Key John: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKey John: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 21 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:18. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):Annette King deserves some congratulations because I tell you what—that speech lasted longer than the average tenure of a Labour leader these days. “No fish” was my favourite part of the speech. Can I take this moment to congratulate all members of the House on their election and in some cases re-election. For those who are here for the first time can I wish them the best for the next 3 years. I hope that they enjoy it. I hope they enjoy the excitement of making a difference. Can I offer them the same advice that I offer members of my own caucus who are new: avoid making the mistake of walking over broken glass to come to this Parliament moaning and complaining the whole time you are here and then when you leave doing everything you can to come back. Enjoy your time make a difference and make sure you look after your families.It is my pleasure to lead the Government of the 51st Parliament. It has I have got to say a certain déjà vu about it. We seem to be returning where we left off although the composition of the National caucus is slightly different and it is slightly larger. But once again it is full of unity passion determination and a commitment to continue to work for New Zealand. We return to the 51st Parliament with very much the same partners we had in the 49th and the 50th Parliaments. One partner is the ACT Party and we thank it and David Seymour for the relationship I am sure we will have together. One is United Future and Peter Dunne and we thank Mr Dunne for the strong working relationship. We look forward to that in the years ahead. We wish the Māori Party and its newly elected leader Te Ururoa Flavell the very best. Together we will work hard to provide a strong and stable Government. Together we will work hard to deliver even better results when it comes to economic growth in terms of lifting more children out of poverty and ensuring that more families move into work in terms of continuing to improve the quality of our critical services of health and education and in terms of continuing to see the crime rate fall. That is the National caucus and the members who support it.That is not the sorry state of the Labour Party. Labour members started the election with a leader whom—let us be blunt—none of them liked and they ended the election with a leader whom none of them can name and that is because they do not have one. They do have wannabe leaders. Yep there is some risk actually that they will have more wannabe leaders than people who actually voted for them in 2014. It is I have got to say and has been over the last 3 weeks or so the gift that keeps on giving. It is a sort of soap opera playing out on TV every night—a cross between The Blacklist and House of Cards set in Wellington.Of those wannabe leaders first out of the blocks of course was Grant Robertson freshly minted may I say in the pages of Woman’s Weekly with his loyal—a word not often used in the Labour Party—deputy leader Jacinda Ardern. The next contestant of course is Andrew Little a man who singlehandedly managed to turn the marginal seat of New Plymouth into a National stronghold that is now brilliantly represented by Jonathan Young. Then of course there is David Parker who apparently has worked out in some sort of epiphany that no one likes Labour’s policies. Well hello! I could have told Labour that 6 years ago. But he has come up with a brilliant idea. He is going to copy Colin Craig. I kid you not. He is going to have a referendum. It will go like this: do you want to pay more taxes? I do not think so. Do you want pay more for your electricity? I do not think so. Do you want to lose your job? I do not think so. Do you want to lose your inheritance? I definitely do not think so. Or do you want all of the above? And the final contestant they have of course is Nanaia Mahuta. Let us be blunt: the affiliates will not vote for her the party will not vote for her and the caucus will not vote for her.So sadly the batch of wannabe leaders is not the future leader of the Labour Party and we know that. It is the next batch because—do not fret—there is another batch sitting behind them. There is David Shearer who was white-anted by David Cunliffe—OK. There was Phil Goff who was also white-anted by David Cunliffe. There was David Cunliffe who was white-anted by everyone other than David Cunliffe. But my favourite the dark horse of all of them—and let us be honest it is spoken of quietly in circles around the Labour Party—is Stuart Nash. It is Stuart Nash and you will know when the leadership bid is on—I thought it was actually on for David Clark yesterday with that jacket very nice—for Stuart Nash when you go on to TradeMe and you see one thing and that is when he stops riding around in his fire engine and replaces it with an ambulance which he knows he needs to take to the Labour Party caucus because it is a train wreck going on over there.This is a Government that is very very firmly focused on the issues that matter to New Zealanders. That is why this Government was re-elected for a third time. It was a Government that brought to the people of New Zealand credible sound policies that are working and delivering for the people of New Zealand. The policies start with the economy. This is a Government that will return the books to surplus and this is a Government that will continue to work hard to meet the Crown objective of getting debt down to 20 percent of GDP by 2020. This is a Government that will ensure that we spend taxpayers’ money wisely because we know how hard they work for those taxpayer dollars. This is a Government that in 2015 and 2016 will reduce ACC levies for New Zealanders so that they can have their money returned to them.This is an economy that is growing strongly at 3.9 percent to June and has created 83000 jobs in the last 12 months. It is an economy where wages are rising faster than inflation an economy that is the envy of so many countries around the world and one that is underpinned by good solid economic policy. It has a Business Growth Agenda with 350-odd initiatives which are transforming our economy into a modern outward-facing competitive economy that is not only competing but succeeding on the world stage. Part of that integration with the world comes with our free-trade agreements and this is a Government that is working hard to finalise a free-trade agreement with Korea and one that will work hard to see a conclusion to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is also a Government that will work hard to get the Gulf States agreement over the line. As part of working hard with New Zealand businesses we will continue to expand the activities of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise so that our companies—large and small—can have access to the international markets and the huge consumer base that is supporting them.If you want to have an economy that delivers results and opportunities for all New Zealanders you need flexibility in the labour markets. This is a Government that will pass the employment relations legislation to increase flexibility and fairness in the labour market and it is long overdue.Andrew Little: It’ll drive down the wages.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well that is exactly right. Andrew Little is the man who wants to lead the Labour Party and who wants to rob young New Zealanders of opportunities by taking away the 90-day probation period by having national awards by jacking up the minimum wage to a rate that is unaffordable—it is a step backward not forward for the young people of New Zealand. We will continue as a Government to work hard in the areas of health and safety and the environment and we will make sure that parents have more time to spend with their youngsters by extending paid parental leave from 14 weeks to 18 weeks and by increasing the parental tax credit for families that do not get paid parental leave.Across the country we see businesses doing better. We see businesses strongly investing and we will continue to fund more in the way of science and innovation and research and development grants. We will be establishing a food and safety science and research centre as well as four additional centres of research excellence. One of the saddest things that I had to confront on the election campaign was the rhetoric from David Cunliffe trying to tell New Zealanders that this was a country that only sold milk powder and logs. It was a complete disservice to those companies right across New Zealand that are innovating in so many different facets are proud to be New Zealanders and are taking their great businesses to the world and we will continue to grow more of them.Speaking of taking New Zealand to the world what we are going to take to the world or at least to Australia is job fairs in Sydney in Melbourne and in Brisbane just in case there are a few New Zealanders who deserted ship under the previous Labour Government and have not recognised how strong New Zealand is under a National-led Government and want to come back. I say to them with open arms: “Come home. Come home to New Zealand. Come home to New Zealand.” There is a shortage of skills in so many areas and we would like to have those New Zealanders return.I am the Minister of Tourism and I am proud to see tourism continuing to grow here in New Zealand. There were 2.8 million international visitors who came to our shores for the year ending 2014—an increase of 4.9 percent. We are seeing an increase in a range of different areas from business to high end to those who come for sporting interests and those who come for cultural experiences. We are seeing a significant increase—30-odd percent—year on year from China. By the end of the third term of this National-led Government I am pretty confident that we will see those international business tourists going off to the Skycity convention centre paid for not by the taxpayer creating thousands of jobs and millions of opportunities for New Zealanders. And just like the Christchurch Convention Centre that will also be a piece of infrastructure that is taking place.This is a Government that one day will be remembered for building infrastructure in so many different forms and one of them is certainly roading. Unlike so many political parties that do not seem to understand that you need to move both cars and public transport on roads we do. This will be a Government under the leadership of Simon Bridges as the Minister of Transport that will continue to see important roads built in this country including the Pūhoi to Wellsford road. We will start to see the construction on Pūhoi to Warkworth. I did not see a single Labour member during the election campaign get up and say that they were going to be the ones to stop Transmission Gully. They did not want to say that.Hon Nathan Guy: They were silent.