SpeechBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand on behalf of the National Party this afternoon and respond to the Prime Minister's statement. Some of what was in here was rather amusing but the speeches in the House from the Prime Minister's backbench MPs this afternoon have been nothing short of comedy actually.When I think back to when this Labour Government took office and we had the Speech from the Throne the Prime Minister said We will be a party that will govern for all New Zealanders."—that was the first part of the joke. There has not been government for all New Zealanders. Ask the farmers ask the small-business owners ask all the people out there who have tried to get family members through managed isolated and quarantine ask the million people who actually can't even get back into their own country. Is that called governing for all New Zealanders? I don't think so. When I listened to the Prime Minister's statement here the other day I actually listened in disbelief to some of the things in there and all that comes to mind for me is the Bee Gees song "It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away." And actually I've got news for the Prime Minister because the Prime Minister's words are not taking the country's heart away any more; it's actually breaking people's hearts. As I look through some of this I just wanted to start off by noting a media release that I saw today. So prior to this Government we actually had a previous coalition Government that actually instigated an oil and gas ban. And every time I mentioned it as the energy spokesperson and it's pleasing to have Stuart Smith here who is now our energy spokesperson we were told anything to do with coal anything to do with anything going wrong was not Government policy. Well today I read that households and businesses using piped gas could face substantial bill increases under proposals put forward by the Commerce Commission because of Government energy policy. The regulator said it is reasonable that the four gas pipeline businesses should be able to earn more money in the coming four years because the likely life of the infrastructure will be shortened as climate change policy squeezes out the gas sector. Climate change policy—how did that go? Shall we talk about Indonesian coal? Say no more. We were heading to 90 percent renewable energy back in 2016; we struggled to get to 75 percent at times this winter. And while the power outage last winter on 9 August was actually a communication outage Stuart Smith just watch this space because if the lakes don't fill up—and we might have been lucky to have a boost of rain just recently—we've got a problem. So in the Prime Minister's statement it says the Government has committed to working with small-business groups and the rural sector to develop better support for mental health needs. Wow partnering with small business—it's not a word that we would use. And the rural sector would say to this Government "Rather than actually being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff"—and we all need good rural health and rural mental support services—"the first step would be to stop causing it." As our fantastic leader Christopher Luxon says farmers are standing there and it's like you're in a game of tennis and there's ten balls coming over the net at you and you've got no idea which one you're going to hit first. It's just been a barrage of bad unworkable regulations. Farmers are out there; they're just absolutely wanting to do their best. They are in fact some of the best farmers in the world.And that's no excuse to say "We can't change." and "We can't do things better."—because we have to and there's some work going on at the moment to have a look at ways that we can improve our climate responsibilities—but in this statement the Prime Minister's actually indicated that she's going to lead trade delegations and trade supporting visits. Well I've got a document that I think the Prime Minister should read before she leaves because the Prime Minister's always waxing lyrical about the world and "the best in the world" and if anything goes wrong it's the world's fault. Well in this KPMG document Net Zero Readiness Index results it actually says that New Zealand is ninth in the world for net zero readiness; however for agriculture it is the most ready country in the world for net zero readiness. So I would suggest that the Prime Minister pick up a copy of this document take it on every trade trip she goes on—trade is important—and make sure that she sells the story of our farmers truthfully and in a way that works. So I think the other thing as I went through this document in disbelief—I mean I couldn't actually believe that I heard the Prime Minister thank the farmers; it's probably the first time in a long time. I know that Grant Robertson does it on a regular basis because he's the finance Minister so he really knows where the money comes from; it makes a difference. Everything in this document uses the word "will". So it says "New Zealand has sustained itself through sustaining others for decades and our customers expect us to do this sustainably. The Government will continue to work with the primary sector to respond to changing customer expectations. We will work together to improve the sustainability"—you go out there and ask any farmer out there about how much work the Government's actually been doing standing beside them. Most of it's been blasted at them from out of Wellington. They're out there doing their best every day and actually 90 percent of the answers are out there. All this Government has to do is get up and go out and talk to them because they actually know how to do stuff. So less of the "working with"—you know this is words; Government has been not "working with" the farmers. "We are working with farmers on the delivery of a national integrated planning framework. We will work with industry through He Waka Eke Noa partnership."Now I acknowledge the industry leaders that are working through this process and I do also thank the Ministers who have given an extra month for consultation because it's pretty tight under the red traffic light system and farmers have got a lot of catching up to do with the discussions that have been had and we look forward to those conversations. But actually farmers are in this place because the Government actually said—the industry went to Government and said "We don't want to be in the ETS; it's wrong. We don't want to be the only country in the world. It's not a way to fix the problem. Tax will not fix anything. Let's sort our own issues out." So less of the "work with" and actually "We've issued you an ultimatum. You make this work or else." is what the Government is about. It says "The Government will support more farmers to adopt existing measures and technologies to reduce on-farm emissions". Well do you know what? That tax that ute tax that money that's coming off farmers—for what reason when there's no alternative vehicle?—that was the biggest joke of Fieldays 2021 and let's hope Fieldays goes ahead in 2022. That is money. It's all very well to stand there and go "We'll put money into R and D." but actually that is money that farmers would be using on their own farms every day if they didn't have to pay a stupid ute tax that is going to go into the Government's coffers and not make one bit of difference to climate change. And anyway if they could buy an electric ute they're going to be out there putting it on a charger actually feeding it with coal-produced electricity. So you know actually consequences is the one thing this Government never thinks about—consequences. Now I did have a little bit of a giggle to myself at one line going back to the Taranaki situation "Construction will begin on Mount Messenger bypass on State Highway 3 in the New Zealand upgrades"—there's some other upgrades announced. Now Mount Messenger was a project that was announced by John Key and Simon Bridges in January 2016—so we're looking at six years ago. And I realise the Resource Management Act has some responsibility in that which is why we need to fix it quickly. It's not all the Government's responsibility but actually it's very bold and brave to stand up here and say "We're doing this." when actually John Key and Simon Bridges announced it six years ago.So we're hearing a whole lot today from the back benches about the Government plan and the Government this and all the rest of it. We can't see a plan. There is no plan. But guess what? Game is on and we're a Government in waiting. So thank you Mr Speaker. It's been my pleasure to respond to these words today. Thank you."