Sio William: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 29 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:415. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere):Taloha ni Mr Assistant Speaker and to Tokelau and talofa lava. That is my way of acknowledging you Mr Assistant Speaker and through you the Speaker the Deputy Speaker and the other Assistant Speaker. Contrary to what others might say about you I have the deepest respect for your knowledge and I have always found you very helpful in terms of passing that knowledge on to a person such as myself. I want to also acknowledge the Government and congratulate National on its win in this last election.Hon Damien O’Connor: Don’t go too far.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Well it is important; the people of New Zealand have elected you. You ran a good campaign you had more money and at the end of the day despite our best efforts the people of New Zealand have elected you. It may not have been our preferred stance but at the end of the day you are now the Government and therefore congratulations. I do also want to congratulate the Prime Minister on elevating Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga into Cabinet. I did not believe that it was the right thing for your Government to have him sitting outside Cabinet so congratulations. I think that the people who supported this Government would appreciate the elevation of Peseta. I thought that perhaps Alfred Ngaro would have received a position outside Cabinet or perhaps an undersecretary position but I suspect that we will see that in time to come perhaps closer to the next election.I want to add my voice also to the many other voices in acknowledging the new members of Parliament who have joined the 51st Parliament. I also acknowledge the fact that I have found many of their speeches very worthwhile and have appreciated the values and the passion that each of them has brought to this House. I acknowledge in particular my own colleagues Jenny Salesa Peeni Henare and Adrian Rurawhe. I acknowledge the legacy that they bring their connectedness to their communities and the passion and the realism that they bring to this House and I look forward to working with them.It may have gone unnoticed by Parliament but I am quite proud of having five Pacific members of Parliament in Labour as a result of this election. There is not only myself Jenny Salesa and Carmel Sepuloni who returns to us as the MP for Kelston but we also have Kris Faafoi of Mana and Poto Williams out of Christchurch East. That is significant. When I gave my maiden speech in this House some years back I felt that that was the challenge that all parties in this House ought to take up to ensure that the representation of this House reflected the diversity out in society. I am proud that the Labour Party has enabled the five Pacific MPs to come through our particular ranks. I note that this is the first time that we have had these five Pacific MPs holding electorate seats. In the past we have always had people come through in addition to electorate seats on the list. That is significant in going forward.These are the five who made it through in this election but for the Labour Party there were eight of us Pacific people who ran under the Labour Party ticket. I have acknowledged the fact that Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff who ran in Upper Harbour did significantly well but did not come through that Jerome Mika who ran in Papakura also did significantly well in party votes there but did not come through and that our sister Anahila Suisuiki who was on the list did not make it through this time. It is my hope that we will continue to work together to push them through the Labour Party. I hope that other parties also take up that challenge. I also want to thank this House for accepting the motion that was moved by our chief whip in allowing me to repeat my oath in Samoan. It is a practice now that I have continued since I first arrived here in 2008. I think it is something that this House ought to pick up in the Business Committee and reaffirm that it is OK to be bilingual and that it is OK to use these different languages in our country. I thank also Marama Fox for pursuing and advancing the idea of recognising the Treaty of Waitangi in our oath. It is something I think also ought to be taken up.May I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the good people of Māngere a place that I call the gateway to New Zealand the land of the young beautiful and gifted for their faith for their commitment to Labour values and for their electing me again in this term. I am particularly grateful to them for their many sacrifices of time and for their determination to campaign not only on my behalf but also on behalf of the Labour Party. I think the results reflect that. I am proud to be associated with the Labour Party in Māngere and proud of my committee. I am proud that in this campaign we had a bunch of young beautiful and gifted youth who turned up and generated a new invigoration in our campaign. They also came up with many many aspects. We added songs and dance and just had a wonderful campaign. I think the House would acknowledge their contribution through the outcome that we were able to achieve. To all the people of Māngere: fa’afetai tele lava—thank you so much.This year when I listened to the Speech from the Throne I was looking to find whether that speech would identify the three main issues that I felt were important issues that were passed on to me by the people of Māngere as we campaigned. They were child poverty employment and affordable housing. Those were the three things. As we campaigned and talked to the people they said to us that it was critical that they had jobs. It was critical that they were in jobs where they could earn a living and be able to sustain and support their families. They recognise that it is an indictment on this country and particularly on Parliament that we have a quarter of a million children who are classified as living in poverty. I see that not only in my community but in various other communities the length and breadth of New Zealand.I agree with those people who are on the ground engaged on a day-to-day basis who see the dire situation of these children. Like my colleague Jenny Salesa said words are fine but action must follow words. I think many people who have heard from the Prime Minister a commitment to tackle child poverty expect those words to translate into targeted outcomes. I think that is going to be the challenge for this Government and we on this side of the House will hold the Government accountable to ensure that there is improvement.As we have seen lately in the news since 2008 child poverty has not improved under this Government. With unemployment you cannot expect people to get into a house if they do not have an income whereby they can afford housing. Housing is the single most important issue but it is much more complex than that. This Government’s determination to just roll out the number of resource consents being approved does not cut it. You have got to build more houses. That is the pattern that I heard earlier today. I am grateful for the maiden speakers who said they began their lives in a State house and then they have achieved much much more. That is a good pattern that recognises there is a role for State houses in this country. But it cannot be a good pattern once you have reached the top of your career to then pull the ladder up and not allow the rest of the population to follow through. We have seen that pattern with the Prime Minister—State house then a financial speculator. We have seen that pattern with Minister Paula Bennett—State house welfare support and now as Minister she has pulled the ladder up. That cannot continue.Debate interrupted.