Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration): This is a special debate called for by the Opposition parties so that they might debate the occasion and the circumstances of the decision by the Rt Hon John Key to resign as Prime Minister effectively next Monday and for there to be new leadership in the National Party and therefore as Prime Minister as well. So it seems a little bit odd having decided that they would request this time of the House for these parties to then spend it trying to push policies that have been roundly rejected in the last 8 years through two elections—three elections in fact—by voters in New Zealand. Why would we ever imagine that it would be a good use of the House's time to debate the policies of the 2008 2011 and 2014 elections all over again? That is the problem with the Opposition in this country: they have no moment where they are in the present.That speech from Metiria Turei was nothing but nasty garbage that is not even slightly reflective of how New Zealanders see the performance of the current Government—let alone the status that they hold John Key in and the way in which they consider him to be a great leader for this country.They went on about so many different things that it is hard to cover them all; I will try to cover some. But I make the point that if an Opposition is going to go from being an Opposition into Government then it should stop insulting 50 percent of the voters who do not think that they are up to it and start trying to persuade 50 percent of the voters that they can offer something a little more hopeful than the dismal rubbish that we have had pouring out of Winston Peters Metiria Turei and Andrew Little this afternoon.Let us just look at a few of these things. Firstly that rambling speech from the Rt Hon Winston Peters: if that was not a request for an urgent transfer to a retirement home I do not know what it was. That was the sort of rose-coloured nostalgia that worked for Mr Peters 20 years ago. It does not reflect [Interruption]—not in New Zealand. That is one of the things that New Zealand First is going to have to come to terms with in the next several months if it is going to be anywhere near competitive in the next election. It is that moving on that recognising the situation of today and finding solutions for today and for tomorrow that John Key has been so very good at.When Mr English spoke he talked about the Prime Minister's relentless optimism. I have never seen him anything other than optimistic about the future of this country. I have never seen him daunted by a problem that this country has but I have seen him apply himself and demand the same rigour of others in his ministry to solving some of those problems. So when Metiria Turei talks about poverty in this country—where were the Greens for 9 years when the Labour Government did not lift benefit income for any poor New Zealander? That took a John Key Government to do that. Where were they around things like the family tax credit? No—they were opposed to it. Where were they around all of the various types of job creation that comes from expanding trade or that comes from freeing up the way in which people can do business? Nothing. We had high unemployment in 2008 we had an economy that was in severe trouble in 2008 and we had interest rates for people who were in houses in 2008 topping 10.5 percent. And that apparently was good for poor people. That was a disgrace that that can be offered as any kind of recipe going forward for the coming election.That brings me also to the proposition that Andrew Little put out there: saying Mr Key has failed to house New Zealanders. Well we have never seen the likes of housebuilding in New Zealand at any time compared with what we have got now. That is a programme that is not propped up by some sort of mad Government scheme that says subsidise subsidise subsidise". It is a programme that enables people to get hold of land allows building companies to go ahead and do those subdivisions and is backed by finance packages that people can avail themselves of. In the end it is all about supply; no one disagrees with that. But how that supply is created is crucially important. The once-proud Labour Party claimed through Michael Joseph Savage that homeownership was the big deal and having a home was a big deal. Nowadays it is only if the Government—according to them—lets you have it. That will not be a recipe that New Zealanders will be impressed with in the coming months.I also want to make reference to the idea that incomes are going to rise should there be a Labour Government. One thing John Key has done throughout his tenure as Prime Minister is say that if we want basic incomes in this country to rise then there has to be the economic incentive for jobs to be created and for good wages to be paid. That has meant the relentless pursuit of trade deals. It has meant taking regulation out of our business activities. It has meant finding new markets and encouraging people to diversify the economy. When we had just these last couple of years the dairy price falling away what was the impact on the New Zealand economy? Dreadful as it was for some farmers it did not tip our economy up because of that diversification and because of that relentless focus on trying to raise incomes for New Zealanders.At a basic level every year the minimum wage was raised under a John Key Government. It never happened for 9 years under Labour. Where was New Zealand First? Where were the Greens? And where were the Labour backbenchers while their Ministers were refusing to raise incomes for the poorest of New Zealanders? This is the record of John Key. He is a very compassionate man and a very pragmatic man. He knows what it is like to grow up in a household that is not advantaged. He knows what it is like to see others with more but he has never let that get in the way of his drive to improve himself his family's lot and to desire that for all New Zealanders as well.We heard them say that under Labour education will be completely free—completely free. I think we heard that from Labour during the 1980s when it introduced the fees for students in tertiary education. I think we heard it from Labour when it said Tomorrow's Schools would be some kind of nirvana: where you just walk in the gate you get conferred with qualifications and you walk out for a wonderful life.This is a Government that has focused on educational achievement. John Key said to his Cabinet: "We cannot have young people who cannot read and write. We cannot have young people who have problems with numeracy. We have to have a better focus." So through successive education ministries his Ministers and his particular commitment to that portfolio we see the Programme for International Student Assessment results today coming out—those international comparisons for literacy numeracy etc.—and New Zealand is once again on the rise. That is a bit of a turn-around—a significant turn-around in fact—from where we were just a few years ago—Chris Hipkins: That's not true.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: —and largely due to the fact that a Government has a right to demand standards in education.Sue Moroney: It started sliding under this Government Gerry. It was going up under Labour.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: That is what has happened and the beneficiaries are young children. What we have got over there are all sorts of claims about "Oh it's not good." "Don't listen to the stats." and "Blah blah blah." but if it suits them they will use statistics against us any time. I think they need to just have a bit of a look at that particular portfolio because their record is not tidy.Finally let me just deal with health. There have never been more people getting healthcare when they need it in this country than there are now. There has never been a time when the commitment to healthcare dollars has been as strong as it is at the moment. Mr Key has once again been making sure that although there is this focus on having a sound economy that can provide jobs—that will provide bigger incomes for people—he is still insisting that this Government spent in core social services.His legacy is a remarkable one: he will be in history I am sure recorded as one of the great Prime Ministers of this country; he is most definitely one of the greatest leaders of the National Party. Although he has now decided to exit the stage the scene that he has set and the culture that he has put in place will endure and the fundamentals of what has been achieved under his ministry his prime ministership will continue and will be well regarded and well received by New Zealanders in the coming year."