Peters Winston; Mallard TrevorRt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): Mr Speaker thank you and happy New Year to you and all members of this Parliament. Now that last comment from the Speaker—I don't want to bring him into the debate—but it just about encapsulates what's going on in the Opposition: can't even draw and draft a motion to this House properly so it's acceptable. I mean why does Mr Bridges pick these special debates to publicly humiliate himself? Why does that happen all the time? And here's the National Party right that evinces a temporary leader—Hon Simon Bridges: Tell us about China.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I will tell about—I'll tell you about China but not Choyna". China yes I'm the current expert on China but "Choyna"—I don't know anything about that country unless a new rock has jumped up in the Pacific. Now back to my point. There he was: no vision no plan no answers just some vacuous marketing announcements to keep the wolves from his own door and we know that that would be the most nervous stressed speech that I have seen in a long long time. And I've seen some stressed National Party people but that one will take the cake and I've never seen anything so addled. He got for example up and said they were going to repeal the UN migration pact which he and his colleagues signed up to.Yes and he's been telling the media that he doesn't support the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Act which was at the back of the Huawei decision even though they passed the legislation—he passed it. And then of course he got more stressed out and he talked about something. He said it's not about "free fees". That's what he said—that it's not about "free fees". You can't have "free fees". It's "fees free"—I'll say it slowly. Now that shows you how stressed out he is.But you see here's the point: this is a man who leads the National Party with no business experience at all—no business experience at all. He doesn't know what it's like to run a business doesn't know what it is to fill out monthly reports doesn't know how to pay wages. He's got no experience at all unlike some of us—unlike some of us. Hon Simon Bridges: As a teacher?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: He's got—no no no! Sir I made more money per month than a parliamentary salary for a year. Everybody in the law should know that. Everybody knows that. Oh yes—unbelievable! More in one month than in a year. Him all he was doing was sitting behind a warrant that was in the Tauranga office and he calls himself the prosecutor. No wonder so many people have been free in Tauranga. No wonder they'd want to get out of the Rotorua court and get to Tauranga as fast as possible because there they'd not see a decent lawyer in the form of Mr Bridges. Unbelievable!You know he said to the media that he had a leaked report on New Zealand politics around the country. Mr Bridges that statement wasn't true was it?Hon Simon Bridges: Which one?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: That you had a report about the politics around this country and what was going to happen. I saw him on TV saying that at the National Party caucus and my statement to Mr Bridges is: "That's fake news isn't it?" It wasn't true. And then of course he says that a screw-up by Air New Zealand is actually a response by the Chinese to some other matter. Air New Zealand says "We screwed up." They made it very clear that they may have got the form wrong. They may have even got the country wrong and they've owned up to it. But not him—oh no no! He's got some people up there [Points to press gallery] who don't know enough about him like I do.Hon Grant Robertson: Just making it up.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Just making it up as he goes along. As for the four-lane highways Mr Bridges what money was put in the New Zealand Transport Agency funding budget—and Mr Twyford can confirm this—for the four-lane highway from Whangarei to Warkworth which he and his colleagues keep talking about? No no no! No use talking to Paula now. I want him to talk to me. I'm not the only New Zealander that wants that. What I'd like to know Mr Bridges is how much money was set aside for the four-lane highway from Whangarei to Warkworth.Hon Ruth Dyson: None.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: You're right: doughnuts—nothing. But if you go up north there's a big sign saying "National was building a four-lane highway" and if you go on another 100 metres "and the Labour Government shut it down."—or words to that effect. There's a word for that: it's called a "porky". It starts with "h" but I can't say it in this House. But there it is in big bold print. Mr Bridges one more time: how many dollars were set aside for the four-lane highway between Warkworth and Whangarei? Unbelievable—I don't think I'll bother any more actually; I'm wasting my time. Can I say 2019 begins for the Government amidst serious and ongoing international disruption with the political turmoil such as Brexit or looming electoral contests— Simon O'Connor: What about Venezuela?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well I'll get to that sunshine. Given how disengaged that man is with this Parliament he can afford to wait all year for the answer. I'll get to that very shortly; in fact it's in the brief somewhere. Whether it's Brexit or overseas political contests or threats of trade wars or the contest between the US and China there are significant threats to New Zealand's continuing prosperity.As we said before we were sworn in as a Government these storm clouds cannot be underestimated or ignored and this year the Government will be focusing as the Prime Minister has said on improving New Zealand's well-being and at its core will be across all portfolios the intention to improve the resilience upon which the concept of wellness rests. That way it sounds like a vision and it is—and it is.Can I just say that boosting the Government and the country's resilience is a priority because while we are all of us tending to our patch we are none the less exposed to the international climate and it is a very stormy climate indeed.Hon Gerry Brownlee: We've got another 13 minutes of this.