Woods MeganDEBATE ON PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENTDebate resumed from 3 March. Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I am proud to stand on this side of the House and of the record that we have established during our term in Government. But I would like to acknowledge the context in which we are now operating. We have had our second case of COVID-19 confirmed and it is our highest duty as a Government now to keep New Zealanders safe. There are some things that should not be politicised and on this side of the House we know exactly what our priorities are. As a Government I'm most proud of the progress that we have been able to make in the two and a bit years since we came to Government. We have made good progress; we can see that. But we also know that there is much to do and most importantly that we cannot afford to drift backwards. We are working hard to make sure that New Zealand is the best place in the world to be a child. We are making sure to ensure that New Zealand and New Zealanders live up to their full potential. We're taking positive action to ensure that everybody has a warm dry place to call home and that everybody has opportunities to learn to earn a wage and to care for their families. We're also working hard to ensure that New Zealanders have access to affordable healthcare and mental health support where and when they need it. On this side of the House they are fundamentals that we believe are the duty of a Government and we do not want to see drifting back from that. What we have seen over the last 2½ years from the Opposition is a negative barrage of no ideas. We know that they're out of ideas. What we also saw today is that they're out of questions. We saw supplementary questions being used to ask the meaning of words. I'd like to refer the members on the Opposition benches to a thing called a dictionary. I know that being in Opposition can sometimes be a time when you examine the meaning of life but I would have thought that there would have been time for examining the meaning of words through ways other than using supplementary questions to do that. This is an Opposition that has no new ideas it has no solutions for New Zealand it cannot bring itself to take a long-term view on the problems that are facing New Zealand and instead all we see from them is a succession of what they won't do. We don't see positive vision for our future. We don't see where it is that they're going to make a difference. What we also see is that there is no change from the programme that they had when they were last in Government—the programme that left our Government with a legacy of issues to tackle issues that have meant that we have had to have the courage on this side of the House to lift our eyes beyond the three-year political system and tackle the long-term issues that are facing New Zealand and New Zealanders. We've started tackling those issues. We've made big investments in mental health so that people can get help at their local GP. We've provided more addiction treatment beds and services. We've funded new cancer treatment equipment like radiation machines and new cancer drugs. We've started to clean up our rivers by supporting farmers to fence waterways and plant trees. We've increased school funding so that parents don't have to pay for school donations or NCEA fees. Like many constituent MPs I know that in Wigram I am getting so much feedback from parents and families who are just relieved that at the beginning of the year they are not faced with those burdens of the so-called school donation and that they actually have a little bit more money in their pocket and can put that towards their families. I'm also really proud that we have started supporting businesses to invest in innovation and diversification that we've invested in trade training and that we've banned offshore speculators and stopped the sell-off of State houses. We've passed the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. We've deployed over 2000 new cops across the country to keep our communities safe. That's all at a time while also ensuring that our economy is in good shape. Unemployment is down to 4 percent. We've got the highest annual wage growth in a decade and the minimum wage is up to $17.70. This is something of which I am very proud and which I know makes a real difference for many of the people that I represent. They can afford to put food on their table and feed their kids in terms of their hourly rate—something that I believe is the duty of every Government to ensure it is being done. Our economy is growing faster than most of the other countries that we would compare ourselves to. Over the next two years we are projected to grow faster than Australia Canada the US the UK the EU Norway Japan and Singapore. But all we hear from the Leader of the Opposition and his merry band is what dire straits New Zealand is in. I think those on the other side of the House should stop being so negative about New Zealand they should stop talking it down and they should realise what great shape our country is in. Interest rates debts and unemployment are at an all-time low and our books are balanced. We've restarted contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and we are reducing debt. That is something that all New Zealanders can take some comfort from. One of the things that I'm also incredibly proud of as a Christchurch-based MP is the momentum we've managed to get into our city in Christchurch. We are finally seeing the coming to fruition of many of the programmes but what I am most personally proud of is that we've managed to tackle the insurance issues that were holding so many people's lives up in our cities. Through institutions that we've put in place like the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service like the changes we've made at the Earthquake Commission and like the insurance tribunal that we have set up we are seeing people able to move on with their lives after nearly a decade of being bound up. We on this side of the House are immensely proud of that and very pleased that we were able to bring something in. I'm only really sad for those people that it took our Government to come into power and the previous Government did not put in place the measures that would have allowed people to move on with their lives. But the other area that I also have a great deal of pride in is the area of housing. We are building more houses as a Government than at any time since the 1970s—any time since the decade that I was born. We are building more houses and this is something that we should all celebrate. We are not selling off houses; we are not getting rid of houses. We are building them. We have added over 4000 new public housing places to our stock in the two and a bit years since we came to Government. What was the legacy of the previous Government? Fifteen hundred fewer public houses than when they took office and a failure to build. If the previous Government had built at the rate that we are aiming for—but we are exceeding—we would have 15000 more public housing spots. That is more than our public house waiting list. So when the Opposition talk about homelessness they need to reflect on their culpability in that area. They failed to deliver and New Zealanders are paying the price but we are setting about putting it right on this side of the House. Getting New Zealanders into affordable homeownership is something that we are committed to. Now KiwiBuild isn't something that has gone as well as we wanted it to. We have been the first people to admit that accept it and set about ensuring that we are not giving up on New Zealanders. We have 300-odd houses that have already been built. There are 700-odd more in the pipeline. I will put that nearly 1000 KiwiBuild houses either currently built or being constructed next to the 100 affordable houses that the previous Government delivered in nine years. I will put that number next to theirs any day of the week. We will not give up on homeownership as an aspiration for New Zealanders. We take pride in what we are delivering. We know there is more to deliver and we know that we cannot afford to drift backwards.