O'Connor DamienHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Labour): Madam Speaker thank you very much. I too would like to acknowledge in this somewhat sad and sombre House—and I know we're not allowed to refer to people who are not here but we have to acknowledge that many members from all parties are up at Efeso Collins' funeral. For someone who spent his life—certainly in public life—advocating for the disadvantaged and for his people and the Pasifika and all of those in Auckland it's great that we have been able to acknowledge him. But I think he may too feel looking down from up there somewhat sad about what has happened in this week in the House. He had one chance to have a speech to contribute and it was to speak out for those who didn't have the same opportunities that many of us have had.But this week in this House this coalition Government through this Parliament have doubled down on so many dumb and stupid things that go completely against everything that he stood for. We should be ashamed of ourselves—double standards. Quite frankly it's not a back on track" Government. Sorry Mark Patterson and good luck with wool. Not back on track; it's a back-track Government nothing more than backtrack. We've not heard anything in the first 100 days—it's not 100 days you know; it's a hundred nights. If it was 100 days there'd be some enlightenment there'd be some light on what the Government's doing. It's been 100 nights because we have no idea what they're going to do.We know what they're not going to do. They're not going to follow through in the set-up of the Māori Health Authority. They're not going to have a petrol tax in Auckland to pay for vital infrastructure. They're not going to have world-leading smoke-free environment legislation. They're not going to have a control on the level of nicotine in cigarettes that will be sold around this country. It's outrageous. And the question is why?Well there are always changes across our country; in fact we've grown up very quickly. People expect change. We hope for change for the better. You always ask "Well why are we having change? Why is change occurring?" Well let's be clear here. It's to help your mates. The coalition Government wants to help its mates—the people who funded it into Government. So we'll give tax cuts to wealthy landlords. We'll give tax cuts to rich people because they are always the beneficiaries of a tax regime designed to be cut for people at the top and shift the impost to people at the bottom. That's the why.People will make the judgment of whether they think the cuts to public services the cuts to protections for those who might smoke because there'll been no levels of nicotine control—or we need more infrastructure in Auckland. And they certainly do. Safety—it's not just about more busways and more walkways and more cycleways or that they are good; it's about basic road safety preventing people from getting killed.And then the ultimate insult to the life and objectives of Efeso Collins is to take away and destroy and remove the Māori Health Authority—set up to address the real issue in our country and it's been there for a long time: the disparities in longevity for Māori and for Pasifika versus people like me who live on average now about eight years longer. I'm grateful for that but I have a responsibility to help address that disparity. And this Government has just destroyed a good initiative to help us move down that path. It wasn't going to be perfect; I'm sure. But it was moving us down that path.The hundred nights of darkness which we've almost got to have shone no light on what this Government intends to do to the point that the removal of the three waters legislation says that Standard & Poor's now is downgrading many councils and they will pay higher rates of interest. That darkness and the uncertainty—the darkness and the uncertainty across our economy are starting to lead to international implications. Our soft power index all starting to be degraded by a coalition Government that cares for nothing but its wealthy mates."