the people who choose to teach, the people who choose to be nurses, the people who choose to become police, the people who enter the Defence Force, they're mediocre according to this Government. Those with disabilities: mediocre, according to this Government.

Hon David Seymour: Point of order, Mr Speaker. To completely misrepresent what someone has said in a way that reflects badly on, for example, the police of this country I think brings this House into disrepute, and he should withdraw the comment.

SPEAKER: This so far has been quite a robust debate. I would've interrupted it earlier, but I noticed that most of the additional comment coming from the floor of the House was coming from the Government's own side, so I didn't then. I think one of the points about this is that there will be things that are said that are debatable. I'm not about to rule on every little point that upsets everybody in the House.

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Point of order, Mr Speaker. There are some of us that think that the standards of this House have seriously declined. Now, when you're giving a ruling, it is not right for a member of Parliament to stand there impatiently waiting for you to stop. That shows no respect for you or this institution. So I would ask you to check what Mr Hipkins just did and tell him not to behave like that in the future.

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

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

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

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Oh, Mr Speaker, it is just the enthusiasm that we have on this side of the House, because on this side of the House we actually oppose the Government's view that you should entrench the rights of people who have wealth to the detriment of people who don't, which is clearly the agenda of the ACT Party, and it is now going to be the agenda of this Government as well.

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

Let's talk about David Seymour's Regulatory Standards Bill, a bill that says there should be two levels of rights in New Zealand: rights for those who have wealth and lesser rights for those who don't have wealth. That is the position of the ACT Party. But don't just take my word for it: even Roger Douglas thinks that that is now the position of the modern-day ACT Party, that their goal in politics is to entrench privilege rather than provide opportunity for New Zealanders. Those aren't just my words; Roger Douglas, the founder of the ACT Party, now believes that that is the ACT Party's mission in this Parliament. Well, I can tell you now, the Regulatory Standards Bill is a bill that has no place in this House, and I can guarantee you this: in the first hundred days of the next Labour Government, it will be repealed, because on this side of the House we believe that responsible regulation is about protecting New Zealanders—protecting all New Zealanders, not just those with a healthy bank balance, which seems to be the position on the other side of the House.

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

Hon Members: No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What did they say to delivering new State housing?

Hon Members: No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What did they say to delivering school classroom upgrades?

Hon Members: No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What did they say to delivering improved infrastructure for the country?

Hon Members: No!

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What did they say yes to? That's probably a bigger question, because they have said yes to a few things: 13,000 more kids living in poverty—they said yes to that. Scrapping all meaningful action on climate change—they said yes to that. Higher unemployment—they said yes to that. Cuts to support for people with disabilities—they said yes to that. Higher public transport costs—they said yes to that. Tax breaks for tobacco companies—they said yes to that. Suppressing wage growth—they said a very big yes to that. And slashing regional manufacturing jobs—they said yes to that. No action from the Government to turn any of those things around.

The Prime Minister now thinks that more tourism is going to be the answer for New Zealand. He does know quite a lot about tourism, though. In fact, he visited Te Puke so many times he forgot he was actually in Hawaii. But they cut funding for promoting tourism in last year's Budget. They hiked up the international visitor levy and then gouged that money back out of tourism once again. Now they suddenly think that more tourists is the answer, when one of our biggest tourist destinations, Queenstown, is saying that they're going to have to stop all development because their infrastructure can't cope. So not only did the Government grind infrastructure to a halt; it's now saying it wants to cram more people in and put the infrastructure that already can't cope under even more pressure.

They say they want science, they want more investment in science—they cut $500 million of investment from science in last year's Budget; 500 science and research jobs have been cut. Take GNS, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences: they cut 59 science jobs, including scientists, geologists, geophysicists, geochemists—the sorts of jobs that we need more of in New Zealand. Take the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, climate research: 90 jobs down the drain under this Government.

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

I think before the Government go gutting health and safety regulations and rules that are designed to ensure that Kiwis can be healthy at work and make it home at the end of the day, they should understand why those rules were put in place in the first place, because, actually, most of them were put in place under the last National Government, who recognised that people shouldn't die at work and that our rate of workplace death and injuries is far too high.

Too many New Zealanders are giving up hope and leaving the country. They were looking to Christopher Luxon and this Government for hope; they will have seen none in the last week. But there is reason to be optimistic. We can look around the world and we can see the worst in the world, or we can look around the world and we can see opportunity and we can see what New Zealand could be. We could be an international powerhouse for renewable energy, where renewable energy is a competitive advantage for New Zealand. We could be investing in our future now, rather than cutting and delivering austerity, which is what Nicola Willis and this Government are delivering.

Things can be better here in New Zealand. We can have a Government that wants to back New Zealanders, rather than a Government that's all about entrenching privilege, helping out their mates, and making the wrong choices. We can have a Government that wants to see the New Zealand economy grow and get Kiwis back to work, but grow in a way where everybody benefits, not just those at the top, which is all this Government has been focused on. New Zealanders deserve better from this Government. They deserve hope, and they haven't been given any.

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

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

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Oh, hysteria.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: I mean it. What's the point of Government, the Rt Hon Winston Peters? Government is supposed to make the best possible decisions on behalf of the welfare of everybody in the country. It is supposed to be about ensuring that everybody gets access to what they need not only to survive but to thrive. It is supposed to be about making long-term decisions on behalf of all of us—that is, right now and into the future. It is supposed to be about protecting the vital, fragile ecosystem necessary for life as we know it. The point of Government is to look after this thing that we call the social contract, to ensure the rules that we put in place to govern our relationships with each other and the planet that we live on are fair and good.

The point of Government is to organise us and create the things that all of us can only create when we work together. That is what makes a nation: working together in pursuit of our shared values. That is where the idea of public services and fundamental human rights comes from. Everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand is entitled—

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

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: Mr Deputy Prime Minister—to housing, healthcare, education, a clean environment, and a stable climate. And it is the job of Government to ensure that everybody gets those things—and I mean everybody.

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

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: No one, Mr Deputy Prime Minister, is actually entitled to make a profit, but everyone is entitled to their basic human rights, to a roof over their head, to kai on the table, and access to basic opportunities. But enter stage right: the cost of living and the decline of democracy. The connection between these two things is, I think, important to understand. Because it's actually a pretty wild idea when you think about it, this notion of the cost of living; the idea that from the moment that you are born there is an immediate life-sentence financial cost to your life.

Two-hundred years ago, there was no concept of the idea of the cost of living in Aotearoa. There was no idea of private ownership here. There was no notion of profit. The founding agreements of this nation, Te Tiriti o Waitangi me He Whakaputanga, were governance arrangements.

Rt Hon Winston Peters: And you were there?

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: They promised that everyone on this whenua would be looked after. But then, Mr Deputy Prime Minister, came the dishonouring; the slow and the winding process of privatisation. Over time, fewer and fewer people owned more and more of the resources at the expense of everyone and everything else. And today in this country, 311 households hold more wealth combined than the bottom 2.5 million New Zealanders.

That inequality and that impoverishment and that theft of human potential didn't just happen naturally. It happened because of Government decisions to privatise profit at the cost of people and planet. Government decisions which those at the top have fought their way to that place to pile and hoard all of that wealth at the expense of everybody else and the fraying social contract under immense pressure to hold our country together.

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

And privatisation means that basic needs will cost more. That is because the same basic things—whether it be housing, healthcare, or education—they're still needed. But now, New Zealanders will also be paying for a profit and shareholder dividends and fat CEO bonuses. Privatisation not only means higher costs of living but a lower quality of life, and New Zealanders do not want to live to work. Privatisation is precisely that death sentence that the Government would like to take us down.

In November last year, as this House debated the Treaty principles bill, I said that capitalism needs colonisation. This insatiable economic system needs new frontiers to constantly assimilate and exploit. And as it happens, the same guy who is doing his best to currently tell everybody in this country that Māori are apparently coming to take more and more rights is the same guy who is trying to sell off New Zealanders' rights to access public healthcare. And that's just the start.

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

In October of last year, I asked the Prime Minister about whether his Government was intentionally starving public services of the investment that they need in order to sow the seeds of privatisation. Government members laughed at me, the Prime Minister accused me of conspiracy theories, and the current and the incoming Deputy Prime Ministers joined in. Now, he's telling us that he's going to take privatisation to the next election, which means that this Government right now is currently managing our country's assets and wellbeing with a mind to selling those things off in the not-too-distant future.

Just think about the former National Government's decision to ignore an overwhelming public referendum not to sell public assets. And more than a decade ago that National Government sold off parts of our electricity sector against the wishes of the public. And today we all pay the price of under-invested infrastructure and a manufactured electricity crisis powered by fossil fuel dependency every single winter in order for us to keep shareholder returns high.

Now, let's look at just what the Prime Minister is saying. Last week, he told everybody in his state of the nation speech about his plans to, and I quote, "roll out the red carpet" for international investment in key infrastructure like transport and energy. This Government has decided to cut public services to the bone to pay for landlord and tobacco tax cuts, and now it's becoming crystal-clear that this Government has no real interest whatsoever in investing in or building or growing our public services or infrastructure.

Instead, they want it to be bought, built, and owned by major foreign corporations, foreign Governments, billionaires, or hedge funds. And that story does not end well for the little guy. The Government is currently actively and openly asking the world's richest people to build and own the public services that all of us ultimately rely on because they are refusing to tax rich people fairly to maintain the services and the assets that we all rely on.

Christopher Luxon's Government doesn't want to govern; they want to farm out accountability. They want to sell it off. And if we privatise our healthcare system, the Government will no longer be responsible for those waitlists. They will have sold off that responsibility, and then we'll all be told that responsibility is far too expensive to buy back because the corporations making exorbitant profit by charging whatever they want will charge far too much.

One of the greatest fibs that those proponents of privatisation tell us is that somehow it will cost us, the people of this country, less. But I ask people just to look at the United States of America where the Government spends over 16 percent of GDP on an almost fully privatised healthcare system, compared to around 10 percent for most OECD countries. Meanwhile, Americans gets comparatively lower lifespans and much poorer health outcomes while corporations rake in astronomical profit.

Under privatisation, the value of human life decreases, but it's not just about human life; it's about all life. The Prime Minister wants to privatise our conservation estate and our seabed for mining companies' profits. This Government is more interested in the rights of corporations than the rights of its citizens. The public services aren't just "nice to haves"; they are the necessities of life. Public ownership means that everybody gets what we need because we all collectively pay for it, and the job of the Government is to manage our collective dreams.

New Zealanders do not dream of lining of pockets of offshore multinational corporations and billionaires. We dream of spending enough time with our whānau, of doing the things that we love, and of getting out into nature. We do not dream of living in order to work; we do not dream of fruitless competition and exhausting ourselves into the ground.

Hon Shane Jones: Exhausting!

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: We dream of things, Mr Shane Jones, that are actually pretty basic: that is, everybody's human rights being upheld, everybody having housing and healthcare and decent work. But privatisation takes away those rights. The building up of our public services, however, is the best way to protect those rights, and we need to have that here at home.

The wealthiest 311 households, who hold more wealth than the bottom two and a half million New Zealanders, pay an effective tax rate less than half of the average New Zealander. What that means is that the multi-multi-multi-millionaires and billionaires pay half the effective tax rate of our nurses, our teachers, our midwives, our farmers, and our firefighters. And the Government knows this; in fact, actually, the last Government knows it too because they commissioned the report. But this Government went a step further and in its first month or so in the job, they removed the enabling legislation to report on the inequities of that very tax system: "Nothing to see here, don't worry."

Not too long ago, one of the new Ministers of Commerce and Consumer Affairs said in a debate in this very House, and I quote, "There is such a thing as legitimate tax avoidance." That was a member of this Government stating on the public record that he knows, as this Government knows, that we have set up the rules in this economy in such a way that if you can afford the right accountants and the right lawyers, you can afford to avoid paying your fair share. It's totally legal.

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

Those with a whole lot of money are doing their best to take over the media landscape and our politics and therefore our imagination. They do not want regular people to have the space to dream or the time to organise. In fact, the wealthiest in this world have made it pretty clear that they're setting their sights on colonising space while letting the planet burn. But building up our shared public resources strengthen that democracy. It gives all of us more control over what happens in our country, and through public accountability. That is supposed to be the point of Government.

Aotearoa can and will be a country where we uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where there are homes for everybody that are warm and dry and affordable; where we recognise housing as a human right; where we can run on 100 percent renewable energy; where everybody gets access to high quality education and healthcare, including dental; where everybody has a liveable income that ensures their dignity, their security and their freedom. This is Aotearoa where people and planet come first, This is the Aotearoa that we are working together to build.

More and more people, I believe, and I hear about when I talk to them out there in the real world, are realising that they are not crazy, but this system is crazy making. And the more people who realise that the failings in the system are not a personal failing, but in fact something which goes to the root core of the greed on which this system is built, then more and more New Zealanders will realise that they have an opportunity to step into their democratic power and change this system.

We have seen that the impossible becomes possible when regular people organise and work together to make history: civil rights, Te Tiriti rights—

Hon Shane Jones: Wake up—wake up.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK:—queer rights, women's rights, and environmental rights did not come from nowhere, Mr Shane Jones. Once upon a time we were told that they were entirely impossible. But when we organise, when regular people work together and find the things that unify us, regular people win. And the old guard, as has been well evidenced by the harping on from the Government benches throughout this speech, are quaking in their boots. They want the little guys fighting, not organising.

So when New Zealanders hear spin about efficiency or progress this year, I want them to remember: the only ones who win in that game are the wealthy and sorted. Everyone else is left to fight over scraps. But it does not have to be that way. At the end of last year, the Green Party released He Ara Anamata, our alternative emissions reduction plan. Our plan outlines an economy that can support people and the planet instead of exploiting and exhausting both. What that means is a green jobs guarantee: planting native trees instead of pine; efficient public transport; sustainable food production; restoring our wetlands; designing our cities better; distributed and resilient renewable energy; real, just transition plans led by local communities, and so much more. He Ara Anamata offers a pathway to build a world in which we not only reduce the cost of living but also improve the quality of life.

In my final remarks, I just want to point out: this is Aotearoa. We do not want imported culture wars and the privatising of public services that in turn hurt and bankrupt our people. We want a Government that honours Te Tiriti and ensures that we are all looked after, as was the promise in that founding governing agreement. We will work together in unshakeable faith to make precisely that dream a reality. My message to New Zealanders is to not let this Government frustrate them to the point of disillusionment and switching off. Politics belongs to those who turn up, and in 2025, Aotearoa is going to turn up.

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

Hon DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Happy New Year. It's nice to see you, and I hope that you have had a sunny summer down in Christchurch.

SPEAKER: It was utterly dreadful. Never mind.

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

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

You see, people understand that we've got a big mountain to climb—there are a lot of challenges. But I think they'd find it totally implausible for Chris Hipkins to stand up and say, "Everything is terrible but only 18 months ago when we were in charge, it was fantastic." One reason that they would find it implausible—and with all of the hyperbole and all the exaggeration we heard from him, I think Chris Hipkins might have got a thesaurus for Christmas. People know that the facts are that one of the biggest issues they have is the cost of living. When this Government was elected, inflation was running at 5.6 per cent per annum, and it peaked at 7.3 percent per annum a year prior to that. Today it is down almost at the midpoint of the target band—2 percent inflation. That is a real change. That is a real victory for New Zealanders—that while prices may still be high, they have stopped rising because this Government has killed inflation.

And then people would say, "OK, we know that that has been tough and we know that hard decisions were required, but we still want to see this economy get going and get growing." And they can appreciate that that is not easy and that if it was, everybody would be doing it. But we can start to have a mature discussion about what the factors are that make economies grow.

Now, I listened very carefully to the speech of Chlöe Swarbrick. She seemed to romanticise a time in New Zealand's history 200 years ago when there were no fences, there were no property rights, there were no buildings, and there was no profit. Perhaps what she forgot to say is that 200 years ago, life expectancy in New Zealand was 40. That tells you about the sense of rationality that we're getting from the Green Party. In fact, Chlöe Swarbrick's speeches these days are so unhinged, voters are actually moving to te Pati Māori—you wouldn't believe it. But on this side of the House, we have an orthodox view of economics which understands that if we want our economy to grow, if we want people to have security in their jobs, if we want, as one young person said to me, to be able to get ahead without leaving the country, then we need to understand where growth comes from. And it starts with having investment so that people have capital to work with. Somebody digging a ditch with a digger can dig it a lot faster than someone with a shovel, but you need investment capital to do that. And the same goes for every business up and down this country—how do we get capital to grow and be more sophisticated so we can sell better products and pay our workers more to make them?

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

Another thing that we need for economic growth, beside a supply of investment capital, is skills. In particular, we need to make sure that when a child spends about 12,000 or 13,000 hours in the education system, they actually receive the knowledge and the skills and the habits and abilities required to succeed in a modern economy. I'm proud to be part of a Government that is upgrading the curriculum and is working hard to stress the importance of actually going to school, since New Zealanders were told for years that maybe that wasn't so important.

I'm proud to be part of a Government that this week is having seven new charter schools opening, because the school that the student is at today is the one that they may not be going to too often and they're not learning. One example is a charter school in Christchurch, opened by a collaboration of four State school principals, and they've said, "There are students that we know we are not serving and cannot serve to the best of our ability as educators." So they've set up and sponsored a separate charter school amongst four State school principals so that those children will have a place to go where they can flourish and reach their potential.

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

It's the teacher or the early childhood educator who said, "All I wanted to do was help children reach their potential, and all I actually do is fill out forms for the Ministry of Education." It's the builder who says, "It takes twice as long to get permission to do this as it does to actually do it." It is the person who goes along to get a loan and finds that they can't because the hurdles they have to jump over are absurd. And we actually heard this from Chris Hipkins in his speech. He said that this Government's approach to regulation would strip New Zealanders of their protections. He couldn't give a single example, but I'll give him one. The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) changes that his Government brought in at the end of 2021 effectively tanked the housing market that November—actually, it was that December; November was the peak—because people went along to their bank and they found that to get a minor increase to their credit limit they had to tell the bank how much they spent each month on petfood. People think I'm making that up. That actually happened in New Zealand under the previous Government, and they knew it was wrong because, to give them credit, they actually removed the rule. So, again, if we're going to have a rational discussion about what sort of things a Government can and should do, then we can all agree that there is some regulations we need, others that we don't, and we should get rid of the ones that we don't.

And thankfully, this Government has a fantastic agenda of regulatory reform: Nicole McKee on anti - money laundering and countering foreign terrorism laws; Brooke van Velden on health and safety at work laws; Chris Penk on building materials—making it easier to get in foreign building materials; Chris Bishop and Simon Court on replacing the big daddy of bad regulation, the Resource Management Act, so that New Zealanders can use their property and develop it on a basis of respecting private property rights.

Hon Shane Jones: And aquaculture—aquaculture!

Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: And aquaculture—as Shane Jones says—will be easier to do in this environment. That is the kind of regulatory reform that will mean that everybody, from people who are farming the land in order to feed the world in this country, to people building a home, to running an early childhood centre, to giving out a loan to someone who's trying to get ahead, will be able to spend more time doing their actual job than doing their compliance job. And the most important change the Government will make, in my view, is to introduce and pass the Regulatory Standards Bill so that, finally, New Zealanders will be able to actually point to a statute that sets out the rights that they have when the Government wants to regulate away their ability to use and exchange private property.

That is absolutely essential to any society that wants growth and wants to be wealthier. And you just have to ask yourself who would work hard and give up today for a better tomorrow if they think that their rights can be wished away with the flick of a pen? It is essential in any society that you are not subject to arbitrary takings, regulatory takings, or having what you've worked for taken away at a moment's notice by a Government that doesn't hold to its own standards of regulation making. This is the kind of progress that this Government is making: serious, well-thought-out progress in order to ensure that we have better policy so that New Zealanders can thrive on their own terms.

And then we hear, again, and it's low-quality debate, people talking endlessly about privatisation as if it is some enormous evil. The simple fact is that in all societies—you know, some people may be interested to know that even in the Soviet Union—people covertly held private property; you can never quite get rid of all of it, I'm sorry, folks. The thing is, in all societies there is a mixture of public and private ownership and a mixture of public and private activity. It is true in healthcare today. Every GP clinic, every pharmacy, many of the theatres where operations are done, they're all private. Many of the doctors who are working, doing those operations or doing those consultations, guess what? They're working for private businesses as specialists. Many of the medications—in fact, all of the medications people are taking and all of the medical devices they're using, they're private. So it's crazy to think that there is only public or private healthcare. Every system has a mixture of that. And my challenge and my question is: do we have the right mix? Because in the last five years we've increased spending by $10 billion and still most New Zealanders would say we have first world people with a system that is letting down those doctors, nurses, orderlies, and allied health professionals, while still failing to satisfy the desires and the needs of every single patient.

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

And the same goes for the Government's balance sheet of capital assets. We're a Government with $200 billion of debt, scheduled to pay nearly $10 billion of interest on the debt. That's real money. You know, that is—doing quick mental arithmetic—$2,000 per New Zealander in interest payments next year. Just the interest on the debt. Now, if we're going to pay—

Sam Uffindell: Thanks, Labour!

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

Sam Uffindell: I said, thanks Labour.

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

You see, the thing is, we need to ask ourselves: if we have $570 billion of assets and $200 billion worth of debt and a major shortage of capital assets in critical areas such as Auckland where Watercare has red-zoned whole neighbourhoods saying, "You can't do any more development because we can't afford the pipes and the pumping stations." Do we have the balance right? Do we have the balance right when our nearest neighbour is seriously improving and increasing the size of its defence force? Do we need to be putting more of our balance sheet into that? And again, imagine if we could have a mature discussion without the carping and the ideology and the people who may have, you know, swallowed a Thesaurus for Christmas as far as I could tell, you know, pulling out all these tropes. We actually need to say, "Look, these are the assets we have as a Government, how do we get the best results, the best defence, the best healthcare?" How do we make sure that we really do the best we can so that all of us can leave this place and feel like we have succeeded as a country and as a Government and as a Parliament. That's my challenge or wero that I lay down.

And there's one more thing that numerous people brought up with me. Someone said to me just earlier this morning, "David, I was thinking about the debate you're engaged in." I said, "Which one?" But he meant the one about the Treaty Principles Bill. And so many people came up and I want to acknowledge those people, thousands, I would guess, actually over the summer break, who said, "We're right behind you, keep going." Because there is something deep down and innate in New Zealanders. It is our sense of fairness. New Zealand, at its heart, is an egalitarian project, a project of immigration that spans 1,000 years and counting. A nation of people who come here seeking better, but also a nation that believe that Jack's as good as his master. At some basic level, we all breathe the same air, we all bask in the same sun, we're all wet by the same rain, and we all deserve the same fundamental human rights. And I found it so interesting in the last day or so that all these people who say that Parliament has no right to debate the meaning of our Treaty in the modern context by defining the principles and statute, well, you know what? They all showed up to participate in the debate. And that, I think, is the mystery for some—not for me, I have to say—opponents of this bill, is why it has raised so many critical issues that New Zealanders want to discuss, and I believe need to discuss.

The answer is that for too long questions like: can Parliament make—is it ultimately sovereign? Do we have equal rights? Is there a special place for Māori and does it give different seats reserved at the table or different rights to be consulted in resource management law? Those are questions that this country fundamentally needs to decide in a civil and democratic matter, and I'm so proud to see that that is exactly what is happening. Even people who say they don't want the debate, rushing to the debate is actually a triumph and a fabulous thing for New Zealand.

And even if, which I still doubt, this bill does not pass in this Parliament, I believe that sooner or later a bill very much like it will pass into law, because ultimately a House divided cannot stand. This country must decide: are we truly committed to universal human rights? Are we truly committed to the idea that each of us came to these islands to seek a better tomorrow for our children and their children, and therefore are we going, as New Zealanders, to give each other equal dignity in politics and before the law and in everyday life.

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

With that thought, I look forward to the debates in this chamber and to the work in Government, alongside my partners Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon, and all of us across the coalition side in the House, doing the work to deliver on the hopes and dreams of the people that I asked and heard as I travelled the length of New Zealand this summer. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): The political year begins with this debate. Now, one can't raise the question of where members of Parliament are or are not, but I can recall at the beginning of this debate that the Labour Party was here, but so was the Green Party and so was Te Pāti Māori. We all sat over here and heard them out. So my next question to those people who are in television land—and I hope they change the screen around to show you just what's happened here and how some people are not prepared to be questioned or challenged. This is an extraordinary circumstance which begins with the number one question in this debate today which is, from what we've just heard from the other side, why did Labour lose in 2023 when they had all the power to themselves?

In 2023, the dire state the economy was in was grossly understated and not understood by most. It was part of the New Zealand First speeches leading all the way up to the election pointing out that we were heading for a recession and that we would have a serious battle on our hands to turn our economy around. And here today in the Labour Party—this party that's meant to be the alternative face of a future Government—it has one economic spokesperson here, and she's very recent to Parliament. I'm not putting her down, but, frankly, you would have thought some senior people might have stayed here to assure you what's going on. [Assistant Speaker stands up] What's wrong with that? Oh, sorry. Well, you've got to say something. You can't just get up on your feet. We'll have a few rules yet.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Mr Peters, you've got a bit of leeway in the first minute. As time goes on, there'll be less. Please don't comment on the absence of other members or parties from the House. Continue.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No, I was not commenting on the absence of parties in the House. I know what the rule is.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Or comment on the Speaker's—

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

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

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No, I'm not going to be put down on this matter, right. I'll sit down in my own good time.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Or comment on the Speaker's ruling.

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

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Yeah, point of order. Mr Speaker, I am entitled to ask why some people are not taking part in the debate. They could be sitting here or they might not be here. I did not refer to their absence. And I want you to approach this matter with a bit of acuity and particularity and not just feel like you're going to stamp a decision down and I'm going to accept it. I'm not going to accept it. But I know the rules: you cannot mention a person being absent in this House, but you can reflect on why they're not engaged in the debate in the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Did you just sit down, Mr Peters?

Hon Kieran McAnulty: Yes, he did.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): You did. However, you're early on in your speech. You may resume if you wish, despite your having sat down—

Hon Kieran McAnulty: He knows the rules, apparently.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): —but can I just ask you, Mr Peters—you've had leeway; you've made your point—please continue without having to comment on the absence of other members or parties in the House. And then we can all enjoy what I'm sure will be a very informative speech.

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): We're going to continue—

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): We're going to continue your speech.

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

Now, to use a metaphor—that's the Labour Party metaphor—a massive economic tanker was on autopilot, heading for disaster unless we did something about it. And the present Government got hold of the wheel with the expectation of turning away from its wayward course. That's the circumstances we inherited.

Arena Williams: You don't have any ships.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Beg your pardon?

Arena Williams: What wheel? You don't have any ships.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I don't have any what?

Hon Members: Ships.

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

Yeah, look, the reality is we understand about hard-working Kiwis. We understand how things are biting on them. And we're going to set out to ensure that we turn that around. But there are so many inherited costs which were inflationary in the extreme and arose from their squanderous spending, with no idea that if you're going to spend, you must spend on added value, on wealth creation, on export increases, and not on consumption. And they did it to the extent that we're in the circumstances we're in today. And no amount of defence of them and their past will get us past the situation we're in at the moment.

New Zealand First understands with great clarity the struggles of workers in this country. And I'll make one very certain judgment for you right here: there's nobody in the labouring working force out there that supports Labour any more. Let me tell you, there's so many workers out there—real workers; two or three jobs—and they've abandoned Labour a long time ago. New Zealand First understands the responsibility we have as part of the Government to turn the cost pressures around and give overdue relief to ordinary New Zealanders. And we cannot continue to tinker around the edges without realising our economy is in dire straits and needs fundamental and decisive change.

That's the reality we're in in 2025. And it'll take considerable time to do this. But if we set out on the right pathway with the right policies, slowly but surely we'll get there. New Zealanders will understand one thing: that tomorrow will be better, the year after that will be better, and that is the only pathway forward this Government has got. We were left with an out of control Labour Party debt caused by a myriad of wasteful, failed, ideological projects and ballooning inflation.

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

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

Now, the multimillion-dollar RNZ - TVNZ merger, do you think, Arena Williams, that that was right? Or the Cook Strait ferries blowing out to what? $4.2 billion. They were charged in May of 2020 with $401 million to find two ferries. What on earth are we talking about $4.2 billion as a project? And you've got all these darn people in the gallery and journalists trying to say—and it shows their appalling political bias—"Oh, look, forget that. What are you doing? Forget that. What are you guys doing?" Well, the answer is you spent four years stuffing it up. We're going to spend about two-and-a-half months trying to fix it as a Government. We inherited that—an appalling circumstance. Boats that were never contemplated in terms of size. Real questions as to whether they were capable of being manoeuvrable. And then, when it came to the infrastructure, no side of the Cook Strait had the infrastructure prepared. And they said, "Oh, we'll buy that." So how come you go out to buy two ferries and when it's all over, the cost of the ferries will be less than 20 percent and the rest is going to be infrastructure? And which parts of the disclosure and transparency did you tell the public and taxpayers about when you made those decisions? This is grinding incompetence and they are not going to get away with it. Those are the realities.

Oh, and here's the one: the $4 million playing whale music to save kauri trees. Now, look, when I heard that, I thought, "Hang on. There's so much"—as some President said—"fake news these days that it can't possibly be true." Over $4 million to play whale sounds and music to save kauri trees from kauri dieback. Now, around about then I think they might have gone to the sociological class of Auckland University and heard all about tikanga and how it can change the whole world. This is the Te Pāti Māori idea—that's how unrealistic it sounds to me. But that's what they did.

Rawiri Waititi: No, it's not.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh, yes, it is—oh, yes, it is. We know you live in dreamtime, sunshine, and we're talking about the real world—we're talking about the real world. The list goes on with the waste, the incompetence, and the indifference that has today led us to the grappling and struggling economy that we're dealing with.

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

We need to turn the economy around and need an expert-led economy. We've been working very hard, extraordinarily hard—all of us—to fill the vacuum overseas that we inherited: appalling vacuum of neglect; no one visiting anywhere. It's essential that we increase our production and ensure added value is priority in the primary industries that we have always relied upon so heavily as a country. We need incentivisation and investment to get our economy running again. You know, we set out the focus on turning our economy around via wealth creation in our fundamental industries, and I'm sure we're all on track for that. But the reality of it all is that we need less bureaucracy and those woke elitists holding this country up—less red and green tape, less of the woke, pearl-clutching do-gooders, and more of the Kiwi can-doers. We need less whining and more mining. If we run across Freddie the frog, we're going to relocate Freddie to a paradise and carry on with mining, because extraction is critical to the economy that is coming. Every country in the world knows it, all the Greens overseas know it, but one bunch in New Zealand don't. The current Government is doing a sound job in turning Labour's drifting economic tanker around that it's left for us. The reality is that it takes time, but help, as we all know, is on its way.

Now, could I just say about fast tracking—who could be opposed to fast tracking? If you know anything about house buying or small businesses or any businesses and here you are, your family's saved up, you want to buy your first house, you want to build your first house, and your greatest obstruction—about 30 percent of the cost—is planning permission. This is appalling and we are seeking to turn that around, and you've got all those people who are saying, somehow, they've got a protection in place that is needed. So if that was true, why haven't they got that in Canada, the United States, and Australia? No, it's our own; we've got a master plan of red tape and it's slowing everything down. So we intend to change that and ensure that families and business people get a chance to buy homes, to build homes, and to start businesses.

By the way, did you hear Mr Hipkins today talk about privatisation? Well, the greatest privatisation we ever saw in this country was 1984 and 1990: the BNZ flogged off. It didn't go to tender. One-third flogged off in a private decision. Then you had—oh, here's the one—Electricorp. Electricorp was sold to Fletchers for eight months of its earnings. Right? For eight months of its earnings. Now, I've got a friend, we've all got a friend, called Hart; he gets his first big break, he gets to buy Government Print that's worth $42 million to $48 million, but guess what he paid for it! He paid $6 million for it and he got $1 million for redundancies, and all the staff working for him the next day. Now, I'm an admirer of Hart because he did far greater things than other businesses. But what a break to get. And who did that? These people over here that tell you they know about the economics and who are opposed to privatisation.

Francisco Hernandez: It sounds like privatisation's bad.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Beg your pardon?

Francisco Hernandez: It sounds like privatisation's bad, then.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: When did you show up, sunshine? How long have you been here? "It does sound like privatisation."—yes, it is privatisation. It's an example of privatisation—

Francisco Hernandez: Took the bait.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —and you shouting out, opening your mouth and letting the wind blow your stupid tongue around—

Francisco Hernandez: Keep rambling.

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Right—

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: And that's why he's sitting back there.

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

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

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

I have never thought I'd sit here and listen in Parliament to a modern version of Das Kapital from the leader of the Green Party. Unbelievable. She went on to say this, though—this is how foolish she is—that we're going to colonise capitalism. In that brief moment, she just confessed that capitalism was good, so it should be colonised. Oh, who wrote her darn speech? She read the whole thing out, from start to finish—and that's a rule we have in this Parliament: you can't read your whole speech out, and this is all detailed. What happened to the—oh, you weren't in the Chair, so I won't make any more comment about that.

But here's the sad thing for Labour—and I know Labour know that; I know enough people from the Labour Party from way back. The Labour Party at its core know that these parties over there—Te Pāti Māori and the Greens—are dragging them down with them. They can't see a way coming back unless they can get rid of these two parties. These new parties have got no respect for democracy, who think somehow that they're special, and have got no respect for anybody else in this Parliament or, dare I say it, the voter.

The "workers party" is now "wokesters party", and Labour's in difficulty with respect to that. You know, Chlöe came here today; she read her whole speech. She talked about, as I say, capitalism being colonised, and how confusing is that? And then she didn't mind, but she wanted it to happen: she said that emissions payments of up to 3—that's $32 billion of emissions payments should be taken out of our economy and paid to another economy. How unbelievably fatal would that be? That's what they said today. I know, he's sitting over there, just arrived five minutes ago as well. Think he knows about this country; he wouldn't know what day it is. But here's the point. And then she did us the greatest insult: she started talking about a country that was not licensed for her to talk about. No permission, no democracy, no mandate, no referendum, no plebiscite, no nothing. She starts talking about Aotearoa—

Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan: So triggered.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —this French Polynesian name. Yes, that is true, sunshine. You just arrived five minutes ago; some of us have been here a thousand years, and we're not taking your dictatorship. You got that clear?

Francisco Hernandez: Thanks for the attention.

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

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Mr Peters, less of the sunshine, more of the first names. As someone who respects the tikanga of the House, let's stick to that part of it.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well, with the greatest respect, I didn't call him sunshine; sunshine is everybody. You know, if you can't take it, let's go and have some lessons on how to do the job.

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

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I beg your pardon?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Use proper names.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: We don't have tikanga in this House; get that straight.

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

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: All right then; I'm not having that rammed down my throat. Can I just say that when people come to this country, the least we can expect is that they obey our laws as they are for the time being; they respect our flag as it is for the time being; that they have to respect other people's right to believe in other religions, as that is the law that's written for the time being; and they believe in equality, whether it's gender or whether it's race. That's the least we can expect.

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

This Government also believes that they are a priority going forward in our planning, not this kind of elitism which saw so much going to so many who are at the very top in our society; who saw 14,000 bureaucrats taken on that we didn't need. Now we've been told that we're the reason for the collapse of Wellington's economy. Oh no, we're not. The reason that this has happened is because of so much waste in the past which we've still got to absorb. But, over time, we are confident we will succeed. The most important reason why we'll succeed is because our message is one of national unity and not difference.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Pāti Māori): Tēnā koe e te Pīka. I'm standing on behalf of Te Pāti Māori today to constructively give our view on the Prime Minister's statement. And I've got to be really honest: what I've witnessed this afternoon is showing that, even day one, the deterioration of our behaviour in our debate can't be healed. And ka aroha to the rest of Aotearoa and New Zealand who have to watch this.

For us, the statement, actually it's everything it didn't state. What we saw was a 9,000-word statement with 32 mentions of growth, 27 mentions of infrastructure, yet absolutely nothing that related to Māori. We had the Prime Minister stand up and say in front of the nation, in fact, he wants to lead and be part of a culture where he's going to get rid of the "no" culture. Yet, culturally, there was no Māori, there was no iwi mentioned, there was no whānau mentioned, there was no hauora mentioned, there was no kāinga mentioned, there was no Te Tiriti mentioned, there was no tangata whenua mentioned.

So

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We've got to try and figure out this year the challenge for Te Pāti Māori—it's actually how we don't buy into this behaviour. Because one of the things that we have seen is that we have found the magic juice and the power to mobilise tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands, in fact; if not, hundreds of millions—of people to be aware of the politics in Aotearoa. For us, the theme is 2025 and, contrary to what the Prime Minister's speech is saying, we will not be thanking him for what it is that his party has put on Māori this year because it is not what we have experienced—a year of thriving—from him.

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

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

So we won't be thanking you for the economic benefits that most people saw here. As you know, they catered to the 2 percent hoarding the wealth and furthering disparity. We won't thank you for the disestablishment and dismantling of anything Māori. We won't thank you for aiding genocide—and as we saw beautiful Palestinian whānau returning to their homes that no longer exist, we may never forget the role of this Government and what it played and been extremely embarrassed and disappointed that they turned their backs on another indigenous people in this time. No thank you there.

You have allowed—sadly, Prime Minister—a nation that has feasted off division, hate, and fear like never seen before. And Aotearoa 2025 is a country where we've seen a lot of our whānau suffocating from the cost of living where we've got a Government can't balance its books, we've got hard-working whānau that are trying to juggle multiple jobs putting kai on the table. There is absolutely nothing that is affecting the wellbeing of our communities.

You have fed the wealthy, the gentry, the landlords, while our whānau have been left behind. And Mr Prime Minister, you have allowed the Māori solutions, the marginalisation of tangta whenua, the whitewashing of the Treaty tribunal. The iwi that you want to partner with economically are lining up, submitting against you, against your policies, and the policies that you have allowed to come through the front door.

So then we come to the Treaty principles bill—and I did stay and listen to every leader—and I guess as you can probably guess, we will definitely not be thanking you there. A week out from Waitangi, we as Māori, together with tangata Tiriti, once again will show how we rise and how we mobilise kotahitanga

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carrying the strength of our tūpuna with mana and grace as we collectively throw a bill that your Government allowed in the bin—actually, that could be our next activity in the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Miss—Ms Ngarewa-Packer—

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Mrs.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): —you're liberally using the word "you"—

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Thank you for the reminder.

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

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Apologies.

So here we have another round and we've got the regulatory standards bill, which is about allowing further corporate exploitation. So we will stand with those who share the same values as us. We will make sure in the first 100 days of the next Government, which we are no doubt going to be a part of, that we will get rid of all of those bills.

Yesterday we saw Ngā Iwi o Taranaki telling the Prime Minister: "kia tūpato". We heard Ngāti Toa speak to the promises made in their settlement. We saw hauora experts like Helen Leahy tell you how Māori would be disadvantaged; lawyers like Natalie Coates spelling out the legal ramifications; rangatahi like Te Kanawa Wilson explaining what this bill would mean for him as a young man raised fully, confidently in te ao Māori. And you, as the Prime Minister, will find so many more once the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of submissions come through. These—please remember, Prime Minister—are not the radical voices of radical Māori that Hobson's Pledge promote they are. These are everyday tangata whenua, everyday tangata Tiriti who are sitting there saying "kia tūpato".

So we won't be thankful for any of the damage that has been going on at Aotearoa; the embarrassment that the rest of the world has seen in the race relationships in Aotearoa.

So I need to be really clear: as we move into 2025, to everyone who wrote and submitted and allowed and are allowed to speak to Seymour's kino bill, you continue to show where the real mana and unity and kotahitanga in Aotearoa lies. We are filled with immense pride as we see all of you showing up, all of you watching the lives, all of you now political commentators, and we are absolutely proud to be able to see the continuation of the energy of the hīkoi as we saw last year. So one day our mokopuna will all look back at this with real pride. Toitū Te Tiriti.

So I've just come from Rātana last week, as has the party, and I'd like to mihi to all of those who've been there and are a living example of what this Government could and should be striving towards. These examples are all around us. So please, Prime Minister, don't just show up and use these kaupapa—live it. Don't just fill empty words—listen to theirs. We have to be examples. Yours aren't and theirs are. That's what 2025 is about.

I mihi, and we mihi, to the hundreds of thousands of tangata whenua, tangata moana, tangata Tiriti who marched and stood and continued to fight against this anti-Māori agenda. We mihi to those who've chosen to wear their hearts on their sleeves, who continue and have learnt and actually wānanga and teach others what submissions and what to be a submitter is.

I mihi to the 70-plus Pākehā women who pulled me up, the Pākehā parents, the Pākehā businesses who have never voted Te Pāti Māori who were previously National voters who will never, ever vote for them again, saying that they will never stay quiet against the division that they've had to see. They stand with Te Pāti Māori on the side of peace and aroha because that's what kotahitanga and our role in this place has to be. You either get to yell and scream and behave in a way that the rest of the country is just embarrassed by, or you come together and you manaaki our manuhiri, we manaaki each other's kōrero, and we have indeed a dignified discussion.

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

Sadly, what we see is the Government and our Prime Minister's tyranny and the ability to completely leave Māori out and to carry on with this platform. Our prediction is this will be a one-term Government because this year we will continue to use our influence, our political platform, to unite this nation, to leave no one behind, to make sure that the spirit of Te Tiriti and indeed the honour of being tangata whenua is realised and felt by all.

Where there is fear, we will give light. Where there is hate, we will give aroha. We've seen thousands of Māori join the Māori roll over the past few months.

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

Removing our rights was an urgent priority for this Prime Minister. Economically—I've said this before—we will focus on redistributing wealth. We will fight the tax and fight the hyper rich. We'll focus on what our options are. What are our economic options? What does economic transformation in Aotearoa look like? How is it that iwi who have suddenly become long-term perpetual investors are performing better than those who have been 200 or 300 years ahead of us? There are lessons to be learnt in economic development, but we're not having that conversation, because the Government will not let go the rails of conservative, old-style economics. Our growth plan will not revolve around stealing Māori rights, lands, and resources and selling them off to the highest bidder. It will be focused on issues like we saw in He Kai Kei Aku Ringa, partnering with iwi, looking at PPPs, developing sustainable energy solutions, creating community regional economic investments, developing papa kāinga and capital solutions for those who cannot access it. This Prime Minister's solution to the cost of living crisis is investing in New Zealand by exploiting our whenua—a quick buck. That is not going to work in the long run. If there's anything we have more than anyone else in Aotearoa, it is the experience of having to redevelop an economy when it has been wiped out.

Nowhere are we seeing intergenerational focus on the economic development and wellbeing of Aotearoa—nowhere. Cutting benefits, cutting the minimum wage, voting against GST-free kai: these are about bringing down the cost of living and caring—caring—about everybody in Aotearoa. The economic solutions in the Prime Minister's agenda have no care for ordinary people, ordinary New Zealanders. There's no care in here at all. So we take real serious issue. And we will continue to fight hard against the Atlas agendas, because that domination cannot be the way that we grow our wellbeing, our economy. We will continue to do it every time—prioritise our whole community wellbeing and collective responsibility and obligations against corporate exploitation—because that's what fast track allowed in. We'll ban seabed mining, we'll invest in science and innovation and education to move away from twilight industries, and we will be active in transformation and energy equity for communities. It's clear—it's really clear—where this Government's priorities lie. At no stage did we see any solutions: oranga whānau, oranga tangata, oranga whenua. All we saw was the rich getting richer. That is not enough anymore.

Where is your innovation, your transformation promised? The Treaty principles bill has shown us that we need to have a constitutional discussion. I found myself uncomfortably agreeing with parts of what David Seymour said, but the discussion should be led by iwi and hapū. It does not belong in this place, and we will invest proactively in Matike Mai, because nowhere else has the degree and the extent of 280-plus hui that happened across the nation, like Matike Mai. I would bet, if I was to ask "How many recommendations? What do you know about Matike Mai?", there are not too many in the coalition Government that could sit there and talk about it, because it has not been embraced as the solution that it should be. That kōrero needs to continue. And we will never ever be able to have the kotahitanga that a nation that has tangata whenua, has indigenous peoples—we were here and our rights existed before anyone else. And as much as some people may not want to admit there are indigenous peoples in Aotearoa, there are, and it's us. And we make up at least a million of us, and we are proud to be Māori. And Te Pāti Māori is proud that, as proud Māori, we have proud tangata Moana and tanga Tiriti.

And this whole concept of sparking a conversation and talking proactively about the foundation for constitutional transformation in Aotearoa must be something that is put on the agenda, because I tell you, our mokopuna—my mokopuna—are laughing at how politicians talk about te Tiriti, how little knowledge is talked about. Yesterday I listened to a submitter who actually truly thinks that we are so bad as Māori that she is unsafe from Māori. What permeates and creates such hatred in somebody that they could really fear Māori to that extent, really fear what it is that we would do? It's just crazy. And I challenge the Prime Minister in his statement: you cannot be a Prime Minister with a statement that ignores that we exist, because we're going nowhere. We are growing, and we have a strong, robust economy. And I repeat this: we will not—we will not—invest with the same parties and partners that we're standing in queue submitting against. We simply will not.

I guess the other thing that I want to leave is that our Kīngi has reminded us about being Māori every day and what this means to us individually, but what this means to us in Aotearoa. Do you truly, do we truly, do politicians truly, does this House truly, even every day in here—how does it allow and encourage Māori to be Māori every day when we've spent a year with this Prime Minister defending who we are? And I really don't care what anyone thinks about me—I really don't care what they think and have to say about me—but I do about my mokopuna. And I will rise and encourage every influence we can to make sure that our mokopuna never have to feel berated or left out.

I think the other thing we have to talk about is how we make sure that we have the strength of who we are as tangata whenua. We talk about foreign affairs, and it's something that Rawiri is actually really passionate about. Our foreign affairs policy is to actually extend and strengthen off the relationships that we have as indigenous peoples. Those are relationships that no one else across the world can do as well. That is a strength for Aotearoa's future, and those are discussions that we should be having. This whole "same old, same old" isn't cutting it, because not only are we politically extremely divided at the moment but we're also leaving some really great opportunities behind because we can't sit down and have a discussion truly of what it is that is our strength. Instead, what should be our biggest uniqueness—having an indigenous nation who never ceded sovereignty—has now become a real sad point of defence.

I want to finish with some of these things. I want to say also to our whānau: you have been able to prove without a doubt what kotahitanga looks like. Do that every day individually in your home, in your communities, your marae, however it looks. Make sure you keep up that kotahitanga, because kotahitanga is not a noun; it's an adjective. It's a doing thing. It is something that we need to be seen as doing every day and hold ourselves. Rest is resistance. We've got a lot on this year. We've got the Māori wards referendum. We've got the bill coming up—Seymour's bill—in May. We have a whole lot of kaupapa to make sure that we rest and settle and continue to grow. But I do want to finish with something that actually came from a well-esteemed man and somebody that Māori really rate—a tangata Tiriti who is actually an ex-National Minister. It was something I heard him say in the submissions yesterday. Chris Finlayson said, "Parliament can legislate the Earth is flat. That doesn't make it flat." And, to our Prime Minister, let's stop spouting flat-Earth policy energy and actually embrace the fact that you are surrounded by tangata whenua, and it doesn't have to be any of us in Te Pāti Māori, but they are here for ever. And tangata whenua and te Tiriti is here for ever. And, as was stated at Rātana, you're not.

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

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Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister of Justice): Well, Madam Speaker, thank you for that warm applause. Very good to get the full, wholehearted support of the Māori Party as I stand to talk today about the Prime Minister's statement and the start of the political year. And the starting point, of course, and the very much focus of the Government this year is to get some growth into this economy, to create some wealth, and to make a living in a competitive world. And I think all of us who have been out and about on the beaches and in the bush and having a break in electorates all around this country, and I've been way up north and in far-flung parts. The conversation, apart from the weather around here, the primary conversation has been, yes, it has been a difficult economic time. And there are a lot of people, particularly small-business people, who have been really struggling after a long, extended period of a down cycle in the economy.

Now we can point to many of the mistakes made over the past few years that contributed to that, but a lot of it's also global changes and pressures going on. But the reality is that many New Zealand families have been finding it tough. And that is why, when we look at the things that New Zealanders are most concerned about and most worried about is they wanna see some relief in the cost of living that their families are facing: buying the groceries, getting ready for school, all those things. And they want to see a growth plan so that when we look out into the future, this is the place to stay. And it makes sense from an economic point of view. And that is precisely what this Government is focused on and what the Prime Minister talked about in his speech only a couple of hours ago. And the recipe for getting greater growth is not dramatically difficult to understand or to change; it just hasn't been done by previous Governments. It's about encouraging investment in the country. Because ultimately if you want to get growth, it's about businesses large and small investing and growing their business, starting a new business, buying new plant and machinery, hiring new people. It's all about investment decisions. And so creating an environment where people feel confident to invest is critical. And we've seen actually already a lift in business confidence levels, notwithstanding all the challenges, and that's because they see help is on its way.

We've also seen the important focus on technology and innovation. And there's a lot going on there. And we were very much inspired last week at our two-day caucus for the National Party to have an address by Peter Beck—rocket man. And what a wonderful, wonderful entrepreneurial story that is in New Zealand. And we should be celebrating that sort of thing. The fact that a boy from Invercargill went on to create a highly, highly successful business in the world of rocketry and sending satellites into space, competing with the best globally, is a really great thing to see. And so New Zealanders do have the ability to reach for the stars, and we celebrate that, and we need more of it.

We're also out there looking for export markets and we're thinking also long term around education because ultimately a skilled workforce is critical to all that. And that's why Erica Stanford is making sure that (a) the kids go to school, and (b) that they're taught a world-class curriculum, and (c) that they're actually going to measure progress against that curriculum.

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

Because the reality is, and anybody who's got eyes looks upon the world and they see not many countries of the world struggling, going sideways. They see the United States going gangbusters economically, and they still want to go faster. And they're out there hustling and doing well. And that's what, we, in our country, need to be doing as well, hustling and doing our best to compete effectively in the world. And so if you want to be competitive, you're going to grow, you've got to look at your cost structure, all those basic things which this Government is doing. And that's why Nicola Willis is doing a great job getting the Government's fiscal books in shape.

Now, another element of this whole broader context of a strong economy is safety, public safety and dealing effectively with crime is also an important element. And that is what I'm particularly responsible for as Minister of Justice. And this Government has had a clear—one of our clear three priorities is to restore law and order because we had a revolving door of police Ministers in the last legislation and justice Ministers, and they kept on coming and going and they were soft, and they came up with excuses for crime. And it was always everybody else's fault and not the criminals' fault for crime. And that led to encourage the big increase in crime that we saw which concerned many people. And so this Government's about restoring consequences for crime. And that's why we've already passed—brought back three strikes legislation. We've passed the gang laws which gives the police extra powers to deal with gangs who are a tiny fraction of the population but are responsible for a very significant amount of the violent crime in our community and we were sick of it. And isn't it great to be able to have gone around over the summer and not seen gang patches everywhere where we went. And thanks to the work of the police and the legislation that's passed. And people will say, "Oh, well, the problem's not solved." Well, we're making progress and we're putting pressure on those gangs and making their lives difficult and uncomfortable. And that's what we're all on about. And my colleague Mark Mitchell's been working very hard in that area as well.

And then on the sentencing laws we're about to be passing in a week or two—the overall cap on the amount of discounts that can be allowed in sentencing. And again, if you read the newspapers or listen to the radio or go online and see stories, there's been more stories of people who are convicted of serious crimes and had their sentencing reduced on a colossal scale so that the consequences are not very severe. And people want to see consequences for crime, and so that's going to change. And there will be a limit on the amount of discounts that can be offered and people will be held more accountable for what's going on.

Another piece of legislation coming down the track is stalking legislation. And also, over the next few months, we'll be looking at—we're getting some good advice out of the Retail Crime Advisory group led by Sunny Kaushal, with some practical things that we can do to help those retailers who have been on the flick end, on the violent end of completely unacceptable behaviour in some of our towns and communities. We've made real progress on the ram raids, but there's a lot more to do so that New Zealanders feel safe in their community; they feel safe when they're around because we're focused on reducing the number of victims of crime, but also creating an environment where people feel confident to invest and start new retail businesses without having to worry about security being the number one focus of attention, because that doesn't make sense for anybody.

Separate from that, of course, we're also interested in ensuring that we've got a good, efficient legal system that's predictable and people know where they are, and they can get judgements and outcomes for the work that they're doing. I just want to make mention of the progress we're making on the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey. The latest figures that we had for the 12 months to October 2024, we had 24,000 fewer victims of crimes than they did in the 12 months to June 2024. Now it's early days, but it goes to show that if you're clear about what you're trying to achieve, that you're not making excuses for crime all the time, but people are accountable and the Government of the day sends a clear message that we back the police, we back law-abiding citizens, we're not in favour of the gangs, we're not in favour of explaining and coming up with excuses for people who do criminal acts and steal from other New Zealanders and create violence in our community, then you start to make some progress there.