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: They were silent like little lamb chops on that particular issue but do not worry. The people of Wellington and the Hutt understood that and they voted National and yes Transmission Gully will be beginning as will be the completion of MacKays to Peka Peka. The Waikato Expressway—we will see a completion of the Cambridge bypass and we will start to see the construction on the Huntly and Hamilton bypass. When I first kicked off in 2008 the ambitious plans we had for the Waikato Expressway I could only dream that I would be there when it finished but the way things are going I may well be and it may well be extended all the way through to Whangarei and maybe even Cape Reinga. I do not really know but it will be four lanes each way I am absolutely sure by that point. And of course there are those regional roading projects that I announced. So many of them will be happening. There is $100 million for urban cycleways. We will be working hard with the transport authority to make sure there is more money spent on urban cycleways and we are doing well there.Connectivity is important to a small and growing economy whether you are bringing educational services health services or business to the world. I am proud to be leading a Government that had the courage to stand up and roll out ultra-fast broadband. I was proud to be the leader of the National Party as we campaigned across the country to extend ultra-fast broadband to 80 percent of New Zealanders and to extend the rural broadband initiative. That extension of ultra-fast broadband will see towns like Te Puke Motueka Morrinsville Kaitāia Ōtaki Dannevirke Alexandra Stratford Carterton Westport Te Kūiti and Wairoa all getting ultra-fast broadband. We will see more money spent on black spots for phones.When it comes to the environment this Government has a good record but yes we will be introducing legislation to amend the Resource Management Act. I just heard I think Annette King the “Acting Acting Leader of the Labour Party” saying that—Hon Annette King: Yes but it’s the “Acting Acting Deputy Deputy Leader”.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well the “Acting Acting Deputy Leader” I am sorry—I stand corrected. The “Acting Acting Deputy Leader” of the Labour Party said in her extended tenure address that she would stand opposed to reform of the Resource Management Act. That is the reason why house prices doubled under Labour. So Labour members can scream from their lungs when they go out there as they did during the campaign trail but not a single New Zealander watching TV really believed that they were going to produce 100000 homes built by the Government on mythical bits of land for unbelievable amounts of money. No one believed it. If you want houses to be built faster as we all do reform of the Resource Management Act is critically important. We need to balance our environmental responsibilities with our economic opportunities.This is a Government with a good record when it comes to the environment. There is $350 million committed to cleaning up iconic waterways. We have seen 23000 kilometres of waterways fenced to exclude stock so far and we will see all of that completed by 2017. Again on the campaign trail I was proud to announce the $100 million that we are going to invest to buy and retire areas of selected farmland next to important waterways. My particular favourite actually in this area came one Sunday afternoon when I had the privilege of going down to the harbour in Auckland to announce that we would be establishing recreational fishing parks in the Hauraki Gulf. I heard Winston Peters cheering all the way from Herne Bay when I announced that. He is a man who loves to catch a snapper. He loves to catch a snapper. He said to himself: “That John Key I tell you—I don’t agree with everything but Johnny boy’s on to it there. I’m going to catch a few snapper.” In fairness he did not know he was going to have quite so much time on his hands between 2014 and 2017 to catch his snapper but he will and if he wants to go down south he can go to the Marlborough Sounds because there will be a recreational fishing park there as well.When it comes to health this is a Government spending more money on health than ever in the history of this country. But it is not just about spending money; it is about getting a good result and we have got great results. Again one of the things we announced on the campaign trail was what we are doing for New Zealanders who are diagnosed with cancer. I think there is not a New Zealand family that has not been touched by someone who has passed away from cancer. At the moment the average time from the doctor’s diagnosis to the first treatment is 62 days. Under this Government we are going to work hard to make sure that 90 percent of patients receive their first cancer treatment within 62 days. That is something that New Zealand families will welcome. We are going to extend free GP visits and prescriptions for children under the age of 13. We are also going to continue to expand the number of elective surgical operations that are undertaken. The last point I would make is that we are going to continue to increase funding for hospices by $20 million a year.We hear a lot of nonsense spoken in this House by Opposition parties. One of the things that I am sure we will hear a lot of over the course of the next few months is when they stand up and say that they do not support