Adjournment — Sittings of the HouseText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAdjournment — Sittings of the House[Sitting date: 11 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15495. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]AdjournmentSittings of the HouseHon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of theLeader of the House: I moveThatthe House do now adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday 28 January 2014 and that the sitting days in 2014 be as follows:January 28 29 and 30;February 11 12 13 18 19 and 20;March 4 5 6 11 12 13 18 19 and 20;April 8 9 10 15 16 and 17;May 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 27 28 and 29;June 17 18 19 24 25 and 26;July 1 2 3 22 23 24 29 30 and 31;August 12 13 14 19 20 21 26 27 and 28;September 9 10 11 16 17 18 23 24 and 25;October 14 15 16 21 22 and 23;November 4 5 6 11 12 13 18 19 and 20;December 2 3 4 9 10 and 11.Mr Speaker can I pass on to you and the other members of the Speaker’s team our best wishes for the Christmas season. Of course it is a time when traditionally we dothank those people who support us in our work in politics and in Parliament and it is only when you go to write down the list that you realise just how much help we have from so many people. So can we thank the Office of the Clerk staff; the Hansard staff; our security staff and messengers who had their mettle tested occasionally this year; the parliamentary librarians; the buildings services staff; all of our ministerial support and Parliamentary Service staff who ensure that MPs are fully supported personally; and our VIP drivers.Can I particularly thank the gardeners around Parliament who do a fantastic job of maintaining the pleasant surroundings of this venerable building; our cleaners; the out-of-office staff working in all of our electorate offices; our staff in the ministerial offices; other support staff; our research units; and the Copperfields staff. We benefit from the assiduous attention of all these people who have a feel for the institution and what is required to make it operate smoothly. I think we all appreciate—certainly I do—the gentle humour that they use when politicians break the rules do not turn up or cause some other inconvenience.On behalf of the Prime Minister can I thank the Government’s coalition partners. Each of them has had their testing times this year but throughout those testing times we have maintained between us our relationships of respect. We have not always agreed but there has always been an openness to discussion a frankness of opinion and an honesty in the assessments and it is a tribute to our coalition partners that the Government is stable and credible and has maintained a working majority in this House. Not only that but it has actually been able to pass a very substantial amount of progressive legislation through this House with the support of those parties.Can I also thank the members of the National Cabinet and caucus. If there is one thing that is the same as this time last year it is that this caucus remains cohesive and is united energetic and forward-looking. That is a tribute both to the MPs and to the way that they have applied themselves to the task and to the privilege of governing that has been given to us by the New Zealand people. It is also a tribute to the leadership of our Prime Minister. In his absence can I thank him for his efforts—his fantastic efforts—first in representing New Zealand overseas. Despite the fact that he has been a Prime Minister for only 5 years he has become one of the senior leaders in the APEC region. He is well known with a great network of friendships and acquaintances across a range of countries that affect New Zealand’s interests. But more particularly I thank him for his upbeat and aspirational leadership here in New Zealand. The fact that New Zealanders have come through a recession so positively with more confidence than they have had in a long time in their ability not only to handle adversity but also to deal with the opportunities this country now has is in no small part due to the leadership style of the Rt Hon John Key. He is so positive and aspirational about his country and also about every New Zealander whom he meets and we know that because that is the experience that they tell us about when they meet the New Zealand Prime Minister.The Government finishes the year in pretty good shape. We are overseeing a stronger economy with more jobs and growing productivity and that means higher incomes for New Zealanders. We are seeing a safer community where there are lower crime rates. In the last 2 years the number of young people going into our court system has dropped by 25 percent. We are overseeing a quiet revolution in our environmental framework with the freshwater framework and the legislation of our wider economic zone where oil and gas drilling is taking place. We have progressed strongly with the massive rebuild in Christchurch which is one of the single biggest challenges that this country and certainly this Government has faced.We are particularly pleased with progress in welfare and housing reform. This Government is taking more seriously than previous Governments the obligation wehave to provide more support for those who need it most to be able to escape welfare dependency and become participants in the wider society. We are changing the passive industrial model of welfare fostered by the previous Government to a flexible personalised model that treats every single person on our welfare rolls with respect responsibility and aspiration. The benefits are showing every single day already when people front up to our welfare offices because they are now being treated with the respect that they can participate where previously the Government system had written them off.The change is exemplified by Trevor Mallard’s story about theWainui second-hand dealer. Every beneficiary in New Zealand who now needs a washing machine and qualifies for it gets a new one with a guarantee at the same price or for slightly more as the second-hand one that Labour gave them. I cannot think of a story that sums up the difference better except for the woman whom the Minister for Social Development saw crying in the Ministry of Social Development office not because she was being put upon and hassled as the Opposition alleged but because she said that for the first time in her 7 years as a sickness beneficiary the Government had shown enough interest in her to ring her up and get her to come to the office to tell us what she was capable of so that we could help her. That kind of story is being replicated every day across New Zealand. Alongside that we are getting rid of the ineffective wasteful monopoly of Housing New Zealand Corporation one of Labour’s favourite State institutions which has failed New Zealanders for decades and has wasted billions of dollars.Not much has changed in Labour in a year. The leader is still called David and Grant Robertson is still undermining him. That is how it works. The big test for the Opposition was whether it would promise to buy back the assets. I am not sure which is worse—the fact that Labour is being too lazy to take a position consistent with being the most intellectually lazy Labour Party that New Zealand has ever had that it has no new ideas that it is anchored in 1994 or that it is harvesting the best ideas from the 1970s. Labour members could not even get up and say whether they would do anything. Mr Cunliffe said: “Yeah nah. If it is appropriate and the money is there we might do it.”That was actually worse I think than the Greens’ effort. Try to understand what the Greens had promised. You would think that having gone to all the trouble of a referendum and gathering signatures they would know what they would do with State assets. But they actually have no idea what they are going to do. I cannot find Russel Norman’s press release but it is something like: “We will let them not pay the 50c and substitute for the number of shares that might have been cheaper and they give them to the Government and the answer is 63 percent.” So now we know that after 3 years of debate on asset sales the Greens’ answer—at least the Greens have got one—is consistent with their higher levels of energy their better focus on the media their stronger intellectual capacity and unfortunately their greater capacity to wreck the economy. Talking to the Greens about the economy is like talking to Jack the Ripper about community safety. But at least they have got a position. Labour does not and by next Christmas the Greens will not either.Hon DAVID PARKER (Deputy Leader—Labour): This adjournment debate marks the end of the second year of the 50th Parliament of New Zealand. I want to put on record that I think we should reflect occasionally on the fact that a record of 50 Parliaments unbroken by revolution or war is very unusual in the world. Europe has not done it and neither has South America Africa or Asia. They cannot match this proud record. It does not happen by itself. So I would like to begin by thanking on behalf of all of my colleagues in the Labour Party all of the people in and around Parliament who make this place work. You all contribute to our parliamentary democracy and to the important work that we do to represent the people who put us in this place.Thank you Mr Speaker and your assistants for your efforts to ensure the place runs fairly—freedom of speech in the Opposition fulfilling its role to hold the Government to account while enabling the business of government to be done. Thank you to all your staff—the Clerk of the House select committee staff library researchers messengers the cleaners who work for us in the middle of the night the travel office Copperfields staff IT support security staff the Visits and Ceremonial Office Hansard staff and others in the Office of the Clerk and Parliamentary Service. Thank you all.Can I thank the fourth estate which plays a fundamental role in reporting news and exposing failure. It is obvious to all of us who work here that the press gallery is under increasing pressure with social media compressed filing deadlines and fewer numbers. You do it with good humour and you provide an essential ingredient to our functioning democracy. We have to record that your efforts were undermined this year by the inappropriate release of email and security records to the Henry inquiry which was looking into the leaking of theGovernment Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) report. But I hope you have been assured by the Privileges Committee report that we in Parliament are determined to protect your rights.To our Labour staffers in Wellington and in our constituency offices throughout the country a special thanks for a good year of hard work. Rest assured there will be plenty more work next year. I would like to thank the families of MPs on all sides of the House who tolerate long absences and stresses caused by parliamentary life. It is not easy for our families. I take the opportunity to mark the sad passing of our colleague the HonParekuraHoromia and to fondly remember the memories he has left with us.To my caucus colleagues and DavidCunliffe in particular I express my sincere thanks and admiration for how you all go about your work tirelessly representing the interests of those who elect us and who rely upon us. I know this will continue for us long after the House rises but I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a well-deserved break.I turn to the year. The New Zealand Labour Party ends the year reinvigorated. We have a new leadership team in place after a modern outward-looking process that made democracy and the Labour Party stronger. We had astonking victory in Christchurch East. National threw all its money at it but was comprehensively thrashed. Why? Because National stopped listening. After 3 years of delay following the earthquakes the people of Christchurch