I'm also conscious of the fact that we're coming up to an important week next week up in Waitangi. I'll be up in the North—very keen to talk to the broader Ngāpuhi community. There are two things that will make a real difference to Northland; one is a decent road, and now Chris Bishop is focused on that. And two: getting the Ngāpuhi settlement through. And there's lots of discussions that I'll be having there and I'm looking forward to those discussions, recognising that there's been a long process over 30 years to work away on Treaty settlements. National Governments have made a lot of progress in the past and it's my sincere hope that over the next week we'll have some good constructive conversations, and we'll get on it, because there's, again, all number of people that will say, "No, no, we don't want to do this" for a whole lot of reasons. And my plea to the many different hapū of Ngāpuhi is that let's listen to some of the ones who say yes; let's, let's see if we can make a deal. Let's see if we can make some progress so that we can get Northland cooking with gas over the next little while. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour):

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I would just like to endorse the earlier comments and speeches given to those many who have passed in recent times.

I turn now to the Prime Minister's statement. If I could sum up what I heard in the 20 minutes that he gave a speech, there was only about 10 minutes where he was talking about National because the other nine to 10 minutes was all focused on Labour. But if I were to distil down what I thought I heard him saying in that 10 minutes of speech, it would be really that they are failing the economy, that the cost of living has dropped off their agenda, that they don't care about people and people's jobs, and

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they are opening the door to privatisation.

The Prime Minister in the last two minutes of that speech talked about education and he talked about the outstanding start he wanted for our tamariki, and getting them to school. Well, that would be all good if Erica Stanford wasn't cancelling school bus routes. He talked about the amazing resources. Well, do not forget that those amazing resources, $30 million worth of resources, are coming at the expense of te reo Māori. They took $30 million from te Ahu o te Reo Māori to pay for these amazing resources for our schools. Why didn't they do both? Why couldn't they do both? These are all choices that this Government has made.

The Prime Minister talks a big game. He talks a big game about economic growth. But words mean nothing when so many Kiwis are struggling just to make ends meet. As thousands of tamariki are returning to school this week, families across the country are experiencing stress to meet the costs of uniforms, stationery, digital devices, kai, and more. Far too many families are increasingly relying on support and for some tamariki, it simply means going without—undermining their ability to learn and to develop their unique talents. In fact, many of those children will also not have enough food to eat, and research released last year shows that teenagers who don't get enough to eat end up two to four years behind their peers in subjects like maths and reading.

We hear this Government going on about numeracy and literacy and their investment and focus on that, yet they are reducing Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the school lunches programme, from a lunch to a snack. This brings me to the issue of child poverty. Christopher Luxon talks about an outstanding start for our tamariki in the education system, and he talks about ambition, but I did not see or hear any for our children. Last year, this Government made a decision about indexing benefits that put 7,000 children, estimated at up to 13,000 children—more children—into poverty. And this year we know that the Government is going to further weaken how they measure child poverty. All this talk about economic growth is meaningless if it translates to an acceptance that more of our mokopuna will not get the basics that they need to thrive. Our whānau deserve better than this.

This year we will continue to see the impacts of the cuts to Oranga Tamariki and the services to our children, the cuts in the areas of early intervention and prevention—all of this rhetoric that we hear from the Government. We will see the impact of these deep cuts—and the Minister could not rule out that they would not make further cuts in this year's Budget—on our most vulnerable children and whānau in Aotearoa. We need to remember that last year they cut hundreds of providers and their contracts. It was shambolic, it was haphazard, and the Auditor-General is inquiring into this, and we look forward to that report.

The Prime Minister talked about youth crime and their focus on law and order. Well, this Government is reinstating the failed experiment of boot camps. This Government is putting those boot camps, a pilot, into legislation before it has even been completed, before it has even been evaluated. Tomorrow we will start hearing submissions on the boot camp legislation, more punitive measures, without any safeguards, and against, once again, officials' advice, and, sadly, once again Māori needs are neglected. The bill makes no mention of Māori, makes no mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, yet the evidence shows in the officials' advice that 80 to 85 percent of the young people who will be classed as young serious offenders will be Māori.

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

They do care about Māori, though. Many of my relations, many of the community, many of my friends, many of the constituents in Tai Tokerau and across the country spent their summer writing submissions to a piece of legislation that the Prime Minister has said will not go past our second reading. However, I listened to the contribution from David Seymour, who says, "I still doubt that it will not pass." It suggests that he's calling the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, who had said it categorically at Ratana and other places, liars because he said the future Deputy Prime Minister says he still doubts that it will not pass.

Tomorrow night, we will have the second reading the legislation that repeals section 7AA. This is removing Treaty principles, Treaty provisions, from legislation. The Treaty principles bill is not the only attack on Māori. It is not the only thing that we need to be aware of in the year to come. Tomorrow night we will see that legislation receive its second reading, and I'll speak more to that tomorrow night.

Right now, this Government is planning to remove or replace more than 28 legislative provisions for Te Tiriti o Waitangi from legislation. That is a New Zealand First - National coalition agreement. So while everybody, rightly so, is focused in submitting on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, do not forget that they are doing it with section 7AA tomorrow night and 28 other pieces of legislation.

Our party will continue to hold this Government to account throughout 2025 on all of the things that they are doing—as co-chair of the Māori caucus—that is anti-Māori. The Prime Minister could have spoken about the Māori economy and what it could have contributed to their plan, but he didn't, and I think that speaks volumes.

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

I want to acknowledge that Rachel Boyack, the local MP, is in the House. I acknowledge your role and the support that you provided to the police and the family also, Rachel, through what was a very difficult time, and what continues to be a difficult time for everyone.

I know that when I arrived that day in Nelson, the first thing that happened was that people at the airport immediately came up to me and said that they couldn't understand what had happened. They couldn't work out how this had happened in the beautiful city of Nelson. I called the mayor, Nick Smith—and I'd like to acknowledge him and the council and his team—and then I made my way to the police station to be with the team there.

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

It's a family with a lot of public service. If you look at Woody, Lyn's brother, he's been a firefighter for decades, and I want to acknowledge all of our Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) officers that turned out also on the day—and around the country—who were heavily impacted by this as well and who stood proudly as a part of Lyn's honour guard on the day.

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

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

The commissioner, when he spoke at her service, said that he'd gone back through her personal file. Over the years, a personal file will accumulate in terms of whether you get letters from members of the public to say thank you for the assistance you may have provided to them, or reports from supervisors. It really is a catalogue of your service in the police, and he was saying that on going through Lyn's, it was just packed full of goodness. What he meant by that was that members of the public had come forward and written letters, reinforcing the type of police officer that she was and the type of leader that she was.

The type of leader that she was is that on the night that she was struck down, as a senior sergeant, she had probably earned the right not to be out working a night shift, but she had chosen to be out on night shift. She'd turned up with snacks for the officers that she was in charge of and in her care so that they were cared for and looked after through the night, and we've lost her. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge her service and to acknowledge all of those that have been impacted and all of those that have wrapped the support around, particularly, the family.

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

I want to just acknowledge our police for the outstanding work they've done over the holiday period. Through Christmas, they don't get to take time off. They're out there, making sure the public is safe, and they've had some challenges. But they've done an outstanding job, and I'm very proud of them and the work that they do.

I want to acknowledge all of our first responders. With the emergency management portfolio, we had several fires over the holiday season. We all watched with disbelief as the fires in LA got out of control, and, of course, there are going to be a lot of questions asked around leadership and decisions and how that was allowed to happen. But I have to say that I'm extremely proud of our FENZ officers and of our first responders.

There is the leadership there and the decisions that are made early, and the fact is that many of our firefighters, when they respond, are volunteers. They're coming out of the community and giving up their time and their holidays to be there for the communities that they live in, and I had direct, personal experience of that when there was a fire on the Coromandel, in Kūaotunu. It was one that could have got out of control very, very quickly, and our volunteer firefighters from Kūaotunu, from Wharekaho, and from Matarangi responded almost immediately. They were backed up by Whitianga. For three days, with the assistance of three helicopters, they fought in very arduous and difficult terrain to get that fire under control and to make sure that the houses and the people that live in the community were protected, and I want to acknowledge them.

I've only just arrived back in the country myself today, and I want to acknowledge, obviously, the situation that we have in Mangawhai. I've been speaking with Grant McCallum, the local MP, and I intend to get up there as quickly as I can to get on the ground—[Interruption] Grant McCallum.

Hon James Meager: Great MP.

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

I want to acknowledge my Department of Corrections team, because they're often invisible. The only time we really hear about Corrections is when something goes wrong. They deal with and they have to manage some of the most difficult people in our country. Often violent people, they're looking for ways of defeating the system, and I want to acknowledge all of our corrections personnel. Whether it be community-based in the work that you did over the summer break, or whether it be our staff in our offices inside our corrections facilities, you do an outstanding job, and I popped in and visited our corrections staff in Nelson when I was down there for Lyn's service, to thank them because they were there, as well, to support the police and make sure that they were all together. They provided that camaraderie and support, and I want to thank and acknowledge them.

I want to thank our emergency management staff from the National Emergency Management Agency, who have a 24/7 operations centre and who are always there. Again, you don't hear much from them, but they're always there, monitoring everything that we have to deal with, as a country, in terms of our risks and weather events. Since I've been the Minister, we've had fires, we've had floods, we've had earthquakes, and we've had space weather to deal with, and, most recently, a tornado. I want to thank them and all of our civil defence people around the country for their vigilance and your work over the summer period.

I guess I just wanted to finish by saying that over the break, obviously, I'm very proud to have picked up two additional portfolios. They are sport and recreation, which is critically important for us as a country—and I'm looking forward to working with Chris Bishop as my Associate Minister with that portfolio—and, of course, ethnic communities, which is one that I'm very, very proud to have been given, because I've been heavily involved with our ethnic communities, as a member of Parliament, for 12 or 13 years, and I look forward to deepening those relationships. I know that certainly, since I've had the police portfolio, there's a lot of interaction, because public safety is extremely important to our ethnic communities, and the other thing that I really enjoy about it is that I've had the privilege through my working life to have lived and worked alongside them in their own countries, and not just here in New Zealand. It's nice to be able to have conversations with them about their village or the areas that they may be from, because I have personal experience. So I'm excited to really get involved with our ethnic communities on a new level as the Minister.

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I call Lan Pham. I understand this is a split call?

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Sorry.

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

I knew the Prime Minister wouldn't mention the one thing that roughly six percent of the people that he purports to represent care about. So let's talk about the things that he did think were important enough to mention in his speech. He wants to talk about growth. Well, let's talk about an inconvenient truth when it comes to growth: the fields that he wants to farm on, the mines that he wants to ram raid, the streams that he wants to pipe underground, the mega prisons that he wants to build and fill my people up with, they all rest on stolen land.

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

Now let's talk about international treaties. New Zealand has signed up to 1900 treaties; we are a party to 1900 treaties, and the one that founded our own Parliament is the one that our Government doesn't give—does not give a toss about. The Prime Minister didn't mention the embarrassment of that bill, but he did mention the Regulatory Standards Bill. And let's put this on the record because the Treaty Principles Bill, yeah, it's going to die, but there are there are other bills that this Government has signed up to and agreed to legislate within their coalition agreement—the Holy Coalition Agreement—that will impact our laws, which will remove Te Tiriti as a law-making principle within this country.

So you can get up there and you can talk to the media and you can talk to the people and say that "The Treaty's not going anywhere; we're not doing anything to the Treaty." You are, and people aren't stupid, and that's why the Regulatory Standards Bill was also one of the most submitted on bills—consultations from a Government department and the history of this country. So that will be your legacy, Prime Minister; that will be your legacy: mobilising and agitating the entire population to get rid of him. And that will be his legacy.

His own forebears have warned him; Marilyn Waring, Chris Finlayson, even Roger Douglas are all saying, "What the heck are you fellas up to?" That will be the legacy that you guys continue. And it's like Chris Finlayson said yesterday: this Parliament, it can make laws but it is not omnipotent. And Christopher Luxon, you are not God and you cannot change the facts, history, or the founding of this country, and the Government should stop acting like they are more important than the people that were first here, and the agreement that established this rotten place.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): The member's time has expired.

LAN PHAM (Green): Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. The most golden part of this break has been, alongside many Kiwis, getting some time to focus on the things that really matter. It's that connection to each other, be it our whānau or our friends or our communities, and connection to te taiao—our environment. It's a time that makes it so crystal clear that our wellbeing as Kiwis is grounded in that very connection between people and nature under our foundation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. So it's been so incredibly jarring to now be back here in this Chamber in 2025, back in the same old, outdated, visionless throes of this Government's actions that so comprehensively dismantle and destroy not only our foundations, which my colleague has so accurately pointed out, but the only things that have any real value—that's the health of our people and the health of te taiao, and it's all for a cheap shot, a quick buck, based on this blind belief that economic growth will solve our immense, pressing challenges.

I wanted to pick up on one of the Prime Minister's statements about how New Zealand has a culture of saying no. From what myself and many Kiwis have seen under this Government, that's actually a surprisingly accurate description of this Government's actions. They've "roared out of the blocks"—his words—with a big bulldozing no to environmental protections. They say no to honouring Te Tiriti obligations and to climate action; no to protecting marine areas and protecting in a way where commercial fishing can't just come in and plunder them. They say no to protecting and restoring our polluted waterways, no to even basic levels of funding for our environmental agencies, and no to the data and evidence for them to even have a chance at making good decisions.

It is truly extraordinary how hollow the claims are of this Government around evidence-based decision making. They persist in saying that they're committed to it, while directly reducing the processes and funding that allow themselves to be informed or even allow the science and the mātauranga to actually be undertaken or applied to their decision making.

The PM was equally confused and backwards when he said that they were replacing the Resource Management Act with a system that will "continue protecting our natural environment". Unfortunately, just because one says it's so doesn't make it so. It's nothing short of delusional to drive a thousand cuts into our environmental and science sectors and across the board of environmental legislation and see that as protection. We know the Government's fast-track bill overrides almost every existing protection that we have, and it even gives life to zombie projects already declined by the courts. It encourages multinational companies to come to New Zealand, to exploit our environment for offshore profits and pillage the environment, and, once they've come and gone, communities are left to clean up the mess, having lost whatever biodiverse or community riches that existed.

The Kiwis that I know and have seen operate in this country of Aotearoa want a living economy full of life, of innovation, and of wellbeing. Dishing out blind yeses to developments that can harm either our selves or te taiao—our environment—more often than not means chucking out precaution. It means chucking out the Government's duty of care to protect ourselves and our environment no matter the politics. It often means chucking out the voices of people with actual expertise and mātauranga within our society. It's our literal basis of knowledge and understanding, and we can't chuck that stuff out.

The Prime Minister promised this would be a Government of action, and he's right. It's the most reckless, narrow-minded, short-sighted actions that put at risk the very things that Kiwis hold most dear, and it's so jarringly out of step with the culture of Aotearoa. Kia ora.

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

Can I start by thanking, as our Prime Minister did in his speech in this House earlier today, the farmers of New Zealand, the primary sector, for all that they have done and to reiterate as well about how much they are respected and how much we value their contribution. And it's more than just economic—although they are a very big part of growth in New Zealand and a very big part of the Government's plan not only to provide greater income to all New Zealanders through the doubling of the value of exports over a decade, but they actually add to the fabric of what is important in New Zealand: the social fabric, the cultural fabric, and the things that make us a great nation.

And I know that as, Madam Speaker, you and I have a slight suntan, the same sun that's shining around the country has grown grass in parts where we needed it, where it had previously been too wet or where there was rain. That grass is going to be transformed by the work of our farmers into high quality, safe food products that the world wants and wants in abundance. And they know, as this Government does, that we have an obligation to produce that high quality, safe food—the highest quality and safest food produced anywhere in the world by our farmers. We have an obligation to do that so we can feed people everywhere, because there are parts of the world that aren't as lucky as New Zealand, where they don't have enough food and they need to buy it to feed their citizens from other parts of the world, and that's the role that our farmers play.

But it hasn't happened just by chance. The men and women of rural New Zealand are some of the most innovative, hardest working from anywhere. I've got to say, when I've had the opportunity to be overseas occasionally, that, generally, farmers around the world are envious of what our farmers do because they have had a Government that has helped free them up to innovate. So there are farmers in New Zealand today who have the same land that their families have always had, and they produce much more to sell to the world, to feed people around the world with fewer inputs and a smaller environmental footprint because of that innovation. And that's what's best about agriculture in New Zealand—the men and women who work hard every single day to meet their environmental obligations and produce more with less to sell to the world. That's how we become richer as a country and we become more productive.

But the reason that I say that farmers in other parts of the world are envious is because they wish they had the ability to be freed up to produce food in the way our farmers do because, ultimately, in my experience, farmers just want to get on and farm. They will meet the obligations, they'll fill out the paperwork that they have to, but there should be a reason and a point to it. As the Prime Minister has said in his speech today and at the rural confidence tour with Federated Farmers at the end of last year, we want to back the primary sector and have farmers out farming, not sitting in their office, filling out forms to prove things that often can't be proven or to take them away from the land. And yes, we've all got obligations and there's always going to be a bit of paperwork, but when they're spending 20 to 30 percent of their time focused on that paperwork, then they're not innovating in the way that we need them to and they're certainly not as productive as we need them to be.

It's very good news. So as well as the grass growing at the moment which means that the beef and the lamb—where the prices are starting to improve—will be of higher quality, there'll be more of it. Of course, our dairy industry will be able to produce more dairy for exactly the same number of cows as they had last year, but they will produce more, and that makes the country richer. Every single person in the country benefits as a result and it means that a high quality product is overseas where we have to compete but we compete more easily because of that hard work.

We should, as a House, be united in our desire to lighten the load and the burden on those farmers so they can farm more, to have fewer regulations, better ones, and regulations that focus on an outcome that actually achieves something, rather than a press release from the Government that says, "We've collected all this information." That's why you have seen over the last 12 months the Government work very, very hard to make it better for the rural sector, to simplify rules and regulations, to help them meet their obligations in climate change or in environment around water quality because they want to do that, they're working with us, but to do so in such a way that we focus on the outcome, we don't just focus on the process.

I've got to say that when we came into Government and during the course of last year, confidence in the rural sector was at an all-time low. Year upon year over the last six years of the previous Government, rural confidence was shattered, and we are working hard to rebuild it. I know that it's not far away from the sector and others doing their surveys of farmers, and I hope that that level of confidence has improved. Nothing to do with the Government; I hope it's improved because that will tell us that we're getting it right and that they feel backed by the Prime Minister and the coalition Government and that they are working as hard as they can for all New Zealanders to fix the economy and to grow incomes.

Part of that, of course, is making sure interest rates come down. We're starting to see them come down. I won't mention whom, but a farming leader told me that as there was the last cut to interest rates at the end of last year, what that actually meant for him on his small, moderate farm—and he said it now actually takes away the decision that he faced about whether he would keep employing all the people he has on his farm or would he have had to let one go. He said it means he can keep them there and can keep working hard and so on. And there's a lot more work to be done there, but the reason the Government has been so focused over the last 12 months on being careful with Government spending in all areas, particularly in agriculture, is so that the interest rates could start to come down as inflation comes down. And that is beneficial and good for our farmers.

The other part of this is they produce the world's highest quality, safest food and fibre, fruit, across the board, there must be markets we can sell them. And can I thank the Prime Minister for going back to work so early whilst the sun was still shining, when others weren't yet back at work, and flying across to the UAE with me to put on paper the ink that signed the free trade agreement with the UAE—one of the highest quality on entry into force we've negotiated and negotiated very, very quickly. The officials involved in that worked harder than we should ask them to, but they were up to the challenge and they found two Governments—the UAE and New Zealand—that just wanted to do a high quality deal, and we're going to work pretty hard and I hope there will be support across the House to get that deal through the parliamentary process as quickly as we can so New Zealand exporters and the workers that help produce the things we export will benefit straight away. As we negotiated this in record time, let's see if we can pass it through the House in record time, offering every New Zealander the chance to submit and speak on it if they want.

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

A very big part of the Government's agenda is growth, growth, growth. I've been given responsibility this year, and a new responsibility, for investment, which is foreign direct investment as a Minister. And we're setting up a new agency which will not be bureaucratic, it won't be large, it won't be expensive. It will be charged with working with New Zealanders to attract investment overseas that is good for New Zealanders and good for the country. It's as simple as this: we do not have the capital to do all the things that a Government might want, nor to build out businesses or industries in the way that we would like to. Other countries will look to partner with us and invest. And if it is good for New Zealand and good for New Zealanders, we should be open to it. That doesn't mean that all capital around the world will find its way here nor should it, but there is a lot out there that can create jobs and can innovate and can modernise the economy and can help build the infrastructure that New Zealanders and the Government will own, but build that infrastructure more quickly so that we can use it and rely upon it and improve our economy.

An economy is about people. It is more than just a definition in a dictionary. An economy is people. And when people are able to work hard and keep more of what they earn in the primary sector and elsewhere and they can provide for themselves, they are happier. It will be my job, along with others across Government, to look for the investment that we need to bring in here to grow our businesses to innovate, to back the scientific community, and to grow the economy. Because growth is not a bad word; it's a good word. When you have growth in an economy, Governments get to provide more. We can provide more by taking less from the workers and the businesses. The Prime Minister has been clear: this is a year of growth, growth, growth. There are three parties in the coalition Government, there are three parts to that growth, and we are united in working hard for our farmers and every single New Zealander.

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

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

Senior Sergeant Fleming had given 38 years of service to the community as a police officer. She was known as the matriarch of the Nelson police station, where she was a trusted mentor, quiet leader, and kind friend to many. She looked after the wellbeing of other officers while also setting high standards of service and professionalism. Her work extended into the community as a much loved netball coach. She was humble. Many who worked for the police didn't know of her dedicated service to netball, while many in the netball community didn't know she was a police officer. She wasn't one to blow her own trumpet.

Every person who goes to work should come home safely to their family, and this includes our police and other first responders who work to keep our community safe. The outpouring of grief and support from the community shows how much Nelson values the work of our police and first responders. They and their families make enormous sacrifices to protect our communities, and they deserve our utmost respect. As Police Commissioner Richard Chambers so aptly said, "We must remember: behind the uniform is a human being."

The Nelson community has come together in the most remarkable way to support Lyn's family and friends, her police family, and each other following this tragic event. The laying of flowers and notes at the central city police station, the thousands who signed condolence books, the beautiful community vigil held on the church steps where 2,000 people stood in the pouring rain to acknowledge Lyn and our local police, the minute's silence at the Saxton Oval and on the streets of Nelson were incredible examples of Nelson's love and support for Lyn's family, our local police, and those who witnessed this tragic incident.

I also want to acknowledge Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay, who was critically injured. Nelsonians continue to ask about his recovery out of genuine care and concern for his wellbeing. Adam, please know that the whole Nelson community is right behind you as you continue your recovery.

I want to pay particular acknowledgment to those who were present at Buxton Square and who immediately came to Lyn and Adam's aid, as well as the other members of the public and officer who were injured. They were local first responders, witnesses, and other police officers working the beat that night. Your selflessness and care for Lyn and Adam was exemplary.

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

September 29 is Police Remembrance Day, and every year the local police, their families, and supporters gather at the flagpole at Nelson station. I never thought I would see the flagpole outside the Nelson station at half-mast for one of our own fallen officers. Tragic events like this shouldn't happen, and it is not how anyone in Nelson or across New Zealand wished for the year to begin. I was out in Nelson on New Year's Eve. I saw and spoke to officers out on the beat. It was a happy and celebratory night. This event was such a dreadful shock and it shouldn't have happened. I thank Nelsonians for the compassion they have shown to those affected by this senseless tragedy and ask our community to continue keeping Lyn's family and our local police in their thoughts over the coming weeks and months.

In particular, we continue to think of Lyn's immediate family: her husband, Bryn; children Rayna and Aren; parents, Ray and Colleen; and siblings, Woody, Carol, and Jo. As Lyn's son, Aren, said at Lyn's funeral, there are no words. There are no words to express the grief and sorrow from this senseless tragedy. Rest in peace, Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, New Zealand Police LFE773, whose watch ended 1 January 2025.

GLEN BENNETT (Labour): Kia ora, Madam Speaker. It is always a privilege to stand in this House, but it is also a heavy privilege to be in this position and to be a member of Parliament. I came in this morning with hopes and dreams, and by about 30 seconds into the Prime Minister's speech, I think most of those were crushed and destroyed.

As we spend time debating the Prime Minister's address and his plan for 2025, it is really interesting to listen to his narrative and what the Prime Minister talks about and what the Government talks about. I just want to focus for a moment on the Government; interestingly, most of the Government Ministers spent most of their time talking about us. They talk about unleashing our economy, but I feel like they should be talking more about unleashing economic hardship. If we look at the numbers, if we actually look at the statistics about what's going on, this Government is failing on the economy. If you look at GDP growth, it has plummeted from what was 2.4 percent under Labour and is now on its steepest decline since 1991—if you take aside the blip of COVID-19. So this Government is unleashing economic hardship.

I also think about, when it comes to the cost of living—do we remember that phrase and narrative, which just seems to have vanished from the lips of the Prime Minister and the Government. It seems that they have abandoned their focus on helping everyday New Zealanders when it comes to the challenges of the cost of living, when things like insurance and rates and fuel and energy, and transport costs continue to go up with inflation. They continue to go up. It seems that they have just forgotten about that thing called the cost of living, which they spoke so much about.

Then we look at this Government unleashing, let's just say, privatisation—the fact that they are flirting with this idea of privatisation, where the soon to be Deputy Prime Minister put that "p" word firmly in his state of the nation speech last Friday. And, from my perspective, in the community where I live in New Plymouth, we know privatisation well and what it means for our community. Back in the 1990s, the then National Government sold off more than 11,500 State houses around Aotearoa New Zealand, and in New Plymouth, in Marfell, where I live, that ravaged the community. In terms of "The private market will care for tenants", "The private market will be OK and fix it", if you drive around the community of Marfell today, people often say, "Oh that must be a State house. That must be a State house. That must be a State house", but they aren't State houses; those are privately owned homes that were sold off when they did the privatisation of the 1990s when it comes to housing.

So, if we look at that, we realise that privatisation and flirting with this idea, whether it could be health, whether it could be education, is something we should be really concerned about. And, as I think about that privatisation and looking at Marfell from the 1990s, we look at the fact that they seem to be unleashing homelessness. As I look around my community, as we look around the communities of New Zealand, we see that they seem to be just shutting things down; they seem to be ignoring—in fact, stopping—the State housing build, and it is not good.

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

Hon Nicola Willis: Say yes to fast track then—fast-track renewable energy.

GLEN BENNETT: That's what I'm talking about. They passed the fast-track approvals bill, which will stop, Ms Willis—the fact that offshore wind won't be able to happen, because on that list is seabed mining. And seabed mining cannot coexist with offshore wind. We were working hard—in fact, one of the big overseas companies has already exited New Zealand because they realise that offshore wind is no longer a possibility because of fast track, because of the fact that they just want to do dirty mining offshore, at sea.

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

Hon BROOKE VAN VELDEN (Minister of Internal Affairs): It is great to be back in Parliament. It is going to be a good year for New Zealand and for this Government. I hope that every Kiwi out there has had a great summer break. I know that for many workers in New Zealand, there isn't too much of a break, and I'm thinking in particular of some of those farmers who still have to get up even on Christmas Day because it turns out that cows don't celebrate Christmas.

There are a lot of people who are working hard throughout the summer break, including our first responders. We really thank them for what they've done to help keep Kiwis safe with their families when they've been out and about in the community.

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

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

We have campaigned in ACT on reducing wasteful spending so more Kiwis do have more money in their own back pocket, and it means that we're focusing on what the Government can do well, where we can get efficiencies and make better moves so that our New Zealand taxpayer dollars go further for more people since we have been in Government.

I'm really proud of our ACT Party Ministers and our under-secretary who have been working really, really hard across the board. We've got David Seymour. He's been working as the Minister for Regulation, trying to figure out where are all those niggles are, all the cost, all that red tape that's just burdening us down. And he started up that tip line so people could phone in and email in about all the regulations that they want the Ministry for Regulation to look into, and I'd really encourage everyone to do that.

We've got Nicole McKee, who is working diligently on improving anti - money-laundering legislation to relieve the regulatory pressure on businesses that is so needed for all of these New Zealand companies who find the burden of anti - money-laundering too hard.

Andrew Hoggard has been working hard at restoring confidence to rural New Zealand by preventing further restrictions on what farmers can do with their own land. That is so important for the rural folk of New Zealand who often got forgotten by previous Governments but have a core part of this coalition Government.

Karen Chhour has been keeping children at the centre of everything she does, and she's been increasing the efficiency of the care system with the millions of dollars of contracts and making sure it's going to the best interests of the children and not getting lost in the system.

Simon Court has got one of the most important jobs of trying to reform the Resource Management Act to make sure that we can build and we can grow as an economy. That is so important.

There are so many other things that we've been working on, and we are very excited for 2025. In my role in workplace relations and safety over the past year, I spent a lot of time out in the community talking to real New Zealanders, not here in Wellington. I can't wait to get out of the place most weeks so I can go and talk to people who are actually affected by our laws, people who pay the bills, who help keep this place running.

And we had the health and safety roadshow. I thought it was really, really important to go and talk to workers and to business owners on the ground to figure out how we get the balance right to keep people safe at work but also ensure that businesses aren't burdened by unnecessary costs and too-high costs.

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

We've got a lot happening in the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). We have been focusing on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Internal Affairs over the last year. We found savings of $421 million last year alone, and that work will continue into this year so every New Zealander knows that the Department of Internal Affairs is there to help them from birth all the way to death and everything in between. It's a huge department, but we're doing it right and we're doing it efficiently and effectively. We're responsible for things like passports and citizenship. I think it's really important that any person who's dealing with the DIA has a very good experience with it and it's an effective and quick experience. But there are so many improvements that we can look to make there in this year ahead.

DIA is also responsible for Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and, once again, I really thank our first responders who do get up every day to think how they can keep other Kiwis in their community safe. We wouldn't have the fire service if it wasn't for really dedicated volunteers in our community.

Over the past year we managed to find savings even within Fire and Emergency, so that people who pay for Fire and Emergency through a levy don't have to pay as much as what Fire and Emergency was originally asking, and we will keep raising that question.

With the time I've got still available, I just want to say it's been a real pleasure coming back in 2025 for the first day here in Parliament. I've been out in my electorate, in Tāmaki, for the past couple of weeks, listening to people on the street, and one thing that they've been really saying is "Keep going." They back this Government. They really want us to do well. They know that we have their best interests at heart, that we want to create better policies so that every Kiwi's life can improve.

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

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

Hon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance): I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.

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

TANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): Kia orana, Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise on behalf of the Labour Party. We supported this bill at first reading, we supported it through select committee, and we'll continue to support it at second reading, with a couple of caveats there. Can I first acknowledge the Minister, Chris Bishop, on his new portfolio. Members on this side of the House agree that road safety as a priority is important and that anything that will prevent fatalities and injuries on our roading network is a good thing to do. That's why Labour did introduce a regime when it was in Government.

I want to acknowledge the members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, a very collegial committee. Can I acknowledge the chair, Andy Foster, for chairing us through this process. I think the select committee report actually is a very fair reflection of the conversations and the issues that the committee tussled with and, effectively, where we landed as a committee, as well. I want to acknowledge the advisers that provided advice to the committee. I also, along with the Minister, want to acknowledge Dr Helen Poulsen, who was able to provide, from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR), a scientific basis and background to testing, and, actually—certainly for me—provided a level of comfort around the testing that does take place out at ESR, but it's still important to be able to understand what can be a complex issue moving forward.

One of the things that the Minister did touch on, and it's something that members on this side of the House don't have comfort around, are the concerns that the Attorney-General did raise. There were a couple of concerns that she rose in her report, one was around the possibility of detaining someone for a period of time that was rather excessive on an arbitrary sort of notion; the other was around the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. What the committee did is that it worked extremely hard to then turn its mind to try and address some of the issues that had been raised.

I have to say that I'm very disappointed to hear from the Minister that one of the issues that was in the select committee, which was really encouraging the Government to turns its mind to a possible maximum time by which a driver would be detained on the roadside, is something that the Government is not prepared to pursue. I say that because the select committee, I thought, worked extremely in a collegial way to get to a point where it signalled to the Government that this is something that members on that committee, including National members on that committee, were very comfortable to have.

Now, we weren't able to land on a particular time period, because of two reasons: one, the advisers were not in a position to be able to provide a specific time frame to us, and, secondly, the amount of time that the committee had—because this was on a truncated sort of time frame in front of the committee—meant that we weren't able to delve into this issue perhaps as deeply as we would have liked to. So those were the constraints that led to the committee being very clear in its select committee report back to this House that there really is an expectation that the Government, in seeking to address the concerns that the Attorney-General has made around this bill, will turn its mind to implementing a maximum time frame.

Now, we heard from the advisers that one of the reasons for not having a maximum time frame was because an alcohol breath-screening test doesn't have that. When we turn our mind to other jurisdictions, like Australia, where in some situations a first screening test could be up to 10 minutes, in other circumstances a second oral fluid test could be up to 40 minutes, the view from members on this side of the House—and I thought of the committee at the time as well—was that there needed to be a fair understanding of what is a fair period of time that anyone that is driving here in New Zealand can expect to actually be stopped on the side of the road for the first oral fluid test; the second one is redundant, because if you get to the second one it means that your first test has, effectively returned a positive. So the limitations on freedom, in my view and of members of this side of the House, are not as great if you've already sort of gone across that first hurdle.

So I think that it's unfortunate to hear from the new Minister that the Government are not going to take up that suggestion by the select committee, because I thought, actually, it was something that members from across the House were keen to see actually implemented as part of that.

There is one time limitation in existing statute, and that relates to identity, where a police officer can, effectively, hold someone at the roadside for up to 15 minutes before either having to release them or let them go or, basically, charge them or arrest them, and that's for failing to being able to establish the identity of a driver. Now, even the Attorney-General, the Hon Judith Collins, in her report on this bill, indicated that anything above 15 minutes, basically, called into question this issue of what is an unreasonable period of time to detain someone. So I do hope that the Government do see a way through this and that when we come to the committee of the whole House stage that they may change their mind to reflect the views that the select committee listened to and what it was that we were able to hear as well, because that certainly was an expectation from members to respond to the concerns that were raised by the Attorney-General.

One of the other things that came up through the select committee was—and I do hope that this is not the case—procurement wishing to drive what the provisions are in the legislation. I would hope that that is not what this new-found position of the Government is on that particular matter. It's really important that when this piece of legislation goes through the process, that we consider what needs to be in it, what needs to be out of it, and that is what drives procurement. I don't think it's appropriate to have a situation where the decisions as to what is going to be in the bill or in the legislation, or what is not, is going to be driven by an ability to, basically, procure devices or otherwise, and that was made very clear through the select committee process.

So, at this stage, we, I guess, tentatively look to support it. But we will reserve, through the committee of the whole House stage, given the surprise position that the Government have just sprung on the House in terms of not wishing to support the proposals that were outlined—I do hope that they reflect on that and, perhaps, we could have a different outcome to make it more workable, more fair, and get some consensus across the House on what is a pretty important issue.

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Sitting date: 29 January 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 28 January.

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

And it's a different culture, because in recent years we had a Government that indulged in economic illiteracy. We had a Government that tried to hoodwink New Zealanders into believing that if only the Government taxed them more, took more of their hard-earned wages, and dreamt up more ways to waste that money, then things would miraculously get better. Well, it didn't work. Our Government is having to clean up the mess that it left. New Zealanders are alive to the culture that previous Government created and that this Government is stopping. A culture of hand-wringing, of naysaying, slowing down everything, from resource consents to how fast Kieran McAnulty can get home to those people in the Wairarapa.

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

Well, this is a Government that is changing the game. We are focused squarely on how New Zealand can earn the prosperity that New Zealanders deserve. Actually, that means doing things, not just announcing KiwiBuild homes that never appear. What it means is doing things that New Zealanders are sensible enough to know actually matter. So here's one that really matters for productivity: you've got to educate your kids. And you can talk all you want about wellbeing, but if children don't leave school able to read, write, and do maths, I'll guarantee you what they won't have, and that's wellbeing. So that's why we as a Government are turning around the education system. Putting structured literacy and numeracy into our schools and putting the focus back on that most important of capitals: human capital.

I'll tell you what else doesn't grow an economy: that's when every time someone wants to build something or do something or develop something or innovative something, you say, "Well, here's the red tape I'd like you to manoeuvre your way through before you do it." We are getting rid of that. We've started with a fast-track regime that says yes to dozens and dozens of major developments across this country: wind farms, solar farms, quarrying projects, housing development, transport projects. And you know what the irony is? Those people there sitting under the no lobby, what did they say to growth enhancing developments? They said, "Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no. We can dream up a lot of reasons to say no to that." They take such pride in saying no that, actually, that's what Chris Hipkins gets up each day to do: "How can I say no today?" Such that he actually confuses himself and his own spokespeople. So that even while he was saying that he really thought digital nomads were part of New Zealand's future, yesterday when the Government was promoting it and people were receiving it well, he had to think up a reason to say no. So even while Kieran McAnulty was welcoming faster travel times in the Wairarapa, his colleague Tangi Utikere was saying, "Oh, no, no, no."

Well, New Zealanders have had enough of it. Whether it's the small businesses that I speak to who say, "You know what? I want my workers safe, I want them healthy, and I want to take everything I can do to protect them. But I tell you what, that Health and Safety Act, it gets in my way every day." And what they say to that is, "Oh no, you can't listen to that because that red tape's really important." Well, if we let red tape win, the economy suffers. Our Government is on the side of saying, "Get rid of the red tape that's in the way. Cut through the bureaucracy. Say yes to development."

I'll tell you what else we need to do. Get over this idea that members of the Opposition seem to have that we'll get rich by selling to ourselves. Well, that won't ever work. We need to be exporting to the world. That means trading with the world. That means inviting in those who want to invest in New Zealand jobs and New Zealand incomes and New Zealand infrastructure. And it means not doing what Chlöe Swarbrick did this morning at the Finance and Expenditure Committee when she questioned whether growth really was what would help people who were suffering from inequality. Now, I'd say this: if you are a young New Zealander, if you're a baby born to a home where your parents don't have a job, I'll tell you what is sure to result, and that is that you will have a much lower income. So I'll tell you one of the best things we can do to get kids out of poverty, Green Party, that is actually have an economy that can sustain better paying jobs for the parents of all children born in this country so that they can earn their way and get ahead. Because, actually, they don't want your patronising idea that the way they get ahead is with a handout from you and your mates and a press release from the Labour Party.

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

I'll tell you what else New Zealanders say. They say, "I am over waiting in traffic forever. I am over Ministers from the previous Government announcing light rail every six months and not even building a single kilometre of it. Build me some roads." And so that's what we're doing. Because it turns out, I'll tell you what roads are really convenient for: not only do they help you get to work faster, but also they carry freight, which is necessary to get exports to ports in order for New Zealand to make the income that we need.

This is a yes culture. But I'll tell you what else is important for growth in addition to the reforms we are making, and that is a very serious point. Because I fear that some members in this House are forgetting the lessons of economic history. Responsible fiscal management matters, colleagues. We actually had a grand experiment these past six years in which we had a Government that borrowed and hoped that this strategy of more tax, more borrowing, and more debt would result in some sort of economic nirvana. Well, New Zealanders are smarter than our opponents think. New Zealanders saw what that delivered: a cost of living crisis with sky high inflation, 525 basis points of interest rate hikes that harmed every mortgagee and every business in this country, and it delivered a mighty big structural deficit.

So New Zealanders want a Government that will be honest with them, that will fix this broken economy, and that will bring back a culture of sense, or yes, of doing the things that back people to back themselves. So next time that lot opposite tell you that they did a good job, I'll say to you, "Tell that to the New Zealanders who were left unable to pay their bills, having experienced years of inflation watching you fritter away their money and say no to the good things in their community." And I tell you what New Zealanders will say. They'll say, "You mucked it up. I trust this Government to fix it."

Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram): We're being told a lot, over the last two days, that we have a Government of yes. This is a Government of yes—I agree with them on that; it's about saying yes to their mates and to the big end of town. And that is what we have seen from this Government. Who we have seen this Government say no to is we've seen the Government say no to the people of Dunedin and Dunedin Hospital. We've seen this Government say no to our disabled communities and their funding. We've seen this Government say no to first-home buyers and cut assistance for those people to get into homes. We've seen cuts to front-line services up and down the country. We've seen cancelled free prescriptions for so many of our people. And, more importantly, we are seeing thousands of people vote with their feet and leave our country because this is not a Government that is saying yes to them. It is a Government that is clearly closing the door on hope and aspiration for them.

Over the last two days, we've also had the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance try and peddle the story that the country has been in recession for three years. One problem: it doesn't match up with the truth. In fact, the Government's own officials, the Treasury, came to a select committee this morning and said that was not the case and that the first time we saw New Zealand go into a recession was under their watch in 2024. What this Government has to own up to is that they are dragging this country down, that they are putting us into the steepest recession that we have seen since the early 1990s and Ruth Richardson, taking COVID out of it. It is no surprise that we are seeing similar austerity measures coming out of this Government and why ordinary New Zealanders are feeling like this is a Government that is letting them down. It is certainly not a Government of yes for them; it is certainly a Government of no.

The cost of living seems to have disappeared from the Government's agenda. I don't know if anyone else has noted that. That is not surprising, given that we're seeing insurance, rates, energy, transport—all those costs that hit at people's household budgets—keep on rising and rising far faster than inflation and wages. This is the reality for everyday New Zealanders.

And we have the Minister of Finance lecturing us about how it is that we will make people feel better, and that is getting kids out of poverty. Well, the single biggest way we lead children out of poverty is by well-paid, meaningful jobs. And what are we seeing out of this Government? We are seeing unemployment rise. Thousands of people are out of work, thanks to the policy agenda of the Government that we have in place. Mills and meatworks are closing up and down the country. There are now 12,745 fewer jobs in the construction sector alone since this crowd took office. We've seen the construction sector fall by 6 percent in their time.

This is a Government that New Zealanders simply cannot afford. Let's go through a list of the failures in only a year that we have seen from this Government: $2.9 billion worth of tax cuts for landlords, and where are those promised rent decreases for renters? We are still seeing rents rise. We're seeing tax breaks for tobacco companies and the reversing of our world-leading smokefree policy. What we are seeing is a watering down of the protections we put in place post - 15 March around our gun laws. We are seeing, as I've mentioned, Dunedin Hospital being walked away from. We're seeing that cut for first-home grants and first-home borrowers. We're seeing so many things being cut.

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

Now, coming from the people's republic of Wigram, where we have a very clear idea on what it means to not sell off our State assets. This is something I will fight with every fibre in my being. I grew up in South Christchurch in the 1980s when the Addington workshop was shut down because it was privatised. I watched the parents of my friends lose their jobs, and their families, in many places, lose their dignity with that paid work. That is what it means, and that is why the Labour Party will stand strong against a privatisation agenda.

The other thing that we've seen in recent weeks is the Prime Minister feel the need to appoint a special envoy to the Southern lands, those lands that lie to the south of Lyle Bay—commonly known but unknown to this Government—called the Southern lands, the South Island. There is now a Minister, a Minister outside Cabinet, who's not there when decisions are made, who has responsibility for the South Island. When we were in Government, we just called that Cabinet. We just had enough people from the South Island sitting around the Cabinet table. We didn't have one person, who got demoted in the last reshuffle, sitting at the Cabinet table and having to fight the fight. Any Government that feels the need to appoint a junior Minister outside Cabinet to be the special envoy for the South Island is showing, in black and white, it is failing the people of the South Island.

But it is no wonder that they've had to do this. Let's look at the litany of let-downs for the South Island. Let's start—I know Rachel Brooking is sitting behind me and so is Tracey McLellan—with Dunedin Hospital and the walk-back on the promise to the people of Dunedin around a badly needed new hospital and the wider South. We've had that mirrored at the top of the South with Nelson Hospital and the way that Nelson Hospital is being walked back on. We've seen the literal severing of the South Island with the cancelling of the ferries, breaking down that vital link that we need between the North and South Islands and the commitment to rail-enabled fairies to ensure that we can have good flow of goods and services. We've also seen this in transport funding. Of the 12 or 17 roads, I think—17 roads—of national significance, two of them were in the South Island. And guess what? They were the two smallest projects in the programme. The South has been shortchanged. Five percent of transport funding coming through in this Budget went to the South Island, when we make up a quarter of the country's population. It is no wonder that this Government has felt the need to appoint someone to be that special envoy.

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

This is a Government that is failing New Zealand. It is a Government that is not putting their priorities first. It is not a Government that is saying yes to the people of New Zealand. It is a Government that is saying yes to its mates.

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

Hon Erica Stanford: Mr Speaker.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY: Apologies to the member. Sir, I know that we all believe that debates should be held in this House with a level of decorum. Now, there was a comment made during that speech which was unparliamentary and targeted personally the Hon Dr Megan Woods. If the member that made that comment wishes to withdraw and apologise now, I'm quite happy to leave it there. If they choose not to, then I will raise it but I won't do so publicly.

SPEAKER: OK. I was listening to the speech of the Hon Megan Woods and didn't hear the comment. If there was an unparliamentary comment made by someone, it would be wise to withdraw and apologise.

Hon ERICA STANFORD (Minister of Education): Isn't it nice to be lectured by a previous Government Minister who has conveniently forgotten that in the previous Government they had a Minister for Auckland! Minister Wood was a representative for Auckland. And, tell you what, James Meager is going to make an exceptional Minister and an exceptional representative for the people of Christchurch and the people of the South Island. It's also worthy of note that Labour put in place a delivery unit. We call that "Cabinet". We are the Government of delivery, because we have been delivering for the good part of a year now and we are going to continue to do so through focusing on economic growth and prosperity for Kiwis. We are a Government who are going to say yes, and we are Ministers who are making sure that we are putting in place the conditions for growth.

It was great to be part of one of the first announcements out of the blocks with our digital nomads policy, because we are saying yes to economic growth, yes to more tourists, yes to more high-value tourists. The Labour Party used to like talking about high-value tourists, but apparently not anymore. We are saying yes to highly skilled IT executives overseas who might want to come here and work in the wee hours of the morning and, in the afternoon, have a surfing lesson at Raglan, walk a Great Walk, play golf at Tara Iti, but all the while spending their money in our local businesses, going to local cafes, drinking in local bars, eating in local restaurants, especially during the shoulder season. We're only at 86 percent of where we used to be for tourism. We cannot afford to be like the Opposition and say no to everything. We are saying yes to digital nomads, and it has been a massive hit. We've been featured in the BBC; we've been featured in the New York Times. Brett O'Reilly has been talking about people from LA who have been affected by those devastating fires coming here while they rebuild their homes. And we are saying yes to that.

If we want future economic growth, our immigration system must be match fit. We have to play our part in setting the conditions for economic growth, and our policies must support business. We know that it's absolutely crucial that they have access to the skills that they need to grow their businesses. When we took office, processing times for the three gateways for the work visa were 81 days. Today: 32 days. We have made sure, in the last year, that we have got Immigration New Zealand to be match fit. We've changed some of the policies, but we've also made sure that our processing is speedy and efficient, all the while making sure that we still have our eye on the ball when it comes to risk management and ensuring that we are verifying all of the documentation that is coming in from our applicants.

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

The long-term drivers of growth are just as important as some of the short- and medium-term factors that I've talked about. And our single-most important long-term driver of growth is our children. We have a moral obligation to make sure that they are meeting their full potential and getting a world-leading education. These young people of today are the future Peter Becks. They are the future doctors and nurses and policemen and teachers, and we have to invest in them. For too long, we have been watching our results decline over many, many decades. But our focus—the focus of this Government and a focus of mine—is making sure that we are getting changes in the classroom in reading, writing, and maths; professional learning and development for our teachers; resources—books, tactile resources—in the classroom; structured literacy in the classroom; clear reporting to parents; twice yearly assessments; and, most importantly, support for those learners who are falling behind, and catching them early so that we can help them to catch up. In under a year, we have implemented a huge shift in education. We have a focus on back to the basics and evidence-based and sensible changes.

I want to talk, firstly, about the curriculum, because last year we completely rewrote the maths and English curricula to be making sure that we are following a science of learning approach. The curriculum is year by year, knowledge rich. Teachers and parents will know exactly what is to be taught and what is to be learnt every single year and that, no matter where they go to school, no matter which part of New Zealand they are in, it is clear and consistent. This year, 65,000 young children are going to start school, and every single one of them going to a State school is going to learn to read using structured literacy, an evidence-based method we know is the very best way to teach our young children to read. It is absolutely crucial that young New Zealanders have great literacy, and structured literacy has been proven to make sure that young people learn to read, and 90 percent of them learn to read using structured literacy. And the really important thing is that we catch them early when they are falling through the cracks. This year, we will see at 20 weeks and at 40 weeks a phonics check—a one-on-one check between a teacher and a child—to make sure that they're progressing as they're expected to be. And we're doing all of this in te reo Māori as well. We're giving schools up to $5,000 per year for four years to purchase extra structured literacy resources on top of the free ones we're already producing.

Numeracy is also crucial. We have been watching our results plummet over the decades. We know that only 20 percent of our year-8s are at curriculum and where they should be. My message to parents is clear: your kids are going to know their times tables, because instant recall of basic facts and times tables is back. It's embedded into the curriculum. Too many parents have said to us that their young children are falling behind but they find out too late. Well, every single parent in this country will be able to see exactly what their children are learning, where they should be. We just delivered nearly 500,000 maths books, to 92 percent of New Zealand schools up and down the country who ordered them. That is absolutely massive. And not only are they workbooks and textbooks for students but they are guidebooks and lesson plans for teachers as well. We are making sure that we are putting in place evidence-based methods, especially when it comes to mathematics. It's so important that young people are taught explicitly, in a structured way, that they master topics before they move on, through practice, through games, through tactile resources, and through group work.

As I said earlier, it's so important that young people don't fall through the cracks. This term, 3,000 years 7 and 8 students will be receiving tutoring up to four times a week to make sure that they are at the level they should be. And the schools have been told over the last couple of weeks which schools will be included in that trial, and we will roll that out later in the year once we see the results of the trial. There has been a revolution in education. Parents around the country can feel confident that their children are receiving a world-leading education. And I want to just mention a story that I heard from Joseph Mooney just a couple of days ago. He said that he was speaking to a young mum who said, "I was going to home school my child. And I've been preparing to do so. But given all the changes that your Government has made, I'm enrolling them in their local school, because I can see that it's a year-by-year curriculum, structured literacy, structured mathematics, and all of the resources you're providing gives me confidence that my child will be receiving a world-leading education."

If we want future economic growth and prosperity for our families, the key is making sure our young people of today are receiving that world-leading education, have confidence in their abilities, and can go on to live the life that they want.

STEVE ABEL (Green): Kia ora, Mr Speaker. Envy is ignorance; imitation is fatal, to paraphrase Emerson. The economics of Aussie envy will be fatal for New Zealand, because we must stand on the integrity of our own values, on the value of our own ecosystems and our own resources. For us to attempt to become a little wannabe backwater mined-up Australia will be disastrous for who we actually are.

The mentality of the 19th century extractive economy is more than merely a backward idea; more than merely Old World thinking. We know the consequences that it has for human society. We know that fundamentally the extractive mentality is what has led us to the existential crisis we face as a species. The crisis of climate change is fundamentally the consequences of us believing that we can keep extracting oil, gas, coal, and various minerals from the ground and burning them and sending that sequestered carbon into the atmosphere. In fact, that is the end of the viability of life on this planet. I don't want to sound dramatic; it's unfortunately the science of it. The science is that what makes us a viable and livable planet is through the health of the relationship that we as a species that belongs to this earth holds with the integrity of the ecosystems on which we depend.

When the environment is sick, when the rivers are polluted, so too will we be sick and will we be unwell. It is a basic reality of what we have learned over centuries of industrialism, that we have to stop thinking like we're in the 19th century. The pollution economy that this Luxon Government is advancing is utterly the wrong direction, not just for the world but it is certainly the wrong direction for Aotearoa New Zealand. Gold is not golden here; clean and green is golden here, and that is what we must be standing for.

When the likes of the Minister for minerals and resources and the likes of the Prime Minister say they're going to mine in Otago and say they're going to extract millions of tonnes of sand from Bream Bay up in Northland and say they're going to dig up the seabed in Taranaki for Trans-Tasman Resources and say they're going to reopen gold mining on conservation estate in the Coromandel and say they're going to do more coal mining on the West Coast of the South Island, we as te Pāti Kākāriki, as the Green Party say to those communities: we will stand with you in defence of those magnificent ecosystems. We will stand with you in defence of your communities, your communities that have fought and fight now to maintain the integrity of the place in which you live.

You know when the Aussie gold miners come over here and they rip and they strip and they bust and they head over the horizon with the profits that you are left with the legacy of acid mine drainage and cyanide and arsenic-laden tailings dams. Long after the profits have gone offshore, you are left with that legacy. That is not the way forward for communities in this country. It is not the way forward for us as a nation in terms of our economy. We must provide a means for people to sustain their lives that is regenerative, that is renewable, that is circular, that allows us to have a means of sustenance that is not short term, that is not destructive, that doesn't lead to the contamination of our groundwater, the orange pollution that we just recently saw in the Coromandel running through rivers from mines that were mined over a century ago.

