Dunne Peter: AdjournmentText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDunne Peter: Adjournment[Sitting date: 31 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19829. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PETER DUNNE (United Future—Ōhariu):Mr Speaker may I begin by congratulating you on the way you have served this House as Speaker since assuming the role at the beginning of last year. As someone who has known you probably longer than anyone else in this Chamber I have been very impressed with how you have settled in to what is a challenging difficult and very important role within this Parliament. I think that members who obviously spent the first few months of your tenure testing you out in the way that all new Speakers are tested would recognise your integrity your commitment and your dedication to this Chamber and to the traditions and the privileges of this House. Can I also say in that context that I want to acknowledge your two assistants who are retiring Eric Roy and Ross Robertson: both long servants of this House characters in their own right and people who will be remembered as fair and decent New Zealanders who have made a very solid contribution to the conduct of affairs in this country and to the electorates that they have represented.To all the other members who are retiring and whose valedictory speeches we have been privileged to hear thank you for your service to your communities and to your constituents. What these speeches show in a way that perhaps only a maiden speech shows is a little of the vision and the personalities behind the individuals and a little bit of the aspirations that they bring to the role and a little bit of the integrity and the reflection that they have on the role as they come to a conclusion. We can be well satisfied with the calibre of parliamentarians in this country. I am sorry to see those people move on but this is a bit like school at the end of term. Most people come back some move on there are mixed feelings and life by and large carries on unchallenged.I think that is the same for a Parliament at the end of its term. This is the 50th New Zealand Parliament coming to a conclusion. It is the end of 162 years of consecutive parliamentary government. The election of the 51st Parliament in a few weeks will put us into that rare league of a very few number of countries that have had continuous democratic parliamentary government for that length of time. I think that as all the debate takes place on the hustings all the catcalling the name-calling the abuse and as the substance of debate flows around we should remember that we are one of a very select band of countries to have retained the thread of democracy for that length of time. That is a very important privilege for all of us.I have been very pleased during the term of this Parliament to see all of the provisions of the United Future - National confidence and supply agreement honoured and I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister in that respect. I say that it has been a pleasure working with him and his team throughout the term as it has been with my colleagues the Hon Tariana Turia the Hon Pita Sharples and Te Ururoa Flavell from the Māori Party. We do not actually have a bilateral agreement with the Māori Party but we do work closely with it on a number of issues and I have been struck by the level of accord that we have on those issues in terms of a particular view and where we have been able to work very constructively and positively together. I will not go through all of the provisions of our confidence and supply agreement that have been implemented but I do want to highlight two that I think are critically important.The first and by far the most significant was the announcement just a couple of days ago that Wellington’s almost mythical—certainly long-awaited—Transmission Gully highway has finally been agreed to proceed as per our agreement as a public-private partnership and that work will begin next year. I saw a piece in the newspaper that made a reference to a Mr Field who had been the member of Parliament for Ōtaki and who back in 1919 had suggested that Transmission Gully ought to be developed as a World War I memorial highway for the burgeoning motor vehicle fleet in New Zealand. My records show that the first such reference to Transmission Gully being developed as some sort of a highway—although in those days it was seen as a railway—was in 1906. But it was another 20 years after Mr Field’s claims in 1919 that serious consideration began to be given to Transmission Gully a mere 74 years ago in 1939.We are patient people in this city but I think waiting 75 years to get a highway development agreed tests even the most patient of disposition. Wellingtonians will be absolutely delighted to see work commence on this highway very shortly and to see its completion by 2020 so that we do have that second access and egress from our city we do have a modern flow that will speed up the traffic movement between here and the Kāpiti Coast in particular by around 10 to 15 minutes and it will make it much easier for commerce and trade coming into this city using our port and our airport. I am very pleased after a personal campaign of well over 20 years—which has seen me introduce at least two member’s bills to this Parliament bring petitions to this Parliament and work with successive Governments—to see that agreement in place and that highway being now on the point of construction commencing.The second thing that I wanted to comment on was the passage late last year of the Game Animal Council Act. This has had quite a similar period of gestation although it has not quite been 75 years. It has been a hope by those in the recreational hunting sector for many many years that some form of national representative statutory body could be established to give account of and recognition to their interests and to ensure that their role in contributing to the management of the game estate in New Zealand was recognised and able to be taken account of. The establishment of that council by legislation late last year and by appointment earlier this year—and the fact that it is now meeting and up and running—is a very important achievement in that regard.It sends a couple of important signals. The first signal is that the large number of New Zealanders who enjoy outdoor recreation in this country is recognised and has a place and a voice. The second signal that it sends is that a small party that is committed to some pretty key ideals and is working in collaboration with a major party of Government can achieve things that might not normally be on the scale of activity of that Government party simply because it has so many other things to worry about. Voting for small parties giving particular focus to certain key areas of policy is a worthwhile outcome because they can be achieved. That gives a level of confidence as we move into elections such as the one that is forthcoming about the worth of voting for those organisations.The House will be dissolved shortly to contest the general election. There will be the challenges that are implicit in that about policy and the direction of the country. We stand at a very critical phase. We have come through the biggest most massive economic depression since the 1930s. We have come through relatively unscathed in comparison with a number of other countries. The challenge now is to not fritter away the strength that we have established but use the gains of that strength constructively and positively to lay foundations for the future that will see sustained economic growth a boost in incomes and confidence levels return so that the population is retained here and new migrants feel confident coming to this place and welcome within it.One of the nasty undercurrents that I believe is already seeping into this election campaign is the issue of race. We have seen this card played many ways and many times over the years where a particular segment of the population is isolated and therefore by implicit insinuation blamed as the cause of a range of other issues: migrants coming to Auckland create a housing crisis—you can read the code. That is a very nasty development in our society not just for the political implications of the game but because more important it starts to divide our population and it starts to set people against each other. At a time when this country needs to move ahead positively in a broad multi-ethnic multicultural way to start to play these narrow sinister games for political advantage is I think despicable. The only solution that I would proffer for people who feel concerned about that is the very simple one of making sure they do not vote for those parties preaching that sort of anathema as policy.Beyond that I wish every member who is seeking re-election good fortune good luck and a good positive campaign. I say to those who are leaving us that I have valued your service and company and I know that your contribution to the country is not yet at an end. To all members of Parliament as the 50th Parliament comes to a conclusion I congratulate you on the contribution that you have all made in some way or another to the progress of this country over the last 3 years.