said “Enough!” and they sent a message to National—2:1 in favour of Labour. Our membership is up 80 percent this year. Our caucus and our party are united and the polling is up. For some months now the polls have Labour and our likely allies neck and neck with National. National tries to pretend otherwise but as with other things it is out of touch and in the past.Hon Steven Joyce: Yeah yeah yeah!Hon DAVID PARKER:It is MMP Mr Joyce not first past the post. It will be the will of the people that decides the outcome of the next election.Whatever election outcome they determine will be legitimate contrary to the claims of National. National members have spent so much of this year trying to assert that MMP Governments that do not include them are somehow illegitimate or wrong. It is just nonsense. None of the MMP Governments—until perhaps this one—has actually stopped early in the term because of a failure of its coalition.It gives me no pleasure to say that these current coalition arrangements are the most unsavoury of any MMP Parliament. The Government is propped up by Peter Dunne and Peter Dunne was forced to resign after leaking a secure document about breaches of the law by the GCSB. Even worse is John Banks being on trial for electoral fraud. His is another vote that props up this Government. He follows on from a long history in ACT that is disreputable. David Garrett the man who stole the identity of a dead baby so hecould get a passport railed against name suppression and short sentences—but he got both. Donna Awatere Huata was jailed for fraud. Rodney Hide was busted for perks after being the perk-buster. Then we had Don Brash taking over the ACT Party from outside the ACT Party and then John Banks shoehorned into Parliament by the Prime Minister John Key after the tea party. Those two parties are disreputable.TheMāori Party is not disreputable. It is not disreputable but it is a shadow of its former self. It is searching around for a celebrity candidate because it is at 1 percent in the polls.In terms of National’s own performance the central economic plank for it this year was a shambles. Its asset sales programme tanked. The energy companies are all trading at less than they were listed for and the Government took a billion dollars less in receipts than it predicted. The Government ended up selling them to 2 percent of New Zealand’s population and it caused a citizens initiated referendum because so many New Zealanders are annoyed that National is not listening to them. More than 300000 people voted for the referendum more than a million people have voted in the referendum and National still says it will ignore them.Let us look at National’s other failures. It has not been listening in respect of the GCSB. In the end we had the Prime Minister come in and say: “Look the Opposition parties are right. No longer will the arm of the State need a warrant in order to snoop upon New Zealanders but you can rely upon me—Mr Key. Trust me. I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to let them do it without a warrant even though the law that the National Government passed allows them to do exactly that.” The Government is not listening and is out of touch.Solid Energy was completely mismanaged by Bill English and Tony Ryall who turned an Export Award - winning company into something that is worthless a basket case that has lost hundreds of millions of dollars by their reckless oversight of that company. They told it to invest more in coal to borrow more money and to pay high dividends and it all ended in tears. This failing National Government is out for the big end of town. Everyone has seen it this year. There was corporate welfare for RioTinto—$30 million without even a jobs guarantee. There was a special deal for Skycity which was criticised by the Auditor-General as being inappropriate because only Skycity had the inside running.What happens to ordinary New Zealanders in the meantime? Well let us look at housing one of the areas of abject failure of policy by the Government because of its tax and housing settings. This year the average Auckland house price has gone up by $85000—$85000. That is $677 a week as housing costs escalate beyond the reach of most New Zealanders in Auckland. I say “most New Zealanders” because most young New Zealanders cannot afford to buy a house. Homeownership rates in Auckland have dropped to under 60 percent. We now have house prices ballooning to 19 years of median income. No wonder people are fed up with the Government on housing.Inequality is higher than it has ever been under this Government. Just today theNew Zealand Herald reported that in South Auckland incomes are down by 16 percent in real terms and by 17 percent in real terms in the neighbouring suburbs while those in the richer suburbs prosper. It is not right. In this country New Zealanders are rightly asking themselves whether they want to live in a country of increasing inequality.Hon Bill English: It’s not increasing.Hon DAVID PARKER: It is increasing. It is increasing Mr English. Your head is in the clouds because you are just looking after the interests of Chorus or RioTinto and not looking after the interests of everyday New Zealanders.Some congratulations should go to Fonterra and to some of our exporters. They are doing well. A Labour Government created Fonterra and then breathed life into itthrough the free-trade agreement with China negotiated by the Hon Phil Goff. [Interruption] Mr Speaker other people seem to have had a bit more latitude than you are giving me. I will end by saying merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a good break. We are really looking forward to election year and we are going to deliver for ordinary New Zealanders.HOLLY WALKER (Green): E mihiana kingā mema o te WharePāremata.Tēnā koutou katoa.[I acknowledge members of Parliament. Greetings to you all.]My baby girl Esther Lucy who is in the gallery this afternoon will be 11 weeks old this Christmas. There is something very special about preparing for our first Christmas as a family. As we decorated our tree on the weekend as I baked my Christmas cake as we plan our summer holiday I have been thinking about the fact that she will never remember a time when we did not do these things. Of course this year it will all wash gloriously over her head but I have been thinking about the things that she will do for years to come that we are going to do for the first time this month: open presents from my old stocking on Christmas morning enjoy a barbecue in her nana’s back yard and finish the day with a swim in the sea. Singing sunshine and family—that is what I wish for my daughter and for all our children: the quintessential New Zealand summer and Christmases full of love good food and family.Two years ago in this debate my co-leader Russel Norman invited us to reflect on the meaning of the Christmas story. “I am not a Christian” he said “... But like all parents particularly those newly acquainted with the role the story of change arriving in the form of a baby has a resonance in my life.” Well now that change has arrived in the form of a baby in my life I know exactly what he meant. Children invite us to experience everything afresh. The world is new for them every day and they show us what it is to be truly open-minded. In their ferocious capacity to learn and grow we see that things truly could change and be better. That is what the Christmas story is all about. But when I think about the Christmases and the summer holidays that Esther will grow up enjoying my hope is tempered by concern that the country and the world that she has been born in to may not be changing for the better.In the few short weeks since Esther was born while she and I have been getting to know each other and adapting to new sleep patterns a number of concerning things have been happening in the big wide world outside our baby bubble: the sale of more State assets the commencement of deep-sea drilling in New Zealand waters the exposure of a casually dismissive attitude towards rape and sexual abuse the news—although some would call it old news—that a quarter of our children are growing up in poverty and the utter destruction wrought as TyphoonHaiyan ripped through the Philippines. I do not want my daughter to grow up in a world of short-term economic thinking environmental destruction sexism inequality and catastrophic climate change. I do not think any parent does.I would much rather that Esther grows up in a New Zealand that lives up to its clean green egalitarian image. I want her to go to school with kids of all races religions and abilities and not be conscious of any discrimination or disparity between her and her classmates. I do not want her to come home asking why some kids do not have lunch or shoes. I want her to feel a sense of community to feel safe riding her bike to kindy or school to know her next-door neighbours. I want to be able to trust that someone would look after her if I could not make it home during an earthquake or a civil defence emergency. I want the contributions of her great grandparents’ generation who built the infrastructure of this country to be honoured by keeping that infrastructure in public ownership to honour the 1.2 million people who by this morning had voted and returned their ballots in the asset sales referendum.I want her to grow up swimming atPētone beach and in the Hutt River like I did as well as at beaches and rivers that we will take her to when on holiday around the country. Yet according to the Ministry for the Environment two-thirds of our monitored river sites are currently unsafe for swimming. I want her to explore our wild and remote places; to marvel at towering mountains and deep icy cold lakes; to breathe in that unmistakable scent of the New Zealand native bush—not from the window of a monorail but on foot or by mountain bike or kayak and preferably not with a view of an open-pit coal mine.I want her to feel safe and secure as a girl and a young woman to celebrate her body and her gender without fear of persecution or abuse. I want her to have strong beautiful amazing role models likeLorde and EleanorCatton like Valerie Adams and Lydia Ko and like Metiria Turei. I want her to be able to marry anyone she likes. Well at least we can tick that one off. But most of all I want to leave her a planet that will still exist and sustain life for her children and her children’s children. When I think about the global inaction and inertia in addressing catastrophic climate change when I think about more floods and bush fires and typhoons and the death destruction and dislocation they will bring there are moments when I despair. I have moments when I wonder whether it was irresponsible to bring her into this world at all. But then I look at her chubby little face and into her big blue trusting eyes and I feel a renewed sense of purpose.The world I want her to grow up in is not so very far-fetched. It is just a stone’s throw from what we have right now—[Interruption] And Esther leaves the gallery. With the right vision the right leadership and practical steps to get there we will get there. This year the Greens have continued to focus on loving and protecting our environment; promoting a smart green economy; and highlighting compassionate social policies that ensure that everyone can have a good life and a fair future. We have proposed real solutions to the housing crisis to rising power prices to improving water quality and to climate change. We have fought tooth and nail to oppose the sale of our State assets and to show this Government that it has no mandate to sell them.I am proud to be a part of a party that is working hard to create the kind of future I want for my daughter. When she is old enough to understand I will be proud to tell her that that is what I come to work every day to do. The fact that I can come to work while still mothering my daughter is a sign that we have come a long way.I want to start my end-of-year thanks with a thanks to you Mr Speaker for agreeing to a new category of compassionate leave to allow me to be away from Parliament without affecting my party. Changes like these will hopefully encourage more parents of young children to consider a career in politics.There are many others who make my work and the work of all of us Green MPs possible and productive: our fabulous staff our dedicated interns and the vast network of Green Party members volunteers and staff around the country who put us here. There are those who make this place tick: the Chamber and gallery staff who kept me supplied with endless glasses of water during my pregnancy; the messengers; the security team; the Office of the Clerk; Hansard; the library; and of course the cleaners who deserve a living wage—and our families who now get us back for a few weeks. Thank you for supporting us and letting us do this mahi.When I return next year it will be a real challenge as you have seen for my little family to help me combine breastfeeding mothering and politics. But we are determined to do it. We will be doing it for Esther to create the kind of New Zealand we want her to grow up in so that she can have a wonderful first Christmas and many many more to come.Nō reirangā mihi nui aroha ki a koutou and to all members of this House I wish you a very merry Christmas.