We need to find a way of making a thriving society and a thriving existence on this planet that does not threaten the very viability of life. We cannot mine our way to a livable planet, and we should, after all these decades and centuries of trying to do that, understand that by now. This Government is taking New Zealand backwards and we as te Pāti Kākāriki will stand with those communities who are defending an idea of a genuinely authentic, unique Aotearoa New Zealand where we stand on our own merits. Kia ora.

BENJAMIN DOYLE (Green): E te Māngai, tēnā koe.

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Nurture the seed and it shall blossom.

One in five Māori tamariki live in households struggling to put kai on the table, struggling to send their children to school with full puku, decent clothing, and proper resources for learning. In his speech to the House, the Prime Minister celebrates a curriculum that nobody asked for. One hour of literacy and numeracy, as though that wasn't already happening in classrooms across the motu, and as though that can address the significant structural inequalities depriving our children from accessing the education they truly deserve, an education focused on nurturing the wellbeing of whānau, community, and te taiao, rather than the results of an arbitrary over-assessment.

While the Prime Minister pontificates about his glutton for growth, our own tamariki are being subjected to the growth of the most insidious nature: inequality. Recent data from KidsCan shows that 6,000 tamariki in desperate need of support are on their waitlists alone—6,000 tamariki. Instead of cuts to school lunches or dictating classroom content, instead of removing essential relationships and sexuality education without anything to replace it with, despite overwhelming support from whānau and tamariki, instead of the looming prospect of privatisation, unqualified teachers, and ballooning ratios, this Government could be addressing the root cause of educational inequality: poverty. Growth will not undo the harms of intergenerational systemic oppression. Growth will not fix the broken industrial education complex. Growth will not address the intersecting and compounding determinants of health, which result in the disproportionate harm experienced by tangata whenua.

The Prime Minister spoke about investing in healthcare but failed to mention how his Government has left the most vulnerable members of our communities behind. We are witnessing an unprecedented assault on takatāpui and rainbow communities by this Government. Attempts to limit access to basic gender-affirming healthcare are under way, and the only national organisation supporting the specific and severe mental health needs of LGBTQI+ communities has been left to fend for itself. At a time of global hysteria and disinformation about the lives of trans, non-binary, and rainbow people, this Government must take an evidence-based approach to upholding the rights and mana o ngā tāngata katoa o Aotearoa.

It is of particular concern that only days before the commemorations of Waitangi Day, the Prime Minister admitted any mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the needs and aspirations of whānau Māori from his speech. We cannot achieve educational or wellbeing targets without addressing the broken promises the Crown has made to Māori. We cannot achieve educational or wellbeing targets by allowing one in five tamariki Māori to live in extreme material hardship or attend school without the basics. Equity is achieved by listening to those most affected by the decisions we are making. It is achieved by focusing on the particular needs and solutions that they generously and continuously offer us. It is incumbent upon the Prime Minister to act in the best interests of all those he represents, not just those who exist in his own sphere of experience.

Teachers are telling us they need to be resourced, valued, and empowered so that this week tamariki can arrive at schools adequately prepared to nurture their learning and hauora. Whānau and tamariki are telling us they are struggling to send their kids to school with the basics, not that they want the Government to impose an hour of reading and writing. Takatāpui and rainbow communities are telling us they deserve their basic human rights, not to be treated as a vessel for imported transphobia. Trans lives are taonga and trans healthcare is a human right.

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Hon ANDREW BAYLY (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Pleasure to be standing in the House for the start of 2025, and I hope everyone's had a great holiday. It's great to be back, and, as the Prime Minister said in his state of the nation speech, it's all about saying "yes". As the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister, I'm also saying "yes" to making sure that consumers and businesses across the country get a better deal: "yes" to more competition; "yes" to more choice; "yes" to a thriving economy, and for Kiwis being better off.

As our Government gears up to supercharge our economy, we want to make sure that this economy has the right framework to be able to achieve the growth that we ambitiously set out and want to see happen, because, ultimately, what that means is that people have more money, which means they have a better standard of living. We as a Government also ultimately benefit because we get more taxes, which we can invest in roads, schools, education, and health facilities—all the good stuff that everyone wants.

But an important part of that is competition, because competitive markets boost our productivity and also create and provide for innovation. They also create employment opportunities and lift living standards. When consumers have confidence to invest, then that's when businesses have confidence to invest and also to innovate, and that is what ultimately drives the economy. That's why I'm proud to be leading a couple of areas around changes in competition to promote better outcomes for New Zealanders.

The first one I want to talk about is the review of the Companies Act. The Companies Act 1993 hasn't been reviewed for 30 years and it is an essential empowering piece of legislation that sets out the framework for how businesses operate in New Zealand. It is really important that we have the right framework, and it's surprising that it has not been reviewed for 30 years. So we want to make sure that New Zealand businesses do have the right framework to operate and to operate successfully and to operate fairly, so what we're going to do is we're going to modernise, simplify, and digitise the Companies Act. I am very excited about this piece of legislation because it is such an important driver of how people operate in New Zealand, and I want to make sure, ultimately, as an outcome of this process, that we're in a better position where businesses can be more successful.

So, some of the elements of that bill: first thing is we're going to deal with the issue around directors having to disclose their personal addresses. We're going to remove that requirement, but, interestingly so, we're also going to remove the requirement for companies in terms of where you have a director and you have a shareholder—often they're the same person, so we're going to remove the requirement in both cases. But to deal with the issue of poor performing or directors who do not fulfil their duties adequately, we're going to give them a unique digital identity so we can track who they are.

Alongside that, very concerned about phoenixing of companies, which is the process where people get paid, for instance, if you were doing an extension of a house—and I don't want to highlight, particularly, the building and construction sector. But by way of an example, if you were doing a small build on a house, you pay your builder a certain amount of money, they don't fulfil their obligation and they put the company into receivership and then set up the next day—that is the phoenixing of a company. We're going to deal with that issue once and for all because it's bad for individuals, bad for Kiwis, and it's also bad for business practices. So we're going to strengthen the arrangements around that; the Companies Office is going to be much more involved in that process, and we're going to also make some tweaks around the insolvency laws to make sure that those people are captured.

We're going to get rid of screeds of regulation set out in the Companies Act that are no longer relevant, that should be removed—expunged from the law because it's now 30 years old. We're going to embrace the thought of digitisation so that people can file accounts digitally, and we're also going to look at how we simplify a lot of the stuff that companies and businesses have to do. That is a big chunk of work and I'm very proud of it.

The second bit that we're going to do around competition is the review of the Commerce Act. We're currently out for consultation on the Commerce Act. It is another piece of legislation that hasn't been reviewed for 20 years, and I find it staggering that no one—no Governments—have thought about doing a major review. Of course, the Commerce Act sets out the framework for how mergers and acquisitions, and how consolidation of industries take place, and the rules that govern, and how the rules that the Commerce Commission must act.

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

We're also consulting on the issue of whether the Commerce Commission can do issue codes to make sure we've got better behaviours occurring in certain sectors, at the Commerce Commission's choice, to make sure we are driving as much competition. We're making sure commercial activities of industries, where they are controlled by very few players, operate in a much more fair basis, and that the Commerce Commission has got the authority to do it. One of the things I've instructed the Commerce Commission is to be a courageous litigator, and we're seeing, increasingly, more action from the Commerce Commission. We want to be tougher on those entities that are using their market dominance to poor effect, which is affecting all New Zealanders.

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

It's also beneficial for banks, open banking. For instance, in Australia, you can now get a bank to provide you a mortgage offering within 10 minutes, and they do it because they can use open banking rules to access all data—only at the sanction of the person wanting that mortgage offer, but open banking provides for that. So it is something about driving more competition, new products and services. We've talked a lot about open banking and expecting to have the arrangements in place by the end of this year: the Consumer Data Rights Bill will be coming before the House hopefully in the next three weeks for the second reading, but we're expecting to have that, targeting to have open banking in place by the end of this year. At the same time, we will be doing open energy, which is about creating opportunities for competitors to offer better and more wide-ranging services in the energy markets, because we know how significant electricity costs are for households.

Those are the three big things, but there's a fourth one, which is around capital markets—I haven't got time to talk about it, but in due course I will do. And, also, we are having a major focus—the Commerce Commission is having a major focus on surcharges, credit card charges that people pay when they go to buy a cup of coffee or to buy schoolbooks for their children this week. So we want to reduce that. I'm encouraging and supporting the work of the Commerce Commission. It is vital we reduce surcharges.

So there's a range of things that we're doing around competition. We're serious about improving competition in New Zealand because it's a good thing for all New Zealanders and good for business as well. Ultimately, it means everyone is better off. Thank you very much.

MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI (Te Pāti Māori—Te Tai Tokerau): Kia ora. Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. Te Pāti Māori is the party that will fight to the end for te iwi Māori. It's in our name. That was one thing I committed to doing when I swore myself into Parliament, as did my tupuna back in the 11th Parliament: Eparaima Mutu Kapa. To fight day in and day out for our people. This isn't a career, nor is it an academic exercise, this is what it means to be Māori. This is the mokopuna movement. W'akapapa is important to te ao Māori, and let's not forget Te Pāti Māori was birthed out of a time where Government did what it has always done, take what doesn't belong to it. This forcibly drew Māori together, back in 2004, a time we might acknowledge as crossing the floor.

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I take the opportunity here to acknowledge the legacy of Dame Tariana Turia and her role in Whānau Ora. This is a successful, Māori-led initiative that minimises whānau need to engage with State-delivered services. It prioritises a Māori way, delivering health, economic wellbeing, social wellbeing for our people. This is a proven and successful model for our people—an indigenous Māori model. It works.

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

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As this Government's economic delusions live rent-free in our minds, many of our whanaunga search for any place to live and an income to pay the rent for such places. Poverty is also a future many now stare at, even for those who seemed to be doing OK and getting by at one time. The Budget 2024, despite the Prime Minister's optimistic commentary on this, does nothing for Māori, and in fact it takes us backwards. It signifies that Māori lives do not matter to this Government, and in fact it would be just as easy for us to give it up to this current agenda.

The continuation of colonial practice via financial colonisation is seen in the Budget 2024. It manifests this exactly in this current practice from this House—for example, a $1.5 million fund to Oranga Tamariki where only 2 percent was given to Māori, despite our tamariki making up 70 percent of those in State care. This says, in the Prime Minister's words, yes to colonisation inaction. If the need is 70 percent Māori, then the funding surely should also have been reflective of that at least; 70 percent of $1.5 million should and could be delegated to Māori. Yet the Prime Minister said yes to placing Māori value at 2 percent. It was just another yes from his discussion yesterday. If that fund was allocated to Māori, kaupapa Māori, Māori organisations, te iwi Māori, our children would no longer be trapped within these Pākehā stream systems.

Another yes from the Prime Minister to these exact systems purposely designed to keep us below and never beside. The removal of Section 7AA is the epitome of exactly that. The section itself offered Māori too much say in how our children are cared for by the State. And that is exactly what He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi affords us—mana motuhake in our own right.

While in my childhood He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi weren't discussed as it is today. The climate of today, though, demands we debate the validity of our founding documents. Such validity is argued this week in the submissions of the Treaty principles bill. While David Seymour recognised in his 15-minute spiel the likelihood of his bill being voted down—I'd say yes to that—he highlighted that once an idea is put forth in motion, it cannot be undone. He also highlighted various bills that have endured many rounds of voting before eventual success. While the idea of his racially divisive bill cannot be removed, it can and will be trumped by the response of te iwi Māori. Whānau are now having discussions on He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi—I say yes to that. It looks like it, and it is that in action within their lives and within the lives of all in Aotearoa. We have tangata Tiriti joining alongside us, supporting us and walking with us on our path to liberation.

What we see to begin this year off is the true embodiment of what Kiingi Tūheitia asked of us—kotahitanga. That is an idea, a concept too, that cannot be undone. You see, when our tūpuna took their names to pen and paper, signing Te Tiriti o Waitangi, our mana we share with our mokopuna through w'akapapa was protected against a changing world.

I reflect on all I've said in the context of what it means to be mokopuna – decision centred and focused. I know our movement is on track. I await with anticipation to see our future generations inherit this movement—say yes to that. I'm waiting for some yeses—please, join in. But I know there is still work to be done. I challenge the Prime Minister in this to say no less, and yes to more theory; to say yes to a mokopuna Māori authority; say yes to GST off kai; say yes to a Māori justice authority; to say yes to a Māori health authority, again; and say yes to not one more mokopuna. Tēnā koe. Tēnā tātou e te Whare.

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

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

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

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

MARK CAMERON: —22.4—Helen White—$22.4 billion, not a mention by the Leader of the Opposition. Time to reconcile sheep and beef: $10.5 billion.

Helen White: Time to grow up and lead. Give it a go, not just whinge.

MARK CAMERON: Again, not a mention. Nada, zero, zip—Helen White. From the leader of the Labour Party, the biggest sector in the country got no oxygen, no time, no mention. Fisheries, there's another one didn't get a mention, $1.8 billion. Well, I come into this House every day—

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

MARK CAMERON: —and I represent my party and the people that make $56 billion that that member's leader—$56 billion—didn't want to talk about.

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

Helen White: You said no to good, affordable water solutions.

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

Climate change, the bane of all things. And yet we actually listen to farmers, the technology that they employ, the technology that they couldn't. Let's have an independent review of methane. All the time, I hear the sermons in this House: "There's no money left. We will have spent all the money, but it's burnt." Well, let's go back to the sector that makes most of it and support them so we have a better future, and we do it on this side of the House.

Fresh water: a problem, a real problem in rural New Zealand. We understand there is sedimentation, there's E. coli, there are various attributes of farming that impugn, effect, have a perverse outcome for fresh water. But we listened to locals, we listened to farmers, and we said—genuinely—there can be catchment-level solutions. This Government did it. We are delivering because we believe in rural people every day. Not when it's convenient, not when it's an election year, every bloody day I come to this House because I believe in rural New Zealand.

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

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

Helen White: Have you watched the videos on the live animal—

MARK CAMERON: Totally misunderstood. Helen White, again; Auckland, speaking to a farmer about the overall outcomes when it came to the welfare of animals, how were they were farmed, the housing, the farming practices, because we on this side of the House actually listen to the people that do it.

Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you, Madam Speaker. From that side, we have heard so much negativity, and, actually, I'm not going to delve into that. What I want to say is that on this side, we believe in success, we celebrate success, we want everybody to achieve success, and this is not just the current generation but our future generations, as well. That's why we are working hard to ensure that our people feel confident going forward in their lives.

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

But I'm concerned. I'm concerned because the University of Auckland, our most prominent higher-education institute, has decided to introduce a compulsory Māori course for all undergraduate students from this year. This is irrespective of the subject that the students want to study. They will have to do this compulsory Māori course—all undergraduate students will have to do this—from this year, and I know that this is not going to serve the best interests of all students. What it shows is that the university has just imposed its ideology, rather than giving thorough consideration to what is in the best interests of students.

Education, actually, should be rooted in evidence and in practicality, not in political ideology—political ideology that was started under the previous Labour Government—and what is surprising, and shocking, actually, I should say, is that it has extended to even classifying some Māori traditional myths, Māori traditional beliefs, as science. Those things were funded as scientific projects, and I must say this: I come from a culture where we have lots of cultural events, but we shouldn't blur the line between cultural and traditional beliefs and science. It's insulting to science.

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

This ideological framework is dangerous, and the ACT Party is here to break this ideological framework. I realise that we are a nation that is built on a bicultural foundation, but the reality is that we are a multicultural nation, so any notion that gives prominence to one race over another race should be rejected. Any conversation that is rooted in race should not be allowed to dictate how funding is allocated or how our policies are designed. Why? Because it leads to a form of racism. It leads to a form of racism, and, as an immigrant, I have this responsibility to speak against such notions which give prominence to one race over another race.

I know that there are some who are questioning who am I to talk about any issues—[Interruption]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Order! Can I remind other members in the House that a speaker is entitled to be heard in silence. Interjections are to be rare and, often, are done in a light-hearted way. The barrage is becoming a bit overwhelming. Sorry to interrupt the member.

Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I know that some individuals are questioning who am I to talk about anything that relates to Māori issues, and they're questioning this because I'm an immigrant. Let me say this to these individuals—let me say this to these individuals. Yes, my accent is different, I look different, and I was born overseas. But I am as much a Kiwi, like these members, and like those individuals who are questioning my talking about anything that relates to Māori issues.

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

Hon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. First, if I may, I'd like to join the many voices around the House in lamenting the sad loss of Dame Tariana Turia and the many others who have tragically passed on since the House sat at the end of last year and, of course, to today. A collective voice across the House is always reassuring that despite politics in this House, it is about people, and we remember those people today, and our condolences, of course, are to their family.

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

Others know that he was also my family doctor. He was also the doctor that delivered my son who now works in the healthcare system, so we've got roots that go way back. At that reunion, we applauded the success of this man. He came into Parliament in 2014 like myself, and, of course, you, Madam Speaker. He had a meteoric rise to become the first New Zealand Māori-trained doctor to become the Minister of Health, and I think that's something to celebrate.

He came into the role—hear me out here. He came into the role and the House knew that he was a well-respected doctor, a GP, a lecturer and academic in health science—in fact, at the highest of institutions at Harvard. He came into the role with all of that expertise. What happened to him? Let me be very clear to the House. He was asked to defund the health system. He was asked to close Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. He was asked to put a hiring freeze on nurses and other workers in the health sector, which has ground our health sector to an absolute halt—in fact, taking it backwards. Then what does he get for his reward and for his hard work? He gets sacked. He gets shown the door. He gets told that, actually, not only is your expertise no longer welcome in such a crucial role, but we're going to indicate to the good people of Whangārei, which is the electorate that Mr Reti holds, that this Government doesn't care about Whangārei. They've been silent on the rebuild at the hospital. They've been silent on what's going to happen in Northland with respect to health.

That is the reason why I stand today to say that the performance of the new Minister, Simeon Brown, was absolutely disgraceful. He talked about a health system he inherited. Well, he inherited it off his own colleague and off this Government, and now has the job to actually make sure that people get the healthcare that they deserve.

The Prime Minister yesterday in his statement spoke about people getting what they need. Right now, it's very clear to the country around the barbecues that I certainly experienced during Christmas and New Year, around the tables and pubs as people enjoyed themselves over the holidays, that when you're sick, the wait time to see a doctor has increased and it's far too long. When you're unwell and you go to see a doctor, the prices to see a doctor have actually increased materialistically right across the country. If you are in emergency need and you go to the hospital and you seek emergency healthcare assistance, the wait time has increased exponentially. That is not the country that the people of New Zealand deserve. That is not a health system that serves the people in this beautiful country of ours, and one that they deserve. That is a huge blow to our health system, to appoint a new Minister who, sadly, holds some views that will continue to be explored throughout his tenure as the health Minister.

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

Then, of course, my good colleague Dr Megan Woods spoke about how this Government continues to ignore the South Island. So let's explore that a little bit. They've said to Mr Stuart Smith, who has served longer than the most recently promoted Minister, "We don't care about Kaikōura. We don't care about ferries. Once again, we don't care about the South Island." What does it say to the South Island as well? It says, "Well, we're going to take important portfolios off Mr Doocey, the member for Waimakariri. You know what? We probably don't care too much about that electorate either."

What's clear to me is that when they promoted Mr Meager, they're obviously sorry that they didn't step in as this economy was taking a dive under this Government's leadership to stop the closure of the meatworks in Timaru. It says to them that "Actually, we're really sorry. We took our eye off the ball. We're going to give some responsibility to a new Minister for the South Island, and we're going to heap all of the bad decisions this Government has made on that particular person."

I know what the answer is going to be every time he's asked the question in this House—"Sorry, I'm not the Minister responsible for that." We're going to ask about infrastructure and he'll say, "Sorry, I'm not the Minister responsible for that." We're going to ask about the most important Dunedin Hospital and he's going to say, "Sorry, I'm not the Minister for that." So the question has to be put to New Zealanders: then what is he the Minister for? He is the Minister that says sorry to this country of ours, this beautiful country of ours, and makes clear that this Government clearly took its eye off the ball.

They're driving this economy into the ground. I've spoken about the job losses in Timaru. I'm coming now to the job losses in Tokoroa, which, once again, decisions made by this Government could have turned around the fate of many workers and their families here in Aotearoa New Zealand. I hear my friend Mr Cameron speak of the rural areas—Timaru, Tokoroa, rural economies, rural communities heavily impacted by the decisions of this Government not to support the industries that support those communities.

We know that those ripple effects are still being felt today and will be held and felt for many generations to come. My colleagues on this side of the House have made it clear. Thousands and thousands of New Zealanders are making it clear to this Government that they don't believe in their vision for this country. They're going to Australia. A lot of our whānau call them "Mozzies", they call them Ngāti Australia—they call them a lot of names, but the bottom line is this: they are our own people and they have decided to leave this country, disillusioned with the leadership, in particular, of the economy by this Government, and that's an absolute travesty.

We heard today and we hear in the Prime Minister's statement that they want to get the economy moving and they want to increase productivity. Let me give you an example of not listening to the science and not listening to the community. We heard today that on State Highway 1 in Moerewa they're going to increase the speed limit in Moerewa. Well, let me give you a clue of what that looks like. When you drive on State Highway 1, you get into a place called Kawakawa; you slow down to 50. You get through Kawakawa; you increase to 80. Then currently, as it stands, you get to Moerewa and you drop to 50 before you pass through Moerewa and go to 100. Now, under the new proposed rules made by this Government to increase productivity, you drive into Kawakawa at 50. You increase your speed to 80 before you get to the township of Moerewa you slow down to 70. Then you slow down to 50 as you go through the township before you speed up to 100—absolutely absurd rules put on to a place that don't make sense.

Every Aucklander who goes up north for a holiday is going to drive through and go, "Hmm, am I going the right speed? This Government changed it again." All to improve productivity, and there is no evidence that productivity will increase if you did that in Moerewa. But I'm simply reminding this House and the members within it of what the conversations are right around this country. These are the conversations had by people right up and down from the north to the south.

I want to be clear, though, that this Government has forced this country into economic recession and kept us there. I want to say, though—and I want to take the words of Mr Peters in this House, which I do very rarely and seldom. I want to say this: hang on; help is on its way. Because on this side of the House, our job this year will be to say to New Zealanders that we can have a brighter future from decisions that are made in this House and in the communities around the country. We're saying to the community that under the leadership of a Labour-led Government, we can show that prosperity belongs here in New Zealand. We'll bring our people home from Australia. We've already made it clear that our leader said yesterday that we will repeal the regulations bill that is already being put forward by the ACT Party despite them saying the bill hasn't been drafted, but we know what their intentions are. We know what it is: defund, destabilise, and privatise, and that's where our country is going.

Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister for the Public Service): Oh, thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, what a delight to take a call on the Prime Minister's statement from yesterday, and wasn't it fabulous? I just thought, honestly—you know, I've worked with so many Prime Minsters over the years, since I've been in Parliament, and he's my favourite—absolute favourite. I don't care about anybody else. The reason is because he's got courage. He comes into the job, he says what he's going to do, and then he gets on and does it. And he's been able to pull together and hold together this wonderful coalition with National and ACT and New Zealand First. And, by the way, I've been in quite a few Cabinets too. It's the best Cabinet I've been in. We actually have so much fun getting through stuff, and we don't bitch at each other—I shouldn't say that, should I? We're actually really good.

People think that's sort of strange because they were told that it would all fall apart and everybody's going to be at each other. Actually, it's a hell of a lot nicer, from my point of view, than any other time I've been in Parliament. So I'd like to say a big thank you to the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon. He understands that we can't just take the money and the wealth of the country and chop it up in different bits and somehow we're going to magically get more; we have to actually grow the economy.

When I hear the other side, particularly our dear colleagues in the Labour Party—I have to feel a little bit sorry for them because they're basically trying to polish something they shouldn't be trying to polish. They talk about, why do you want to be funding this or defunding that and defunding this? Do they not realise that our interest bill as a Government, as a country, has increased by $8 billion a year? So that is like a huge chunk. That's a big lot more than the entire Defence budget. That's actually a big lot more than the Police budget. It's a big lot more than the Corrections budget. It's a big lot more than anybody should be paying, but that's because when they were in Government they went on a spending spree, and the rest of us have to try and live within our means.

And I know it's really hard for New Zealanders when they've got mortgages in particular, because the banks have kept those mortgage rates up. But what we've seen under this Government was with interest rates coming down, now, because of inflation coming down to 2.2 percent, now, within one year, this Government working together in the coalition has been able to bring everything that we could bear to make sure the Government wasn't going to be pushing inflation up. And we're now down to the level that we should always be, which is between 1 and 3 percent, not the 7-odd percent that we had under the previous lot and we inherited. So, actually, I think we're doing an excellent job.

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

One of the areas I was particularly pleased that the Prime Minister spoke about was my beloved—was previously my beloved—science innovation and technology, now replaced by my beloved public service. And one of the things I want to talk to you about is making sure that science is actually about science. I know there are arguments about mātauranga Māori and science and things, but one of the things I think the previous Government did so wrong is they started talking about Western science versus mātauranga Māori. That's not fair, actually. Science is science, and some of the things that are traditional beliefs of Māori will absolutely be science—absolutely. It's not Western science. And I think one of the things that they did is they thought, "Oh, there's this Western science versus mātauranga Māori." No, there's science. Tell the people of East Asia that they don't have science because Megan Woods decided there was this thing called "Western science".

Well, what does that mean? The answer is it was a cheap shorthand way of trying to say, let's split everyone up rather than actually saying what really works. And when I look at things like gene technology—and I am actually a bit disappointed in other parties over that side for not supporting the bill in the first reading. What they've done is they've forgotten that the people who are most likely going to benefit the most in this country from the excellent gene technology work of our scientists, who are currently only allowed to have them in labs in most cases, are actually the people who currently are suffering from terrible illnesses brought about by genetic mutations. These are the people with things like inherited stomach cancers, which we know are prevalent within some families within Māoridom in particular.

When I think about families who have inherited horrible diseases like, say, cancers—breast cancer, prostate cancer—some of which are caused by some of these particular genetic mutations, these are the sorts of science that our people should be working out how to cure, and having got them, let's cure people. What's wrong with that? And, by the way, let's also commercialise it and take it to the world. But, not only that, I'm also talking about drought-resistant grasses so that our farmers in Canterbury, our farmers in the Wairarapa, our farmers in Hawke's Bay do not have to send all their stock off to the works at a time when they're getting nothing for them, and these poor stocks are hungry when they go. It's simply stupid that this country has allowed itself to hold itself back. Even though I have now passed over that portfolio to my good friend Dr Shane Reti, I know that he, as someone who appreciates the science involved, knows that this is about saving lives, this is about making lives better, it's about growing the economy, it's about protecting our people, just like the Australians do it.

I've heard all sorts of things from another party, saying that, apparently, all sorts of bad things could happen, because apparently they think that New Zealanders are too stupid and we can't manage these situations, and, yet, our Australian cousins, as lovely as they are, apparently they can manage it. Why can't we? The United States is the largest producer of organic food in the world. They're also the largest producer of GM food in the world. And so many of these people who talk about these things, they talk about feelings. I think this country had six years of talking about a politician's feelings. I'm actually over it. I want to actually make sure that this Parliament gets back to the basics of actually protecting New Zealanders, helping New Zealanders, growing the economy, and getting on and doing that job and keeping New Zealand safe.

You can't do that without money. You simply can't. You cannot have hospitals without money. And every time we have these plans, we're going to do it. In 2017, we campaigned on building a hospital in Dunedin, except Labour campaigned on building a hospital in Dunedin. And what did they do? They got a Cadbury car park. What the hell was that all about? They put it in the wrong part of town where the Cadbury factory was because they'd lost the Cadbury factory. Listening to Peeni Henare—I've got to say, the nicest thing you can say about him is he's a nice person, right? OK? That's about it. But he was talking about going off and saving businesses—private businesses, the Government should be doing. Well, why didn't he save the chocolates of Dunedin? He could have done that. Why didn't he? The answer is because Governments don't have that sort of mandate from the people of New Zealand.

This is not our money. It's not the Government's money; it's the New Zealand taxpayers' money. And the only time it's not the New Zealand taxpayers' money is when the New Zealand taxpayer is paying the interest bill because of the spending—the borrowing and spending—that that previous Government left us. That's it. You take other people's money—they have no choice about it—you then waste it and then you say to them, "Oh, that's a shame. But, you know, I felt really kind about it when I did it."

So I can tell you this, I am over people slagging off the great work that this Government is doing. We are working so hard. We are working so hard and we are making a difference. I know that every day we are in Government, we are making this country a better place, a safer place, a more prosperous place. And, yes, it will take time, because we can't just sign an executive order and make it all happen; we actually have to go through due process, and our system is different. But I know that the Prime Minister is doing the most wonderful job, with courage and conviction, and that's why I'm so pleased to be able to take a call on this speech from the Prime Minister. It's very important we get behind this country, we talk it up, and we don't go around bagging it every chance we get.

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

But, before I start, I think it's relevant to reflect on a few words that were spoken yesterday—the disdain that exists for the small businesses, the farmers, the landlords, the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the hard-working Kiwi battlers on which this country relies. Those are not only the ones that employ but they train, they develop, they donate, and they create. We heard yesterday from the leader of the Green Party that no one is entitled to make profit. Let's pause for a moment. No one is entitled to make a profit. This suggestion that we ignore the production of wealth and constrain ourselves with this ideology of redistribution of wealth, it's this insane notion that somehow there is a fixed amount of wealth and we can't create any more of it. We have to just redistribute what we have now. Well, this Government knows we can create wealth.

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

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

This is the type of agenda that we have to fight against. For those who—whether they arrived in this country hundreds of years ago or last year—have toiled, worked, and sacrificed to serve their families and their communities, across this side of the House, we're expected, rather than to celebrate their success, to hold them in contempt. Well, I can say, New Zealand First will not condemn those battlers to be demonised for making a profit.

It was evident yesterday, from many contributions from the Opposition, that this relevance exists by starting a fight. We have to pit landlords against tenants, we have to pit employers against employees, we have to pit the wealthy against the poor, and, most importantly, we have to pit Māori against everybody. But, in the real world, we know that if you want people to be helped, then you tell them the truth, you bring them together with solutions, and you empower, you encourage, and, most importantly, recognise the importance of personal accountability.

We need better than robbing our young people of the belief in opportunity, and I think we need a lot better than insulting our older New Zealanders for their hard work in doing the unthinkable, which is obtaining wealth and making a profit.

I will go from this now to talk about the practical stuff, the practical stuff that this Government is doing to turn things around, to deliver. I will talk specifically about the areas for which I have responsibility and the practical steps and the successes that we can see. Firstly, as Minister of Customs, I think that we have to give credit to a ministry that is largely unheralded and unseen for the huge contribution this dedicated team delivers. They help us build the economy. They collect over $17 billion worth of revenue. They facilitate the trade agreements that are so cleverly and strategically negotiated. They truly are unheralded. The hard work behind the trade agreements that are signed is often unseen. The ability to facilitate and make the technical and administrative processes work needs to be recognised.

Not only do we have a presence here in New Zealand but we have a presence around the world. We have dedicated representatives who continue to meet and negotiate and facilitate trade around the world. They break up the bottlenecks of trade. They make sure that when there's a hiccup, there's someone on the ground to make it happen. And we will continue to expand their presence around the country, because New Zealand has an outstanding reputation in international trade. We have an outstanding reputation of getting things done, and we will continue to grow that reputation.

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

But, unfortunately, the fact is we need to protect our borders, and our vulnerability from organised crime continues to expand. We have to protect our border to protect our reputation of being a safe place to travel to and a safe and easy place to do business. And that is the investment we will continue to make and expand from Customs to ensure that our borders are safe, because, unfortunately, the levers of legitimate business will often end up with crime following shortly behind. And we are doing an outstanding job. But I know, with Police and Customs' reputation of working well together, that we can do better. We can do cross-agency better support to attack the organised criminal businesses that undermine our most vulnerable communities, the scourge on our society that organised crime brings. I know we can do better, and this is why we have stood up the ministerial advisory group to ensure we can facilitate better cooperation across all agencies that will help combat organised crime.

Finally, I would like to touch on aged care because it is something that I hold dear and close to my heart. We have work under way, and I look forward to the outcomes of the Health Committee around the review into aged-care services and the current aged-care review around the funding model, which will implement new solutions. We have to be innovative, and we can do better, and I look forward to a cross-partisan approach to dealing with these solutions so we can have a long-term stability in the delivery of aged care. But we need to, importantly, remember that over 85 percent of our over-65s are living completely independently and well without any intervention from the State. So we have to recognise that some people have got it right, but we need to make sure that we have the stop-gap measures to provide the support when people need it.

We talk about ageing in place, that does not mean we're constraining people to live in unsuitable conditions, but we want to protect their ability to live in the communities they know, and we know there are tremendous solutions—whether it's papakāinga, whether it's kaumātua housing, whether it's an Abbeyfield house. We know there are good solutions, and we need to do more of it, and we can, and we will. We have also, under New Zealand First, the commitment to build 60-square-metre subsidiary dwellings in the coalition agreement. We will support subsidiary dwellings because that will support multi-generational living. It will free up housing and will create a better environment for those that are vulnerable to live in.

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

CAMERON BREWER (National—Upper Harbour): I just wanted to use these 10 minutes to take the public through what we're actually debating here, in accordance with Standing Order 362(2)—why we are actually debating with six 20-minute speeches and 66 10-minute speeches. And some of the Opposition are going on a conspiratorial rampage of speculation and revisionist history. I don't know where they were for the past six years! But I want to stand up and talk about what's actually in, what I would argue is, the most comprehensive and ambitious Prime Minister's statement to Parliament. It does not deserve to remain in the bowels of Parliament or at the back of the parliamentary website. It needs to have some light shone on it.

I think that the biggest indicator of the change that's happened from Government to Government is the recess—the summer recess—where it was starting to become a two-month parliamentary summer recess, basically mid-December to about mid-February. And that was the last Government's level of ambition. Well, not anymore. This is why you've got Parliament, for the second year, back and running in session in January, and that will continue. It's less than a month now, and that is the most demonstrable thing I can point to, to anything, as far as how ambitious this Government is. Look at that summer recess, and that really sets the tone. Not only does it set the tone for this Government but it shows how lazy the last Government were—how lazy they were.

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

We're seeing inflation dropping significantly, we're seeing interest rates starting to fall, and we're seeing wages continuing to rise. This Government, in 2025, will relentlessly focus on unleashing the growth—grow, grow, grow—that we need to lift incomes, strengthen businesses, and create opportunity. We will no longer listen to the word no. We are a yes Government—we are a yes Government. We are a can-do Government. And whether it's through the fast-tracking legislation that was passed last year, whether it's through the comprehensive Resource Management Act reform that we will see unroll from this year, whether it's rewriting our health and safety laws, or whether it's enabling our farmers to grow with much less red tape, that is our determination. And, frankly, New Zealanders deserve it. New Zealanders deserve to see those rays of light at the end of the tunnel, because they deserve higher incomes, they deserve quality public services, and they deserve stronger local businesses and stronger communities.

That is why this Government, for the first time in a long time, is in this debating chamber in January. And it has dragged the Opposition back too. It's dragged the Opposition back from holiday to come here in January. And, in fact, if you're the Prime Minister, I think you're back on about 3 January. But he's an exception—he's an exception. And so 2025 will be another massive year as we do everything we can to unleash that growth—grow, grow, grow. If you've got three words to remember, those are the three that you remember. And where have we been? Where have we been? Do you remember the giddy heights of 7.3 percent inflation in the first half of 2022—7.3 percent inflation—the robber in the back pocket, as our exceptional finance Minister, Nicola Willis, would say. And now we are close to 2 percent. We are well within that Reserve Bank mandated band—2.2 percent.

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

Let's just reflect on Budget 2024 for a bit. Who remembers tax relief for 83 percent of Kiwis or 94 percent of households? Who remembers that with our tax package, with the average-income houses benefiting by an average of up to $102 per fortnight? Who remembers—the numbers continue to increase—our FamilyBoost payment for those with kids in early childhood education? Over 50,000 FamilyBoost recipients there already that have received payments—50,000 families already—and that will continue to increase as people become more aware of that FamilyBoost payment that's available through the Inland Revenue Department website. And that was Budget 2024, just a snippet of it, and now we've got coming forth—and the finance Minister announced it in the Finance and Expenditure Committee today—a Budget date. Write this down: 22 May—22/05/25, OK? 22 May—that's a good way to remember it, eh? 22/05/25 And that will be another great day for New Zealand. It will be aimed at working New Zealanders, and we are focusing on the Government's priorities for Budget 2025.

As the Hon Nicola Willis articulated in the Finance and Expenditure Committee today, and as she has through the media, and the Prime Minister's statement reinforces that, lifting economic growth through measures to address New Zealand's long-term productivity challenges—productivity—that's what we are focused on. No one else has been for the last six or seven years. This Government is focused on the shameful productivity record that we have crept into as a country. We are implementing a social investment approach to drive better results, and you will see the Social Investment Agency really ramp up under the guidance and shepherding of the finance Minister this Budget. We are keeping tighter control—tight, tight control—of Government spending. You will see that with a number of high-priority Government policy commitments and cost pressures that will be sorted through reprioritisations, going from the back line to the front line, going to those public services that the public so, so deserve.

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

KATIE NIMON (National—Napier): Can I say what a privilege it is to be able to speak after my wonderful colleague Cameron Brewer, the new chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee, because he did an excellent job at reminding everybody what was in the Prime Minister's statement. Because so many people keep forgetting because they're talking off piece about all sorts of conspiracies. Like my friend says—so here we are to remind you. It is all about economic growth. And, gosh, we love to talk about economic growth.

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

We've got a housing development for a post - Treaty settlement group, which the Opposition voted against. Funny that. Affordable houses for iwi, business, park, recreational grounds—this is going to be huge. We have more housing development. We have the reconsenting of a hydro dam that powers most of Wairoa. We have the four-lane expressway, which is going to be doubled. It is getting done at a great rate of knots. I tell you: every single time I drive on that road, more is being done. They're clearing the road. They're using silt from the Hawke's Bay cyclone to lay the foundation for those four lanes, which is so exciting. We've got the Tukituki water storage, which is unlocking potential for growth in horticulture in Hawke's Bay and to back our farmers. We are doing water pumping for Napier City Council, which is very necessary, given the recent situations we've had with flooding. All of these things are going to go a really long way to get us where we need to go with economic growth, because it's about productivity and it is about getting the job done.

My colleague Cameron Brewer talked about FamilyBoost—getting more people into a position where they can go back to work, where they can earn higher incomes, because we know that the best way to get ahead for people is to get into high-value jobs. So we need to grow the economy so that everything they go to work to do is worth more for them. We introduced charter schools, which are about to get going, and, gosh, we've got some interest. The opportunities are endless. And if we talk about what we're going to do for the economy in each of our local areas, we have a chance to partner up our schools and have those students learning something that's going to go a long way for the economy that we are growing. We brought back the 90-day trial for businesses with employees of over 19 people to bring back productivity into the workplace, giving employers the power to get in there and take risks so that we can get back to business.

But let me not just talk about what we did last year. Let me talk about where we are going. You know what, we just heard from Minister Judith Collins and the work that she has done on introducing the Gene Technology Bill. My goodness! Now, let me talk to you about an example of what that means for Hawke's Bay. There is currently an apple being grown in a lab—and, yes, that's right. It is stuck in a lab because we haven't got the laws to make it happen on the ground, and we are changing that. Now, after Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay a couple of years ago—we're nearly at the two-year anniversary—it wiped out 80 percent of our horticulture sector. To grow back those trees—to replant them and grow them back—it's going to take six years at least before we get fruit on those trees that we could sell. Now, once we pass that Gene Technology Bill, we can plant trees that will grow fruit within a year. What that means for our economy is huge. So if anyone questions the bills that we're passing and its relevancy to economic growth, I point you to that example, and, boy, it's exciting.

I mentioned before the upcoming RMA reform. We need to build things faster. Now, I have a perfect example in my own neighbourhood in Mārewa in Napier, the day that Minister Penk, our wonderful Minister for Building and Construction, announced the granny flats legislation—60 square metre or less secondary dwellings—my neighbour started building. The foundation was being laid. It's the path I walk past with my dog when I go for my dog walks in the morning. And I have been watching the building take place, and it is nearly done. They are just doing the deck on the outside. Now, how cool is that. There is another house for somebody in my neighbourhood, and it is just perfect.

Let me talk about the digital nomads changes. Now, how exciting is that. I want to take this opportunity to invite every future potential digital nomad to Hawke's Bay, because it's currently 30 degrees in Hawke's Bay right now. What a place to be a digital nomad. I had someone just say to me, "Oh, hang on. It's not like Bali." Well, actually, it is a bit. Ha, ha! We've got some pretty good temperatures. It's pretty nice. But we—

Stuart Smith: The food's better.

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

But at the end of the day, everything we are doing is about growing the economy. We need to stimulate our very, very much suffering hospitality industry. Because ever since COVID-19, they have not had the belief in them that they can give us what we need as a country. Because if you look at the restaurants that you have in your region, they are there because of tourism. We are able to go to our amazing Italian restaurants, Indian restaurants, Pasifika restaurants because our tourist economy props them up. And we are opening the doors to more and it is so exciting. Because if you grow the economy, you grow incomes. And if you grow incomes, you actually grow the superannuation as well. It's about time people realised those on-flowing effects of the decisions that we make because it is exciting.

Now, I've got some even more exciting examples of economic growth in my electorate. You might not realise that in the small little humming industrial area of Onekawa, there are some amazing international businesses that are absolutely taking the world on from a small industrial area in Napier. Let's take Kwetta, for example, formally Red Phase. They've just been in the paper for—very shortly after the Prime Minister's state of the nation address talking about our focus on investment and on growing the economy and taking our businesses global—securing $17.5 million to take their business to the next stage.

Now, you might go, "What is Kwetta?" Kwetta is an amazing business. They create electric vehicle (EV) superchargers. Oh, that's another idea that we had as the National Party Government. Isn't that wonderful—supercharging our EV-charging network. Now these guys are actually making it happen. And they don't just sell to New Zealand. They sell to Australia. They sell to the European Union. They are global. Now, they have a big partnership now with Z Energy. And if you see more Z Energy superchargers popping up around your neighbourhood, you know they are being built in Onekawa in Napier. Now, these guys are doing amazing work and the sky is the limit for them. They don't look at Hawke's Bay and go, "Oh, this is our limit." They look at the world. And that is what we need to be doing with our businesses, and that is what our Government is saying is we are here to back them. Because Kwetta support other local businesses.

Let me just take you down the road to another little local business called IMS. Now, IMS—I was in there the other day—they do manufacturing services specifically for helicopter parts. But what else do they do? They build Kwetta's supercharging EV shells. Isn't that amazing. So it all stays in our local economy. We sell internationally, we bring that money back to New Zealand, and we power ourselves up. So a little company in Hawke's Bay called Kwetta, which is able to power up our grid by 10 times and get more power than is otherwise there to anyone else, then being built by IMS fabricators, who are creating what's called Cloudburst and Ground-Effects, which is a fertiliser bucket and a fire attachment to drop water on fires which, obviously, for America is a very big deal at the moment in LA. They are putting $100,000 at least a year into going overseas and pitching their products to the rest of the world. Now, that's an incredible investment.

And when I went to meet with them the other day, they said, "This is the best announcement you could have made to stop work with Callaghan Innovation and get money going into Invest New Zealand and get the investment coming into our businesses. Because we are open for business and we want to get out there, but we want New Zealand to believe in us too." So these companies, they build our amazing conveyer belts. IMS has built the Taylor manufacturing conveyer belts. And Turners and Growers, who are putting the apples out of the orchard and through the conveyer belts and out into the world—all of this plays a part.

Now, might I bring your attention in the last minute that I've got here to talk about Rocket Lab. Now, Rocket Lab's another international example who are absolutely unlimited. In fact, the sky is certainly not the limit; the sky is beyond the limit. Now, they're launching rockets from Māhia Peninsula, which I always like to take the opportunity to remind everybody is in the Napier electorate. So we are launching rockets out of the Napier electorate, and, boy, we are lucky. But Rocket Lab also has the opportunity to bring tourism. We have people coming from far and wide to watch rockets get launched in Hawke's Bay.

Now, how lucky are we that just down the road Mōrere hot springs has reopened, which had been closed for years because the Department of Conservation didn't have a focus on commercial activity. Well, we have brought that back. And we have indications from our Minister of Conservation that we are out there to mean business, and conservation and tourism go hand in hand. So let me tell you: things are happening in Napier, and it all comes down to the direction that we have from our wonderful Prime Minister, and we are here to grow the economy.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: The next call is a split call—the Rt Hon Adrian Rurawhe.

Rt Hon ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. I stand here today in support of the amendment to the motion moved by the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, and I do so for a number of reasons. You see, the Government has choices that it makes that impact on the economy. And I say to members across the House, it has made some choices that have impacted negatively on the economy. In particular, we heard the Hon Judith Collins telling us that the Government can't do this and it can't do that—it can't just turn on a tap of money, but it did turn on the tap of money. It turned on that tap of money for landlords—$2.9 billion of it. The impact on the economy has been huge. We've been in a recession for nine months out of the 12 months that this Government has been governing, and, I say to the House, it needs to do a lot better—so much better for all of our people—to improve the economy.

The economy and the choices that the Government has made has impacted negatively on a lot of people. I'll give you an example. Well, the Government can't go and save all these private companies, but it has a responsibility to make certain that the environment for those companies to exist—like in Timaru, like in Ruapehu, like in Tokoroa—so that they have the best economy to be able to survive. In actual fact, if you have a look at the impacts of the decisions that this Government has made, it has negatively impacted and has caused huge unemployment. That's why we see so many people leaving Aotearoa to go to Australia. There won't be a single person in this Parliament that does not know young people and older people who have left because there are no opportunities for them here.

And I say to the Government that it has failed. They have failed to address the cost of living. Inflation has reduced after COVID-19. It was trending downwards anyway. But why are we in a recession? That's the question that I'm asking, and the only answer I can see from the factual information that I've received is that they have made choices that have impacted on the economy negatively. And I say they need to do better.

I, also, am very concerned about discussions that I've had with people who work within the public sector who are inundated with work after many of their colleagues have been made redundant. And so it looks to me like we're in a similar situation to where we've been before. We're in phase one of the privatisation journey, I believe, and phase one starts: start defunding. And what's happening out there. The work is still coming in. There is a backlog of work in those Government departments and ministries. Things are not getting done. In about 12 months' time—maybe less—the Government's going to tell us the system is broken; we need to sell it. That's what's coming. That will be phase two, and then phase three will be somewhere around the next election. So I say to members across the House, that's not good enough.

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

I point also to a number of other things that the Government has made, like I can't figure out why they cancelled ferries just to buy more expensive ones that are smaller—things like that. They just don't make sense. I think the Government is lost in their own theories of how things should be operated, and, like they say, they can't see the forest for the trees. Kia ora.

INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri): I have a very clear message for this Government and this Prime Minister: Southerners can't stand this Government, quite frankly. And that is the message that is coming through loudly and clearly. That is the message that led to the appointment of a brand-new Minister for the South Island. And yet, crazily, the new Dunedin Hospital does not seem to be in his top three priorities. Very strange indeed.

And the reason that Southerners can't stand this Government is because Southerners believe in trust, in trusted relationships, and this Government cannot be trusted. It's callous. It's been callous to the disabled community: there are people in Invercargill who are very activated and leading some of the best work in New Zealand around the cuts to the disabled community. We've seen the languishing of the Dunedin Hospital; we've seen the ferry decision, as alluded to by my colleague. And not only does the ferry decision disadvantage South Islanders but, actually, in my own electorate of Taiere, with the Hillside Workshops—$105 million investment from the Labour Government, the revitalisation of the local economy, jobs for young people, that is all now in jeopardy thanks to the lack of decisions and the crazy decisions, quite frankly, of this finance Minister.

Southerners don't like this Government because Southerners, many of us hail from Scotland, and the Scots are known to be very good with money and with fiscal prudence and we are not seeing that from this Government. In fact, what we have seen is not only the worst austerity since 1991 but cuts and economic mismanagement that have led to record people leaving to go to Australia.

We don't trust this Government because of the decisions that are affecting our own communities. For example, Kāinga Ora have just announced the mothballing, if you like, of a housing project in Kaikorai Valley, and the regional manager actually wrote in the letter that there had been a lot of money spent on doing plans and on doing redesigns and yet there is no return on that investment, it is absolutely wasted and down the drain.

Today, at one of the schools in my electorate, there were kids that went hungry, who couldn't get their school lunches because this Government have botched up the school lunch system so badly that the schools were not on the list of the new provider. So the school had to cook up some sausages. Some of the kids have gone home hungry, we've been told, and if you see what they were served yesterday, it didn't look very appealing.

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

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

But the hospital's the big one. Last year, the hospital and cost of living were level pegging in our research. It is by far and away the biggest issue in the electorate. People need a decent hospital and they're really sick of the financial mismanagement, the haemorrhaging of $120,000 to $150,000 per day that this National Government doesn't make a decision. The medical school in Dunedin will get kneecapped if there isn't a decent hospital, and we've already seen that none of the business cases for the Waikato Medical School stack up, and they put in jeopardy the Otago University programme.

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

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just before I take the next speaker, interjections are fine but when someone's speaking, having people from each side of the house literally yelling at each other is not an interjection. So can we just—I know it's a tense debate, but we might just have to restrain ourselves a wee bit.

Hon ANDREW HOGGARD (Minister for Biosecurity): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Look, it's good to be back, though if I could suggest everyone stops asking me how my holiday was—I had a long list of farm work to do and barely touched most of that list.

But it wasn't just me; I'd like to show some appreciation to the Ministry for Primary Industries staff who also had to do a lot of work over the summer holidays. Not only was there still the work required to manage the bird flu incursion but also we had a fruit fly show up—thankfully only one. Also MPI welfare staff were also busy over the summer break as well, so appreciations for all their hard work.

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

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

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

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

Now, why is there not much happening? Well, it's because they can't access enough gravel to do the work to build the road. Why can't they access the gravel? Well, because the council won't reissue itself a consent to allow for gravel extraction to occur from riverbanks. Instead, these contractors must now try and bring in gravel from further away—higher emissions, higher costs, slows everything down. This is the challenge of our resource management system where we just can't say yes to things; we can only say no. A council can't even say yes to itself; it says no to itself.

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

It's not just about replacing the broken things this year. I'm really looking forward to getting into work on biodiversity credits. They are a tool that has been talked about. Farmers are keen on it. We have a nation of farmers that have done more for biodiversity on their farms compared to anywhere else in the world, with little or without any subsidies whatsoever compared to other nations. Yes, other nations' farmers are doing biodiversity work, but they're subsidised to help them do it. Ours do it out of love and passion, and this year I want to be able to work on being able to provide some rewards to them for doing that.

Finally, I just want to touch on food safety. It's one of the portfolios I've got. Last year, I heard anecdotally from a number of food businesses about regulation, red tape, costs that were being imposed on them. We saw the Business New Zealand report that talked about that and also just talking to bigger businesses about the challenges they've got. So this year, my big mission over the next few months is to get out there, talk to small and large food businesses, really get an understanding, get into the detail of what regulations are needed and what aren't, and make sure that we have a system that is not duplicative, that makes it easy for businesses to get food to all the customers around the world but also maintain our world-leading food safety standards.

This year is a key year for our Government. We need to be driving that growth forward, and the key thing here is reducing red tape. We need to put a slasher through it, and that's what I hope to do in my portfolio areas. Thank you.

SIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you very much, Minister Hoggard, for setting the scene of why we need to put the Resource Management Act (RMA) through a shredder.

This Government has had a hugely productive year in 2024. We've set some big wheels in motion and we've laid some important foundations for growth, and in 2025, New Zealanders and those looking to New Zealand from overseas are going to see some of the results of the hard work that we've already done. But there's more to do.

The Prime Minister has made the point very clearly that New Zealand, over many decades, has become a "no" culture. People who pride themselves as being pioneers and are used to saying "Yes, we can." have found themselves tied up in red and green tape. Nothing exemplifies this more than the example that Minister Hoggard just gave of a council unable to issue itself a consent to get gravel out of a river—gravel that is a flood risk and that needs to be removed. Gravel will continue to build up in rivers because—guess what?—rivers are at the bottom of the hill, with that big hill being a big mountain like the Tararuas. These are natural processes, and the resource management system needs to be fundamentally reformed so we can take advantage and make the best use of our natural resources, not find that we're trying to fight floods and fires and get things built with one hand tied behind our backs.

There's an example I could draw on in Auckland, as well. Now, believe it or not, big cities like Auckland, of over a million people, produce thousands and thousands of tonnes of waste every day. Some of my colleagues in the Green Party might say, "Well, what about zero waste? Why don't you stop it?" Well, it turns out that despite all of their friends—Te Papatūānuku—we haven't been able to stop producing waste and putting it in landfills, and that is why Auckland needs a new landfill.

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

The people wanting to advance the consent for the Auckland regional landfill have spent tens of millions of dollars and have spent over half a decade trying to explain to regulators and decision makers what's going to happen if 5,000 tonnes of waste a day doesn't have a landfill home. If it can't be collected, your city is going to grind to a halt.

