Shaw JamesHon JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Before I turn my attention to the Prime Minister's statement I just want to take a moment to draw this House's attention and our memory to the catastrophic fires that occurred in Australia over the summer many of which are still burning now. I think it's pretty easy amongst all the hurly-burly of our election year to forget the crises that have occurred to our nearest neighbour. There was and has been extraordinary loss of wildlife of human life of forestry and of property. The areas that were burned by the fires if that had occurred here in New Zealand would have stretched from Cape Reinga in the North to Rotorua and burned everything in between. I just think if we could take a moment to just acknowledge the scale of what has happened in Australia because this House has not yet had an opportunity to reflect or acknowledge the catastrophe that has befallen Australia and so I just wanted to take this moment to do so before we begin. Sitting and listening to the Prime Minister's statement I felt enormously proud of everything that this Government has done is doing and is going to do to make this country even better and to ensure that it is a great place to live for all of us and not just all of us now but for generations to come. So it is with great pleasure that I do stand on behalf of the Green Party to support the Prime Minister's motion and her statement that this House has confidence in this Government. I do hope that the politics of this place—and we have seen that amplified already by the proximity of the election even though it is still something like eight months away—won't distract us from the fact that we still have some big decisions to make that will have a profound effect on the lives of New Zealanders. Whether it is to ensure that people have warm and safe houses or whether it's ending child poverty or supporting young people who are going through a rough time it is within these four walls that we can make and do make a huge difference to people's lives. Some of us have got different ideas about how to do that than others but either way I think all of us in this House should remember—and with humility—that it is a responsibility that we walk into every time we walk into this Chamber for this place it doesn't belong to us to the 120 members of this Parliament; it belongs to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. It belongs to people who tonight will be sitting around the dinner table worrying about how to pay the bills. It'll be the people who are working tirelessly to improve our communities; people up and down the country who are starting and running businesses. In the next eight months we will be asking those people the people who put us here to hold us to account for what we have done. We too in the Greens will ask them to support the ideas that we have about where to go next. Most of these New Zealanders I'm sure want a Government that will not just confront the challenges that we face at the urgency and the scale that that requires but actually solve those challenges; not just acknowledge that there is a problem but actually deal with it—creating a better future for their kids and for their grandkids; a thriving natural world; a cleaner greener and safer community in every part of the country; a zero-carbon economy; and a world where every New Zealander can earn not just enough to meet their basic living costs but to enjoy those things that many of us and certainly all of us in this Chamber take for granted like time away with the whānau or a treat at the weekends.Now one term of Government was never going to be enough to fix everything that needed to be fixed but we have made an incredible start and New Zealanders know it. Nine years of a National-led Government demanded it. Look back at that nine-year period and what most people will see is the familiar pattern of neglect that accompanies every National Government—not just this last one but the one before that and the one before that. Look back on that nine-year period that most people will see as that familiar pattern of neglect. They'll see families that are struggling to make ends meet forced to make impossible choices between heating their home or putting food on the table. They'll see polluted rivers and a nearly cataclysmic absence of the native creatures that we know should inhabit our forests and our land; a complete absence of meaningful action to tackle the climate crisis. That's what they will look back on on those last nine years. On that last point Mr Speaker you well know that there are kids growing up today who are deeply worried about the future that they will inherit as climate change impacts their lives. It's hardly surprising when you consider that every year that they have been alive has been the hottest on record—every year for teenagers growing up today has been the hottest on record. As they think about their future they're looking at us and wondering whether we have the courage to step up. They want to know if we will take the action to create that better and cleaner world for them and their families or what they will inherit from us for their children. I know what I want to be able to say to them. Climate change it is not just another subject; it is a prism through which young people see the world.Yet in their term of Government National squandered nearly a decade of opportunity to do something about it to create a better future. They gave us no reason to hope. They eroded any promise of change. They became a risk to our shared future. That is not just negligent; that is unforgivable. So here two years into what we will hope will be a very long period of Opposition for them instead of using that time to think up ideas about how to undo the damage that they did the only thing that they have managed to prioritise is an ugly politics of fear and misinformation and resentment. As we get closer to the election—we're eight months out and you've got to remember what you just saw from the Leader of the Opposition; that's going to get worse—the National Party will pit country against town. They will promise simple fixes to complex solutions. In fact Mr Bridges even said in his speech It's simple. Just build more roads."