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): The thanks of New Zealand First go to the many people who make this Parliament function effectively and it does so because of their commitment their integrity and their professionalism. There are a lot of people to acknowledge: the Speaker’s office the Clerk’s Office the Hansard reporters all the library staff and the telephonists. We appreciate the cheerful messengers and security staff for their hard work in keeping us all safe and keeping some under control and of course we thank the Bellamy’s staff. And of course there are the cleaners. They deserve special thanks and they deserve a pay rise. If we have overlooked anyone then I offer our apologies.I want to also thank for their support and dedication the New Zealand First staff who have helped make a real difference in this Parliament and in public. They all know of course that their hard work leads to the road of fortune in 2014.However it is much harder to be kind to the people over there who are again doing a runner early after spending a year wrecking the place. They do not want to face a nanosecond more of scrutiny. It is true that it has been a great year for their cronies but it has not been a great year for those people who are ordinary in this country many of whom have had their teeth kicked in over and over again. Never before in the history of human endeavour has so little been done for so many for the benefit of so few.Let us list some of these non-achievers. Let us list some of those non-achievers over there—their non-achievements.Hon Steven Joyce: Get some fresh material Winnie.Jacqui Dean: Oh grumpy old man.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No I am very happy about this message because out there are hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting on the next word. They know that it represents hope and a future and a vision not the tawdry class politics beloved of that member from the South Island whenever she is there. Here are these non-achievements. The dream of owning as a young person your own home—just about gone. High-performing State assets like power stations—just about gone. [Interruption] Yes I might have been here for a long time but I do not look as old as you. Public broadcasting—just about gone. Job opportunities for the young—just about gone. Teachers’ regular pay which “Mr Fix-it” was going to fix up—just about gone. KiwiRail—just about gone.Hon Steven Joyce: Rubbish.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I know it is rubbish. I will get down to your speciality later. Aluminium manufacturing industry—much of it just about gone. Some of our best dairy farmland—just about gone.Hon Steven Joyce: Rubbish again.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: These are rubbishy policies I know but I never expected Mr Joyce to be endorsing them. Much of the foreshore and seabed under claim now—just about gone.The member for Epsom—just about gone but going to court first. Theleaker fromŌhariu—the serialleaker—just about gone.The “member for Warner Bros”—the man who is all aspirational and who promised us a brighter future; the agent for Warner Bros Skycity and RioTinto—just about gone. And we know that that is in line with his memory which went a long long time ago. There he is the head of the SIS and head of the Government Communications Security Bureau—25 people know everything about what is going on but the man who is responsible did not know anything. He is going to lose being the Prime Minister on that one denial alone.If I was a backbencher over there I would not be so cocky. In fact I bet it is all knees knocking in their offices right now. I know that those members are deliberatelywanting to be somewhere else but I know that they are watching because I know what the feeling is like when you are about to go because your leadership has stuffed up.Jacqui Dean: How many seats does that party hold?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: And that member over there—look when that member came in she barely had a wrinkle. She barely had a wrinkle. Two years of this and she looks all worried. She is sweating.Our friends in the Māori Party—sadly alas just about gone. Why? Because they went and supped with the Devil. They went and supped with the Devil.In fact this is the most “just about gone” Government in history. Somebody should have told it that it does not own New Zealand.Hon Bill English: What about the ones you were part of?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Ah Mr English one promise I can make to the audience around this country is that if you vote for New Zealand First you will decide the next election. You cannot make that promise. Oh no you cannot. That is one thing—Hon Steven Joyce: Play that record again.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh I am going to be saying it over and over again. We are going to go right around New Zealand passing on this great message. We are going to keep hope alive.This country is not the “National Party and Limpets Ltd”. It is not the “National Party and Limpets Ltd”; it actually belongs to the people. Leaders are supposed to be guardians. This lot guard only their mates’ pockets and foreign companies. Ordinary Kiwis are never considered.We are losing jobs at an alarming rate. What do these political pygmies do? They bring in thousands of overseas students on so-called export education which means that that economy is meant to be helping our economy but then this Government gives them a job in New Zealand. So who is paying for the export education? Well we are. Steven Joyce is a prize fool. He calls it export education except our economy is paying for the exports. How does that work?Hon Steven Joyce: Xenophobia.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh “xenophobia”. You cannot even spell the word. “Xenophobia”—I bet that he cannot spell the word and I will give him a chance now. Come on. Not a mutter not a murmur not a syllable not a sound. He cannot even spell the language.Here we go. He is proud about bringing in tens of thousands of foreign students to study here and then gives them working visas. How dumb is that? And what about giving full New Zealand pensions to people who have been here for only 10 years? They have paid no tax and made no contribution.The ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge stalks the corridors of the callous. This Government has brought ordinary Kiwis no Christmas cheer and its speeches have no change of heart. In today’sNew Zealand Heraldis an analysis on page A8 about how bad things are in this country. Look we have Rodney Henderson-MasseyWhauPuketāpapa—that is a Māori word in case a few of you do not know—Māngere-ŌtāhuhuŌtara-Papatoetoe Manurewa. These places are down by a staggering 12 to 70 percent after these people have been in power for 5 years. That is appalling.David Bennett: Oh nobody cares about those things.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No no no the man with four dairy farms in the Waikato Mr Bennett is not feeling the pinch—oh no. Oh no he is not feeling the pinch but the last thing he wants is those people of west Auckland and South Auckland and all around provincial New Zealand to find out how badly off they are. This is terrible. How come he is not prepared to take a cut of 16 percent? Oh no not him.What I want to say is that there is nothing mystical about poverty. It is a result of low income not matching the cost of living. Not only has the Government done nothing to address inequality but many of its policies have made the situation much worse.What is New Zealand First’s record? Well in 2005 we demanded and got in our confidence and supply agreement with the Labour Party the biggest minimum wage rise this country has ever seen. We took it from $9 to $12 just like that. That is our record. [Bell rung] We do not just make the statements; we back them up.Jacqui Dean: It’s nearly over.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I know that member’s career is nearly over. That member’s career is nearly over and do you know what the sad thing is? She could have been effective. She could have been effective if she had not sold out her conscience.Peter Lyons wrote a very good article in theNew Zealand Heraldrecently. He teaches at St Peter’s College in Auckland. He was talking about these people’s economic policies. He said: “What has evolved is a system of economic apartheid that would have shocked many of previous generations.” and he is right. They have changed the character shape and quality of our country and for the worse. And as if that is not bad enough as we are talking about Nelson Mandela’s life which is a celebration of his achievements against separatism and racialist laws National is taking us down the same path now—straight down the same path. Separatism for our constitution and for our foreshore and all sorts of new laws and social delivery all based on medieval tribalism.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Rubbish.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I know it is rubbish but let me tell that member over there that there are a lot of Māori in whose name these demands are being made and claims are being answered and they are getting nothing. And even worse they cannot even live in a home.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That’s right—Shane took it all.