Clark DavidHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin): E ngā mana e ngā reo e ngā kārangarangatanga maha o te wā. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. In the late 1990s Nándor Tánczos then a fresh political candidate for a party outside Parliament approached me at Metiria Turei's wedding at which I was officiating. Nandor wanted to attend an event I was running on restorative justice. Judge Fred McElrea Dame Naida Glavish and Rev Douglas Mansill were speaking at St Luke's Church but it was David Lange who packed the church to the rafters. He transfixed the audience speaking with much humour and without notes. To this day I still hear his booming voice when I consulted the audience about extending the session: David just make a decision." It was useful advice then and it proved useful advice when I made it into Cabinet many years later. I was chuffed when the Green Party wrote their first justice policy off the back of that event.I had long known though that my sympathies lay with Labour "fighting for the many and not the few" but it wasn't until I was at Treasury that I joined the Labour Party. Needless to say this was uncommon. However in common with many Treasury officials through the ages I did begin to wonder increasingly why the Minister of Finance was not taking all of my excellent advice! My friend Grant Robertson soon had me out under the cover of darkness installing Marian Hobbs' campaign billboards in 2005. I came out of the political closet later that year when I attended the press gallery drinks in the company of Prime Minister's Office staffers. One of Grant's colleagues Jacinda Ardern had a spare ticket.I eventually found myself working in the Hon David Parker's office. Over a beer at the Occidental Grant had told me that my complete lack of political experience and my background as a Treasury official would not count against me. Two days later I met David at another bar disagreed with him about just about everything and he offered me the job. I had the very real privilege of working alongside David as he designed the world's first emissions trading scheme. In that process he won the political argument for a price on carbon that had earlier been lost with a carbon tax. David you are in this job first and foremost to make a change that matters in people's lives and I hugely respect that. A year out from the 2008 election I returned to Dunedin to run Selwyn College a student hall of residence. I took with me the lesson that change is possible in New Zealand politics.My initial selection as a candidate for Labour came a few years later through the efforts of a team of stalwarts. I want to thank Ruth Chapman Islay Little Ali Jameson Carol Bond Jacques Van der Meer and of course my friend the wonderful Barb Long who brought her incredible energy and focus to chairing my first two campaigns. Dunedin of course is a paradise. Chris Finlayson once told me before he left this place that he loved our city its arts its culture its heritage and in fact he "would consider moving there if it wasn't such a socialist hellhole." Numerous people have reached out to thank me for my service since I announced my retirement but they have things the wrong way around. It is me that wants to thank you the people of Dunedin and its northern satellites for trusting me to represent you for four terms. It has been a privilege. Three local campaigns highlight for me the possibility of positive change in politics. A huge thankyou to Jarred Griffiths without whom the first two would not have been such a success.By 2017 Dunedin was sick of a hospital with asbestos and leaking operating theatres and as a candidate who had run a consistent campaign over more than three years focused on that rebuild of that hospital they supported me to one of the biggest swings to Labour in the country. Very few Ministers then get to run a project in the local community—or not run it but you know—worth a billion dollars. It was deeply satisfying and a deeply satisfying victory by the community for the community. To Pete Hodgson thank you for ensuring that both local opportunities and healthcare outcomes have been maximised in that rebuild. Ours will be the most modern and appropriate hospital the biggest and actually the most expensive—sorry finance Minister—ever built in New Zealand's history. It will be world class. The second local campaign is saving Invermay. Together with Dave Cull the late Mayor of Dunedin the chamber of commerce former AgResearch luminary Jock Allison and others we made videos and broke stories. The Otago Daily Times supported the campaign. The sheep industry got on board; locals liked high-value jobs. The 12000-strong petition was ultimately declared a success with Labour in Government scrapping the plan for AgResearch to disband Invermay.The third local success is the Centre of Digital Excellence—CODE for short. Ahead of the 2017 election Opposition frontbenchers brought ideas to the table to choose a signature policy. I had earnestly been working through the application of bottom-up cluster theory. But it will surprise no one here that I was sent away after this experience and that that economic theory—complete with hypotheticals and ill-defined future rewards—proved no match at all for the competing policy summed up in three words