English BillHon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister): That contribution was untypically graceless from that member Winston Peters. He is a member who understands the traditions and—actually often at times he has been one of the more polite and understanding members of this House when it has really mattered. I would have thought that on this occasion the first time in what a hundred years that a Prime Minister has voluntarily decided to resign the job—Rt Hon Winston Peters: No Holyoake went.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well Holyoake was under a pressure that John Key has never been under—never been under. I would have thought the member might be slightly more generous. But he was not and actually that is the difference between him and John Key. John Key would rather work hard and strive for a better country; that member works hard and strives for a bitter country. A better country or a bitter country—and it could not be more exemplified than by that contribution. The other difference is this: the Prime Minister who has announced his resignation but not yet resigned has always believed you get the best from people with confidence not with divisiveness—with confidence not with division. That member should acknowledge today that he could have learnt a few political lessons. There was a time when he could fill a stadium in the Trump manner—it is just that that was a long time ago.Hon Gerry Brownlee: In a small stadium.Hon BILL ENGLISH: No it was the Tauranga Racecourse to be fair and it was a big crowd and then they were ready for him. But John Key has had the impact of changing the way New Zealand politics works and his legacy is not the tirade of bitterness that the member thought was appropriate for this occasion—I actually do not think the member believed most it—his legacy is actually the opportunity he has left for this country to achieve so much in the next 5 to 10 years. [Interruption] What state is it in? Of course there are intractable social problems—Andrew Little: Oh intractable. Oh you don't claim responsibility.Hon BILL ENGLISH: They have proven to be so in the past—as the members opposite were in Government and spent billions of dollars of taxpayers' money trying to deal with those difficult social problems such as youth unemployment. But under John Key's leadership with the fresh thinking with the almost unpolitical way he has approached those problems this Government has developed a tool kit that will allow us over the next 5 or 10 years to finally get a grip at an individual and personal level on the kinds of social challenges that the member outlined. In that sense we agree. Of course there are social challenges. The question is: who has got a fresh view on those old social challenges? John Key did and still does remarkably after 10 years as a party leader and 8 years as a Prime Minister.The member also referred to this odd argument that economic growth should not count people—that if more people want to live in your country that is a problem for economic growth. It is not. Of course if you say If we take away all the things that make the economy grow it's not growing."—that is true. But actually the member may recall that he—and certainly his colleagues in Opposition—campaigned for quite some time that not enough people wanted to live in New Zealand. So they have to answer this question: do they believe that it is better to have people leaving the country because that drives up per capita GDP or do they believe it is better that our children prefer to live here as they have amply demonstrated under the stewardship of Prime Minister John Key?Just to give a sense of the magnitude of that: in 2012 there was a net outflow of 39000 people to Australia. That is actually bigger than the number of seats in the stadium where the Prime Minister did the election ad. Last year there was an inflow of 2000. That is from my point of view one of the lasting legacies of John Key. He persuaded New Zealanders with his confidence and his leadership that this could be a country where their children would want to stay and make a living and raise a family. In fact we keep thinking that the tide must turn but it has not—but it has not. So I can quote all sorts of economic figures about where the economy has got up to but the measure of his legacy is that our children our families now think when they look at the rest of the world that this is a place where they have more confidence that they can realise more of their aspirations. [Interruption] You know that is the difference in this House: we are in favour of growth and everyone else is against it. That is pretty much how it is unwinding.I just want to take the opportunity to make a few comments not just on the Prime Minister's legacy but on his way of being a politician his way of working with other people. I must say that the way he has conducted his exit from his position illustrates the graciousness and the consideration that he has shown every single day that I have worked with him as a deputy leader and a Deputy Prime Minister. This is a Prime Minister who despite the enormous pressures of the job is always able to turn up to work and deal with people in a confident and cheerful manner always in a positive manner always in a considerate manner and is always polite. The way he dealt with people he met on the campaign trail is the way he has dealt with his colleagues every single day that he has held office with just a few days left to go.That has been at the core of his other major achievement—and that is stable and trusted Government. The Opposition members might laugh at that but in the world as we know it stable and trusted Government is becoming increasingly rare. We are one of the few countries where that is now the case and an important part of that achievement of stable and trusted Government has been the integrity of the Prime Minister and his ability to ensure that the Government remained cohesive that the relationships in it were positive and that it could continue to make the decisions that are necessary to take the country forward. So the Prime Minister will not in any way be belittled by the comments of the Opposition. He never let that bother him. And actually it does not matter what Winston Peters or Andrew Little say today; it will be as irrelevant as the things they said for the whole 8 years he was Prime Minister. It made no difference. Despite political obsession with John Key—known as "Key Derangement Syndrome"—these amazing political machines never laid a finger on him never knocked him off track never brought him down and never distracted him from the task of achieving what was best and right for New Zealanders. In that context—that is the Prime Minister's performance in the bear pit of politics—he had no equal. [Interruption] Well—he had no equal. OK so the Labour Party talks about Helen Clark. John Key beat Helen Clark by a long way in an election and actually the Labour Party has not ever recovered from it. In the bear pit of politics the Prime Minister showed that he had the strength and the direction to maintain the position of Government maintain the trust of the people and ultimately to leave the country in a much much better state than he found it despite the challenges that he had to deal with.Finally the measure of the Prime Minister and his legacy is that he has left a team in great shape. We have seen what has happened to political parties when leaders stay too long. The Prime Minister has left this talented energised team with a clear sense of direction and the best way to fulfil his legacy is to build on those achievements."