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh no that member can get red and embarrassed but I want to say this: New Zealand First is a party of traditional values. This party is the party of traditional values.Having said all that we will be back next year lean mean fit and ready to go. That is a serious warning for those lads over there. But being a party of traditional values we want to wish you Mr Speaker and all of our parliamentary colleagues—and particularly those people who have to work for some of them—the very happiest of Christmases and hopefully a very good new year. We have got one final message: hang on a bit longer because help is on its way.Hon TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Tēnātātou e teW’are. In Christmases past my grandmother would always insist that we set aside a place at the table to remember those who had passed on during the year. So as we stand in this our last debate of the year I take time to remember those who have touched our lives beyond compare whose legacies linger on in our hearts as we strive to live up to their ideals. Ka tangitonu tengākau ki tehungakuamene atu ki tepō. Ko tetoka nuikuangaro atu e moe eoki. E tangitonuanatakungākaumōu e Parekura. Kotāuatērā epara te huarahii rotoitēnei Wharei rotoi tewhakaaro kotahiarā heoranganōngāitātoungāwhānaungāhapūngāhāpori. Ki atātou tehunga oratēnātātou[The heart continues to mourn for those who have departed to the night. The great rock has vanished sleep rest. My heart grieves for you still Parekura. It was you and I who cleared the way in this House with one thought in mind it was for the well-being of us for families subtribes and communities. Greetings to us the living.]The adjournment debate is traditionally a time for the political tally to be totted up for assessment against policy targets number of releases issued bills passed questionsasked and everything that other political parties claim is wrong. So how does the Māori Party review progress in 2013? For Te Ururoa Flavell our newly anointed co-leader the highlight would be competing in Iron Māori racing to the end with his baby daughter as support his wife and other daughter firmly at his side. For “Papa Pita” this is the year his first mokopunatuarua came into the world and life will never be the same again. The Turiaw’ānau counts this Christmas as one in which we are truly blessed. We are thankful for the strength and resilience of our children and our mokopuna our brush with ill health causing our entirew’ānau to re-evaluate all that is important in our lives. We know that it is all aboutw’ānau.And so I turn to you Mr Speaker to your deputies and indeed to every member of Parliament in this House and I acknowledge the hefty sacrifice that this job places on all your families. For some politicians progress is measured against the headlines of today. For the Māori Party we calculate success by the impact on the next generation. We are thrilled with the stories ofw’ānau transformation that are coming through in whichw’ānau are strengthening relationships gaining skills and confidence and feeling inspired to look towards the future where before they could not see beyond the challenges that they faced. Over the last quarter for instance more than 5500w’ānau were engaged withWhānau Ora representing approximately 28000w’ānau members. Included in this number are 2763w’ānau who engaged with navigators helpingw’ānau to build their capacity to meet their needs.In the disability sector we are seeing a similar spirit of revolution occur through the Enabling Good Lives approach in which disabled persons work with their families and support agencies to determine what services they need to help them to achieve their goals. I have been so proud of the difference that has been made by Enabling Good Lives and through the Think Differently project in which our attitudes and behaviours around disability are the focus. The recent controversy around building accessibility has reminded the Government of the basic rule that disabled persons live by: nothing about us without us. My key priority in this area next year will be embedding the Enabling Good Lives approach across every sector of Government.As a political party we have been resolute in our goal of eliminating social hazards from the lives of ourw’ānau. My colleague Te Ururoa Flavell has been determined to support ourw’ānau to be free of the damage caused by problem gambling. Although his member’s bill was broadly condemned there are few other politicians in this House who have tried every avenue to achieve zero tolerance towards gambling harm and I mihi to him for his efforts. We cannot let this year go by without drawing attention to the harmful precedent created by the deal that the Government drew up with Skycity against the very best interests of families.We also know that the most significant issue that is affecting all of our social and health issues amongst our families has to be about the abuse of alcohol. I have been heartened by the clear progress we have achieved in tobacco reform. The 2013 census results show the number of smokers has dropped by nearly a quarter since the 2006 census. The smoke-free sector must be congratulated on its absolute commitment to educating our communities about the negative effects tobacco has on our health. It is also evident that the impact of Government legislation including increases in excise tax is massive in helping us to achieve the goal to be smoke-free by 2025. Of course we cannot be complacent and I look forward to the cooperation of the House to progress the plain packaging legislation next year as well. I hope to see changes in the sale of duty-free tobacco and the incidence of smoking in cars with children in them. As a party we remain bitterly disappointed at the limp record achieved in alcohol reform. I want to take this opportunity to support those local heroes around our communities whohave taken it upon themselves to tread where the Government has failed in speaking up to protect their communities from the impact of liberal liquor licensing.By far the most significant barrier for our families to advance has been in the insidious effects of poverty the lack of progress in establishing a living income and for too many families the ongoing struggle to gain meaningful employment. The Māori Party channelled our collective efforts into addressing poverty through the Budget process. We are proud of the amazing changes that have been seen through $100 million of investment in home insulation the increased targeting of funding to address rheumatic fever and the $43 million accorded to Māori and Pasifika trade training. We would however acknowledge that those are but a step in the right direction and there is so much more action required on all fronts.We are particularly alarmed as the Child Poverty Monitor revealed early this week that the rate of child poverty severity where households are both income-poor and experiencing material hardship is twice as high for Māori and Pasifika children aged 0 to 17 years than for the whole New Zealand population. We are alarmed by research such as that by Dr Fiona Ell which says that there are bigger differences in mathematics performance between rich and poor children in New Zealand than in many other countries. So it is harder to do well if you are poor in New Zealand than in other places. Why is that? No politician can ignore those ongoing injustices the inequitable outcomes experienced by some populations which make a mockery of our past ideal of a fair and democratic society.There is much to be done. We look forward to progress on the Māori Language Strategy. We welcome the permeation of a new mind-set described in the Māori economic development strategy He Kai KeiAkuRinga—a mind-set that encourages departments to see progress as Māori led and Government supported. We have many other ideas in progress: a greater focus on the prevention of family violence progress in seeing iwi and Māori housing providers benefit from stock transfer a new direction for Māori wardens and greater opportunities for Pasifika communities in health and social development.Our appetite forw’ānau transformation across all sectors is able to be achieved because of the amazing commitment of dedicated staff in our ministerial offices and the leaders’ units and the departmental advisers. All fully deserve a summer vacation after a very challenging year. The staff of the Office of the Clerk the Parliamentary Library and Hansard and our Māori interpreters have also been a key source of support and we thank them all. I want to especially mention our cleaners who go beyond the call of duty for very minimal return our security staff messengers telephonists gardeners and others in branches of the Parliamentary Service who have suffered staffing cuts and yet never compromise on the highest quality of service to us all. There are many wonderful people across the precincts who make our lives easier but I want to particularly single out Mary Harris for her expert wisdom the Table Office for its support in the House the staff ofCopperfield’s and Bellamy’s the IT team the buildings and finance staff the VIP drivers the Cabinet Office team and all the friends and colleagues we have made along the way.I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister who continue to demonstrate their willingness to establish an effective political relationship from which we can do our outmost to make a difference forw’ānau right across the land. Our lives have been completely dedicated towards supporting ourw’ānau to be the best that they can be and through you Mr Speaker we acknowledge every single member of this Parliament who in their own way are also committed to a similar journey. I wish you all a restful summer. Thank you for your cooperation and your challenges. We look forward to 2014 the year in which the Māori Party will celebrateour 10th year with the excitement of a vibrant new line-up to contest the general election but more important to act in the best interests of generations to come.Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): This is the time of year when most people’s minds start to turn towards the coming holiday period and people start to think positively about what next year might bring and some of the things that they might look forward to. It is in that spirit that I want to talk this afternoon. I think it was to some extent put into a little bit of negative perspective by an announcement in this morning’s newspaper that the Wellington City Council is not going to do Christmas this year. Apparently we are not going to have the range of decorations and other Christmas accoutrements that we used to because they are getting a bit worn and untidy and the council does not really feel like replacing them. But I will leave that Grinch-like attitude aside.I want to begin by immediately acknowledging all of the people who make this community tick: the members in this House their staff the library staff the media the cleaners the messengers the security people the catering staff the drivers who bring people to and fro the Speaker’s office the Clerk’s Office—everyone who has an association with this building and all of the people who make Parliament the community that it is. This is a time to acknowledge their contributions and to wish them well for the year ahead.I want to also pay a tribute to Holly Walker. I thought she gave a magnificent speech this afternoon. Although I might have disagreed with one or two of the specific points she made I thought that the spirit in which she delivered it which was really about optimism and hope for the future is the sort of spirit all of us should be nurturing at this time of year. This is the time when we talk about wanting to be with our families we talk about wanting to be with our friends and those who are close to us and we talk about wanting to spend some time winding down relaxing and preparing for the challenges ahead. I think that the challenge is to actually walk the talk to make sure that we do that and to make sure that we recognise that for most New Zealanders the next couple of months are largely a politics-free zone. They will have their discussions over the barbecues and at the beach but they do not want to be intruded upon by politicians grandstanding over the summer period because frankly they have had enough of that over the last 8 or 9 months or a little longer.As we wind this parliamentary year to a close it is important to reflect upon a number of things that have been achieved and a number of challenges that have been put out there and faced up to and also the work that needs to be done in the future. New Zealand at the moment is in a rather extraordinary position. We have come out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We now see some very optimistic forecasts for prolonged economic growth beginning this year and moving into next year and beyond. The challenge as always will be how we as a society work to harness that growth in the best interests of ensuring first its continuity and second that opportunity flows from that for the people of our