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: You've got far more than 13 minutes Mr Brownlee; you've got about three or four terms yet to go to hear this out. Ha ha! As Rob Muldoon used to say "I'll be round long after you're gone." I'll be round long after he's gone.Now it's our priority to promote stability amidst all the international disruption. New Zealand First will likewise continue its role as a stable partner within the coalition and all of its governing arrangements. Bearing in mind of course when you get a leader from the Opposition who raises of all things the Kermadecs you have to have two things on your side to do that. First you've got to be brazenly ignorant of the facts and you've got to be brazenly arrogant. It was the National Party that gave the northern Māori the interest in the Kermadecs against my advice and then thought by going to New York without even telling anybody that they would take it away. We don't behave in such an irresponsible illegal way. And I don't know what Nick Smith's condition is but I bet it's difficult to pronounce—shaking his head and whingeing over there like he always does. Here are the key facts: we came into Government with the most expensive housing crisis anywhere in the whole wide world. They can laugh but nowhere around the world was the average income to buy a house required to be when the house price was put up 12 times the average income—12 and a half times. Nowhere in the whole world. Of course they discovered after the election that there was a housing crisis. Before they had no problem whatsoever. And Nick Smith running around even announcing housing projects on Māori land when he had no legal authority whatsoever. Now guess what? They've made him Māori spokesman on Treaty of Waitangi issues.Hon Ruth Dyson: What?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: They did—they did. I've run into Māori people around the country and they have been deeply disturbed to learn this—that poor Nick's back. You know in Adelaide the other day houses were being advertised for four bedrooms at $160000; three bedrooms $120000. We can do that and we will. If anybody thinks we're not going to build a thousand houses in the time frame we set ourselves—if they even dream that they can wake and apologise because we will. We'll do that and much more. We need to expose the arrogant neoliberal twit-ism that is coming from that side of the House and we will. Take our hospitals for example. You had sewage seeping into Middlemore Hospital under that administration. The cost of roads—the East-West Link was to cost $327 million per kilometre. That was their plan. On the bungled Christchurch rebuild we had mistake after mistake and fraud after fraud and it was compounded by even the small amount of money that Mr Brownlee spent—$180000 of taxpayers' money—to spy on Kiwis during the bungled rebuild. As for the regions the National Party which for all these decades has been here on the back of the regions utterly let them wither prioritising their banker and property developer mates in Auckland. Capital was taken from the regions to pawn to the cities despite the fact that it is the people out in regional New Zealand that create the greatest wealth in this country. There are provincial members over there—oh looking somewhere else now. Hon Member: Not for long.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Yeah not for long—here because of the regions and never prepared to raise a mutter nor a murmur to defend them ever. That's why they're so angry because above all things they have just heard about the UMR poll. Now forget about the rubbish Reid Newshub poll—but it's pointing in the same direction. When you've got a spread of 18 percent between the governing parties and those opposing it it's hardly a harbinger for great leadership in the National Party. And if you look at it between—Hon Dr Nick Smith: What's your poll? Mr 3 Percent.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh really? Ha ha! Mr Smith this is a visual poll. I'm here and that member's there and you will be for a long time—for one long time. I know. [Interruption] Oh no don't worry Paula. Paula let me give you some sound advice. This is how it happens in the African veldt and in the jungle. They don't start with the number one person; they start with the weak one. They'll come for that member first. And I'm sorry about that sort of behaviour. I see it in the jungle—I don't like it—but I don't like it in humanity. I'm warning her to find a new job now look around the place find something outside of Parliament. But they'll come first to her and then they'll start on—guess who? "Mr 3 Percent". He's on five now and he's falling—and he's falling.Can I say also that across our portfolios New Zealand First members are doing very very well. In defence—no argument—for the first time countries abroad are saying New Zealand is actually pulling its weight. When it comes to foreign affairs they're saying "It's great to see you back. We don't need the big divan chair anymore to entertain the foreign affairs minister when he comes. We can cancel that and get back to the ordinary order."When it comes to Oranga Tamariki—exciting new policies there. Then across the regions there is no doubt—despite all the pettifoggery and criticism and carping and downright nastiness from urban members who wouldn't know how to hold a shovel or a spade—we are out in the provinces rebuilding New Zealand right across this country. Every member here right across this country. There is no doubt from my travel around New Zealand that the New Zealand people in the provinces are with us. They are behind us. And he can scoff and laugh but those polls sunshine mean something. How could they if their criticism was so strong or right be so flagging in the polls? If Reid have got you at 41 I can guess you're at 37 and falling. I've seen the face of the National Party before like that. I've seen where they fell all the way to 20.93 percent. As for goodbye—you've hardly arrived. Sorry not you Mr Speaker—you've been here a long time—but that member there he's one of those members who turns up for five seconds. He's probably going to be forming an alternative new-right far-right party. There's a few over there who have been skiting and planning and I know they've got Michelle Boag and others designing a new party to try and prop them up: the blue-greens. Well that won't last five minutes. They didn't have Gareth Morgan because he's got brains and