Dunne Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Dunne Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:651;Page:1033] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 I begin my expressing my warmest congratulations to you Mr Speaker on the way you have carried out your duties as Speaker in the short time that you have been in the Speaker’s Chair. One of the earlier speakers made reference to the fact that the Speaker provides a tone for the House. I think that the tone you have provided in recent weeks bodes well for the future during this term of Parliament. I extend that sentiment to your fellow presiding officers. It has been a comfort to see the sure-footed way in which you have all gone about your duties in a time when everyone has been getting to grips with new responsibilities. 
In the short time that this Parliament has been together there has been a particular highlight for me and that has been listening to all of the maiden speeches from new members right around the Chamber. I think that we have seen not just a high standard of performance and not just an energetic standard of performance or a commitment from people who have a particular perspective to bring but we have seen the next generation of political leaders in this country emerge. The things that struck me as most fascinating were twofold. Firstly there is the point that Dr Sharples alluded to: the vigour and the passion with which they told their stories. Secondly I remember that when I gave my maiden speech many years ago we were encouraged not to talk about our individual backgrounds but to talk about our electorates and some of the issues that affected our constituents and about what we hoped to achieve on their behalf. 
Hearing the new members talk about the reasons why they are here the experiences they have had and the diversity of those experiences sets a new tone and I think it gives a real flavour to this House and its future. It makes it clear that although the new members have their political boundaries and their political convictions they also bring a perspective that extends beyond that. I think that bodes very well for the system of Government that we will have. I congratulate every single one of the new members on what has been a sterling performance and I say to their elders in their respective parties that the new members have served notice that they are to be forces to be reckoned with in the years ahead. I give my congratulations to all of them. 
To colleagues who have returned after the general election I give my congratulations. Most of us find ourselves sitting in different places. I do not actually do so funnily enough but it has been interesting to watch everyone adapt to a new role. And despite the vigorous differences that there have been in the last few days on particular legislation I sense there is a greater spirit of preparedness to cooperate in this Parliament than there has been in previous Parliaments. I may well be proven to be wrong on that; I hope I am not. But I get a sense that people now see that the MMP system which has been criticised by a number of people for a long time does work is here to stay and can be made to operate constructively. I pay particular tribute to my colleagues in the Maori Party the ACT Party the Green Party and the Progressive Party for the way in which those of us who are in the self-styled MMP parties have cooperated and worked successfully together in the last Parliament. I look forward despite the new configurations to that type of relationship continuing in the future. 
While we are here today to debate the issues of concern and are now debating as we always do in this rather arcane way whether to have a Christmas break the rest of New Zealand outside this building is getting on with life. If we go out on to Lambton Quay at lunchtime we find a throng of pleasantly panicked people who are not worrying about the bills before this House or the great issues that we worry about but who are worrying about whether they can get the Christmas shopping done in time whether the holiday arrangements will be made what will the weather do and what sort of a year lies ahead. I think sometimes we need to take that reality check ourselves because every single one of us to some extent faces those same issues. 
The staff whom we take for granted in the nicest way to assume the running of this Parliament—the messengers the Clerk’s Office the media the Hansard staff our own staff the catering staff and the security staff; all of the people who make this village of Parliament tick—will have those same pressures upon them. Some of us might be in the privileged position of theoretically at least knowing when these sagas will come to an end and when the House will rise. We used to be able to rely on Jonathan Hunt’s Christmas bookings for that; some of us now need to know that in more sophisticated ways. But the staff who serve us those who are always here to clean up afterwards figuratively and literally do not know that. They are on call and they are guessing all the time as they try to plan not just their work lives but their own lives their home lives and their family lives around that. I think we should acknowledge them and thank them for their forbearance and their patience. 
With regard to our own families who as I think the Leader of the Opposition said did not sign on for this job but came to it often by virtue of a press-gang and who have to endure our comings and goings our peculiar mood swings and our pressures this is a time not just to thank them for their support but to say we really recognise and commend them for their courage their steadfastness and their determination in giving us the opportunity to do what we do. I think we should salute the parents and the families of all members of Parliament for that commitment. And we should salute the children also who certainly did not choose this environment. I remember when one of my children was very young that one of his friends apologised to him saying how sorry he felt for him about me. When the reason for that was teased out it was that I had only one set of clothes a dark suit because that was all his friend had ever seen me wear. We realise then how abnormal our lifestyles must appear to be to many other people yet we expect our families to be there for us. We often disregard the impact that this environment has on our children and I think this is a time just to think on that to say thank you to them and to wish them the best that we can for the year ahead. 
Other speakers have alluded to the fact that this country faces enormous challenges over the next little while. I do not think this is the occasion to go into those challenges in any great detail save to say that the Government and the Opposition will have parts to play in helping this country to work its way through all of them. The Government will put forward a programme to Parliament Parliament will debate it the Opposition will test it and in time the Opposition will put forward its own alternative programme which then can be subject to test and debate. That is the nature of the democratic process. 
One of the things we should be proud of in this country is that we are able to go through that process in a relatively civilised way. It is extraordinary to me that the fact that we have seen most reference made to regarding the change of Government related to the physical shifts that it imposed. It suggests to me that the process of democratic change in this country is relatively smooth when the biggest obstacle is the physical one relating to people shifting offices. Other countries change Governments at the point of a gun or go through a huge upheaval such as we are seeing in the United States at present. In New Zealand it comes down to a significant number of shifts being made in one complex over a weekend. Although that is not to diminish the effort of those who pack the boxes who carry the boxes and who unload them I think it puts the consequences of democratic change in New Zealand into perspective. 
I conclude by simply wishing all members of the House a very peaceful and happy Christmas. It has been a long year and for some members it has been a more rewarding one than for others but it is a year that I think we can look back on with some satisfaction in the course of our history as a country. We can mourn the loss of great leaders like Sir Edmund Hillary and the loss of the many of our own friends and family members who perhaps have passed away as well. But we can come back here in the new year hopefully refreshed reinvigorated and dedicated to continuing to do all of us the very best job that we feel we can for this country. If we are able to achieve that then the people of New Zealand who are out there at the moment doing their shopping or getting ready for Christmas will have much more to thank us for than all the bills we could ever pass all the questions that could ever be asked and all of the performances that take place in this Chamber. I wish everyone has the very best Christmas and I give my best wishes to all members.