Woods MeganHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram): Thank you Madam Speaker and it is a pleasure to rise in the House to speak in this special debate. It is rare as a Parliament that we do get to have conversations and debates where we take the political tension down around what the long-term future and opportunities and challenges for our country are in order to get beyond the petty politics of the day and think about the future—to think about that long-term intergenerational future and what it means for us. I think one of the things that really encapsulates that is the title of Treasury's document which brings together its combined statement on the long-term fiscal position but also the long-term insights briefing: He Tirohanga Mokopuna. That is the need to take an intergenerational view and that is exactly what this work was about. When the Public Service Act introduced the need for us as a Parliament to produce these long-term strategic views as a country—that was introduced in 2020 and was to be produced every three years—it was to think about those big issues that are going to survive many Governments. Governments from all parties in this House—they're all hoping they will get to make up or need to grapple with these issues and I think that what we choose to focus on is vitally important. What we have seen is that this was the first run at some of these and I think some of the feedback that we have got around these and around how it is that we can get the public more engaged in this process is an important consideration that as parliamentarians we should all be giving some thought to. Parliaments all around the world and Governments all around the world indeed are giving thought to how it is they encapsulate this intergenerational thinking into policy making. We've seen in some jurisdictions such as Ireland a commission for the future where they are looking very much down the road and trying to have long-term strategic discussions in a world that is becoming increasingly polarised. I think that these reports and this long-term strategic focus come at a point in our history where we do need to take the heat out of some of these conversations and realise that we do need to find some of the areas where we can find common ground and find what we can do that is in the interests of our of our globe and of our nation as we go through. But I think it is vital that we consider how it is that we can involve the public in these discussions.I also think that one of the pieces of feedback from the Auditor-General on Treasury's report is that we do need to think about whether or not we continue to combine the combined statement on the long-term fiscal position with the long-term insights briefing or whether these need to be separated out. I certainly think that whether or not we keep them as one document or have them as two we need to intertwine those two ideas in our heads as we go through and we debate these because that long-term fiscal position is going to be vital for how we tackle the issues that are outlined in this report.In terms of the focus that came in this first one there was that immediate challenge. I think if we think about the fact that this was a piece of legislation in 2020 that required these reports to be produced it is unsurprising that the very immediate issue of the immediate challenges of COVID-19 was such a focus point for how it was that we needed to think about it. I think that parliamentarians legislators and people in government around the world are going to need to think about how it is that we would prepare for a future event: what did we learn what did we do well and what can we do differently for the future? That is something that we have to take the opportunity on.But just in the time I have one of the areas that was focused on was climate change and that came across in terms of both Treasury's analysis but also the Ministry for the Environment. I think one of the things that we know is that we have to do more and more work to quantify both the cost of action and inaction and what the fiscal position for the Crown will be and what the strategic long-term challenges and opportunities are for us as a country. Our continuing to take an intergenerational view is something that is our responsibility as people who happen to sit in this House at this moment because we need to govern for the future. Thank you.