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

SIMON COURT: Steve Abel says, "Well, why don't we burn it?" Can you imagine trying to get a consent for waste to energy under the current RMA? There are too many people allowed to object to these developments. These are absolutely vital pieces of infrastructure that we need in order to keep our cities operating.

Too many people are allowed to object on all kinds of grounds—spiritual, environmental, traffic—but, in the end, these facilities have to be built, and it's not just landfills. It's renewable energy, it's bridges, it's roads, and it's water and waste-water treatment plants that the resource management system needs to allow to proceed. That is why in 2025, in my role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the resource management reform Minister Chris Bishop, I'll be working on replacing the resource management system based on property rights that recognises that our system is fundamentally broken, and while we can make some tweaks to the current system to ease the pain, we can't train the Resource Management Act donkey into being the racehorse we need to unlock economic growth.

The new system will focus on property rights because when people have stronger property rights, they can say yes to investment and they can say yes to innovation and they can say yes to hiring more workers, based on being able to develop their property. A replacement system is going to eliminate, as far as practical, the opportunity for every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and random, to turn up and object to vital infrastructure and resource developments.

Our expert advisory group has delivered a blueprint to replace the Resource Management Act before Christmas, and I look forward to working with Minister Bishop on turning that blueprint into a true reform based on property rights. It's that kind of initiative that is going to unlock our economic potential as a nation so we can get on with building, get on with developing infrastructure, and get on with unlocking our economy, which is so desperately needed. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Thank you. I understand this is a split call—is that correct? Scott Willis.

SCOTT WILLIS (Green): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's 2025, but Kiwis, hearing the Prime Minister's vision that the Government is going for growth, would be right in thinking that we're simply doing a re-run of the 1990s. I heard a confused soap salesman hoping like hell that selling his story will make people buy his dud product before the business goes bust—all soap and suds, empty of substance, ultimately leaving Kiwis with nothing but dirty dishwater. That's all the Prime Minister could muster yesterday.

But we do have a tremendous opportunity in Aotearoa, and I'm heartened by the passion for people and planet that we encounter all around the motu, both tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti, who all understand that we can't afford the myth of limitless growth or limitless resources. People understand the folly of believing that technology is always going to be there to save us. There are so many opportunities, but this Government seems not only completely disconnected but are also unable to deliver.

Take energy. The Prime Minister told us that, this year, they will progress legislation to enhance our energy and electricity security and implement an offshore renewable energy permit. All good. If only there was some depth to his words, some connection to community or industry to unlock that potential. So far, the Government has missed its own deadlines to deliver a National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation. They said it would be delivered six months ago. They've missed their own deadline to deliver a national energy strategy. They said it would be delivered by Christmas. And, more than that, so far the Government has said no to any restructure of the electricity market, despite an already prepared bill in the ballot that would enable innovation and competition in both retail and generation markets and help drive down electricity prices for consumers.

Instead, the Government is looking to attract more overseas investment. How's that going? Well, BlackRock, the largest investment fund on the planet with $19 trillion under management, pulled out and left SolarZero at the end of November, two years after purchasing it. Staff contractors in the New Zealand Green Investment Fund have been badly burnt—no holiday pay, no contractors paid. In total around $4 to 5 million is owed, and New Zealand Green Investment Finance is potentially out of pocket by $100-plus million. Many of those contractors out of pocket are small family-owned businesses. Around $1 million is owed to these 30 or so businesses. All up, some 250 families are impacted by BlackRock's exit, and nearly all employees and contractors spent the Christmas period on the unemployment benefit. The Prime Minister has not even responded to requests from affected staff and contractors.

Is this the growth that the Prime Minister is advocating for? Growing unemployment? Growing business hardship? This Government simply can't see that an economy is not separate from the natural world. The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. The Prime Minister appears to have been drinking some of the same Diet Coke that Trump drinks, and he's parroting his "drill, baby, drill" talk. But what I want the Prime Minister to know is there is no growth on a dead planet.

To date, all we've seen from this Government is a lost opportunity to provide a sustainable pathway forward. They talk about a culture of no and have said no to rail-enabled ferries to connect the South. They've said no to the southern hospital, forgetting their pre-election promise. They've said no to clean, healthy rivers. And, this summer, one of our favourite camping spots by the Manuherikia was filled with toxic algae. They've said no to any meaningful emissions reduction plan, placing their faith in unproven technology, demonstrating that this Government has now become a modern-day cargo cult.

HŪHANA LYNDON (Green): Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. I stand to speak on community. I stand to reflect on the way that mahi tahi has been rolling out across Aotearoa over the Christmas break, where we saw over 300,000 submissions come in on the Treaty principles bill. But further, mahi tahi didn't stop there. Mahi tahi's been going on for generations because there's Māori, non-Māori, tauiwi, tangata Tiriti—we work together every day. And on the weekend, we saw a perfect example of tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti standing together in Bream Bay to say "no". No to sand mining in Bream Bay; no to the fast track, because our community stood and said fast track is a fast track to destruction, and 2,000 whānau, 2,000 mokopuna, 2,000 kaumātua, residents, and community stood and said it's a fast track to destruction in Bream Bay. The community has been mobilised.

We have over 8,000 signatures right now on a petition that sees community and tangata whenua stand side by side and say, "Not in our rohe. Not in our rohe will sand mining be allowed on our ākau in Bream Bay, te Paepae o Tū." Because that's unity, that's standing for te taiao, that's standing for our tomorrow. Because if McCallum Brothers gets let loose in Bream Bay, we can only see the destruction of ngā taonga o Tangaroa, just like they did in Pākiri.

And I speak to those members of the House that know the Pākiri community and know the destruction of 80 years of sand mining in the Pākiri community. In April last year, McCallum Brothers were rejected by the Environment Court, and now they've turned their attention to Bream Bay. Our community and tangata whenua say kāhore, they said kāhore clearly on the weekend and said "no". As a community, they say fast track is a fast track to destruction. That's what the community is saying and that's what tangata whenua are saying.

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

And they will mine and they will take the sand out of this community and impact ngā taonga o Tangaroa. The moana, the ability for these mokopuna to be able to train and enjoy, the ability for us to hī ika in this important kainga of Whangārei-Te-Rerenga-Parāoa.

But that's not the only fast track, no, no, no. We have six coming into Whangārei, six fast track projects of which we know that the community has also stood alongside tangata whenua before the environment commissioners and said "no" to Northport, and the commissioner said kāhore, and yet—there we go again—the fast track goes and lists Northport as a project and yet it's already lost, just like McCallum Brothers.

That's the problem, it's that we're putting profit before people and the environment. Our residents, our community of sand mining in Bream Bay can see through the haze, see through the rhetoric. They can see exactly what it is because, ultimately, we want to enjoy the ākau, we want to enjoy the moana and all of those taonga that we benefit from as community and as tangata whenua. And this community, these tangata whenua, are standing up right now—and it's going to continue on.

So what are we going to do? Continue to ignore the voice of community, if we're really talking about localism? Because fast track's closing the door on community. Fast track's not going to let the community have a say on these consents because it's all done without transparency. That's the problem with fast track, and it's coming to a neighbourhood near you, e te whānau. Be careful. The fast track's coming to get you and it's a fast track to destruction. Kia ora.

Hon JAMES MEAGER (Minister for the South Island): Well, thank you, Madam Speaker. Look, I just wanted to start my contribution on a slightly more serious and sombre note by acknowledging, of course, the passing at the start of the year of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming. I want to send my best wishes and thoughts to her family and, of course, to the family of Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay as well. On the Justice Committee we have a lot to do with the Police family and it's always a tragedy when someone loses their life in the act of service for this country. So I wanted to acknowledge Lyn, and just to note that I am intending to make my first visit to Nelson as a Minister tomorrow and also hopefully next week as well, so I hope I get a chance to pay my respects to the police in person.

Can I also just take the opportunity this year to acknowledge Nikki Kaye, a good friend of mine, and, of course, a friend of mine, Chris Allen, who passed away in a tragic accident at home last year.

Madam Speaker, happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to colleagues across the House, and, of course, happy New Year to our Prime Minister, and to endorse wholeheartedly his statement and to reject the terrible amendment to that statement. I support the Prime Minister's statement, of course, and the Prime Minister's mission to say yes—to make us a country to say yes. Say yes, Francisco Hernandez. Say yes to growth, say yes to more tourism, say yes to more exports, say yes to more food and fibre in Mid Canterbury and South Canterbury, say yes to more technology, say yes to more productivity, say yes to more jobs. And speaking of more jobs, the Prime Minister is so enthusiastic about creating new jobs, he has created several new jobs, and some of those I want to talk about today.

Of course, I'll start off by the most significant new job that I can think of, and it's the promotion to chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee of Cameron Brewer. A flawless performance this morning. And I'll tell you what—oh, I can't actually say what I would like to say because I'm sure it was done behind closed doors, but what a wonderful performance Mr Brewer had and I'm sure he was roundly supported by all members of that committee.

Of course, the other new job I wanted to talk briefly about was the job that the Prime Minister asked me to do for him and for the country. I think it was last Saturday now, at the Black Clash at Hagley Oval, when I got a call from the Prime Minister and he asked me to step up to his team and become part of his ministry. I'm very proud to play that role and I'm very proud to be the country's first Minister for the South Island, along with my ministerial responsibilities for hunting and fishing, for youth, and associate transport.

I was very upset to hear the comments of the Leader of the Opposition saying I was far too young to be handed such a portfolio. I was just so disappointed about the message that sends to tens of thousands of very young people like me, and like Katie Nimon and Tom Rutherford and all of the young people across the country, that they are not old enough or experienced enough to have a say in our democracy. I was so disappointed in that, but, as the Minister for Youth, I will be doing my best to make sure that the message to our young people is: "Don't listen to that disappointing Christopher Hipkins. He was a youth once, he remembers what it was like. Listen to us. Listen to the support that we will give you. You can engage in the process. You can be the Minister for the South Island too, despite being so young."

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

So I say to all the members of the Labour Party: embrace the fact that we have voice and representation for the South Island across the aisles. I am looking forward to working with every single member of Parliament who wants to achieve our goal of growing the South Island, growing the South Island economy, growing more jobs, more hope, more opportunity for the South, because that's what New Zealand needs. New Zealand needs growth across the board from the South Island, the North Island, Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, Kāpiti Island, the Auckland Islands, and whatever islands want to become part of the South Island; the growth is what we need.

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

In terms of what we want to do down in the South Island, nothing is more important than the food and fibre that we grow down there. Food security is vital. It is absolutely vital in 2025. It is vital for the rest of the world. We are a nation of 5 million that feeds 45 million. It is absolutely vital that we continue to do our part in agriculture, and the food and fibre sector is crucial to not only our success but also to the world's success. Feeding the world is what we do best. Think of the first shipment of frozen meat leaving Port Chalmers in 1882. It sparked an absolute frenzy over in Britain, selling for twice as much as what you could get here in New Zealand. And, of course, Te Wai Pounamu has been exporting food across the world well before 1882. It will continue to do it well after 1882, well after 2025, and for as long as we want to continue playing our role to feed the world and to grow incomes and to have a country which is based on what we grow and what we sell and what we do and what we make. We'll always be exporting food to the world. I hope the parties across the aisle will always support that.

We do need to do more. We definitely need to do more. We need to do more to support our agricultural sector in terms of supporting water storage. I'm talking about the Waimea Dam, I'm talking about the Klondyke ponds, I'm talking about rules to make sure that irrigation and water storage becomes a permanent activity and that farmers don't need to jump through hoops and red tape and court cases in order to actually get access to sustainable levels of water so that they can grow the food and fibre that we need to feed ourselves, to feed the world, and to get it around the world.

We need to do more in Resource Management Act reform. We need to do more in renewable energy. I look forward to members across the House coming down to the South Island and opening up the largest solar farm at Lauriston. You are all welcome to cut any ribbon of any colour. I don't care how big the scissors are, but I invite you to come down to Lauriston, open up that solar farm and see what it does for renewable energy in the South.

I want to talk also briefly in the, well, 2½ minutes I've got left, about tourism because tourism is the other major contributor to our economy. We heard the Minister for Tourism talking about how it is our second largest exporter, and in terms of the South Island, we well and truly punch above our weight.

The South Island is 25 percent of our population, but we produce 40 percent of the international tourism spend, 31 percent of the domestic tourism spend, and 43 percent of the guest nights in the country are spent in the South Island. So we will play our part in Nicola Willis' growth story and I hope members across the House will continue to support more tourism, because if people like Ginny Andersen don't want tourists to come to Wellington, if people like the member for Ikaroa-Rawhiti don't want people to come and visit the East Coast of the North Island, we'll have them in the South Island. We'll have them down on the Otago Peninsula, we'll have them down in Akaroa, we'll have them down in Timaru and Milford Sound and Nelson and Tasman and in the mighty West Coast. We will have the tourists there. Because every time you get a tourist there spending tourist dollars, that is money into the back pockets of hard-working Kiwis. That's money and income for the cafe owners, for the retailers, for the taxi drivers. When people say no to tourism, they are saying no to food on the table of those hard-working New Zealanders.

So I very much look forward to joining the Mayor of Queenstown and making my pitch to him as to how we can work together to ensure that we get more tourists into Queenstown, into Central Otago, and do it in a way which meets the infrastructure needs and meets the infrastructure concerns, using things like the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy, using things like the general taxation pot and the funding that the Government provides, and creating those regional and local deals.

When you do come to the South Island, make sure you go hunting and fishing because we have some of the most beautiful lakes and rivers in the country. We have the most beautiful scenic game tour guides and blocks. What I say to people who want to come hunting and fishing is do make sure you get your licence. Go to your local licence retailer and get an annual fishing licence so that you can go fishing anywhere in the country and play your part to making sure that we have sustainable fisheries and habitats.

Look, I could go on for hours and hours and hours about the benefits and the merits of the South Island, but I wanted to conclude by saying this: this isn't about North versus South; it is about the whole country playing its part. It's about Taranaki - King Country playing its part. It's about the Far North. It's about Te Atatu. It's about the mighty Hamilton playing its part in the Government's growth agenda. So, I'm very proud to be part of this Government, I'm very proud to be serving my country, and I look forward to working with all members across the House in doing so.

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

Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Fact: National is pulling $2 billion out of the public health system right now to pay for its tax cuts for the well-off, for landlords, and for tobacco companies, and that has real-life consequences in our communities. In my community in West Auckland, at Waitakere Hospital last year, one-quarter of all the shifts were below the safe staffing levels for nurses. I'll say that again: one-quarter of all the shifts at our local hospital in West Auckland were below the safe staffing levels, at a time when Health New Zealand had instituted a hiring freeze on nurses. What's more, the emergency department at Waitakere Hospital in West Auckland, more often than not, according to the nurses there, has twice the number of patients that it has capacity for. This is a direct consequence of National's austerity policies in the health system.

They've also restored the $5 prescription fee at the counter, meaning that more people will pick and choose what medicines they can afford, they will get sicker more quickly, and they will end up in hospital. The other day, I was at the Te Atatu South Medical Centre, and the staff there explained to me that they are having to put up their fees; 97 percent of all the ProCare GP practices in Auckland are putting up their fees, some as high as $70. Why? Because National is underfunding the subsidies for GP practices, and GP practices cannot maintain their services with the low level of funding they're getting. As a result, GP practices are closing their books. People cannot get in; they cannot enrol at their local GP. GP practices are cutting services like after-hour services, and the result of this is that more people are putting off going to the doctor. They can't get in to see the GP; they're either turning up at the hospital emergency department, and often clogging that up, or they're simply not getting the treatment they need, so they are getting sicker more quickly and, ultimately, they are paying the cost for National's funding cuts. It's a false economy, as always, because people end up getting sicker and having to go to hospital.

National is also—and this is something that's not yet widely known—cutting the support for home help for older people. The other day, I spent time with Joop and Hendrika Lankreier of Henderson. Joop's 97; Hendrika, his wife, is 93. They've both recently sustained injuries that make it very difficult for them to do even basic housework like vacuuming, but they live on their own in their own home. They want to continue living independently. It's Government policy, and has been for ages, to encourage people to age at home and look after themselves and be self-sufficient, but to do that, people like Joop and Hendrika, they need a helping hand. They need to be able to get home help in so they can continue to live independently in their own home. But Joop and Hendrika got a letter from Health New Zealand saying, "We are no longer funding home help for people like you who are aged and living at home." Joop was furious when I talked to him. He's 97; he said, "I've paid taxes all my life. I expect this kind of support, and when I need it, it's not there." This is incredibly short-sighted, and it's another example of National underfunding the health system. It's death by a thousand cuts. It's classic National: run down the public health system, introduce fees, cut the services that are available, and then, when the service is on its knees, you start talking about privatisation.

Only the other day we had the man who will be the next Deputy Prime Minister raising the prospect of privatisation of the public health system. We have a public health system that by international standards delivers high-quality care with fair access for all. It's not perfect, but we have to look after it. These economic geniuses on that side of the House are putting the public health system at risk, and I want to say this: the people of New Zealand will not stand for it.

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

In Eden Park, there has been a restrictive policy on concerts, which went to a number that was dictated by a resource management process. I live in that area, and what I did, as any responsible local MP would do, is I surveyed the members of that community about how they felt. And they weren't saying no—they weren't saying no. I surveyed and, like, one in nine people responded. It was a good survey. They were very responsive to the survey and they were interested and they were positive about the move in concerts to the 13 concerts. They were positive about that move because they know that that's helpful for the small businesses in their community. They wanted things like more events in that stadium, so it was used well.

But what I don't expect is that their interests are utterly ignored, that the Prime Minister, when he's down in the polls, will ignore any interest they've got. He's not putting it next to his beach home in Onetangi Beach and he's not putting it next to his house either. He's putting it next to my community and saying that they must pay a price, without thinking about that community, because he's down in the polls. It's not necessarily a logical thing to do for small business, which is suffering in Auckland. We have a recession in Auckland that's very serious. But if we want to help small businesses, I suggest that we do some things that are really active—(a) we involve the community in our decisions, and (b) we think about the things that happened last year when this Government actually steamrollered through and retracted a law that would have meant that the small businesses in my area got paid and without delay by big businesses.

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

What is wrong with a Government that favours big business actually taking the money that is not owed from small businesses? What is wrong with them? What is wrong with a business that will do that rather than look after those small businesses? Instead, it would rather trade the rights of an area and trade any kind of cooperation and localism, which, by the way, it promised when it was going into Government. It trades that, it disrespects that, it doesn't involve people. It runs the risk of a community that was saying yes to more concerts, that was involved and active and engaged in it—it runs the risk of souring its relationship with all those people, and, quite frankly, it's as contemptuous as a statement which called my constituents swivel-eyed. That's how contemptuous it is.

It is not OK. It is arrogant behaviour, it is out of touch, and it says that the people in my area don't count. It doesn't help the Auckland economy; it is ham-fisted; and it is very, very unfair on my community. I'll be standing up for them.

DAVID MacLEOD (National—New Plymouth): I am pleased to provide my comments on the significant strides our Government has made over the past year and our bold plans for the future. The last few years have been very challenging for New Zealand—there's no doubt about that—and it is still tough for very many people in our communities today. But we are now seeing the early signs—the green shoots, as Cameron Brewer puts it—of recovery and growth directly as a result of the very busy 2024 that this coalition Government has had.

When we were elected, the Government inherited a New Zealand that faced high inflation, high interest rates, and rapidly rising debt. However, since our Government took office, we have been acutely focused on reducing the cost of living pressures and have implemented policies that have led to a drop in inflation, interest rates falling, and have quelled the rapidly increasing debt on our balance sheet.

Budget 2024 provided much-needed relief to families across our country, particularly to middle-income earners, and the FamilyBoost programme, which has been taken up by so many, has helped also. There's also good news ahead, with business confidence for consumers and businesses on the rise, and growth is expected to rise to a healthy level this year.

Our focus this year has been clearly articulated as unleashing economic growth, or as once again the MP for the upper north says, "Growth, growth, and growth." We aim to create an environment where businesses can grow and thrive, hire more staff, and invest in their future. This includes comprehensive reforms such as the fast-track legislation and reforming the Resource Management Act and changes to the health and safety rules.

In 2025, we have already, in what must be a record time, signed a trade deal with the UAE, eliminating tariffs on 98.5 percent of our exports. Along with recently announced changes, we are working on attracting more investment in science and technology for it to deliver what New Zealanders want and what New Zealand businesses need.

We know that high-quality infrastructure is also critical for economic growth. As already mentioned, we have passed the fast-track legislation which is to expedite 149 nationally and regionally significant projects. These include new homes, roads, and renewable electricity projects. As I've also mentioned, we are overhauling the Resource Management Act to make it easier and cheaper to build and get things done—doesn't that make sense?

Our Going for Housing Growth Plan aims at increasing housing availability by strengthening planning rules and removing unnecessary barriers that frustrate so many, and thank you to the Hon Chris Penk for your work on that space.

Another area of note is delivering better results for the $70 billion invested annually in social services. The Social Investment Agency will establish a Social Investment Fund to test different ideas and improve Government contracts with social service providers. Our goal is to break the cycle of disadvantage that challenges so many and ensure that every New Zealander benefits from strong economic growth.

Everybody knows the health system is far from what we want and, indeed, what we expect, and we are taking steps to stabilise it. We have reintroduced priority health targets and replaced the Health New Zealand board with a commissioner to provide service delivery and financial control.

In education, we are focused on raising achievement and closing the equity gap. We have set an ambitious target for student attendance and curriculum levels and we are rewriting national curricula to help with consistency and, ultimately, success.

Restoring law and order is a top priority. We are investing in more front-line police officers, greater rehabilitation for offenders, and prison capacity. We have also passed legislation to crack down on criminal gangs and introduced measures to reduce youth offending. Our goal is clearly centred on safer communities for all.

Our Government is committed to taking bold action for a prosperous future for New Zealand. We are moving from a former Government that was delivering no and slow for our economy to an economy based on yes. We are focused and we will deliver. Together, we can build a country of aspiration, ambition, and opportunity. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

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

Motion agreed to.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: This debate is adjourned and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House will resume at 7.30 p.m. this evening.

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

###

Sitting date: 30 January 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 29 January.

SPEAKER: I might just take a short pause while those who have to leave the House are able to do so rapidly, quietly, and without discussion.

Hon TAMA POTAKA (Associate Minister of Housing):

[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

Twelve months ago, the Prime Minister delivered his first state of the nation speech and asserted Aotearoa New Zealand as the best country on this side of Papatūānuku—planet Earth—and any other planet, for that matter. When he wakes in the morning, he's thinking about the country we are going to create for our own tamariki and mokomoko to live in. We won't shy away from the challenges that have arisen like rain clouds hung over a storm that hung over our incoming Government: rampant inflation; out-of-control interest rates, with the highest level in more than a decade putting more pressure on whānau throughout the country.

But the Prime Minister made it clear that we will be making tough choices. Tough choices would be made to set us on a path of economic growth to improve the lives of Māori and, indeed, all New Zealanders. We won't wait 16 years and we've started to deliver some progress well within 16 months: growth, forecast to reach over 2 percent in 2025; business and consumer confidence rising, with average mortgage interest rates falling for the first time in over three years; and whānau seeing key reforms in housing, infrastructure, health and safety laws, and planning rules that will drive productivity and empower local businesses.

It's primarily through strong economic growth that we will need to lift incomes, deliver quality public services, and improve equality of opportunity and equal citizenship for Māori. Many cohorts of Māori have disproportionate challenges with health, housing, and education.

National-led Governments in the past have worked very hard to deliver better outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders and on Treaty issues. We started the process 30 years ago with the historic Tainui settlement in Waikato and have negotiated many, many settlements since then. We need to crack on and deliver more of those. In the last year, we have advanced eight Treaty settlements with the stewardship of Minister Metekōura Goldsmith and I look forward soon to delivering the Ō-Rākau bill, which will return the land to the tīpuna and iwi at Ō-Rākau and those that fought there.

Completing Treaty settlements is a priority for this Kāwanatanga. They're critical to help facilitate the future prosperity of iwi, hapū, and all New Zealanders. You can see, in Waikato, in particular, Kirikiriroa, the amazing work that Waikato-Tainui have been doing not only to support the growth, health, wealth, and wellbeing of their own people but also of the entire region and the entire country—amazing potential.

But think about this: it is reported that the economic delta, the difference of the Māori dimensions of the New Zealand economy compared to the rest of the New Zealand economy is around 60 percent on both a revenue per capita indicator and an asset per capita indicator. If we get to equality of opportunity, that amounts to a nearly $40 billion gap in revenue and a nearly $140 billion asset gap. Narrowing this delta, this economic delta, in our view will contribute significantly to Māori household incomes and the productivity of iwi and Māori assets and to tax revenue, and reduce spending on welfare and social services.

We aim to facilitate better conditions for Māori economic growth using levers that align with improving GDP per capita and reducing legislative and regulatory burdens: in places like Māori land, improving the legislation, facilitating change there and helping with better productivity; effectively engaging with more iwi and Māori organisations and businesses who seek to make a massive contribution to the infrastructure re-imagination in New Zealand; and, of course, the productivity of iwi- and Māori-owned businesses, particularly in high-export markets.

We are on the right path to supporting growth. As we know, over 20 significant iwi- or Māori-led partner projects are in the fast-track process, spanning a variety of industries that will help rebuild the economy, boost renewable energy, grow infrastructure, develop aquaculture and mining, and build homes to fix the housing crisis. Like the Beachlands South development, which many of our whanaunga iwi who are here today are invested in out on the coast from Clevedon; the Muriwhenua aquaculture project up in Te Tai Tokerau, involving many of the Te Hiku area iwi; the Ngāti Waewae housing project in Arahura; and the Ngāi Tahu industrial land development in Christchurch—all part of the fast-track process.

We seek to facilitate better conditions for boosting that economic growth and will fire up Aotearoa New Zealand to be a small leading advanced nation with greater equality of opportunity. We will not achieve that if we don't support Māori economic growth in a prudent, reasonable, and absolutely passionate manner.

We're going to cut through red tape, make it easier to hire, expand, or launch new ventures, and I've got Minister Bayly who's really focused on doing that in the Companies Act. We're also seeking to grow partnerships in the housing space and recently announced $82 million in addition for housing projects across the motu, some of which are led by very close whanaunga of ours, for example, the whanaunga brother of the member for Te Tairāwhiti, Patrick Tangaere, and George Reedy on the East Coast doing some housing down at Kaiti. Kia ora. Thank you. Our Going for Housing Growth plan will see affordable homes to be built, planning rules simplified, and major projects fast-tracked.

We also know that a lot of whānau continue to do it very tough under the cost of living crisis we've inherited, and Māori are disproportionately affected by that. It's our responsibility as the Government, as representatives of regions and people throughout this country to grow equality of opportunity and equal citizenship for whānau and for Māori. This year, we'll continue to implement the social investment approach under the wise guidance of Minita Willis, Manu Pūtea, to drive better results for Government's investment in social services and improving outcomes for whānau.

Growing equality of opportunity means working harder to break cycles of disadvantage, more hard evidence, more power in the hands of communities, and a much clearer focus on outcomes for money spent. It means taking a harder look at education and employment and committing ourselves to ambitious targets to do better. For example, we know that many, many of our young people, our tamariki find it hard to go to school. The attendance rate—40 percent of tamariki Māori didn't make it to school regularly last year. But we do know that in some instances and some examples, like Te Wharekura o Kirikiriroa in Hamilton, they have an amazing attendance rate—over 80 percent regular. This is in a decile 1 school over on Enderley near Five Cross Roads. Phenomenal.

We also know when we came to office, thousands of whānau members were living in dank, dark emergency housing, and we've worked very hard to ensure that tamariki and mokopuna come out of that housing, particularly those that have been there for 12 weeks or more. So we've seen after making decisions and really focusing ourselves on action, nearly 3,000 tamariki have come out of emergency housing in the last 12 months. I think that's progress. That's what I think. Others, they just like to make catcalls and criticisms, but I think that's progress.

Growing equality of opportunity—we need to support our māhita, our kaiako, and kura, and we've done that by helping with introducing a clearer curriculum, a better approach to structured literacy and numeracy under the Manu Mātauranga Erica Stanford, a smarter assessment in reporting, and improved teacher training. This has been rolled out in phases, of course. Starting in term 1 this year, schools and kura will teach the updated English and te reo rangatira curriculum grounded in evidence-based structured literacy. These are our future rangatira and we are here to tautoko them.

I look forward to the reopening, reimagination, and restart of Tipene, St Stephen's in Bombay on 6 February next week, and the mahi that Nathan Durie and Yvette McCausland-Durie have been undertaking over many years with the stewardship of Joe Harawira and others—Awi Riddell;

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—to ensure that that kura comes back into action.

Growing equality of opportunity means that when our tamariki and mokopuna graduate, we've created the right economic conditions for them to gain employment, own a business, earn a decent income, and set the course for their lives.

The challenge or one of the challenges we face when we talk about the equality of opportunities to equal citizenship is the social delta that exists between—

Hon Willie Jackson: What does that mean?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: —our communities and the rest of New Zealand. What that means, for the member from—oh, no; I don't think he actually represents the region, but what that means is that there is a difference of around $2.5 million to $5 million per annum if we move the income of Māori from here to the average income of the rest of New Zealand. Now, that is worth fighting for, because that enables our whānau to make careful choices about their health and wellbeing, their enterprise, their education, and a whole range of other matters. But ensuring that our whānau, our tamariki, our mokopuna are engaged in education, whether it be mātauranga Māori or some other mātauranga, is very important to narrow that delta.

We have potential. Actually, we've delivered on potential. We only have to go to places like Hamilton—Willie, you're allowed to come here sometimes. We're right in the middle of the Asia-Pacific, a liberal democracy with well-established institutions. We're a vibrant, multicultural, multi-iwi nation, actually, and we will build strong on our bicultural foundations.

As I said earlier on,

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

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

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

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

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

He replaced my friend—

SPEAKER: No, I'm going to stop the member there and remind him of the comment he made earlier in his speech that he doesn't get involved in this sort of personal politics that so many others do! So I'll hold him to that. We are debating, as he said, for this House to understand, the Prime Minister's Statement and I want to hear his response to that.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Well, my response to the statement is this. Why didn't the Prime Minister talk about Māori things? What I'm saying today is: look at who his Māori MPs are. Now, we're looking over there at Mr McLeod, and he replaced my good friend Dan Bidois. I mean, he's so promising and I think he's one of the best young Māori MPs around. So I want to apologise to Mr Bidois today, because I think I called him an Italian once and he was a Frenchman. But I know he's got a big future—I know he's got a big future.

Shane Reti's not here, though. He is the most principled of the Māori MPs—of that there is no doubt—because he didn't want to deliver this Government's terrible Health budget: underfunding, under-resourcing this country. Shane Reti is one of the best—one of the best—and I want to mihi to him today. I haven't had a chance to wish him all the very best.

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

Rawiri Waititi: Hēmi—James!

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

Rawiri Waititi: Matt Doocey's the best Māori over there!

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

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

But from a serious perspective, there's one Māori who deserves a mention today, and that is, of course, Mr Potaka's very good friend David Seymour. It is a shame on this Prime Minister and a disgrace in terms of this Government that they haven't put him in line. He deserves to be straightened out. I am so proud of our people and all New Zealanders who are coming forward in terms of these Treaty submissions. And we have a Prime Minister who doesn't mention the Treaty principles in his speech; all he can say is "We're the yes Government—we're the yes Government." Why doesn't he just put David Seymour in line? We think that Seymour's either wilfully blind or wilfully deaf because he consistently says "I don't know what they're talking about. Can someone explain it to me?" Hundreds, thousands of people are explaining it to him. They are saying very clearly "You are trying to break the special relationship that Māori had with the Crown. You are trying to break Article 2 rights." It's as simple as that.

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

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

SPEAKER: Remember that there are rules about—use the member's full name, not just the—

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

Hon Tama Potaka: Point of order—point of order.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh, now it's getting all touchy and sensitive. It's taken you a while.

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

Hon Tama Potaka: The allegation of a relationship that is completely fallacious should be rescinded.

SPEAKER: Yeah, I think that's a fair comment.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: OK. I don't want to really upset the Minister, but can I say—

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

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh withdraw. Apologise too? You want me to? I apologise to my good friend the Minister; I know it's a sensitive soul.

I really need just to come back, in my last couple of minutes, to this Prime Minister's speech being so important, so crucial. So we want some leadership here. We want him to manage the coalition. We want him to manage the ACT Party, who are causing mayhem out there in terms of New Zealanders at the moment. I'm so proud of all our people who are rolling up—wonderful submissions from people like Ani Mikaere; Kiritapu Allan this morning did a great submission, really, really good; Chris Finlayson—you know, right across the spectrum, we're getting these wonderful submissions. So get them in line and get your New Zealand First mates in line, Mr Speaker. They're causing mayhem right now.

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

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

Hon Member: Landlords.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: To landlords. But most of all, what we've heard lately, it's yes to privatisation. That's what this Prime Minister's said and he's saying "Oh, no, not in this term." We know more than anyone how bad that can go. We will never go down their track and we need a Prime Minister who will stand up and say no to privatisation, who will support New Zealanders, who will support hard-working Kiwis right across the spectrum who are in fear of that type of policy. We have seen Rogernomics in Hāwera, we've seen it in Pātea, we've seen it in Porirua, we've seen it in Māngere—New Zealanders struggling.

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

Hon SIMON WATTS (Minister of Revenue): I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.

Debate interrupted.

###

Sitting date: 11 February 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 30 January.

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

Last year, this Government put in significant effort to lay a foundation for growth, focusing on what matters most to hard-working New Zealanders. We delivered tax relief, putting more money in the back pockets of hard-working families—the first time in 14 years Kiwis felt a difference in their household budgets. We eased the burden on early childhood education costs, with over 65,000 families making FamilyBoost claims. In just the first 15 days of this year, nearly 22,000 FamilyBoost claims were paid, providing immediate financial relief for parents. We took decisive action to get spending under control, cutting wasteful spending where it didn't deliver value for New Zealanders. We have seen inflation come down, an encouraging step in terms of us getting economic stability back.

But we know there is still more to do, and we know that times are still very tough for New Zealanders; 2025 must be the year we not only recover but we also thrive. It is time to be bold and is time to for us to say yes—yes to a growing economy, yes to higher wages and more jobs, yes to supporting our small-business community and key exporting sectors such as our farmers, yes to backing innovators, and yes to a country where every Kiwi has the opportunity to succeed. New Zealand can have this future where hard work is rewarded, families get ahead, and New Zealanders stand proud on the world stage. A growing economy can make all this possible, which is why that is our top priority this year.

The Prime Minister has asked me to lead our energy portfolio for this country. Unlocking New Zealand's untapped energy potential is critical to driving that economic growth. Access to affordable and secure energy and electricity is this Government's priority. New Zealand is brimming with untapped opportunities in the renewable energy space, from wind to solar to geothermal. The possibilities are vast and this is exciting for New Zealand, but we must harness this potential. We are advancing Electrify NZ—our plan to double the country's renewable generation has started.

And how about fast track? We are going to add another 3,000 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity, boosting New Zealand's electricity generation by almost 30 percent, removing regulations and making it easier to build. In parallel, we're also progressing legislation to enhance energy and electricity security, including a new offshore renewable energy permit regime to unlock more opportunities for offshore wind. Secure and affordable energy will not only keep our households warm, our businesses moving, but it will create more jobs, it's going to increase economic growth, and it's going to increase productivity across this beautiful country.

Another area I have responsibility for is climate change—not only that, but in terms of the context that Electrify NZ will support our country to deliver on our climate commitments. Last year, we released our Government's second emissions reduction plan. Our plan shows that we can grow the economy and deliver our climate commitments—effective policies that can lay the foundation to meet net zero targets as early as 2044. This is the year that we are building momentum. We're looking at the Climate Change Response Act to reduce unnecessary regulations and reporting, ensuring that that Act will operate more efficiently so we can focus on actually doing the doing and implementing actions to reduce emissions. We're also looking to establish better emissions trading scheme market governance so we have better, credible markets to drive that climate transition.

This Government understands the importance of making our communities and businesses and economy more resilient to a changing climate. We recognise that climate change poses significant risks to our infrastructure, environment, and way of life, and we are committed as a Government to proactively making sure that we ensure the ongoing sustainability and security of this country. The effects of weather events disrupt livelihoods, they strain emergency response systems, and it highlights the urgent need that we have as a country to be more prepared and adapt to the impacts of that changing climate. This year, we will advance legislation to establish a clear framework for climate adaptation, addressing the critical challenges posed by extreme weather.

Another of my areas of responsibility is local government. A strong and well-functioning infrastructure network is essential for driving economic growth. It gets our businesses and households moving. Addressing New Zealand's long-term infrastructure deficit is critical to unlock productivity, attract investment, and improve connectivity. That is why this Government is taking decisive action to close that infrastructure gap across this country. Last year, we established a framework for regional deals—a partnership between central and local government to ensure that we deliver critical infrastructure and unlock economic potential across this country. These regional deals will foster collaboration between central government and local government, working together jointly to accelerate long-term vision realisation in our regions and cities, and this is critical to accelerate economic growth and productivity. This year, this Government hopes to have the first regional deal agreed to, and we hope to make progress on other deals too.

Last year, we also took decisive actions to implement Local Water Done Well, ensuring that control of water assets is returned to local communities. We believe, on this side of the House, that local councils supported by a strong framework are best placed to manage water infrastructure effectively and sustainably. As part of that policy, the first two new bills were passed in August, providing councils with the certainty and clarity of a pathway to develop their water service delivery plans. These plans will prioritise high quality, financially sustainable water services that are due to be submitted to Government later this year. In the months ahead, we will continue to work with councils to implement this programme. Additionally, we're committed to passing the Local Government (Water Services) Bill, further reinforcing our approach to locally managed, well-funded, efficient water services.

My fourth responsibility is revenue and taxation. A well-designed tax system is essential for driving this country's economic growth. As revenue Minister, my focus is on improving fiscal sustainability by simplifying tax, reducing compliance costs, and addressing integrity issues so businesses and individuals can invest and innovate and contribute to our economy. We need to drive that economic growth agenda. We've made economic growth and productivity one of the six pillars of this Government's tax and social policy work programme. We're currently doing work on the foreign investment fund rules that lead to double taxation and encourage investments and talent to stay away from New Zealand. But we want to attract more of this talent to this country. We want to retain that talent and not drive it away, so we're exploring potential changes in the rules to ensure no one is disadvantaged against other taxpayers. We're also progressing work in regards to the tax exemption of employee share schemes to support start-ups in the tech sector as part of the current Taxation (Annual Rates for 2024-25, Emergency Response, and Remedial Measures) Bill.

In conclusion, we look ahead, for this year, with a commitment to economic growth. That commitment is unwavering. Our agenda is jam-packed with actions to drive economic growth, to create jobs, and to sure ensure that every New Zealander has an opportunity and, importantly, the certainty to get ahead. We're not just talking about growth; we're going to deliver it. We've got a clear plan. We're decisive, relentlessly focused, and we're going to make New Zealanders enjoy the rest of this year and make them valuable.

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Deputy Leader—Labour): There was so much faux enthusiasm in that speech and exaggerated energy. Clearly, those members have been told to come to the House to lift the energy and to make out that everything is OK, but we on this side of the House and in the rest of the country know that is not. Meanwhile, the coalition is falling down around Simon Watts, but he's still rattling off the lines, just like his Prime Minister does. I think in the first few minutes, we heard "back on track" and we heard "open for business", "driving economic growth", and "brighter, stronger future for New Zealanders". Just like his leader, just like his Prime Minister, he can't deviate from the key lines. In fact, he read that whole speech word for word, and I don't even know if it was a speech that was uniquely written for him. I think it was probably just the key lines that were given out to everyone as a guide as to what to talk about in their speeches.

Anyway, we have the faux enthusiasm, and we had the over-exaggerated energy from Simon Watts, but the reality is that across the country, morale is low. I don't recall ever having seen it this low before, even during some of our darkest times, including the pandemic. We've lost over 10,000 jobs in the public sector, which that side of the House seems to want to celebrate. There have been 13,000 jobs lost in building and construction. We're not hiring in our health sector, despite the demand and the need for more health workers. We're losing nursing graduates to overseas. We're losing record numbers of New Zealanders going overseas because that side of the House have not taken care of what is fundamentally important to New Zealanders, and that is just ensuring that they have jobs to go into.

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

What we've seen is divisiveness caused mostly as part of their absolute attack on Māori, whether it be the Treaty principles bill or the undermining of te reo Māori, even the undermining of Māori names for public service agencies, and we have seen this done time and time again, but particularly in light of the Treaty principles bill. It is not heartening to hear National and New Zealand First stand up and say that they won't support that bill past second reading, because they allowed that bill to go to first reading. They allowed that divisiveness to be caused amongst New Zealanders. Luxon did not have the leadership to stop it getting past that first post, and here we are, having this horrific, horrendous debate when we should have made more progress than what that side of the House have allowed us to do.

Morale is also low because New Zealanders were promised by that side of the House that the cost of living challenges that they faced would be addressed, that all of their problems would go away, and that they would no longer struggle to put food on the table or pay their rent. But has that changed? No, it hasn't. New Zealanders are still struggling with the cost of living. They are still struggling to pay what are even higher energy bills and are still struggling to pay what are even higher rates bills. They are struggling with the everyday costs of living, including some costs that have been imposed by that side, like more expensive public transport, which was made cheaper by this side of the House when we were in Government. They are struggling with their rents, despite a promise from that Government that if they gave landlords a tax cut of over $2 billion, then that would help with the cost of rent for New Zealanders. Well, it hasn't helped, and rent continues to go up.

Morale is still low for New Zealanders, lower than I've ever seen before, because that Government is delivering stuff that nobody actually asked for. I don't recall, in the election campaign, the Government or the political parties that now make up Government coming out and saying they were going to give a $217 million tax break to the tobacco industry, that they were going to get rid of our world-leading smoke free policy. I don't think anyone asked for the tax breaks for landlords, and I certainly don't think that any New Zealander expected or asked for the privatisation agenda that we're starting to see become more and more apparent in the conversations, discussions, and policy agenda that that side is revealing.

It's sad, because the leadership from the Government has seriously been lacking. We've got a coalition Government that can't agree; in fact, they come out publicly speaking against each other, with the most recent example being with David Seymour and his mis-advised, ill-advised letter to support Mr Polkinghorne and his contradictory position compared to Prime Minister Luxon. And then we also have a Prime Minister who is not willing to bring or pull his Ministers into line when they misbehave, when they behave out of step, and when they do not abide by the rules that are in the Cabinet Manual.

There is clearly a lack of leadership coming from Luxon, and you can see it in his own colleagues whenever he stands up to speak already. We can see that there is a lack of trust and confidence in the Prime Minister, and it is only a matter of time. Now, the election is supposed to be at the end of next year, but let's see if we even make it that far.

But Kiwis are feeling disheartened. They are feeling disheartened because this country has not been put on any kind of track. In fact, it has been derailed from the track that it was on. The promise to take New Zealand and New Zealanders forward has not been honoured, and, instead, we see New Zealand and New Zealanders falling backwards.

We have a leader who not only is demonstrating his lack of leadership with the way he manages his own coalition, but we see his lack of leadership in the fact that he will not show up to integral occasions that this country expects their Prime Minister to show up to. He did not show up to Waitangi for Waitangi Day. Why did he not show up? Because he did not want to face the criticism that was going to come his way for the lack of leadership and the divisiveness that he has allowed to occur.

I think it's really important that we do talk about what Kiwis want, because we didn't see any type of vision in the statement that came from the Prime Minister or any reference to what New Zealanders want. There was just an attack on the Opposition and the blame game played again for what he assumes or asserts that the previous Government didn't do earlier.

Kiwis want to be able to feed their whānau—a pretty simple ask—they want to be able to pay for the roof over their heads; they want to have a job, and they want to have a job that has good working conditions and that pays well; and they want to live in communities that support and care for each other, and all of these things are things that we have not seen delivered by that side of the House. New Zealanders want to know that things can be better, because at the moment they are feeling disillusioned and there is a lack of hope across the country because of the political agenda that this Government has brought to the table and put on New Zealanders, and I say "put on New Zealanders" because not everything they have put on the table was campaigned for before the last election. So, as I said, these were not things that New Zealanders asked for.

We are seeing some changes in the way New Zealanders are thinking with regards to their politics. Now, we certainly don't put all of our energy towards polls or pay too much attention to them, because, ultimately, we know that the only poll that matters is the one that happens in election year, on election day. However, there have been a few polls that have come out this year, and they are not speaking in favour of the Government on that side of the House. I think that that is a clear indication that the New Zealand public is not happy with the performance of that Government. They are not happy with what that Government has been doing for, against, or on behalf of them as Kiwis.

I think it also speaks to the fact that Kiwis can see that they do have an Opposition who has been listening, that they do have an Opposition that is unified, that they do have an Opposition that is ready to lead. So, already, not even 1½ years into the term of that Government, Kiwis are looking somewhere else—and it certainly isn't to that Government—going into 2026.

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

I am astounded, however, that there's a tiny group who live in concrete houses who don't want us to extract sand in Tai Tokerau. This group is led, I'm told, by a person called Juliane Chetham, who happened to be appointed under the old fast track on to a body of decision makers that turned down a valuable piece of infrastructure in the Bay of Islands. Why is that person able to pursue an obvious conflict of interest under our fast track? Such amateurs and such inappropriate behaviour will be ruled right out—right out of court.

Let us think about the ways in which fast track is going to boost Te Tai Poutini. Fast track is going to boost Otago. Fast track is going to actually do something practical as we adapt to climate change. Now, as you know, I'm largely a doubting Thomas about all the shrillness to do with climate change, but I am a man of fidelity, and I will remain faithful to the position of the Cabinet that we must find ways to adapt in terms of climate change challenges. To do that, we need to rescue projects out of the bog, out of the bureaucratic thicket, so they can be approved in a remarkably short period of time.

The last politician who brought a profound idea forward as to how we might change the electricity settings in New Zealand sits on the other side of the House, and I was his colleague, and something of a fellow traveller. The energy electricity settings: we've got various reviews under way. The people that have promised to ensure we don't have another wicked winter—now, they're on notice. If we go through a set of problems, where we've been promised and assured by the barons of the electricity sector that we won't have the most expensive power prices this coming winter—in the event that they cannot deliver, I look forward, along with my colleagues, to ramming changes through to finally tame the beast that represents the unaccountable forces inside our electricity sector.

Of course, mining will generate royalties, and those royalties will be made available at an acceptable percentage to the regions where the mining activity takes place. In that respect, I have to acknowledge the former Minister of Energy who encouraged me to ensure that we shared the spoils of mother Nature's bounty as we open up these massive vistas of utilisation, rescue our current account deficit problems, and ensure that we don't rely on the Congo and other such places, and, by the way, the party I belong to will never ever agree to buying Congo carbon credits.

There are other parties who want to imperil our fiscal solvency and commit such fanciful, dangerous, life-threatening ideas, but we want to use our own resources: gold, coal—coal before gold. Coal will be available and used in New Zealand well towards 2050, and if it comes to pass that from time to time we can create wood pellets without a Crown subsidy and we can move on from coal, let the market make that choice. We should be agnostic, and we should also accept that we've got no place for this intellectual conceit that I hear from the gremlins sitting over there that, somehow, by outsourcing responsibilities to the banking sector, they can stop China and India creating coal-fired power stations—a level of intellectual ideological conceit that is bringing our economy down to its knees.

But wait, that is all about to change because we have a member's bill, and that bill will tame the excesses and the luxury beliefs of the people who sit in these irrelevant sustainability units riddled throughout the various banking sectors and the 200 financial institutions where directors face criminal liability and where climate obligations are so onerous they can hardly meet these compliance standards. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, by the way, is consulting about this madness, which I hope turns to be a discretionary activity and is not an enforceable obligation upon our commercial companies. It is wrong to outsource the responsibility for changing the weather to Westpac. It is wrong for financial institutions to indulge in changing regional industries so that they can please the small number of people that, along with themselves, create chemtrails as they jot off to other places, including the UN. That's why that bill is going to tame that excess which was passed in 2022—in the event that some unkind members on this side of the House blame me for that perfidy.

In relation to water storage, it was extraordinary to see the Labour Party member gushing enthusiastically about Waimea. They voted against the Waimea dam.

Hon David Parker: No, we did not.

Hon SHANE JONES: They voted against the Waimea dam, and it took New Zealand First to rescue the scheme. Water storage is now the new green. We will be dedicating out of the Regional Infrastructure Fund a substantial—actually, I need to correct myself. The first regional water scheme that was both funded and successfully consented was through the fast-track legislation, which is why we've borrowed fast track from Labour and made a few modest improvements—which is astounding that they cannot agree with it. But time will pass and they will be agreeing. Water storage is the new green. We will have much more of it, and I look forward to replicating the extension of the marine farming permits till 2050.

There are far too many permits and consents required in New Zealand. The vast majority of them are an imposition on our economy and they represent no way of increasing environmental positive outcomes. Market gardeners, hear from me: I will support the work that was left off by David Parker after the courts struck him down. You should not be hobbled by unrealistic nutrient and water standards, reducing your ability to feed the citizens of New Zealand. Also, those of you in the agricultural sector: we don't want you to be blighted with unnecessary permits and consents. We want an Resource Management Act system where there is more latitude and more flexibility, because unless we have that, far too much money will be spent on servicing the deadweight costs of unnecessary regulation.

Tomorrow, I am introducing new policies for the fishing industry in the broadest set of changes since the quota system of 1986, I will have very sensible things to say about the sad presence of cameras on boats—a massive intrusion and reflection of State surveillance of industry, which our party is diametrically opposed to—and, of course, I may make a few remarks about a dolphin that doesn't exist, otherwise known as the Māui dolphin. It was a contrivance, a fiction, put together by some underemployed academic down in the South Island, where all the Māoris were fighting with each other over the ownership quota.

In respect of the purpose of our Regional Infrastructure Fund, I want to assure New Zealanders that not only is it well run but it is going to deliver concrete opportunities to improve local infrastructure, whether it be water or community energy, as was announced, and I want to say to Māoridom as well that the bill which you are jumping up and down over will never pass. Focus your energy and intention on economic empowerment, and stop believing in the shrill, green rhetoric that, somehow, Māori can solve the problems of China, Russia, and India with some mātauranga Māori and stop them from generating coal-fired power stations. Come back to the kūmara vine and take responsibility for solving our own problems at the kitchen table, and then you'll have the support, Māoridom, of Matua Shane.

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

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

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I firstly must acknowledge the aroha from across the House that I was very privileged to receive in noting my return back to Parliament after some time away on medical treatment. It is a really human and beautiful thing to be able to share collectively when we are watching another member of this House going through tough times, and I hope we continue to see that. I am really grateful and received goodwill messages from right across this House. That is what our people of the country love to see as well. So I do acknowledge that. Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me that.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Kia ora, on behalf of the House.

Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: It is also my first day back in Parliament after many months away. So I am, naturally, feeling a little bit nervous about whether I remember how to do this job, but also deeply grateful to be able to come back to this House, to be able to come back well and stand in a job that I am so honoured and so passionate and get to continue to do, especially where I can respond to the Prime Minister's statement. While I wasn't here in the House, I am taking this opportunity to raise the visions and the issues of the Green Party and what we offer to Aotearoa that directly contradict the Prime Minister's visions, the Prime Minister's statements that he laid before us in this House here today.

I want to offer another saying to this House.

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We have just come back from an incredible week up in Waitangi to celebrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi. People and Governments come and go. Governments rise and fall, but our whenua endures, and the Treaty remains eternal.

I had a little bit of a scour through the Prime Minister's statement. I've got the pages right here in front of me for my notes, and I failed to find any mention of Te Tiriti in any part of his statement. And that's a real shame, given what we have just experienced on the ground as the Green Party in Waitangi and across the country: the absolute excitement and kotahitanga from communities for a positive vision where Te Tiriti actually upholds the work of protecting people and planet for all of us here today and for our mokopuna to come. It's a shame that the Prime Minister's statement was not able to pick up on the fact that the leadership in kotahitanga, the leadership in pulling people together, people of all diverse walks of life, people of all diverse backgrounds are showing that leadership, are showing that they are streaks ahead of this Government and of the Prime Minister's statement when it comes to us working together on the foundation of Te Tiriti being a document that promised people to take the best care of each other.

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister's statement is devoid of a long-term vision for mokopuna to still be able to endure, to still be able to enjoy our whenua, our healthy oceans, our healthy, thriving rivers, our natural world, our ngahere, our soils, to still be able to enjoy our clean air. I saw in the Government's statement some stuff about—well, basically, "drill, drill, drill; mine, mine, mine; degrade, destroy, destruct our environment." And it was something like: ruthless pursuit of trade, "unleashing the economy", and rolling back a culture of no. How about a culture of yes to protecting our taiao? How about a culture of yes to Te Tiriti bringing us together? How about a culture of yes to ending poverty and making sure our tamariki in schools, for example, get quality, healthy, and on-time lunches? These are the yeses that the Green Party has always fought for and has stood for.

I saw in the Prime Minister's statement a reiteration of what they are doing in the fast-track legislation and their pursuit of constantly degrading the environment for generations to come. The very short-term thinking. The short-term thinking for the benefit of their wealthy few. We know, we have seen, time and time again, that the destruction of our environment has never once led to wealth distribution for people who need the support the most, for people who are struggling the most. We have not once seen polluted rivers end poverty. We have not once seen destroyed oceans end homelessness. We have not once seen ruined soils uplift everyone's lives. And this country Aotearoa, of all countries in the world, surely must be able to come in line with what we are hearing from the people on the ground.

