Peters Winston: AdjournmentText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Adjournment[Sitting date: 10 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1351. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First):New Zealand First wishes to thank all of the hard-working people in Parliament who make this place tick for what they contribute to our nation and to our democracy. Thank you Mr Speaker—and thanks also to your assistants—for your efforts to ensure that this place runs fairly or to be more accurate and to quote Mr Joyce “pretty fairly”. Thank you also to your staff particularly the Clerk and her office the select committee staff our fantastic library researchers the messengers the cleaners—who by the way still need a fair raise—the travel office the Copperfields staff the IT gurus parliamentary security and the Hansard staff. To all of you a happy Christmas.Thanks also to my dear friends in the press gallery. We know that you play a very fundamental role in our parliamentary democracy. Sadly it has become increasingly clear to us that the under-resourcing of those in the gallery by their respective organisations is having a negative impact on their ability to report the news. As this new-found obsession with speed shows haste makes waste and thoughtful consideration is better than a breaking news banner—but we know where the blame lies.To our New Zealand First staffers in Wellington and out around the country and to all of our supporters thank you for a great year. With a fraction of the money these other parties had—a bare fraction of what they had—we increased our vote by almost 62000. Had the election been in November when it should have been it would have been “all over Rover”. There is an ominous warning for some of you over there in that last statement.We have had a great year. The question now becomes: why are we rising now? Why when there are zero hours for some people on contracts the 90-day exploratory period and the lack of smoko would this Parliament and every other party but New Zealand First want to go and have an early holiday? They should be here to handle the crisis that this country faces. Why? Overnight the OECD irrefutably pointed to the disparities between the wealthy and the poor in this country.You know the only thing we have in surplus right now in this country is political dishonesty. Mr English has been holding out for a surplus. For years he has been saying it is imminent. All he has ever delivered of course is deficit after deficit after deficit. What we want Mr English and the National Party in 2015—which is going to be a seriously tough year; all the omens are there—is the unadulterated plain truth about the state of the economy; not the on-again off-again on-again off-again deficit we have had for the past 6 years. As for the growth rate every forecast has it severely down and it is worsening with the latest forecast from Fonterra.What attention to the deficit does is draw the public’s attention away from some of the really scary numbers. As I said we have $150 billion of national debt and our debt as a Government is up over six times to $65 billion. It reminds me of those lines from Dusty Springfield’s song where she said: “a-thinkin’ and a-hopin’ and a-dreamin’ and a-prayin’ ” I think it went—Hon Member: Thinking and wishing.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Yes “a-thinkin’ and a-hopin’ and a-wishin’ and a-prayin’ ”—on and on; no plan at all. Out in business New Zealand there are a whole lot of people who think that this Government has no plan because if we knew what it was we would not have the Government trying to defend it so many times. Tracking up the figures around the deficit surplus in successive Budgets and fiscal updates has become an art form for this Government.Before the election all that mattered to Mr English was to claim a surplus in 2014-15. There is no surplus. As soon as this House rises he is going to go on trying to soften people and blame everybody else but National’s own claim to be good financial managers. They are not; they are appalling. If we were in Government borrowing at six times what our borrowing rate was in 2008 they would be over there screaming blue murder. But of course there has always been for National members of recent times one rule for them and a different rule for everybody else. Look at their personal and staff expenditures. They screamed about the number of civil servants we had and now we have got more. Keith Holyoake used to have five people in his office; Mr Key has got 55. Holyoake had five; Key has 55. And then bodyguards everywhere as well like some sort of South American drug lord—bodyguards everywhere. Maybe it makes him feel great and important.Then we have the Government’s boast of massive immigration being good for New Zealand massive housing—Hon Member: Oh here we go.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh yes here we go again. For that junior wet behind the ears been here 5 minutes: here we go all right—all the way to the next election. We have a net gain of 47000 right now mainly going to Auckland and we have got Mr English and others talking about consents: “Oh we’ve got 11000 consents.” Have you ever tried to live in a consent? Are there any bathrooms in a consent? Are there any kitchens or bedrooms in a consent? No. It is a joke. We should be here all the way to Christmas Eve to give it our belated attention. Leastways that is what New Zealand First says. We are happy to do the hours the yards because we know what poverty feels and tastes like and that is why we understand the condition of so many New Zealanders now.Look at today’s New Zealand Herald. All these people were surveyed by Massey University and Westpac and the mass majority of them said that they had no hope as renters of ever owning their own home. I can recall in this great country when we were No. 1 in the world and when we took people from dirt floors and tents and poverty to make us the highest homeownership country in the whole wide world. National’s proud boast at the time under Holyoake was that we were a property-owning democracy. These people here do not care—“I’m in the boat Jack. Too bad for you. Pull up the ladder we’re off.” Oh yes—but I tell you you nervous backbenchers that I hope you enjoy it because it is not going be very long-lived. I do not think you are going to make the 2017 election. I do not think you are going to make it. I think there are going to be massive protests when people realise the promises of growth were so fragile as to be a mirage. It is all in today’s paper. We call for a house and land register and they say: “Oh no—that’s not necessary.” Except that if you look at today’s paper again—Phil Twyford: That’s racist and xenophobic.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh xenophobia they call it. I can recall when New Zealand First was referring to the housing crisis massive immigration and what is going on Auckland and every other party shouted: “Racism and xenophobia.” Now they want to pick all the low-hanging apples. Oh yes they do. We might have a concern because right now we have discovered that the Overseas Investment Office is working on a register of foreign ownership of New Zealand.Did he know that—the backbencher over there smiling? Did Mr Bishop know about it? No. He smiles at two flies going up the wall. Did his Prime Minister know? No he did not know. It is all in this article. Mind you this is a Prime Minister who said this—also in the New Zealand Herald of 20 November—“But when it came to assess the sale of the Crafer farms to Shanghai Pengxin not a single other farm could be found with Chinese ownership.” What planet is this Prime Minister on? Look at the man up there yawning from Rodney. He knows there is a whole lot up in his area—one woman owns four farms up there. And here is the Prime Minister bull-dusting around the country saying that it does not exist. Well we are going to make sure that everybody in 2015 gets to find out who was telling the truth all along. Our message to those people going to Christmas and it will be very grim for a lot of people is that I know it is difficult but hang on—New Zealand First is on a dramatic rise; it is the fastest-growing party in this country—help is on its way. Help is on its way.The sad thing of course is this: we are off to war. This country as soon as this House rises will find out that we are off to war having never—Hon Anne Tolley: Rubbish!Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I know it is rubbish. I will get around to that member especially a little later. But let me tell you this: we are off to war and she will never apologise next year when it happens. The National Government never learnt anything from history—never learnt a thing from it. I was in Cabinet in 1991 and I was the only Cabinet Minister opposed to going to that war. Then we had the second engagement and thank God the Labour Party would not go. But no no—these new green wet behind the ears people are off to the Middle East one more time having never learnt a lesson from history. Even going down the years the words of Alexander the Great would have told them to stay away from it. That does not help them. I want to say to the people around this country that I hope they have a better 2015 but the warning is that it is going to be very very difficult.I want to close by saying—being the only party that believes in traditional values—have a happy Christmas be safe on the roads make sure you use your life jackets especially those over there who cannot swim and have a better New Year. Thank you.