Harawira Hone: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Harawira Hone: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 12 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7481. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Leader—Mana) 
: 
Tena koe. Tena koutou katoa e te Whare. I know that this is a time when MPs traditionally say nice things about one another and wish peace upon the world but 2012 has been a nightmare for a growing population of desperately poor people in this country who have little to celebrate. So I want to dedicate my last words this year to highlighting the plight that they face to challenging a Government that doles out favours to the rich while destroying the futures of those with little future and fewer prospects and to posing alternatives that we might all live with. 
 This Government’s commitment to the free market has not just allowed but actively encouraged businesses like Ports of Auckland and AFFCO to attack unions reduce safety standards and cut wages in their ruthless drive for even greater profit margins. Unemployment has continued to rise. Maori and Pasifika rates continue to be three times higher than those for Pakeha. More and more people are being forced on to benefits as they struggle to cope and the Government’s response has been to cut youth benefits cut assistance to young mums cut unemployment benefits cut off ACC to those with genuine injuries cut back on assistance to those needing a house cut back on State housing in communities like Glenn Innes arrest people for daring to hold those communities together evict families from State houses in communities like Otangarei force people already living on the margins into ever greater levels of poverty and desperation and bully beneficiaries into jumping through hoops designed to shame and humiliate them. Then Government members make smart alec remarks in this House and snigger about their wittiness as if poverty and hunger and homelessness and desperation and despair and suicide were things to celebrate rather than problems to alleviate. 
Yes things may be tough but clearly not for everyone. The rich are getting richer the poor are getting poorer and working people and those who cannot find work have responded by simply upping sticks and leaving this country for a new life in Australia. The real scary thing about that is that this Government is showing by its policies that it simply does not care enough about the future of its own citizens to take steps to reduce poverty to create employment to build homes for its people or to provide a positive educational environment for our children. 
In the face of massive public opposition as shown by the 300000-signature national petition and a legal challenge to stop the sale of State assets until Maori interests in water have been settled this Government remains committed to the sale of New Zealand - owned power companies. In the face of Petrobras’ forced withdrawal from an unsafe and untested deep-sea oil drilling programme off the coast of Whanau-a-Apanui this Government not only remains committed to its strategy of exploiting fossil fuels but also has opened up the Reinga Basin off Northland’s coast for more oil and gas exploration programmes regardless of the disastrous safety records of potential bidders. 
In the face of overwhelming evidence from the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty the 2012 Children’s Social Health Monitor the Child Poverty Action Group unions teachers associations and health providers about the disastrous impact of this Government’s policies on the children of the poor the Government refuses to accept that a comprehensive food in schools programme will reduce the impact of poverty and improve educational outcomes for children in low-decile schools. Instead it offers up a pointless tax credit regime that is destined to fail because poor people have no awareness of how such arrangements work and will not apply for them if it means having to go through the humiliation they are subjected to every time they have to go into a Government agency. 
That is why I am hugely proud of the efforts of members of the Mana movement all around the country and grateful to them for their commitment to change their willingness to lay their bodies on the line and their steadfastness in the face of a cold-hearted Government. I am proud that Mana members have been on the front line in the battle to stop State asset sales to support the New Zealand Maori Council bid to protect Maori interests in water to help keep our seas free of dangerous deep-sea oil drilling programmes to stand against the takeover of New Zealand’s sovereignty by multinational corporates to stand alongside those fighting to keep their homes to support workers’ demands for safe working conditions and a decent living wage and of course to promote the notion that feeding kids in schools is not an issue of cost but one of justice. 
So as we come to the end of the year let me just say thank you to everyone who helps us around Parliament and to all of my parliamentary colleagues a simple message: enjoy your break enjoy your whanau share your good fortune a Mana Kirihimete to you all and a simple request for 2013 that we all commit ourselves to ensuring that every child in Aotearoa gets at least one decent meal every day. Tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa.