Lee Melissa; Salesa JennyMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to stand today because it is my first opportunity to speak after the summer break. But I have to say I stand in absolute opposition to the Prime Minister's statement. I guess one of the reasons is that I cannot believe the kind of speeches that I'm actually hearing—for example from Shanan Halbert. I mean the very fact that he claims that the Government has delivered on infrastructure! What a joke. Has he even been to a local business in his electorate and talked to the business people and seen how much they have suffered as a result of Government actions? He obviously hasn't actually visited any.I just want to actually talk about Chlöe Swarbrick's comment. She said and I quote Actions speak louder than words." I completely utterly agree with her but obviously she doesn't believe in that because she's done nothing about the climate—apparently—actions that the Government has taken. Because when you look at the Prime Minister's promises to deliver on the climate issue—they actually claimed that it was their nuclear moment of this Labour Government. And yet when you actually consider the fact that for example the clean energy issue—"A low-carbon future for Aotearoa New Zealand is within reach powered by clean energy." she says. Well in 2020 New Zealand coal imports hit a 14-year high and at the same time the Government declared a climate emergency and they imported one of the dirtiest coals from Indonesia. They took 1 million tonnes for the first time since 2006. I wonder where Chlöe Swarbrick was when the Government actually did that. Obviously she believes that the Government has delivered and I guess Shanan Halbert actually believes that the Government has delivered on their promises.I'd like to go to what Dr Deborah Russell actually talked about. She said something about "We've had one of the biggest issues called the pandemic." Let me actually remind people: every Government faces difficulties. Let me go back to the previous 2008 Government of John Key. We had the global financial crisis we've had severe acute respiratory syndrome we've had the Christchurch earthquakes—oh my God thousands of earthquakes—the Kaikōura earthquake; we've even had the Psa kiwifruit virus that decimated the horticultural industry in New Zealand. Every Government faces difficulties. How we actually determine whether the Government is coping well and has actually delivered on their promise is the outcome that the people will see. This Government has promised so much and yet delivered so little. KiwiBuild—my goodness was one of the—Hon Member: What?MELISSA LEE: Yeah KiwiBuild was one of those promises.Hon Member: What happened to KiwiBuild?MELISSA LEE: I don't know whatever happened to KiwiBuild because they promised 100000 houses that they would build and how many did they actually build? My goodness do I hear any numbers from that side of the House? I guess not. And when I actually listened to the Prime Minister's statement yesterday I was hoping that she was going to deliver for the rural communities when she talked about connectivity. She only had maybe one line about it. You know she hasn't actually delivered rural connectivity. Ultra-fast broadband was something that the National Government actually delivered for New Zealand. We began the business. All they had to do was extend it slightly and yet they still haven't done that.I was hoping that they would actually talk about digital safety talk about the issues of cyber-security. Government departments have been hit with hacks. They've been hit with breaches in the digital space. The digital border is not secure under this Government. We talk about Omicron coming into this country. Why is that? It's the border. It's been brought over from the border it's been spread from the border entry and it's now in the community.The same thing with Delta. The same thing with everything else. COVID yes yes but the thing is we could have done it better. There could have been less people impacted as a result. We could have delivered the vaccines faster ordered the vaccines faster yet they say "Oh yeah we've done everything."—compared to the lowest common denominator just like they do with the minimum wage. They say "Oh we don't believe in a minimum wage." Why do we have to focus on the lowest common denominator? Why don't we grow an economy where people are earning more than the minimum wage—that we give aspiration to New Zealanders we actually provide the best possible education system so that our children can actually aspire to more than the minimum wage?This Government talked about delivering for and addressing some of the countries long-standing difficult issues they said. They wanted to lift 100000 children out of poverty. How many did they actually lift out of poverty? Only a 1500 increase. That is not a lot when the Prime Minister holds the portfolio herself. She wanted to lift 100000 children out of poverty and yet we only lifted a 1500 increase.They also said that they were going to deal to the housing price increase. Well housing prices increased in the last four years on average $380000. That is like way more expensive than my first home that I bought—my goodness. And rents: they said they were going to make sure that people can have affordable rents. Rents actually increased by $125 a week—my goodness. How is that Government the Labour-led Government delivering for New Zealand? I just don't think they can claim that they are actually delivering for New Zealand especially when they have the highest number of New Zealanders on the main benefit—90000 more Kiwis on a main benefit today than there were when Labour actually first took office. That is not something that they can crow about. All of the PR that they actually put out—I mean Ministers actually like putting out PR. They actually want to talk about "Oh we have a record number of people getting off the main benefit." Perhaps that is because they have a record number of people on the main benefit to get off the main benefit and yet still they're on the main benefit—90000 of them. That is not something that they can actually crow about. You know when you look at the impact that COVID has I mean no doubt the Government's done the best that they can. And I have to say everyone who actually works in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ)—I know that my colleague across the House Greg O'Connor actually talked about the staff and the people who work in MIQ. I have to say thank you to all of them because they the police and everyone who is actually involved having to deal with COVID put themselves on the line to actually do the job and we applaud them. It's not about them; it's about how much better the Government could have delivered if they had in fact acted faster. Just like in the tourism sector—I don't know if my colleagues across the House have even spoken to people who are in the tourism sector. I had a group of inbound tour operators from the Korean community whose businesses are absolutely decimated. These are grown men who have invested millions of dollars into their business; some have even bought new buses thinking that they are going to actually grow their business and yet after how many years now they still cannot operate. I had grown men in my office in tears without the ability to accept the fact that they actually needed some counselling you know and the fact that they couldn't talk to anybody. Where was the Government helping these people some of whom actually need some language support for counselling?Hon Scott Simpson: Where's the kindness?MELISSA LEE: Where in fact is the kindness? That's right Mr Simpson. Where is the kindness of this Government?I only have less than one minute left. I just want to say in closing I'd like to make a short comment on the platinum jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Like many first-generation New Zealanders the first moment we know we are New Zealand citizens that we truly in fact belong in this country is when we take the oath and affirmation of allegiance the final step towards citizenship and a sign of loyalty to the sovereign Queen of New Zealand representing our democratic institutions and our Kiwi way of life. I'm proud to be a member of Parliament having sworn the oath to her in my mother tongue Korean at the start of this Parliament and at many more occasions to come. I just want to say you know there are some who actually disrespect that but all I can say is I'm very pleased that I'm a New Zealand citizen so help me God and God save the Queen!ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call."