Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): I heard the most amazing revelation on breakfast TV this morning with reports that the New Zealand city with the highest rate of growth in traffic congestion is Dunedin. Would you believe that—a 28 percent increase in peak travel time. Tempting though it might be for me to rush along to the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Finance and ask for a roads of southern significance infrastructure—I have to reflect on the fact that actually the impact of that is that the travel time from home to my office has gone from 6 minutes to 8 minutes.Hon Members: No!Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I know it is tough. It is really tough in paradise. But statistics can be used in many many ways. If you want to paint a positive picture you can; if you want to paint a negative picture you can.The harbingers of doom and gloom and negativity have to be the Labour Party members. Here is an inconvenient truth about housing: the Auckland house prices are dropping. They have tapered off and they are now starting to drop. That happened in Christchurch 2 or 3 years ago when there was a supply crisis of a different reason that was solved by the building of houses and there are more houses being built now in this country and in that city than at any other time in this country's history. There are opportunities for New Zealanders to get into the housing market outside of those cities. The low interest rates the KiwiSaver HomeStart grants and the other issues that we have are certainly helping people into houses.But I will give Mr Little credit for this. He is consistent on his housing message. Regardless of the reality he continues to talk the housing message up which is not really what he is doing on superannuation because what he said a couple of years ago was: If there is one thing that scares the bejesus out of me it's the looming cost of superannuation." He backed that up with Mr Parker's earlier comments that said: "I'm willing to deal with the age of eligibility for superannuation. This is not populist politics." But the doozy for me is this: "Politics can't be just about making decisions that anger the least number of people. It has to be about doing the right thing. Labour's view that superannuation should be lifted is one we think needs to be phased in." That was that new princess of the Labour Party the anointed deputy leader Jacinda Ardern. So it is OK to hold a message regardless of the facts on one level but also to flip and flop.Well here is what we did. We gave certainty to people in the toughest of times through the global financial crisis and then we signalled that it was time for a reset long after Mr Peters has dispensed with his need for superannuation. It will be long after the people who are reliant on that and who do not have time to prepare for it. This is a Government that is prepared to change when the circumstances change and to make the bold decisions—decisions to increase where necessary and to invest where necessary and we have already made some significant announcements in that regard such as 1100 new police. It is not just a number but a place and an expectation about the way in which those fine staff will be deployed with expectations for reductions in crime in specific areas that concern the public.There were great announcements on phase two of the Rural Broadband Initiative and I know that is going down really really well in places like Stuart Smith's electorate and Todd Barclay's electorate—Hon Jacqui Dean: And mine.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: —and Jacqui Dean's Waitaki electorate where they are so interested and invested in making sure that they can trade and communicate and avoid the tyranny of distance that has previously been the case in some areas. That is going to be another significant development in this election year.I also want to draw attention to some of the things that are about to happen on 1 April. We are now 2 weeks away from what I think are very very important issues for New Zealanders—that is the increase in the minimum wage again several times the rate of inflation to make sure that everybody gets the benefit of a growing economy and significant levy reductions for ACC levy payers both workers employers and motor vehicle users—Tracey Martin: You people put them up and now you're gonna take credit for lowering them.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: What? There is another reinvention. There is a statistic that I have not actually seen; not only are they being interpreted but they are now being invented. This is a Government that does not shy away from the hard decisions. It has energy. It is bold. It will take ideas into this year's campaign and I think that is a very good thing."