Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): What a confused and incoherent ramble we just had from the Leader of the Opposition who doesn't seem to know what he thinks at all because he complains that the Prime Minister shouldn't be involved in Ihumātao and then he complains that she is and then he complains that she shouldn't be there and then he complains that she should be. Then he complained that she was a part-time Prime Minister and then of course we were reminded that he complained when she made an announcement after 6 o'clock because apparently in Simon Bridges' world full-time Prime Ministers knock off at 5.Well on this side of the House I can assure Mr Bridges that Ministers are working every waking hour to deliver the outcomes that New Zealanders are looking for from this Government. They want a Government that is tackling the long-term challenges facing this country and that is exactly what this Government is doing. We've dusted off the problems that the National Party put in the too-hard basket and we're actually taking them seriously—like mental health like child poverty like family and sexual violence and like homelessness. Issues the National Party couldn't run away from fast enough—this Government is actually taking them seriously and doing something about them.This is a Government not only addressing mental health and homelessness and child poverty but we're delivering a strong economy at the same time despite the global situation that we find ourselves in. New Zealand's economy is outperforming many of the countries that we would traditionally compare ourselves to. We are doing well despite the global uncertainty. We are delivering surpluses. We are delivering low debt. We are delivering record low unemployment. That's all happening under this Government.Compare that with what you see on the other side of the House and in fact don't take my word for it at all; let's see what National's own MPs think about Simon Bridges' performance as leader. Let me quote from them directly—direct quotes from the people sitting over there probably the ones that are slouched down behind their benches hoping that no one will notice that they are there which is most of them at the moment. They are slouching down desperately hoping that no one knows they're there because they've been going around the press gallery white-anting their own leader. We know that because they've been reported on it.Here are the words of Simon Bridges' own MPs when it comes to Simon Bridges: The party members don't want him. The funders don't want him." That's one of his own MPs saying that. It doesn't get more unequivocal than that. That's from one of Simon Bridges' own MPs. But here's another revelation from one of his own MPs: "Our polling isn't as bad as it could be. It's being held up by the belief that most of our voters have that we're going to change him." So the theory going around the National Party MPs—these are not my words; these are the National backbench MPs' own words—is that the only reason their polling is holding up is that the voters think they're going to get rid of Simon BridgesBut here's one from another MP and this one's got a ring of desperation about it of course: "There's no John Key waiting in the wings." Now if that doesn't have a reek of desperation about it I don't know what does. But here's another one that shows you just how divided this caucus actually is and this came also from a National MP: "This is a leader who doesn't have a majority support in the caucus." But neither does anyone else.So Simon Bridges is still the leader of the National Party simply because no one else can cobble the numbers together. That is how divided the National Party caucus is. They've got a leader that hasn't got the majority backing of their own MPs but no one else can get a majority to replace them either. That's how hopeless they are. And of course Simon Bridges punishes anybody who he thinks is a threat to his leadership and we saw another example of that yesterday. I have to say to him though Todd Muller is not the only follicly challenged person who might have designs on Simon Bridges' job. There's somebody else who fits a similar profile who I'd be more worried about if I was Simon Bridges. In the quote when they say there's no John Key waiting in the wings I think "wings" might be the operative word in there because there's certainly somebody waiting in the wings who fancies themselves as a future John Key."