they haven't. So they've got all these problems that they're building and then they sit there scoffing and jeering. Look I want to tell the backbenchers the young members over there: what you heard from the Prime Minister today is a vision and an outline of where this country is going to rebuild its wealth to rebuild its prosperity—in fact to recapture the glory days when we were number two or three in the world. It's happened in past generations but it's with policies like this that you get there not some neoliberal claptrap that has failed everywhere that it's been put in place. Even Donald Trump knows that and he said so.Now back to my point: this year there are going to be many programmes where we set out to rebuild this country's economy this country's infrastructure and this country's social structure whether it be health and education whether it be roading or whether it be KiwiRail and our ports. What's happening differently now is that New Zealand does have an emerging plan. After only 15 months the Government is clear as to where we're going.Hon Gerry Brownlee: There are 200 more reports to come—200 more working groups to make it up.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well I mean how do you sit here all these years with just bluster and bulldust like that? He's the most unqualified guy ever to be in foreign affairs the most unqualified guy to be in the whole House. Where does his background experience in business come from? Mr Brownlee—what business did that member run? Just name one apart from being a director for five weeks on a backed under-the-scene illegal Christchurch casino. And he got found out. Guess who by: yours truly. I exposed him. And the other colleague up there in the gallery who has just gone—the former National Party president—was his co-director. He must have known I was going to say that because he's vanished. They were the two directors for five weeks until a guy in prison fingered them to me and I got rid of them. Remember that Mr Brownlee? Oh yes that's his experience in business: five weeks in an illegal business. So Mr Brownlee don't go and preach to the rotary clubs or the chambers of commerce; you'll bore them witless. They all know like I know that he knows nothing about business.Now back to my point: we are can I say in a sea of unrest: trade wars pressure on the World Trade Organization unrest with the Venezuelan election Middle East elections and elections in Afghanistan Australia and indeed Canada this year. When you look at that and look at the present coalition Government we look like stability in an ocean of disruption. We don't only look like it; we are. That is the difference. And Mr Carter—I don't know why he's laughing because he may as well retire from Parliament now. There's no future for as The Timaru Herald said the worst agriculture Minister the country ever saw. That's what they said about him—the worst agriculture Minister the country ever saw—and he sits up here preening and laughing as though he's got something to stand on.Can I just say on foreign policy on racing reform on the SuperGold card that's coming shortly which will go to 690000 retired New Zealanders—an updated card with many new benefits all coming this year. I can see the Opposition getting worried now. The Provincial Growth Fund—further expansion. We have got ourselves on course for an exciting 2019.You know 15 months ago we rejected a modified status quo in favour of lasting change and none of my colleagues have ever regretted it. Now we're doing something for New Zealand's future whereas the Opposition wanted us to preserve the impossible past of privilege elitism and greater wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people. We made a conscious philosophic decision to do what is right for New Zealanders and we're proud of it.Can I just say the party's focus will be on the things that matter socially and industrially. It's also very clear that they don't understand over there what the problem is with their behaviour. They carp and argue every day. It puts me in mind of an old Māori saying using of course a very good example when it's said in English: "Not like the seagull tossing and turning its head at every wave"—no no—"Like the rocks steadfast against the surging sea." That's the difference between this side over here and that side over there. We do have plans. We do have visions. And guess what? It's not easy being in a coalition Government but it's far better being in a coalition Government than taking your dictates from the big end of New Zealand's downtown where your caucus members have no say whatsoever.It is so much better negotiating in a fair environment than having your policy dictated from the big end of town in Auckland and elsewhere where you become mere puppets of the system rather than party principle perpetrators. Quite the opposite is happening in this coalition. We are getting on with the job. We know exactly what we're going to do and where we're going to do it. We know who the people are who are going to be doing it and we've got this very certain view as well that we've got more and more talent on our backbench than their whole front bench all put together. Have a look at them. Who over there is a good speaker? Look they even know there's not one right? Who over there has got a serious business background? No the ones with the serious business backgrounds are over there—they're in the backbench not the front bench. The backbench have got it. Over here we've got things around the right way.Hon Paula Bennett: Mr Peters look to your right.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: One last saying Ms Bennett who recently discovered that she was a Māori. Ms Bennett there's a great saying in Māoridom and it's taken place since the 2017 election. Since she discovered like Simon Upton that she had a Māori background their linkage to the Māori people and their intensity knows no bounds. But they discovered they were Māori after they got here. The Māori saying is: "Ka pū te rūhā ka hao te rangatahi." You know what it means? It means "When the old net's shot full of holes the new net goes fishing."SPEAKER: Just before I call the member I will indicate that I am going to put the amendment now which is that all words after "that" be deleted and be replaced by the expression used by Mr Bridges at the beginning of his speech."