Nash StuartSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier): In a way my portfolios have sort of mirrored Judith Collins'. But I am very lucky in that respect—I know people are wondering what I am talking about but I am lucky because Miss Judith Collins actually seems to be the only Minister who is doing something in this Government. It is astounding. So I am the spokesperson for energy; Judith is the Minister of Energy and Resources.Mr SPEAKER: Order!STUART NASH: I have been calling for an inquiry into petrol prices for 2 years because I firmly believe that the people of New Zealand are being taken for granted or if not ripped off—for 2 years. Judith Collins has been the Minister for about 2 months and suddenly we have an inquiry. The AA comes out and says that this is fantastic. Family Budgeting Services says it is well needed. Finally we have a Minister who is doing something. I highlighted for about 8 months the problems around policing. I went really hard. Judith Collins put together a package and they came out with policing policies. Judith is working hard.Mr SPEAKER: Order!STUART NASH: The problem is only Judith is working hard.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have now corrected the member on three occasions. He will refer to the member properly either by an electorate or by her full name.STUART NASH: I apologise. Sorry—Judith Collins. Judith Collins did ask the question: do we think burglaries are an issue? Well of course we do and the reason I say that is that fewer than 10 percent of burglaries in this country are being solved. I believe it was the pressure put on by the Opposition that actually forced the commissioner and the Minister to say: Hey we're going to change our policy. Every single burglary is going to be investigated." The problem with that is they had done nothing about police numbers. So what did Labour do? We came out with a policy for 1000 more police because we understood that the health and safety and well-being of our community were paramount.I have immense respect also for Chris Finlayson. I think he is a very good Minister. He is an intelligent man and he has got a good shoulder on his heads. But the problem—Tim Macindoe: Maybe a good head on his shoulders? Ha ha!STUART NASH: —a good head on his shoulders. Ha ha! But when one of the most articulate and intelligent men in the National Cabinet spends only 5 minutes out of 10 talking about the National Party you sort of get the feeling that they have just run out of ideas. Hearing about Rasputin—that was interesting. Hearing about Stalin—that was not too bad. I do not think he quite got the irony that in the great battle of ideology between left and right actually the left won that battle. But that was pretty interesting. Chris Finlayson also talked about Margaret Thatcher JFK Russel Norman—all these characters that in fact have no part whatsoever in our political landscape at this point in time. It was a bit of a history lesson and that is the thing about this Government.I am going to give credit where credit is due. In the first 3 years especially when Simon Power was a Minister that Government did a lot of work. There was a lot of legislation that went through and it made a lot of changes and some of that was needed. It took a lot of Labour bills that were on the Order Paper and it put them through. In the second term the work rate was still there. It decreased a little bit. The ideas sort of dried up a bit but it was still a reasonably hard-working Government.I have come to the conclusion that actually the natural term for Governments in New Zealand is about 9 years. There are only two instances where they went longer than 9 years. The first one was the first Labour Government and we all know the impact that the first Labour Government had on our society. It was a Government of social revolution and certainly evolution. It changed the way we do things in this country and every party acknowledges that. The second time was Keith Holyoake.I think it is going to probably stay at that for a long time because in the third term of this Government it has just run out of ideas and it is sad to see. I give credit where credit is due. If this was a Government that was going really hard on the issues that were important then I would not be saying this. But the first major announcement this Government made in election year was actually a Labour announcement about more police. Last night in the House there was a tax bill that went through and it was to make tax easier for the small to medium sized enterprise sector of our business community and it took the Government 9 years. It is just getting a little bit tired a little bit complacent a little bit bored and a little bit out of touch with what is going on.It actually is time for change. I am not being glib when I say that. I am not being ideological. I am just saying that at the moment the party of ideas is actually the Labour Party. We are the party of ideas and it has taken us 7 years to get there. We have been through three leaders and we have finally got a leader who gets it. We have finally got a leader who is standing up and showing leadership and the type of integrity that New Zealanders demand and respect in their leader.We have not got that in Bill English. He was not a bad finance Minister but he is just not a Prime Minister and there is no shame in that. There is no shame. But he is just not a Prime Minister. I think New Zealand would probably be a better place where after the election Mr English is on the list. He will lose and he just rides off into the sunset. He will probably end up getting his knighthood and his legacy as a finance Minister will be probably sad. I mean we would have done things completely differently.But it is just time for change. They have just run out of ideas. The momentum has gone. The energy has gone. Every now and again Mr Bishop will stand up and give a rip-roaring speech but he is the new generation of Nats and in 10 years' time he will get his turn—well maybe 12 years' time. He will get his turn but it will be a while because what needs to happen now is the political evolution that happens every 9 years. The Nats will disappear. They will be in turmoil for 6 years and maybe then they will come up with a leader. Will it be Mr Bishop? It probably will be actually. I think he is probably planning it already. He will get his chance but it will probably be in election 2023—actually 2026.But during that time we will have a Labour-led Government that will make the sort of change necessary; the sort of change that will grow sustainable economic wealth in our regions; the sort of change that will take "Brand New Zealand" and lift it up where it needs to be. We will not be talking about water of a quality that is wadeable; we will be talking about swimming in the rivers that we all used to when we were growing up. Not only will we return to the values that I think New Zealanders expect but we will take our economy up to the next step. There will be jobs for all. We will provide houses for everyone who needs a house. We will provide the sort of education system that I think New Zealanders demand and that we prided ourselves on in the past but are just not delivering now.Ray Smith the head of Corrections came and spoke to the select committee I was on last week. I think New Zealanders would be astounded to know that there are 20000 Kiwis now who go through our jail system. Let me quote something: "Prisons are a fiscal and moral failure." And: "Building more of them on a large scale is something I don't think any New Zealander wants to see". That was Bill English and yet he announced a $1.3 billion prison build. That is a failure of leadership. We should not be investing in our prisons; we should be investing in our schools. We should be investing in our police stations. We should be investing in our regions. We should be coming up with plans that give people hope and give people opportunity.The other thing that Ray Smith told us is that 91 percent of prisoners who come through his doors have or have had a mental health and/or addiction problem; 62 percent of prisoners have a current mental health and/or addiction problem. That is 12000 men and women who enter the prison system with a mental health problem at the cost of $100000 per year per prisoner. I do not think that is social investment. That is a failure. Mr English was right when he said prisons are a moral and fiscal failure. Now is a chance to give the Labour Party the opportunity to go out there and address these issues. It will be done through jobs. It will be done through education.Education is the key. Malcolm X—one of my favourite quotes—said: "Without education you are not going anywhere in this world." Well 20000 New Zealanders every year go through the doors of our prisons. That is wrong and it needs to change. I do believe it is time for change. I do believe it is a tired Government. I do believe that Labour has the ideas and the passion and the energy and the drive and the leadership to take New Zealand to the next step and to begin to realise the potential that we have. Well done on what you have achieved in the first term but it is time to say goodbye—and welcome to a Labour Government after election in 2017. Thank you."