the electorates, in the regions. In my electorate which goes from the
very top of East Coast right down to
wai-Mata, there is a shortage of
good rentals throughout my
electorate. Pretty much 90% of all
my constituents' issues, sir, are to
do with housing. I want to share
with you how it works. Literally
people are - are trying to get on
the housing waiting list but they
have to show they have actually gone
out to look for private rentals. And
when they literally aren't there,
sir, the next best thing is they get
put into hotels. Every hotel are
full with housing people who can't
get on the waiting list, which is
good and fine, sir, until you have a
major event in these towns and guess
what happens? Those people are out.
They're out in their cars or they're
sleeping on someone's couches until
the weekend or whatever the event is
over. That's the New Zealand and the
legacy that this Government for the
last eight years has provided and
some of the smaller towns throughout
the country, sir. That's in
Gisborne, in Napier, and that's
right down in Wainumata. Housing
shortage. I'm dismayed at some of
these communities who still have
shortage. I'm dismayed at some of these
shortage. I'm dismayed at some of Housing New Zealand houses emptied
and boarded up sir. Emptied and
boarded up. And yet we have been
told they're coming, wait, they're
coming. We have been waiting for
eight years, sir and I don't think
we're going to see any difference in
the next six months until we go to
the polls. Hosing is going to be a
big issue, sir. Yesterday, with my
colleague Stuart Nash, we tended
Waikato
colleague Stuart Nash, we tended colleague
colleague Stuart Nash, we tended Waikato Day and it was a -- Waitangi
Day and it was a great day to
celebrate with your civic leaders,
around what this country can be and
has the possibility to be if we have
the right leadership, sir. But right
now, under this National-led
Government I think too many New
Zealanders are missing out. Too many
New Zealanders are missing out. And
in my final closing, Mr Speaker, we
have a mirage party - I mean the
Maori Party, which is constantly
saying they're sitting at the table
of this Government and pushing the
needs
of this Government and pushing the Maori
of this Government and pushing the needs of our people. And our people
will know, sir, when we go to the
polls that we have have a rising
unemployment for Maori, we have
young Maori disengaged from any
learning, training or employment. We
have a high number of Maori not
owning their homes. That is the
legacy of this Parliament and our
people will know the truth is when
we go to the polls on 23 September.
The
The Hon
The Hon Nikki Kaye. Mr Speaker, firstly, can I just say thank you to
the many members of this House who
have been in touch with me over the
last four months since I have been
sick. It has been really beautiful,
actually, to receive those messages
and for all of those people
watching, that might have a negative
view of politics, I can tell you
that my view of many of the people
in this House, right across the
spectrum, is incredibly positive and
I just want to acknowledge all of
those people who have been in touch.
Can I also acknowledge the members
of the public as well - so many
beautiful messages and my heart goes
out to all of those people that are
going through, or have been through,
what I've been through. So, what a
difference four months can make, in
terms of politics. We have a new PM
and I do just want to take the
opportunity to acknowledge John Key.
I haven't had the opportunity to do
that. I know a lot of people in this
House want to rewrite history, but
he is an incredible man and he has
dedicated, I think, ten years of his
life to be leader of the National
Party and then eight years as PM.
And I think history will show the
incredible job that he has done,
whether it's through the GFC, or
whether it's through the Canterbury
earthquakes, and I just want to
acknowledge you, John. Then also, I
do just want to talk a bit about the
leadership. We've heard a lot from
Opposition members over the last
couple of hours about PM Bill
English and I just want to tell a
Opposition
English and I just want to tell a little bit of a story as to why I
actually got involved in politics
and involved with our current PM.
I'll never forget watching him leave
the building after we went to the
worst election result ever, and one
of the things that really I admired
about him was the way that he got
back up and he has always said the
reason that he did that was because
of his children and the example for
his children. So I guess my first
message to members of the Opposition
is, I know how this works. You guys
have a script which currently says,
"We need to say he is not a leader,
we need to say bad things about Bill
because then people are going to
vote for us and they are going to
prefer Andrew". Well, actually,
that's not going to work.
