Seymour DavidHon DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. As I listened to the last two speeches from Labour and the Greens I couldn't help but have a few thoughts. That speech by James Shaw sounded like a speech by a man who's resigned already. He's just forgotten to actually leave. He was phoning it in. The energy the conviction it just was not there. And we wish him well; he's nearly free.There was the speech from Chris Hipkins and it could easily have been given by Grant Robertson. Now here's the most dangerous thing that the Opposition particularly the Labour Party could do to the Government—the most dangerous thing they could do. You see they in Government presided over a time when we had record inflation. The economy is having three-quarters of negative growth in one year. That's their legacy. In terms of social division they had fires on the lawns of Parliament. They have a crime epidemic that has terrorised people just trying to run a shop. So what's the most dangerous thing that the Labour Party could do to the Government? They could actually start to admit they made some mistakes and say they're going to change but they're not doing anything like that. They are totally unrepentant. They would have you think that they were somehow a perfect Government that did nothing wrong and if only they were back then actually everything would be fine. Now the problem for Labour is nobody believes that. Nobody. You know the country under them had people starting off by saying that the country is going in the right direction and finished off saying it's going in the wrong direction. Until the Labour Party actually start to do some penitence for the enormous damage their policies did to New Zealand they are no danger. They have a plan to be in Opposition for at least nine years—or as Winston Peters suggested today 25.I couldn't help but notice that listening to their speeches but I also just say to you Mr Speaker congratulations on your election and thank you to the many staff in Parliament that you effectively lead—those in the Office of the Clerk the House Office the cleaners the travel office the library. I want to say IST but we'd particularly like to give a shout-out to someone—I don't know his full name. He's known to us only as Super Tom who as people who have had help from Tom know is the most extraordinary helpful person in an IST department—possibly the only one in the world. We're very grateful for Super Tom.I want to thank the security looking smart and a lot tougher these days and I think that makes us all feel good; the caterers; but also those in Government departments. Those that I've been responsible for—in education health and Treasury Pharmac—we're very grateful for the work that they're already doing to support us and that goes right across Government including the official who seems to think that they were in communications with Minister van Velden's Cabinet paper. We'd like to thank them. We've got a lot of good policies if they want to help us get them out there. Well I tell you what it hasn't worked out too well for them now has it? I also want to thank those staff in the ACT office ably led by Andrew Ketels. We're lucky to have extraordinary people who come and work for us and stay. To have a happy and productive workplace is something I'm extremely proud of and grateful for the people there. And that goes also for ACT's MPs. We're proud we've had a record year. We're grateful for the quarter million - odd New Zealanders who have trusted ACT with their party vote. Those voters my neighbours in Epsom who have returned me to this place for a fourth term—I'm very grateful for that. And our neighbours next door in the Tāmaki electorate who now have a brilliant new young and dynamic member of Parliament—we're very grateful for the trust that they've placed in us. But also in the quality of those MPs that have been elected in that record result we're very proud to have five new MPs six returning MPs. We have an extraordinary team and people who trusted us with their party vote can see that they have had real quality.I want to also acknowledge our other parties in Government. Te Pāti Māori—I was thrilled today to see that Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has opened the Standing Orders and could even quote one. I've got to tell her the one that she was looking for was actually 396 Content of replies" but that will require her to turn over another few chapters because if you're going to talk about tikanga it's about time that Te Pāti Māori respected the tikanga of this particular party as well.I particularly want to acknowledge the Green Party and I want to acknowledge the significant work that they've done on climate change and installing a policy that looks to be ongoing. I think they should be congratulated on that and we wish them a very merry Christmas. To the Labour Party we wish you too a very merry Christmas. Opposition is important work and we look forward to our exchanges including areas where I hope we can build consensus on policies for the long-term future of New Zealand.To my colleague the Rt Hon Winston Peters and the New Zealand First Party a very merry Christmas to you. You know what? I never quite believed when they said that politics makes strange bedfellows until I got into bed with you guys. But none the less in contrast to what the Opposition would say—they have this kind of binary argument against this Government: one is that we can't work together and the other that we're working so effectively that we're rapidly doing all these terrible things. And they're going to have to work out which one it is. Is the Government being ineffective and divided or is it being too effective? They're going to have to work out which one it is pretty soon.I heard James Shaw say that we play some sort of game—I think Simon Says—in the Cabinet room. Unfortunately imagining what happens in Cabinet is as close as James Shaw will ever get because I can tell him that we have a very united Government working effectively to deliver. And that goes for my friends and colleagues in the National Party—Chris Luxon Nicola Willis. Up and down the country to see new blue MPs joining us in Parliament is a fabulous thing and we look forward over the coming years to tackling in a deep and substantial way the serious challenges that New Zealand faces. This country has more land than most fewer people than most and yet a massive shortage of places for people to live. That is a real failure. It's a failure that can be fixed and I have great confidence that with Chris Bishop leading in that area we are going to make enormous progress at making sure that this is a place where once again the Kiwi Dream of a property-owning democracy can be a reality.We got news this week that in the third term of this year fewer than half of kids regularly attended school. And that's just kids that are enrolled. This is the size of the challenge that we face but I'm confident that along with Erica Stanford I as Associate Minister of Education am going to make a major contribution as part of this Government to finally get kids engaged in learning and have a school system that has the flexibility to deliver and the accountability for delivering it—the opposite of what they've had for the last six years.We face serious challenges with crime after the previous Government tried the experiment of being nice to criminals to see if they'd be nice back. Unfortunately too many victims know how that experiment ended but luckily we know that the experiment is over and this Government will be locking up the bad people and rehabilitating them. Rather than putting the criminal at the centre of the criminal system we will be putting the victim at the centre of the criminal system.And we are going to ensure that we have a Government that makes careful use of taxpayer money because the previous Government's record—a 30 percent increase in expenditure per person after inflation with worse results in every sector from safety to health to education. That is a disastrous legacy and that's why the Opposition over Christmas need to actually do some repenting and reflecting on what went wrong in New Zealand under their leadership and policies which they have not changed.But this Government has already in just a few weeks found how we can save $7.5 billion dollars from the previous Government's spending plans. James Shaw says "They haven't done anything that will improve the cost of living." I can tell James Shaw saving money and stopping Government waste takes pressure off inflation. That helps the cost of living. I can tell him. That is exactly how we are going to do it.So Mr Speaker I finish by wishing you again a very merry Christmas. I wish you my fellow parliamentary colleagues and your families a very merry Christmas. To all of those who have supported us volunteered campaigned and voted for us we thank you for your support and we look forward to 2024 when we will continue to deliver on the real change you ask for. Thank you Mr Speaker."