Sio WilliamSu'a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): Talofa Mr Speaker. Happy New Year to you and happy New Year also to members of this House. I also want to wish a happy New Year to the electorate of Māngere. Manuia le Tausaga Fou le tapuaiga o le tatou Atunu'u. This is an electorate in which I have spent the last 8 years trying to promote a sense of confidence a sense of aspiration particularly with the young people. I call it Māngere: the gateway to the nation of Aotearoa New Zealand land of the young beautiful and gifted". And I have now added as of last month "home of world champions". It was also last month that the community came together to celebrate and acknowledge Joseph Parker for winning the heavyweight World Boxing Association title which was important. He now joins the ranks of people like Dame Valerie Adams Jonah Lomu David Tua and many many others including Sir John Kirwan who all hail from Māngere. I do that to give the young people inspiration for what they have got to do and aspire for in the years ahead.Māngere also has many many churches. On that occasion our service—a blessing upon Joseph Parker—was led by Father Michael Anderman who heads Catholic Churches with Samoan parishes all over Auckland. I make mention of the faith community because this is an important sector in New Zealand society. It would be wrong for this House if at any point in time it said "This congregation will vote National." or "This congregation will vote Labour." because that is not the way they do things. You will find—and it may be a surprise to many members of the House—that the faith community prays for politicians. They pray for the members of this House. They particularly pray for the Prime Minister and the Government. They do so because of a sense that it is the Government's role to provide support to the people at large. Irrespective of whom the faith community may vote for—some of them are liberal in some things; many of them are conservative in other things. Irrespective of that the faith community are united in some core values: a sense of social justice; a sense that there is a need to look after the poor; a sense that housing is important for families; a sense that education is the key to success of many many of the young people; a sense that employment and good incomes are important in stabilising communities; and a sense that education is the key to the success of our young people and we need to invest in it.So when they pray for the Government they are hoping that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet will actually do the right thing and address some of these issues. It is also the faith community who is at the coalface in trying to address some of these things outside of the four walls of their churches. Take for example the Salvation Army. That is a faith community. We saw earlier this week the release of its report where it has shared concerns about the lack of effort by this Government to address child poverty. It has noted that child poverty continues to increase. In response we have heard from the Minister for Social Development how she is monitoring those issues. I just have to say that you can monitor all you want but if you are not investing and if you are not doing anything constructive to address this issue it does not get addressed. The faith communities who are dealing with child poverty are recognising this. Thus that report is a call on this Government—and if it was a Labour Government it would do the same; it would ask this Government to address this particular issue.Housing is a big issue. In Māngere we are struggling—many families are—because once upon a time Housing New Zealand was a Government department that was set up to help people into a home while they were preparing to buy their own home. For people who lived in Housing New Zealand homes it was accepted—here was a stepping stone. People who could not afford to buy their own homes would be able to have a roof over their heads but that is not the case anymore. I am saddened that 100 years ago the first Labour Government had a hand in establishing this Government department that we now call Housing New Zealand. And for the first time in 100 years—some people are telling me—this Government department is no longer charged with helping people to get into a home. That is why we are seeing more than 40000 people in homeless situations. We are seeing the highest number of people who no longer own their own homes—the highest number in 51 years.This is a concern to many in the faith communities because if people are not living in a home that they can call their own—in a home that is warm that is dry and that is comfortable—it is hard to keep the family together. If you are living in cars—how on earth do we expect these people living in cars to then contribute to our society and to contribute to the local community? How do we expect them to vote in local elections and in the upcoming general election if the authorities cannot find them—if the relevant Government department cannot find them and send them their voting papers? So it is an issue that has rippling effects—and I see detrimental rippling effects—on the wider society.I am saddened that the Housing New Zealand office in Māngere now seems to be focused on removing people living in those homes. I have often asked them: "Where will you send these people then if you are no longer going to house them?". They do not seem to care—they do not seem to care.Health is another situation that the faith communities are concerned about. Many who are elderly of course have a vested interest in ensuring that our heath sector is able to provide them with the healthcare that they need when they so need it. We are finding that despite the promises of this Government—despite its promises—we now know that the health sector has been underfunded by $1.7 billion and that is reflected when some of the elderly are needing surgery. They are not getting it—they are not getting it in the time that they require. When somebody walks into the accident and emergency centre they are having to wait long hours because the doctors who are working in those A & E centres are just overworked. They are not receiving the support that this Government promised that they would get.Yesterday I heard Paula Bennett reflect on her ambitious programme to address climate change. I wanted to ask a question—whether that ambitious programme includes addressing the climate change issues in the Pacific region. I wanted to ask her whether that ambitious programme would include what New Zealand's role is in preparing to take on about 130000 people who are going to be displaced as a result of rising seawater levels between now and the not too distant future. I am not sure that that Minister recognises how important that issue is. It is not just going to affect New Zealand; it is going to affect the whole region and we need to be prepared for the role that we have to play.I started this speech—my remarks—by saying that the faith community prays for the leaders. You know I like Bill English and I know he has got a good heart. But the reality is that when John Key resigned from the Prime Minister's post and gave it to Bill English—Bill English is a nice guy but he is not a leader. A leader would not shy away from recognising that we have a national housing crisis and recognising that child poverty is on the increase and a leader does not shy away from investing significant public funds in core areas that are needed to invest in our people in core areas such as education and in health. What we are seeing is that despite the prayers of the faith community that is not happening at all.I stand to support the motion moved by Andrew Little. I stand in support of this man who cares about these issues who is adamant that he can provide good change and who is not critical of this country but critical of this Government because it is this Government's policy that is actually failing to ensure that the full potential of this country is reached. I call on the faith communities to participate in the upcoming general election."