My uncle from the North—Minister Jones—has just finished minimising the power of community by trying to say that it's only a few voices trying to protect our environment, trying to protect our rivers, trying to protect our earth from mining, drilling, and exploitation. How dare he? I heard you; I heard those people. We have been working with those strong, powerful movements on the ground for decades. They are generations in strength. Those voices who understand how important it is to protect our taiao for mokopuna, to make sure that everyone is living a life with dignity. Because this country does have enough. It does have enough to be prosperous without ruining and destroying the thing we've got going for us. It certainly does have enough to end poverty; we have unveiled plan after plan, election after election to do exactly that. We certainly have enough to end homelessness; we have unveiled plan after plan, election after election to make sure everyone has a home, and we don't need to destroy the prospect of snapper being in our harbour for my grandchildren to do it. We don't need to destroy the notion of Kōura swimming in our seas to end homelessness and end poverty.

This is the vision that the Greens have always put forward and those visions are actually echoed from the power of community. Generations who have relied—and Mr Jones is from the Hokianga like I am. He knows that our whānau had been dependent on our thriving Hokianga harbour for hundreds of years. He knows like I do that the degradation that we have seen just in the last couple of generations has actually meant that it's hard to find Mullet and Flounder—Founder that I grew up enjoying in the Hokianga. That the more that we unleash the pollution extractive activities that this Government is championing, the more we deny our children those legacies of our beautiful taiao.

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

Did you see—did we see all of the different whānau who turned up for the hikoi for Te Tiriti. The communities and the people are showing kotahitanga in action and it is something I failed to see in the Prime Minister's statements and all of his big visions about "drill baby drill, mine baby mine, wealthy few mates". That's what can sum up the Prime Minister's statement.

I'm really proud to be able to stand here today and address directly how that is a harmful and dangerous vision for our mokopuna—for all of our mokopuna—and that the Greens understand a better future is possible with what we have right here. We can see everyone living a beautiful life. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

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

We are focused on turbocharging—or setting the foundations to turbocharge—economic growth in New Zealand, and hard-working Kiwis might wonder what that means. Well, let me tell you what it means: it means increasing employment opportunities, higher wages, increased innovation, and new business opportunities. Growth is forecast to reach 2.1 percent of GDP this year, according to Treasury, and businesses will be excited about that. Consumer confidence is rising. These are clear signs of economic recovery. We know it's still tough out there, but we know there are green shoots—there are blue shoots—and we are in for a growing country, a growing economy.

We will continue to cut the red tape, the enemy of red tape, which burdens countries and communities and businesses and saddles them with costs and time obligations and takes money out of the pockets of hard-working New Zealanders—the endless and needless bureaucracy which we have seen across New Zealand. We are going to inject urgency, and we are going to get on and build the infrastructure our country deserves. It's very exciting to see 149 fast-track projects helping to address the infrastructure shortages that we have. And we have some significant deficits. It is very good to see that we are taking a proactive, forward-looking approach to addressing these critical shortages.

I'm proud to be part of a Government that helps New Zealanders keep more of what they earn by providing tax cuts for the first time in 14 years and that rolls out FamilyBoost to support low and middle income families with early childcare costs. We've worked hard to reset for better outcomes for Kiwis. Whether you're a farmer, an entrepreneur, or an investor, the National Party and this Government is looking out for you. We're focused on attracting more international investment, and I heard that was scoffed at, unfortunately, by earlier speakers in this House. We need more investment in this country and, if you look at OECD reports, New Zealand is very bad at getting money into New Zealand. We are not an overly wealthy country and, when you look at who we would like to compare ourselves to, we are falling behind. We need more capital coming into New Zealand, and it's very pleasing to see the steps taken by this Government, this year, to help make that more of a reality.

With inflation now under control and interest rates coming down, and wages rising faster than inflation, we expect the unemployment rate to start to decrease. It has been increasing—

Hon Ginny Andersen: When?

SAM UFFINDELL: And we hear the snipes from the other side, as if they had nothing to do with the economic catastrophe that this country finds itself in now! Like they had nothing to do with the healthcare crisis that this country also finds itself in, which our very hard-working Minister Simeon Brown is cleaning up. We know that one of the best ways to lift our productivity is in the regions, to ensure we have the skills and the workforce we need. And we have worked very hard to make sure that we are getting our immigration settings right. We continue to advance trade agreements, and the Hon Todd McClay has done a fantastic job of getting around the world, getting out there, putting forward New Zealand's case, and then bringing home new opportunities for our farmers, for our growers, and for New Zealand businesses. It is a very good thing.

I'm also very excited to see reform in the science sector, and we've been clear that we need to unlock growth in the science and technology sector. We need to back this, because this is a key area where we are going to get economic growth. There's a lot of Kiwi ingenuity out there, but we need to make sure that we have the rules and regulations in place. We need to make sure that we continue to roll back the red tape and bureaucracy that stifles innovation, that soaks up time and money, and that makes it really hard for Kiwis to get ahead. If you're setting up a new company and you can look at the other places around the world where you could get ahead—you're a global labour force; companies can move around—we need to make sure that we are competitive compared to other countries, to keep them and to keep the workers here in New Zealand.

I just want to talk about Tauranga for a little bit, because I was very happy to see a number of items in the fast-track Schedule—a number of very important items—and the first one I'm going to talk about is the Port of Tauranga, which has been stifled for years. It is absolutely insane.

Grant McCallum: Disgrace.

SAM UFFINDELL: It is a disgrace. It really is a disgrace. This is the biggest port in New Zealand. It is where we get our goods out to the world. It is how Kiwis get money back. They have to get it out there in the world, and then they get the funds back. We're at capacity. When I first went for member for Tauranga in 2022, we were already two years away from capacity. Over 2½ years later, we've hit that mark. We've hit that mark and we're still no better off. We have had minor adjustments. It's still tied up in the Environment Court. That Government, that Minister over—I'm not going to call him out on it. I won't; I'd feel a bit mean doing that. The previous Government had the opportunity to deal with that. They had the opportunity and they squandered it.

Tom Rutherford: Never visited.

SAM UFFINDELL: "Never visited", I'm hearing from Tom Rutherford. "Never visited"—we did hear that as well. I'm very curious, Mr Rutherford: how many people do you think we've taken to the Port of Tauranga since we've been the local members?

Tom Rutherford: Nearly double digits.

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

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

One of these projects, Te Tumu, is a huge plot of land that goes out from where Pāpāmoa ends. You fly over it and you see a big cut—it just stops. You've got all this beautiful beach down there—all this opportunity. Twenty years, they have been dithering about on this, trying to get the council to rezone it, trying to get the infrastructure in place, trying to get all the parties in there to agree to access. This has got the potential for over 6,000 houses, to house over 15,000 people. Twenty years, the developers have been wanting to go on this, and here we are stuck with some of the most expensive housing in New Zealand. It is a disgrace. And we wonder why we are so poor when people have to pay so much of their money towards accommodation costs. And you know who it hurts the most? The people who that party pretends to represent. And it hurts. It hurts them tremendously. We've got a number of housing projects on here, and I desperately hope that we get all of them over the line and that they get the support they need from local and central government to get them built quickly, because Tauranga and the Bay need that housing. We need it desperately.

We've got a lot of other big industries coming along there. We've got the Rangiuru Business Park. We've got a quickly expanding kiwifruit sector. That's going to help deliver more jobs and money for New Zealand, but it needs the workforce that they need there—

Cameron Luxton: Hear, hear!

SAM UFFINDELL: I'm getting heckled by the other member in the Bay of Plenty! This is good. I am very proud to be part of a Government that is unshackling the burden of red tape and bureaucracy that has stifled economic growth, that has stopped housing development, that has stopped any sort of sensible infrastructure development, as we continually say, "Oh no, I don't think we can do that. No, it's too hard. No, no, that person might get offended. We just can't do it." It's not good enough, and if we want to stay as a First World country that can deliver First World healthcare and education and have a country that our children want to grow up in, we need to grow up really quickly and we need to start delivering that country for New Zealanders. We need to grow our economy, and our Government is focused on that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

But I am excited to be back in this House and I am excited to be speaking in support of the Prime Minister's statement and of course giving our full-throated support to this Government and ACT's contribution to it. But what I did learn over the holidays was that Kiwis are still doing it tough. I mean, you can't turn around the mismanagement—the economic mismanagement—of the last few years in a matter of days or months; it is going to take time. We know Kiwis are hurting; you know, prolonged periods of high interest rates have affected Kiwi households and budgets but I'm proud that we've started to make some inroads on that by getting inflation under control.

I'm also really pleased that ACT is actually looking to the future. We really do want this to be a country of hope, a country where people do want to bring up their children and, actually, a place where Kiwis can live and thrive as they want, actually doing the things that they want to do, whether that's with their families, whether that's in business, in education. So that's really what ACT wants to see for this country.

When I was down south, obviously I also reflected on the different industries we have down there. We have tourism which is, in Queenstown now, starting to see a real resurgence which is great because obviously we employ a lot of people in the hospitality and tourism industry and it's great to see that coming back. As I ran into different international travellers, I would always make sure I tried to get them to part with as much of their money while they were in the country as possible because I knew that was good.

Then I thought further south to our rural and farming community in Southland, where I grew up. Again, the Southland farmers had a really tough year, particularly spring last year. But again, I know that as a Government—and particularly as ACT—we are making sure that we're actually going to get rid of some of the burden on our rural communities; actually deal with some of the red tape and regulation that they face so they can get on with continuing to be the most efficient farmers in the world and delivering our amazing produce and exports to the world.

Then I thought again about the other things we're really going to be focusing on this year: deregulation. Again, for the first time, this Government has a Minister of regulation where his focus is actually cutting red tape and that's to allow businesses and other organisations actually get on and deliver what they're best at. So that's going to be exciting to see.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen the launch of the first of the charter schools. That's really saying, "Actually let's do things a little bit differently.", because we want to invest in kids' future because, actually, education is a way to help some of the productivity issues that we have in New Zealand. That's going to take a while, but let's get on with it; let's not muck around, let's actually get these schools open and kids going to them, which is really great.

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

Then the other thing I had some discussions about was equal rights and, really, the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand. Again, I'm very proud that ACT has opened up this discussion and that we are actually having a conversation about what the Treaty should mean and could mean for bringing us together and going forward. So I've got a lot of hope for this year. I know that this Government's going to be very, very focused on delivering the things for Kiwis we have said we would do. That includes continuing to ensure that we are getting value for money, for services that they are paying for in their taxes. I know that our Ministers are going to be working very hard in the preparation of the next Budget because we've got to be very, very careful with taxpayers' money and ensuring we're actually delivering services that people need.

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

CAMERON LUXTON (ACT): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise in response to the Prime Minister's statement because it gives me a chance to talk about ACT's policies, which are pushing New Zealand in the right direction.

We campaigned that when in Government, we would cut back on the red tape and stupid policies that were stifling the good life that Kiwis expect, and that is what we are doing: the restoration of 90-day trials, the repeal of the so-called fair pay agreements, consultation and work being under way on the Holidays Act, and a nationwide roadshow for improvements to health and safety law, which is being led by our wonderful Minister Brooke van Velden. These all show ACT's commitments to creating a better regulatory environment for Kiwis and their businesses so that our entire country can flourish. This delivers on ACT's promise to rein in the costs that we all face simply to supply to each other and to do business with each other.

We are cutting the unnecessary red tape in the building sector. As a licensed building practitioner, I know how tough it can be, with delays and regulations hampering building efforts and ratcheting up the costs. That's why, with ACT in Government, we have introduced legislation to improve recognition of products from overseas so that buildings can be built efficiently, effectively, and at a more affordable price. I'd like to give a shout-out to Minister Chris Penk for his solid work in this area, because this coalition Government has delivered regulatory relief for earthquake-prone buildings, and we will continue to push for better regulation of our built environment.

I'd just like to also say to those in the building sector who are doing it tough: many of you, like me, will remember the 2008 crash when so many skilled tradies went to the wall or left the industry. I hope that this time the members who are in this House take the lessons which the last Government has left us: that loose fiscal and monetary policy might feel good in the boom, borrowing and spending like it doesn't belong to you, but when the crash inevitably comes—because it will come—the result lies on the workers, the tradies, and the families who carry the pain for the profligacy.

With housing, ACT has also pushed to create a better rental market for Kiwis. We have ended what has felt like a war on landlords with tenants as the collateral damage. The rental market thrives on confidence, and providing housing from one person to another without the confidence that fundamentally underpins people's ability to rent out and let out to each other. We expect—all of us expect—to treat each other with respect. We should treat our properties with respect, and when someone doesn't feel like they can defend the ability to manage and maintain their property and that they will receive the rent—which is another part of respect; paying your rent—what would make someone want to invest and let out a property and take that risk?

With ACT in Government, the respect for property rights is returning. We've brought back interest deductibility for residential rental properties, which will ease the pressure on rents. The basic law of supply and demand says that when supply is low and prices are driven up, you'll get more supply. Interest deductibility encourages investment and development so that more houses can be built for the rental stock. The Residential Tenancies Act has also provided great news for our rental market. The introduction of pet bonds allows for tenants to have their animal companion with them without being a burden on their landlord. Bringing back the 90-day, no-clause termination means that landlords will have the ability to take opportunities with tenants that they might not otherwise without facing terrifying risks.

ACT is driving real change. We know that the economy has been hard for some Kiwis, but we are committed to continue the change that New Zealanders need. Everyone in ACT—Ministers, MPs—are pushing hard to see these changes to get New Zealand back on the horse. To name just a couple more, Nicole McKee is providing anti - money-laundering reform, Simon Court is doing reform in the Resource Management Act, and my friend Laura McClure's member's bill is aiming to allow for the mutual termination of employment. We've been hard at it, and ACT will continue to push real change as part of this well-functioning and happy coalition Government.

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

If this Government wants to stimulate growth and wants to get things going, it is most certainly not doing that to the Wellington economy. In fact, the price we pay for tax cuts for landlords is the Wellington economy being driven into the ground, and it continues to have a high level of uncertainty, and that is what causes so many problems in our local economy going on.

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

In the first three quarters of 2024—we haven't got the fourth quarter yet—we saw 163 company liquidations. We saw restaurants, bakeries, family businesses—long-standing Wellington institutions—shut their doors permanently. Martha's restaurant, cooking beautiful Myanmar food over 25 years in Wellington, closed its doors last month, never to open again. A great establishment. Pandoro bakery had been working and operating right across Wellington for over 30 years. Again, another local business closed its doors.

What this Government's economic plan for Wellington is is to fire the workers, close the businesses, and then act surprised when the tills stop ringing. To top it all off, we have no certainty about the ferries, a completely important critical link between the North and the South Islands, fundamental to the local economy, and we have absolutely no certainty about where that is taking us. And it is this level of uncertainty that causes ongoing economic strife in Wellington, because it is the threat of more cuts, it is the fact we have no certainty around the ferries that causes property prices in Wellington to decline as much as 25 percent. And it is those middle New Zealanders who bought a property for which, now, they are paying a mortgage that is worth more than the value of their property that hurts so much.

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

When we look at those polls and start to see people open up their eyes and realised that they voted for change, but it was not this type of change that New Zealand families voted for. Most New Zealanders wanted a better opportunity, and those in Wellington are still suffering hard with no hope of it getting better in the future. We only need to look at things like Callaghan Innovation. Over 500 jobs through NIWA, GNS, and Callaghan—science and research jobs—have gone in Wellington. Here we have a Prime Minister and a Government who's talking about productivity and innovation and trying to be a smart economy while firing our top research people in the Wellington region. It is absolutely ludicrous. That is the area that we as a Labour Government invested in and that needs to be continued to be invested in. Shutting down Callaghan Innovation is not how you get productivity going in the Wellington region, and it's not how you get productivity going in New Zealand.

The construction industry is an interesting one as well, because when this Government came into power, they looked at a range of different construction projects, and a lot of them they paused, they cancelled, or they re-costed, and that change had a massive impact on those workers. As already stated, 13,000 construction workers have gone over to other countries and have taken up jobs, and it is those economists, such as Bernard Hickey, who have noted that has been a key factor in driving down this economy and increasing the slow uptake of getting inflation under control. It is those decisions that have further entrenched the recession that New Zealanders are experiencing now.

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

That project was paused, and the workers who were still being paid by the way, because contracts had been signed, were told to re-cost it and bring it in at under a billion dollars. I understand, from local contractors and local information, that a key bridge, a cycle and pedestrian bridge, that connects the Western hills into Melling Station is now not funded. And that is a critical link. And so the regional council, the Wellington Regional Council, has said that that train station is not operable. It's not feasible to operate that train station without having that critical link that the Government refuses to fund. So here we have a big interchange being put in for the primary purpose of reducing traffic congestion, and one of the consequences of this is that it will be, potentially, removing the railway station, which would be obviously quite a good way of also reducing congestion.

It is really concerning that the three parties that were in that agreement—which are the Hutt City Council, the Wellington Regional Council, and Waka Kotahi—have now gone their separate ways, because the Wellington Regional Council said, "We can't wait any longer for decisions to be taken around costings. We will go ahead already with the flood protection work." And that is under way. But there is still no certainty for local people in the Hutt as to what is happening with this critical piece of infrastructure. There is no clarity about what it will cost the taxpayer. And the other question that no one is able to answer is: how much are the daily costs of those contracts that were signed. All of those contractors have deals. There has been speculation that that fee is within the millions per day or week, because there are fees being paid out by Waka Kotahi without any shovels in the ground.

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

The other big factor we need to look at for the Wellington region is our healthcare services. It's incredibly concerning that the threat of privatisation still hangs. It was great to finally get an answer out of Shane Reti about what's happening with the Awakairangi birthing unit, because after six months of answering questions, he answered questions two days before he lost his job to Simeon Brown. Now, we understand that there is an empty unit which was promised to be used for a special-care baby unit over a year ago. That unit is still empty, and it is still costing the taxpayer for it to be rented out. And we await—I understand that the Minister's seeking a special briefing so he can understand why there is an empty unit that was meant to be used as a special-care baby unit, which the taxpayer continues to pay a lease for. There are many midwives, midwifery groups, and advocates within the Hutt Valley who would love to get an answer on that one.

So, to wrap up, New Zealanders deserve a whole lot better than the load of absolute rubbish we have, driving our Wellington economy into the ground at no regard whatsoever for jobs, not only in the Public Service but also in the construction sector. And this has caused a downward spiral of jobs going, shops closing, and there being real concern about certainty in our local economy. For a Government that's meant to be so amazingly great on the economy, they are dismally failing Wellington, and Wellingtonians know it.

Dr LAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green): Thank you, Madam Speaker. We've heard, in the Prime Minister's statement, that one of the key aspects is economic growth. I would actually like to address an adverb and an adjective that the Prime Minister used first. We have heard that particular adverb being used consistently, and that is "ruthlessly". This is concerning from an etymological level, because if you look at the Cambridge Dictionary, "ruthlessly" is defined as "not kind to someone or something and causing pain." It is synonymous with cruel, cold-bloodedness, and heartlessness. That was an adverb that the Prime Minister proudly used over and over again. From a linguistic perspective, the Prime Minister could have used "determined" or even "tenacious", but no, the Prime Minister used "ruthlessly in pursuit". That is the leader that we have for this country, and that is the direction that we are seeing this Government taking in pursuit of that economic growth: of causing people and the planet pain.

We have heard, in the statement by the Prime Minister, about privatisation, but I want to give an example of when privatisation or commercialisation goes wrong, in a state that is unsustainable and inequitable: this is around retirement villages. We have heard from the people who are living in retirement villages of the pain and suffering and the sheer profiteering that is being caused, where those companies profit and, basically, prioritise profit over the lives of our seniors. This is incredibly concerning. A couple of things: this is one of the reasons why we are having the Retirement Villages Act review, and we have yet to hear from the Government on what that is going to look like.

We have heard, from the residents, of the way that they are being treated unfairly, of the way that they are being removed at the sign of early-onset dementia, of any sort of inconvenience to those companies. We are hearing from people who have given up their life-savings in order to get a spot in these retirement villages, where they are not owning those properties but are licensed to occupy and, at the smallest change, they get kicked out with no chance of recuperating their capital. In fact, they don't even get any capital gains from the money that they put into these requirement villages. On top of that, they're also getting up to a 30 percent deferred management fee deducted from that. To give an example, if you were paying 10 years ago for a retirement-village apartment or a condo or a house at $1 million and ten years later you want to move, not only do you not get the capital gains from the increase in value of that; in fact, you get up to 30 percent deducted. So you will only see $700,000 back of the $1 million that you put in, which means you won't have the money to buy something else, because everything else is no longer affordable.

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

I want to give a shout out to the Retirement Village Residents Association for the ongoing work that they're doing, despite the fact that these people should be retiring and enjoying their life. Instead, they have to come up and fight these companies. We have allowed the Government to cruelly and heartlessly profit off the bookends of our lives, from early childhood education to retirement villages. Our elders and seniors have given a lot to Aotearoa. Frankly, the least we can do is ensure that they live in dignity and not be profited off. Thank you.

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

Secondly, let's refute the outdated belief that GDP growth is going to solve all our problems. High GDP per capita means very little when wealth is concentrated in the hands of a wealthy few while the majority struggle with the cost of living or even homelessness. I'm going to quote from the UNICEF's 18th report card on child poverty in OECD countries: "Notably, the countries that managed to reduce child poverty are neither the wealthiest nor the countries that experienced the strongest economic growth … Conversely, the greatest leaps backwards occurred in some of the richest members of the OECD and the EU. … If sufficient political will is present, governments have a variety of policy tools to protect and promote the well-being of children."

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

A system that prioritises profit over protection is failing us. We need to shift from fast tourism—quick, shallow, high-carbon visits to the same few places—to slow tourism that immerses visitors in our regions, supports local economies, and protects our natural taonga.

The new Te Urewera Heartland Ride—presumably, a grandchild of the first Ngā Haerenga Great Rides—is a shining example of iwi-led, sustainable tourism. The proposed Te Ara Tipuna—a 500-kilometre trail for walking, cycling, and horse riding from Ōpōtiki to Tai Rāwhiti—is led by Ngāti Porou. They didn't rush the project through the disruptive fast-track process; they lodged a proper resource consent, focused on environmental and cultural protection. That experience will enrich both locals and visitors.

The Green Party champions regenerative tourism that gives back more than it takes, supporting local businesses, ensuring fair wages, and protecting our natural and cultural heritage. We need partnership between central government and local government to provide infrastructure. That might be railways, it might be boardwalks, it might be cycle trails—it would be really good to finish the Five Towns Trail in the Wairarapa—or it might be toilets. But the most important piece of our infrastructure that tourism and other parts of the economy rely on is our natural capital. When I was in Waitangi last week—unlike the Prime Minister—I saw kina barrens brought about because of overfishing by the boats that Matua Jones says don't need cameras.

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

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Oh, thank you.

Hon JAN TINETTI: —so it's lovely to see you back. I'd also like to take the opportunity to welcome back two wāhine toa to the House as well—Marama Davidson and Lemauga Lydia Sosene—who have had their health issues as well. Being a fellow survivor, I just take my hat off to them for their battles that they've been through and being back, and it's wonderful to see them here.

That being said, morale is low at the moment in this country. I think I heard earlier today Carmel, our deputy leader, talking about how she's never seen it so low. I feel that—I feel exactly the same. I go out into the traps at the moment and I see that low morale and what I'm seeing breaks my heart.

I think that there were people that tuned into the Prime Minister's statement hoping that they were going to see something different, wanting a sense of hope that was going to come from that statement. All they saw was a weak leader who talked jargon and had no vision for this country. Actually, this country has never seen such a shambolic and incompetent and divisive Government. They are leaving this country in a state, and I know that there are many people worried about the mess that's going to need to be cleaned up at the end of next year.

One of the areas that this Government talks about is ensuring equity for our people, and they talk about some of their great achievements. Even today, I was just so perturbed when I saw them talking about—and it was in the Prime Minister's statement—the number of people who have exited emergency housing. But where had they gone to? I have seen babies living in tents—a beautiful four-month-old with a young mother living in a tent because emergency accommodation was not available to her. I have seen people living in cars, like I have not seen since 2016. And that side over there today were going, "Yes, we've done it. We've got them out of emergency accommodation." Why aren't you asking what is happening to those people? Why aren't that side over there hanging their heads in shame and then asking the questions about where are those people and why are four-month-old babies living in tents and not having access to emergency accommodation?

It's easy to say that you can get people out of emergency accommodation if you just take them off the list and get rid of them into cars, tents, and garages. That's what we saw in 2016 and what an awful situation it was. I fear that we've got back there in record time, because I see it. I'm not even an electorate MP and I see it coming through my office doors because they can't get help anywhere else. They have been to lots of different places and they cannot get that help, and they are not feeling they are being supported by this Government at all.

What worries me is the impact that then has on our children and on education. I've seen what that can do and how that can put young people back by years and years and years in their education, and yet a lot of that is put back on the teachers in the school without looking at that holistic view of everything that happens in a young person's life.

We've seen lots of non-delivery and broken promises from this Government. Right at the start of the school year, we are seeing broken promises and non-delivery. One non-delivery, of course, is all the rural bus runs that have been cut. Even yesterday, I spoke to a few Northland principals who are very concerned about the number of children that are having to walk along dangerous rural roads to get to school, and they know that those young people are at real risk of not getting to school, or being injured in some horrific way because those bus runs have inexplicably been cut. I've spoken to principals in Hawke's Bay whose bus runs have been cut. I've spoken to principals on the West Coast of the South Island whose bus runs have been cut. Right in the rural heartland of this country, young people and their families have been completely disregarded.

We're also seeing non-delivery in the famous school lunch programme. We're seeing schools that are really struggling to feed their kids, and this Government had no regard for the delivery of those lunches. What did they think was going to happen when they cut the cost by $5 per lunch? Did they think that this lunch programme would suitably feed all of those kids? They were kidding themselves. What has happened is that has been put back on to the schools to make up the difference. We're already hearing of educators who are, out of their own goodwill, giving back to that lunch programme to make sure that their kids are being fed that. You would think that the cost of living would be the highest on the agenda at the moment, but taking away those lunches, as they're doing at the moment, and not having any regard for the nutrition of those lunches is disgraceful. They've also taken away many jobs. They don't care about people's jobs—with rising unemployment. Seeing so many people who were delivering those lunches are now out of work—some of those people that I got to visit when I was Minister were proud because it was the first job that they'd had for quite some time. Suddenly, they are now out of work and not able to find new work because of the employment situation in this country—a really disgraceful outcome that this Government has put in place.

Another thing that this Government is doing is opening the door to privatisation. Now, we've heard many speeches here about the privatisation throughout the health sector and the growing thought that this Government is looking to privatise in that area. But one area that seems to be overlooked is the privatisation already in the education sector—ECE, early childhood education, being the first off the block with the regulatory review that happened there at the end of last year and was reported back. Really, all that that regulatory review did was say that it would make it easier for businesses to operate early childhood centres at the expense of our children's education and their safety in this country.

Now, when there have been similar situations overseas, there have been catastrophic consequences. When you do not put the health and safety of young people at the centre, there will be catastrophic consequences. That's not saying that that's a "maybe"; that is a "will be". There are regulations for a reason. Now, given, there always should be a review of regulations, but always put the needs of a young person at the centre so that we never, ever put them in danger or in a situation where their lives will be at risk. If you don't think, Madam Speaker, that that is a possibility, have a look at the cases that have happened in the UK, have a look at the cases that have happened in some states in the US, have a look at what has happened in some places in Australia, where we have seen terrible outcomes of when a similar regulatory review has happened. All that does is make it possible for businesses to operate easier, so it is profit before our kids.

Then, we also see—let's go back to the buses and the privatisation area—that where there have been some buses that have been completely cut—and we're talking about maybe 20, 30, 40, 50, and, in one case, 60 kids that have been impacted—communities have only coped by businesses stepping up and paying for the buses. That should be a given—all kids should have the ability to be able to get to school, and it should not be given out to corporates or businesses to be able to provide those transport for their children. That is something that the Government should be providing and there should not be a question about that.

This Government is backwards-looking and has no plan for the future. There are so many issues that this Government is causing within the education space that I worry about the future of our young people and our Kiwi ingenuity, which we have always nurtured through creative thinking, which many teachers are now telling me they don't have the ability to do anymore because of this Government's focus on narrowing our curriculum. That is a scary space to be in. This is a shambolic, incompetent, and divided Government.

TIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Well, thankfully the fanciful and far-fetched fiction flowing forth from the former Minister is finished. We heard concerns around the school lunch programme; this is from the same member that just recently put up a post online decrying the deplorable state of these school lunches with a picture of said lunch, only for it to be revealed that lunch she posted a picture of was from when she was the Associate Minister of Education a couple of years ago. So I think listeners will take with a large grain of salt any commentary from that member on education.

This Government, though, is squarely focused on improving outcomes across the board and it is a pleasure to get up every day, and I see that in members on this side of the House, as part of this Government; a spring in their step as they stride forward, confident that we are making a positive improvement in the lives of New Zealanders up and down this fine country.

Now, we inherited an incredibly difficult situation; the economy was in a mess, cost of living was through the roof, inflation at record high levels. Now, you can't turn that around overnight but we have made amazing strides in that space. Government expenditure coming under control was a key part of that. Doing that helped to bring inflation down. Inflation now back within the 1 to 3 percent band; 2.2 for the last two consecutive quarters, now. That's led to interest rates coming back. All of these factors flow through to a lower cost of living for Kiwis.

Is the job done? No, it's not, there's more to do, but rest assured that we are squarely focused—ruthlessly focused—on delivering that for New Zealanders because we understand that's important. I hear that as I travel around the mighty Waikato, the wonderful electorate that I am very proud to represent. I hear from families in those wonderful communities of the difficult challenges they've been facing over the last couple of years. But I also hear a level of optimism—optimism that actually things are coming right. We have turned the corner and positive future scenarios for them and their families are squarely in sight. So that's encouraging.

Over the last year, it's been a strong focus on that cost of living aspect, getting rid of some of the red tape and bureaucracy to help unlock our businesses and farmers is another key piece of the puzzle for helping to drive success. You can look at that in the transport sector and again, in the Waikato, we have a lot of growth opportunity there, a lot of transport projects under way at the moment, and we've been inundated with a sea of orange for many years: cones galore.

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

We are cutting through that and, as I say, it's a pleasure to be part of that. In the Waikato, we're seeing that tangibly: Telephone Road intersection a great example of that. Simeon Brown, the transport Minister at the time, agreed that we needed to reopen that intersection and it's going to happen. It was a ridiculous decision to close it. It's getting back open. Great outcome for the local community there.

We're committed to extending the Waikato Expressway. The plan is to go all the way through to Tauranga; four lanes. A massive economic benefit to the upper North Island region. That golden triangle will absolutely thrive off the back of that. I know my colleagues in the Bay of Plenty region, as well as those in the Waikato region, are very firmly committed to seeing that through as well, and we're hoping to be turning dirt on that next year. A great outcome for our region in the Waikato. Alongside that, the prospect of a third medical school at Waikato University is another very exciting potential opportunity in the Waikato.

When I look back over that last year, there have been challenges. It hasn't all been easy and I've heard from constituents echoing some of their concerns around the difficult situations they've seen. But, as I said, that positivity that underpins that things are improving—we are helping this country get back on track and they feel that things are coming right for them.

So when we look forward now to 2025, this Government has been very clear the focus is squarely on economic growth, helping to get the economy firing again; charging so that we can succeed, so that there are more jobs available for Kiwis; that they are higher-paying jobs; that businesses can be encouraged to innovate; that new entrepreneurs can start new businesses; that the compliance framework around that is minimised to encourage success, to encourage innovation, to encourage that nimble number eight wire mentality that always used to underpin how New Zealand got on and succeeded in the world. Yet it feels like we've suffocated that number eight wire in red tape over the last number of years.

So it's encouraging, as I say, to be a part of a Government that is getting back to basics and removing that for the success of our country. Government expenditure is going to be a part of that. There is still too much waste—too much waste. There are a lot of wonderful programmes going on, lots of interesting things happening but actually getting back to basics is critical for our success. We need to reduce that expenditure further. That red tape and compliance can be cut back further as well.

It's exciting to see fast-track applications cutting through the red tape in the resource management space. There are a number of projects in the mighty Waikato that I'm very much looking forward to being a part of that; those developers, those business owners that are very excited about what the potential of fast-track legislation means for them. It's about unlocking the opportunity for New Zealand because that tech, that innovation, that development, that infrastructure—all of those things that will help to drive a stronger economy in New Zealand—will help make lives better for all Kiwis. In the Waikato, we're very excited about that as well. Because, actually, when you have a strong economy, you can afford to invest in health, in education, in law and order, and in the environment.

All of these things that we hear from the other side are very important, and indeed they are, and we agree with that. But, actually, you cannot fund them without a strong economy, and that is the fundamental premise of why we are driving so firmly for economic growth in this country. We want better outcomes. When I think about my young children and the thousands of other young children around the wonderful Waikato and across the country, I want them to have a fantastic future and that means a strong educational platform. I am so pleased to see the changes that the education Minister Erica Stanford has been implementing to help ensure that we focus on teaching the basics brilliantly, that we just get back to delivering quality education to set our young Kiwis up for a successful future so that they can go on to whatever success looks like for them. Having that firm educational base is absolutely vital to that, and I am so pleased to see a raft of changes in this place that will help deliver on that as well.

Again, in health, we've seen a number of targets established last year that have been well traversed. I'm confident the new health Minister, Simeon Brown, will continue to drive firmly for success in achieving those outcomes as well. Because we see far too often, and in rural communities like the Waikato, access to health can be a challenge and that shouldn't be the case, but it has been. We are working on fixing that and that, in part, again, comes from having a strong economy because we have committed a record investment in health expenditure under this Government. We have to be able to pay for that, and that is where the economy comes in. And we just don't just seem to hear that echoed from the other side. There's no understanding; it's simply spend more on the environment, spend more on health, on education—not so much on law and order; that doesn't seem to be an issue for them—but, actually, to do all of those things we must have the economy to afford it.

It's simple and we see that in businesses and, sadly, businesses have had a tough time over the last number of years now. Last year, unfortunately, we saw a number of businesses go into liquidation. That just reflects the difficulty of the situation we inherited. Again, confidence levels suggest that the future is looking brighter for those businesses and we look forward to supporting them, enabling them to get on and succeed, as well.

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

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Members, we are now at the dinner break. The House is suspended until 7.30 p.m.

Sitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members, the House has resumed. We are on the debate on the Prime Minister's statement, and it's a Labour Party call—and can you clarify, is this a split call or a full?

Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: It's a split call.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: A split call, OK.

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

In 2024, this Government cut access to disability support funding and devastated disabled people and carers. They denigrated carers, accused them of misusing funds with no evidence. They gutted Whaikaha and moved Disability Support Services to the Ministry of Social Development—again, with no evidence that that would lead to improved outcomes for disabled people. Providers are now under orders from this Government, through Needs Assessment and Service Coordination services, to turn away disabled people from getting support, to cut costs. Residential homes have a freeze placed on them. Disabled people who've worked for upwards of five years to find a place and finally got one are told that they're now back in square one. They've quietly axed the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill after much hoo-ha on that side when they were in Opposition, and stopped the Enabling Good Lives roll-out as well. All of this has led to unquantifiable, unmeasurable suffering for disabled people and carers.

This report, though, A Thousand Cuts, looks at the quantifiable, cumulative impacts on the financial incomes of disabled people and how they've been detrimentally impacted as a direct result of decisions that this Government has made. The main ones they talk about are indexing benefits to the Consumers Price Index (CPI) and not wages. We, of course, made the reverse change in 2019, and that, when we index benefits to wage growth—the Children's Commissioner at the time said it was the single most effective thing a Government could do to lift children out of poverty. They've changed it back to CPI. In other words, the gap between average wages and benefit levels will cumulatively increase year on year.

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

Cutting school lunches, bringing back prescription charges will disproportionately impact disabled people. I want to read a quote from a person that's been laid out in this report. Carers are also affected by prescription charges being brought back. A lady in her 50s admitted to hospital because she had stopped taking her heart medications: when she was discharged, she came back in saying that she would get them now as they are now free. She said although she was working, her husband is disabled and they struggle to get by. Her health is the lowest priority. And then, of course, they've brought back charges for public transport, which was either free or half-price for those under the age of 24.

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

What else have they done? Thousands of New Zealanders leaving New Zealand. Jobs—they don't seem to care about jobs; that's dropped off the radar: 33,000 more people unemployed after this Government has taken office. Cuts to front-line services as well. Why? To fund $14.7 billion in tax cuts, and about 2 million New Zealanders get nothing, or $2 a week, because of that. Only 3,000 get the $250 a fortnight that the Prime Minister promised willy-nilly to almost everyone on the campaign trail. Two-point-nine billion dollars in tax cuts for landlords; $216 million to one tobacco company.

They're failing the economy, they're failing people; I haven't even touched on how they're failing the environment. If I was this Government, that's taking New Zealand backwards, I would not be so proud, because their decisions have made life harder for everyone except those who are wealthy and sorted.

Dr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. David Seymour wants to privatise the health system [Interruption]—yes he does. And he started to lay the groundwork—and we've heard him do this on a couple of occasions—by suggesting that people just need to get over their squeamish feelings that they might have about privatisation. I don't know who he's been talking to, but everybody that I've spoken to since he said that was not squeamish about it; they were outraged, and rightly so. But we shouldn't be surprised, because David Seymour's libertarian drive for privatisation is deeply rooted in that belief that private ownership and market competition are just simply more efficient and effective than Government. On this side of the House, we know that health is a public good. Reduced access and inequalities and inequities are absolutely what would be on the agenda and on David Seymour's agenda if he had his way. Private companies prioritise profit, by definition, over public good. Leading to reduced access for lower-income individuals and marginalised communities, because they are always the people that suffer the consequences of those largesse and that libertarian view.

But healthcare, as I said, is a public good because it benefits all of society. A healthy population contributes not only to economic productivity, it contributes to the growth—the mythical, magical growth that everybody's always after—stability, and overall societal wellbeing. So it might be really easy for us to sit back and think, "Well, it won't happen because it's only David Seymour suggesting it. David Seymour's not the boss." But after 14 months of this Government looking more and more like Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is not the one calling the shots, I wouldn't be too sure.

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

Hon Members: Unemployment.

Dr TRACEY McLELLAN: Unemployment—the growth in unemployment. There are 33,000 more people unemployed. Māori and Pasifika unemployment is double the national rate, and that is shameful. And yet there is still no plan. We've heard nothing concrete—just slogans and vacuous statements.

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

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

So it's all very well having listened to the Prime Minister's statement. And yet again we heard a lot of rhetoric, but the crux of the matter is this Government is taking people backwards—taking the country backwards. We know that because that's what people are telling us on the ground. That's certainly what we're hearing everywhere we go. As they say: people are never wrong.

We're supposedly halfway through this Government, they would lead us to believe. And I don't know if anybody would like to bet on the Government lasting their full distance, but we're supposedly halfway through this Government, and already they're failing on the economy. It's a simple fact: the cost of living has simply dropped off the radar. I haven't heard anybody talk seriously about the cost of living crisis for a long time. They seem to have just let that go. They're opening the door to privatisation and they're going to use health as the stalking horse to start that up. They simply don't care about people's jobs because most of them are wealthy and sorted.

We've got the ferry debacle. "Nicola no boats"—no ferries. Goodness knows when that's going to be resolved. And $2.9 billion in tax cuts for landlords, tax breaks for tobacco, and shamefully reversing what was our world first smoke-free legislation, including the world's first smoke-free generation, which should have been something that we were all proud of. The Government is taking us all backwards. It's full of broken promises and bad choices.

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

I'm proud to be part of a Government that is backing regional New Zealand—that understands that economic growth is created in the regions, created in rural New Zealand. As the MP for Tukituki, representing regional New Zealand, I'm getting feedback all the time from so many people across Hawke's Bay about how wonderful it is that finally we've got a Government that is backing the regions, focusing on community, taking bureaucracy out of Wellington, and investing back in the front line and investing in infrastructure, roads, renewable energy, housing development. It's just so good. It's so positive. There's no doubt that Hawke's Bay has benefited from this, and I'm super excited about all the things that we have done in the past year for Hawke's Bay.

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

In fact, horticulture has now surpassed forestry as the third-largest exporter for the first time. There is so much potential when we have a Government that backs our growers and backs our farmers, and backs our primary industries—a Government that backs economic growth, jobs, and opportunity. On this side of the House, we are enabling our growers to grow. We're cutting the red tape and allowing our industries to grow and create jobs and ensuring we have the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workforce that we need so we can pick our fruit at the optimum time and get it off to market—thanks to a very amazing immigration Minister, who came to Hawke's Bay this time last year and listened and then acted. That is it: we are a Government of action. It's not OK to be leaving millions of dollars of export quality fruit to rot on the trees. It's important that we futureproof our RSE scheme. This means that we can create more permanent jobs for New Zealanders and create opportunity in our regions.

We're supporting overseas capital. We're saying, "We are open for business here in New Zealand", so that our businesses have the confidence to invest and employ people. And we're backing science, innovation, biotech, so we can grow our apples faster, so that we can create pest resistance, so that we can reduce our emissions. This is all good stuff. And we are supporting water storage so that we can grow our crops and we can produce more. Water is the lifeblood—it's the lifeblood of our regions—and that is why our Government has announced funding support for water storage in Hawke's Bay. I was so excited—$3 million for the Tukituki water storage scheme. This has the potential to provide over 22,000 hectares of irrigation and environmental flows so that we can get the water going in the rivers in the dry summer months, so we can increase those flows. It will unlock economic potential, forecasting up to $300 million of GDP impact, and create over 3,000 jobs. This is huge, unleashing so much economic potential in the regions—very, very exciting for Hawke's Bay. And we do need water storage.

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

Which brings me to the speed limit—this is another wonderful thing for our region. There were so many people going on holiday over the break, travelling across the Napier-Taupō road and being so frustrated by the 80 kilometre per hour speed limit. When we're driving along these big, straight flats, actually you could be going 100. Well, news: we are putting those speed limits back up to 100, which is really exciting. The amount of feedback when we announced that was just huge for Hawke's Bay—lots and lots of very, very excited people that can't wait to drive 100 kilometres per hour back along State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō, but also State Highway 51 between Clive and Napier obviously going back up to 100, as well. So that's very exciting, not only for driving productivity but just ensuring that we can get from A to B a lot faster, and just a bit more of a common-sense approach.

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

And education: this is something that I'm very passionate about. We've got our wonderful education Minister right here, and I must say, dropping my children off at school after the school holidays and talking to the teachers about the new structured literacy and structured maths programme was super exciting, because they are really excited about this programme. They've seen the benefits of it. They've seen the benefits that structured literacy and structured maths creates. We need to lift performance and education. It's not about lowering the bar; it is about lifting our children up over that bar. And that's about getting back to the basics in the classroom— an hour of reading, writing, and maths each day—getting back that focus and that engagement, and just simple policies that have been introduced, like banning cell phones in schools. This is such a great policy that I just get so much feedback on all the time from teachers and principals, who say, "We're actually seeing the students engaging. They're actually learning, and they're actually talking to each other." And this is the type of thing that is simple, it's basic, but it's going to get our children ahead.

Finally, just quickly, I wanted to touch on our gang laws that we brought in, because, in Hawke's Bay, we have one of the largest populations of gangs in the country. I've been talking to police in the region and they're just so happy that they've now got this tool kit where they can crack down on the gangs. They have the ability to be able to stop gangs from consorting. They can actually do something when they're wearing gang patches. We don't want to see gangs intimidating our communities. We want safer communities in Hawke's Bay. This is really important for our families and our children. There is plenty that our Government has done in the past year, and we've got plenty more to do to get New Zealand back on track.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour): We are facing some serious problems in this country: the economy is in recession; unemployment is going up; productivity is down. There are those who like to say it was all the fault of the previous Government, entirely ignoring world trends, but I'd like to point to a world trend: that most economies that we compare ourselves with, having experienced inflation, have, in the last year or so, recovered—are now back into growth. Minimal, but it's there. In this country, we are not, and the reason we are not is because of the facile slogans and the empty rhetoric of the Government that is simply not delivering. They are crashing and burning through New Zealand. There's a Prime Minister who thinks he only has to order something and it will make it come true but who will not do the hard yards to actually do the work; a Minister of Finance who is full of cheap debating tricks and no solid policy to work with and for New Zealand to ensure that we do the best for everyone here. That Government is creating chaos. It is absolutely shambolic. It is breaking promises, and it is taking us backwards.

I want to focus on the bad choices that Government is making in tertiary education. It's a mess. The reason it's a mess is because they appointed a Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills who had one objective in mind—a personal objective only—and that was to get the Southern Institute of Technology back. So, instead of looking at Te Pūkenga seriously and soberly, and noticing that it was beginning to work, that Minister decided to take it apart no matter what—take it apart no matter that her own officials said it would be best to have regional groupings of polytechnics; no matter that her own specialist group of advisers said, "Put together regional groups of polytechnics." Instead, she has charged on with her own plan—the sheer arrogance of ignoring the evidence and ignoring the advice of her own officials and ignoring the advice of her own specialist advisers, all because she had one simple idea in mind. The sector is in despair over it.

Now she's put out some consultation around workplace learning, and the sector is rejecting that, too, because the models that the Minister is offering—now the Minister for Vocational Education—involve charging the industries more. It's a shame. There is a shambles being created in vocational education. That Minister did nothing for the universities, and the universities have been taken off her and given to someone else who might actually do something about it. We're just starting to hear today that funding is going to be removed from the universities. This is a huge problem. If we are to get New Zealand's productivity up, if we are going to seriously address some of the problems we need to address in this country, then we need to have something like about 80 percent of New Zealanders with a trade, a diploma, or a degree. Yet that Government is taking apart the institutions that will help us all to have a trade, a diploma, or a degree. It is facile and short-term thinking. It is creating huge uncertainty in the sector.

The previous speaker, Catherine Wedd, lauded the science reforms and said it was taking science forward in this country. Tell that to the scientists at Callaghan Innovation, who have no idea what they are going to do after 30 June this year. That Government has created massive uncertainty in the science sector. We have lost around 500 scientists. That's our future that we've waved off overseas—the expertise we need so that we can create the innovation we need in this country. That Government has taken funding away from blue-sky science, and while they were at it, they sort of knifed the humanities and social sciences in the back. But that blue-sky science is exactly what creates the opportunities for innovation that we need to grow this economy. That is a Government that doesn't care. It is engaged in a whole lot of short-term thinking. It needed some money to pay for its tax cuts, so it took and took and took from exactly the sectors that needed long-term secure investment to ensure that we could grow.

It is a chaotic Government, a Government of shambles, a Government of broken promises, and a Government that is simply taking us backwards.

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

There will be a number of MPs across the House who will be freaking out at the moment because they know what the public is telling them and they know the promises that have been broken and also the risk to the seats that they hold.

It's good to see the Minister for the South Island in the House this evening. In fact, actually, he's delivered a more significant plan for the South Island, in a number of weeks in the role, than the Minister for Auckland has in the 18 months that he's held that particular position.

The reality of this Government is that they are failing in this economy. The cost of living—[Interruption]

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Too loud. I cannot hear the person who's speaking.

SHANAN HALBERT: The cost of living has absolutely dropped off the agenda of this National Government. In fact, Aucklanders have been left behind. They were promised $250 a fortnight in tax cuts. The average family only received a mere $50. Under this Government, Aucklanders have endured rising rents. In fact, the Minister of Housing tried to say that rents in Auckland had gone down. Now, which Aucklander that any of us knows feels like their rents have actually gone down? No one. No rents have gone down. The Government promised their tax cuts for landlords would bring down rents, and the Infometrics quarterly economic monitor for Auckland showed that rental affordability decreased over the year to September and that new dwelling consents are down 12 percent. We know that they've put more than 2,000 houses under Kāinga Ora on hold in Tāmaki Auckland alone. They've stopped building. They've stopped delivering for our largest city in this country.

What I have seen from the Minister for Auckland is, despite my number of written parliamentary questions and despite Official Information Act requests to the Minister, I haven't seen a plan. I haven't seen any deliverables. The only thing in the two papers that he has delivered to Cabinet is that he held the role of Minister for Transport, he held the role of Minister of Local Government, and through those work programmes, he was delivering for Auckland. When public transport has increased significantly for Aucklanders—it's gone up—and when registration fees have gone up and when toll fees are coming in and congestion prices are coming in, life is getting more expensive for Aucklanders.

This wasn't the promise that Aucklanders were sold under the National Government in the last election. So the question for Aucklanders is: who is our champion? Is it the Minister for Auckland who is now the Minister of Health? Where is his time going to come around in order to deliver measurable outcomes for Auckland alone? How is he going to get on top of the infrastructure deficit that we experience? He absolutely hasn't delivered for our largest city in this country. He's cut $564 million from our transport and infrastructure programme in the city. Since he is the health Minister now, and listening to the debacle of question time today, what he did talk about is the leadership in the health system.

Now, can I remind the House that, once upon a time, we had a Minister of Health called Jonathan Coleman, who appointed Lester Levy—

Hon Matt Doocey: From Northcote.

SHANAN HALBERT: That's right—and who also appointed Dale Bramley. How did that go? How did that go, and how have we found ourselves back in this cycle? So, for Aucklanders, for the people of Birkenhead and Northcote, this Government hasn't delivered. They're asking questions of yourselves—

DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member's time has expired. Thank you.

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

The growth that we will be seeing in this country is a direct result of the Prime Minister's vision. Is unemployment growing? Is material hardship for children growing? Is the number of people declined for hardship grants for food growing? The number of benefit sanctions pushing people into deeper poverty—growing. Rents—growing. All of this comes at the expense of our communities, who have been promised an economy that supposedly will work for everyone. But if you look, and scratch behind the surface of the rhetoric of the Prime Minister, what you will find is an economic plan that will make the rich wealthier at the expense of basically everyone else.

Again, it doesn't take a lot of searching, even on Google, to see what the Government hasn't planned for our communities. If we take the Social Security Amendment Bill that is currently in the Social Services and Community Committee, we've been constantly warned by officials about the fact that this bill will literally put our poorest at risk of homelessness because of the way that the policy is designed. People cannot eat your GDP growth; because we have been in the past in areas where we have seen rapid, so-called economic growth. Those are the John Key years. What did we see during that time? More people living in motels; more people struggling to get by.

Economic growth and GDP growth does not tell you who's actually benefiting from a so-called growing economy. You can actually have a growing economy that depends on making the rich richer, on increased house prices, that does not rely on actually supporting everyday people who are simply trying to do their best. Economic growth—in the simplest way possible to explain to people—is just money moving around. It does not tell you whether you actually have children that are currently living in households that are cold and damp, whether they are going to be living in good homes. If so, the John Key years of the past would have delivered a drastic decrease in wealth inequality and poverty, and we did not see that. We will not see that either under this Government.

The Government finds it easier to go back to the rhetoric of beneficiary bashing to scapegoat some of our poorest people to then justify policies that will simply make inequality worse. The Government is relying on increased rents and house prices to actually drive that economic growth. Why do we know that? Because the Government is creating visas like this investor visa category that relies on investment coming into the country, so money flowing in, but with no tangible measurements about how exactly we're going to see the benefits of that investor visa trickling down to everyday people. I say trickling down because the trickle-down economics that this Government is reheating—the Government effectively reheating their own nachos from previous Governments—has not delivered any substantive changes for everyday people.

So I want to make it really clear, when the Government and the Prime Minister specifically talks about growth, he is not talking about everyday people. He's talking about lining the pockets of corporations, lining the pockets of multimillionaires. This will come at the expense of communities that are currently being gentrified, of people who are being pushed out of their local communities because of increased rent prices. We're seeing that across the country, not just in places like Auckland and Wellington. In fact, many of our regional cities are seeing massive increases in rent prices, and people who are aging in those cities are wondering whether they're going to be displaced by corporations and for-profit investor companies that are simply going to create homes for profit, not for people. Again, this is so clear when you talk to people at the front lines who are helping some of our most vulnerable. It's clear to me that the Government members have absolutely no interest in actually connecting to the people on the ground who are struggling to make ends meet.

I want to take us back actually just to Monday where we were having, again, public hearings on the Social Security Amendment Bill. I saw one of the Government members publicly in that hearing asking someone about literally a made-up scenario they made about a beneficiary that they created in their heads who was refusing to go to work. They actually admitted they didn't even know that person. They heard it from someone else potentially, and this speaks about the attitude that people have towards those struggling to make ends meet. They would rather create an imaginary person in their head who simply complies with the political narrative they're pushing than actually go out and talk to people on the benefit about what their aspirations are.

Because if they were hearing submitters, none of them actually would have supported the narrative the Prime Minister has pushed around people on the benefit being bottom trawlers. They've actually been talking about how they want an income support system that treats them with respect and dignity. I looked at the Prime Minister's statement; you could find nothing about people doing it the toughest. Like, people are not going to be lifted out of poverty because we had multimillionaires on visas coming into the country. People are not going to be lifted out of poverty if you literally defund and strip Kāinga Ora of their ability to deliver homes for people who are on the social housing waiting list. No matter how much economic growth we see, those benefits are not going to be trickling down to everyday communities. We've been here before and we've seen the impacts of trickle-down neoliberal politics that have simply delivered more hardship.

I think particularly when we see the Prime Minister's statements followed up by, obviously, his Ministers in later weeks, talk about the vision they want for our tourism sector, for immigration, it's really clear that the wellbeing of workers—for example, our migrant workers who have helped us to, for example, build more homes, including public housing—are not at the forefront of the Government Ministers, because this Government would rather, for example, scrap language requirements for millionaires, while creating more hurdles for everyday migrant workers to access residency visas; particularly those on low wages who are most likely to be exploited. The Government would rather simply label them as low skilled, and forget about them, treat them as expendable commodities, instead of members of our communities who deserve to actually be treated as human. Again, we're seeing more stories than probably ever before about, say, for example, disabled children facing deportation in this country simply because of how they were born. I think to me that reeks of a narrative of a lack of regard to people who do not comply with this Government's vision of an economy for the multimillionaires.

I feel for the communities on the ground who at the end of this term—because I do genuinely believe that we're heading towards a one-term Government—will be wondering who was this economic growth for? Because it certainly wasn't for everyday people. It certainly isn't for the kids in schools that are facing lower quality school lunches, who are setting them up to fail in education. It certainly won't benefit children living in poverty; their families are now wondering why this Government is far more interested in measuring school attendance than whether they actually have the bare essentials. We have a child poverty reduction Minister who's literally far more interested in measuring school attendance than whether kids have enough. It's almost like the priorities are upside down. You can't send kids to school without the bare essentials and expect them to thrive. It doesn't take a lot to know that. It doesn't take a lot of reading or academic knowledge to actually understand the basics that help our kids thrive in school and in their homes.

So, my message to the Government is pretty clear: turn those priorities upside down or get out. Make way for the people that are out in the communities, working hard to support their communities, to have what they need to thrive, to ensure that they're treated with respect by Work and Income, to ensure that they actually are listened to when they're telling the Government that bills that they're putting forward would literally make their material realities worse. If we had a Government that actually listened to those doing it the toughest, we wouldn't be having more benefit sanctions. We wouldn't be having cuts to benefit increases. We wouldn't be having a defunding of Kāinga Ora. We would be literally doing the exact opposite; taxing the wealthy few so that everybody can be looked after, so that we can have quality public services like hospitals and primary care services, instead of playing with the idea of privatising the very same services that keep our communities alive and thriving.

So I just want to reject everything the Prime Minister outlined in his statement and ask the question of him; who is going to benefit from the so-called economic growth that he's championing?

Hon MATT DOOCEY (Minister for Mental Health): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Look, the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money and that's exactly what happened with the last Labour Government. They ran out of the hard-working Kiwi taxpayers' money. They sent our debt as a country ballooning over $100 billion. Every year we will spend over $10 billion a year servicing our debt alone. Our third biggest expenditure for this Government—more that we will spend on two police forces. That is the failure of the last socialist Government that was a failed socialist experiment.

And Madam Speaker, like you, I can remember a time in a Prime Minister's statement not long after that Labour Government came into power a few years ago, where they were very emboldened and one by one, the Labour MPs got up to declare themselves proud socialists. I'll tell you what, we won't hear them do it this term because they know their socialism failed their Government, but most importantly failed this country. And the reality is the situation this Government finds itself in now is a hangover. We're having to deal with the hangover. And hangovers are not nice. Hangovers are uncomfortable, but they dined out on their champagne-socialist values that have forced this country into a hangover.

And that's why on this side of the House, we know actually the value of a competitive economy—a competitive economy that values growth. And why that is is because unlike the last Government who feels like they know best and will run the country with Kiwi taxpayers' money out of Wellington, blow the budgets, turn every indicator around for the negative, we know exactly for New Zealand; we're a small trading nation, we need to get out there and compete with the rest of the world.

In fact, when you look at other countries around the world, those with competitive economies, they are the ones with good jobs and incomes. Countries with competitive economies actually have a higher level of environmental standards. Actually, countries with competitive economies, their people have better living standards. That's why we focus on a competitive economy, because in fact, if we can grow our economy, that actually will help us as a Government return investment into the public services that Kiwis want us to deliver: $16.8 billion into health, the biggest funding injection ever. And clearly in the Prime Minister's statement, it outlined five key areas for a very important area for Kiwis is mental health.

For this year, in 2025, we're ambitious for mental health. We've implemented for the first time in New Zealand mental health targets, five targets that will reduce wait times, train more mental health professionals, and invest more in prevention and early intervention.

Shanan Halbert: What about OutLine?

Hon MATT DOOCEY: OutLine? So Shanan Halbert says, "What about OutLine?" Well, what about OutLine? How much did you fund them in the last Labour Government? Zero; zip; de nada. So when you're in Opposition, you'd be the lion you want, but when you're in Government, you were a lamb. You sat over here and kept quiet. You did nothing. And now you're in Opposition, you think you're a lion.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, don't bring me into the debate. Thank you.

Hon MATT DOOCEY: Thank you, Madam Chair. There's $16.8 billion for health, five new targets because we spend $2.6 billion on the mental health and addiction ringfence funding. We need to know that's spent wisely. That's why we've created the first target for those with mild to moderate mental health issues to be seen within one week for primary mental health services. Those who need more complex care and specialist services to be seen within three weeks. Scotland's got a target of 18 weeks; we've set a target of three weeks. Ninety-five percent of people with mental health issues going into the emergency departments to be assessed, transferred, treated, or discharged within six hours. We've set a target of training 500 new mental health professionals every year and ringfencing of that $2.6 billion budget, 25 percent of that to go into prevention and early intervention.

That's how we'll lift the system, not do what these last lot did, who talked a big game about transformation. Remember that slogan? The $1.9 billion they traded round like a trophy and ended up becoming a millstone round their neck because no one at the front line saw that money. They didn't know where it went. And the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission said despite the $1.9 billion, they could not see any material difference. Who could spend almost $2 billion and make no gains—they could. And that's what they left this country: bankrupt and going backwards.

So that's why we've brought in the targets and already from the front line we've seen that is turning around the deliveries and that will drive down waiting times. But it's also about accountability because that's how we hold myself as the first mental health Minister and this Government accountable, by setting clear standards and holding us to that. And unlike the last Government, when you look at health, they deleted, they cancelled, they stopped every target in health, and everything went backwards, and shame on them.

The next thing the Prime Minister talked about in mental health for this year is the rolling out of the multi-agency response to 111 calls. Why's that important? In your time of need when you call 111 for a mental health crisis response, you should get a mental health response, not necessarily a police response. The police will always respond when there's a risk to the individual or others, but in fact it should be a mental health response. In 2017 the first thing the Labour Government did when they came into power was cut the Co-Response Team mental health service. We lost six years in that space and that's why this Government is taking it seriously, and we'll be rolling it out to ensure people in mental distress get a timely response.

The Prime Minister also spoke about delivering more mental health professionals this year. More psychologists, more psychiatrists, and what we did—started off with a plan. And that mightn't sound like much because a lot of people talk about plans, especially the last lot, but the reason was the Auditor-General actually criticised the last Government for not having a mental health workforce plan. We delivered in our first year. In fact, no extra funding was needed because we found available funding already in the workforce baseline funding as well. That will double the amount of psychologists over four years; increase psychiatrists by 50 percent.

Not only that, we announced a $1 million fund to fund 80 new peer support workers and I've already started rolling them out round the country. I opened the new peer support service in Auckland's emergency department on Friday. They'll make a real difference when you come into an emergency department in a time of need, and you'll have someone of lived experience who will be there to support you and engage you as well.

And of course, let's not forget Gumboot Friday. Who funded Gumboot Friday? The public loves it and Labour hates it. Typical. But I tell you what that Gumboot Friday does, that delivers support for an extra 15,000 young people. And I tell you what, you look at the stats of Gumboot Friday, they can respond. They have hundreds of counsellors outside the publicly funded mental health system who have capacity ready to go, and they can sometimes see young people within 24 or 48 hours.

And then another initiative that the Prime Minister spoke about, the innovation fund: $10 million; we're happy to top it up more. That was actually not new money. That was money sitting in Wellington. Who would believe with all the mental health needs, the last lot left money sitting here not doing anything with it. We've got it out to the front line. Funded Sir John Kirwan's programme for education and schools; Mates in Construction; Youthline. We've also funded the Mental Health Foundation with that as well.

The Prime Minister has talked about getting more money out of Wellington to the front line and that's what we'll do this year: drive down waiting times, train more mental health professionals, and invest more in prevention and early intervention.

Hon MARK PATTERSON (Minister for Rural Communities): It's a great honour to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to reply to the Prime Minister's speech—2025 is not only going to be a good year for our rural communities, it is going to be a great year.

The stars have absolutely aligned and I have got great news for Nicola Willis. The cavalry is coming and, as usual, they're coming over the hill wearing Red Bands. This is going to be a massive year for the regional economies of New Zealand. The big growth engine primary sector is really starting to crank, and that is fantastic news for our rural communities. Dairy prices are looking like they're going to be at record levels. The kiwifruit and hort sector is absolutely booming—it's on a tear. Beef prices are at record levels. Lamb and mutton prices are $2 a kilo higher than they were at this time last year. Economists are seriously underestimating the magnitude of this upswing and the confidence that is coming from it. So Nicola Willis, you can start to sleep at night.

Let's not forget this is what we do really well in New Zealand. Essentially, our economy has been built on our ability to turn grass into protein. Our farmers, our pastoral farmers in particular, are the rock stars of world farming in that regard. And wasn't it great today, those of us that got to enjoy the National Lamb Day celebrations out on the lawn and that magnificent lamb cutlets that we had out there. This country has got a massive heritage in sheep farming. This country was literally built off the sheep's back and it's great to see a day like this—that encourages everyone to come together over the barbecue, over some chops, and just celebrate that great heritage and the hard-working men and women that are involved in that industry.

The primary sector makes up a massive 80 percent of our export earnings. This is an incredible statistic. What happens in rural New Zealand matters: $1 spent by farmers is $6 that permeates around the wider communities, not only into our small towns and our rural communities, into our provincial towns and into our cities. That will eventually, Nicola Willis, end up in the Treasury coffers as well as our tax take is swelled. And Ricardo Menéndez March: that's how you deliver public services in this country.

That's complemented as well by a Government that understands farming. Do not underestimate this key component in this recovery—a Government that understands farming, primarily because so many of us are farmers or have been brought up on farms and understand that you cannot hobble this industry with unnecessarily red and green tape. Resource Management Act reform is at the core of a lot of what we are doing, and boy are the primary sector grateful to have us here.

Our rural communities also welcome the focus this year, the renewed focus, on tourism. Tourists, as nice as Auckland and Wellington are, they do not come to New Zealand to visit Auckland and Wellington. The destinations they want to come to are Wānaka and Waitomo, to the West Coast, to Martinborough, to Russell, to the Catlins. That's where New Zealand's competitive advantage is. That's why people from all over the world—high-value tourists and backpackers—will come so far: to see something so special, and that is primarily in rural New Zealand. Those digital nomads, we welcome them with open arms. Just saying that Lawrence has free Wi-Fi if they're listening.

So my key focuses this year are two things: water and wool. The thing that I get asked about most when I'm out and about is "What is happening with wool?" I'm absolutely delighted to have that delegation and been entrusted by Minister McClay in that. The first thing that we're doing is making sure that Kāinga Ora reopen their tenders so we can reverse that fiasco—we will have more to say on that soon. To quote Chris Bishop: "We will be the most pro-wool Government there has ever been."

More good news: the price of premium strong white wool has nearly doubled since its nadir in December 2022. There is a long way to go, but we are determined to do our bit to contribute to doubling New Zealand's export. An export that once was the backbone of the New Zealand economy, still about $500 million—we want that figure to be in the billions. There is a big swing back tonight. Natural fibres. Wool is biodegradable, it is flame-retardant, it is by some measure carbon-negative, it is anti-allergenic. There is no microplastics or those toxic P-F-A-Fs—PFAFs—that are becoming of increasing concern.

But this is not only about carpets and insulation. There is an incredible amount of innovation going on. There is filtration with New Zealand wool in the space station, NASA is using it; in medicinal and bandaging; in acoustics; and the Holy Grail, which is the pigments and particles, breaking it down into its component part. This is the game-changer. There was a major investment announced just before Christmas for a commercialisation of that in Christchurch. So there is a lot going on.

What am I particularly doing? I am in the process of re-establishing industry leadership that foundered with the end of the Wool Board, bringing key stakeholders together in what is a disparate leadership structure. Pathways to market: the auction system has completely failed to connect growers with end consumers and value. I am challenging those supply chain participants as strongly as I can to change that game, to reimagine how we take New Zealand's strong wool to the world. But we are on a burning platform and there is no time to waste.

One of my big aims is to re-establish a New Zealand manufacturing base that has been decimated to fully capture the value for New Zealand, for jobs in regional communities, and for growth. In the woven and the spun sector, there is capital becoming available. We remain available through the Regional Infrastructure Fund and the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund to stand by the industry's side. If projects that fit those criteria come forward—I'm cajoling them as fast as I can to bring those forward.

And New Zealand First, that talks to the Regional Infrastructure Fund, that $1.2 billion fund that we fought so hard within coalition negotiations to get, and that's where the water storage comes in. Kānoa is sitting on 17 water storage projects on their book at the moment. We are out there preaching the gospel of growth. We've been out in regional growth summits right around the country.

We haven't had to wait for the Prime Minister's speech—we've been out there doing it and water is going to be a key focus of that, and for me it is a major opportunity for New Zealand. It offers diversification into higher value and higher production, into horticulture mainly and resilience from climate change or—what is it?—wild weather, as Shane might call it, or volatile weather. But we had no shortage of water in New Zealand. We just do not have water at the right place at the right time. We can do something about it. We are going to be doing something about it. Tukituki was the first cab off the rank and we look forward to many others to follow.

We also are totally on board with the growth train with our colleagues over here at National, getting that back on track and we have been a key driver within this coalition. Fast track was our initiative that we took on to coalition negotiation—those 149 projects plus the tsunami that are coming in now that it's been opened up to wider entry. Aquaculture permits, extending those out to 2050, giving that industry so much certainty and the ability to attract major, major investment into our regional economies. And it's the Māori economy that stands to benefit most—I might point out—through that. We are the champions of mining. We are facing the reality that we do need these key minerals; that we are rich in these resources, and it is time that we took a different view to this. There's no point impoverishing ourselves to send mining and feeling good about taking minerals from the Congo in far worse environmental and labour conditions. We have got those minerals here; we will utilise them, and that is a major opportunity for this country and, of course, the Regional Infrastructure Fund with the potential that it shows for New Zealand.

So we did inherit an economy a mess. We had a primary sector under a tsunami of regulation and punch-drunk. We are here to sort out the mess and 2025 will be the year that we start to see that delivered. Thank you.

HANA-RAWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE (Te Pāti Māori —Hauraki-Waikato):

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Madam Speaker, before I deliver my first speech for 2025 in response to the Prime Minister's statement, if you would please allow me to take the first time out of my speech to commemorate and acknowledge those who have recently passed on. Kahurangi Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi: the matriarch of kōhanga reo, the holder of endless knowledge.

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The term "kōhanga reo generation" that I have coined so much was inspired by wāhine like Iritana. Not just the physical representation of kōhanga but being at the feet of our surviving elders who yearn to teach us knowledge that was once on the verge of extinction. From a child who has been through bilingual, mainstream, and kura kaupapa education, tēnā koe

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Kahurangi Tariana Turia: who continues to whisper in my head constantly. The bravest of them all, who crossed the floor, who walked so I could run, who I marched for in my first ever hīkoi—at two years old in my pram for the takutai moana. I vividly remember watching her at the Parliament forecourt in 2004. Yet 20 years later, we had swapped exact positions for the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti

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Our party must be strong and healthy to carry on your legacy.

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This speech is in response to the Prime Minister's statement. Straight to the point: within the first 20 minutes of his speech, he did not mention the word "Māori" once—not even once. So what kind of message is that saying as a Prime Minister to this country? The Prime Minister needs to be responsible, accountable, and most of all inclusive of the country they serve, no matter who voted them in or not.

At the end of this Government's first year of being in power, we saw the largest protest this country has ever seen, with all walks of life attending to stand in solidarity for the founding document of this country. With more than 300,000 signatures arriving at the steps of Parliament in opposition to the Treaty principles bill, which is in fact more votes than the ACT Party received. This shows how many citizens the Prime Minister is ignoring. The only thing this coalition has done in relation to the Treaty is appoint people to the Waitangi Tribunal who literally said it shouldn't exist.

In 2025, our job as Te Pāti Māori is to do everything in our power to ensure our people can embody tino rangatiratanga in their everyday choices, to be self-determined on a day-to-day basis in the decisions that they make from the health to the education, groceries, where their tax money is going, the protection of the environment, local government decisions, and the justice system.

I'm going to briefly touch on all those aspects, breaking down what barriers are right in front of us to right in front of us. To break down whether it be through policies, research, how the general public can engage outside of Parliament.

Something that vividly stood out for me in the Prime Minister's statement—and I quote—"If you work hard and you are prepared to work hard, you can get ahead in this great country of ours." Which instantly brings me to our tax system. What does the Prime Minister say to the 98 percent of all hard-working people of New Zealand who work hard but can't get ahead. Who pay 22 to 33 percent in tax, yet the top 2 percent of the wealthiest people in this country who earn an average of $39 million per year only pay 9 percent in tax? If we really want to talk about inequities in this country, we have to start by talking about how unjust and unfair our tax system is. The top 2 percent—311 households, to be exact—need to pay their fair share, just like the rest of the 98 percent of New Zealanders in this country.

When I think of health, I think of how this Government disestablished Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, in the first 100 days and intends to privatise our healthcare. Which literally means if you can't afford it, you can't access the medicine you need. Everyone has the right to healthcare. Every person in this country has funding allocated to their NHI number. The funding must follow the patient, not get lost in transit or swallowed in bureaucracy.

When I think of whānau getting groceries and basic necessities like kai at the end of their shop looking at the receipt with the additional cost of $50 of GST, I see how this Government rolls in $3.4 billion on average from GST on kai yet doesn't want to tax the wealthiest 2 percent their fair share. This is completely unacceptable, and this is what our member's bill seeks to address in this exact issue.

All of last year, I constantly heard the Prime Minister yapping on about Māori children failing in NCEA as he stared down our way, yet he never mentioned the kura Ngā Tapuwae who had 100 percent pass rate at excellence in NCEA. This didn't just happen overnight. Champions, like Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi, who helped shape these education systems that work for us. We have self-determined our own systems that work for us. The only problem is we've only ever been given 1 percent of the education budget, no matter who's in Government. This must change immediately.

This is what tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake is about: creating our own pathways for success. And the proof is in the pudding: a 100 percent pass rate and the No. 1 school in the country.

When I think of local government like Māori wards that this Government called for a referendum straight away. As I asked Minister Simeon Brown eight continuous evidence-based questions, he did not care to answer once. So with that being said, local government elections are coming up,

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put your hand up and put yourself right at that decision table.

When I think of our taiao over the holidays, swimming in my own pepeha Waikato River but with the fear of swimming in a whole river of arsenic, like those of my constituents in the Coromandel and Hauraki region in Ōhinemuri, such is the potential aftermath of mining in that region. Or the many approved fast-track mining and development projects in Rotowaro, Mangaharakeke Pa, and Hauraki who are still awaiting hapū consultation.

The solution to climate change—whether you arrived here yesterday or your tūpuna did centuries ago—is the attitude of kaitiakitanga, that must be at the forefront of our country. This is what our country is known for worldwide.

When I think of housing, with more than 38.9 percent of people in my electorate of Hauraki-Waikato living in a damp house and more than 90 percent of them living in an intergenerational household. Everyone in this country must have access to a warm, dry house and the right to live in a papakāinga if they wish.

When I think of our justice system, the raw reality of tamariki Māori being racially profiled and legislation such as the gang patch law that shows no evidence that this actually stops crime. Like the 12-year-old boy who was stopped by police for simply wearing a T-shirt representing his boxing club. Laws like this show no change in our justice system.

When I think of values in this country and online hate, I believe no matter which party you are, every MP would receive this at some point. As a 22-year-old, the fear of opening my work computer sometimes daunts me, from seeing not-so-nice emails. However, my mama reminded me—she even put it in the Excel spreadsheet—that out of all responses received for my haka in this House for Te Tiriti, 8 percent were negative, and 92 percent were positive or in support. With flooding messages from across the country, the globe, and nearly every continent—89 percent who are not of my race. Just because I'm proud of my race does not make me racist.

This year, 98 percent of New Zealanders are relying on us; 92 percent of the world is in support—295,759 people who I am responsible for in Hauraki-Waikato, who brought me into this House to be a voice. Which leaves us with the 2 percent needing to pay their fair share, the 8 percent just being pure haters, and our people are counting on us to remove any barriers, legislation, law or misconceptions and bring transformative policies, bills, and a voice for us moving forward.

Now, my name is Hana-Rawhiti, not Hana Kōkō, so I can't promise you the world, but if you can hear me right now and your values align to this kaupapa, we hear you too.

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JOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It's a privilege to rise to speak on this on behalf of my electorate in Southland and, of course, on behalf of the National Party. I should say that when I speak of Southland, I'll speak of the South because I represent good chunks of Otago and Southland. When I think of the year of going for growth, the South will help make this happen in a very big way. I think of the words of Sir Tipene O'Regan, who has said, referring to the name traditionally for Southland, Murihiku, that it's the tail of the whale driving the country forwards, and that's exactly what the South will do for this country.

We are a region which is a powerhouse in the primary sector. We're a powerhouse in farming. We are a powerhouse in the tourism sector. We are a powerhouse in generating energy for the country. We are a powerhouse in the arts and culture. We are a powerhouse in manufacturing. This is an incredible region that just gets on with it and gets it done and makes stuff happen and doesn't say a whole heck of a lot about what it's doing a lot of the time because it's just busy working. We are a proud, proud region that delivers a lot for this country and I'm proud to be a representative for it.

This Government is relentlessly focused on economic growth. It is economic growth that delivers better lives for all New Zealanders. It is economic growth that provides opportunities for our young people to stay here in New Zealand and to see a future for themselves in this country. It is economic growth that will allow us to build the houses that our people need. It is economic growth that will allow us to pay for the health services that we need. It is economic growth that will allow us to pay for the education that this country needs.

I just want to touch briefly on that education point, because this is incredible, the work that this Government's doing and our Minister Erica Stanford is doing for the future of New Zealand, for the future of our young people who will be the ones who take New Zealand into the future. This structured literacy and the structured mathematics programmes that are being delivered around the country right now and that are going to be rolled out to children across the country are going to make a massive difference to all children—to children who have neurodiversity, to children who do not have neurodiversity and who are neuronormative.

Hearing that last speaker, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, just made me think of the fact that for the first time, high-quality, structured literacy and numeracy resources are going to be provided in te reo Māori—for the first time in this country—by this Government, and that is a very big thing. Having worked in the court system and in prisons around New Zealand, I know from personal experience that up to 70-odd percent of people who go through that system have challenges reading and writing. If we can help get them the resources so that they are able to read and write—structured literacy is a way that has been proven to work—that is going to make a dramatic difference in their lives. It's obviously not the only thing, but it is a very big thing, and I'm very pleased to be part a Government that is doing that.

The year for the South has also kicked off with a great announcement from the new Minister of Health, providing certainty around the Dunedin Hospital. That will be built and we'll futureproof it for growth, and that is a great announcement for the South, to provide confidence for the people of the South. We were always going to do it, always going to provide a great hospital for the South, but the time needed to be taken to look at that carefully, and it's great that we've had certainty provided at the beginning of this year on that.

This Government has been doing a lot of work to roll back regulatory overload on the primary sector. That, as well as having the knowledge that it has a Government that is backing the farmers, and also a significant uptick in the dairy and meat prices, is showing real confidence. And there's real confidence growing—

Hon Damien O'Connor: And wool.

JOSEPH MOONEY: And wool—absolutely. Wool is something that I, certainly, with Minister Mark Patterson, hear regularly, as do other members—

Mike Butterick: Magic fibre.

JOSEPH MOONEY: I hear that it's a magic fibre, as Mike Butterick says—it's a magic fibre. It's a fibre that's helped build our country and helped build a lot of our houses and a lot of our woolsheds and a lot of our infrastructure around New Zealand over the last six decades, really, you could say, and more.

But we also had the National Lamb Day today, and I just want to say that I take my hat off to the people of the South who made this happen—oh, there they are. They're standing up, and we have them in the gallery right now. The people of the South are responsible for bringing this, and it's a long and strong and proud tradition dating back to when the very first shipment of frozen meat went out of the port of Otago at Port Chalmers to London in 1882—1882. Since then, lamb has had a significant contribution to the economic wellbeing of this country and will continue to do so long into the future, and I just want to shout out to all of our sheep and beef farmers around the country.

More of that—I should say that the South has the Edendale Fonterra plant. This is the oldest dairy-processing site and the first dairy-exporting processor in the world, established in 1881. Today, it is now the largest fresh-milk dairy processing plant in the world—in the world—and that is right there in Southland. Southland alone collects 2 billion litres of milk annually, which is the same as the entire Australian market. We are a very big contributor to the economic wellbeing of this country.

But this is not all we do. We also produce fruit in Central Otago, which I'm very proud to present with my colleague Miles Anderson. We are the biggest cherry growers in the country. We are the fruit bowl, certainly of the South Island. We have a competition with Hawke's Bay about who is the fruit bowl of New Zealand, and water is very, very powerful with that. So Central Otago is incredibly important—that's part of my electorate as well.

But it's not just that; Southland also has the most engineering firms per head of population of any region in the country. In Southland, manufacturing employs 15 percent of the workforce and contributes over 13 percent of regional GDP.

Not only that, but if I touch on arts, culture, and film, I should say that as the chair of the Social Services and Community Committee, this is something of particular interest to me. Arts and culture contributes over $16 billion to New Zealand's GDP, so over 4 percent of the total economy. Queenstown Lakes District is the second-most creative city in the country, ahead of Auckland—I'll just say that we are ahead of Auckland, according to Infometrics' Creativity Index—and growing. Te Atamira, established in Queenstown three years ago, now has almost 2,500 visitors a week.

But that's not all: we have incredible arts and culture right across the region. I'll just give a quick shout-out to Gore, which is also in my area, the Eastern Southland Gallery features the internationally renowned John Money Collection. We have very well-renowned people from all over the world who have heard of it and come to it. Not that many New Zealanders necessarily hear about it, but a lot of people around the world have, and it's also home to one of the largest holdings of work by New Zealand artist Ralph Hōtere. Not only that, Gore is also New Zealand's country music capital. We have the annual Tussock Country Music festival, the Mataura Licensing Trust New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, and the New Zealand Country Music Awards. It's all going on in the South.

But it's not just that. If I can just touch on mining, this Government will lean into mining. We don't want all of our young people going to Australia to get high-paying mining jobs and leaving the country. We can mine responsibly, and if I remind the House that gold helped build New Zealand, it helped build the South. In fact, Central Otago gold built Dunedin. It built the first university in New Zealand: Otago University. So this is a—

Hon Member: Great university.

JOSEPH MOONEY: And it is a great university.

We have a lot happening in terms of this. There's also technology. Technology is growing. In fact, I was in the United States last year at a conference—the National Conference of State Legislatures, where the 50 states come together and have a meeting—and the two biggest things they were talking about were artificial intelligence and the energy needed to run it.

We have opportunity in technology. There's an opportunity for New Zealand to again have higher paying jobs where our young people don't have to go overseas, and they can create these opportunities here in New Zealand. If I focus on Queenstown, it now has Technology Queenstown, which has a goal for technology to be a billion-dollar sector in that region, and a lot of great stuff is happening right across the region, again.

Just one of the last things I'll touch on is tax bracket adjustments. Now, people have been saying that they're tax cuts. Let's just be clear about this: these were tax bracket adjustments, for the first time it had been done in 14 years. People on the minimum wage were almost going into the 33 percent tax bracket, and that wasn't right. This Government moved to fix that, and there's more money in people's back pocket.

So this is a challenging time, but we have some great shoots on the horizon in terms of green shoots for the economy, green shoots for our education, green shoots for health, and green shoots for the young people of New Zealand that have got great opportunities here in New Zealand. Come South—that's where it's happening.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): This is a five-minute split call.

Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker. In 1993, people voted me into this House, and people in New Zealand voted for MMP. I hope there's far less people disillusioned with me than they are with MMP.

People don't know what is going on in this country. They cannot believe that the tail is wagging the dog, that we are driven by the tyranny of the minority when they were trying to get rid of the tyranny of the majority by getting rid of first past the post. I don't know quite what we stand for or where we are going. As a nation, we've always stood for collective responsibility and now we seem to be determined to focus on individual rights. My experience of New Zealanders and our country is that's not going well for us.

People are wondering what's happening. Why is it—and even the Prime Minister admits that life is getting a lot harder for more people in our country. Do you know why that is? Because this coalition Government has driven our economy into recession—into a recession. These are the so-called great economic managers. This is the steepest downturn in the economy since 1991 when another National Government brought in the "mother of all Budgets" and almost destroyed the economy then.

People are confused. People are out there; they voted for change, and they haven't had anything delivered to them. What this Government seems to be determined to do is to take from the past all of that stuff that got us to where we are and then to deny the future. Just as in agriculture, what got us to where we are won't take us to where we need to be, so too for many other economies and many other communities around our country. But what we're lacking is leadership. What we've replaced it with—or this Government has—is populism, responding to reaction from people who were grumpy. They were under pressure. We'd had COVID, we'd had a number of things happen internationally. We'd had the Ukraine war, we'd had inflationary pressure. People were disgruntled and they got rid of us. But what has replaced our Government—committed to the collective responsibility to all—well, it's a bunch of selfish politicians over that side who want to deliver for their mates or want to deliver for a few of the sectors in this country.

We hear about growth. We presume that it might be growth of wealth. I guess we could all aspire to that. Well, your health is your wealth and if you've been under pressure from some health ailment or some disease or some unfortunate incident that you may have had to face up to or an accident, you understand how important health is. And if you don't have healthcare, you don't have any wealth, I'll tell you what. This coalition Government has set about, as my good colleague Peeni Henare said, a systematic approach to the healthcare system in this country: firstly, to underfund, not even keep up with the inflationary pressures, not even deliver on the assets that we had planned for and funded. To underfund, then to understaff—put more pressure on individuals who are doing their very best to carry out healthcare for New Zealanders—and then to undermine; to undermine the credibility of the public health system that has been the hallmark of our country. Working together, looking after one another, ensuring that health is the wealth of this country through a properly funded public health system.

This is all leading to one inevitable outcome: the next thing they will do—and the Prime Minister said not this time, but next, maybe—is privatise our public health system. They'll look to privatise our ACC system and, just as New Zealanders are facing up to huge increases in electricity costs—it's been warned. Because the last National coalition Government privatised the electricity system and handed over to their mates the opportunity to charge as much as they can for poor, hard-working New Zealanders who are going to be squeezed through the electricity prices.

Up and down this country, people are wondering who we are as a nation, what we stand for, and where we're going. They are disillusioned, they want to get rid of this coalition Government that they just voted in, and help is on its way because Labour will front with the policies and the principles that are needed at the next election.

REUBEN DAVIDSON (Labour—Christchurch East): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on the Prime Minister's statement debate, and I have to start by saying that this Government is choosing to leave people behind. They come in claiming they were elected to solve a cost of living crisis, and since then, and those great claims, they've insisted on keeping wages low. They kept wages lower on the minimum wage than was suggested, but, at the same time as keeping wages low, they've driven up insurance, rates, rents, and as well as driving up those prices, they've made cuts to ferries, cuts to hospitals, cuts to the First Home Grant, cuts to funding for our disability community, cuts to free prescriptions, cuts to half-price public transport.

And where did the money go? Landlords and big tobacco. The message was "survive to '25". Well, the message back from my constituents is that we got here and you are making it harder. This Government is making it harder because it is choosing to leave people behind.

This month, thousands of children across Aotearoa are going back to school—thousands of them without uniforms, without shoes, without stationery, without lunch. There are children in Christchurch, reported in the Press, who are taking to school a lunch box full of empty food wrappers because of the stigma of shame that comes from not having the food in the house that they need to take to school for lunch. That shame, that stigma, should not sit with those children who go to school; it should sit with this Government and this House who have made the choices to leave people behind. That shame should sit with our Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who said that they got it and also said that they were wealthy and they were sorted. Well, that's fantastic for him if that's the case, but my message back to the Prime Minister is that these children and these people who are struggling across New Zealand now haven't fallen into this poverty; they've been pushed, and this coalition Government is doing the pushing, because this Government, every day, is making the decisions and taking the choices to leave people behind.

Now, recently, the Prime Minister has talked about this Government being a "yes Government" and previous Governments having been "no Governments". Now, I don't see it as simply as that. This Prime Minister certainly wasn't leading a Government that said yes to attending Waitangi this year. This Prime Minister, in fact, said no to attending Waitangi. There were members of this House, a large number of them—and not only from Opposition parties—who said yes to being able to attend Waitangi in the North Island and Waitangi Day celebrations in other parts of New Zealand as well. So it can be done.

I think we should think back on this very simple argument of the yes and the no, and I think the way that we should actually look at it is can and can't, because when we were in Government, we showed New Zealand we could be a team of "can". We could build more homes, we can lift wages, we can have record low unemployment, and we can have healthy school lunches. This coalition have proven to be a bunch of "can'ts", because we can't have the jobs, the ferries, the hospitals that New Zealanders deserve, and that is pitiful.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Five-minute call—Vanessa Weenink.

Dr VANESSA WEENINK (National—Banks Peninsula): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a privilege to stand to speak in reply to the Prime Minister's address earlier this year. As a proud member of the Banks Peninsula electorate and representing that wonderful place, there is extraordinary opportunity for economic growth in our region. Banks Peninsula is an absolute gem in the tourism hub of Canterbury. It also supports farming and fishing and manufacturing and many other sectors. Driving economic growth is important, and it'll be one of the things that our region will be able to support the Government's ambitions in.

However, at the core of why we're doing this—we shouldn't forget the why of this—we're not just going for growth for growth's sake. We're going for growth so that we've got more resource to be able to spend and invest in the things that we need.

When we talk about education and the importance of that, we know that investing in the way that our children learn is absolutely important, and that's why our literacy resources that are going into schools are incredibly important—

Hon Member: And so well-received.

Dr VANESSA WEENINK: And so well-received. That's why when we are feeding our children well with these new school lunch programmes and aiming to feed more—and it astounds me to hear from people on the other side, who've clearly never eaten mince in their life, who say that it's uneatable and that it's indigestible. Well, I'm sorry; they're just plain elitist. Those meals are perfectly fine. They are perfectly fine and well-balanced and nutritious and hot, and those people on the other side have also never had to eat a heated-up ration pack and know what that tastes like. They've never had to feel the pain of being out in the cold and feel what it's like serving their country in any other way.

So they can sit there in their high and mighty positions, looking down on people who are saying that these—actually the feedback that we've had about the school lunches has been really great. Actually, people really like them. The kids have actually found them really good, and when they've gone around to the schools and interviewed the children there, the children have been really disappointed. When they were interviewed, their story about how they actually really loved the school lunches didn't end up on the news. That didn't get into the news because that wasn't the story that that side are trying to tell. They're trying to make an agenda that's not true.

We are creating growth so that we have more money to invest in our social investment policies. When it comes down to it, that is the best approach: using data to actually decide where we should put resources to wrap around people, to invest in them, and to make sure that those people that are in prison have got those education programmes that help them to get out of that terrible cycle. Those are the kinds of programmes that we are investing in because we know that it is worthwhile.

We're investing in infrastructure that leads to even more growth and more prosperity, and another reason why we're going for growth and why we want to grow incomes is that anyone who's done anything in public health knows that raising incomes is one of the best things that you can do to improve health outcomes. Almost everything else is what falls by the wayside. Absolutely everything else is useless. Getting on with it and making sure that our economy grows is absolutely vital.

When we talk about everything that's happening in the health system, that's the downstream effects of things that have gone poorly. That's the downstream effects of where people haven't had enough money to be able to keep up with preventative things. That's the downstream effects of having really, really terrible inflation rates that are driving interest rates that mean that people don't have enough money in their bank accounts to do all the things that they want to do. So we're fixing the economy. We're making sure that those interest rates are coming down. People will start to feel that in their back pockets, and improving the tax brackets makes a difference.

When we are talking about going for growth, we understand implicitly—and we have it deep down in the bones of the National Party—that this is about our need to have more money to invest in ways that are smart and invest in ways that support people, and that is done in a responsible and social investment way and in ways that are actually driving our country forward. Every single thing that we do is about improving the lives of New Zealanders through the services that we deliver, because we'll have more money to be able to spend on those.

Dr HAMISH CAMPBELL (National—Ilam): Mr Speaker, thanks. It is a great honour to rise and speak in support of the Prime Minister's statement, and I'm privileged to follow on from my fellow Christchurch MP, Dr Vanessa Weenink. It is a great privileged. We are on the verge of great growth and potential, and of course this is going to be across many sectors of New Zealand.

We've already seen a change in our economic output. We appreciate it is tough times, but just in The Press earlier this week, independent economists indicated that, since our economic management has come into play, lower mortgage rates mean that households will have, combined, another $45 million a week to spend. Also, calculating the falling mortgage rates in the last quarter has put an extra $8 million already, and with $200 billion of mortgages about to be refixed, that is going to grow even more; it's actually equivalent of 1 percent of consumption all at once. This is going to make a huge impact on everyday New Zealanders, something that the other side don't want. They don't want everyday New Zealanders to have their own money. "If they have money, they should be taxed" is their strategy.

We need to, as a country, do things wiser. We need this growth, as a lot of my colleagues have said, and the benefits that come from it. We need to do things smarter, and this is something that I talked about extensively in my maiden statement in this very House. I referred to some of our great scientists here in New Zealand, one in particular who worked on combating agricultural pests, which saves New Zealand between $300 million and $500 million annually. His work has made New Zealand more productive, and we need more things like that.

We have some great scientists here in New Zealand, and once again, I mention productivity because it is so important. We can do more but use less. This makes economic and environmental sense. It's climate action in action. That's one of the reasons why we're ending the nearly 30-year ban on gene technology. Biotechnology is not just about growth and economic growth. It's all about greener growth, growth that helps our farmers not only be competitive on the international stage, but it means they'll be able to continue to lead the world in their efficiencies and keeping our greenhouse gases as low as possible.

Once again, it comes back to producing more by using less. Of course, there are many examples of biotech here in New Zealand. We've seen some ryegrasses which would require less water, less nitrates, and of course would produce less greenhouse emissions. These are some of the things that we have at our fingertips. A former Federated Farmers national president, Dr William Rolleston, said, "Some of this is the best science since Rutherford split the atom." Of course, this Government has announced the largest reset of our scientific system in more than 30 years, which will boost the economy. It will benefit the sector and, also, the country as well.

There are some great examples of tech in Christchurch—Christchurch is a great place—and I'll just mention some in the mighty Ilam electorate. We've got companies like Tait Communications, a global leader in designing and manufacturing of communication solutions, employing hundreds of people and exporting 95 percent of their products. They invest heavily in R & D. This is a great example of New Zealand's potential to excel at high-tech industries.

Another great example is the Christchurch Engine Centre. They've just recently invested a further $150 million to increase their facilities so they can—[Interruption]

Andy Foster: That's confidence.

Dr HAMISH CAMPBELL: Exactly. They have got the confidence, with the new Government, that they can overhaul more engines, and of course most of that goes to export dollars, once again employing hundreds of people.

But that's not all. We have some great start-ups in Christchurch, and we are a Government that's behind start-ups and some of this tech. We're making important changes to the foreign investment because one of the biggest problems is getting capital to these great, great start-ups. We're changing the visa laws. We're enabling more talent to come and support that sector. Changes to the tax threshold for when it comes to employee share schemes. These are things that we need to do, because, as I said, we have some great homegrown talent here. We need more of it. That's why we need to get the education sector going. We're seeing our children fall behind on the international stage, so that's why we're introducing, kind of, teaching the basics brilliantly, because, if you don't teach the basics brilliantly, it's like building a house without a foundation: you can do the flash stuff for a little bit, but then it's all over. It is going to be a great year for the country, and I look forward to 2025.

Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Why is it that the Government is in trouble? Why is it?

Hon Member: We're not.

Hon DAVID PARKER: They are in trouble—they are in trouble. So many of the people that voted this Government in a year and a half ago no longer support them. Why is it the Government is in trouble? Well, it's partly—as the Hon Damien O'Connor said—because they're split with division. They're creating divisions in society—not just within their own Government but also in society—but it's mainly because New Zealanders have no confidence in their management of the economy, because they know they're mismanaging it.

We've heard time and again the other side saying, "Oh, we're in trouble. It's tough for New Zealanders.", and that that's because they inherited bad inflation and they've got inflation down. Inflation in the quarter ended December 2023 was 0.5 percent. Multiply that by four quarters, and it was already at 2 percent. Inflation was already tamed by the time the Government changed.

What did Nicola Willis do? She said, "Oh no—no, no, no. We've got to be tough. We're going to change the mandate of the Reserve Bank. We're going to take employment out of it."—notwithstanding that employment is in the Federal Reserve objective in the United States and the Australian objective. And she told the Reserve Bank in New Zealand, even though inflation was already coming under control, to go harder, and what did they do? They did like they were told and they went harder.

She talked the economy down, she got the Reserve Bank to squeeze even harder, and then she imposed austerity at the same time. As an incoming Government, they reversed the increases to road-user charges and fuel excise duty, which was needed to build the roads. So the road-building programme couldn't proceed, except through borrowed money, and then they brought forward a Budget where they borrowed for tax cuts—borrowed for tax cuts.

Now, you hear them say that they're great managers in the economy. In the last 25 years, 15 Budgets have been Labour Budgets and 10 Budgets have been National Budgets. Of the 15 Labour Budgets: 11 surpluses, four deficits.

Andy Foster: Thank you, National.

Hon DAVID PARKER: No that's Labour: 11 surpluses, four deficits. National had 10 Budgets: three surpluses, seven deficits. They always do it—they always do it. They bring forward unaffordable tax cuts, they use it as an excuse to drive down Government expenditure, they pursue an austerity agenda that squeezes the pips out of the economy, and what happens? Unemployment goes up, and unemployment has gone up; people leave the country—tens of thousands of people have gone to Australia—and what else happens? What else happens is you go into recession, and we're in recession.

So under this Government: higher Government debt, more borrowings, lower growth, more unemployment. This—

Hon Damien O'Connor: What about the cost of living?

Hon DAVID PARKER: The cost of living—well, inflation is under control, but it was by the time we left Government. [Interruption] It is—it is. But one of the reasons why since then it's gone further from having inflation being under control to being recessionary is that they've just squeezed it too hard.

Now, it's not just the individual silly decisions that make people lose confidence—cancelling ferry contracts, for example, was a big blue; cancelling Project Onslow before they finished the cost-benefit analysis was another big blue—it's that New Zealanders have no confidence that things are going to get better under this Government. That's why unemployment would be even worse than it is now if it hadn't been for the tens of thousands of people who have gone to Australia. Unemployment is up, but, worse than that, there's 32,000 fewer people in employment in New Zealand than was the case when these guys took over, and some of them have left the country.

So I remind the House that contrary to the repeated platitudes from the other side, in the last 25 years, there were 15 Labour Budgets, with 11 surpluses and four deficits, and 10 National Budgets, with three surpluses and seven deficits, and they've done it again. Remember how they used to—I'm out of time, Mr Speaker.

Hon JENNY SALESA (Labour—Panmure-Ōtāhuhu): Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Prime Minister's statement. Boy, it's a hard act to follow on from the Hon David Parker, but I will try. I'm here to represent the good people of Panmure-Ōtāhuhu. We have just over 75,000 people in South Auckland, and the Prime Minister, when he made his statement, made several references to economic growth and its importance to our country. I agree; it is really important to see our economy grow, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. We are, right now, in recession, and this coalition Government is making a lot of choices that are not necessarily the right ones to ensure that our economy grows and that we get off of this recession.

Unfortunately, this National-led Government is steering our country off track. They campaigned on getting New Zealand back on track, but the reality is that our public services are under attack, thousands of jobs are disappearing, unemployment is rising, and, unfortunately, it is rising especially for Māori and for Pacific. The majority of my constituents in Panmure-Ōtāhuhu are Māori and Pacific, and so we are feeling the downturn of this economy. In addition, ethnic communities are still waiting for some promises to be delivered that were campaigned on by this National-led Government.

Now, this Government may not like evidence, but we know that fully privatised healthcare, something that the Associate Minister of Health has discussed, is something that is most extreme in its form in the United States of America.

Hon Chris Bishop: Also not true.

Hon JENNY SALESA: The Commonwealth Fund reviewed healthcare systems, Minister Bishop, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, and they found—this research was only last year—that private healthcare systems ranked last, the very last, in administrative efficiency, while New Zealand ranked third. So the question is: why is it that New Zealand is now considering looking at the US as a possible system to follow, when the US healthcare system is expensive, it is complicated, it is dysfunctional and broken?

This is a country I lived in for 10 years, and I myself know just how expensive it is. If you don't actually have private health insurance, if you don't work, you'll be out of luck. It is actually only those who work full-time and have private health insurance that are able to access healthcare services in an equitable way. So the question is: if we do actually look at privatising our healthcare system, who will benefit the most from privatisation? Certainly not everyday New Zealanders. The only winners are likely to be private corporations and those who are looking to make a profit off of people's health, off of people's ill health, and off of their wellbeing. Is this the kind of future that our country should be looking at? Is this the right kind of action that we should be looking at: to dismantle the public healthcare system that has served New Zealanders for many, many generations? I don't believe so. And I believe that, with the assistance of ordinary New Zealanders, we can ensure that our public healthcare system remains public.

The cost of living issue was also something that this National-led Government campaigned on. Has it been addressed? Well, we're experiencing the steepest economic downturn, as our former Minister for Trade spoke about before, since 1991. Yet, despite this, the cost of living relief has vanished from the Government's agenda. Families are still paying more for groceries, they're still paying more for rent, for mortgages, while wages are stagnating and jobs are disappearing.

We have over a million ethnic communities in New Zealand, most of them living in Auckland, and many work in healthcare, construction, essential industries, and many are small-business owners. They contribute a lot to our economy. The promise was made by the National Government that they will have a five-year renewable parental visa to reunite families. Now, our ethnic communities are still waiting. Fifteen months later, this promise has still not been delivered on. They want action, not just words.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Leader of the House): I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): This debate is adjourned and set down for resumption next sitting day.

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Sitting date: 12 February 2025

DEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Debate resumed from 11 February.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Minister of Housing): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister's statement to Parliament lays out the Government's agenda for the year ahead. This Government is focused on saying yes to growth opportunities and rejecting the negative politics of the past in which we invented reason after reason to say no to economic growth, because it's easy to say no to things. It's the easiest thing in the world. As any new parent knows, saying no to kids is easy—as I've discovered. It's incredibly simplistic and it's incredibly easy. Actually, the tough decisions—the things that make a difference—are when you need to say yes, and for too long this country has made a habit of just saying no.

Everyone says that they're in favour of growth—well, apart from the Greens. The Greens are the official de-growth party. They're not in favour of economic growth, but most rational political parties are, apart from the Māori Party—they're also not in favour of growth. So let's leave Te Pāti Māori and the Green Party out of this, and let's just pretend that this conversation is happening amongst rational, normal people. So the National Party and the Labour Party and New Zealand First and the ACT Party—we're in favour of growth, and most reasonable people can agree on that.

But the problem with that is that it's easy to say that you're in favour of growth, but there's always a "but". "I'm in favour of growth, but growth has got to be equitable."—as if that's a real thing. "Growth has got to be sustainable." "I'm in favour of growth as long as it doesn't involve foreigners making money." "I'm in favour of growth as long as it doesn't involve trading with the rest of the world." "I'm in favour of growth as long as we make sure that live animal exports are not allowed." "I'm in favour of growth as long as we preserve every wetland everywhere in the country."—even if it is, in fact, not a real wetland. "I'm in favour of growth as long as someone doesn't make a buck out of it." "I'm in favour of growth as long as it doesn't involve trade with the rest of the world." "I'm in favour of growth as long as we don't build any McDonald's in Wānaka."—which is the latest thing, today. "I'm in favour of growth as long as I can see everything." "I'm in favour of growth as long as I can see Mount Eden from every part of Auckland."—including on a particular part of the Auckland Harbour Bridge where the toll booth used to be 30 years ago, until we removed it.

"I'm in favour of growth except"—except, except, except. That's been the story for 30 years. We just say that we like growth, but we've found every reason under the sun to say no.

We wake up in 2025 and we find ourselves 35 to 40 percent poorer than Australia. We find ourselves with a productivity growth rate that's lower than most of our trading partners that we'd like to compare ourselves to, and then—

Steve Abel: It's called neo-liberalism.

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: See, I told you that they were the de-growth party. The Greens don't believe in growth. Well, here's the rub: they're the first people to complain about underfunding in hospitals and schools, and all of the living standards and the public goods that the New Zealand Government should and does provide. But, I tell you, here's the rub: how do you have a better public health system? Growth. How do you have a better standard of living? Growth. How do you have a better education system? Growth.

In fact, here's the truth: what are the countries that look after the environment the best? Wealthy countries that grow. The poorest economies in the world desecrate the environment. They ravish the environment.

I invite the member to travel through the developing world. He would find the developing world going hell for leather on growth, and, actually, half the time utilising natural resources from fossil fuels to grow, because the great driver of human history is growth. This idea that we should lock ourselves in a hermetically sealed vacuum off from the rest of the world and pretend, and wear hemp and eat vegan food all day, is nuts. It is nuts, and that's what the Greens believe. They're entitled to those beliefs, and New Zealanders are entitled to believe in them as well, but I aim and we aim for better things. We aim for better things. Fast-growing economies look after their people better and they look after the environment better, and that is why we are going for growth.

About 20 years ago, there was an interesting exchange in the House about why Australia has access to better cancer drugs than New Zealand, and why Australia has better access to pharmaceuticals. The simple reason is that they are wealthier than we are, and Michael Cullen said that 20 years ago.

So we've got to go for growth, and that means everything the Government is doing. That means fast track, and, yes, there will be projects that the Green Party does not like. But I'll tell you what this country needs: it needs more roads, it needs more mines, it needs more renewable energy, and it needs more solar farms. It needs to be easier to build wind farms in this country. It needs to be easier to do just the simple task of subdividing a house, the simple task of putting a house on a section of farmland so that people can live in those houses, or the simple task of adding extensions to houses without going through endless red tape by the local council and the regional council, and all of the plans that get in the way of that. We need to say yes to trade. Todd McClay —where is Todd McClay?

Tom Rutherford: "Trade McClay".

Hon CHRIS BISHOP: "Trade McClay"—I don't want to see him in this House ever again. He needs to be offshore, doing trade deals. He's just come back from the UAE, and we're in the first 14 days—a fantastic deal.

We're doing an investment summit in the coming weeks, in March, and I make a prediction that the Green Party will turn up and say, "This is really bad. We can't have foreign pension funds investing in New Zealand infrastructure, because it might mean that someone makes a buck." I predict that; in fact, I hope that the Labour Party won't say that, but we'll see—we'll see. They are vaguely rational, sometimes, on growth.

We need foreign investment. We need fast track. We need trade deals. We need our investment summit. We need planning reform, and this year, we've got a big programme of work around the Resource Management Act. I'll guarantee you that the Labour Party—TBC—will oppose it, and I guarantee you that Te Pāti Māori will oppose it.

It's time to stop saying no to everything and time to start to say yes. It's interesting to look back over the Labour Party's response to this Government's ambitious agenda so far, because we've got "Mr No" and "Mr Slow" over there. "Mr No" is Chris Hipkins, and "Mr Slow" is Kieran McAnulty.

"Mr No"—Chris Hipkins—is not in favour of fast track and they voted against it, but it looked like he was in favour of digital nomad visas. We had this great idea and Louise Upston, Nicola Willis, and Erica Stanford announced it, and we thought that this was pretty good. It went down extremely well and it had a huge amount of interest from overseas. Chris Hipkins said a year ago that this was a vision for New Zealand: "Digital nomads calling New Zealand home while using the international time difference to work productively and remotely." Well, I agree, but it turns out that the Labour Party opposes that, like they opposed fast track, even though they came up with the original idea for that in the first place.

Now, "Mr Slow" over there, when it comes to the speed limits in the Wairarapa—and let me talk about the speed limits. There's been quite a bit of debate about them, and I want to acknowledge Mike Butterick, who's right down the back of the Chamber, but he's at the forefront of this debate. He's done a fantastic job on campaigning and overturning it.

