Adams Amy: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAdams Amy: General Debate[Sitting date: 15 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9944. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for the Environment): It seems to me that it is becoming clearer and clearer that we have two types of Opposition party in this House now. We have the type whose members inhabit “Planet Labour” who should know better actually. They have been in Government—heaven knows how they got there but they have been in Government—they do know what it takes to run a country they do know what is involved yet they will just say anything to get back in power. They know better and they should do better but frankly for them being back in power means that they will sell their souls and do what it takes to get there.Then we have their friends the Greens—we have their friends the Greens. The Greens patently have no understanding—no understanding—of what it takes to run acountry no understanding of how an economy works. They patently have no idea about how you create jobs and what you actually have to do to create opportunity and prospects and no idea that the path out of poverty—the only path—is to get into work to create jobs and to help people into those jobs. They clearly have no idea what they are doing or what it takes to run a country and that is becoming clearer by the day.The reality is that if you want to make an actual difference to the lives of New Zealanders you have to do something as a Government. You cannot spend 9 years as Labour did issuing reports working out strategies empowering working groups and sitting around and talking about what you might do one day. You have to actually make a difference and that is what this Government has spent the last 4½ years doing. Tomorrow’s fifth Budget from Bill English will be a continuation of that.Increasingly we have a very obvious difference between the Government and the parties that support the National-led Government and the Opposition—the Labour-Green Opposition. Increasingly it is clear that what used to be a party of the centre-left is now swinging out to a Chávez-style Opposition controlled by Russel Norman and Metiria Turei. That is the clear difference now facing New Zealand.We have an Opposition that is totally unconcerned about the damage it does to New Zealand—totally unconcerned. It does not care about our reputation and how it damages it. It does not care about our attractiveness to investment. It does not care about our ability to create opportunities. It is all about Opposition members doing whatever they have to do to get their hands back on the levers. They are shameless self-serving power hungry and indulgent—and that is just David Cunliffe. Labour is a party that has shown that it is totally unfit to lead.Meanwhile we are getting on with it. We are getting on with it every day as we have done since 8 November 2008 and tomorrow’s Budget will continue to do that. We understand that to have jobs to have opportunities and to raise incomes you have to create an environment where business is able to invest where investment wants to put down roots in New Zealand and we are doing what we can to make that happen. Every time we do—every single initiative that creates jobs—the Opposition opposes it. Every time we come up with sensible strategies that will mean more jobs more opportunities for New Zealanders here in New Zealand and better outcomes for our people to stay in New Zealand Labour and the Greens oppose it.One of the big changes that we are looking to make is reforming the Resource Management Act not to lower environmental protections but to ensure that there is much greater certainty and that it does not take years and years and years and millions and millions of dollars to get decisions. Just recently we have had the Statistics New Zealand report come out. That indicated that in the last 2 years alone up to $800 million worth of projects had been cancelled mostly due to concerns about the uncertainty with the process. They know what the rules are they know what the standards are that they have to meet but there is a complete lack of clarity and too much time and cost involved in the process. That means less choice for New Zealanders.Getting the Resource Management Act right is about more jobs cheaper houses and more certainty for communities and it is not about throwing moneys into the pockets of consultants lawyers and planners. It is about ensuring that the system works for us and looks after the needs of New Zealanders. We are prioritising it. This is a Government of action. We have done more in environmental protection and freshwater management than any Government has ever done. That is the difference between a John Key - led Government that makes a difference and a Labour-Green Opposition that cares about nothing but itself.