Goodhew Jo: Adjournment — Sittings of the HouseText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoodhew Jo: Adjournment — Sittings of the House[Sitting date: 09 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8733. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JO GOODHEW (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): As I rise in this House to take the call afforded me by the absence of one of our members from United Future who I know always greets this House at the end of the year so eloquently I do so thankful for the opportunity.Mr Speaker I am going to begin with you. As you preside over this Chamber you have the unenviable task of trying to teach members of Parliament how to remember where to find their Speakers’ Rulings or their Standing Orders books and in fact you do so with such patience with such perseverance. I want to acknowledge that on this occasion and say that we are all trying to learn them a bit more. Some of us need to do a bit more homework—we certainly acknowledge that—but I do acknowledge your good humour in trying to convey to us the way we should be operating in this House.I also want to acknowledge the Office of the Clerk and the work it does to guide you and assist you particularly when the House is in Committee when there is a lot of work that goes on from the Office of the Clerk.I want to acknowledge the whips of each of the parties and in particular our three whips in the National Party who try to make sure that we are where we should be when we should be—most times with success but not all times.We have been here for 88 days. There have been 120 bills passed in this Parliament and I do not think that generally the public of New Zealand know how often the vast majority of the members of this House vote for bills. There are some contentious bills where there is quite a lot of media around them and a lot of dissension but a lot of the bills that travel through this House go largely without much opposition and we get on with the job.We come to the season when thankfully in a country like New Zealand generosity shines through. It is a season when those who have more than they need are so often seen to be giving to those who need more. New Zealand is a very generous country. Just recently on the World Giving Index we were third behind the United States and then Ireland and proudly so. I certainly see a lot of that in my community and voluntary sector portfolio.As I move on to some more thanks I want to thank the people who are keeping us up to the mark and helping in our ministerial offices our electorate offices and our offices here in Parliament. They are ably supported by our research and communications teams and the IT teams that answer our calls in the weekends and during the week when things go wrong and we would dearly love to chuck some technology out the window but that is apparently not the right answer. They answer our calls and walk us through the ways. I must confess I have finally remembered that before I dial their number I must turn it off at the wall and see whether that works. So finally that has got through to me.I want to thank the people who so courteously greet us with a smile every time we see them around Parliament be they the security the buildings people the messengers or the people in Bellamy’s and Copperfields—those who cater to our needs be they food or beverage and those who look after us so securely. And as we saw today there are threats to our security. I must say the cleaners of the Parliament are often lauded for the work they do but regretfully I have got to say that members on the other side of the House seemed to think that the antics today were funny. It is the cleaners who will have to clean up after them for those antics and for this despicable mess at my feet.Ron Mark: Well you clean it up.Hon JO GOODHEW: And I have actually cleaned it up. However I am not responsible for this mess. The members opposite clearly lauded this mess.However to move on in the spirit of Christmas giving I give you some more pearls of wisdom and this time they will be about the things that this Government has had in the way of a really good year. I have got to be quick—the Speaker tells me to wind it up. It has been a good year for the Government. The books are back in surplus at the date we said they would be free doctors’ visits for under-13s as well as prescriptions HomeStart helping so many people into their first home record income from tourists and tourism and we have signed the New Zealand - Korea free-trade agreement and concluded negotiations on Trans-Pacific Partnership. Even with the red bits at my feet it has been a great year for the Government.May it be a safe restful enjoyable happy fun Christmas for everyone in this House and everyone who supports you in the work you do and also your family who no doubt are so important to you all. Thank you and merry Christmas everyone.