van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. It is good to be back in Parliament but unfortunately being back here in Parliament means that the Government is also back in Parliament and that is hugely unfortunate for any New Zealander who actually wants to go about living their lives with little distraction from Government regulation and over-interference—making laws that make it harder just to get ahead. But while the Government's back the ACT Party is back and we're here to hold them to account for all of their silly ill-informed policies that they might try and pass through Parliament this year. I want to start by acknowledging the people up and down New Zealand who are doing it tough. Over the break when Parliament was on recess I travelled around a little bit of the country and I saw a lot of businesses that were really hurting and struggling. I walked past restaurants that had one table full in the entire restaurant places that were practically empty because there were no tourists. I went on an Air Milford flight and talked to the pilot who said usually he does five flights a day but because there were no tourists at the moment he was down to one flight. It's hugely sad. There are hotels that are just sitting empty with no one there to turn up. Tourist operators don't want another handout from the Government. They want people to be tourists. They want people to come through their borders that have a good experience that eat good food and that enjoy being out and about around New Zealand. They don't want another Government handout; they want good public policy. Cafes are in the same situation. So is the events industry who just want to get out there and put on good events for the people of New Zealand but they're being restricted from doing so.While Parliament is back it might only be for a short while because like a lot of businesses we will be seeing Parliament probably close because of the isolation requirements of the Government with close contacts. I've been speaking to a lot of business owners who are really struggling with knowing what sort of solutions they should put in place to make sure that their businesses don't stop functioning in the months coming up. So I really want to take my hat off to all of the people that are still striving and still trying to make a difference and keep their employees employed.It really does feel like people are falling behind. People are working harder and harder but it's feeling like it's getting harder to get ahead and a lot of that has to do with what this Government has done with COVID and how that's affected our economy. We need a healthier economy this year.If we look at just housing for example I was in contact with a man just this week who's a solo dad of one young boy and he really wants to be able to provide a new home for him and his kid. He's found a home he's got the 20 percent deposit for the home but in the meantime he can't get his mortgage pre-approval because of legislation that the Government put through which is making it harder and harder for banks to sign off on giving people access to that dream of homeownership. It's the same for a solo mother that I was in contact with with two kids. She already has two jobs and the bank said No you need a higher income to be able to get a mortgage pre-approval." So she's out there looking for a third job. There are so many things that are making it harder in the meantime while they're trying to get mortgage approval to even save. Rents are going up the cost of living is going up you know going to the weekly shop and trying to fill the basket is just getting so much more expensive. Every time you fuel up at the petrol pump it's getting more and more expensive. But for the landlords and the rents—we've had the healthy homes standards we've had interest deductibility we've had brightline standards being extended and Kāinga Ora is also in the bidding making house prices even more expensive. There's just so much bureaucracy which is making it hard to get ahead as a New Zealander.We need to actually get rid of the bureaucracy and allow for more opportunity. ACT's solution to the housing crisis is: just simply allow for more homes to be built. The real issue is infrastructure financing and funding. We've been hearing so many different regulations and ways that people could build more homes theoretically in this Chamber but it really does come down to infrastructure financing and funding. Our solution is to allow for half of the GST on every new build to go to the local council that issues the consent because that's where the true hold-up is. We try and make it sound so difficult but it really is quite that simple.The cost of living has been going up because of the Government's response to COVID19 and we're seeing essentially a 6 percent COVID tax. I think a lot of New Zealanders need a break especially those New Zealanders who are striving so hard to put money away to save for that house deposit and they're finding in the meantime it's getting whittled away by inflation. We should be giving them a tax cut to help them get ahead. We need better economic management less wasteful spending less bureaucracy and more opportunity.We also need healthy thriving communities. You don't have to go very far in New Zealand to talk to people who are feeling unsafe on the streets: women who are afraid to walk out of their buildings at night; people even now who are afraid to walk to work. People don't feel safe and dairy owners in particular are really feeling this. And you shouldn't in New Zealand feel unsafe when you're just trying to live and make an income. I think we need to do better to make our streets safer and the ACT Party has many policies around this: on gang injunction orders and also making sure that we're rehabilitating prisoners so that there is opportunity for a safer community.I think a lot of the stress that comes from managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ)—and we need to get rid MIQ. We currently have community cases transmitting in New Zealand and yet we're still allowing for the borders to be closed for people who have negative-tested who have vaccinations and they just want to come home and see their families. It's quite cruel what we're doing as a country to New Zealanders who are locked outside of our own borders and it creates division.We need to do better to have a healthy thriving community by acknowledging that our education standards are slipping and we have to do better. We have to acknowledge that the healthcare reforms that the Government's trying to put through don't actually fix the real problems that are faced in the healthcare system—the workforce shortage. With the borders shut for nearly two years we didn't allow for health workers to actually enter the country and help out with our COVID response and for the long term.We need to have a better mental health policy. There are a lot of people struggling in New Zealand and we don't need to spend more money—like we hear—on mental health policies; we just need to get rid of the bureaucracy in the system. There's a lot of money that sloshes around and doesn't actually get to the people who truly need it.I want to talk briefly on the last issue of this year that's important to me and that's the Kiwi identity. I went to an event this weekend and I heard from a man who's a Sri Lankan New Zealander and he said last time he went back to Sri Lanka he went into a business and asked "Is this a Tamil Muslim or Sinhalese business?" and the owner said "It's a Sri Lankan business." and I like that. I think that's what we need to be like here in New Zealand. We are a multi-ethnic society. We have so many different races and religions and we are all equal. We all belong here. We're all New Zealanders. Every single business in New Zealand is a New Zealand business. We are more than just Māori and generic white; we are hundreds of different ethnicities that all deserve to be respected. We need to be united behind good policy that acknowledges this rather than being divided based on our race. We should be a liberal democracy that respects every person's right to be treated equally. Instead of becoming fixated on our differences we should respect our common humanity.There has to be hope and the ACT Party will be delivering that this year. We will be holding the Government to account but we'll be proposing good ideas to make sure that we have a healthy economy a healthy thriving community and a shared Kiwi identity and that is behind good public policy which we'll be promoting this year. Thank you Madam Speaker."