SpeechHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I'm very pleased today to be able to stand and commend the Prime Minister's statement to the House in 2022. It was a statement that I think set out a clarity of leadership and hope in what are enormously challenging times here in Aotearoa New Zealand but in every country around the world as we continue to face the global pandemic. It is a pandemic that carries on that continues to claim tens of thousands of lives around the world most days of the week. While most of us would like to be able to wish it away—and indeed some who have spoken in this Chamber in this debate have acted as if we can do that—we just can't. If we want to continue to keep our people safe if we want to continue to maintain standards of living by having an economy that moves forward if we want to look after the vulnerable people in our society who continue to be at the most risk then we need to continue with our health- and people-focused approach to the management of COVID-19 and Omicron. The Prime Minister very eloquently set out the absolute determination of our Government to carry on with that.But what I really want to focus on in my opening comments is the clarity of vision that the Prime Minister set out in her speech. Clarity is really about knowing where you stand. It's not about being obstinate and saying that you won't pay account of changing conditions or facts on the ground—any sensible Government will do that and we have as we've dealt with this pandemic—but it's knowing what you will stand for and it's being prepared to make the tough decisions.In dealing with a crisis like COVID the biggest public health crisis in over 100 years the biggest shock to the world economy since the Great Depression a Government can't just make the easy decisions that make people happy or get the right headlines on any given day of the week as are sometimes put to us from members opposite. A Government must sometimes make decisions that are tough that will have tough outcomes for some people but they're the right decisions for the country and for the common good.We've had the debates in this Chamber about some of those tough decisions about some of the tough public health measures we've taken about the alert levels about our judicious use of lockdowns about the way in which we've evolved towards a traffic light system about the way in which we have used managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) to keep the people of our country safe—tough decisions and they sometimes carry costs. But we stand here confident and clear in knowing that every single one of those decisions has delivered the outcome that we have in New Zealand with one of the lowest death rates one of the lowest rates of serious illness one of the highest rates of economic growth and the lowest rates of unemployment in the world after two years of a global pandemic. We are very proud of that and so proud of the leadership of our Prime Minister at the front of that effort.I do have to contrast that clarity with the muddle that we hear from the Opposition benches over the course of this debate and in recent days. We've heard it over mandates—They should end." "They shouldn't end." We've heard it over MIQ—"They should end now." "Maybe they should end at some stage." "We didn't say they that." "Oh actually we want them to end." You cannot lead a country during a global pandemic with that lack of clarity that lack of precision in leadership that we see from the other side of the House.We've seen it in recent days over the minimum wage. I stand proud as a Minister in a Government who's delivered increases in the minimum wage to our lowest paid workers—those cleaners those supermarket checkout workers those retail workers those hospo workers who have carried so much over the last few years. We would not stand there and see those people's living standards go backwards. So I'm proud of the work that we've done in that area. We've shown that we can deliver sustainable good increases to the minimum wage and still have the lowest rate of unemployment in over 30 years—lower than that lot ever got it to. Three point two percent—world leading.So I was very pleased over the weekend to see the deputy leader of the National Party Nicola Willis confirm the National Party's support for that minimum wage. I decided not to make a political point out of that but just to acknowledge that and say it was good to hear that. But from Mr Luxon today her leader on Morning Report this morning we couldn't get a straight word out of it. When asked time and time again what is his position and what is the position of the National Party on minimum wage we couldn't get a straight answer a yes or a no. Do you support that or do you not support that? He's entitled to take either view of course but he couldn't take a position. That is a failure of leadership. That is a contrast between that side of the House and this side of the House.I want to talk about something else very serious in this respect. I've been concerned by some of the drifting rhetoric I've heard from members opposite in this House about the events in the occupation that we see out the front. The words I say now I say with some precision and I say really carefully because I think we need to take great care with this. Out the front of this place there are people who I think we all feel for. There are some people who are confused there are some people who are scared there are some people who have been manipulated by an avalanche of misinformation. There are some people who have been hurt over the past couple of years and they're lashing out. We feel for those people. But underneath all of that there is a river of filth. There is a river of violence and menace. There is a river of anti-Semitism. There is a river of Islamophobia. There is a river of threats to people who work in this place and our staff. Those are things that we should not in any way be condoning things that we should be apologists for things that we should be overlooking with the rhetoric that it's all just good people and maybe we should talk about it and maybe we should put the mandates up for negotiation. I would say that there is a river of genuine fascism in parts of the event that we see out the front of this Parliament today. I just urge colleagues in this House—decent and honourable members of the centre-right parliamentary parties in this Parliament—that a lot is actually on them to not give succour and comfort to an emergent and dangerous far-right movement. I just ask those members to reflect upon that.As the Prime Minister said in her statement COVID's not over. There's a lot of work for us to do to continue with our response of keeping Kiwis safe. But it's not just about that this year for us; it's about getting on with the agenda those long-term challenges that have been forgotten about and ignored for so long.I was really pleased that the Prime Minister spoke about our plans for a true linked-up rapid transit network for Auckland plans that we announced last month and that have been received incredibly positively across all parts of Auckland. This issue has been kicked down the can for 50 years since Mayor Robbie first put forward his plans to link up our biggest city. Because of the failure of successive local and central government administrations we have the problems we see in Auckland today—chronic congestion bad air quality sprawling suburbs in which people have no choice but to use their cars for everything. That's not what people want. We're only going to fix those problems if we deliver that proper linked-up mass rapid transit system across Auckland in the way that all modern successful growing big cities around the world have. We all see that when we travel. Why shouldn't we have them in our big cities in Auckland? It's not easy stuff. It's not quick stuff. But we've got to start and this Government is grasping the nettle and getting on with that plan.I put forward my comment again in this House: this is a long-term project for the benefit of our biggest city. When our biggest city does well our country does well I want to work with other parties across this House to move through the politics and to see if we can find some accord on that big long-term plan. The other thing I will say in this area is that it's not just about Auckland it's not just about the light rail; it's about the alternative Waitematā Harbour crossing and getting that public transport link to the North Shore it's about the growing north-west but it's about our other big cities as well. I expect later this year for us to be moving forward with plans for mass rapid transit here in Wellington but also to be furthering that conversation in Christchurch a city that has waited for too long and in which there was such a missed opportunity in the recovery from the earthquake.Finally I was delighted that the Prime Minister also spoke about our plans to move forward with fair pay agreements in this parliamentary year. Over the last two years I think Kiwis have been reminded about how much we rely on so many of our low-wage workers and they've been devalued for 30 years. How would we have got through COVID without the work of our cleaners without the work of our bus drivers without the people who pack up our groceries at the supermarket? But they've been devalued and their work is so important. It's time for us to turn the tide on that 30-year experiment of a highly individualised labour market that has enriched a small number and has totally devalued the work of hundreds of thousands of hard-working Kiwis. It's not fair. It hasn't led to increased productivity as we were promised back in 1991. This Government is going to move forward with a well-researched well-thought-out clear plan for fair pay agreements to stop the race from the bottom and to make sure that those working people have some justice and dignity and that good employers up and down New Zealand aren't constantly undercut by someone coming in and getting a saving by paying their workers low wages and low conditions.As I said at the outset I am so proud of the clarity of leadership the future focus and the hope that was inherent in the Prime Minister's statement to the House this year. I'm proud of our response to COVID-19. There is more work to do but there are so many other things that this Government will be getting on with this year to lead New Zealand into a place that is better and fairer for all of our people. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Golriz Ghahraman—five minutes."