Hipkins ChrisCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): Listening to that contribution I thought: Perhaps there's hope for Jonathan Coleman after all." Perhaps there is hope after all and perhaps he should not give up on his leadership ambitions as the longest-running audition in New Zealand politics continues to find a successor to John Key. Amy Adams barely gets a pass mark for that contribution because if all that she can do is to boast about the fact that National is now spending $350 million a year on emergency housing—if that is her big boast of the signature achievement of this National Government—I do not think she is in with much of a chance. I do not think that is something it should be boasting about; I think that is something it should be ashamed of. Previously we did not need $350 million for emergency housing because there were enough houses for the New Zealanders who needed them. I think that the fact that it is now boasting about that says everything about how it has gone completely off-track.The overwhelming message from the National Government during this debate has been: "This is as good as it gets." The Government that used to be ambitious for New Zealand is now telling New Zealanders that they should take what they are given and be grateful for it. It has given up on the hope of building a better future—a brighter future—for all New Zealanders.I looked to Bill English's speech for a suggestion that the Government had a plan for New Zealand's place in the new global order that we seem to now be experiencing. The world is changing dramatically around us. The neoliberal consensus that has dominated the world economy over the last 20 or 30 years is crumbling and that crumbling is being driven as much by the right as it is by the left. I was looking for some direction from Bill English for some leadership from Bill English and for where he sees New Zealand fitting into this grand new world order and there was absolutely nothing. Even the International Monetary Fund has been critical of the trickle-down economic theory that has dominated for the last 20 or 30 years pointing out that the value has not trickled down and that it has been captured by those at the top.Was there a word from Bill English on how we ensure that prosperity is shared? No there was not. There was nothing in his contribution. Instead we simply see a Government looking in the rear-view mirror to the failed ideas of the past: more privatisation more shrinking of the State more market and more blind faith in monetary economics. We do not see a positive vision for the future; they are simply looking backwards. Of course the economic orthodoxy that Bill English is so fond of and relies on is failing around the world because voters increasingly recognise that in the current economy effort and contribution have been decoupled from reward. There are people out there who are working hard trying to get ahead for their families but they are not—and it is not through lack of effort and it is not through lack of contribution; it is because the economic game has been rigged against them.The sea change in attitudes around the world that has seen the UK voting to leave the European Union that saw Donald Trump get elected in the United States that has seen the very alarming rise of the far right throughout Europe—we are not immune from the trends the underlying trends that have contributed to that. So look offshore. Those who voted to leave—the contrasts were quite stark. Those who voted to leave the European Union or voted for Donald Trump were more likely to live in provincial areas while those who voted to remain in the European Union or voted for Hillary Clinton were more likely to be in the cities—the towns and the provincial areas expressing their disquiet with the current establishment. Those splits also existed between those who have wealth and those who do not those who are educated and those who are not and those who are young and those who are old.Those tensions exist in New Zealand as well and we should not be ignoring the fact that there is a groundswell of concern amongst a lot of New Zealanders that the current economic system is not working for them. Where was the direction from Bill English about that? There was nothing in his contribution. He was simply saying this is as good as it gets and get used to what you have got because there are no alternatives. Well there are alternatives and I think Bill English should be opening his eyes and his ears to those.I wanted to hear from Bill English about how the National Government is going to tackle the hollowing-out of the regions throughout New Zealand because make no question about the fact that we have seen—take education for example. We have seen a decline in tertiary education provision. We have seen a decline in manufacturing employment in the regions. There are now people leaving regional New Zealand in search of employment because they cannot find it in those areas. We are seeing a growing gulf between the shareholding society and the working society: the people who own the capital are doing pretty damn well while the people who are working to generate the productivity are not doing so well.There was nothing from Bill English in his contribution about how we can deal with that. Nothing in his contribution about the breakdown of the intergenerational compact that has been part of the New Zealand way of life. The current generation of young New Zealanders leaving school and going on to further study will leave that study with more debt than any other generation before and they will be shut out of the housing market more than any other generation before. We have seen this breakdown of the inter-generational promise and Bill English is completely silent on that. He had nothing to say about that at all.The housing crisis cannot be understated: one in seven Auckland houses is now being sold to major property speculators rather than to first-home buyers or even homebuyers; 78 percent of renters cannot afford a deposit for the average New Zealand home—78 percent. That is nearly 80 percent who are locked out of the ability to buy a house altogether and their rent is continuing to increase more than their wages are increasing. What is the National Government doing? Well it is selling more State houses. It is not building more houses. How will selling State houses and spending $350 million—as Amy Adams boasted—on emergency housing help that situation? It will not.We need a new plan. This Government needs a new plan. The Labour Party can offer it a new plan and it is built on three pillars: opportunity security and fairness. A big part of the Kiwi Dream of the Kiwi promise has been that of opportunity: the promise of opportunity the opportunity to be educated and to get ahead the opportunity to find secure well-paid work and the opportunity to own your own home. These are opportunities that should be available to all New Zealanders but yet they are not. Let us face some facts about that. Someone who has educated parents is more likely to succeed in the education system themselves. Someone whose parents own their own home is more likely to be able to own their own home themselves. Conversely somebody whose parents have been on a benefit is more likely to end up on a benefit and somebody whose parents have been engaged in the criminal justice system is more likely to find themselves engaged with the criminal justice system.Our economic and societal structure is not providing a level playing field. It is locking in inequality and disadvantage rather than helping to tackle it. We can do something about that by making sure that opportunity is shared equally and we start with that with education: 3 years of free post-school education making sure that the opportunities kids get at school are not dictated by the ability of their parents to pay—and yet increasingly that is happening. The same happens in early childhood education. The quality of early childhood education that kids can get is increasingly being dictated by the ability of their parents to pay. That is not the Kiwi promise. That is why we have had since the 1930s and 1940s this idea in New Zealand that there should be universal provision of entitlement—of entitlement to education to healthcare and to a secure retirement. These are values that we need to rekindle and rediscover if we are going to make sure that economic prosperity and the benefits of economic growth are shared with all New Zealanders and not just those who are already doing well as is happening at the moment.So there is so much more that we need to do: 3 years' free post-school education increasing school funding so they are not reliant on parental donations building houses. This is something that the Government should fundamentally be involved with so that we can ensure that the dream of homeownership or even of secure accommodation—ensuring that rental accommodation for those who cannot afford homeownership is available to all New Zealanders because today as of right now it is not. These are things that New Zealanders might have looked to Bill English to address in the Prime Minister's statement and yet they would find all of those things missing. This was a time for Bill English to stamp his mark of leadership on the Government but his mark of leadership simply says that New Zealanders should be grateful for what they have got because this is as good as it gets.I do not think this is as good as it gets. I think New Zealand is a fantastic country. It is full of opportunity but those opportunities are not reaching all New Zealanders and that must be our mission. That will certainly be the mission of the next Labour Government: opportunity security and fairness for all New Zealanders not just those who are currently doing well."