country.It is worth recalling—and this is a tribute I think to the work of this Government in particular but also its predecessor at the tail end of its reign—that New Zealand never ever stooped to the pits that other countries did in terms of indebtedness in terms of high levels of unemployment and in terms of levels of social dislocation. I think many New Zealanders do not appreciate that and still feel that things were difficult and stressful for them here and they were in many parts. I know it is a limp excuse to say “But they were not as bad as they were in other countries.” but that is also the truth.That is because successive New Zealand Governments although they have their political differences and despite the rhetoric that occasionally gets bandied around in this House have a sense of pragmatism and do operate in what they perceive to be thebest interests of their citizens. By and large—and it is probably the best you can hope for with human beings—they get it right more often than not. That is a good basis for sensible pragmatic Government for the future. It is one on which I think New Zealanders want to see themselves positioned. There will be changes of Government from time to time but actually those changes themselves are fairly constrained. New Zealanders have no love of the extremes and when the extremes start to emerge in politics—be they the left or the right—they are rightly quickly properly pilloried and destroyed. I think next year the next cycle will be no different from what has happened over the last 80 or 90 years in New Zealand.At the end of the day when New Zealanders come to cast their votes and make their choices for the future they will bear in mind some of the sentiments about aspirations for their family and for their children that Holly Walker spoke of. They will not be as interested in some of the sledging the grudging and the sort of silly banter that goes on in this place and that pretends to be sophisticated argument. For most New Zealanders their challenge in life is about getting on for themselves getting a decent start for their kids getting some opportunity and getting the chance simply to enjoy themselves when this time of year comes.My profound hope for New Zealanders over the summer period is that we are able to have a good break; that we are able to enjoy some good company some good fellowship and just some good laughs with the people who are special to us; and that when next year recommences and gets under way we come back reinvigorated for the challenge that lies ahead we come back more confident about our country’s long-term future and direction and we come back determined to play our part. My very best wishes to all members of this House—even the members who are interjecting at the moment—to their families and friends and to all of the people of my electorate ofŌhariu and New Zealand. May 2014 bring you all the things you wish for.Hon JOHN BANKS (Leader—ACT): I think a young child needs just two things: unconditional love in a home of love and care and a world-class education. There are far too many of our young children today who do not get unconditional love and do not get the opportunity for a world-class education. We can have these high-level debates about economic growth unemployment revenue expenditure control fiscal drag tax rates and everything else but unless we deal with the 20 percent long tail of failure in education then this country is never going to reach its potential. And yet for so many of those young people who come from deprived backgrounds and hardship that goes hand in hand with poor education attainment lack of self-esteem and ultimately no job—out of work and out of hope.If we want to empty out the prisons if we want to empty out the dole queues and if we want to empty out society’s people who have been left behind then we have got to give every young kid an opportunity for a world-class education. In Northland there are two things happening that the parliamentary Opposition is opposed to. In Whangaruru there is a small partnership school being set up. In Whangarei there is a small partnership school being set up. Let me give you just one fact. In Whangarei 70 percent of all Māori boys fail National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 1. Seventy percent fail NCEA level 1 across Northland but the partnership school in Whangarei has over the last 4 years been nurturing kids from difficult families and nurturing kids from strugglingwhānau and giving them a world-class education. That has resulted in a 100 percent pass rate in NCEA level 1 in that school which will be operational on day one term one next year. Māori boys are achieving a 100 percent success rate in NCEA level 1 through the opportunity of flexibility in education at a world-class school and it is the same in Bland Bay.My right honourable friend across the aisle Winston Peters knows Bland Bay better than anyone. He knows how deprived that area is. He knows the history of thewhānau and it goes back 800 years. They are good people but what they do need is the tide to lift all of the boats by giving them a world-class education which partnership schools will do and that is what this Government along with the ACT Party has delivered this year.I challenge anyone on the other side of the House some day in the future to migrate from here to Whangarei and Whangaruru and close down those educational excellence centres. And it will not happen. It will not happen because you cannot have kids failing at the rate of 70 percent and then come in here and say that you have got a world-class education because you have not. Everyone here knows—even Dr Norman the most illiterate of fiscal “malnutritions” in this House—that we will never get this country great and we will never make this country world class in education until we give the 20 percent of young people who fail the system an opportunity to get a world-class education the dignity of work and a future for themselves and theirwhānau.We are starting it in two deprived areas where I once located and where the right honourable gentleman came from so many years ago. He knows. He is silent. He knows. We cannot sit back in this Parliament and allow so many kids to fail in an education system that we describe as world class which is no such thing for those who fail NCEA level 1 and NCEA level 2.I give praise and thanks to the National Party partners in the coalition agreement. I give praise and thanks to the Prime Minister the Minister of Finance and in particular the Minister of Education for toughing it out against these intellectual gangsters who do not want a bar of international excellence in education for the most deprived. We do. Winston knows. Winston is not as silly as he can look. Winston knows. He knows that the way to success for his brothers and sisters in those far-flung areas from where he comes is to give them a sense of purpose and dignity through a world-class education.That is why this time next year thosemuppets will be there and this coalition will be here. That is the only reason that I am here to make sure that they are there. The biggest risk to this country’s economic future is for thosemuppets to migrate from that side of the House to this side of the House. Am I right?Hon Members: Yes you’re right.Hon JOHN BANKS: Am I right?Hon Members: Yes you’re right.Hon JOHN BANKS: How right am I?Hon Members: Very right.Hon JOHN BANKS: These people over here are the greatest risk to this country’s economic and social future that we have and it is coming around this time next year.I have got to say that I have had a very good year. They can give it but they cannot take it. I am not buckled. I am not bent. I am not wilted. I am not worried by thesemuppets over there. They do not like it. One day I will come back in here and I will make them eat crow. What will I make them do?Hon Gerry Brownlee: Eat crow.Hon JOHN BANKS: What will I make them eat?Hon Gerry Brownlee: I don’t know.Hon JOHN BANKS: What will they do? They will choke on the crow. Even my right honourable mate over there the bloke who wrote my first political speech knows it is true.I will finish as I began. This Government finishes this year strongly. It is well and ably led by John Key. The most reliable business partner this Government has isBanksie. Who? Who is the most reliable business partner?Hon Members:Banksie.Hon JOHN BANKS:Banksie. That is right. And they do not like it. OK I want to say something nice about these people so please be quiet. I want to say something nice about these people. The best thing I can wish forfor these people is to have a very safe and happy Christmas with their families in the knowledge that they will come back next year and the coalition of losers will stay exactly where it is. Is that right?Hon Members: That’s right.Hon JOHN BANKS: The coalition of losers will stay exactly where it is because the people of New Zealand know that it promotes nothing it stands for nothing it will say anything it will do what it wants to do and it has got no hope of getting over here.I want to thank my loyal staff in my parliamentary office. I want to thank my staff in Epsom. I want to thank all of the people around here who have been gracious and supportive because if it were not for the people of Epsom in 2011 we could well be over there and thesemuppets could be over here. How bad would that be? How bad?Hon Member: Very bad.Hon JOHN BANKS: Very bad—terrible. So our role in life is to make sure that we have economic security a stable Government good management of public policy a first-class front bench a fine Prime Minister and a very reliable coalition partner in the form of the ACT Party leader and member for Epsom. Do you agree?Hon Members: Yes.Hon JOHN BANKS: They agree. How good is that? Mr Speaker I wish you and your family every success for Christmas. I wish everyone in this House lots of peace and tranquillity for the future. I am looking forward to next year immensely because that is the year they are all going to eat—Hon Members: Crow.Hon JOHN BANKS: Eat—Hon Members: Crow.Hon JOHN BANKS: That is right.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): I seek leave for the member who has just resumed his seat to have an extension of time. That is the most hilarious valedictory I have ever heard.Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): It gives me great pleasure to rise in what has been a good year for John Banks. I would love to see a bad year for John Banks and I am sure there will be one of those coming soon. Colin Craig’s real job now is to find out where John Banks parked the cabbage boat. That is Colin Craig’s job right now—to find out where John Banks parked the cabbage boat.Mr Speaker I want to start with acknowledging you for your role in keeping order in this House. I know it is not easy. The National Party gives you a terrible time and we here on the Labour Party side of the House want to come to your aid as often as we can when you are bringing people to order. You have shown literally that being the Speaker is a marathon not a sprint and I congratulate you on your efforts in that regard. I want to wish all members across the House a peaceful and restful Christmas. I want to make a special acknowledgment to all of the families of members of Parliament: husbands wives partners children andwhānau. This job is one where we are away from our families a lot. It is a job where huge pressure goes on them and this is an important time of year for all of us to acknowledge—Goodness! Santa’s little helper has entered the Chamber—the role that our families play.Can I also acknowledge all the people in this complex who support us. In particular I want to acknowledge today the security guards. Just recently in the House we saw an incident in which there was danger to people not only here in the Chamber butthroughout the building. Our security guards do a tremendous job of looking after us all on a day-to-day basis and I want to acknowledge them. I want to acknowledge the messengers the Clerk’s Office particularly and the Clerk of the House Mary Harris. I want to acknowledge the Copperfields and Bellamy’s staff. They probably see more of me than they should. I want to acknowledge Hansard all of Parliamentary Service and the Parliamentary Library. I want to acknowledge the cleaners in this building. Today in Wellington the Wellington City Council voted to pay its staff a living wage. It is the first council in New Zealand to do that. That is leadership. That is what we should be seeing and the cleaners in this Parliament deserve that. It is dangerous to single out any individual when we are doing these acknowledgments but I do want to do that today. Today is the last day for Grant Bamfield the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms. I want to make a special acknowledgment to him and the service he has given this House and I wish him all the very very best in the future.I also want to acknowledge as others have done those who have passed on this year and in particular I want to acknowledge our colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia. I want to make a special point of acknowledging the people of Hauiti Marae who looked after us so incredibly well when we were there in April this year. The love and support they showed Parekura and hiswhānau was amazing.Parekura’s advice to all of us was to hold the line and that is what we in the Labour Party will continue to do. He used to say that he was the last of the manual labourers in this House. Well what I want to say to Parekura is that we remember that. We remember who it is that we are here to represent as he reminded us so often. The one lesson I draw from the time we spent around his tangi and talking to people about him was the fact that he understood he was here in this Parliament as a representative of his people and of the people of his community. He ensured that every day he remembered where he came from and who had brought him here. I think of Parekura every day and I miss him greatly.This has been an interesting year for the Labour Party but it is a year that we end in tremendously good heart. One very very good outcome ofParekura’s sad passing was the arrival of Meka Whaitiri to our caucus. Meka has already made a great contribution and will continue to do so. Soon she will be joined byPoto Williams a person who—we learnt in the Christchurch East by-election—is a woman of great character. She did ruin a potential family reunion for you Mr Speaker in this House but I think she will add a great deal to this Chamber and we are looking forward very very much to seeing her with us in the new year.Can I further acknowledge my counterpart on the other side of the House the Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee. As I have got to grips with my job as the shadow Leader of the House I often say to people outside of Parliament that there is only one person in Parliament who could cast a shadow big enough for me and that is Gerry Brownlee. I have to say that Gerry Brownlee’s recent kilt-wearing episode has exposed more than we wanted to know. When the Labour Party asks for transparency from this Government that is not what we mean. I have to say that Gerry Brownlee’s shift from roads of national significance to underwear of national significance is best left for history. As one colleague remarked: “It was bad enough hearing about hisPekaPeka road; thank goodness he wasn’t talking about Transmission Gully.” The Labour Party—[Interruption] Here we go.The Labour Party does indeed end this year in extremely good heart. We have emerged stronger and clearer in our purpose from our leadership contest and what a contest it was. Three exceptional attractive and modest candidates toured the country and we ended that process in a far far stronger place. What colleagues of mine heard from me many times on that journey was the fact that as a Labour Party we have to remember what it is that we stand for at our core and it is in the words of NormanKirk a job a home a family and a future. They are the core things that give the basis for New Zealanders to live their lives well and have opportunity. That is what the Labour Party will bring to New Zealand when we are elected into Government at the end of next year. There will be hope and opportunity for all New Zealanders not just for John Key’s cronies and the lucky few whom the National Party looks after but for New Zealanders who want the dignity of work who know that other citizens deserve compassion and hope who want to protect the environment and who want to be proud of their country on the world stage. That is the kind of Government that the Labour Party will bring after next year under DavidCunliffe’s leadership.But what of National’s year? From Aaron Gilmore to Ian Fletcher it has been a year to forget for John Key—and fortunately he has forgotten most of what happened this year. But let us just remind him of one or two things: the fact that he forgot he called Ian Fletcher up to give him the job the fact that he forgot the name of the German in the mansion and the fact that he cannot remember what he did in 1981. But at least he has not forgotten who he is unlike the US and UK media. The “unnamed guest” is how we will remember John Key at the end of this year and if only he had taken Aaron Gilmore with him he could have told everybody who he was.But this year for John Key ends I think a little like his own version ofA Christmas Carol. As everybody knowsA Christmas Carol has three important characters. Firstly there is the Ghost of Christmas Past. It will not surprise colleagues to know that the Ghost of Christmas Past arrived on a cabbage boat. John Banks is indeed John Key’s recipient of something we have talked about in this House before—a politically transmitted disease. Anybody who touches John Key ends up with a PTD and that is certainly what happened in the case of John Banks. I think the National Party might have worked out that it has had two mixed-ownership model failures this year. The first of those is in asset sales and the second of those is the ACT Party. The hostile takeover from Don Brash did not work inserting John Banks did not work and the ACT Party is indeed now the Ghost of Christmas Past.Then there is the Ghost of Christmas Present. There are a few people who could be up for this but I think that has to be Peter Dunne a man who has never seen an issue that he did not want to be on all sides of. Will the National Party do a dodgy deal with him inŌhariu? I suspect that it probably will. The highlight for Mr Dunne this year is still to come: being the elf in the Johnsonville Christmas parade. That is the highlight of the year for the Ghost of Christmas Present Peter Dunne. Then there is the Ghost of Christmas Future. In Charles Dickens’ book this is the person who brings visions of a dire future. Well the Ghost of Christmas Future is indeed Colin Craig—putting the fun back into fundamentalists and the crazy into Craig. He is the next cab off the rank for the National Party. Expect a coalition agreement withchemtrails moon landings and a working party on that question of our time: which came first—the chicken or the egg?I want to wish all colleagues a merry Christmas and all people around New Zealand a safe and restful holiday.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House): Mr Speaker I feel obliged to start this afternoon by congratulating you on your year. I think you have had a very very good year stamping your authority on the House. There are always those black moments in anyone’s career and occasionally when one is persuaded by Parliament’s head prefect to take a particular course of action then there can be an expectation that there might be some disappointment somewhere else. But it does not last and I do congratulate you. I wish your family all the best for this coming Christmas season.Mr SPEAKER: Thank you.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I also want to thank the Clerk of the House for her work this year and for the huge team of people she has working with her servicingselect committees etc. and making the work of Parliament progress very smoothly. Also I would like to thank all of those support staff who have been mentioned by speakers before. I will not rehearse the whole list but they do make a difference to our lives we do appreciate them and we do wish them and their families every good wish over this coming Christmas season.One of the highlights for the year I think—apart from the political things that I will come to in a minute—in terms of Parliament itself has been the maturing of the Business Committee and its ability to have an influence on the way in which Parliament works. I think that we often get into conflicts over bills and that is appropriate—that is a policy debate that we should always have and we should set time aside for it—but this year there have been 144 bills passed. Mr Speaker I do not want to go through the statistics that I know that you are going to talk to the House about later but when you think about that not all of them are opposed by everybody in Opposition.The pleasing thing I think is that we have got to a point where if there are bills that we all agree on and if there are courses of action that we all agree on then we can have parliamentary processes that allow those things to occur. We have processes that allow those bills to progress to get as they should the appropriate scrutiny of the House—most often select committee scrutiny—but to progress none the less. This year saw us use nine occasions where extended hours were granted by the Business Committee and a lot of business was transacted. In particular I think that if it becomes a tradition in the House—and it always takes time for those things to bed in—that Treaty of Waitangi legislation is dealt with in this way then I think that we are on a very very good track. So I want to offer my thanks to all those who are on the Business Committee.At the start of the year the Hon Trevor Mallard occupied the shadow Leader of the House role and I got on very well with him. He is a very hard player. He knows what his team wants to fight and he buys that time very successfully. More recently Grant Robertson coming to the table has seen a continuation of the way in which we can have a discussion about what matters to which party and how time should be allocated.I would hate the public to think that we are doing some sort of a cook-up deal here. We are most certainly not. There is no way in which the Business Committee actually goes about identifying where support lies for particular bills. It is a self-declaration. In that regard I would also very much like to compliment Gareth Hughes for his very positive contribution to making Parliament run smoothly. And Barbara Stewart—we always appreciate your contributions. You have a very gentle way of making us all see common sense and we very much appreciate that. I say to those who are Independent and come to that committee that their influence is also significant as is the quiet influence of Te Ururoa Flavell who always makes sure that his party’s position is well represented.So all I am saying is that I think we have had a year where moving from the new Standing Orders that were promulgated in the year prior we have seen quite a maturing in that body and I hope that it continues for many many decades to come.This year though saw another huge commitment from our Opposition to staying in Opposition. I think that what we saw with the “Labour Idol” approach was a demonstration to all of New Zealand that it did not matter which one of them you chose none of them was up to it. And then of course we have seen a kind of conditional acceptance of David Cunliffe and there is this hope that you see on the faces over on the other side of the House every day—the strained hope that he will not say something stupid that he will not