professional development of our teachers. They will not say for one moment that a good teacher should actually get paid more to stay in the classroom than to go through the only career path they can which is to leave the classroom to get more money. They will not support more money going to those principals who will leave high-performing schools and take their skills to low-performing schools. If those members of Parliament believe that they want New Zealand to be a true egalitarian society then they have got to stop the nonsense of stopping the current situation of great principals not transferring to those schools. We have to deliver change in our education system and we will.This is a Government that will stand up for those families who have a child with special needs by funding up to 800000 more teacher aide hours at $18 million a year. There will be more funding to support deaf and hearing-impaired children. There will be more money spent on Māori and Pacific trades training. There will be more money spent on training our engineers. There will be more money spent on new schools and classrooms right across our country particularly in Christchurch and Auckland.When it comes to welfare reform I want to acknowledge the achievements of the previous Minister for Social Development the Hon Paula Bennett and say that we have now got to a situation where I think the settings in our welfare system are set in broadly the right place. We are seeing tremendous results. Benefit numbers are falling. We now have the lowest number of sole parents on a benefit in this country since 1988—the lowest number since 1988. We have 30000 fewer children living in benefit-dependent households compared with 2 years ago. One of the things that worked tremendously over the last 3 years was when we extended the Youth Service approach to 16 17 and 18-year-old mothers. We put in a wraparound service for those young mums. We made sure there was someone to walk that journey with them. We made sure that they were enrolled in education that they had support for budgeting and that they had advice about parenting. There were incentive payments made to those young mums. Do you know what happened as a result of that? We have seen a 40 percent reduction of young mums who are now on that extended Youth Service approach—a 40 percent reduction. This was the single approach that came out of that—a plea by those young mums for us to extend that programme to 19-year-olds and that is exactly what we are doing.I remember when we got up and talked about the 3K to Christchurch—giving people $3000 to move to Christchurch if they came off a welfare benefit. That has been an overwhelming success and it may well be something that we try to do in other parts. When it comes to children who live in poverty I say this: we are deadly serious about continuing our work there but the fastest way out of poverty is into work. Make no mistakes—the fastest way out of poverty is into work. Yes we will spend some time defining the group that we are talking about but that has been the problem of the Labour Party of the past. Far too much time was spent on definitions; not enough time was spent on actually doing something. This Government is going to get out there and continue to work hard for those who are the most vulnerable and most at risk in our community.When it comes to housing that is an issue that worries New Zealanders and I accept that issue but that has been a very longstanding issue in our major cities for quite some time particularly in Auckland but it is this Government that has had the courage to actually stand up and have the special housing areas. There are eighty of those special housing areas. There will be thousands and thousands and thousands of homes established within those special housing areas. Young New Zealanders will get the chance to get into those homes through the Homestart loans programme where a couple who put their money into their KiwiSaver account will be able to withdraw their employer contribution their own contribution and the Government’s contribution. They will have up to $50000-odd as a deposit which will be wrapped around a Welcome Home Loan. It will present more than enough for them to buy a house in many locations around the country including Auckland I believe. We will see builders starting to build for that demand that is there.We will be looking to extend the social housing area and there will be some changes in the mix of ownership between Housing New Zealand homes and social housing that is provided by other providers like Presbyterian Support and others. That is a very credible policy that is working extremely well in a place like Australia. I say this to those who will oppose it—like those in the Labour Party because we have already heard it in the “Deputy Deputy Leader’s” speech—what do those people want? Do they actually want a house or do they want to know whether it is owned by Presbyterian Support or the Government? It is pretty simple—they want a home. This will be a Government that will be working hard through the work we have already done around income-related rents to ensure that more at-risk families do get the opportunity to live in a home. We will be working hard to make sure that interest rates remain low and that we challenge all the areas of the building and construction sector. But one of those important parts of ensuring the housing affordability is under control is to reform the Resource Management Act and make sure we deliver those