Little Andrew: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: General Debate[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6167. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): Just when the nation and the agriculture sector were looking for an expression of confidence from this Government it puts up that member Nathan Guy to give the speech. The agriculture sector is terrified—terrified—about what is happening because it knows that this Government abandoned it long ago. The Government could not care about the border security and biosecurity at the border it could not care about looking after the farmers through the most difficult period and it has got a Minister who like most of these Ministers has been asleep at the wheel for far too long. The reality is this: this country is facing some major economic headwinds and the one thing that the people of New Zealand are looking for is a Government that demonstrates through its leadership that it understands what is happening that it is realistic about what is happening and that it has a plan of action to respond to it. So far on all three counts New Zealand has heard nothing—nothing—from that Government.Well no that is not quite true there is one thing: sell everything—sell everything. The message has gone out from John Key and Bill English: “We don’t know what we’re doing. We don’t have a plan. We’ve got to pony up some more cash very quickly. Let’s just put everything on the block.” So it started with the State houses and what an absolutely shambolic mess we are now in. The most vulnerable in our community have for generations looked to the State to provide them with a safe warm dry house. We have had successive Governments investing in our State houses to look after our most vulnerable and what does this mob do? What does this mob do? Its only plan is to run the houses down and sell them off.There are hundreds of houses sitting empty boarded up perfectly habitable but the Government will not put anybody in them and then it claims that it does not have the right houses in the right places. Then it says it is going to flog them all off. Well the problem with that little plan is it cannot find a buyer and so it has been trawling the world. Who is going to pick up these houses? Who is going to pick up these houses? And now it has found Serco—“Oh Serco will do.” It picks up every other mess the Government has created why not give it this one? And that is what it has done. That is what it has done.It cannot find a buyer for those houses but now it is trying to put other things on the block as well. So what did the Minister of Finance do? He started talking down one of the most successful State businesses Landcorp. It has got a strong balance sheet is diversifying and is doing tremendous things in the agriculture sector and what does the Minister of Finance do? He starts talking to the markets saying that maybe it is not all good and maybe they have to look at it. Maybe the Government is going to manage it like it did Solid Energy and run it into the ground because if there is one thing about its track record that it has proved very successful at it is running good businesses into the ground. Those members are not the great financial and economic wizards that they have long claimed to be. They are a disgrace when it comes to economic management. It is hands off sit back let everybody else do the work and when it turns to custard blame the Government of 8 years ago. That is their only plan—that is their only plan.The tragedy about it is this. With so many issues so many serious issues facing our country what we realise now is that we have a Government with no moral compass a Government that just does not care about the most vulnerable. It does not care about the most vulnerable who look to the Government to provide them with a warm safe dry house. And now it turns out it does not even care about those people former wards of the State—young kids—who were abused beaten and treated horrifically as wards of the State and who are now making legitimate claims. There is a Minister who says one thing in written answers to Parliament and another in oral questions. How can you trust a Minister like that?What is very clear is that we have a Government that does not care about the most vulnerable—the small number of people in our community who come to the Government trying to get justice and trying to get fairness. The Government just does not care. Well it is time that we had a change. We do not need a Government that repeatedly displays the sheer arrogance and the contempt that this Government repeatedly has. It does not care about people—it does not care about people. It is out of touch and arrogant and has no plan on how to help people whether they are the most vulnerable or whether they are those looking to the Government for a bit of leadership. It has stopped giving leadership. The support parties are no better I might add. They sit over there smugly looking at us. They do not provide anything better either.They had the chance. They had the chance to make sure that we had world-class health and safety laws. They blew it and have undermined confidence in it. It is time for a change. The change is coming. It is going to be better and we will have a Government that looks after people that looks after all New Zealanders and that makes this a great place to live again.