by my more politically astute colleague: "free tertiary education". Chris Hipkins for the win! Both the examples though that I did work up through that theory in Tairāwhiti—the wood cluster and CODE in Dunedin—were further developed funded and implemented in Government and I want to congratulate those others who have made that a success. Alongside the glamour of campaigns sits the Labour Electorate Committee (LEC) who ensure the day-to-day work of the party is kept in order. LEC chairs Anthony Robins Steve O'Connor Karen Heine Marian Hobbs Suzanne Robins Kevin O'Sullivan—thank you. To those who served in my electorate office: Karen Dehn Sally Knox Jo O'Brien Jarred Griffiths Amy Dowdle Darryl Baser Michelle Walsh Frances Griffiths Anna Hoek-Sims and all of those wonderful part-timers—and of course the team who recently won the "superb eco award" for the best electorate office in the country—thank you. Karen Frost Bronson Blackbourn and John McKenzie I am going to miss you guys but with Rachel Brooking on the way I'm confident you are getting an upgrade.Back in Wellington I want to thank Jo Crilly for putting up with my ceaseless demands from Opposition and determination to make a difference even from Opposition on those cold hard benches. Kasper thanks for ushering me out the door with dignity. In 2017 we formed Government. Melissa Turner you are the longest-serving SPS in this place. Having worked with some real characters over three Governments anything after Clayton Cosgrove was going to be a doddle! For your tireless service professionalism loyalty and sense of humour throughout my time in Cabinet—thank you.I started my time as Minister of Health and Associate Minister of Finance with a position that entrenched inequity in health won't be fixed by doing the same things we've always done. I commissioned the Simpson review later taking initial decisions shifting the health system towards greater accountability and a stronger focus on population health. Out of the blocks we set up a programme of work with a focus on primary care mental health and the public delivery of health services and early on I discovered speeches that I delivered with a simple mihi at the start triggered a conversation about equity. Those where I skipped it did not so I quickly adopted a mihi for every occasion. Clinicians get equity and they want to do more of it. Around 50 percent of the opportunity in health is policy; the other 50 percent is the appointment of good people. Unfortunately the Public Service is 99 percent geared up to support policy and that needs to change. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart those leaders who answered my call to become DHB board members and chairs. As promised it is a job where "the pay is terrible but the rewards are in heaven." Thanks to my health associates: Peeni Henare Jenny Salesa and Julie-Anne Genter for sharing the load—you are amazing. Thanks to Stephen McKernan and Ashley Bloomfield for wise and frequent council. You each pre-read a good chunk of the Ministry of Health reports that I'm told can be stacked 2½ Sky Towers high each year. Big decisions must be taken in health quickly; there are many every day. We invested heavily in infrastructure. The He Ara Oranga report led to $1.9 billion in Budget 2019 for mental health and addictions. We funded free access to support for those with mild to moderate mental health needs. We established a suicide prevention office and an action plan. We wrote and passed the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill establishing a permanent independent commission. The Mana Ake primary and intermediate school programme was established in Canterbury and Kaikōura. With Stuart Nash and Police we did a little drug law reform shifting to a health-first response to addiction. We began the Government response to the Havelock North water report. We kicked off medicinal cannabis. We founded a cancer control agency and put a cancer action plan in place. More funding for Pharmac saw several new cancer treatments purchased. We extended the national bowel-screening programme. I kicked off New Zealand's very first national health asset management plan insisting that the state of our health assets should be made transparent and thereby destroying any chance of receiving Christmas cards from future health Ministers! We funded more primary healthcare visits and extended zero fees to 14-year-olds. We made paramedics a regulated workforce recognising their professionalism. Pay equity was provided to mental health support workers and the health workforce grew dramatically. These are some of the highlights of the first two years in Government. They flashed past—we got so much done. To the political team in the health office: Julian Robins Adam Bennett Julia Hayden-Carr Jarred Griffith Bill Frewen Rob Beaglehole Michelle Walsh Morehu Rei and all of the extraordinary private secretaries we work with—thank you.And this was all before COVID-19. During COVID official advice changed every day to reflect emerging science. I remain extremely grateful for the Prime Minister's support of the health measures I proposed early on. In other countries leaders found a balance that turned out to be worse for both health and the economy. In less than six months we established a successful network of