Hipkins ChrisRt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition): Thank you Mr Speaker. I move That the following words be added to the address and expects over the next three years to see action on the cost of living pressure Kiwi families are facing with inflation falling faster than Treasury's pre-election projections interest rates falling real incomes continuing to grow near record-low unemployment being sustained the Government's books being returned to surplus at least as quickly as previously forecast the number of affordable homes built increased all those on State house waiting lists being accommodated significant reductions in crime climate emissions continuing to decline school attendance materially improving rates of literacy and numeracy amongst 15-year-olds improving and material improvements in the overall living standards of all New Zealanders." Anything less than those things will mean that this Government has failed to deliver on the promises that it made to New Zealanders.Sitting and listening to the Speech from the Throne I listened very carefully hoping to see some shred of vision some shred of hope for the future for New Zealanders but what we heard was a plan to take New Zealand backwards—repeated use of words like "stop" "repeal" "replace" "reverse" and "disestablish"—a plan to go backwards not a plan to take New Zealand forward. What we also saw was a confused set of priorities: a Government that has chosen to prioritise mega landlords over renters and first-home buyers; a Government that has chosen to prioritise the tobacco lobby over the health and wellbeing of young New Zealanders; a Government that has chosen to prioritise oil and gas companies over our environment; a Government that has chosen to prioritise millionaires instead of salary and wage workers; a Government that has chosen to accept conspiracy theories instead of policy-based facts evidence and science. Not only does the Government have its priorities wrong this could well be the most shambolic beginning of any Government in New Zealand's history.First we had the coalition negotiations with as predicted Winston Peters and David Seymour running circles around Christopher Luxon. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite as pathetic as the incoming Prime Minister literally sprinting out the door of Parliament to fly back to Auckland because he had been summoned by Winston Peters because Winston Peters decided that he didn't want to come to Wellington; he wanted instead to summon the others to come to Auckland—not exactly a strong and stable start to coalition negotiations. But then of course when the Government finally took office and we thought things might settle down a bit it actually got worse because in those signature moments in the formation of the new Government Winston Peters once again stole the show upstaging the Prime Minister throughout the entire process.On a serious note though I respect the fact that New Zealanders at this last election voted for change. I don't think the change that they're getting is the change they thought they were voting for though. I don't think that this was the change that they had in mind because when we look through the coalition documents that form the basis for this incoming Government we see a mishmash of confused priorities and broken promises literally weeks out from the election.First let's start with the fundamentals. Let's start with the economic fundamentals that underpin this Government: tax cuts that are simply unaffordable. Bigger tax cuts for mega landlords than what was promised before the election and smaller tax cuts for working New Zealanders than what was promised before the election—that has been the upshot of the coalition negotiations. Mega landlords around 300 of whom stand to get over a million dollars in tax cuts each under this incoming Government actually get their tax cuts brought forward so they are going to get more while working New Zealanders see the tax cuts they were promised by National starting to erode away through the wheeling and dealing of the incoming Government.New Zealanders discovered late in the election campaign that the tax cuts that were being promised by National were actually a hoax to begin with: $250 a fortnight is what National promised the average working family—$250 a fortnight—and not "up to". In fact we can go back and we can watch the video. It was $250 a fortnight. But then we discovered late in the campaign that actually there were only about 3000 families that were going to benefit from that and for the rest of the country it was going to be significantly less than that. And now we know it is going to be even less than what they were promised before the election.I do want to welcome one change and I want to congratulate New Zealand First for the change and that is the reversal of National's policy to allow foreign homebuyers back into the New Zealand housing market. It was the wrong way to fund tax cuts. It made a mockery of National's claim for the last six years that tax cuts were affordable because they had to raise a new revenue source in order to pay for them but also it was a complete fiction that never would have raised the revenue that was promised. If anything I think Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon were relieved that New Zealand First drew a line through that one because they were soon to be found out that it was simply a fiction. There was a reason why they never released their costings during the election campaign—because I don't think they actually had any. I don't think they actually had anything more than a few back-of-the-envelope calculations that simply did not stack up.But what I think New Zealanders will be shocked by is what they have replaced it with: the idea that more young New Zealanders should take up smoking in order to pay for tax cuts is morally reprehensible. I don't think New Zealanders thought that was what they were going to get. I don't think that's the change they were voting for when they voted at the last election. National's decision to wind back the smoke-free Aotearoa agenda is a disgrace to New Zealand as a country. It is an international embarrassment and it is making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons. Members opposite should think carefully about where they are positioning themselves when even