Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker and I really mean thank you. Normally at this time of year I have to devote the last minute of my adjournment debate speech to castigating the Speaker for the erosion of the mana of this great House. This year I can start my speech by genuinely thanking you for the extraordinary mana restoration project that you have carried out making this House a place where we are very happy to be members again. In that spirit I now present fresh off the press new literature penned by somebody shall we say with far too much humility and far too much kindness to claim authorship. It reads: 'Twas was the night before Christmas and all through the house Kiwis now can sleep easy politicians clear out. With our heads on our pillows we all sigh At last! For this Christmas no single new law will be passed. No more tax on our income no more tax on our homes. For the first time this year Labour leaves us alone. We can rest in our homes and hold on to our things With no fear of new tax grabs this Government brings." But this year Santa's sack maybe feels slightly lighter With a year of new laws Labour's signed in just to spite ya. With the cost of our living gone up the wazoo We're all doing it tough and we feel it too. But this Christmas one sack is the biggest of all: "Greedy Grinch Grabby Grant" and his record tax haul. When you're squeezed at the petrol pump though it sounds daft For each litre you buy the "Grinch Labour" takes half. For each purchase you make they take 15 percent At least 15 percent of each dollar you've spent."But that's not enough" they say "We must ensure If you want booze or ciggies you'll pay even more." They scheme up new taxes with greedy eyes shrewd; "Our farmers make carbon so let's tax the food." It's no wonder you've got so little left With the steep price of carbon they'll soon tax your breath.So our hard-working Kiwis must learn to be tight While the "Grinch Labour" spends on whatever's in sight Bike lanes and bus lanes and Teslas for a few And the hard workers footing these bills—they are you. Like the cycle bridge pipedream which cost $50 million Paid for by overtaxed suffering civilians. And what's your reward for this spending fixation? Wrapped up under the tree you'll find record inflation.When ACT brings this up we get circumlocution. The "Grinch" finds excuses where ACT finds solutions. "But Putin but COVID!" the Government drools And are they the Grinch who stole Christmas or the boy who cried wolf?But Kiwis rest easy they're taking a break. This summer your freedom is not theirs to take. And if it seems this is too dark a reflection There's one great silver lining: next year's an election.I give that new literature as a gift to this Parliament in the spirit of Christmas and I'd like to now thank all of those who make our democracy possible starting with those here in Parliament with ACT's fantastic staff. If you were at Harmony in the House last night you would have seen some wonderful contributions that reflect the culture of our team: our comms team outreach research and most of all the A-team. We have had a fantastic year with a highly engaged team of which I'm enormously proud not to mention those in my Epsom electorate office who I believe are running the best electorate and community office in the country. There are all those who work across Parliament and in the library the messengers the cleaners security the clerks the House Office the select committee staff and—often forgotten—the Auditor-General the Ombudsman and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. All those people contribute to this democracy through our Parliament. Then there are those who make our democracy possible outside the parliamentary apparatus. I want to thank my electorate committee particularly the likes of John Windsor the kind of person without whom democracy is not possible. I want to thank our board our council—not paid positions but people that volunteer to make political parties function. Finally our members our volunteers our donors—all those people that make the ACT Party not only survive but thrive and grow year after year. I particularly want to thank those in the press gallery. It is a thankless job. This is a tough time for democracy around the world. It is a time when people are very quick to blame and too slow to believe and as Mark Twain I think once said often it's easier to fool someone than show that they've been fooled. I believe—and I say this up and down the country—that our press gallery under trying circumstances are doing their best and are contributing to our democracy. However I do have at least one gripe. For a gallery journalist who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become obvious when reporting on ACT's MPs I want to make something clear: this is Nicole McKee and this is Karen Chhour. Now some people might understand the mistake but actually I don't because they've performed extensively well and that particular journalist—who then said "Well it's hard to tell the difference."—ought to pay a bit more attention to telling the difference. They will remain nameless for ever. Their secret is safe with me. I'm so proud of these two and we thought we needed to point it out. Actually ACT's whole team—Brooke van Velden the No. 1 first-term MP according to our most senior journalist. Hasn't she grown into the role as our deputy and whip? Nicole: tough diligent and also a top 10 rookie. A first termer and someone who has stood up for licensed firearm owners in spite of onerous and technical regulations. Chris Baillie: a teacher a former cop and a small-business owner standing up with deep and intimate knowledge for each of those areas of society. Simon Court produced serious policy proposals. It took a year and it's a big deal in terms of a genuine alternative approach to resource management in New Zealand. James McDowall—what an effort. I've always recommended a bit of door-knocking and that Hamilton West result shows that he has come of age as a politician and ACT will be here to play next year. Karen Chhour: her fierce passionate defence of the welfare of children is something to behold and I'm so proud of what she has done. And out in the country out on the farms out by the fence posts up and down New Zealand there is no harder-travelling or harder-working backbench MP in New Zealand in my view than Mark Cameron. He will show up for the opening of a woolshed and he frequently does. Then there's Toni Severin who is quietly torpedoing numerous things that Kelvin Davis has done or often not done when it comes to running corrections correctly. Then there's Damien Smith the Renaissance man who is not only the best singer but one of the best financial commentators in Parliament. I think most importantly that when it comes to people who make our democracy possible I want to thank the people of New Zealand—the people who at the moment are facing serious challenge. Even the Prime Minister accepted it. Terrible roads rising prices spiralling lawlessness—the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders now tell the pollsters this country is going in the wrong direction under this country and I want to say to those people that we hear you. We understand those challenges. We don't just criticise the other side who would like to say that it's all someone else's fault but we actually propose a better way forward. That is our proposition to you in 2023—not just change because we hear you and we know that you need change but we are proposing real change. It's not just the same old but a New Zealand where once again people who wake up to make a difference in their own lives and a difference in the lives of those that they care about can actually achieve and make and build a better tomorrow and not be beaten down endlessly for trying to make that difference. That is the promise of ACT and our team of which I am so proud. All that remains is to wish all of Parliament a very merry Christmas: those I agree with those I disagree with those who speak to me kindly and those who don't. At the end of the day there is something enormously Kiwi about the intimacy and proximity of our politics—the fact that we are ultimately all New Zealanders who put aside all personal and private interests to make sure that this great liberal democratic First World nation in an Island paradise has a future. To all of those people who come to work towards that dream I wish you a very merry Christmas time and sun with your family and friends and all the best of luck for 2023. Thank you Mr Speaker."