Dyson Ruth: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDyson Ruth: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 11 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15782. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): In that extraordinary theatrical performance the member who has just resumed his seat Dr Cam Calder accused our side of the House of being a bit loose with the facts. He then rapidly promoted Kim Il Sung to be the leader of South Korea. That will come as a bit of a shock to many many people living in that country. Then in a bit of a revival of the “mother of all Budgets” he referred to his colleague Maurice Williamson as “Maurice Richardson”. I think it is a bit rich for that member to tell us we are a bit loose with the facts; he cannot even remember his own colleagues’ names.I am very pleased to be speaking in this debate in support of the amendment of David Cunliffe to the Prime Minister’s statement which reads “this House expresses no confidence in this National led Government because New Zealand has become more and more divided because those in the middle are struggling and because the poor are going backwards.” The facts speak for themselves on that amendment. That amendment is absolutely accurate and every member of the National Party knows it. They can come into this House and spin their lines as often as they like but the facts will in the end get in the way of their story. The reason that will happen is that outside this House people are living their lives and they know how their lives are. They know when they hear John Key speak that he is arrogant and that he is out of touch with the reality of how hard they work and how little they earn compared with the effort that they put into their jobs.I remember Bill English saying at the time he cut the tax for the highest income earners in New Zealand that if people were not earning enough money they should work harder. That is an example of the arrogance of the National Party members and how out of touch they are with many many New Zealanders who work much harder frankly than many people in this House and who cannot get enough money from their wage or salary to give their families the opportunities that many of us have just taken for granted like the opportunity to get a higher education and the opportunity to get into a job that is challenging and satisfying and gives people value in their wage packet that is comparable to what they are putting into our economy.Many people have had that opportunity taken away from them by the National-led Government. Its members are out of touch with many many New Zealanders and that is where the truth will come to bite them because those are the New Zealanders who choose our Government. Later on this year whether it is September October orNovember they will cast their ballot in favour of the party that they know represents their voice and understands their lives—and that certainly is not National. I know that it is Labour.Labour wants an economy that works for all New Zealanders. We do have growing inequality in New Zealand for retired people for middle-income earners and for young families. It is now harder and harder for them to pay their bills and live a quality life. They do not want to go to Hawaii for a holiday necessarily. That would probably be the icing on the cake but what they would like is at least one layer of the cake one slice of it to give their life some added value to have some good times and to not have every day with just enough to get by or perhaps not even that much. At the same time they are seeing people on really high incomes getting massive pay increases and bonuses. That does not equate to a fair or a just society.In New Zealand we used to be so proud of so many things. We used to be so proud of being an egalitarian society where it did not matter where you were born or what state your family was in at the time—you would have access to early childhood education you would have access to a high-quality local school a public education system and you would be able to afford to go to a polytechnic or a university and have a really good chance at a decent job in the future. For many people that is just off their menu now. This National-led Government has taken that chance away from so many people—that opportunity for everyone to be the best they can possibly be because of the collective services that we provide them with whether it is through the education system whether it is through the health system or whether it is through social housing. Those supports give people the chance to give back to their country everything that they are capable of and that is the opportunity that is gone.One of the other things that New Zealanders feel very passionate and proud about is our environment. I have been just appalled at the lack of passion from the National Party for anything in the environmental space. We used to boast about our clean green image and John Key even dissed that. He said: “Forget about that. It’s not real; it’s just a marketing slogan.” He told the world that we did not have a clean green country that it was just a marketing slogan. And actually it is getting closer and closer to the truth. We have seen our water quality standards degraded. We have seen the lack of protection of our national parks. We nearly had mining in our most precious parts of the country. If it was not for 40000 Aucklanders who cared passionately about Great Barrier Island and Coromandel mining in the most precious parts of New Zealand would have gone ahead. Thank goodness that the Government listened—just that single time—to the voices of New Zealanders.We have also seen a complete undermining of the principles of the Resource Management Act in some areas. We have seen it in the exclusive economic zone in the lack of passion and commitment and certainly in the lack of action from the fisheries Minister and the Minister of Conservation for protection of the Māui’s dolphins. There are 55 Māui’s dolphins left—not just only around New Zealand but on the planet—but this Government has failed to take any decisive action in order to protect that species. I think that is a disgrace. What will happen to the New Zealand reputation that we have been so proud of in the past if this Government oversees the extinction of that species? It is a disgrace. It is so irresponsible it is so arrogant and it is so out of keeping with the pride and passion that New Zealanders have in their society and in our environment.Labour has been putting up some good alternatives and I was delighted to see David Cunliffe’s first announcement—and it will be the first of many this year—being a strong commitment to New Zealanders who have young families. That is a very good place to start and it was very appropriately named Best Start because that is what Labour wants to give every child who is born in New Zealand—the best start. I am surethat “Maurice Richardson” would agree with that commitment. I am sure that he would agree with the principle of giving every New Zealand child the best start so that is an important package.I just want to conclude by looking at the state that the National-led Government is in now. I remember John Key boasting about how he would provide New Zealand with a stable Government. We have got the Māori Party which has been roundly criticised by its own supporters for propping up a Government that has done so much damage to Māori around New Zealand. The party itself is very torn about that. It thinks it gets more by being in coalition but actually the price of that support is far too high in my view. The price of supporting damage to your own constituency is a price that I do not think should ever be paid.John Banks is up in court for forgetting he got massive donations from Kim Dotcom who is a very big man. He lives in a massive mansion—an extraordinary place—with his wife. John Banks flew in a helicopter to have lunch with this very large German man with a really unusual name got the cheque and then forgot it. Perhaps he does that quite regularly. I actually do not go out to lunch at a mansion in North Auckland to get a cheque from Kim Dotcom very often but perhaps John Banks does it so often he forgot about it. So that is another coalition partner and now we have got John Key giving Peter Dunne back his job.Again today the question and answer session at Parliament at 2 p.m. provided very little relief about what Peter Dunne actually had as his involvement with the Kitteridge report. John Key is now reneging on his previous criticism of Winston Peters and offering him a lifeline. This is not the stable Government that we were promised. It is arrogant and out of touch.