Dunne Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the HouseText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDunne Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the House[Sitting date: 11 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15507. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): This is the time of year when most people’s minds start to turn towards the coming holiday period and people start to think positively about what next year might bring and some of the things that they might look forward to. It is in that spirit that I want to talk this afternoon. I think it was to some extent put into a little bit of negative perspective by an announcement in this morning’s newspaper that the Wellington City Council is not going to do Christmas this year. Apparently we are not going to have the range of decorations and other Christmas accoutrements that we used to because they are getting a bit worn and untidy and the council does not really feel like replacing them. But I will leave that Grinch-like attitude aside.I want to begin by immediately acknowledging all of the people who make this community tick: the members in this House their staff the library staff the media the cleaners the messengers the security people the catering staff the drivers who bring people to and fro the Speaker’s office the Clerk’s Office—everyone who has an association with this building and all of the people who make Parliament the community that it is. This is a time to acknowledge their contributions and to wish them well for the year ahead.I want to also pay a tribute to Holly Walker. I thought she gave a magnificent speech this afternoon. Although I might have disagreed with one or two of the specific points she made I thought that the spirit in which she delivered it which was really about optimism and hope for the future is the sort of spirit all of us should be nurturing at this time of year. This is the time when we talk about wanting to be with our families we talk about wanting to be with our friends and those who are close to us and we talk about wanting to spend some time winding down relaxing and preparing for the challenges ahead. I think that the challenge is to actually walk the talk to make sure that we do that and to make sure that we recognise that for most New Zealanders the next couple of months are largely a politics-free zone. They will have their discussions over the barbecues and at the beach but they do not want to be intruded upon by politicians grandstanding over the summer period because frankly they have had enough of that over the last 8 or 9 months or a little longer.As we wind this parliamentary year to a close it is important to reflect upon a number of things that have been achieved and a number of challenges that have been put out there and faced up to and also the work that needs to be done in the future. New Zealand at the moment is in a rather extraordinary position. We have come out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We now see some very optimistic forecasts for prolonged economic growth beginning this year and moving into next year and beyond. The challenge as always will be how we as a society work to harness that growth in the best interests of ensuring first its continuity and second that opportunity flows from that for the people of our country.It is worth recalling—and this is a tribute I think to the work of this Government in particular but also its predecessor at the tail end of its reign—that New Zealand never ever stooped to the pits that other countries did in terms of indebtedness in terms of high levels of unemployment and in terms of levels of social dislocation. I think many New Zealanders do not appreciate that and still feel that things were difficult and stressful for them here and they were in many parts. I know it is a limp excuse to say “But they were not as bad as they were in other countries.” but that is also the truth.That is because successive New Zealand Governments although they have their political differences and despite the rhetoric that occasionally gets bandied around in this House have a sense of pragmatism and do operate in what they perceive to be thebest interests of their citizens. By and large—and it is probably the best you can hope for with human beings—they get it right more often than not. That is a good basis for sensible pragmatic Government for the future. It is one on which I think New Zealanders want to see themselves positioned. There will be changes of Government from time to time but actually those changes themselves are fairly constrained. New Zealanders have no love of the extremes and when the extremes start to emerge in politics—be they the left or the right—they are rightly quickly properly pilloried and destroyed. I think next year the next cycle will be no different from what has happened over the last 80 or 90 years in New Zealand.At the end of the day when New Zealanders come to cast their votes and make their choices for the future they will bear in mind some of the sentiments about aspirations for their family and for their children that Holly Walker spoke of. They will not be as interested in some of the sledging the grudging and the sort of silly banter that goes on in this place and that pretends to be sophisticated argument. For most New Zealanders their challenge in life is about getting on for themselves getting a decent start for their kids getting some opportunity and getting the chance simply to enjoy themselves when this time of year comes.My profound hope for New Zealanders over the summer period is that we are able to have a good break; that we are able to enjoy some good company some good fellowship and just some good laughs with the people who are special to us; and that when next year recommences and gets under way we come back reinvigorated for the challenge that lies ahead we come back more confident about our country’s long-term future and direction and we come back determined to play our part. My very best wishes to all members of this House—even the members who are interjecting at the moment—to their families and friends and to all of the people of my electorate ofŌhariu and New Zealand. May 2014 bring you all the things you wish for.