—the answer to every single question every single challenge. "More roads" is the answer to every question that they have. Worst of all they deny their responsibility for creating the very problems that they say that they want to solve. We will not adopt those tactics. We will not say just whatever comes into our heads because we think it might work. We will not make up stuff about the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change and we will not exploit people's genuine concerns for political gain.We will win by talking to New Zealanders about the type of future that they want and the ideas that we have about how to get there. And we will win because of our track record in Government regardless of anything that they say. More than two years ago the Green Party members of Parliament elected to take seats in this place helped to create a Government that is committed to reversing the negligence of nine years of the previous National administration. We made a promise to Aotearoa that we would not shy away from the future that demanded us but work to shape it. And we here today have a track record of huge progress.In our first two years we have taken more action on climate change than the last 30 years of Governments combined: the zero carbon Act the Climate Change Commission the emissions trading scheme reforms the first set of emissions budgets the billions of dollars that we are investing in rail and light rail and buses and walking and cycling infrastructure the billion trees programme the end of offshore oil and gas exploration electrifying the public service car fleet companies reporting to their shareholders and State services organisations reporting to their Ministers on their climate-related risks. I know—I know that there will be people out there who say we've not gone far enough. But no one should ever think—no one should ever think—that the hard work is not worth it because we haven't got everything that we want. You try telling that to Marama Davidson who has worked so hard to ensure that our loved ones our friends and our whānau have warm safe and dry houses in which to live. Or tell that to Eugenie Sage who has delivered the largest boost to conservation funding since the Department of Conservation was founded in the 1980s. Barely a week goes by when there isn't some more good news about our native wildlife and thanks in no small part to her efforts most people are shopping with their own bags rather than suffocating single-use plastic that we came to rely on. Or tell that to Julie Anne Genter who has led a massive reprioritisation of transport spending to give people better cleaner and safer options for getting around. And let me say this about the Advertising Standards Authority finding on the National Party who found yesterday that the National Party thinks that they cannot hold this Government to account without lying about what it is that we're doing—SPEAKER: Order! Order!Hon JAMES SHAW: Beg your pardon Mr Speaker. Try telling Jan Logie that the work to reform the way that we manage and reduce sexual and domestic violence has not been worth it. Or tell Gareth Hughes who has changed the future direction of this country by working successfully to end offshore oil and gas permits that that hasn't been worth it. Or Chlöe Swarbrick who has done so much to ensure that young people have the support that they need when they need it to live fulfilling lives.It's work that serves to remind us that we are stronger when we have each other's backs when we're looking out for one another when we're giving support that makes sense to the people who are needing it. Tell that to Golriz Ghahraman who has championed changes to our democracy that build trust and make us more accountable to the people who put us here.We have done all of this. We have done all of this and so much more with just eight members of Parliament. Imagine what we could do with just a few more. There will never be a moment that we can say that we are done or that we have won. Lasting change demands that we keep working every single day further and faster towards a future where all New Zealanders have everything that they need to lead fulfilling and meaningful and prosperous lives where everything from our morning coffee to travelling to and from work to warming our homes is powered by clean renewable energy; where our precious plants and our animals are protected and our wild places are looked after for future generations. This Government of three parties has shown how we can work through our differences and find common ground that benefits all New Zealanders. Who will be around the table for those discussions after the election is a matter for New Zealanders to decide. But for those who say they want us to do more I say get involved. Get involved—get involved in the issues that are affecting your communities and our nation whether that's online or at a neighbourhood meeting whether that's conversations with your friends and your family talk about your ideas for solving the issues that matter to you. Demand more of us. Knock on some doors. You never know that small action that you take might change somebody's mind. That might change the political environment in which the next Government has no option but to move further and faster towards that future that we need.With two years at the heart of Government the Green Party's first-ever time in Government we have done a huge amount to create a better future for our kids and our grandchildren. But what we do next—what we do next—is where you will find our better future: an Aotearoa defined by its leadership on climate change by fairness and equality and a thriving natural environment. Making this happen is the only way that we can keep our promise to future generations that we will leave behind a world that is better off for what we did. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa."