Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Mr Speaker I want to start with acknowledgments to you as the Speaker and just remark on how incredibly different the tone of this place is with you sitting in that Chair and on a personal note say how fantastic it was to promote the South Waikato as MPs for the district earlier this year.In this adjournment debate it's very easy to talk about promises not kept like the 100000 KiwiBuild homes—what are we at 1600?—the 100000 children that were meant to be lifted out of poverty—and actually the number has gone up; the protests that are unlike anything New Zealand has seen. I could talk about all of the things and areas in which New Zealand is going backwards under this Government but actually I think Christopher Luxon did an incredible job of laying out those areas.So instead I want to focus on the areas that should unite us rather than divide us because if anything stands out for 2022 it has been a year of divisions—fractures in our country fractures in our communities fractures in our families—that I think have been incredibly distressing for many not only in this House but across our land. And I don't think we could have a day without acknowledging the hurt and anguish that has come from those times. So I think instead I want to just challenge this House to think about how we can lead better how we can unite better how we can learn and lead the way for others.I think one of the things that has not been something we should be proud of is the significant way that this House has resorted to playing the man and not the ball and I don't think that is a good measure of our democracy. We sat here in this House at 8 o'clock this morning joined by a speaker a leader of a country that is embroiled in the fight of its life literally. We should be reflecting on what democracy is all about so petty politics playing the man and not the ball I don't think does us any service.Instead if you think about what happened in Parliament last night—Harmony in the House the many parliamentary sports that we engage in together the cross-party groups the friendship groups the international visitors the international visits that many go on—those are the parts of our Parliament that I wish more New Zealanders could see because that is the functioning of a strong democracy and we must do everything possible to protect it.I think it also speaks to the unique situation we have at the moment of a majority party in Government for the first time ever. I think that raises the bar and the expectations about the role of Labour in protecting our democracy as we go into the election next year. I would suggest that we should be collectively lifting the bar and I challenge Labour to make sure it is a fair fight because New Zealanders deserve that. So my challenge is that we play the ball and not the man next year and we focus on protecting our democracy and focus on the people that we all individually serve because every single one in this House came to serve the people of New Zealand. We couldn't do it without all of the people in this building—all of our staff in the electorate offices and as others have mentioned actually the volunteers in the political parties that we are all respectively part of. We can't serve anyone without the support of those people and the families who miss out on many occasions because we are serving our community and our country.I want to finish by saying the cost of living crisis hurts real people so I want to finish with a heartfelt thankyou to all of the people who are at the front line of social services whether they work in public agencies Government departments or whether they work in the community because they are the people that will be dealing with the New Zealanders who are hurt the most and challenged the most by this cost of living crisis. So I do wish everyone in this House a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and I look forward to a challenging 2023 but a fair fight as we go into election 2023.