community-based assessment centres. The Ministry of Health developed a world-class testing regime with over 400000 tests completed. We established a new national close contact service with its own dedicated IT platform for contact tracing. We moved to a national distribution service for personal protective equipment. We established successful managed isolation in quarantine facilities. We ramped up telehealth services and increased resourcing for public health units; and developed a COVID-19 vaccine strategy. I won't dwell too much on the ups and downs of health Minister No. 40 during the COVID period—much of this has had more or less well-documented coverage in the media—but I do want to place on record my thanks to my Australian federal counterpart Greg Hunt and state counterparts Steven Miles and Brad Hazzard for the frequent and frank exchanges of views and information. Trans-Tasman collaboration was an important ingredient in New Zealand's early success. By June 2020 thanks to the team of 5 million the doctors the nurses the allied health workforce and managed isolation and quarantine workers we had eliminated COVID-19 from New Zealand. And then I resigned.I did not much enjoy returning to the backbenches. I loved health as a portfolio and I had greatly enjoyed working with one of the smartest and most decent people I know Grant Robertson as his associate in the finance portfolio. But I was chuffed to be back in Cabinet after the 2020 election. It turned out that commerce and consumer affairs was a good fit for an activist menace—Minister as a cost of living—Hon Grant Robertson: Menace is right!Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: —or menace depending on your point of view—crisis emerged. Jacinda brought the digital economy and communications portfolios together as a challenge. I was given statistics. I asked for State-owned enterprises (SOEs) too. Shortly thereafter it was suggested I might also take on the Earthquake Commission (EQC). Grant and Jacinda separately assured me that five portfolios would be quite manageable and my staff might have agreed with this assessment if I wasn't inclined to meddle more broadly—speaking of menace!I pushed for a review of SOE recruitment at Treasury which has started a process of change. To support this change my view is that Governments of both stripes need to have courage to pay those appointed to sizeable State-owned enterprises closer to market value in order to ensure talent is made available for appointment from the pool of younger and more diverse candidates who might be supporting a mortgage or a family. Generational legislation and statistics enabling ethical oversight of emerging data collection processes and for Toka Tū Ake EQC to codify current best practice will over time improve the lives of countless New Zealanders. Thanks to Joanna Carr for marshalling the diligent officials who carefully worked through EQC law changes with me. And thanks to the insurance industry for their engagement on the role of Government in a changing insurance market response to floods. Thanks to Mark Sowden and his team at Stats New Zealand for their fine work on census—increased participation rates have not happened by accident.After collaboration with colleagues across portfolios I was just thrilled to launch a digital strategy and action plan together with the digital industry transformation plan. This plan provides a road map to prosperity for New Zealand in a scalable low carbon industry. Cybersecurity is an example of a valuable digital export that leverages New Zealand's trusted brand—more on that shortly—and with no small amount of support from Willie Jackson and Kelvin Davis an enduring agreement was made with Māori regarding interests in the radio spectrum and its opportunities for involvement in the digital economy. That had been an open question since the 1980s.But by far the most high-profile piece of work I've been involved with in this last term of Parliament has been the world-first Grocery Industry Competition Bill. The muscle in the bill is found in the regulatory backstop measures. A huge thankyou to Andy Hume and the team at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. I know you were all super sceptical of my regulatory backstop until interested parties candidly admitted change would never have happened without it and I would have to say this legislation is the very definition of a Government focused on bread and butter issues. I'm also super proud of another world first: the climate disclosures law I shepherded through Parliament—work first kicked off by James Shaw and Kris Faafoi. It will ensure our big companies publicly report on their climate liabilities into the future. Climate disclosure takes our responsibilities seriously. It also positions New Zealand companies well for investment.I want to say a special thanks to the political team for the past three years: Jonathan Gee who helped transition a very reluctant Minister for the digital economy to electronic weekend bags and Sam Farrell for whom everything was "not a problem". What an exciting time across a wide range of portfolios together with Melissa Turner and Greta Eason—a small but perfectly formed team.Our democracy is thin: we have one legislative Chamber and no written constitution. Rob Muldoon used to joke