Collins Judith: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCollins Judith: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 12 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1584. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura):Can I start the year by saying happy New Year to everyone—all our parliamentary colleagues and yourself Mr Assistant Speaker.Su’a William Sio: Happy New Year Judith.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Thank you very much. I have to say that after that blistering attack from the member who has just resumed his seat I should be feeling some trepidation but I am going to overcome that in the spirit of Parliament.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I regret that I am interrupting the member—and I will start her time again—but I am meant to say that this is a split call. It is a 5-minute speech.Hon Maurice Williamson: We’re a split personality.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Ha ha! Yes we are splitting this with my colleague the Hon Maurice Williamson which I think is so appropriate.Well we have started the year quite interestingly. I think one of the great things in the speeches from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition was the tone. Actually Mr Andrew Little has been leader of the Labour Party for a matter of a few months and he was actually doing OK before Christmas. He was doing so OK that many in the media were writing him up as the next best thing and I am sure Labour thought that it had finally found someone it could support. [Interruption] Well he was pretty much the only other person standing who had not put their name up for some sort of role and the real leader of the Labour Party the Hon Annette King was not available to take on the title.But having said that what happened to him? He got a rush of blood to the head and I have been wondering why he would have started talking about Māori sovereignty and getting everybody excited. Certainly in Papakura people are concerned about this new separatist movement that he seems to be wanting to promote. I thought: “What has gone wrong with Andrew Little?” because I am actually quite fond of him—no I really am; I am always fond of leaders of the Opposition because I think it is a good opportunity for them to show their stripes and it is good to do that—and I have worked it out: it is the circadian rhythms. I did not know about circadian rhythms until Mr Little gave his first media interview after he became the Leader of the Opposition and he was late. He was late because he does not believe in alarm clocks because of his circadian rhythms. So I guess on Waitangi Day his circadian rhythms were a bit out because he had to get up early.I have got a bit of news for him and it is that if he wants to be the leader of this country he is going to have to work out his circadian rhythms because you cannot get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and then go and talk about Māori sovereignty and separatism and think that the people of New Zealand are going to think that that is a good idea. I can tell you that Papakura is just all agog with it. I have to say that I am going to talk a bit more about that in Papakura over the next 3 years and I think quite a few people on this side of the House are going to help Mr Little remember the circadian rhythms and why he should be focused on the things that are actually important for Kiwis.One of the things that is really important—which the Prime Minister spoke about and I have ad nauseam spoken and written about—is the need for Resource Management Act reform. When I was practising law before the Resource Management Act even came in—oh I know I was a child genius! I know Mr Assistant Speaker that you do not believe for a moment that I could be that old. But yes I was practising law even when you were first an MP. I remember when the Resource Management Act came in. It was almost like a light had come on. What happened is all these town planners—who were then town planners—these fabulously experienced people seemed to leave Auckland City and go out as consultants. That is what I was dealing with a lot. That is when we should always get concerned—when legislation leads a lot of very experienced good hard-working skilled people to suddenly leave their jobs to become consultants. That tells us there is something going on. So when we try to set up these sorts of systems—I think with all the best of intentions—it unfortunately becomes a real muddle.I had that experience just last year when getting some work done at our home in Maraetai. Many people will know about it; it has been on Campbell Live. They had a good look through my wardrobe which I felt was mildly invasive but there you go. What we found was that with our little bridge our walkway we spent more money on resource consent than we did on building the bridge. I think unfortunately that that is just a little tale but actually that is what is happening. We need to free up land we need to free up people to make good decisions and we actually need to be able to have faith in our builders and in the people who are developing land. One of the things in Auckland in particular—because that is where most of the issues are around housing—is that it is really about this metropolitan urban limit which was put in place about 15 years ago. It has made it very expensive and difficult to actually get any new land brought in for housing and it has been like that for about 10 or 15 years. This is what the developers are saying to me: “Sort this stuff out. Stop trying to impose limits on people and actually have some faith in them.” Thank you.