Because
Because this guy is the real deal. He is one of the greatest finance
ministers that we've ever had and he
is the architect of a lot of our
social policy. Bill English is a
great leader and New Zealanders are
seeing that and I have no doubt that
the polls will reflect that. Can I
also acknowledge Paula Bennett, our
new Deputy PM. In terms of the state
of the nation speeches I want to
make a few comments about that.
Prior to this PM's statement, I
don't think we could have seen a
better contrast from the Opposition
versus the Government. We announced
ultimately
versus the Government. We announced ultimately, you know, everything
that I've learned about politics -
it is about are you doing the things
that matter to people? Are you
ensuring that you do everything you
can to make people safer? Are you
doing everything that you can to
ensure that young people get the
best opportunities at school? Are
you doing everything that you can
...
... ..To
... ..To ensure that we raise wages so
that people have the best amount of
disposable income as possible. Our
PM's state of the nation was about
how we make New Zealanders safer -
$500 million worth of expenditure to
ensure that we have more police on
the beat, to ensure that we have
home burglaries responded to
quicker, to ensure that we have a
new emergency number, a tangible
package for New Zealanders.
The
The Opposition - the Opposition turned up to the state of the nation
with no policy whatsoever. It is not
good enough to have a state of the
nation speech whereby you don't
actually deliver anything for New
Zealand. I think part of what we are
seeing this year is a Government -
and it is absolutely outlined in the
PM's statement - that has a huge
amount of policy underway, an
aggressive agenda and in an area
like law and order, $500 million, a
very detailed policy that isn't just
about more money, it isn't just
about more police on the beat, it is
actually about much better
deliverables for New Zealanders.
Everything from...
Everything from... Of ..95% New Zealanders will be
within 25km of a 24/7 police
presence. I know as the member for
Auckland Central what it means to
have policemen on the beat and the
impact on crime. I have had through
my office amazing feedback because
people know we are only in this
position because we have had a very
strong set of economic policies,
which leads me to my next area where
I think New Zealanders are going to
have very clear choices this year.
You have a party that is pro-trade,
that believes in an open nation,
that has a good record in terms of
our trade agreements, versus an
Opposition whereby nobody is really
clear what their position is at the
moment, in terms of Labour, because
they have been all over the place in
terms of trade...
The reality is, when we open our
borders and ensure that we have
trade, that leads to exporters being
able to sell more products, we
basically increase the pie for New
Zealanders and that's a very good
thing and that is where we have a
very clear differentiation between
this Government and the Opposition.
In terms of educational achievement,
again, we can see what the script is
that Labour have written. They've
written a script which says - in
fact, I couldn't believe it. I sat
here and listened to the Leader of
the Opposition say education funding
has been frozen. Someone out there -
one journalist, please one
journalist, just fact check that.
$11 billion in expenditure. As
Associate Minister of Education, we
have so many building openings that
it is difficult to get ministers
there because we have invested
hundreds of millions - actually,
billions of dollars in upgrading the
terrible mess that we were left by
the last Labour Government. It is
not true that education funding is
frozen and it is not just about more
money. The reality is Hekia Parata
has done a stunning job of
overseeing significant reform which
has seen education achievement
rising and it is not just rising for
those Pakeha kids it's actually
Maori and Pacific students of which
she announced the other day that the
results are climbing up. That is
incredibly important for the future
of New Zealand. So again, you can
see a Government that's focused on
significant policy, from raising
educational achievement to
communities of learning, to
investing more in infrastructure,
and those are the facts. Education
funding has not frozen. But again,
we know what the script is from
Labour - they will say whatever they
want this year
Labour - they will say whatever they want this year, even if it's not
true. In terms of other areas, where
we've got huge amount of investment
underway, if you look at the
transport area alone, when I first
became MP, people had talked about
the Victoria Park Tunnel for
decades. In fact, people had talked
about the CRL, I think, for a
hundred years. What we have seen in
my electorate alone is massive
projects, either delivered or signed
off. The Victoria Park Tunnel
delivered under Budget, in quicker
time. Waterview, another massive
infrastructure project that this
Government has invested in. The CRL,
now underway. These are huge
infrastructure projects that have
been talked about for generations
and that are being delivered by this
National Government. We have a lot
more to do. If you look in the area
of health, in the last Budget, we
announced significant amounts of
money in terms of PHARMAC. Very
money in terms of PHARMAC. Very
important in terms of access to
medicines, but another example where
we are very focused on the things
that matter to New Zealanders. And
that, ultimately, is about
leadership. Leadership is not
changing your suit and may be
getting rid of the glasses and
turning up and having a great photo
op at the state of the nation but
not delivering any policy.
Leadership is about turning up and
saying, "We are actually going to
deliver $500 million, 1,100 police
officers, 24/7 police stations for
95% of New Zealanders". That is
leadership.
leadership. Bill English is a great PM, and he
is going to continue to demonstrate
that leadership and deliver on real
policies and that is what our
Government's record is. We have a
significant record in terms of our
economic management. In fact, if you
look at our economic management, the
economy grew by 3.5% in the year to
September. If you look at annual
wages, when we came into office,
$12,000 more, 59,000, on track to
2021 to be 61,000. If you look at
jobs, thousands have been created in
the past year. These are real
achievements and real deliverables
and that is what leadership is
about. If the Opposition - their
strategy is to run Bill English
down, and that will fail because
ultimately, people out there know
what we've delivered and they are
listening to the actual tangible
policy announcements that we make
listening to the actual tangible policy announcements that we make,
like we made in the state of the
nation. So in conclusion, it's great
to be back, and I just want to again
acknowledge all of the members of
the House, but ultimately, this
election will be fought on real
policies, real deliverables and real
leadership and that is the PM Bill
English-led Government. I call
Eugenie Sage.
Eugenie Sage. <SPEAKS TE REO
Eugenie Sage.
I
I must
I must say, I'm very pleased to see the Hon Nikki Kaye back in the
Chamber with all of the energy that
she has had before the time she had
away to deal with some very serious
health challenges, so welcome back.
Many MPs have bounced back into this
Chamber refreshed and reinvigorated
by the summer break and time with
family and friends beyond these
walls, but unlike MPs, the
environment hasn't had a break, and
nature's news over the summer has
been pretty dismal. We've had water
theft in Northland because of the
huge drought there, we've had people
stealing public land in Canterbury
riverbeds, clearing vegetation,
destroying habitat, and turning it
into farmland, more drought in the
Hawke's Bay, these droughts are
going to get more severe if we're
faced with catastrophic climate
change, which under this Government
and its refusal to do anything much
about getting emissions down, it's
increasingly likely we're not
helping there. And at Waitangi the
water in the Bay of Islands looked
very inviting with the sun sparkling
on it but the ministry of primary
industries has issued a health
warning against collecting and
eating any shellfish, mus sells,
scallops and oysters throughout the
Bay of Islands because of the risk
of getting diuretic shellfish
poisoning, which is when shellfish
ingest the microtoxins that algae
produce and there is a similar
warning on the West Coast, on the
banks of the Ashburton River. And in
Canterbury, you cannot swim in many
local rivers because again there are
health warnings about the toxic
bacteria algal mats. You can't even
take a dog walking in some rivers
because of the risk of them
ingesting or messing around with
some of these algal mats. And in
Canterbury in January, I wanted to
go for a swim. You saw massive -
sorry, not you, Mr Speaker, but we
saw massive phytoplanken booms
across extensive areas and Littleton
Harbour. They turned the water an
lurid shade of green. Apparently
they weren't toxic but ECAN
estimates they were caused by
nutrients being flushed down the
Waimarari River by rain. So now it
seems that our coastal seas are
suffering from a similar nutrient
overload as our rivers. So what is
National doing about it? What is
snat doing to ensure -- National
doing to ensure that Kiwis can enjoy
their birth right of going for a
swim in the local river or gathering
kai along the coast without the risk
of getting sick? Very, very little.
It is a tired caretaker Government
which is lacking in new ideas. Now,
the PM did refer to the environment
in passing in his statement but he
was recycling past policies which
National has failed to implement.
They were promises about water,
doing something about water
standards.