go off the deep end that he will not raise his hands in victory before he has even got off the start line and that he will not start making claims in desperation as Opposition leaders do when they know they are in so much trouble.The difficulty then of course is what is the platform? What is Labour going out to offer New Zealand in 2014? Absolutely nothing. We have got some of the lowest unemployment New Zealand has ever seen. We have got an economy growing at an enormous rate. We have got an education system that is redeveloping itself in a way that I think does give choice particularly to parents and more than that it gives information to parents. Those are the sorts of things that New Zealanders vote on. We are seeing increases in the number of people working on the front lines of law and order and when it comes to health this Government has a record that is completely enviable by any Government that has ever gone before it. In addition to that we have had the very successful divestment of some State assets to provide a future investment fund and this is where the rubber really hits the road. The first point is that New Zealanders still control all of those companies. The second point is that the Government holds on behalf of New Zealanders majority shares in all of those companies. So nothing happens with those companies without that shareholder being satisfied. What it also means is that the reckless days of a Labour Government when tens of thousands of New Zealanders lost their money when any cowboy in town could set themselves up as a finance company offer dodgy prospectuses and take billions of dollars off New Zealanders are gone. They now have some solid blue chips that they can invest in. And just watch what happens to that price. It will rise without a doubt as New Zealanders recognise the value of a secure investment.The real point here though is that there is a $4 billion gap—at least—between what we are able to do as a Government and what our opponents are trying to promise as a Government-in-waiting. The only way that that gap gets filled up is if the hands go into the pockets of the workers of this country and take more out. That is what Labour is going to have to campaign on in 2014. It is going to have to go to hard-working New Zealanders and say: “We can do everything the other side is doing better but you’re going to have to pay much higher taxes much higher charges and bigger costs in your daily life because interest rates will rise and everything else that goes with that.”We are hearing a lot from the Labour Party about the so-called housing crisis in New Zealand.Hon Member: So-called?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Well I say it is a so-called housing crisis because it is a crisis only as long as it remains unsolved. This Government has moved in partnership with Auckland to create a huge opportunity for developers and a huge opportunity for builders and we have done the same thing in Christchurch and we are seeing those consents coming through. We are seeing a change. Under Nick Smith’s leadership Housing New Zealand is probably in the most innovative phase that it has ever been in under any stewardship prior to Dr Smith’s.So the question is how Labour will fill up the $4 billion gap. The answer is only by tax. How is it going to get its building programme done? Just on that may I say a short word to the building supply companies in New Zealand. Do not push your luck. I have had recent experience of taking some prices for a particular project and I found that the price range and differential can be up to 20 percent. At the high end of that market are the very people who are going out there saying they are seeing an escalation in building costs of 1 to 1.5 percent a month. No Government will sit idly and tolerate that.I do want to conclude by wishing every member of the House a merry Christmas—even those who heckled me so viciously over the last year and Grant Robertson in particular a man who I know feels the cold in my shadow a lot. I want to assure him that if he is inside that shadow and he steps too close there is no way he is going to get warm.Mr Speaker congratulations to you on your year and congratulations to Mary Harris on the way the House has operated. To everyone here I wish you a very peaceful restful and hopefully merry Christmas.SUE MORONEY (Labour): It is with a great sense of pride that I rise to speak for the first time actually in the adjournment debate in this House. I am proud to do that because I do it in my role as Labour’s chief whip. I am very very proud to be the chief whip of such a fine bunch of men and women who are deeply principled hard-working and absolutely ambitious for this country.What a year we have had. We have had everything thrown at us yet we have gone from strength to strength as a caucus and we finish off this year in great heart. It has been a big year for us and I think that one of the events that was very difficult for our caucus this year was to lose a wonderful colleague in the Hon Parekura Horomia. Parekura was a big man with a big heart and big mana and he made a big contribution to our caucus. Therefore he left a big hole. It was such a big hole that I think in fact as we are having our discussions our debates and our caucus meetings you can still imagine what Parekura would say in the various debates and issues that we talk about—such was his contribution and his impact on our caucus.After farewelling Parekura and reflecting on all that he meant all that he had done and the values that he held dear we went on to fight and win the by-election in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I was very very thrilled to see Meka Whaitiri join our caucus as a result of that. Of course that was not any old by-election as if there is such a thing as any old by-election. They are all really interesting in their own right.Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is a Māori electorate. It is one of those monsters of electorates where there are various pockets of people living sometimes in areas of isolation. It was actually quite disturbing to see some of the poverty in that electorate when we fought that by-election. Of course going out and connecting with people in the by-election was a very exciting thing for us and a wonderful win for us. So that was the No. 1 by-election after having lost a dear colleague.Then we had to spend some time campaigning hard against asset sales against the Government selling some of our most valuable assets. We knew that New Zealanders in overwhelming numbers firmly do not believe in their assets being sold because sadly we have seen it all before. In the Labour Party we have learnt from those past errors and we now join with the New Zealand public in saying “No more.”—no more selling our State assets. So we worked hard to gather signatures in what I believe was the largest referendum of its kind in New Zealand. And the Labour caucus was an important part of that. We have been involved in that.Then we had a leadership contest. The Government members said it would be a disaster. They said we would rip ourselves apart. They said that Labour would regret having invited its membership to have a say over the leadership contest. Well I can tell them right now that Labour does not regret it for 1 minute. What the Government members do not understand is that this was a triumph of democratic participation. It was an absolute triumph. Thenaysayers do not understand how important it is to empower people by involving them in decision-making processes. But Labour knew that actually involving people would be a triumph of democratic participation.It is a triumph for David Cunliffe. He now has the strongest mandate of any New Zealand Labour leader as a result of that leadership contest. That is because Labour made a decision to actually go forward. It is a progressive party and I think New Zealanders have seen that this year. We have then gone on to fight and win comprehensively—I think we called it astonking great win and it was—in the Christchurch East by-election. I so look forward next year to seeingPoto Williams join us in this debating chamber.Hon Gerry Brownlee: You held a seat you’ve had for 90 years.SUE MORONEY: We doubled the party vote for Labour in Christchurch East and the National Party managed to halve the party vote that it got in Christchurch East during that by-election. So it has been a great win and the start of a great end to our year.In amongst all of that we have been doing what good Opposition parties do. We have been coming here and representing the views of New Zealanders we have been representing constituents and we have been debating the issues that matter to New Zealanders. We have been debating the issues that matter and we have introduced a number of bills this year on issues that matter to New Zealanders. I want to recall and congratulate my colleague Dr David Clark on winning support for despite opposition from the Government his Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill which gave all New Zealanders the ability to actually enjoy 11 full statutory holidays a year no matter what day of the week they fell on. Also in the spirit of the great Labour team that we are can I congratulate Grant Robertson on his drafting of that bill before it was pulled from the ballot. These are the issues that actually matter to New Zealanders. They make people’s lives better and they come from Labour.I also want to congratulate my colleague Louisa Wall on her win with the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill—the marriage equality bill as it came to be known. Well done Louisa. Again that is Labour making progress on issues that make a real difference to New Zealanders.We have also had debates on—oh gosh I am going to come to one of my own bills now—privacy. And do we not need that—the Government voted that bill down unfortunately. This one did not see past the light of day of its first reading. But Labour brought that debate to this debating chamber to ensure that the Privacy Commissioner could do her job with more tools. We have debated the Care of Children Law Reform Bill brought forward by Jacinda Ardern. We have debated keeping the dairy industry—Fonterra—safely in New Zealand hands with a very good bill brought forward by Damien O’Connor. We have debated and brought to the debate in this Chamber the Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill from Moana Mackey to ensure that we uphold our environmental standards. And we have debated redundancy payments for workers. And is it not a sad indictment on this Government that despite its track record on thousands of New Zealanders losing their jobs and their incomes it could not see its way fit to supporting Labour’s bill to ensure that workers had some redundancy pay if they lost their job through no fault of their own.Next year we are going to look forward to even more because bills introduced by Labour this year which we will get to debate in the new year include the Education (Food in Schools) Bill and the Electoral (Adjustment of Thresholds) Amendment Bill—I think Iain Lees-Galloway who is sitting beside me will be very pleased about that bill—which is going to make this place operate in a fairer way. It is going to ensure that we do not have the coat-tailing that currently happens through the electoral process.The Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill being brought forward by Phil Twyford will ensure that we have healthy homes and that rental homes in New Zealand meet minimum standards of heating and insulation. The Land Transport (Safer Alcohol Limits for Driving) Amendment Bill—the Government has picked this up in the Land Transport Amendment Bill. It thinks that Labour has done such a good job on this that it wants to pick up our idea and has turned it into a Government bill but we are watching. We have still got our bill sitting there on the Order Paper should the