Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well that contribution from that member who has just resumed his seat Shane Jones made for incredibly painful listening talking about the thousands of young people who have marched in our streets asking our leaders to pay more attention to addressing climate change depicting them as a tiny minority who've been advocating for change not to mention of course recommitting to mining on conservation land and a whole host of other policies designed to take us backwards as a nation.But Mr Speaker let me begin my first contribution in this Parliament by congratulating you on your election as Speaker and all of our other presiding officers as well and also extending a warm welcome to our new members of Parliament whose maiden speeches we have been listening to as well.I've been reflecting on the Speech from the Throne because that of course is meant to be the contribution from the new Government laying out their vision their vision for progress for us as a nation. They started off by saying—and I quote—The new Government is committed to delivering; to getting things done. It wants people to see demonstrable measurable results that make their lives easier and help them to get ahead." Lofty goals great aims but what are they actually delivering in order to be able to achieve that? They then went on to say—and I quote—"The Government's aim is to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders while leading a unified and confident country." Again I don't think any of us on either side of the House would disagree with us wanting to achieve all of that but the devil is in the detail or the proof is in the pudding as they say.So I listened on hoping to hear of some vision as to how they would actually deliver on this and yet the main cornerstone of their economic policy appears to be cutting spending on things like Auckland light rail axing Industry Transformation Plans the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme the Income Insurance Scheme and of course delivering tax cuts for their rich mates. That is the cornerstone of their economic policy. Once again we see the axing of investment in high-quality public transport networks to keep hundreds of thousands of people connected in our largest city while also reducing emissions and congestion—back on the scrap heap but yet building another 13 new roads of national significance somehow is not wasteful spending. Somehow that's going to ease congestion and improve productivity. How? I don't know.Arguably this election was a cost of living election. We heard from many who were struggling to put food on the table and as the member Nicola Willis said earlier in this House today families who were struggling to send their kids to swimming lessons. What in this Government's policy is actually going to deliver benefits to those people? When they talk about making lives easier for whom I ask? Their rich mates? The tobacco lobby? That's who is going to benefit from the policies of this new Government not those families that they talk about not those families whose doors they knocked on and stories they heard. Not one will benefit because what this Government is delivering is tax cuts in deregulation. Well I have news for them. The 80s called and they want their trickle-down economics back. The last 50 years has seen a dramatic decline in taxes on the rich across advanced democracies. This is nothing new. Thatcher tried it. Ronald Reagan stood and campaigned on it; so did Trump and so did our new incoming Government as well—all elected on promises of major tax cuts for top earners arguing that freeing up money for the wealthy allows them to hire more workers pay better wages invest more.Has it worked? No. It's been an abject failure. Wealth doesn't trickle down. All that happens is that the inequality gap widens public services decline housing is privatised public transport is privatised education is privatised public transport declines roads increase and unemployment increases. Where have we seen all that before? 2008 to 2017—the Key Government and we're on the cusp of seeing all of that again. Not to mention that they're funding their tax cuts for their rich mates by repealing smoke-free legislation. Now the coalition agreements say that decisions will be based on data and evidence and yet this decision to repeal what would have been globally leading legislation—smoke-free legislation—flies in the face of data in evidence. We know that it will cost thousands of lives that young people will be encouraged to take up smoking and that it will result in $1.3 billion in terms of healthcare costs. But do they care? No. No they don't. Their agenda will only benefit tobacco companies and their rich mates. So then I looked for their social development and housing policies thinking "Well they slammed us for not doing enough even though we delivered over 13000 public homes in our term in office so surely they have some ingenious plan to clear the public housing register." Here's what they said and I quote "Turning to social housing the performance of Kāinga Ora is a concern. There will be a review of its finances procurement development and asset management practices." and then some whinging about antisocial Kāinga Ora tenants. That's it. That is the sum game of their ambition to clear the public housing register. And then what about welfare and work? I thought "Surely something about encouraging employment". All we see: sanctions bringing back 90-day trials repealing fair pay agreements that we know and evidence tells us will disproportionately benefit women youth Maōri and Pacific people. Where is the ambition and vision? Nothing in the Speech from the Throne about supporting social services that play a significant role in supporting individuals families and communities. We've seen the role they play time and again whether it was during the pandemic or the severe weather events that we've seen as well. Nothing ambitious to address the intractable issues that face us as a nation: child poverty family and sexual violence systemic discrimination; nothing about lifting the wellbeing outcomes of Pacific peoples or ethnic communities. Instead just a lot of Maōri bashing—scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora the Maōri Health Authority just because its very point is to address health inequities; looking to scrap affirmative action to incentivise te reo in the Public Service; pushing to scrap te reo names of Public Service agencies; introducing a Treaty principles bill and I want to quote on that point Dame Anne Salmond who said it better than I can ever put it. She said "Far from trying to reconcile different understandings of the Treaty their text ignores or distorts the original promises. This is disrespectful and arrogant. For a party that won just 8.6 percent of the vote in the recent election to attempt to rewrite a pact that involves Queen Victoria and her descendants as well as the rangatira and theirs is presumptuous in the extreme."In these times of crisis a new Government will be assessed on its ability to bring New Zealanders together. ACT's proposed approach to Te Tiriti will do the opposite. I agree with Helen Clark that it would "rip us down the middle" and with Jim Bolger that it's a "bloody stupid" idea.Everything that they are repealing rehashing and proposing will take us backwards as a nation. It will entrench inequity and it will divide us. The thing is they don't understand equity. Equality is about providing the same for everyone—giving everyone the same resources and opportunities. Equity is understanding that we don't all start from the same place—people have different circumstances and equity seeks to remedy this by taking into account advantage and redistributing resources to then reach equal outcomes.While others have said before me that New Zealanders have voted for change I don't believe that this is the change that anyone has voted for. Repealing smoke-free legislation repealing everything that will actually lead to what they say they want to achieve which is a unified and confident country—nothing that they're actually doing is going to achieve what they claim they want to achieve. Therein also lies another problem. They're not actually doing what they're saying they want to do. This is a Government that is an absolute shambles. This is a Government that will take us backwards. It's a regressive Government and I absolutely don't believe that they will achieve even their own loftiest goals. Thank you Mr Speaker."