Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. We're speaking in an urgent debate on the matter of the resignation of Kiritapu Allan as a Minister. It's a perfectly appropriate debate to have because this is a serious event. The Minister of Justice was arrested allegedly for resisting arrest and she has resigned and it's absolutely appropriate that the House should discuss that. And we've heard some criticism from the other side of the House as if this was somehow inappropriate and I don't agree with that at all. It is quite right for us to talk about these matters and to put them in the wider context.The context is that this is the sixth resignation we've had this year from the Cabinet. I'll just quickly run through them. Jacinda Ardern first when she knew the game was up in January and after five years there was very little to show for the efforts. Second there was Stuart Nash for leaking information to donors and texting the Commissioner of Police about matters. Third there was Meka Whaitiri who showed such a level of animus within the Government that she made sure that her resignation was announced when the Prime Minister was on route to Britain to have a very unwelcome arrival in the airport there. Then there was Michael Wood—the 16 times is not enough" Michael Wood—which descended into comic farce over a senior Minister not dealing with matters appropriately around conflicts of interest. Fifth is Kiri Allan as was said the Minister of Justice resigning because of resisting arrest and a number of other serious matters. And the sixth that we shouldn't overlook which happened pretty much at the same time was David Parker leaving his post as inland revenue Minister because he was unhappy with the decisions made within the Cabinet over the wealth tax—not doing what usually is regarded as the honourable thing to do which is to leave the ministry full stop if you don't agree with what the Cabinet agrees but that's by the by. And so what we have is the "great resignation".Now we talked about that in the context of 2022 post-COVID people leaving their roles. What we see under this Government's "great resignation" is a Labour Party getting close to the election with nothing to show for their efforts.When it comes specifically to Kiritapu Allan and her resignation much has been said and written over the last 24 hours. On the issue of her wellbeing and her mental health I of course like most members of the House do not know the details and what goes on in anybody's experiences. We are all very conscious that we are all fallible human beings we're all struggling in a high-stress environment and we all share concern for any member of Parliament—in particular for Kiri Allan at this time—going through a difficult period. And so I don't propose to add anything more to that because I don't know anything more about it. But what she has said of course is that none of that excuses her behaviour on Sunday night and she has taken responsibility for that as she really had no choice to do anything otherwise.And so what can we talk about here? Well we can and we should—it is appropriate to assess her performance as the Minister of Justice. There has been a lot written. It was written that she was on top of her game. I think it was actually a much more mixed performance as Minister of Justice because she is responsible for a Government which has struggled to make progress in the wider law and order space. And they have had I think I believe the wrong priorities. And she has prioritised reducing the prison population by 30 percent even at a time when there has been a real increase in crime.And so we're all conscious of the fact as we go around door knocking and talking to New Zealanders that there are two issues that they are most worried about. They're worried about the cost of living and they're most worried about law and order. And we've seen throughout the period that the Minister who has resigned was the Minister a period of no movement being made on very large reductions in sentences so that people with serious violent convictions are ending up on home detention. We've seen a massive expansion in cultural reports with little to yield for it. We've seen a massive increase in ram raids and youth crime generally. We've also seen a very significant increase in the delays in the court system. So these are real real challenges that affect people's lives. People's lives have been kept on hold for a long period of time.And then a final area is we've moved away as a country from equal suffrage in the local government setting. The Minister of Justice should be standing up vigorously for the principle of equal suffrage—all New Zealanders having an equal say in who governs them and who makes decisions affecting their lives—and she failed to do that. In fact she failed to even talk about that as an issue. And so that is a perfectly legitimate thing to analyse.So like many Ministers people will look back and see what was achieved. They'll be conscious of the particulars over which she resigned but they will also make a judgment about the overall effectiveness of the Government in the justice space.And I suppose the broader context that we debate in this debate is the consequences of this resignation—what it means for the Government and what it means for what we have here and what we all see is a Government that has been overcome with chaos with confusion and with incompetence.Why does that matter—why does it matter? Because ultimately the confidence that people have in the Government really has an impact in the confidence generally in the country. If we go back to the fourth Labour Government when it fell apart at the seams and Lange was fighting with Roger Douglas and the whole thing blew apart—that had a terrible impact on confidence as well because—to understand the relationship—when people are confident about how a country is governed they are more likely to invest and if they are more likely to invest the country has a better chance to grow and to create jobs and to do well. And the inverse is true. When people don't have confidence that the place is well managed that a Cabinet is coherent and that the people within it govern themselves and the country well they tend to hold back—particularly now when we have got to a state where the Prime Minister can't even remember who some of his Ministers are because there has been such a rapid turnover. That sense of chaos is building.When you have one Minister being both the Minister of Police and the Minister of Justice—which has been parodied up and down the country as the "Minister of Catch and Release"—that all leads to a sense of lower confidence in the way that the Government is managing itself. And ultimately that is unhelpful for a country and that is why we strongly believe the time is well and truly past for a change so that we can reassure New Zealanders that they have a Government that can conduct itself well that it has Ministers who are able to stay the term and who will obey the rules.Kiritapu Allan's case I suppose clearly is the most egregious in terms of breaking the laws as a Minister of Justice but there has been like I say a number over the whole period of the year where rules have been broken and ministerial understandings and conventions have been moved away from—whether it was Nash whether it was Wood or whether it was David Parker.So there's a lot to reflect on in this. Nobody takes any joy from the personal downfall of any Minister. I would hope that all people across the House recognise that and they recognise the personal struggles that we have seen here. Like I say I don't have any specific insight into that and can only offer my thoughts to Kiri and those who know her and love her. But we do quite rightly expect that our Ministers will obey the law obviously and that a Cabinet will be coherently run in good discipline and good order so that New Zealanders can have confidence in that Government.What we are seeing right here right now is the slow and steady disintegration of this the fifth—is it the fifth?—no the sixth Labour Government. That is a problem—a political problem—for this Government. It's a political problem for Chris Hipkins but it's a broader problem for New Zealand because like I say when people look to Wellington when they look to the Government and they see such chaos the implication is that people will feel less confident ultimately to make plans to invest and to have a long-term view because so much is so unsettled. And that's why it's so important that we restore good Government and good governance in this country. Thank you very much"