Government not live up to our expectations on it. We are going to be debating—because Labour willbring it to the debating chamber—the Overseas Investment (Owning our Own Rural Land) Amendment Bill and the Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill.So Labour has had a lot on its plate this year and we have taken it up with great gusto. We have ended the year in a stronger position than we started in and the strength will continue to go forward.Can I take my final minute to wish everyone in this complex a very merry Christmas. I want to start by thanking particularly our staff the Labour staff because we could not have done any of this without their support and their valuable and committed input to it. On behalf of the Labour Party I want to thank all of the staff who make this complex work—the messengers the security guards the library staff the cleaners the gardeners the caterers—all of the many people who make this place tick in the way that it does. Finally Mr Speaker can I wish you and the staff of the Office of the Clerk a very merry Christmas. We are very much looking forward to 2014. Bring it on.DENISE ROCHE (Green): This time of year is frequently referred to as the silly season. Consequently my speech on behalf of the Greens will follow the fabulous example set by the honourable Grant Robertson last year during the adjournment debate. I wish to offer you a Christmas carol:O come all ye faithful all ye politiciansO come ye o come ye let’s reflect on this yearMaurice Williamson had an epiphanyWhen we got marriage equalityBut John Banks he got amnesiaBut spying got much easierThe benefits just got measlierFor some there’s no Christmas cheerCome casino ownersCome ye money-launderersCome ye thieves and P dealersWe’ve a gift from Santa ClausAn Auckland convention centre bought with gambling concessionsSkycity reaps the profitsBut it will surely cost usWith the social harm it fosters when we sell our gambling lawsCome ye oil prospectorsCome ye goldmine ownersComefrack and drill us we’ll clean up after youAnd if you get protestors we’ll chuck them in the GulagOur environment’s expendableBut royalties are spendableThough an oil spill’s not mendable but what’s a beach or two?Sing choirs of workers sing in oppositionEmployment law changes will drive wages downYouth rates for young folk 90-day work trialsNo bargaining collectively despite gains in productivity does nought for inequality; we need a living wage nowSo come all ye voters we have a referendumCome all ye citizens of AotearoaThey are selling off our assets to pay for all those tax cutsO come let us abhor thatO come let us not vote for thatThe Government can’t ignore that because it’s election year next year.The holiday season is traditionally a time for peace and goodwill towards all humankind. So as we head into the new year we Greens are mindful that all citizens of Aotearoa deserve a good life and a fair future and next year we pledge to continue to work to preserve our precious environment. We will continue to sing in opposition to social injustice and to economic vandalism because we have a vision for a cleaner fairer greener New Zealand.I want to add my thanks and acknowledgments to all those people whom others have named so well who have supported us both inside the House and outside of it. Finally I want to wish you Mr Speaker a very happy Christmas and to everyone: all the best for the festive season.BRENDAN HORAN (Independent): I echo the thanks expressed already to the very many people who make this place our Parliament work. I do want to make particular mention of three teams who have enabled me to operate as an effective Independent MP. First is my team of PhilLyth Mike andKarylene O’Neill and Peter Morse and my beautiful wife Miranda. To our Clerk Mary Harris and her team of capable people associated with supporting the House—these people have been absolutely wonderful in providing answers and advice for me and I thank you very much. Mention must be made of the Parliamentary Library a team of tireless researchers led by PeterQuin. To function again as an effective MP my team and I make heavy use of their services and the one job I have dared not ask the library is how many jobs my team and I have lodged with them this year. I would like to thank some of the very good people who have left Parliamentary Service in the past 12 months. Geoff Errol Sophia Mike Grant Alex and there are others. I must say that services have diminished somewhat in your absence and we miss you.In this year I have talked with and dealt with parties and members across the House and I thank Gareth Hughes and the Green caucus for their commitment to democracy in casting my proxy vote. I thank Labour MPs particularly Sue Moroney and Grant Robertson and their predecessors. We talk and although we do not always agree we always engage positively. I thank Te Ururoa Flavell and his two ministerial colleagues—also Hone Harawira has been very good to work with.I thank the National members and Ministers who have provided time for meetings on a range of subjects. I also acknowledge Katrina Shanks who is leaving this House taking a new direction. Over the last 2 years I have valued her input on the Māori Affairs Committee and I wish her well for the future. I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues on the Māori Affairs Committee. We have gone through a lot of work this year and it has certainly been an emotional but a very rewarding journey. I also wish to acknowledge the mighty and unforgettable presence of Parekura Horomia.I came to this House in 2011 determined to do two things. One was to be a hard-working and effective MP for the 3-year term of Parliament. The second was to do good things for New Zealand and I have been proud to do that in 2013. Twelve months ago I found I was an Independent MP and not because of anything I had done. But I came into Parliament under the slogan “For a fair go” and I thought: well I can either be bitter or I can get down and give this work a fair go. And that is what I have done. I am not one to hold a grudge and it is Christmas so I wish those agents those vile people a merry Christmas. To members I say that I hope no other member current or future or their family has to endure the crucible that my family has been tested in all because ofvile wicked and false allegations and I am glad that that chapter is now about to be closed.As John Key has said a most important skill in politics is being able to count. I have a vote and on a number of occasions it has been crucial in the decisions of this House. The first occasion was ensuring the passage of the honourable David Clark’s bill to Mondayise Waitangi Day and Anzac Day which passed on a vote of 61 to 60. Every vote was important and mine was one. Recently a member’s bill was defeated on a tied vote of 60 to 60 and my vote was the 61st important vote against it. Because of my vote the new law on legal highs requires reporting every year on the work of the Psychoactive Substances Expert Advisory Committee.There is a lot of other work but we are running out of time. I would just like to say that I have a Christmas wish for Tauranga and it is that this Government does the right thing and takes Route K and its debt in its entirety which is a $60 million noose around the ratepayers of Tauranga. I also have a Christmas wish for the people of New Zealand and that is that we get our ultra-fast broadband infrastructure in place as quickly as possible.To all the members here arohanui. I wish you love and time with your families over this Christmas and into the new year. Thank you.Mr SPEAKER: I want to start by acknowledging the understanding and the patience of all members as I have come to grips with the responsibility of being the Speaker. Most members have been courteous most of the time. To the others I say that I will be watching you even more closely next year.I want to join the other contributors to this debate and acknowledge and thank all the people who contribute to making this Parliament work but specifically to our Serjeant-at-Arms Brent Smith thank you. To our security team—they were tested in a recent incident and in my opinion they responded in an exemplary fashion. To our Chamber staff thank you for your loyal contribution to this House. I particularly want to acknowledge the services of Grant Bamfield Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms and Alan Husheer Assistant Serjeant-at-Arms as those two gentlemen retire at the conclusion of tonight after a combined contribution of 22 years to this House. We wish them both well. I certainly want to record my appreciation of my fellow presiding officers: Eric Roy Lindsay Tisch and Ross Robertson. I think that together we have made a good team.This debate could not conclude without me acknowledging and paying a particular tribute to our Clerk of the House Mary Harris and her outstanding executive assistantAndie Lindsay and to all members of the Clerk of the House team. I have always been aware as a member of Parliament now for 19 years of the contribution that this office makes to the smooth running of this House but after 12 months as Speaker I now realise how outstanding a team Mary Harris has assembled and the work that they do. Thank you Mary Harris.To my own office staff—Lisa Kinloch and StephanieEdridge—thank you. We are a small team but I acknowledge their loyalty through the transition of this year. And finally to Roland Todd Speaker’s assistant. Roland you are in danger of becoming an institution yourself. The unflappable way in which you guide not only me but the whips and all members of this House and the procedures associated with the House is hugely appreciated. Thank you Roland.As I reflect on my first year as Speaker I want to comment on two particular and challenging decisions I had to make. Firstly there was the decision to accept the resignation of Mr Geoff Thorn as the then manager of Parliamentary Service. It had to happen. The Henry inquiry presented many challenges but above all it highlighted for me the unique privacy issues that confront members of Parliament every day. It alsohighlighted the importance of a free media to report the deliberations of both the executive and Parliament and that involves the media being able to move around this complex and meet various members of Parliament. It further served to remind us all of the distinction between the executive and the House of Representatives. I want to record that in my opinion Geoff Thorn did a very good job in managing Parliamentary Service prior to his decision to resign. Parliamentary Service is a better organisation because of his tenure.The second challenge I faced was the decision whether to maintain recognition of United Future as a party in this House following its deregistration by the Electoral Commission. Standing Orders were silent on an event such as this and therefore it required me under Standing Order 2 to decide the fairest way forward. Although my decision to derecognise United Future initially and then to re-recognise the party subsequent to the Electoral Commission’s re-registration of the party I know was not a decision that pleased all political parties in this House my job is to be fair to you all. I believe I accomplished that with that decision and hopefully a review of Standing Orders next year will mean that these rules are clearer in the future.As we head to our Christmas break you can be assured that 2013 has been a busy year. We sat for around 600 hours and passed 144 bills. We have had 1059 oral questions answered—to my satisfaction—and just under 17000 written questions have been submitted. We have had six urgent debates compared with eight such debates last year. So to all members—enjoy your break enjoy the quality time that you have with your children and your partners and never underestimate as politicians how tough this place can be on those whom we love. Merry Christmas to you all.Motion agreed to.