Order! James Shaw. Tena koe, Mr Speaker.
Order! James Shaw. Tena koe, Mr Speaker. Well, what a year it has
been in New Zealand politics.
Of course we began the
year with the new PM and we will start next
year in exactly the same way. Now I don't
want to say who I think that the
next PM of New Zealand
should be because I want this to
be an impartial and objective speech, but
I do hope that she is someone who
can let her hair down in the role
a bit, someone who will bring
energy and joy to New Zealand politics and
a bit kind of like a DJ
does. Whoever she may be. I do have
to say that New
that New Zealand's original young hipster PM, of course, was actually
in 1856 Edward Stafford who at
37 years old was just a touch younger
than Jacinda Ardern and had an even
more hip ster beard
than Gareth Hughes. The election
campaign has already begun. Bill
English his hired the finest publicists,
social media advisors and big data analysts
in the country to show us what
a genuine person he is. His
predecessor, John Key, his
job right now is to play golf on behalf of
an opera singing shinto
priest billionaire and he is
still more related to the average
Kiwi than Bill English is. This was the year
that after insisting
that we were not a tax haven the Government
not a tax haven the Government
finally buckled to pressure and
closed the loopholes
in our foreign trust laws. A few minutes later
trust laws. A few minutes later
three quarters of all the
foreign trusts operating in
New Zealand closed down. We won't ever
get to find out who owned them or where
the money came from or
what they were doing with it but the PM
is very eager to talk about his
We have a new Finance Minister. This was always the year that
parliament lost Todd Barclay and it was
the year that parliament found out that
it had Todd Barclay. Simon Bridges
year that parliament found out that
the Minister for Transport.
Order! Mr Bennett. James Shaw. Mr Bennett. Simon Bridges
the Minister for Transport has been urgently
putting off Auckland's airport rail
link until the year
2050 and if you want
link until the year 2050 and if you putting
link until the year 2050 and if you want to find out what the cost
benefit ratio of his latest motorway
project, 2050 is the year he
will get that to you on your
OIA request. In the mean time the PM
would like project,
In the mean time the PM would like us to look at his pizza toppings.
Now Annette King
of course is leaving parliament after first being
elected 33 years ago and
prior to joining the Labour Party caucus
she trained as a dental nurse. Her job
was to sedate those who were in pain
and clear up rotten cavities. She
also worked as a tental nurse! The
has stepped up and has Ben relentlessly dedicated to taking out
the Government in Canberra. For
a country that spend
the Government in Canberra. For a
virtually any other country in the world you have to admit that weapon
nicing our citizenship laws
is pretty innovative. I would like
to see
pretty innovative. I would like to see Gerry Brownlee do any
better given his track record of
standing up to Australians! I do want to
take a moment to acknowledge the help
and the support that we count on from
the Clerks, the parliament rely the
ushers, the security staff and
the cleaners. It is often said because
it is true that this play would not
function without you. Your work in
the background, mostly unseen, is a
the background, mostly unseen, is a
reminder of the role that so
many New Zealanders play in
our workforce, which can all too
easily go unnoticed and under valued.
With that in mind, the National Party
might want to rethink its
stance on cutting mental health workers out of
its pay equity deal with
aged care workers. I want to
thank the parliamentary staff of the
Green Party and to apologise for ruining
every single evening and weaken
of your lives for the
last month and your lives for the last month
and the next month and the
months after that. Thank you for all of your hard
work and sacrifice. Speaking of hard
work and
work and sacrifice, thank you so much to the members of
the Green Party caucus who are
leaving this year.
Party caucus who are leaving this year. David Clendon, Steffan
Browning, Kennedy Graham and
Catherine Delahunty. Thank you for
all of your years of service. We
all of your years of service. We
will miss your courage, your values,
and your wisdom and I know...
parliament will not be the end of your service to New
Zealand, nor the end for your struggle for
environmental and social justice.
environmental and social justice.
Our struggle is without end. Finally, I want to
acknowledge Metiria. Child poverty was
not an issue that most parliamentarians in
New Zealand wanted to talk
about. You made it an issue that
every politician has to talk about.
You stood in this Chamber and
you spoke up for those who could not speak
for themselves. The next Government of
New Zealand will have an end
to poverty, the restoration of our
rivers and leadership on
climate change at the top
of its Order Paper. Thank you, Mr Speaker,
I will see you in six
weeks.
The
The Rt Hon Winston Peters. This being the last sitting day of this
parliament, New Zealand First wants
parliament, New Zealand First wants
to thank many people at
this institution. The library staff,
security, cleaning
security, cleaning staff, messengers, buildings, team,
IT Chamber staff, the Clerks office,
Bellamy's, copperfields and the
office staff
Bellamy's, copperfields and the office
Bellamy's, copperfields and the Zealand First. Everyone
wants to Zealand First. Everyone wants to