the Conservatives in the UK think that they have made the wrong decision. When the Conservative Party in the UK are progressing an agenda which this Government are now choosing to abandon it should surely have them questioning their priorities.But that is not the only reason that the incoming Government are embarrassing New Zealand internationally already trashing New Zealand's international reputation. Live animal exports is another area. It is cruel and it is wrong and it was banned for a reason. This is a Government that proposed to reverse all action on climate change and that is an embarrassment to New Zealand a country that trades on its "clean green" reputation. What we are seeing is a Government that says that you can have all the emissions reductions and yet do nothing that has actually contributed to achieving those things. It is an embarrassment to New Zealand internationally.Let's then turn to the core of their promises during the campaign. There is no doubt that this was a cost of living election. The increase in inflation that we have seen post pandemic has hurt Kiwi households and hurt Kiwi household budgets in particular but what are we seeing from this incoming Government? Will their policies that they have signed up to actually reduce inflation? Tax cuts that aren't properly funded and the catalogue of spending commitments that we've seen in the coalition agreement are more likely to stoke inflation than see inflation coming backwards. There is a reason that the Government are now so desperately thrashing around trying to blame the outgoing Government for everything they possibly can—because their numbers didn't add up before the election and they certainly don't add up after the coalition negotiations.Rt Hon Christopher Luxon: Smoke and mirrors.Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: So let's talk about smoke and mirrors and let's talk about some of the smoke and mirrors that we've seen in the last few days. The idea that Pharmac's funding and that the funding for school lunches was somehow a new surprise to the incoming Government despite the fact that it was in their own fiscal plan before the last election. Suddenly somehow this is all news to them now and somehow the outgoing Government was wrong in not grouping up all of the time-limited commitments into a nice easy summary that was easy to read because apparently nobody on the other side of the House bothered to read the last Budget as they put together their alternative fiscal plan. It's not that long and I'm sure that someone on the other side has an attention span that can make it from the start to the finish even if the incoming finance Minister doesn't. As for cost overruns I don't know whether it's escaped the incoming Government that there has been an increase in inflation and that as they were talking about the cost of living facing New Zealanders it's somewhat surprising that they didn't factor that into their fiscal plans—because Government costs have gone up during that time as well. We factored that in to our fiscal plans and during the campaign made it very clear to the National Party that they'd underprovided for that—"Oh no no" we were told "We've got it all right." Now they know their numbers don't add up they're trying to blame everybody but themselves when their numbers did not add up. So let me begin with my first pledge for this Parliament: we will not let this incoming Government rewrite history. They have inherited a set of Government books that are on track to getting back into surplus. They have inherited an inflationary track that will mean by this time next year inflation will be back to the 1 to 3 percent target range. They have inherited near-record low unemployment that has been sustained for a prolonged period of time. They have inherited strong wage growth that means working Kiwis are able to work hard and get ahead. They have inherited an economy that is growing faster than many economists had predicted it would grow—and it was never in recession despite the fact that the new Prime Minister went up and down the country preaching doom and gloom. In fact he went around the world preaching doom and gloom saying that New Zealand was "wet whiny and miserable" and that "Kiwi businesses have gone soft" and we were "in recession" when we never were. Not only did we do all of those things but whilst we were doing those things we ensured that we were investing record amounts in fixing up New Zealand's run-down infrastructure. We also made sure that health and education was being properly funded something that we could not say when we became the Government in 2017.But I also want to make the second of the pledges that I want to make in this House today: that as an Opposition and as a future Government we will seek to bring New Zealanders together not drive a wedge between Kiwis. The three most egregious examples of that that we see from the incoming Government are this: first the adoption of COVID-19 conspiracy theories as apparent Government policy. I say to the members opposite who have pledged to end all COVID-19 mandates: can they name one that's still in place? Can they name one? I hear crickets on the Treasury benches because there aren't any—but they want to buy into the conspiracy theorists' view; they are now questioning the efficacy of vaccine science. I think this House should be proud of the fact that we as a whole Parliament said to New Zealanders that vaccines were safe and effective and Kiwis should do that and I think it is a massive step backwards that this Government are now officially questioning that.I also think that it's a stain on New Zealand's international reputation that we are one of only two or three countries in the world saying that we don't want to be part of the system that the World Health Organization are setting up to stop future pandemics—a system set up to stop future pandemics—and this Government are saying they don't want New Zealand to be part of it making us an embarrassing international outlier. We see outright attacks from the incoming Government on our gender diverse community that are frankly a massive step backwards. I want our schools to be a safe place for all young New Zealanders including our gender diverse young people. I want all of our young people in New Zealand to be free to be who they are; to not feel like they have to be someone who they are not when they walk through the school gate. And I want New Zealand to be a country where young people learn to be respectful of diversity and difference not one where they are encouraged to judge and persecute others who are not like them.But perhaps the most egregious and divisive policies that we are seeing from this Government are when it comes to issues around Māori. During my lifetime I'm very proud of the fact that New Zealand under successive governments—blue and red—has made enormous progress towards righting some of the wrongs of the past towards bringing New Zealand together towards celebrating Māori culture and identity in ways that we haven't in the past. And I am very disappointed that based on what we're seeing in the coalition documents of this Government this could be the first Government in a generation to go backwards on those issues. New Zealanders have nothing to fear from Māori thriving in New Zealand. When Māori thrive all New Zealanders will thrive. I believe that te reo Māori is a taonga for New Zealand; we should be proud of it we should celebrate it we should foster it and we should encourage New Zealanders to take it up in greater numbers. The rhetoric that we've seen in the last 24 hours—of suggesting that those who speak fluent te reo Māori in public service roles should have their pay docked—is simply disgraceful. We pay extra allowances to teachers who are fluent in te reo Māori because there is so much demand for it because so many young New Zealanders want to learn it. And I am proud as a Minister of Education to have seen an expansion of te reo Māori provision in our schools so that future generations of New Zealanders—including Pākehā New Zealanders—can learn te reo Māori something I didn't get the opportunity to do when I was at school and I wish that I had; and I want to make sure that future New Zealanders get to have that. I say to members opposite that non-Māori New Zealanders have nothing to fear from a Māori Health Authority focused on improving the health outcomes for Māori New Zealanders and we have nothing to fear from a by Māori for Māori approach.This Government in the Speech from the Throne and in their coalition agreement set out all of the areas where they want to take New Zealand backwards; very few where they want to take New Zealand forwards. Repealing the Resource Management Act (RMA) which the last National Government said was flawed and needed to be changed and putting it back to what it was before—so repealing the repeal and going back to the RMA—isn't going to take New Zealand forward particularly when they don't know what they're going to eventually replace it with. Dialling back workers' rights isn't going to take New Zealand forward. Removing fair pay agreements that had the potential to lift salary and wages for some of the lowest-paid New Zealand workers isn't going to take New Zealand forward. Reinstating 90-day fire-at-will trials isn't going to improve the lot of working New Zealanders and watering down contractors' rights will simply return us to the race to the bottom. I think one of the big challenges our economy faces in recent decades is that we've seen a decoupling of effort and reward. We actually have to make sure work pays and this Government wants to turn back the clock on all of the things that have seen rising incomes for working New Zealanders.Another area where the Government want to take us backwards—tragically for New Zealand today but even more tragically for New Zealand tomorrow—is the area of climate change. This Government inherit a climate emissions reductions profile that is trending down for the first time in New Zealand's history and has been for the last three years. And yet what they want to do is remove the three things that have actually contributed to that reduction. They want to abolish the Climate Emergency Response Fund they want to abolish the Government investment in decarbonising industry they want to abolish the clean car rebate—all examples of things that will take New Zealand backwards that will turn back the clock on our effort to combat climate change. And they have nothing to replace those things with. It's all hollow rhetoric—greenwashing if you wanted to call it that—which is actually going to see New Zealand's climate profile getting worse again. Given that it was the cost of living election I looked closely in the Speech from the Throne and the coalition deals to see what they were actually going to do about it. And there's very little in there that is actually going to help New Zealanders to tackle the rising cost of living particularly given the things that are in there are likely to keep inflation and interest rates higher for longer.They're off to a shambolic start but sadly there is a lot more to come. I am looking forward for example to seeing New Zealand First's response when the ACT Party brings the legislation to the House—that they have promised and that New Zealand First have pledged to support—to repeal changes to the Overseas Investment Act that the last coalition Government introduced at the behest of New Zealand First to introduce the national interest test into the Overseas Investment Act. I'm not sure they were fully awake at that part of the discussions where they literally signed up to that and said that they were going to vote in favour of repealing the provisions in the Overseas Investment Act—Hon Shane Jones: Mere detail!Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —that they wanted to put in place in the first place. "Mere detail" Shane Jones says. I think we'll hear a bit of that in the next little while. I look forward to hearing what New Zealand First has to say about rail investment given that the incoming National Government have made very little provision for any increased investment in rail—and I know that that's something that matters a lot to them. Although I did notice Nicola Willis railing against the increase in the cost of replacing the inter-island ferries. Fortunately for her she could speak to the Minister who initiated the replacement of the inter-island ferries: he's sitting two seats down the Rt Hon Winston Peters who kicked off the procurement process for the replacement of the inter-island rail ferries.Of course we know that the New Zealand First Party say they want to increase the minimum wage while the ACT Party say they want to have it frozen. So I'm sure that's going to be an interesting debate around the Cabinet table. It will be very interesting to see where they land on forestry conversions given New Zealand First seem to want more of it for forestry and ACT and National seem to want less of it. I'm looking forward to seeing them progressing their legislation on the Kermadecs after six years of complaining about the lack of progress on that under the last Government.Hon Shane Jones: Haere rā! Haere rā!Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Don't give in so early Shane. Although there'll be a few people saying "haere rā" when New Zealand First vote in favour of bringing back 90-day trials something they voted in favour of removing in the first place; and actually some tenants saying "haere rā" when they bring back no-cause evictions for tenants—something again New Zealand First previously voted to abolish. New Zealand First of course have also signed up to reintroduce charter schools something they spent nine years in Opposition being vehemently opposed to.Ultimately it is a Government that wants to take New Zealand back but I do want to—given this is my first contribution in this House—take a moment to say thank you. Because whilst this marks the beginning of the new Government it does also mark the end of the last Government and I want to take a moment to thank New Zealanders for their support over the last six years through some extraordinarily challenging circumstances; to thank all of those staff who worked for us in the Beehive who now find themselves seeking other employment—one of the perhaps more brutal parts of this democratic process. I do want to take a moment to say thank you to all of them for their contributions and I do want to take a moment to reflect on what they helped us to achieve in that six years that we were in Government because it does very much set the context for what this Government is inheriting.There are more New Zealanders in work than ever before. We have the highest rate of Kiwis in jobs with a 69.8 percent employment rate having created 281000 new jobs during our time in Government. I'm proud of the work that we did to close the gender pay gap and I hope—all politics aside—that that is work that will continue under the incoming Government because it is simply wrong that for generations women have been paid less than men for doing work of the same value. We have made significant progress in closing the gender pay gap; in resolving historic pay equity claims. I hope that work will continue because I believe that it must.We extended free doctors visits to 14-year-olds. We extended paid parental leave to 26 weeks. We significantly increased health funding including to Pharmac and we abolished prescription charges which resulted in 3 million free prescriptions for New Zealanders something that I believe stopped New Zealanders ending up in our emergency departments with avoidable illnesses because they weren't getting the medication that they needed. We significantly increased the pay for our public sector workers like nurses like doctors like teachers like police like firefighters. We introduced new options for mental health support including 1 million free Access and Choice mental health sessions and I hope that the momentum on those things will continue.I hope that the momentum that we had in rebuilding our apprenticeship scheme continues: 274000 New Zealanders benefiting from free apprenticeships and targeted trades training. I hope the work that we started to rebuild our schools and hospitals will continue: 2200 more classrooms 3800 more teachers Mana in Mahi and programmes like that helping to get young New Zealanders into work and into education and training. One million free and healthy school lunches 77000 fewer children living in poverty emissions in New Zealand falling for three years in a row record levels of renewable electricity generation 110000 low-income Kiwi households getting cheaper power bills because of the Warmer Kiwi Homes scheme.There's been a 70 percent increase in the number of electric vehicles on our roads. When we became the Government in 2017 just 2 percent of the cars coming into the market were electric or hybrid vehicles. As we leave office that is 37 percent—a huge improvement. We've been replacing coal boilers across the country with renewable energy sources. I want to highlight the key work of David Parker and Damien O'Connor our trade Ministers—two of the most successful trade Ministers in New Zealand's history. When we became the Government less than half our exports were covered by free-trade agreements. Now nearly three-quarters are.The work that we have done in public housing deserves particular mention: 13000 new public homes under our Government since 2017. The work that we did to put extra police on the beat: 1800 extra police on the beat under our Government—Rt Hon Winston Peters: It was never your policy.Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —1800 extra police on the beat under our Government. Firearms reform including the introduction of the firearms registry: something that the New Zealand Police have asked for for a long time. There have been record investments in transport including fixing a record number of potholes over the last year; completing legacy infrastructure projects like Transmission Gully that were left in a heck of a mess by the outgoing National Government.I want to say that I'm very proud of our track record in delivering for Māori and delivering for Pacific New Zealanders. On that last note I want to say that Pacific New Zealanders are a growing and significant part of the New Zealand economy a growing and significant part of New Zealand society and I think it's telling that the incoming Government didn't mention them once in the Speech from the Throne today—not one single time. That does not bode well for Pacific New Zealanders in the future.So we leave Government proud of our track record committed to holding the incoming Government to account concerned about the direction that they are taking New Zealand in—which is backwards on all of the important measures that should be important to New Zealand's future—and absolutely resolved that for the first time in New Zealand's history this will be a one-term National Government. SPEAKER: The question is that the amendment be agreed to."