Wood MichaelMICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): I am very pleased to rise to speak in this general debate and firstly to confirm that I am very proud as a member of the Labour Party to have a leader who is not a rock but who is in fact a fully formed human being. Of course I am speaking about the new Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern who up and down the country is receiving a rapturous response from the people of New Zealand who are responding to her warmth her genuineness and—most importantly of all—the incredibly positive forward-looking vision that she is laying out for our country.On 24 September when we come back into this Chamber I am very pleased to say that I will not be the newest member of the Labour caucus because there will be at least a dozen other caucus members coming in behind me. When the new Labour Government comes into this House if we are given that privilege by the people of New Zealand we will be going forward with that positive vision that Jacinda Ardern has set out for the people of New Zealand over the past few inspiring weeks.In Government the starting proposition of a new Labour Government will be that New Zealand is a good country—not just good in fact; that this is a great country. This is a place that people have been coming to for 800 years to build their lives and to live their dreams. It was called God's own" by that man who is immortalised out the front of this House Richard John Seddon. It was called the last the loneliest the loveliest by Rudyard Kipling. Across the decades people have known and identified this as a wonderful wonderful place to live and it is in that spirit that the next Labour Government will go forward. We are going to take those strengths that we have in New Zealand—our commitments to equality to social justice to a fair go for all to giving our entrepreneurs a start to being innovative and forward-looking and progressive. We are going to take that history we are going to take those principles and we are going to make this country an even better place.I just want to touch on two important areas in which we will make a difference under the next Jacinda Ardern Labour-led Government. The first is giving our young people a fair shot because unlike the Prime Minister we do not think they are pretty damn hopeless. Unlike the Prime Minister we do not think that the Government has reached the limits of what it can do for our young people. We believe in our young people and that inside every single one of them—inside every single one of them—there is the ability to become something great to reach their potential and to contribute to our society.We are not going to accept 75000 young people not in employment education or training; we are going to come up with a plan for every single one of those kids to help them reach their potential. It will start when they are at school when through our school-leavers' kit which was announced this week we are going to give those young people a strategy and a plan so that they know what they are going to do when they go into education and they go into the workforce. We are going to give them life skills we are going to give them the ability to get a driver's licence and we are going to teach them something about how our society and our democracy operate. We are going to take those 75000 young kids not in employment education or training and we are going to offer them the opportunity to take up an apprenticeship instead of just getting paid the dole—to give them a job to give them some income and to give them some hope for the future.We are going to make sure that every single one of those young people can have the hope and the dream of homeownership in our country. We say that it is unacceptable that we have fewer people as a percentage of our population owning a home than since 1951 when Sidney Holland was the Prime Minister in this House. Under those circumstances it is no wonder that some young people in our country do not think that we care anymore. We are going to give those young people some hope by moving towards free tertiary education by bringing in 1 year's free tertiary education in the next Labour Government's very first term opening the opportunity for every young person to reach their potential through education.More on our positive vision: I want to talk about our positive vision for Auckland because for too long our biggest city Tāmaki-makau-rau the first city of the Pacific has been held back by a Government that does not recognise its potential. It is looking back to the transport solutions of the 1950s: more motorways more sprawl and a lack of investment in the kind of productive infrastructure that Auckland needs. It is a Labour Government under Jacinda Ardern that is going to have a revolutionary plan for Auckland. We are going to turn it on its head. We are going to invest in modern light rail. We are going to connect our city Auckland to its airport because that is what the people of Auckland are crying out for. It is extraordinary to us that over the last couple of weeks as we head into an election with the Government splashing around billions of dollars it will not even connect Auckland to its airport.Well we believe in Auckland we believe in our young people we are going to put the investments in that unlock the potential of everyone in this country and I am really looking forward to a new Labour Government under Jacinda Ardern that will be relentlessly positive for New Zealand. Thank you."