Who remembers the policy bonfire, when Chris Hipkins came into Government, Jacinda Ardern resigned as Prime Minister, and everyone got very excited about life—all the stupid ideas that that Government was advancing. New Zealanders said, "Oh, this is quite good—a policy bonfire.", and Chris Hipkins stood up and said, "I'm getting rid of all the speed limit changes." because he knew they were really unpopular, and he then did nothing about it. I think that the good people of the Wairarapa got very excited because they thought, "Oh, this is quite good. This stupid 80 kilometre stretch from Featherston to Masterton—we're going to get rid of that.", but nothing happened, and it took the election of a local National MP and a National Government to get rid of it. I'm pleased I've made Kieran McAnulty's day around that.

So we've got "Mr No" and "Mr Slow", and then we've got "Miss No-show" over there—the finance spokesperson for the Labour Party—who is just not part of the economic debate. She's got two different positions at any one time. At the one hand, it's "They're borrowing too much.", and then at the next minute, it's like "You need to borrow more because we need to invest in this and that and the other thing."

Then they can't make up their minds about the capital gains tax, and I'll make another prediction for the year ahead. I'll make another prediction for the year ahead, because we've got "Mr Piketty"—David Parker—down the back, alongside the merry crew, and Helen White is smiling over there. She's nodding and smiling, because what's happening is there's a—I hesitate to use the word "coup", but there's a lobby in the Labour Party. Helen White, Phil Twyford, David Parker, and, let's face it, 80 percent of the Labour Party membership are going to push hard for a wealth tax, and the Labour Party needs to sort out its position. Oh, I'll tell you our position: they're both dumb ideas. Wealth taxes are stupid and capital gains taxes are stupid.

I'll tell you what is a good idea: going for growth. That's what this Government is going to do, and only when the Labour Party starts saying yes to economic opportunity will the public take them seriously. Thank you very much.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. This Government is arrogant, it is incompetent, it is disingenuous, it is heartless, and it is cruel, and if we go by the previous speech, you'd also think they've given up. That was supposed to be their brightest star. I've seen duller things in the middle of a paddock. That was pathetic. Did you see the level of energy? The most energy that Chris Bishop could bring up, and the most energised his bench mates were, was when Mark Mitchell crossed his arms—that was it. That was the best they could come up with. And the reason I think they're so deflated is because they know that they have stuffed up. They know that the public is starting to wake up to the fact that they were told fibs during the campaign. That is why the Government is arrogant—because they think because they say it, it must be true. It is not true. It is far from true.

Think back to the campaign. Everyone told them that their tax plan didn't add up—everyone—except Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop and Chris Luxon. "No, no, we've got it. We're all good." Who was right? Was it them? No. It was everybody else. And now, they stand up and they tell regions around the country, "We don't have money for your hospital. We don't have money to replace your orthopaedic surgeons. We don't have money to replace your birthing unit. We don't have money to fund our roads that we promised. We don't have money to fund houses. We don't have money to fund early childhood education, despite our promises—we're going to make it so hard to apply, to save ourselves money." All of these things come from one thing: that party misleading the country during the campaign, and it's coming home to roost now. They have failed the economy: 2.4 percent growth in GDP when they took office, and now we're in recession.

We saw it today in question time, didn't we? When the Prime Minister comes under pressure, he just makes things up. So when we was being asked about the economic performance of this Government, he said, "We've been in recession for three years.", and everyone's standing around going, "No we haven't." We've been in recession for nine months—entirely in your time. And we saw it again today: "Oh, we've built 2,000 houses."—bull. Not true. Not even close to true. They have built zero houses. The only houses that have been built are the houses that the previous Government paid for. Now, they are so desperate to claim some sort of win, that they are now claiming the work of other people. But should this come as a surprise? No. Because what do they do when they're confronted with their own mistakes? They blame other people. That is the typical behaviour of an arrogant person: claim credit for somebody else's win, and blame them when it's actually your fault.

They are so incompetent that the only thing that they can grasp at now is the failed policy of privatisation—the very policy that has led to unaffordable energy bills because John Key sold 49 percent of the power companies. Apparently, the solution to that is to sell the rest. It is dumb—it is dumb. It's been tried before; it's failed before. But when you've got nothing left, what have you got? That is the only thing that they can grasp.

The reason I say they are disingenuous is because they stand up in this House and they say they care about people's jobs.

Hon Members: Rubbish.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY: Rubbish. They stand there after firing thousands upon thousands of people, after pulling funding out of hospital builds and school builds and social house builds—to the tune of 14,000 people have lost their jobs in construction. That is their decision. That is on their heads. And when we raise it to their attention, what do they do? They blame everybody else except themselves. Well, they're going to have to suck it up because that is a direct result of their decisions. It is actually the reason why I call them cruel and heartless.

Homelessness is growing. That is proven in the Salvation Army State of the Nation 2025 report released today. Homelessness is growing. Compare that to the findings in last year's report that said we are finally finding some momentum and finally making some ground in housing people. Why? Because the Labour Government invested in houses and actually built houses. We built so many houses, they think they can claim credit for 2,000 of them and no one will notice. But we do notice, because we know that they have funded and built nothing.

When homelessness is growing, a caring Government that actually follows through with its promises would have done what they said they would do during the campaign. Tama Potaka said that they would build more social houses than the previous Labour Government. That's a big commitment because that's 14,000, right? Chris Bishop said that they would build so many houses that they would eliminate the housing wait-list. And Nicola Willis signed a pledge, with her own name, that they would build a net increase of a thousand State homes in Auckland every year. What's happened? They have stopped the expansion of State houses. Despite all the bluster and the attempts to do witty points of orders, Chris Bishop needs to front up to the country. His policy means that there will be no increase in State houses. They have only funded community housing providers to the tune of 750 houses a year from next year. That's all they've funded, so they can't lay claim to anything up to now. And then from 2026 onwards, it's 750 a year. There are over 20,000 people on the social housing waiting list, and their solution is to fund 750 a year.

But the thing that I find most egregious and most disingenuous is the claim that they have met their emergency housing target five years early. It's just not true. Do they think New Zealanders are thick? That they can turn around and say, "Look at this, we've reduced it from 4,000 to 600 just like that." You've got to ask the question: why? So if you look into the numbers, everyone that has left emergency housing to go into a social house has gone into a social house that we paid for and built; 20 percent that have left emergency housing are unaccountable for, and Tama Potaka is on the record to say that he doesn't care if they're on the street. If you don't believe me, look it up—it's in the Stuff article. But here's the thing: the Salvation Army and other front-line providers stood in front of the Minister and they said, "Your policy is preventing people from getting in." He didn't care, because they only care about reducing costs, and they only care about meeting targets—arbitrary targets that don't actually mean anything because they don't give a true reflection.

Homelessness is going up—while they stall State houses, underfund community housing providers, and literally prevent people from going into emergency housing to make their numbers look good.

Camilla Belich: Shame.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY: It is shameful.

Just in the last two weeks ,we have presented the Minister with examples of people that he has looked in the eye and said that if you are in genuine need, you will get help. The example today is a Rotorua mother who's pregnant and who is sleeping in a doorway. The man from Christchurch who was sent out of hospital, denied emergency housing—readmitted to hospital from complications from sleeping in his car. The mother with a four-month-old in Tauranga who was denied the opportunity to apply for emergency housing is living in a tent. And the woman and her children in the Wellington region who escaped domestic violence and wasn't even able to apply. This is a result of your decisions, a result of the Budget that each and every one of you voted for. No wonder you're deflated, and no wonder your heads are hanging in shame. They deserve to be.

SPEAKER: This is a split call. I call on Tim Costley.

TIM COSTLEY (National—Ōtaki): Well, I guess if you're bereft of your own ideas, you just start talking about everybody else's, because I didn't hear one idea on how to actually improve the quality of life for everyday Kiwis in that last 10 minutes of whatever that was. All I heard was wanting to point the finger and deflect from the track record of the last six years.

If you want to go back, read the Hansard from 16 February 2022 when the Salvation Army State of the Nation report came out where they said, "Oh, it wasn't just a housing crisis; it was a catastrophe." But of course, the Ministers that day were, "Oh, no, no, no, we haven't done anything wrong. We're making everything better." It's never the fault of anyone over that side; it's just a mystery to people like their finance spokesperson how we landed up in the worst recession in 30 years. It's a complete mystery, and it doesn't surprise me when I hear the questions that come from them that it would be a mystery.

We actually need to make progress for everyday Kiwis. We heard it from the last person to speak, Kieran McAnulty, talking about the fact that as a country we have no money to pay for things. No kidding. Look at what happened for the last six years under their Government. That's why we need growth. If we want to pay for more doctors, if we want more teachers and more nurses and more social workers, if we want to have better welfare, if we want to have better public services, we have to pay for it, and that means we need growth.

Growth gives us choices; it gives us opportunities. It means family can make a few decisions at the end of the week. That's what our plan is all about. Yes, I'm proud that we've done stuff like going from almost 5,000 households in emergency accommodation to 591 in a year. We set a target of six years; we did it five years early. That is outstanding. But there is more to do, and that's why we're going for growth. So in my five minutes—it's less than that now—let me give you five ideas that are actually going to help us get growth.

Firstly, we need a skilled workforce. That's why in schools last year we took away the cell phones; we started doing the basics brilliantly—an hour a day of reading, writing, and maths; and this year we're bringing back structured literacy, structured maths. I had messages from families of Paraparaumu Beach School, families telling me how excited they were to see the new textbooks that were funded coming home. This is of course the first time we've also fully funded textbooks in te reo Māori. This came out from another principal that says, "We've definitely seen the benefits of children completing now their maths knowledge work, reinforcing their basic maths skills in our class learning." They are loving what we're doing because it gets results, and if we want to have a growth economy, we need the skilled workforce to deliver that.

Secondly, we need to improve regulation. It's not just Resource Management Act reform or improving the rules and simplifying them for building new homes. The things that annoy you like traffic management—I was speaking with Horowhenua District Council staff about this; more than $35,000 in traffic management for an Anzac Day parade. But how do we get to the point in this country where we think it's OK that we're spending tens of thousands of dollars to let our veterans march down the street when there's a police car up the front and the back anyway? It's this kind of unproductive spending that doesn't create growth. It doesn't help anyone in our community. It is just wasteful spending that we are focused on getting rid of. Because if we keep taking this lowest common denominator approach, we're never going to grow our economy, we're never going to deliver the opportunities that Kiwi families need.

Time ticks on—number three: we need innovation at home and from offshore. I think of some great local businesses in Ōtaki like Stanmore Farm that produce grapevine stems for all around the country and overseas, exporting them overseas. But the technology that they have developed themselves on site is amazing. You know, we've seen what Rocket Lab can do. But last year I went to visit Robinson Research Institute. They've developed high temperature superconductors to power little satellites; it's just gone up on a NASA space station. But there was no plan to commercialise it. This is the best and the brilliance of Kiwi scientists. We need to be commercialising these opportunities so that we bring the opportunity back home.

Four and five really quickly, we need to strengthen our international connections. It's not just free trade agreements; it's getting rid of non-tariff barriers. It's the work that people like our Defence Force do overseas to build those relationships. Number five: it is about investing in quality infrastructure. In my area, that's things like the Ōtaki to north of Levin expressway, 110 kilometres an hour on day one. It is going to be magnificent. That's something we've campaigned for for a long time, but it helps get our community moving. But it's also things like the solar farm in Foxton that this Government has committed to supporting, and we've put through the fast track—well, they're open for applications now in the fast track. I look forward to seeing it.

Because if we do these things, if we have the skills starting from a young age, if we improve regulation, if we innovate at home, if we strengthen our global connections and invest in quality infrastructure, we will have a growth economy. Growth isn't a certainty, but with our plan, Going for Growth, we will deliver it for everyday Kiwis, so they get the public services, they get the quality of life, and the choices they deserve.

GREG FLEMING (National—Maungakiekie): I love Waitangi week—love it! Love being in Northland, love what it is that we're celebrating up there, love the vision. Last week, of all the things that I had the privilege of doing up there, my highlight was, I think, on Tuesday when I was able to visit three different Northland businesses with a number of our Ministers here. I want to speak briefly to each of them today and then pivot from there to one of the most exciting things that I've seen in our plan for this year, which is to turbocharge Invest New Zealand.

Those three businesses were Kawiti Glowworm Caves, Ngawha Springs, and Manea Footprints of Kupe. Every one of those are a hapū owned and directed business and every one of them have been able to weave the

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The richness that that brings to the experiences—it really was an unforgettable day. It was an unforgettable day not just in terms of what we learnt and what we what we felt and what we were connected to in terms of those places, but it was unforgettable too in terms of the inspiration for what is possible when communities are supported and resourced and enabled to actually develop their own economic growth and their own economic independence. Because that's what every community, every hapū, every family in this country wants. They want the ability to be able to look after themselves. They want the ability to be able to create employment and care for their own. And that is why, as I mentioned in my introduction, I'm so excited about the turbocharging of Invest New Zealand.

Rima Nakhle: Tell us, Greg.

GREG FLEMING: I will. Invest New Zealand, under New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE)—and on this one, can I just acknowledge my colleague, friend, and former constituent, Courtney Wilson-Yalden

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—coming up there. Under NZTE, in just three years, Invest New Zealand has backed 324 Māori businesses, generating $753 million in investments. It is a New Zealand success story that we are taking to the next level; we're going to scale it and it's going to have massive impact on Māori communities, on Māori businesses, and across the whole country as well.

I also want to speak about a couple of businesses in my electorate of Maungakiekie and give them as an example to the House of how it is that businesses drive community flourishing. These are the businesses owned by Will Batts and by Dmitry Gafiyatulin. Will owns the Sentinel Homes franchise. He lives in Onehunga. Dmitry's business is called Reliance Utilities and it's based in One Tree Hill. These two guys are both in their early to mid-thirties and they stand, I think, as fantastic examples of why it is that we, as a Government, are focused on economic growth and why we believe that economic growth is the best way forward to seeing our communities actually flourish.

The single biggest thing in Dmitry's business—he is an energy retailer—that he needs to be able to provide better services and more affordable products to his customers is more energy. And that is what fast-track is all about; it's actually entirely about driving that kind of rapid development so that we can have more energy going to businesses like this that will then help our communities flourish.

In Will's case, he is all about building homes—building dozens of homes for our communities. The three things that he needs more than anything else is residential land, he needs faster building consent processes, and he needs more competitive building products. Well, we've got great news, Will. We're delivering all three of those, and we're delivering them at pace. Because Dmitry and Will and dozens and hundreds and thousands of small-business owners like them invest their capital: they create employment for people, they generate income, and from that income they pay tax which allows us in this House the privilege of funding the public services that everyone needs and deserves. But then Will and Dmitry do even more: from what's left over after delivering services, building homes, funding employees, paying tax, and feeding their own families, they choose to invest further in their community. They give substantially and generously to charitable causes from the fruits of their business, including, just beginning this week, the co-funding of a 24/7 youth worker at One Tree Hill College.

That's the differences that businesses make. That's how we make our communities and our hapū and our whānau in this country flourish, and that's why we're about economic growth and productivity.

Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green—Rongotai): Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. The Green Party, from the very beginning, has always been about improving quality of life, about understanding what real wealth is to people. Real wealth is not measured in GDP; it is measured in the time that we are able to spend with our children. It is measured in the flourishing of ecosystems of which we are part—being able to see nature returned to a city like Pōneke Wellington. In my electorate of Rongotai, we have a predator-free peninsula. We have record numbers of native birds coming back to the city. This is a unique position to be in in the world right now, because the ideology of the last century, at least, has been growth for growth's sake, and that is the ideology of the cancer cell. It means we have more pollution, we have more waste, we have more people getting sick, and all of that may be higher GDP, but it's not actually real wealth—it's not improving quality of life.

So, I mean, imagine this: we could have an Aotearoa where all people have access to a healthy, dry, simple, and lovely home that is powered with plentiful locally generated renewable electricity from wind and solar. You know, having an energy efficient home means you don't have to use so much electricity, and the electricity we use could be more affordable if we were investing in the right solutions. We could have neighbourhoods where when our kids left the house, we didn't have to worry about them being run over by a double-cab ute or some other fast-moving vehicle. They could have the freedom to walk or cycle or scoot to school, and that is productivity, because that is time saved for parents. That is less traffic on the road. That is healthier, happier kids that learn better. The people in the Government apparently think that this is a terrible thing, the idea that kids should be able to walk and cycle or roam around their neighbourhood without being worried about getting run over by a fast-moving vehicle. To them, they don't understand that that is actually harming our society. It's hurting us. It's costing us.

The best way to improve productivity is to invest in our people, to look after our natural resources, and to get off fossil fuels. We can't thrive—humans cannot thrive—if we have an unstable climate. We cannot live good lives if we are constantly dealing with droughts, floods, and catastrophic fires. We have known for quite some time now that our use of fossil fuels and land use that is, you know, overly in agriculture and not in enough native biodiverse ecosystems is driving catastrophic climate change, which means we are going to have an unstable climate and it's going to be more difficult to grow food and we're going to have less access to fresh water. So, globally, we all have this opportunity to work together.

The steps that the Greens know that we need to take—which are pretty much the opposite of everything laid out in his statement—and the steps that we can take will not only benefit Papatūānuku, will not only look after nature; looking after our peers, our friends, our communities is looking after ourselves. It's all one and the same.

Here's a really good example of why this Government is so offtrack. I mean, everything they're proposing is not going to work to deliver the things they say they want. A perfect example is the fast-track project in my electorate, Rongotai, a proposal for a road tunnel that is going to cost billions of dollars. And just in the news yesterday, it's been reconfirmed that the Government's own documents show it doesn't save travel time. It makes traffic worse. And this is what we've been trying to tell people for decades.

This isn't a culture war: if you designed a transport system where more people can walk, cycle, take public transport for the short trips, then the roads we have work perfectly to move freight and to move the things that need to be moved by road. And that's how cities all over the world function—in countries that that party, the National Party, said that they admired; places where less than half the trips are made by car. But yet they're still going to fast track this project, which is going to cost billions of dollars, and it doesn't even solve the problem. And then they say we're the irrational ones—projection, much? I mean, the least rational thing you can do is keep doing the same thing and expect to get a different result.

We need a Government that's going to show real leadership, that understands values, that understands the interconnectedness of our world—and the solutions are there; they are Green.

FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ (Green): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a privilege to take a call in the Prime Minister's statement. It's always interesting, in these things, what's not said is often more important than the things that are. The Prime Minister didn't mention the southern hospital even once in his statement. And no wonder why: we find out why, a few days later, when his newly minted Minister of Health confirmed that the hospital rebuild would proceed but it would proceed with less beds than the current Dunedin Hospital. Now, this is totally unacceptable, but the Prime Minister must have been glad for the support from the other legacy party—from the Labour Party—when they celebrated it. And I'm holding up the quote. It's a very small thing; should have reprinted it. It says, "Fewer beds but still a win for Dunedin." The Greens will never celebrate a cut in the beds as a win for Dunedin. We will keep fighting with the people of Dunedin to get Dunedin the hospital rebuild and the southern region the hospital rebuild it deserves.

What was also interesting in the Prime Minister's statement is that in the statement he thanked National Ministers, he thanked National backbenchers, but he didn't thank a single one of his once and future Deputy Prime Ministers; not a single mention of his coalition partners. And, look, no wonder why: this is their second year in office, and what have these two once and future Deputy Prime Ministers actually accomplished? Well, the future ex-Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has accomplished—he set up a few white elephant bureaucracies. He's degraded the school lunches programme so that, where there were once healthy, nutritious lunches for kids, they're feeding them inedible slop. And earlier this week he ram-raided Parliament. No wonder—no wonder—the Prime Minister isn't dishing out praise for these coalition partners. The current Deputy Prime Minister Peters, well, you know, he's picked fights with our allies within the Pacific and across the Pacific, so no wonder he's not getting gold stars from the Prime Minister either.

The one thing that the Prime Minister did mention in his speech—well, more alluded to—was the Government targets. He said that they were making good progress on reducing violent and youth crime, but what he didn't say in his speech is that they're actually wildly off track. If you look at the latest Government targets update, which was released in September, it shows a sea of red and a sea of yellow against the Government targets. When we heard from the Salvation Army earlier today, they confirmed that this Government isn't delivering better public services for New Zealanders. What they are delivering is crime going up, what they are delivering is child poverty growing up, and what they are delivering is unemployment going up. So that's what the Prime Minister and his Government has said yes to—all these things going up.

Now, the most egregious thing about this is that it didn't have to be this way. You can understand our scepticism when the Minister in charge of delivering these improved public services has now been reshuffled off and put in charge of delivering economic growth. We've already seen what one year of her economic stewardship has delivered to this country: unemployment at record levels, poverty at record levels, the economy breaking at the seams, and more and more New Zealanders leaving this country in record numbers. So forgive our scepticism; she didn't deliver on better public services, and there's no evidence that she'll deliver on economic growth, either.

I want to use the last part of my speech to thank the New Zealanders out there for their work in holding this Government to account. Thank you for all the hundreds and thousands of submissions that you've made against the terrible bills and the terrible legislation that this Government has introduced to this House. Thank you for your continued support, whether you're sharing social media posts, whether you're hitting that "Like" button, or whether you're donating to the parties of the Left, here. While we have occasional disagreements, we are all united and we will all make this a one-term Government. Thank you for your courage. This is not an easy Government to be living under. Every day, there seems to be another fresh attack on the environment, on the people, on Te Tiriti, and it's not an easy context to be dealing with. So thank you, everyone out there, for your courage. The tide is turning and we will make history by making this the first one-term National Government.

Hon NICOLE McKEE (Associate Minister of Justice): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to be able to take this split call to be able to speak on the Prime Minister's statement, and, of course, what we are going to do to help build this economy, and what we're going to do this year.

In 2023, the ACT Party campaigned on real change, making sure that we had change that was going to affect the lives of people of New Zealand. Boy, have we been getting stuck into that. We've grown our economy, especially needed after the last effort of the last Government and their "drunk uncle" ways of spending taxpayer money, with no accountability, and wrapping everybody up in continuous red tape. This Government is about supporting businesses. This Government is about supporting communities. This Government is about removing the red tape and all of the regulations that are bounding people up and stopping them from going about living their lives. We have listened to the people of New Zealand and we've been sitting here as Ministers of the Crown, thinking "What is our little bit that we can do to help improve our economy?"

One of the portfolios that I have is in the AML/CFT space—which is the anti – money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism space—and we're making changes there. Part of the changes that we are making actually come in relation to what businesses have told us that they need, what customers have told us, what the people have told us.

I'll refer now to a letter that I received from Catherine, who told me that she's of my age—I could tell—"Do you remember when we were children and when you went to school when you were five years old, you were given a little bank account card and you were taught how to save, and you put money into the bank account, and the people from the bank would come to the school and they would take your money, take your little booklet, and they'd bring it back, and you had typewritten in there exactly how much money you had, and you were taught how to save." Catherine wrote me a letter to tell me, "I can't even open a bank account for my child. I can't do that anymore." The reason why is because the AML/CFT regime is so strict that unless she can prove that her child lives in that house and has some sort of letter that has the child's name and address on it, she can't prove the existence of the child and can't open a bank account for her child.

Then we have the elderly widows, those who have relied on their husbands throughout their lives to keep them safe, to take care of the bills and all the bank accounts, then when their husbands pass away, they then have to go and have a bank account put into their name and transfer everything over, but, lo and behold, they can't find a letter that has their name on it from a utility, like a power bill; they have no proof to say that they live in the home that they may have brought their children up in over many, many decades. They too cannot just get on with life in their elderly age.

So what I can do is help provide regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses and create a system that's more responsive to the needs of Kiwis. In October last year, we announced a major overhaul of New Zealand's anti – money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism regime. We're going to be introducing reforms—some are already here; some are still coming—which are going to allow the system to be more responsive to industry and community needs. They will be more agile and more focused on the real risks posed by money-laundering and New Zealand businesses. This relief is going to have flow-on effects for lower costs on customers because there will be lower costs on businesses who are trying to comply with the burdensome and unnecessary red tape that has been placed upon them.

One of the things that we're going to do in the first instance is make sure that we remove the three confusing bodies that are meant to give advice to our businesses, and make it just one so we can get on with giving that advice and also get on with giving that relief. This includes a couple of bills that I've already lodged that will give small but effective changes to Kiwis and to businesses. I'm so looking forward to this continuing forward through the Justice Committee, because I think everyone in this House wants Catherine and her children and their children to be able to open bank accounts and be normal Kiwis living a normal life. Thank you.

LAURA McCLURE (ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Firstly, I think it would be rude of me to not address the previous Green member's speech. I think the Deputy Prime Minister in waiting has achieved an awful lot in this Government, as have quite a few of the Ministers from the ACT team and across the House. But what I would say is we have a Ministry for Regulation set up to cut that red tape, the likes of what Nicole McKee has been talking about—a hotline where Kiwis can actually tip off this bad regulation; something that people have been screaming about for years. This regulation that has been crippling small and medium enterprises—possibly that regulation that landed me in this position in the first place.

But, secondly, the most important thing that he's probably done is charter schools. And that's quite fitting because this is what today I'm actually going to speak to you about. This week has been a fantastic week—well, actually, the past fortnight of new and improved choice for parents and for children in where they can actually send their children to get education. For too long we've had schools that are not meeting the needs of our communities, not meeting the needs of our kids, and we've got a whole array of children that are disengaged.

Now, the two charter schools in Ōtautahi Christchurch, my hometown, I could not be more proud of—the first time that Christchurch has actually had two charter schools. We've got Mastery Schools. They are an Australian proved model. Kids at risk of falling behind—maybe they've got a little bit of neurodiversity—in years 1 to 7 will be brought up to speed. They'll have tailored programmes that are actually what these kids need. Teaching their level, not just the year that they're in. We'll also be utilising our trainee teachers, because they've created a programme with the University of Canterbury to actually hire some of the trainee teachers. These teachers that would otherwise just be working in a cafe—not that there's anything wrong with that, but why can't we be utilising these in the classroom? So I'm super excited for them and I can't wait to see what they achieve.

Christchurch North College—the next charter school to open. That deals with the kids that are from year 7 to year 10 that have really fallen between the gaps. Some of these kids have not been at school for between one and two years. This school's going to provide the opportunity to get them the education they need and focus on some of those vocational skills. Because guess what? Going to university, having higher education, isn't for everybody. But we all know that we need some kind of education to get a good quality head start in life. So I'm very excited for those kids.

Look, I just want to recount one of the children that I actually met at the Christchurch North College. He was sitting next to me during the pōwhiri, the opening, and he was shaking quite a lot. And it made me reflect on how nerve-wracking it must be if you've not been in education for a couple of years and you are taking that risk, you're getting out there, and you're getting back engaged in that system, how scary that might be. I wanted to talk to these kids and let them know that ACT and this Government actually support them. We want you guys to get back into education and we hope that you have more choice in doing so when you get there.

Secondly, I think that these kids, they look around and they think, "What has gone wrong in the system? Where have I fallen through?" Maybe it's that they had some kind of neurodiversity. Maybe it's that they couldn't get to school for various reasons. It could be that they've got poor mental health. And they've been looking to find ways to be engaged, but there has been nothing. And their poor families—their parents—have been screaming out for help. While, yes, there are some services out there; none of them can offer the wraparound, tailored service that something like Christchurch North College can offer. And the future is bright for these guys and I could not be more excited.

My question to the Opposition would be: if having more choice in education, if giving our children the best start in life has become a political football and so controversial, and you don't want to hold the hand of that child that is shaking in their boots about attending school, then what are we doing here? The public and parents, they are sick of education being a political football. They want us to all get along. They want to have choice where they send their children. This should not be an issue that we continue to flick around. It should be that, actually, you know what, we all actually agree that kids need a good start in life. So my challenge to the Opposition is to go and visit these schools, see what they're about, get on board. If you really care about the futures of our children, then come along, have a look at it, get behind, and we can all have a bright future. Thank you.

PAULO GARCIA (National—New Lynn): I'm very pleased to be able to stand in this House today and speak about the Government's focus on what the important matters are that New Zealanders care about and that affect all New Zealanders' lives. This Government's focus is on economic growth and infrastructure to drive the very important growth that New Zealand needs, especially now. We are delivering with a strong focus on growing the economy to make New Zealanders better off—New Zealanders throughout the country, including New Lynn—by advancing trade initiatives and pushing for trade relationships to be stronger and more dynamic.

Our trade Minister, Todd McClay, has been all over the world and constantly on the road pushing for agreements to be strengthened and put forward. For example, the UAE free-trade agreement that's reduced 98.5 percent of the duties that are due on New Zealand exports. Wages are now growing faster than inflation, and cost pressures are reducing. We look forward to more relief from the Reserve Bank, with an economy that is fighting back the inflation that it has found itself in.

In recent years, we've faced many challenges, especially in our cities where the pressures on transport, on healthcare, cost of living, and the effects of crime have been keenly felt. But despite these challenges, we are moving New Zealand forward. The National Government has made it clear that to alleviate all of these pains that we are struggling with, the challenges, the way forward is to drive economic growth and long-term prosperity for New Zealand.

We stopped wasteful spending. We've provided tax relief. We've had RMA reform, fast track, and new roads, and we are restoring the consequences of crime, including a newly picked from the ballot coward punch amendment bill, that we hope to pass in this term.

The investments in healthcare are new and record-breaking—$17 billion in healthcare and new cancer treatments, a refocus on the basics in education, and making investments coming into New Zealand a much easier and more transparent and clear process. We are keeping councils to the basics and we are getting things moving for all New Zealanders to feel better off.

This is what our local businesses need, especially for exporters throughout New Zealand. What a big help it is to the growers and all producers of products that go all over the world. We can now tap on all of these opportunities and bring growth to businesses that enable higher pay, more stable employment. Trade isn't just about making money; it's about creating those important local jobs that support our local families and that strengthen our communities.

We're also working very hard to cut red tape and the barriers to growth. It is what 2025 will be about for this Government. It's all about growth. It's all about bringing New Zealand forward. It's all about helping New Zealanders feel better about living in New Zealand. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

RYAN HAMILTON (National—Hamilton East): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's great to rise and speak on the Prime Minister's statement, and I don't know if I'm breaching Standing Orders by saying it's great to have you back, Madam Speaker, as well, and the House is brighter for you in it. Kia ora tātou e te Whare. , year of the Wood Snake, happy Chinese New Year. And today is the Lantern Festival, which marks the official end of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and I just acknowledge the Chinese community, in particular those in Hamilton East who have been a tremendous support—

Tim Costley: And lucky to have you as their MP.

RYAN HAMILTON: —for me back home. Thank you, Mr Costley. But it's great to speak on behalf of Hamilton East, Kirikiriroa Rāwhiti, and on behalf of the city which is now New Zealand's fastest growing city—the city of the future. It's truly a privilege and an honour.

But what a great speech we had by our Prime Minister only a few weeks ago. What I loved about it was it was such a pragmatic speech. He touched on so many things which are so key for New Zealand and our economy. He talked about law and order, health, education—

Shanan Halbert: How's that going in Birkenhead?

RYAN HAMILTON: —productivity, law and order, education—Shanan—productivity, investment, and unlocking potential. The latent potential that we've been sitting on within New Zealand, particularly over the last six years, which we're about to unshackle. We're about to unlock the potential of this great country, and within the regions, and it's going to be awesome. We've got a productivity plan and it starts with education. Our great Minister Stanford is doing incredible work there with structured literacy and maths and educating our future—it's so good to see. Technology and innovation, less regulation, infrastructure investment, and investment support. And of course, we've got the investment summit in March, a few weeks away, which is going to be so good.

Arena Williams: Who's coming?

RYAN HAMILTON: But it's invite only, so you probably won't be invited to that one.

Speaking of economy and boosting all good things, I'm so excited that Hamilton Airport is going to be having international flights from July. And we're excited to share that that will bring in about $45 million to the regional economy a year; 100,000 passengers will be leaving and going forth to Sydney and the Gold Coast, five flights a week out of Hamilton, the city of the future. Very exciting indeed.

I'd like to talk about the idea, the prospect, of this third medical school. We've got short-term health challenges which Minister Brown is tackling head on, and we've got some long term challenges. The medium-term solution is a medical school in Waikato, and that's before a business case at the moment. But I'm optimistic, because it's also like a fast track: instead of the usual six-year degree, doctors will be able to do it in four years. It's a graduate degree, it's innovative, and it's exciting, and it's a key part to New Zealand's future of our GP shortages. So I'm looking forward to hearing about that.

One of the other key points in the Prime Minister's statement was the emphasis on infrastructure development. Only recently, we opened up the Peacocke bridge over the Waikato River, connecting east and west, Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge, across our mighty awa. That was started under the National Government HIF loan, or Housing Infrastructure Fund loan, and it was great to start it and complete it under National—the party that gets things done, in collaboration with our great partners in the coalition agreement.

I'm also pleased to announce that I'm on the Environment Committee, and we're doing some awesome stuff around Resource Management Act (RMA) reform: housing, infrastructure, farming, water, emergency, and natural hazards. Fast track—55,000 homes potentially going to be unleashed throughout this country, and 19 projects in Waikato, which I'm super stoked about. The Government, this year, plans to introduce legislation to finally replace the RMA with a fairer and more efficient system based on property rights that make it easier, faster, and cheaper to build, while still protecting our natural environment, because we know we can do both.

Moreover, this Government's focus on creating a high-wage, innovative economy aligns perfectly with Hamilton's aspirations. Just last week, I met with some individuals at Innovation Park in Hamilton at a company called Farm Medix, and they've got a technology that supports mastitis and foot disease for cattle, and they export that intellectual property all over the world. They're also looking at a climate technology where they can burn slash or other waste products, capture the carbon, and palletise it into what's called biochar, and earn carbon credits.

Rima Nakhle: All in New Zealand.

RYAN HAMILTON: So there's some exciting stuff happening—all in New Zealand, and especially in Hamilton East, Rima, you'll be pleased to know. But, Madam Speaker, the future is bright, and I'm pleased just to share those few insights with you. Thank you.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise to take a call on the Prime Minister's statement, and I stand by the words by the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins in the amendment to that motion that all the words after that be deleted and replaced with "This House has no confidence in this coalition Government because under its incompetent, arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership, New Zealand is going backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs, record numbers are leaving the country, and their priorities are wrong and out of touch." I absolutely stand by those words from the leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition because that's exactly what we are seeing on a daily basis from this Government.

I was really interested to see a number of MPs on the other side during this debate actually spend more time, rather than speaking about what they're going to do, actually spending more time giving pot-shots to this side of the House. I noticed quite an interesting strategy, actually. Half of those National Party MPs were trying to talk about that Opposition finance spokesperson—that Opposition finance spokesperson. How about you talk about your Minister of Finance? How about we talk about the Minister of Finance that one out of three National Party voters don't believe can make this economy grow? How about we talk about that Minister of Finance where 50 percent of New Zealanders do not trust her to make this economy grow?

So I understand why you've changed the strategy a little bit to try and throw back at the Opposition finance spokesperson, to try and destabilise the Opposition finance spokesperson, but I've got some news for you.

Tim Costley: Give us some ideas.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: See, here is Tim Costley, the Ōtaki MP, who is saying, "Give us some ideas." Well, guess what, Tim Costley; you're in Government. You are accountable for the last 16 months. So the interesting thing is that this Government, in the same way that Tim Costley from the Ōtaki electorate says, "Give us your ideas."—of course they want our ideas. Of course Ōtaki wants our ideas, because unlike Tim Costley where all politics is local politics, part of my electorate in Mana covers Kāpiti, and my office has been open for just over three weeks. Guess how many cases of homelessness, people that cannot access emergency housing, social housing—

Tim Costley: It's been 16 months. Where were you for the first 15 months?

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: It covers the Kāpiti area—and you can keep interjecting, Mr Tim Costley, but the thing is I'm not going to back down, because the evidence is showing through electorate offices across this country that this Government is making cuts, is refusing to build more houses. It's actually just today confirmed that they're going to take the numbers of community housing providers and claim them as their own, never mind the funding. I'm waiting to see where the funding is to support those community housing providers who do want to build more houses, but I'm not seeing any funding commitment from this Government. So you cannot claim that all those community housing providers who possibly may get no funding from this Government, that those houses are yours.

Then what you also heard from this Government was just today in the House, there's this new strategy. So first of all, attack the Opposition finance spokesperson because it's quite clear the Minister of Finance is rattled by the polls and by the way the economy is falling. The second strategy is fudge the numbers a little bit—just a little bit. See, the problem is, though, that could work during an election, but when you are sitting on those benches, when you are a Government Minister, when you are the Prime Minister, you are accountable for your words. That's why Kiwis across the country do not believe the buzzwords that are coming out from the Government benches.

So when the Prime Minister says that New Zealand has been in a recession for the last three years, well, let's fact-check that. So I did. I asked the Treasury chief economist, has New Zealand been in a recession for the past three years? Well, actually just for nine months in 2024. So, again, as much as the Prime Minister wants to say that we've been in recession to try and fudge the numbers, to try and convince the country that things were worse under Labour and that they're doing something to improve it, the actual numbers don't lie. The actual evidence from Treasury says that we have not been in a recession except for the last nine months under this Government.

The second little piece of fudging which I observed today from the House—and it was something that my good colleague and friend Kieran McAnulty picked up, was saying that, "Yeah, we built 2,000 more homes." Absolute bull, I think were the words that Kieran McAnulty used. Again, it was the Labour Government that funded those 2,000 homes and continued the build, which is why we have 2,000 more homes.

Every day I am reminded through the people coming through my office in the Mana electorate who were homeless, who cannot access emergency housing, who cannot access transitional housing because the criteria has been tightened. It has been tightened because this Government is cutting the funding and making it more difficult for those Kiwis who need support to get that support.

I heard Tim Costley earlier in his debate talk about the lowest common denominator approach. Well, I'm sorry, but on this side of the House, the Opposition believes that a country and a society should look after those who cannot afford housing, who cannot afford lunches in schools, who cannot afford to catch the bus to their rural school.

That is an atrocity, the fact that funding to rural bus routes has been cut and that a parent is having to tell their child and teach them, "This is how you hitchhike safely." Is this the type of society which doesn't have any regard to that lowest common denominator approach? Well, that's not the society that the Greens, that we've heard from Te Pāti Māori, that the Labour Party will stand for, because we believe that you need to look after those who are the most vulnerable in your society, the reason being that's how you get growth, that's how you get productivity, and that's how you get families to go to school.

I do want to acknowledge the ACT MP Laura Trask who talked about attendance at school. I was a board member. That was back in the day of decile 2 schools. Attendance is so important for children to get to school, but what did Labour do to help with that attendance? Social workers in schools, lunches in schools, and we helped remove school fees. But this is a period where children across the country, their parents are having conversations about how they afford to send their children to school when public transport subsidies were taken away by this Government.

Lunches in schools: in order to save $130 million, you're now having lunches arrive late if they arrive at all. The quality of the lunches—this is the stuff we are serving our children in some of our poorest communities. But that's OK, because that lowest common denominator approach means that, sure, you can give them a $3 lunch, even though I may be having a really fantastic lunch in Epsom. That's not how this side of the House wants our New Zealand society to go.

So you will see time and time again, you've heard it from the other side of the House: we are going for growth. Yes, growth in unemployment. Those unemployment numbers would actually be higher had 125,000 New Zealanders not left New Zealand for overseas. They're going to Australia. One of the reasons which I saw recently why they're going to Australia—and it goes back to, again, one of the very earliest decisions that this Government made. When this Government came in, within their 100-day plan, they removed the remit for maximum sustainable employment for the Reserve Bank.

Ryan Hamilton: That's right.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: So Ryan Hamilton says, "That's right. We removed it." Yet in Australia, lower unemployment, their inflation levels are better, and 125,000 Kiwis, a large portion of them are going to Australia because they know there are jobs. And yet the Reserve Bank of Australia, guess what they have which this Government removed in the first 100 days?

Tim Costley: Take off the rose-tinted glasses.

Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: They have maximum sustainable employment. I love hearing the other side of the House saying, "Take off the rose-tinted glasses." Again, every day in my office we are having homeless people, we are having people who cannot access emergency housing and transitional housing—those are the facts, because you have changed the criteria on which people can access help, which is why one in two Pacific children are going hungry, which is why one in 10 Pacific people do not have a job. All these figures are evidence. There is data about it. So the people that need to take their rose-tinted glasses off are the ones that are sitting on that side of the House. We know Kiwis are doing it tough. When they're walking through our offices, they're doing it tough. But instead, all we see from this Government is continual name-calling, a lowest common denominator approach, and what do you expect from a Government that doesn't want to lead?

MILES ANDERSON (National—Waitaki): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Prime Minister's address and his focus on economic growth. It is under his stewardship that we have seen a focused drive not only towards economic growth but also towards enhancement of the services that a modern day society demands, from healthcare—and yes, this will include delivering a Dunedin hospital, which services not only Dunedin but a much wider area including the Waitaki electorate—to education, infrastructure, and digital connectivity.

This Government's commitment to bolstering these essential services underpins the foundation of our progress. This Government is saying yes to fostering economic growth and stability for all New Zealanders. Over the past year, we have witnessed remarkable progress driven by thoughtful and strategic measures, aimed at enhancing our economic landscape. Not only have we delivered legislation that will play a crucial role in progress, like the fast-track consenting Act and the Resource Management Act reforms, we are also ensuring that we have a Budget that will allow economic recovery to occur. These measures and others paved the way for substantial investment in various areas, including our primary industries, mining, and the renewable sector.

The Government's commitment to creating a robust economic framework is evident in the positive outcomes we are now experiencing, and we have been crying out for this as a country.

Celia Wade-Brown: A bit like child poverty.

MILES ANDERSON: Hold your horses. In the Waitaki electorate, our primary industries have always been the backbone of our local economy and also the regional and national economy, as well. At this stage, I'd just like to give a shout out to the Totora Estate, which will be celebrating National Lamb Day on Saturday and is the birthplace of New Zealand's frozen meat industry.

Hon Mark Patterson: I'll be there.

MILES ANDERSON: And I hear Minister Patterson saying he's going to be there. However, agriculture, pastoral, and arable farming, fisheries, forestry, and horticulture are not just economic activities, they're a way of life for many of our residents, and this is something that our Government supports. Mining is another critical sector in our electorate, and I want to highlight OceaneaGold at Macraes and the Oamaru stone quarries in North Otago that provide world famous Oamaru stone all around New Zealand and across the world.

So the mining sector's also benefiting from the Government's forward-thinking policies. This Government has facilitated exploration and responsible extraction of mineral resources, which will contribute significantly to local employment and economic activity. Moreover, the Government's focus on renewable energy opportunities is particularly relevant to the Waitaki electorate. Our region is blessed with abundant natural resources that make it ideal for renewable energy projects. The Government's push to electrify New Zealand has provided the necessary framework and incentives for the development of wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power. These initiatives will not only contribute to our national energy security but also offer local communities a pathway to sustainable economic growth, and it will create much-needed jobs.

I'd like to highlight the success of several renewable energy projects in our electorate, all based on the Waitaki Hydro Scheme, for instance, that is a shining example of how we can harness natural resources to generate clean, green energy. This project has not only created jobs, it also positions the Waitaki electorate as a leader in renewable energy creation. Government support is crucial for driving such projects, ensuring that they receive the funding and regulatory backing needed to come to fruition; this Government is offering that support.

In conclusion, I extend my gratitude to this Government, our Government, for their unwavering commitment to economic growth. So, with that, Madam Speaker, I take my leave.

DANA KIRKPATRICK (National—East Coast): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's my pleasure to take a call in support of the Prime Minister's statement. It's going to be a great year. We are excited. We have turned the dial from no to go; from woe to let's go. So before we talk about 2025, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about what we've done already. Let's just bear in mind: 2025, the year of the growth mind-set.

So far, we've done fast track, 149 projects on the list; inflation's down; interest rates are down; we have stopped wasteful spending because taxpayers expect better outcomes for their money; we've done the Resource Management Act (RMA) reform first tranche, more of that coming, cutting the red and green tape; and we've dealt with ram raids, reducing those down significantly. We've done new trade deals. We've opened New Zealand's trade gateways across the globe, an incredible legacy being carved out by our Minister. We are backing farmers. This Government has done more for farmers than any Government in decades. We've banned cellphones in classes, and we know the benefits of that in our education system. And we've put together FamilyBoost—millions of dollars paid out to young families to help with childcare, to get people back into work. We have focused on foreign investment, making that easier, because we want to welcome their money into out country. And we focused councils back on the basics: get the roads fixed, make the pipes work, and get the rubbish picked up—it's not that hard.

What are we planning on doing next? We're planning on attracting investors to New Zealand, very clearly a key focus because we have to lift that offshore investment from $70 million back up into the billions where it used to be. We're ramping up our tourism with better settings. If you listened to the Opposition going on and on about how bad it is in New Zealand, why would anybody want to come here? We can still deliver the services that we want, that we need, by being positive about our story, and welcoming to our country. We are reforming the science sector for the first time in 30 years and we're giving our best brains a reason to stay in New Zealand for a rewarding career in research and innovation There's more RMA reform to come. We're continuing to support our agricultural sector because we are the best in the world and we want to support that and continue with that legacy. And we're working hard to increase productivity and economic return so we can invest in health, education, infrastructure, and housing.

I want to take a moment to talk about the green shoots of growth already cropping up in the beautiful part of New Zealand that we know as the East Coast. How good was it yesterday to see the news with the announcement of the reopening of the Juken sawmill, where an investor has stepped in, bought the mill, and is looking to put back 500 jobs into the Tairāwhiti community. That is a significant change and a turn-around for us. Gisborne has long been the port that exports whole logs and has struggled to find investors. This is a massive boost to our community at a time when we absolutely need to embrace growth.

What about in Kawerau, where next month a large processor will celebrate a $20 million investment into switching a massive manufacturing and processing entity from natural gas to geothermal steam. It's a great demonstration of how innovation boosts the region's economy and provides sustainable industry for generations to come.

And then the emails just keep coming from the likes of Forester NZ, working on exciting developments in the Eastern Bay, reducing carbon emissions, exporting, and growing jobs. Mātai Research in Gisborne, delivering world-leading research, helping dozens of future medical specialists in their research. And then there's HUTEC, a wonderful company in Whakatāne employing 90 staff, with 14 apprentices, delivering international engineering projects and heading into 2025 with an ambitious growth plan. These organisations, among others, are confident to grow. They can see that the economic tide is turning and they know that the future of our country, for the services everybody wants, lies in economic growth—not in handing out money; it takes hard decisions, fortitude, and 2025 is the year of a growth mind-set, bold approaches, and getting the work done. You don't get growth by giving away money; you get it by providing opportunities for everybody.

We live in the first country in the world to see the sun. We get up first every single day in the world—we're the first to get up. This Government intends to make that count. We are not going to sit back and wait.

I just want to mention, in closing, that this week it's two years since Cyclone Gabrielle ravaged our region and large tracts of the East Coast. We are grateful for the support of the Government, and the previous Government as well, for getting us back on our feet, but now we need to change it up. We need to think growth—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): The member's time has expired.

Debate interrupted.

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Debate resumed.

RIMA NAKHLE (National—Takanini): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I too am in the auspicious position of feeling honoured to also submit my commentary on our Prime Minister's statement that he gave in this House two weeks and one day ago.

But before I do that, if I may, I'd like to say "Happy Pongal" to our Tamil community, and I'd also like to say "Happy New Year" to our Chinese communities, our Asian communities. If you're around Takanini, come to Manukau Sports Bowl this weekend—starting on Thursday, we've got the Auckland Lantern Festival. That's going to be absolutely amazing.

As I reflected on the Prime Minister's speech—and I reflected on it a lot, for a number of reasons. It's setting the tone for what our absolute focus is this year, and as we've heard, in almost every speech, whether it's from this side of the House or on the other side, we're acknowledging that we're saying we are focused on economic growth. Part of my reflections on the Prime Minister's speech went back to when I was door-knocking, and I speak about door-knocking a lot because I think that's one of the strongest ways to keep in touch with one's community—my beautiful community in Takanini.

During the election campaign, what's tattooed in my memory is a couple whose door I knocked on in Addison, Takanini. This was a young couple with a little bubba, a little child, and this couple told me that they both had full-time jobs, and that the home they were in was a house they purchased just before COVID. Then COVID struck, and they told me that for two weeks, they had not had any meat because the finances were quite stretched; the budget was tight. And I'll never forget that they said thank goodness for their parents and their grandparents—who are part of our beautiful Indian whānau in Takanini—who taught them how to cook with grains, with pulses, so that they could get that kind of nutrition without the meat because they couldn't afford meat.

And then they said to me, "We've never voted before, but we are planning to vote this year. Please will you promise us that what your party is saying that you will do, you will indeed do." One of the things they asked for: "Please, bring in that FamilyBoost"—they had their little bubba—"Please adjust the tax brackets like you're saying you will. Please get rid of the Auckland fuel tax." And I said, "I promise you: what I know is that we will be doing this." And I'm so happy, and relieved for them, that those are just a few of the changes that we've managed to make that we know are improving the cost of living for those neighbours of mine that are in Takanini.

I reflected on how our Prime Minister commented on this notion of "no"—and the "No-alition" on the other side. I reflected on how if there was a university degree in saying no, the other side of the House would have PhDs in saying no. When we went through a number of the suite of changes—and there's a lot more to come—what did the "Doctors of No" say on the other side? No to banning gang patches in public—the "Doctors of No" on the other side said that. No to making sure that repeat offenders are not given more than three chances to smash up shops. No to adjusting tax brackets—that's what the "Doctors of No" said—and no to removing the Auckland regional fuel tax.

I love the fact that in Takanini, when I went door-knocking in Addison again, just on the weekend just past, there were a number of people on the street that I door knocked at who said, "Yep, it's really hard for us. It's very hard for us." And they said—no word of a lie—"But please keep going." And there were two people who said, "Keep going and go harder.", because they know we're making the difficult decisions we have to make for economic growth, to make life better and easier for all New Zealanders across Aotearoa. We're saying yes—yes to FamilyBoost, which we have said, yes to a new school for 600 students in Flat Bush, and, in particular, the crème de la crème of yesses on this side of the House is yes to Mill Road—yes, that's going to happen, and I am, as I said, honoured to give my reflections on the Prime Minister's statement. We're going for growth.

GRANT McCALLUM (National—Northland): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Growth, growth, growth. That's what this Government is about. I'll say it again: growth, growth, growth. Something that's unusual to the other side of the House, but that's OK.

If ever there was a region that desperately needs growth, it's Northland, right? You just have to look at—we've underperformed for years. Why? I'll give you the number one reason why, and that's called roads, right? It comes as no surprise to our members of the House, particularly on this side. In the last election campaign, the number one issue in Northland was roads, well above cost of living. The irony being in 2017, we recognised that, and we announced that we were going to put a four-lane highway all the way up to Whangārei.

But guess what! Guess what happened when the other lot got in. They cancelled it. But guess what! We had started one bit, and the "Minister of No" at the time—who criticised it for a long time—and who is now the leader of the Opposition, the Hon Chris Hipkins, then actually said, "Well, actually, we're opening a road. I'll go and open it, even though I opposed it all the way through." Feel free to check the Hansard records. He turned up. He used to call it a "holiday highway". Actually, it's now open. It's making a massive difference to our economy, and we are committed to building the next stage all the way to Whangārei. It is under way. That is all part of our fast-track proposals—

Hon Willow-Jean Prime: Which bit's under way?

GRANT McCALLUM: I'd like to welcome the former member for Northland—who I wish had actually done her job last time and stood up for that road. It would have been great if she had, but never mind.

Hon Willow-Jean Prime: Oh, true. I saw you opening the Mangamuka Gorge, proudly smiling—

GRANT McCALLUM: Well, that woke it up.

Hon Willow-Jean Prime: —cutting that ribbon.

GRANT McCALLUM: I think—

Hon Willow-Jean Prime: Got the hundred million. Kia ora, you're welcome.

GRANT McCALLUM: I think—listen, listen, the truth hurts, doesn't it? Boy, the truth hurts.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Order! Order! We don't need the commentary across the House, please.

GRANT McCALLUM: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Right, and just to put in context the cost of poor roading. When the Brynderwyns—yes, that important piece of road that is just not far from where I live—was shut, it was $2 million a day at least it cost our economy. That is why we recognise the importance of roads.

Now, there's another thing that's quite important in Northland. It's called power. We've had some experience with power—

Hon Member: Keep the bolts done up.

Hon Member: Nuts and bolts.

GRANT McCALLUM: —and power outages. So one of the things that—yes, there happened to be a pylon that fell over, and we dealt with that, and all the issues around that are well known. But we have now focused on actually building renewable generation in Northland and exporting it to the South into Auckland to do our people and our cousins in Auckland a favour. Renewable generation. Remember that. We are very focused under our policy that we want lots of solar farms. We're going to speed up the whole process of consenting. It's all about fast track.

Now, another thing we are very focused on doing in Northland is irrigation, because we understand the importance of having dams and water to grow things. In fact, you would just have to look back over history to see the benefit of that. You look at Kerikeri today. Its growth derives from a couple of dams built in the 1980s. That is where that growth comes from. Now, there are a couple of new dams being built, one about to be opened and filled up in a moment, another one in the process of, and that will make a massive difference. We are going to continue to back those sorts of projects because that is how you get growth in the North.

The biggest sector in Northland is the agriculture sector, the primary sector, which I'm proud to be a member of. I might like to educate the members opposite, because on 15 January last month, we had into the New Zealand economy from Fonterra, the dairy farmers who work their butts off every day of the year—$2.4 billion was paid in one day. One day. Rumour has it that in the electorate of Rangitata in Ashburton, they ran out of utes. There were so many farmers going in there to buy things. That's economic benefit. There was no ute tax either, which was quite helpful. So I'd just like to take a real big shout-out to the agriculture community of New Zealand. Thank you for your hard work. Keep it up.

