Bennett PaulaGENERAL DEBATEHon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Prime Minister): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. What a week we have seen in politics and it has been a week. I am sure the Opposition can appreciate the lows the highs the lows the highs the lows the lows and the lows that it has been going through. As I said you can change the lead singer and the spotlight might go on and the lights might be a bit shiny but if the band is still out of tune then nobody is listening. And the band is not just out of tune; it is actually still playing the same old song. I quite like that the first policy that Jacinda Ardern said she would stick with was R & D tax credits. That is from 2007 guys—2007. Most of the water stuff that we heard today was the same as Labour had in 2014 I have got to say. I think the highlight of it all for me was Saturday's regional fuel tax which was its policy again in 2007. So the song is still the same and I can tell you I do not reckon the public is going to listen for that long. So in the first week—in the first week—we have seen two new taxes be introduced by Labour and those two new taxes are going to put costs on the very people it purports to care most about. Those disadvantaged New Zealanders who are struggling daily—who yes do eat our food and need our farmers to actually produce that for them and who actually do drive their cars—are going to see extra costs on them and their households from the very party that is supposed to be doing the most for them.Man do we have a marriage of convenience that has become very inconvenient and more than a bit awkward I think in the last few days. You know that memorandum of understanding (MOU)? Actually I think MOU now stands for a marriage of unpleasantness" because that is pretty much what it is. We had Andrew Little of course who is the runaway bride—one of I think about four or five we have had so far. Then of course we have got Jacinda Ardern who has stepped up to take his place. Now she has found herself pretty much at the altar with a partner whom there is no way she is in love with. She does not quite know what to do with the other one and it is all starting to get a bit awkward. I am not quite sure whether Metiria is actually going to be at the altar or not. Has that decision really been made? We have still got the co-leader of the Greens who is still the co-leader of the Greens yet not a Minister in any sort of Government—which they have to form together by the way just to get numbers that are anywhere close to being on the Government benches. Well we have not clarified whether or not that member might actually be a Minister outside of Cabinet because we have not actually heard from the Labour leadership—I am looking forward to hearing about that—as to whether or not it is genuinely ruling out Metiria Turei as a Minister outside of Cabinet. I think the public deserves to know that. By her own accountabilities she is not fit to be around the Cabinet table and was withdrawn from that but Labour of course wants to withdraw itself completely from any kind of conversation that goes to it. Literally though the Greens and Labour cannot live without each other and are still going through what I will call their marriage of inconvenience.Then we have got New Zealand First which is there trying to be the backup band trying to say that it has to be around that table. Winston Peters is in the wings trying to make out that he is the one who is actually playing the tune and I am not sure how that is going. The guest list is looking decidedly messy. It is a messy divorce before the dowry has even been paid. It is a messy divorce with no real direction so I look forward to the next few weeks. I look forward to going out there and talking to New Zealanders about what is genuinely important to them—about the growth in this country about the direction that it is going. You will not hear this side saying—as we have heard from Labour members repeatedly they are not sure what to do with the growth so they will just whack on more tax and actually they think we should take a breather. Well this is not about taking a breather; this is actually about driving forward the advantages that this country already has which New Zealanders are up for. What New Zealanders are looking for is leadership and a Government that can really keep them moving in the right direction. To the Opposition: rock on."