houses.Law and order is an issue that matters to a great many New Zealanders and with very good reason. I am proud to lead a Government that has got a crime rate at a 35-year low. That has been a lot of hard work from a huge number of Ministers our caucus and those who work in the sector. Again this has been a Government that has recognised what those drivers of crime are whether it has been drug or alcohol abuse. This has been a Government that has made sure that those prisoners who go into a corrections facility do get access to a drug and alcohol programme. This is a Government that has turned three of our prisons into working prisons. Again during the campaign trail I had the opportunity to go out to the Wiri Prison to see that public-private partnership in action and see the magnificent facilities they are building out there—a huge big trade training facility is being built out there. We will make sure that every prison is a working prison because we know that when a prisoner gets the drug and alcohol treatment and when they get the skills then there is a much lower chance that they will be recidivist and go back to prison. We know that there is a great chance that they will turn their lives around and make something of their lives by ensuring that they stay in the workforce and not in prison. So that is going to be part of what we will do around law and order.When it comes to Māori development I look to my left and see Mr Finlayson who as I have said on numerous occasions will go down as the greatest Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations in the history of New Zealand. He has undertaken more claims. He has signed 46 deeds of settlement. The Labour Government managed 25 in its entire 9 years. If the Labour Government had still carried on at that rate it would have taken until 2060 to see those claims completed. The other great work that Chris Finlayson is undertaking is in relation to the Ture Whenua Maori Act where we will see an opportunity to unlock some of that land that can be used for the development of the iwi for job development and for the enrichment of the communities. Eighty percent of the 1.5 million hectares is in that position. We will see more young Māori getting opportunities. We are already seeing more achieving with National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2 and bachelor’s degrees and above. We will see a continued commitment to Whānau Ora.I just want to finish briefly if I may on a couple of issues. The first is in relation to the United Nations Security Council and the obligations that New Zealand has in 2015-16 to discharge its responsibilities wisely. We will be doing that. I congratulate as I already have the team that made that possible. But the second big issue that is worthy of some discussion is what is happening in Iraq and Syria at the moment in relation to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We can turn our eyes away from that situation if we want to but I tell New Zealanders with great honesty that we face international risks we face regional risks and there is a very real risk that we may one day face a domestic risk. We have to play our part in some form. We have not made a decision what that part might be like. There is a very wide range. We will continue to engage with the other political parties including the Labour Party. We are more than happy to share as much information as we practically can when we have it. There is a wide range of options available to New Zealand. But I really believe that when the Opposition parties have the benefit of understanding all of the information that the Government understands I will be absolutely amazed if they actually stand back and say that we are going to leave all of that not just to our traditional friends like Australia the United States the United Kingdom and Canada but to so many other countries whether they be countries like the Netherlands or others like France or Germany. New Zealand has to play its part but it needs to think through that very wisely.Finally over the course of the next few years there will be an opportunity for the New Zealand public to decide on whether they want to change the flag. I personally believe that the flag should be a visual representation of modern New Zealand. I believe that if New Zealanders choose wisely and decide to change their flag it will be like Canada the week after it changed its flag from what was a flag that used to look a lot like the New Zealand flag except it was red. Canada changed it to the maple leaf. I think you will struggle to find a Canadian who seriously wants to go back to the old flag. Young New Zealanders with pride—like all New Zealanders actually—want to have overt signs of patriotism for this great country. We do that when we put on a piece of clothing that has a silver fern on it. I am pretty indifferent about the background that that silver fern might have but I do think New Zealanders should think wisely and carefully about it. If that debate is not won over the next few years then it will be a good 50 years or so before it is decided again. This debate has been going around for 25 years. I want to achieve something that the Hon Gough Whitlam could not and that is to change our flag. I hope New Zealanders will support that view.We are a National Government working very hard for New Zealand. There is a very big agenda over the next 3 years but we are a Government that is working for New Zealand while we face an Opposition that is in disarray.