That is how we're going to grow this economy. It's by supporting those that actually get out there and are productive and create export goods. Then through the use of trade deals, we'll get maximum value. It's great to be able to get up and back our Prime Minister and back this great Government. Thank you.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, I found it extraordinary that that member stood up and spoke about growth under this Government. This Government has had no growth. There is more growth on my face than this Government has had and that's a fact. The fact of the matter is that we handed over an economy that was growing—an economy that had 2.4 percent growth per annum. How much growth has this Government had? None. They have gone backwards for every single quarter. The economy under this Government is in recession. They've been there for 18 months. No more excuses. It's your turn. Do your job.

It's no good just using your corporate speak and saying there's going to be growth—having a growth summit. Summits don't create growth. What we've got is massive unemployment. We have got 30,000 people more unemployed than when you took your job. That is enough people to fill Sky Stadium. I do not believe Nicola Willis, her crocodile tears when she says she feels for New Zealanders, because you know what, she's doing it on purpose. She means what she's doing and she said today in this House that she knows that jobless numbers are going to go up. The only thing that that Government can grow is the unemployment queue.

What are they going to do about it? What are they going to do? What's their answer to this so-called crisis they find themselves in? Asset sales. They're going to sell our prized assets. But they're cagey. They're not going to tell us what they're going to sell. "We'll talk about that later." What are you going to do? Sell our rail again. How did that work out last time? We had to buy it back and fix it up. Talk to your coalition partners before you go out talking about asset sales. Some of your coalition partners do believe in putting New Zealand first, of course. Or are you going to sell our schools and hospitals? Are you going to call up the pension fund and say, "Do you want a slice of this?" Because do you know what? The numbers don't add up, Christopher Luxon—the maths doesn't work. They want a return on their investment. That's just borrowing by another name. That means that our kids will be paying for the decisions that you make. You'll be putting our kids into—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I'll just remind the member—while the member is in full flight, I'm sorry to interrupt, but please don't bring the Speaker so much into your debate.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The fact though is that Nicola Willis is not in control of this economy and New Zealand knows that.

And who have we got in charge? Who's the CEO? Is he in charge at all? It doesn't look like it. Christopher Luxon is watching on with his corporate speak. But while he tells us what he can say about benchmarking, kids are going hungry. While he operationalises some core competency, people are losing their jobs. And while he drones on about a value chain and being results driven, Dunedin Hospital's waiting to be built. And if he wants to talk about deliverables, deliver some ferries. And if he wants a key performance indicator, talk about the performance of the man who's soon to be Deputy Prime Minister who, in utter contempt of this place, drove a Land Rover on to the steps of Parliament. And if he wants a laser focus on results, how about focusing on David Seymour's behaviour when he interfered with a police prosecution and tried to get the police to stop investigating someone who was ultimately charged with murder. Or perhaps he should think about a focus—

Laura McClure: Point of order. I believe that that was a misleading comment because the person in question wasn't actually charged under that investigation. So he was not interfering with any criminal proceedings that were yet actually happening. He wasn't arrested. And I think that what you were saying was—if you could clarify, please, I would appreciate that.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Speaking to the point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): It's not actually a point of order. But your views are noted. Thank you.

Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: Well, Philip Polkinghorne was charged with murder, if I recall correctly.

Perhaps he's talking about someone else who was charged with sexual assault who David Seymour sent the victim's wife to an ACT Party lawyer instead of to the police. So whilst Christopher Luxon's talking about action plans, David Seymour seems to be running the country—running the country into the ground with his divisive and racist Treaty principles bill, with his surreptitious Regulatory Standards Bill, with the legislation that puts the Treaty second and puts himself first. This Government is a disgrace.

Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Thank you, Madam Speaker, and unlike the negative Nellies on the other side, I'm delighted to speak in favour of the Prime Minister's statement because actually I'm proud to be part of a Government—

Hon Dr Duncan Webb: Point of order, Madam Speaker. That was a split call. The other half of the call was to go to the Labour Party.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): My apologies. Sorry, I was distracted. Thank you.

CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):

[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

[Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]

This is my first opportunity to address the House this year and I should be excited, but so underwhelming was the Prime Minister's statement it almost isn't worth rebutting. They say it's about "growth". You don't have to go far in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti—not you, Madam Speaker, people in general don't have to go far in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti to find out how off the track indeed this Government is.

On this side of the House, we understand that growth starts at the roots. If it's all about growth, and economic growth means to this Government abusing the aroha of locally grown grassroots-based businesses, then this Government is indeed on track. Businesses like Kai Aio in Ruatōria, who will continue to deliver 500 school lunches between Tokomaru Bay and Wharekāhika, a 90-kilometre one way trip, and inland 37 kilometres to Mata School, at a loss, subsidising it with other areas of this business. They are going to do it at a loss because they understand that growth starts at the roots and our tamariki are more than just the bottom line. Anyone who thinks you can make a lunch and deliver it 90 kilometres for $3 really shouldn't be purporting to be the economic geniuses that this Government are.

When this Government says "growth", I think what they actually mean is, "Let's stunt the growth and development of workers by cutting initiatives like progressive procurement", an initiative that has been directly credited with opening and then keeping open roads in Tairāwhiti during and after Cyclone Gabrielle, mainly on State Highway 35; a road members opposite, other than Dana, probably aren't familiar with because it is not a road of national significance according to this Government despite the significant amount of product that traverses that highway making a significant impact to our GDP and, you guessed it, the growth of this country.

I've said growth starts at the roots, and on a recent trip home to Rangitukia—and I didn't just want to say Rangitukia, this happens to be where it happened—I was able to visit another home, land which just recently landed for a whānau with six children, one of many homes initiated and actually delivered by Labour. Because we understand that when you have a roof over your head, the world is your oyster. Growth starts at the roots.

In spite of this Government's attempts to dim the light, it shines bright in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Though times are harder, people can see the light; they have the power to change this Government in just over a year and they're just waiting.

In the meantime, I'm very proud to represent Ikaroa-Rāwhiti in this House, a region with, incidentally, the highest proportion of reo Māori speakers, a region where, in Tairāwhiti, Māori collectives hold 73 percent of the food and fibre sector asset base—growth starts at the roots. In Kahungunu, 61 percent and in Wairarapa, a whopping 87 percent—growth starts at the roots.

I love the feedback I get from my constituents, and a message I got today was: "Go hard girl, give them the huss." That's what Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is going to keep doing and that's what Aotearoa whānui are going to keep doing: we're going to keep giving it the huss until Labour's back in Government and people can finally have hope again, because we know about growth, we know it starts at the roots and we know we have to grow together. Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker.

Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Mark 2—here we go! It's really interesting, because some of the things that that member spoke about was absolutely at the heart of why growth is important. She spoke with passion about the people she represents, because what she wants to see is an improvement in the quality of their lives, of whānau, of hapū, of iwi—their ability to live in warm homes, to have stable jobs, and to put great kai on the table. There's only one way you get there, though, and you can't sit back and wish or hope for growth. You must be deliberate. You must be intentional. You must take actions every single day to grow opportunities. And that's what this side of the House understands. If I think of an expression that represents the coalition Government in 2025, it's that we thrive in 2025, because that's what we want for the people we represent.

So I'm really proud to be part of a Government that is making things happen. And if I think about our first year—man alive!—those things in those 90-day action plans that were just absolutely pumped out, because the New Zealand public needed to know and have trust and confidence in a Government who would actually deliver what they said they would, because they'd had six years of the opposite.

So now, unfortunately, we see an Opposition that is really kind of struggling. They've got no plans, no policies, no ambition, and definitely no positivity. So it is very clear why going for growth is important, and it's not because we want, you know, fancy stats or fancy figures; it's about what does growth provide. And I enunciated it before and, actually, I think, secretly, members on the other side, they know we're right. They know we're right, particularly those who are electorate MPs, who hear it and see it from their constituents day in and day out. The coalition Government talks about growth, will focus on growth, will deliver on growth because we know that New Zealanders want and need to share in the benefits of that growth.

Often the Opposition will kind of criticise me in my or our Government's ambition to reduce the number of people on the jobseeker benefit by 50,000 by 2030. So, yes, the numbers have gone up and that is, unfortunately, the reality of a low-growth environment. I could sit here and complain about all of the circumstances that we inherited, but, actually, we're just getting on and doing the job. And doing the job is because we know how much better off people are in work, whether it's creating their own income, forging their own way in life, creating opportunities, providing for themselves and their children, being part of a community and contributing.

So that's why, despite knowing, unemployment was due to go up. The same forecasts the previous Minister of Finance had, we had the same levels. We had the same forecast projection in terms of the unemployment rate getting to 5.1 percent. It has still projected to go further. And I'm acutely aware those aren't just statistics; they are people who have lost their jobs, who have lost their employment, and who are doing it tough, which is why our side of the House is unwilling to sit back and allow that to continue. So our approach with a very active system in terms of welfare—I'm enormously proud of the work that the front-line staff at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) have been doing: intensive case management, working with 70,000 of those people on the jobseeker benefit, because they are unwilling to tolerate that that's as good as it gets.

So with that figure that I gave before, 33,000 job seekers in the six months to December who exited into a job in this challenging labour market is an extraordinary result. It didn't come by accident; it came by very deliberate, targeted, integrated work to get an outcome—22 percent increase on the same period a year ago. And the reality is, for every one of those people that are now in a job when they weren't, we know the difference it makes to them and their communities.

And members opposite were like, "Oh, well, you know, you'll never achieve that, so you should never have a target." Probably that's why they took all the health targets away, by the way. If you don't measure anything, then you can't be held accountable for the outcomes. Well, New Zealanders aren't stupid—New Zealanders aren't stupid. They know what the coalition Government arrived to in 2023, and we know that fewer people on welfare means fewer children in benefit-dependent households and fewer children in poverty, which is why we have set one of our priorities to reduce the number of children in material hardship. And it was interesting. There have been comments today on the State of the Nation report by the Salvation Army and the increases in child poverty. That was the 2023 data—June 2023. And we just say it's not good enough, which is why we are taking actions.

So what are some of the things we've done to support employment in addition to what we've done in the welfare space? Making sure that job seekers know what their obligations are, know the steps they need to take to find employment and consequences if they don't. And do you know what? One percent—only 1 percent of our job seekers aren't complying with their obligations and under a sanction, which is a remarkable result, because those on the jobseeker benefit actually know. They take steps. It improves their chance to get a job. So that's tricky.

One of the things that has obviously also been a change for me this year is taking on the responsibility as a Minister for Tourism and Hospitality. What do our tourism and hospitality businesses need? They need customers. Who are those customers? International visitors. So it is absolutely appalling that we are sitting at 84 percent of the international visitor numbers that we had in 2019. So we absolutely have to unleash and make sure that international visitors know that New Zealand is open for business and we welcome them with open arms. Whether it is to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, whether it is to Papakura in South Auckland, whether it is to other parts of the East Coast, we welcome visitors any time, anywhere, anyone, instead of putting restrictions on who should come, where they should go to.

So, in addition to visitors and an increase in visitor numbers, I'm very clear that the second part of the priority in going for growth in tourism is ensuring that more New Zealanders get jobs in tourism and hospitality. So when that side of the House talks about unemployment and talks about people going on the jobseeker benefit, since 2019, 30,000 jobs were lost in tourism and hospitality—30,000. Thirty thousand people and their families were impacted in that period. So that's what I'm at work on. I want to make sure that we have visitors back so businesses all over New Zealand have more customers. Yes, it's directly affecting the tourism and hospitality businesses, but it's the bookstore, it's the petrol station, it is the supermarket, it is the dairy. So it is far more in terms of spend and investment and value that tourism provides.

So, one small example, the digital nomads absolutely went off. That's when you realise—oh, we know; we live in a very, very special part of the world. We live in an amazing country, and so to give more visitors the opportunity to have a workcation here on our shores, as well as spending money in our businesses, is of course a great opportunity.

I am so proud to be part of a Government that is going for growth, improving the lives and the lifestyles of New Zealand and New Zealanders, and that is why we are positive, we are optimistic, we are not resting on our laurels each and every day. This is a coalition Government, and all our MPs are working hard in their electorates, making a difference in the lives of New Zealanders.

JENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand on behalf of New Zealand First in reply to the Prime Minister's statement, which we absolutely support. I'd just like to acknowledge the Hon Louise Upston, who's just resumed her seat—about the positivity on this side of the House, because I think that's a really important focus for the Government. And it is one of our purposes, which is to ensure that we have absolute focus, we have a definiteness of purpose, in terms of achieving economic prosperity, not just for those who have a business but for everyone in our society.

Why is it so important that we do have economic prosperity across New Zealand? Well, we live in a really abundant country, and we really should be focusing on how we manage those resources that can turn into pūtea, so that when we need to invest socially we have the money, as a country, in order to do that, whether it's into housing, whether it's into hospitals, to education, or other social needs. But we have to have money in the bank to do that. So our purpose, of course, is to focus on our economic prosperity, and we have a burning desire on the side of the house to achieve that. We will do that by removing the red and the green tape, because those are the blocks that are stopping a lot of the growth around the country in various sectors. I liken it to this: the roots don't cause the growth; it is the creation of a fertile soil in which you plant the seed to germinate, to grow, and to multiply itself again and again and again, so that what was originally one small seed becomes countless millions. And that's having that fertile soil. So creating that opportunity for that seed to flourish is all about removing the blocks that stop. So we have, on this side of the House, what I'd like to term as an abundance consciousness.

In an earlier contribution from the other side of the House, during this debate, the Green Leader said no one is entitled to make a profit. Now, that's an outrageous statement, and that is a statement which shows absolute poverty of consciousness—it's conditioned thinking; it's negative, constrictive thinking. When you have thinking like that, the economy will definitely not grow.

We are focused, in New Zealand First, on very practical, pragmatic solutions to the problem the country faces, and we come up with great ideas. We have been able, through our coalition negotiations, to develop the Regional Infrastructure Fund, also known as the RIF—the RIF was formerly known as the PFG, the Provincial Growth Fund. We are able to, through Matua Jones, spread out that $1.2 billion across the regions The Matua preaches the gospel of growth, and he's been doing that all of last year with his regional summits. Many of you have been in attendance, as electorate MPs, to some of those regional summits around the country. I've been privileged to attend those in Whakatāne, Southland, up in the north, and in Manawatū as well. Because rebuilding a more dynamic, productive economy, increasing prosperity, and boosting opportunities for all New Zealanders—we need strong local industries that are vital for our regional communities to become economically resilient. So that $1.2 billion over three years—the RIF is extremely well run and it is delivering concrete opportunities already.

We're also putting money through the RIF, in collaboration with Minister Potaka as well, into Rātana. Money has been spent there for structural upgrades of the Rātana Pā. In Waitangi, the Treaty grounds have received $10.2 million. Now, not only is it the location of the first signing of the Treaty of Waitangi but also it's our number one tourism destination: 160,000 people visited the Treaty grounds over the last year. So it's a really important place that we put some pūtea into.

Just noting today is 12 February, actually the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty 185 years ago by the largest group of Ngāpuhi chiefs, who did the signing on the 12 February at Mangungu in Hokianga. Today they're commemorating that, so I thought it was worthwhile mentioning that as well.

The RIF is also providing some really amazing small community energy projects to ensure those small communities, like those up in the north where they experience power poverty—Te Kao Community Microgrid project will be receiving money so they can construct a solar and wind powered microgrid which will be connected to a community battery for all those in Te Kao village. A low-cost energy supply to the community—that is an absolutely important piece of infrastructure that is currently missing in that community. That will ensure they've got power security. Waimamaku Community Solar Resilience Programme, also about solar power connecting up to battery to ensure that the community and businesses there have a supply of power.

Flood resilience has been a really important part of the RIF, and $200 million has been set aside for various projects. New Zealand First believe that climate response is about adaptation, enabling communities to have security with these adverse weather events that we're seeing more often. So $200 million has been put aside, and 42 projects have been identified, $101 million there, and they'll be co-partnered alongside their relevant local authorities, co-investing the balance of those. Stopbanks, pumping stations, groynes, and culverts—that is the really sensible, practical, and pragmatic solution New Zealand First has been providing.

I have some time left and I really want to talk about the blue economy, as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries. Our blue economy is an economy that can grow, and we can increase the sector to $3 billion by 2035. That's going to be done in a number of ways.

Dan Bidois: Mussels.

JENNY MARCROFT: Seafood production—and talking about mussels, it's really important because to grow mussels you need spat. That's the little itty bitty babies. But the wild-caught spat has a very limited ability to survive when it's been transferred onto the mussel farms. Only about 5 percent of the wild-caught spat actually survive, so there is a project under way—alongside the University of Auckland, the Coromandel Marine Farmers' Association, the Marine Farming Association, Aquaculture New Zealand, Greenshell Spat Co., and Sanford—to develop an innovative nursery culture system so that we provide some certainty, stability, and sustainability to the mussel growing sector.

Ocean Beach. If anyone's had the opportunity, I do recommend every member of Parliament heads to Ocean Beach—it's the old meatworks down in Bluff. It looks pretty grotty; it's an old factory. It looks dilapidated, but go inside the doors and what you'll see is the most amazing amount of marine farming under way. Thousands of baby pāua being grown. Lots and lots of little whitebait—Manāki Whitebait are there growing their whitebait; they make excellent fritters. And also Asparagopsis, which is the red native seaweed, which has, potentially, marine inhibiting properties—that is being grown in that factory as well. But while you're there, wait, there's more. You must check out the Bluff gin distillery, which is also on the site. So multiple reasons to go there, I do recommend it.

Aquaculture permits are really important to ensure that our marine farmers are able to work into the future—$6 million has been saved by four marine-farm owners—around 200 of them, because the Minister has extended the permits out to 2050. That's been a really important piece of work that has been done to give that industry some certainty.

Just very briefly, I'd like to also talk about sustainability being a bottom line for our fishing industry, which is an absolute success story in New Zealand. It generates about $1.6 billion in exports each year—we should be pleased about that. It employs 9,000 people directly. But wait, there's more we can do to improve productivity and efficiency, rather than just increasing our catch volumes, and that is a focus of the Minister.

The blue economy has so much more room to grow. It'll enable the productivity and the certainty for those that work in the industry. We have a great product that the world wants, because we have—

Hon Rachel Brooking: Tell us about shipping.

JENNY MARCROFT: —the most amazing, clean protein. Lots of noise coming from the other side of the House—clearly doesn't eat fish. I'm really pleased that we have a focus, in this Government, on the abundance, and harvesting that abundance, that New Zealand produces. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The next call is a split call from the National Party.

DAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): I'd like to begin my contribution today by acknowledging the recent terrifying events in my community in Birkenhead, namely the stabbing last week and an armed robbery that happened just outside my parliamentary office, in fact, yesterday. This will be very upsetting for many in my community. I've spoken with the police and there will be an increased presence. I'm confident that police will apprehend the offenders of both instances, and I'm equally confident that when they do, they will face a tougher justice system with the sentencing reform laws that are going through Parliament right now. That is a part of our plan to restore law and order and make our communities safer.

But we know it's tough times out there. We know that people are struggling in a cost of living crisis. We know that people are losing their jobs and that the impacts of profligate spending from the last six years is coming to fruition. The harsh reality we face as a country is this: we have public debt in the order of $175 billion—that is equivalent to 42 percent of New Zealand's gross domestic product.

In our view, there are two ways out of this mess: we can tax our way out of it, like the other side will want to do; or we can grow our way of it. That is what this side believes we should follow. It is all about growth. As my colleague Cameron Brewer said, there is a famous quote: "It's all about the economy, stupid." Not that you are stupid, Mr Speaker; it is, in fact, part of the quote. But we are serious about going for growth, because it is through a better, brighter future and through a growing economy that we can build ourselves up, get out of the mess we're in, and build a better, brighter future for our kids and grandkids right here in New Zealand.

I want to speak about our growth agenda, because, as an economist, it comes down to, really, three big aspects of growth: the first is capital accumulation, the second is skills, and the third is innovation and the mixing of those three together. Let me refer to those one by one and tell the House and the public what we are doing in those areas.

First, on capital accumulation, I am really proud of the fact that we are taking foreign direct investment seriously, that we will be welcoming foreign investors from around the world here in March and pitching to them why they should be investing in New Zealand businesses. I'm equally proud of the fact that we are taking up the ambitious programme to reform our Overseas Investment Act to make it easier to invest in this country, because it's all about saying "yes" and not about saying "no". "Invest in New Zealand"—that's what the Prime Minister said in his statement. We're going to set up an organisation devoted to promoting investment around the world, encouraging investment in our communities. So that is the first area, it's around capital accumulation.

The second is around skills. We've got a great Minister in Erica Stanford, who is ensuring that we are getting the basics right in our education system. Up and down in my community of Northcote, educators and parents are saying the same thing: they love what we're doing. We're getting back to basics: mathematics, literacy and numeracy, and making sure we're giving the kids the core skills so that they can get better jobs, and better incomes as a result.

The third area is in innovation. I'm really encouraged by the announcements in our science sector to amalgamate a lot of the core Crown research institutes so that we are getting more outcomes and focused on economic growth—focused on economic growth.

So we know there's a lot to do to turn around six years of wasted opportunity. We know that, actually, there's a lot to do to turn around decades of underperformance in our economy. But we're up for that challenge, we're going for growth. Thank you very much.

Dr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill): Yes, Mr Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak in the House today in support of the Prime Minister's statement; 2025 is going to be a great year for Mt Roskill. This year is going to be a great year for New Zealand. Why? Because 2025 is the year of economic growth for this Government, because we want growth, growth, and growth. No more saying "no"; we want "yes, yes, yes."

The previous Government was a Government of no. They loved to say no; no to everything and, guess what, under them, what did we learn from them? The cost of living goes up, rents are going up, inflation is going up, inflation going up, interest rates going up, food prices going up. But they hold a few records; let's see what record they're holding: record number of ram raids, a record amount of wasteful spending, a record number of gang members, a record number of people and children living in emergency housing. And what's happened to that Government of note?

Mt Roskill and New Zealand people say no to them. People in Takanini say no to them; people in Northcote say no to them. They will say yes to our plan because we will get New Zealand back on track. Economic growth is important and it's time for us to say yes to economic growth, yes to more overseas investment, yes for more trade, yes for more science and innovation, yes for more business opportunity, yes to more job opportunity, yes to rewarding our hard-working Kiwis, and yes to more money in our Kiwi bank accounts. And most of all: yes to getting New Zealand back on track.

So what does economic growth pay for? This means we can say yes to our better transport network, we can say yes to fixing our roads, we can say yes for a better healthcare system, we can say yes to better education, and we can say yes for better investment. So what does saying yes and economic growth mean for people in Mt Roskill? It means we can say yes to more housing being built in Mt Roskill, we can say yes for more tax relief for people in Mt Roskill, we can say yes for more opportunity for Mt Roskill residents, we can say yes for better and more education and opportunity for children. We can say yes for high income, we can say yes to spend more time with our family and our loved ones, we can say yes to a better public service, we can say yes to a better future for the next generation. Also it can mean yes to more resources to go into Mt Roskill schools, parks, roads, and services, because this is what the people of New Zealand, what the people of Mt Roskill want.

We want to focus on economic growth because this is what the people of New Zealand want. This is how we can help our people of New Zealand have a better lifestyle. We are doing it because we are a Government of people; we work for the people, we listen to the people, we are the people of people. Always say that: it's all about the people, the people, and the people. But doing this, we need to have economic growth. We need to be growth, growth, growth and more yes, yes, yes.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The next call is a split call for the Labour Party. I call the Hon Rachel Brooking.

Hon RACHEL BROOKING (Labour—Dunedin): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity to talk on the Prime Minister's statement and all this growth that we've been hearing about this afternoon. Now, I want to talk about some growth: the growth in pollution, the growth of broken promises, the growth of cynical political moves, the growth of undermining our conventional safeguards, the growth of economic policy via text message, and the growth of a radical departure from previous conservative National Governments that we are seeing from this Government. I only have five minutes, so we'll see how we go.

But on pollution and undermining safeguards: I have to, of course, talk about fast track, which almost every Government MP has spoken about as if somehow it has safeguards—and this is a word used by one of the Ministers in question time today—for the environment. It does not. The purpose of that Act is to facilitate projects, full stop. There is no mention in that purpose of sustainable management or the environment.

Then we have 149 projects that will benefit directly from being listed and named individually in a Government bill. That benefit is because some of those projects would not otherwise be consentable. Some of them have already gone through a process and they have been rejected. So there is no protection of the environment and it is a way to pollute. Shame on everyone in that party—particularly the National Party—because this is not something any National Party has done before. You can speed up a process, you can have a fast track—Labour had that. You can have a one-stop shop—that's a new innovation. But this fast track is a way to pollute. And it is a way for specific businesses to get a private benefit from a Government project and it is shameful.

We've also seen the cutting of what this Government likes to call "green tape" and the defunding of conservation. This will lead to pollution. It will ruin New Zealand's clean, green image. That is our competitive advantage. I'm interested in growth that leads to more money being in this economy and a better life for all New Zealanders. So that means having exports that are high value. We need that clean and green reputation, and this Government just wants that gone.

It's also important for tourism, which this Government seems to be relying on for growth. I would remind them that tourism jobs are normally low wage and that in areas like Queenstown, they do not want more volume of tourists because that comes with a lot of costs. We want tourists to stay in the country for longer periods of time and learn about our wonderful country.

So we're undermining our safeguards against corruption and this Government's been doing things for lobby groups that are in their ear. This decreases trust and stability in our system. And it's that "trust and stability [of our system] … that makes economic growth and prosperity possible in the first place." That is a quote from Justin Tipa that he said on Waitangi Day in a very powerful speech that I would urge all members of this House to read.

Then we have growth in broken promises. We have growth in cynical political moves. We've seen that with the Dunedin Hospital, where the Government announced, to some relief for many people in Dunedin, that there will be a hospital built on the site that had long been planned for, but it will have fewer beds and fewer theatres than what Labour promised and many fewer than what National promised. So what a cynical move this is that the expectations are set so low that the promise before the election was changed from building a grand new hospital to perhaps retrofitting a hospital that is in no way fit for purpose that then it feels like a win because that is how they set their expectations. This Government is terrible.

And then in the context of economic policies by text message, we've seen messages to the Korean Government to say, "Oh, those rail-enabled ferries that are so important to the productivity of the South Island and our economy—no. No thanks. We won't have those." "Oh, maybe, Bill English, can you do an independent review of Kāinga Ora which will lead to no more public houses?"

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The member's time has expired.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour—Māngere): Talofa, Mr Speaker. This is my first opportunity to speak in the House, and I wanted to acknowledge you and thank you for your support, and well done with the Samoan citizenship bill. I also would like to thank the Rt Hon Gerry Brownlee for his support as well.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Welcome back.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE: Can I also thank the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins and my Labour colleagues, who had to pick up all my duties, and I want to thank them for their aroha and their support. Lastly, I thank my Māngere local community and my family, because they have helped me get back to the House. I'm really pleased to give a contribution to the Prime Minister's statement, and I just wanted to acknowledge tuahine the Hon Marama Davidson for her return. Fa'afetai.

What a shambles this Government is. I want to cover off a few points that are really important in my local Māngere community in South Auckland. This Government is failing the New Zealand economy. It is pulling out billions of dollars of financial support that had been supporting New Zealanders through this tough time; reducing financial support, that used to cover so many services across Aotearoa, for Kiwis who were in programmes, who were receiving really good financial assistance, support—they no longer have it. The loss of jobs, the extensive programmes for Pasifika, for iwi, hapū, Māori children, young people—many of those programmes have been cut by that mean-spirited Government. Allowing Kiwis to go without the basics—what kind of country are you creating?

An absolute U-turn on vital services that were helping many whānau across Aotearoa. It's my job as the representative in Māngere, South Auckland, to bring those issues up to that Government—so mean-spirited, deliberate, targeted. Jobs have been lost throughout many sectors of the country, and we've heard many of the speakers on this side of the House talking about all those Kiwis that have gone offshore—what a shame.

Today in oral question time, the Prime Minister—I just wanted to quote how he talked about the encouraging signs in the economy. Where? Sure, landlords: $2.9 billion. What about the tenants of those landlords? Who's helping them? Who's caring about them? Ministers on that side of the House have specifically told officials to cut vital services—jobs desperately needed: 33,000 people who were working last year, the year before, are no longer. Those jobs have gone. A deliberate, targeted, mean-spirited Government.

What about the local communities? In Māngere, we had an outstanding budgeting service. Gone. That was a service that provided language and culture for over 600 families—

Hon Louise Upston: Someone else has got the contract.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE: And I know the Minister is commenting, but, Minister, that service is gone.

Just lastly, what I want to comment on—

Hon Louise Upston: Someone else has got the contract.

LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE: You've had your contribution, Minister.

What I want to comment on is school lunches. There seems to be a lot of messages and phone calls from principals who are advising—and I know Minister Seymour, there was a question in the House today of conduct. Minister David Seymour, your programme of school lunches, a reduced lunch programme, is not working in my local community. The lunches have not turned up; the lunches have turned up at 10 to 3 p.m. What is the point? Those school lunches—our tamariki are saying, "Who's going to eat that crap?" I am only quoting the words of our tamariki. You cannot grow our tamarikis' brains and knowledge and education if we do not have good support so they can get nutrition.

That Government is arrogant, is mean-spirited, and is a shambles. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

KAHURANGI CARTER (Green): The Prime Minister stood in this House and delivered his Prime Minister's statement, which outlined his Government's vision: economic growth, personal responsibility, and getting New Zealand back on track. What I heard was a vision steeped in ableism, a broken vision, one that actively leaves behind disabled people.

Ableism is insidious, and it takes effort from all of us to learn about it and do better. Ableism operates by determining whose lives and contributions are valued and whose are dismissed.

Under this current Government, it's crystal clear that those born poor, marginalised, disabled, and without access to stable housing are not prioritised—out of sight, out of mind. Under this Government, the worth of individuals is measured by their economic contribution, instead of their innate value as a person—their innate value as a person who is part of a community—and a person who is part of a modern society.

This statement didn't include how this very Government has treated our disabled communities over the last 14 months, but we have heard every day from people who don't know what their futures look like. We know that 1.1 million New Zealanders have a disability, and we've all got enough life experience to know that at any time, any one of us may face access barriers due to an accident or an injury. Knowing that this Government has made decisions that have profoundly harmed our disabled communities is distressing, and it is not moving our country towards a vision of an equitable and a fair future.

The last 14 months included restrictions to disability support funding and access to equipment like wheelchairs; the scrapping of the minimum wage exemption, which ensured that 900 disabled workers were treated with respect and dignity; and the transfer of disability support services from Whaikaha to the Ministry of Social Development without, again, consultation with the communities that it affects. It has also stopped Enabling Good Lives. This current Government is clear and it has prioritised cost-cutting over human rights.

I've talked to families who are uncertain about their futures because of this Government's decisions. When we boil it down, all we really want is stability, safety, and love, and we can have that when we prioritise access for everybody in our society.

The PM spoke about responsibility, and we all, as lawmakers, have a responsibility to listen to and work with our disabled communities. Under this Government, ableism isn't just an attitude; it's embedded in the policies that govern our lives. We have to do better and we have to listen to our disabled communities. The systemic barriers, the lack of access, the withholding of dignity—it's a deeply entrenched form of discrimination that continues to make life harder for disabled people.

The Green Party has a vision, too—one that includes disabled people at every step along the way. This is what true partnership is: listening and learning from the people who actually have lived experience. It is a vision that is designed by and for disabled people, one that truly enables good lives.

CAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to take a call on the Prime Minister's statement. Now, we have heard a lot from the other side about "growth", which is a bit new from them. Last year we were hearing about the cost of living, and I was wondering why we're suddenly hearing about growth when cost of living is currently still the main concern for most New Zealanders and hasn't really been fixed. I wonder if it's because there are 33,000 more people unemployed under this Government because the unemployment rate is so high, because for Māori workers it's 9.7 percent and for Pasifika workers it's a shocking 10.5 percent. One in 10 Māori unemployed; I wonder if that's why. Because we know that the best way to address the cost of living is through having people in work—creating the type of economy that keeps people in work and lets people do meaningful work and have meaningful jobs. This Government has failed on that so now they're talking about growth. But as we've heard, there isn't much of that either, sadly for them.

And I do have a warning for New Zealanders, because we have heard very clearly in some of these headline statements that the Prime Minister has made at the beginning of this year that if New Zealanders do not chuck this Government out, as they should do at the next election, this Government is going to privatise New Zealand's assets. It is going to sell the very things that our ancestors and our parents and our grandparents worked so hard to hold in New Zealand ownership. We don't know exactly what they will sell, so we call on the Government to rule out these changes and these asset sales but, even better, we call on New Zealanders to chuck this Government out and not risk their privatising agenda.

The main thing that I want to talk about today in my short contribution is jobs and health and safety, which are really linked to my portfolio as workplace relations spokesperson. Now, this Government does not care about keeping people in work, as I've already said; they don't care about workers. They listed all of the things that they're doing and that they think will be good for New Zealanders, but what about those workers at Kinleith Mill, those 230 workers who lost their jobs? What about the 75 people at Oji Fibre Solutions? What about the 170 people at SolarZero? What about the 230 workers at Winstone Pulp? What about the Karioi Pulp Mill workers—230 of them lost their jobs. Thousands of public sector workers sacked under this Government—what about them? What about their cost of living? What about the growth of their family and their bank accounts? All ignored under this Government.

Also, we can talk about construction: 12,000 fewer in construction, so good luck building and growing without construction—shocking. This Government has failed to protect communities, it's failed to support workers, it's failed to protect jobs, and it's failed to support industry. Where is your industry plan, I say to the Government—where is it? Crickets—crickets from the other side.

Quickly, before I run out of time, I also want to talk about health and safety. Now, I heard it quoted that the Prime Minister in his state of the nation speech had mentioned something about health and safety, and I read the quote, and I couldn't quite believe it. I couldn't quite believe that someone who used to run an airline which, fundamentally, is about keeping people safe above all else, would actually say these words. Did he read the draft before he actually said this? Because this does not sound like someone who used to believe that health and safety was the top priority. Now, what did he say in his speech? He said, "Next, we have to fix our broken health and safety rules" and made a joke about it. He made a joke: he said, "They're everywhere."—they're the fastest growing industry. I bet that got a few laughs from the dads in the room.

Health and safety is not a joke; health and safety is incredibly serious. It's estimated that New Zealand loses $4.9 million in productivity from not having good health and safety rules. And what should we do for health and safety? The Prime Minister says, "This year [we're going to] crack on and make big changes." Well, he is out of touch with business. I have a letter here signed by Business New Zealand, signed by the Employers and Manufacturers Association saying that John Key's rules, which are the rules that Christopher Luxon is talking about, are fit for purpose.

Now, I didn't expect to be defending John Key in this House, but I have to say this Government is out of touch with business, with workers, with health and safety professionals, and with unions on health and safety. They say they want to tear up health and safety; they call it "red tape", they call it "green tape". Let me tell you, it's keeping workers safe and there are going to be terrible consequences if you go down this path.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The next call is a split call from the National Party. I call Nancy Lu.

NANCY LU (National): I rise to take the opportunity to speak on a topic that is of great significance for our nation's economy, but also for every fabric of our society, including our vibrant and colourful and diversified ethnic and migrant communities around New Zealand. On that note, I have to use a little bit of my very precious time to take this opportunity to wish everyone who celebrates the Lantern Festival a very happy Lantern Festival, .Today is the day of the Lantern Festival, and it's celebrated by billions of people around the world and hundreds and thousands of Kiwis in New Zealand, particularly with our vibrant ethnic communities.

The Prime Minister's statement talked a lot about one word: growth. It is about economic growth, because economic growth, making New Zealanders richer and live better, is a matter for our country immediately, significantly, and urgently in front of us. It is the commitment for the welfare and prosperity of all New Zealanders, including our migrant and ethnic communities. It is about creating opportunities to expand—for the opportunities for people to grow and have better workforce skills, better job skills, better outcomes, a better future, better education, and better healthcare for their children and for their family. They've chosen New Zealand because they believed in New Zealand, they have hope for New Zealand, and we are a country that many of them came together in 2023 to get us in so we could fix the problem that the last Government left behind so that we could actually deliver economic growth and get our country back on track.

This is what I hear from the ethnic communities when I travel around the country. This is what they're telling me: we need growth, we need to see our country back in shape, we love this country, and we will do everything to get behind this Government to help this Government to get our economy back on track. And for that, I am very proud to be part of the team supporting the Prime Minister to get New Zealand back on track.

MIKE BUTTERICK (National—Wairarapa): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would begin by acknowledging the Prime Minister's inspirational address to the House. The statement was about economic growth and becoming a nation that says yes. For too long we've made a habit of saying no. We used to be a country of can do. We used to be a country that did stuff, made stuff, innovated, built stuff. And we've become all too quickly in my working life a nation where it's too difficult to do things, too easy to say no, and when need to flip that. Lift our aspirations and our ambitions out of the cesspit of negativity and focus on doing, on saying yes, on developing a pipeline of work that contributes to our economy, grows jobs and opportunities, creates export income so all New Zealanders have an opportunity to succeed. A large part of our success will depend on our primary sector.

I'd take a moment to reflect on some of the work trade Minister Todd McClay's been doing. The UAE deal—$1.3 billion. The fastest ever trade deal. The Gulf Cooperation Council $3 billion trade deal. There's huge opportunities for our exporters to capitalise on: 24 memorandums of understanding, $340 million export revenue over the next three years. It doesn't stop there. The Minister visiting India multiple times and they've been here. And if there's any chance of getting a deal with India or any other country, Todd McClay will do it.

Suze Redmayne: Trade McClay!

MIKE BUTTERICK: Trade McClay. If anyone can, Todd can. Todd McClay, take a bow.

To the 70,000 businesses associated with the food and fibre sector—they're in every town and every city across this country—to the 360,000 people that work in it, I thank you. The latest Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report shows $56.9 billion from the sector.

Suze Redmayne: Take a bow.

MIKE BUTTERICK: Take a bow. Our future is bright. We need to stay focused.

TANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Look, over summer, there was much dissatisfaction around the Government when we were at the barbecue and at the beach. Why? Because, basically, families in this country continue to do it tough around the place. And why might that be the case, sir? Well, simply because this Government is failing on the economy. That has become extremely clear—that this is a Government that is failing on the economy. Nicola Willis seems to talk up her credentials all the time. She talks up a big game, but she is simply not delivering. And all of the indicators clearly do show that.

To assist with this decline, of course, the Government are looking to sell off, hock off, assets and open the door to privatisation. That is very clear that they are looking to open the door to privatisation. Now, it seems that they have already started that particular journey in Palmerston North.

Now, I see that the health Minister, Simeon Brown, is here today. He has no record in health and safety. Let's just look at his track record in transport and increasing, by a blanket approach, actually, speed limits around the country, concerns that have been expressed by some communities around there. This is a Minister who has taken on one of the most important and vital portfolios in this country, with a track record not concerned about wellbeing, not concerned about health, not concerned about safety.

So I say to him, what is he going to do about the children's emergency department, ED, in Palmerston North? What is he going to do? Because his predecessor, Shane Reti, who this Prime Minister basically threw under the bus and passed this particular job over to Mr Brown, announced $6 million towards the end of last year to staff the children's ED department in Palmerston North. We have families, Mr Brown, who go to Palmerston North, and that very unit is closed. Why? Because there's no staff. So I say to the Minister, what is he going to do about it? What is he going to do to reflect the hard work that the community who fundraised for that particular facility is going to do so that tamariki, children, can participate in terms of when it comes to their healthcare?

I also say to the new health Minister, what's he going to do about the surveillance colonoscopies in my particular rohe? What is he going to do? Last night there was a public meeting in Palmerston North organised by Patient Voice Aotearoa—great turn out—

Arena Williams: Tell us about it.

TANGI UTIKERE: —and these are some of the figures. I am going to tell the House; in particular I'm going to tell the new health Minister about this. There are 852 people in the mid-central area who have had their surveillance colonoscopies paused. There is more than an additional 1,600 who have had to have—

Hon Simeon Brown: Not good enough.

TANGI UTIKERE: Yes, it is not good enough. So what are you going to do about it?

Hon Simeon Brown: I've got clinics starting on Saturday.

TANGI UTIKERE: Oh, you've got clinics starting on Saturday. That's going to have about 45 people. What are you going to do about the 1,600 that have yet to be assessed? There were people at that public meeting, Minister Brown, last night, who've been on the waiting list for 12, 18 months. The recommendation for clinicians advice is that it should be a six-week waiting opportunity. In case the Minister doesn't know maths, it is far too long around that. We need action, privatisation—this is exactly where it's going to have it. He sits there. I look forward to hearing from him. What is he going to do for the constituents of Palmerston North? Because, at the moment, he has done nothing. He has done absolutely nothing. This is the Minister who's riding on the white horse to save you for the National Party, doing absolutely nothing for my constituents of Palmerston North, who are waiting to have a colonoscopy, and your Government, Minister Brown, is failing to deliver.

But then, of course, we know that when it comes to the cost of living, this has dropped off their agenda, for the National Party, hasn't it? It's dropped off their agenda. Now, there was some hope, but what did they deliver? Oh, tax cuts—that's right. But, at the same time, they scrap subsidies for public transport. They scrap subsidies when it comes to prescriptions. They increase rates; they increase insurance—all of these opportunities. The cost of living has dropped off their radar because they do not care about jobs for people. They don't. When the building and construction industry is losing thousands of jobs, well, it's no wonder that they're not really interested in this particular space as unemployment continues to rise.

Recently, Kāinga Ora opened—we had a new development opening in Palmerston North of 50 units. Fantastic. The Government cannot take any credit for that because they didn't actually allocate a single cent to it. In actual fact, they have erected bollards in Palmerston North. Sir, you'll be aware of this, because there is land that's available for development, had been tagged for development, that this Government are not going to proceed on. I challenge any member of the Government to front up at places like Church Street, other places in Palmerston North, and show us the development that is going to take place to create warm, safe, healthy homes for constituents.

It's not there. Why? Because this is a National Party and a Government that simply does not care for the health or wellbeing of New Zealanders.

ARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Point of order, Mr Chair. There seems to be some confusion over timing. The clock should, I suggest to you, read another five minutes for Tangi Utikere to continue with his speech, given that there are 19 more minutes in the debate, and the final speaker for the National Party is only owed another 10-minute call.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): There's 14 minutes left in the debate, but let me just take some advice on that, because we're going backwards and forwards here as well. The member sat down, he could have taken the call, but because he sat down—

ARENA WILLIAMS: No, it was a point of order, sir. Mr Speaker, the earlier time I rose was a point of order, but I will seek a call now for five minutes.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Arena Williams.

ARENA WILLIAMS: The Prime Minister's statement is meant to give New Zealanders a sniff of where this Government is going—some semblance of a vision for not only New Zealand's economy but our children; our future; honouring the Treaty of Waitangi, our foundational document; and making things better for ordinary people in this country. But what did we get? We got a fast-paced hurtling towards investors being able to buy up our properties if they clear a $5 million landmark; they will be able to purchase State-owned assets later because the Government is working towards an agenda of privatisation. This is cut, cut, cut Government services, and bring on sales to their mates! This is such a disappointing agenda for the Government. It is the most hard-right, neo-liberal Government that New Zealand has had in a generation.

Yet the irony is that members on that side of the House might expect, for that pain, for the pain borne by working people, and for unemployment rates skyrocketing, that they might be getting the economy under control, but they're failing on the economy. The Prime Minister is nowhere to be seen. Outside of COVID-19, we're in the steepest downturn in the economy since 1991. When Labour left office, we had annual GDP growth of 2.4 percent; it has declined every quarter since National came to office. That will be the legacy of this one-term Government.

The legacy of this one-term Government will be: saying no to school lunches. It will be saying no to the 2,200 nurses that we need in our health system right now, when they are asking for jobs. This Government did the good work of training them up; that Government sent them packing. It is saying no to more doctors. We have an 8.5 percent doctor shortage in our health system, and a health Minister who released that health plan in late-2024 with no fanfare and no media and then was sacked because he was honest about the crisis that the health system is in and is being presided over by those Ministers. These Ministers are saying no to the health system; they're grinding it into the ground until it is worth nothing, and then they will introduce more and more privatisation into a system that will mean people who cannot afford it cannot get healthcare. When we have a Prime Minister who agrees with the premise that failing fast is the right thing to do in our health system, then we will have a health system where sick people get sicker, where people lose their lives from preventable diseases. Where we have a health system that is not like any other in the First World, where people who are sick can get the help that they need. That is a shame and that is not something I would want to be known for, and it's that side of the House which has brought it in.

Instead of saying yes to economic growth, they are saying yes to donors. Only a few developers around the country are enjoying any of the development benefits that fast track ensures, while all other developers, all other house builders, mums and dads who want to put more properties into a property in the city that they could have built on, they're not getting any of the benefits of that. They're saying yes to more fines and fees.

Under that Government, if you drive an electric vehicle, you are paying more. You are paying more if you're a taxi driver working hard in Wellington city and you are paying more if you're a taxi driver working in Auckland—exactly the communities that that Government said it would be delivering for with the cost of living promises that it made. Carlos Cheung sits there and he knows that people in his community are hurting now. Rima Nakhle knows that the people in Takanini are hurting because of the fees and charges that this Government has put in place. Tax cuts mean nothing if you're paying more to drive your car for work.

They're saying yes to sanctions, yes to new crimes, but not for people who are their mates. They will write letters of support for rich people to avoid criminal sanctions while they bring in more punishments for young Māori, more punishments for young Pasifika, more punishments for young people.

This is a Government that is saying yes to all of the wrong things. This is a Government that will be remembered for doing huge economic damage in our country. It is a shame to sit on that side of the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Members, the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7.30.

Sitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Good evening. We are on the debate on the Prime Minister's statement, and we have a National Party call of nine minutes and 17 seconds.

Tākuta Ferris: Point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): I'm sorry, my apologies—I may be misinformed. Were you expecting to have the call?

Tākuta Ferris: Point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Oh, point of order. My apologies.

Debate interrupted.

###

Debate resumed.

Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Health): Well, Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Prime Minister's statement to Parliament and, as the last speaker here tonight in support of this statement, this Government is on the side of economic growth and productivity and backing New Zealanders to succeed. What a great statement that was. It talked about where we have got our country to in only 14 short months, and where we are going as a country, and setting a very clear direction and a very clear agenda: that we need to grow our economy.

We just look back over what this Government inherited when we came to office in late 2023: inflation—inflation out of control, left behind by those people on the other side who, as the Prime Minister describes, are like arsonists who've just lit the house on fire and there they are criticising the people, the firefighters, trying to put the fire out. Well, that's what they've been doing every single day for the last 14 months. They lit this country alight with inflation, with their reckless spending, and we are getting it under control. We've got inflation back into the band; we've got Government expenditure back under control.

We are seeing the benefits of that for New Zealanders, with interest rate relief coming through and flowing through into people's back pockets. As, I think, Infometrics put it earlier this week, up to $45 million per week should be expected in lower interest rates by the end of this year, for people with mortgages up and down their country. That is good news for the people of Northcote. It's good news for the people of Coromandel—it's the good people of the South Island and Waimakariri; it's the good people of my electorate, in Pakuranga. That is good news. Right across this land, people are celebrating as they see those interest rates are coming down. But, of course, there's a few of them on the other side who are there still the arsonists—the arsonists watching as we are putting out that fire.

We know how important economic growth is on this side of the House, and it's not just a term that we talk about; it is the benefits that it provides for New Zealanders. It's more jobs. It's more opportunities. It's the ability for people to start a business, to be able to get ahead. It's also the ability for the Government to have choices about what we invest taxpayers' hard-earned money in. It's about being able to invest more and more in healthcare, in education, in the roads that the Green Party hate but New Zealanders love. It's about investing in more hospitals, in our schools, and investing in law and order, which was left in such a terrible state by the people on the other side. I'm so proud of the work that the Hon Mark Mitchell has done—

Hon Paul Goldsmith: Oi, oi, oi.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: —getting gangs under control. And the Hon Paul Goldsmith; he's right here. He's been working very closely with the Hon Mark Mitchell and leading the way on justice reforms while the police are, of course, getting law and order under control.

Of course, at the heart of the statement it was about saying yes; yes to things like more tourism—more tourism into the country. What did they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to more farming and backing our farmers. What did they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to more mining. What did they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to more solar, wind, and geothermal through our fast-track legislation. What did they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to fast-tracking housing developments up and down our country so Kiwis—young Kiwis—can get into their first home, and what did they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yes to more concerts at Eden Park. And of course we all know what the patron saint of the Labour Party, Helen Clark, says to that. What does she say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: That's what she says. Yes to more international investment, attracting investment to our country. And what do they say?

Hon Members: No!

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Of course, because they are the party of no. They lit the house on fire. They then turned up complaining that the firefighters are putting it out and now we're trying to build that house back better, and now they're sitting on the sidelines saying, "No, you can't do that, no you can't do this, no, you can't do that—

Hon Scott Simpson: They've got the sign above the door.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, they've got "Noes" above the door; they've even got their "Noes" sign here. They are the party of no, no, no. As I said, because we're saying yes, we are able to then invest in more of the things that New Zealanders rely on and the things that they deserve.

One of my new roles as Minister of Health is to make sure that our health system is delivering for New Zealanders, and I'm proud of the record investment this Government has made in our healthcare system. But, as everybody knows, there is always going to be a demand for more money into healthcare. There's always new technologies, there's always new investments required, but what we also need to do is make sure the money that is being spent is delivering the results that New Zealanders rely on and the results that they expect.

I think it's an absolute shame what that last Government did to our healthcare system. It is one of the crying shames that they have left behind after their six years in office—what they left behind for New Zealanders. When National left office in 2017, the vast majority—almost 90 percent of New Zealanders—were able to get seen and discharged through their emergency departments within six hours. That had dropped back around 20 percent. The number of Kiwis who were being able to get an elective surgery and the number waiting beyond four months was just over 1,000.

Over the six years, that number had increased into the tens of thousands. In fact, when we left office in 2017, only 1,037 Kiwis were waiting more than four months for an elective surgery. When they left office, that was 27,497. That is a 2,551 percent increase in the number of people waiting more than four months. Shame on them. And when it comes to people wanting their first specialist assessment—those people wanting to get their first specialist assessment—918 Kiwis in 2017 were waiting more than four months to get their first specialist assessment. When they left office, that number had increased to 59,818—

Hon Peeni Henare: COVID-19?

Hon SIMEON BROWN: —a 6,400 percentage point. Fail and shame on them; shame on them.

Hon Peeni Henare: Stop rewriting history, Mr Brown.

Hon SIMEON BROWN: And what was their big idea; what was their big idea? I hear the excuses coming out from the Opposition—the excuses. What was their big idea to sort that out? Focus on making sure we did the right number of doctors and nurses, making sure we're focusing on delivering for Kiwis, making sure we've got targets in place? No, they got rid of the targets. What were they focused on? Restructuring the entire health system in the middle of a pandemic. Shame on them. They're more focused on the bureaucracy, the back office functions, the number of people on the senior leadership team; that's what they were doing, sitting around the Cabinet table working out how many people we can have on the senior leadership team rather than focusing on the outcomes for patients.

On this side of the House, we make no apology that we are on the side of patients. That's why we brought back those targets. We're going to focus the system on delivering against those targets. That is what we're focusing on, and it will be a patients-first policy from this Government, and that's what we're going to deliver on. I have no doubt there are significant challenges facing our health system, left behind because when you don't measure something, you can't manage it, and that's what they did. The first thing they did was to stop the measuring so that Kiwis were left in the dark as to the performance of their health system. We have shone a light on that; we've shone a light on the challenge that New Zealanders face, and we are focusing the system back on delivering against that.

So, in conclusion, this Government has a huge agenda ahead of us this year. We are focused on the issues that matter to New Zealanders. We're focused on growing our economy, because, with a strong economy, we can have better jobs. We can have better-paid jobs, more jobs, the incomes that we deserve. It means that we can invest in the healthcare, the education, the law and order that New Zealanders rely upon, and we will deliver that because that is what Kiwis voted for us to do, and we are not going to stand by like those people on the sidelines complaining. We're going to get on and make the decisions that get New Zealand back on track.

A party vote was called for on the question, That all the words after "That" be deleted and replaced with "This House has no confidence in this coalition Government because under its incompetent, arrogant, shambolic, and divisive leadership, New Zealand is going backwards, Kiwis are losing their jobs, record numbers are leaving the country, and their priorities are wrong and out of touch."

Ayes 55

New Zealand Labour 34; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 15; Te Pāti Māori 6.

Noes 68

New Zealand National 49; ACT New Zealand 11; New Zealand First 8.

Amendment not agreed to.

A party vote was called for on the question, That this House express its confidence in the Government and commend its programme for 2025 as set out in the Prime Minister's statement.

Ayes 68

New Zealand National 49; ACT New Zealand 11; New Zealand First 8.

Noes 55

New Zealand Labour 34; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 15; Te Pāti Māori 6.

Motion agreed to.

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