Ardern JacindaJACINDA ARDERN (Labour): It is hard not to feel like the world is in political turmoil at present—Brexit and the rise in right-wing extreme movements that I would describe as forms of fundamentalism and I would include in that the rhetoric and the apparent popularity of Donald Trump in the United States. We are seeing a rallying cry that is ultimately born out of fear and is born out of anger that has been fed half-truths and misinformation and we should all be concerned about that. But none of us even in this New Zealand Parliament despite all of the differences between us and those other global counterparts can afford to be complacent particularly when you ask the question: Where did all of this come from?". Where did all of this international uncertainty—dissatisfaction—come from?Well in New Zealand it will come from here—it will come from this graph. This crude graph is a representation of almost anything we need to know about what is wrong with New Zealand right now. It is a representation of the inequality that exists here in New Zealand. These are the numbers that were released by Statistics New Zealand just this week. They show what many of us in this House already know but what the Minister of Finance today right here denied was even a problem.Hon Maurice Williamson: What that high-income people pay a lot more tax?JACINDA ARDERN: It shows Maurice Williamson that 10 percent of the population in New Zealand owns 60 percent of the wealth—10 percent of the population in New Zealand owns 60 percent of the wealth. In contrast the bottom 20 percent in New Zealand owe—they owe—more than what they own. And as far as distribution goes if you want to put the final nail in the coffin for inequality in New Zealand 40 percent of New Zealanders have 3 percent of the wealth—the bottom 40 of course.I fear that "inequality" gets bounced around as a turn of phrase. It is used in political rhetoric and it can sometimes lose its meaning. But behind those figures behind that graph sit people who ultimately have lost their hope. My point is that what we are seeing internationally absolutely has the ability to happen here in some other form—has absolutely the ability to rise up and be fed by political misinformation if the wrong lightning rod is given as to what the answer is to the questions: "How do we make change? How do we bring back that egalitarian society?". The fact that this has even occurred in New Zealand is a marker of political failure. It is a failure to provide job security and decent wages. This is a result of a low-wage economy. It is a failure to provide secure decent affordable housing. This is the result of a Government that does not believe in State housing—does not believe that that is a fundamental human right. It is a failure to provide decent free accessible education or at least just a place where you are able to afford to bring up your family off the back of a 40-hour-a-week job. These were all at one time fundamentals of New Zealand society.But I do want to offer a message of hope. There is a reason New Zealand does not have to experience the political turmoil of other countries. And that is because we do have the ability—through politics through what often seems like this ugly beast—to make change. Let me give you an example. Child poverty in New Zealand is disgraceful: 305000 children living in poverty. There have been two times in New Zealand's history when we have seen dramatic changes in those numbers. One was in the 1990s when child poverty spiked horrifically because the Government brought in a black Budget. The second time was when child poverty started to decline in New Zealand and it was when Labour brought in Working for Families. Those two examples demonstrate that politics and policies and ideas matter. They make a difference for good or for evil depending on what you choose. The fact that we in this Parliament have the power to make change is a powerful tool. We should use it to give New Zealanders hope. We should use it to say to the next generation of voters and New Zealanders that actually some of those values that we in this Labour Party consider so dear—the fundamental idea of Norman Kirk that all anyone ever needs is something to do somewhere to live someone to love and something to hope for rings as true today as it did then. And we should convince the members of the public that in this place we can use that power for good and turn this round."