that he could have an idea while shaving in the morning and it would be law by midnight. Geoffrey Palmer called us the fastest lawmakers in the West. The Government's gun law reform was hailed internationally as an example of responsive politics. And despite our vulnerability to the kind of pendulous swing that we saw in the 1980s New Zealand also boasts one of the longest streaks of unbroken democracy in the world. I believe our secret source is to be found in the accessibility of our politicians and the fact that in our form of democracy real change is possible. And when change is possible good people of all political persuasions put themselves forward to be in this political arena. In this sense the thinness of our democracy becomes a strength.But there are many threats to our democracy. Fringe parties have outspent the Labour Party at several elections although failing to achieve a seat. The public have proven sceptical of the influence of money in our political system to date. We must continue to design donations laws to promote civic engagement but guard against foreign influence. We need a strong well-funded fourth estate as well and I congratulate Willie Jackson—again—on his work on the bill that was introduced to the House today to get internet giants Google and Meta supporting the generators of news content that appears on their platforms. This is one path Scott Morrison laid down that we need to follow. In order for our MPs to remain accessible in a way that grows faith in democracy we need to grow the number of politicians in our Parliament in line with population growth. Sound responsive institutions build faith in liberal democracy; crumbling or threatened institutions do not. And that is why malicious State actors increasingly target our democratic institutions through attacks on the vulnerable machinery that supports them which brings me to the last topic: cyber-attacks.As the Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications cyber kept me awake more than I had expected. We need to find a way in my view to declassify more restricted reports so that more Kiwis have a real sense of the real threats to our country and democracy. Like many other countries New Zealand is woefully underprepared for the world we find ourselves in. Overseas health systems have been targeted and whole countries have been taken offline. It doesn't require much to imagine the terrifying consequences of disruption to power and telecommunications systems across New Zealand. We've recently seen that at a regional level. In Singapore they have 3500 people working on digital in their Prime Minister's office including approximately 1800 software engineers; in our Prime Minister's department last time I checked we had 12. Of course the private sector also experiences significant disruption from cyber-attacks. Our biggest high-profile international companies are alert to the risks but many just below the top tier do not have the defensive posture required and supply chains generate risk for even the largest businesses. Parties across this House might consider whether it's time for Government to play a greater role in subsidising cyber-security for private enterprise given that every weak link in the supply chain represents a threat to our country's export earnings and/or our democracy. But in my view an immediate logical step to improve private sector resilience is to place positive obligations on board directors. Cyber-security responsibilities akin to those introduced in the area of health and safety would drive upskilling of boards ensuring better preparedness all the while generating opportunities for workforce development in a high-skill high-wage area of our economy.Finally a few thankyous. To the class of 2011—Megan Andrew and Rino—12 years on I'm the first to leave but I leave knowing we've achieved the enviable status of 100 percent "Hon". To my Opposition bench mates Damien Andrew and Jacinda; in Government Carmel and Ayesha—thanks for your company. Sorry for the hearing loss! Thanks to my Mum and Dad here in the gallery today and my brother and his family in the UK. To my oldest and closest friend Paul: we have time for a whisky now. To my dear friend Daniel who supported me through much of my time in Wellington and whose life was cut short by cancer just before COVID reached New Zealand—I still miss you fella. To my wife: when I first ran for Parliament in 2011 we agreed nine years; it has been 12. I've stretched that agreement far enough. You have sacrificed much in your career as I have pursued this life of service. You have stood by me in good times and in hard times. I love you and I'm coming home. My children have known no different. Amos you were one year old when I was elected to Parliament. I am so looking forward to being home with you—the increased time we have spent hanging out this year has been so precious. Clara I'm really enjoying your musicality and the time we spend at church together. Frances I am looking forward to squashing you more often and yes girls we will have more time for bike riding soon! And—to close—kids I'm looking forward to finally taking that advice you gave me at so many school fairs and other community events: "Dadda no talking just walking." Kia ora koutou.[Applause]Waiata—Te ArohaThe House adjourned at 6.14 p.m."