Ardern Jacinda: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: General Debate[Sitting date: 30 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:10017. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): I think we will file everything that Simon Bridges just said under the heading of “blatant denial”—blatant denial about the current set of circumstances we are experiencing in the wake of the flag debate in New Zealand.Do not get me wrong. I have always believed that Governments can multitask. I have always believed that you can do the big stuff and the progressive stuff all at the same time. Take for instance addressing social inequalities with a policy like Working for Families whilst at the same time pursuing issues like civil unions and greater equality.Labour has always been the Government that has been able to multitask. The common theme for Labour has always been: we do it for the stuff that matters—the things that are important. Did changing the flag matter? Well it could have. Does the future of our relationship with the monarchy matter? Does the idea of us becoming a republic versus choosing to stay within the Commonwealth matter? Does the role of the Treaty as a living document matter? Did a discussion and debate about constitutional reform in New Zealand matter? Yes absolutely.So in as much as the flag could have been emblematic of all of those things then yes that debate mattered. But that is not what John Key and this Government delivered to New Zealand when he started the flag consideration process. It was utterly hollow. It was almost completely meaningless and even then and of itself the process he established to just simply pick a logo which is what it was was utterly shambolic.So I make this simple request to the Government: now that we have wasted $26 million on a debate that could have mattered could it please return to the issues that quite frankly New Zealanders are not just having a discussion about but are having to face day by day? Put aside the petty politics of legacy that John Key is flailing around trying to find at present in the dying years of his Government and instead start looking at what matters. You do not have to go far Mr Bridges. Perhaps just open the paper today and read an article about 500 jobs being lost within New Zealand Post. That story is not in isolation—46 percent of jobs within two decades’ time will be obsolete as a result of the technological transformation that is going on globally not just in New Zealand.This is not new information from the Government. The fact that Bill English can sit there and say: “Look we acknowledge that these losses were happening. It was signalled a long time ago.” In fact his actual response to New Zealand Post was: “They’ve done pretty well under the circumstances.” That will be cold comfort to the 500 people who are facing job losses. A Government that is doing the stuff that matters would look ahead and see not just what 500 workers are facing but what thousands of workers are facing and ask: what can we do? What does a just and fair transition look like?If Simon Bridges’ response was anything to go by the Government’s current perspective on that massive dilemma is to laugh is to make a joke whereas Labour has instead not only established the Future of Work Commission we have brought together international evidence. We have brought together some of the best minds. We are not afraid of having a debate about what we need to do as a future Government to make sure that New Zealanders have a future that is dignified that has work that pays and that acknowledges that we increasingly have insecurity in our workforce.That Mr Bridges is no laughing matter. If even Robert Reich is standing up and telling Governments that there is almost an inevitability to us having to debate issues like a universal basic income in this insecure environment then he should stand up and pay attention to that. To do anything else demonstrates that this is a Government that not only is ignoring what matters it is ignoring the people of New Zealand as a result.