Davidson Marama; Rurawhe AdrianHon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): I stand today to honour the strength of communities who are doing their best to survive and I'm talking specifically about rangatahi and young people who are forced to find paid employment while still having to go to school because housing costs are way too high and incomes supporting families are not high enough. This is when they should instead be going to school but I want to acknowledge their fierceness their loyalty to their families and their protectiveness of their families. They are really clear: they do absolutely reject the stigmatisation and dehumanisation of their very families that has for far too long been dominant over many many years. I want to acknowledge also their school communities who fight hard for these rangatahi to be recognised for the incredible leaders that they are. They are loyal and dedicated and they love school but they want to help their families. The problem is that for too long we in this House have continued to make political choices over successive decades in Government that keep prioritising housing as a way to build wealth for a few and that keep undermining the incomes and support that families should have always been having so that these rangatahi can prioritise their education instead of being forced into situations that sacrifice their education. Successive Governments could have always chosen to end poverty and instead tax people who own and not just tax people who earn because political leaders have continued to dehumanise and stigmatise these very families who continue to try and do their best. What are we here for if not to improve lives and address the underlying systemic drivers of these causes—whether it's ACT squabbling over a $50 voucher without mentioning and fighting against the long-held health inequities that have existed in our system for Māori or whether it's the National Party talking about forcing someone to pay more tax without mentioning the choices when families are forced to live in crappy expensive unaffordable homes. This country still allows housing to be used to build wealth instead of homes for people. It's something we should all be stepping up to including if we are serious about reducing offending. Improving incomes and housing will go a heck of a long intergenerational way towards solving that issue with a wellbeing focus. The Greens are clear that we can absolutely have a guaranteed income where everyone has what they need to provide including top-ups for people raising families and where we could actually end poverty. What a goal that would be and the intergenerational wellbeing impact that that would have—my goodness! We should be fighting to make these decisions. We can also end poverty by addressing housing having a pledge to renters while controlling the amount that rents can increase and at the same time massively prioritising and massively scaling up public affordable and community housing. These solutions have always been here for us but it has been simple political will that has refused to put these solutions in place. The politics of leadership would prioritise these voices. In these schools we'd prioritise the principals including these principals from Ōtara and Glen Innes that are sharing these stories not to further stigmatise these families but to highlight the very leadership and solutions. They are asking us to talk not just about low attendance but they are asking us—their voices are clear—to look at what is happening behind the low attendances. We want tamariki to go to school to improve our incomes and to end the housing crisis and unaffordability—that's what will help improve attendance for these rangatahi and these families with schools. Don't just listen to me; listen to these principals listen to these families and listen to these rangatahi who are generously sharing their voices and their leadership. That is the political leadership that surely we should all be invested in in this House for many generations to come—long-term solutions that will actually get to the depth of drivers that are causing the big issues that we are facing the big issues that many of us I have no doubt genuinely care about but are refusing to pull the levers that would make the most difference. We have costed our policies. We can count. We would be able to solve so much with a wealth tax on those who have more than enough. That's leadership. SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired.