Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): Mr Speaker as I rise as the penultimate speaker in the adjournment debate for 2022 I'm reminded of the words of my good friend and colleague Aupito William Sio who says When you can smell the pork keep it short." So Mr Speaker I will endeavour to do just that.This time last year I reflected on the year that had been 2021 and predicted that 2022 would be a better year for New Zealand than 2021 had been. This year I will make no such predictions having learnt from my experience of last year. It is useful though to remember where we were this time last year as a country. Aucklanders were looking forward to the freedom of having the Auckland boundary removed. The international border was still closed and we were all looking forward to seeing it reopened. Our COVID-19 vaccination drive was continuing this time with a focus on boosters and Delta was still the dominant variant of COVID-19 circulating only in one part of the country at that point. A year can feel like a very long time when we reflect on where we were this time last year. COVID-19 is now with us circulating in the community and it will continue to do so. Omicron replaced Delta early in the new year as the dominant variant. The border is now fully reopened and we are welcoming people back to New Zealand.Importantly I want to reflect on a few key successes from our COVID-19 response. New Zealand continues to have one of the lowest case mortality rates from COVID-19 in the world. That was not an achievement of the Government. It was not an achievement of the health system. It was an achievement of all New Zealanders and we should acknowledge everyone who made a sacrifice in order for that to be the case. New Zealanders literally saved lives through the pandemic like very few other countries did and all New Zealanders played a role in that.In fact it's not just COVID-19. New Zealand overall in the last three years during the global pandemic has had a lower mortality rate than we have had in pre - COVID-19 times and again that is a tribute to New Zealanders and what they have done. While we started 2022 with COVID-19 firmly in the minds of all New Zealanders that is certainly not the way we are ending the year. I think that New Zealanders by the middle of the year were well and truly over the global pandemic and that is very very understandable.Our economy remains very resilient despite the global effect that COVID-19 has had. We have very low unemployment—people are in work—and in the global pandemic it could easily have gone the other way. We have low Government debt—certainly lower than most of the other countries that we compare ourselves to. Government spending as a percentage of GDP is more or less back to the level that it was when we became the Government. The Government is returning to surplus faster than last Government did after the global financial crisis. Wages continue to increase. But we do as a Government acknowledge the effect that global inflation is having on New Zealand families. In that regard we've boosted Working for Families helping 346000 New Zealand families in the process. We've boosted superannuation to ensure that older New Zealanders can weather the storm. We deliver on a weekly basis over 1 million free school lunches every week in our schools that are helping families to get through and ensuring that kids don't miss out on their valuable learning opportunities. We've eased the pain at the pump through reductions in fuel excise. We've boosted student allowances. We have started the difficult job of tackling the lack of competition in our grocery market. It is not acceptable that grocery companies are profiting over a million dollars a day in excess profits and that is something that New Zealanders shouldn't have to tolerate. We've backed low-paid workers including boosting the minimum wage and in targeted areas—for example bus drivers to name just one area. We've supported a million Kiwis with the winter energy payment and we've rolled out the cost of living payment. Our Government is absolutely committed to supporting New Zealanders through the difficult economic cycle we are at the moment.As the Minister of Education I want to take a moment to reflect on the contribution of our education system and the difficulties that they have encountered this year. And I particularly want to start by thanking the parents of children who did the right thing and kept their children home when they had COVID-19 or when there were people in their household who were being asked to isolate. They followed the rules. And while there are some in this House who would now attack them for doing that I think they did the right thing and we should all thank them for doing so. The impact of COVID 19 on our education system this year has been immense. I've spoken to countless teachers head teachers principals and other leaders who say they wake up in the morning many days and they count. They count the number of kids who are going to be coming and they count the number of staff that they've got available and they try and make those two things match up. I acknowledge the pressure that has placed them under. And so I want to thank them for their ongoing resilience and their perseverance. We've continued our record investment in school property to make sure that we are giving our learners and our teachers the types of learning conditions that they deserve. We've got record numbers of people in apprenticeships across the country. We're rebuilding our international education system and we are working on ensuring we have enough teachers in our classroom.In terms of police we are on track to deliver 1800 extra police on the beat and we're backing the police to tackle gang crime and to deal with the recent surge in youth offending. It's been a busy year for Parliament We have sat on 89 calendar days which represents 85 sitting days in the parliamentary calendar and we have sent for 443 normal sitting hours 63 extended-sitting hours and 62 hours under urgency—a total of 569 hours and 37 minutes that we have been sitting in the Chamber.The Government's introduced 75 bills and passed 74 bills. In terms of members' bills 14 have been introduced 20 were voted down and eight were passed. Two local bills were introduced and two were passed. Three private bills were introduced and one was passed. Ministers answered 981 oral questions and there were seven questions to members. Ministers have also answered 47004 written questions so far the second highest year on record.On a personal note I want to reflect that this year ends very differently for me than last year. I'm about 10 kilos lighter. I'm pleased everybody noticed. I finally had to succumb to some of the pressures of middle age and get some reading glasses so that I could actually see what it is that I am reading. But I am looking forward to my first proper summer holiday in three years. I can promise there will be no press conferences walking out of the bush this year. My Christmas resolution is to create no memorable content for the next three or four weeks.A year is a very long time in politics and I reflect back to the end of 2019 the last time we ended Parliament the year before a general election. The National Opposition may like to recall that at that point Simon Bridges was practically measuring up the drapes for Premier House such was the gap in polling between Labour and National at that point. A year is a very long time in politics and I can promise the Opposition one thing: they will find a Government next year very very focussed very committed to delivering for New Zealanders and very committed to a vigorous election campaign one that is a campaign of ideas one in which facts matter an awful lot. We are looking forward to the campaign.To the members of the press gallery I certainly look forward to the ongoing engagement that we have next year. I'm certainly looking forward to the engagement we're going to have in a few moments and I want to thank them for the ongoing work that they do those of them that are left up there to protect our democracy and ensure that New Zealanders are informed about the work that we do. Finally I want to wish members right the way across the House a very merry Christmas. I do hope that everyone across the House has a very enjoyable summer holiday period. It is actually—and I take all politics aside from this—one of the times of the year where members of Parliament regardless of what party they are from can actually go and have a holiday and have a genuine break without people coming up to them and saying "Are you having a day off?" Enjoy it. No matter which party you are in enjoy the fact that this is the time of year we can actually have a decent break. I hope people make the most of it and I am looking forward to 2023."