O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. As someone who's come to this House a little closer to the end of my working life than the start of it I reflect that while I'm a young man—in fact I enjoyed a game of rugby on Saturday and showed that I was well able to keep up with some much younger men. However it does leave me some limited time to be part of a very successful Government that is going to achieve a lot and that has to achieve a lot. In doing so I've learnt—a little bit like my rugby experience—don't try and get to every ruck. Pick the important ones usually the ones where you're close to the sideline where the cameras are perhaps. But yes be very specific about what you want to achieve.The one thing I would like to achieve before I leave this House is something that this Government is focusing on and that is housing. It doesn't matter what else we do. Every other problem we look at so often all roads lead to housing. I was fortunate enough to go to Australia on a select committee trip with the Social Services and Community Committee and we were looking at social housing and we were looking at social issues. It was very clear—often after a few days of being out of your comfort zone looking at these things you sit down and think Now what did I really learn?" and do you know what I really learnt is that all roads really led to housing. If you can fix housing if you can focus on that one area—OK we will all have problems. It's not going to be all singing "Kumbaya" and it never will be but what you do is focus on the things you can fix.I think it's no accident that the Opposition are focusing on housing. Every day we have the Opposition housing spokesperson there performing like a television character—possibly thinking that Mr Waldorf and Mr Statler are up there in the balcony watching while she does so. But it's good and when I listen to that I think it's great—bring it on. We've just had Mr Bayly talking about the very thing. Is it Mr Bayly? Yeah I can never quite remember which of the "Stepford husbands" I'm looking at when they speak over there. But they're bringing the same thing up talking about housing. Bring it on guys. Keep it up. Keep talking about housing because every time you do everyone at home here listening—and I know on a Thursday afternoon there'll be many of them listening—is thinking "Yes it is about housing." So keep it up. Keep the pressure on. We'll feed off that. We have to feed off it for the sake of New Zealand because I know that when I leave this place if there's one thing short term—yes there are lots of other things that we can fix. Yes there are other things we do need to fix.I mean I'm not going to climb into the Opposition. They were led by "Teflon" and the cars. I think one of the best things I heard about the previous Prime Minister was he prepared New Zealand for sale and that's actually I think one of the best descriptions of where we find ourselves—you know where we have New Zealand prepared for sale. It's like that car you prepare for sale. You shine the wheels you make sure you get—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm not doing any of that.GREG O'CONNOR: Sorry Madam Deputy Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: My husband does it.GREG O'CONNOR: That was a metaphorical "you" but I will say one shines the wheels—an opportunity to repeat please—shines the wheels. You know one perhaps even goes over the scratches. But at the end of the day it's still a dodgy old thing and so at some stage you're going to have to do something about the engine. You're going to have to do something about the diff because—the other thing—it will grind to a halt. And that's actually—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I don't even know what they are. Don't bring me into it.GREG O'CONNOR: I just really am going to have to start concentrating on that Madam Deputy Speaker. I'll come back down to earth if I can but I'm finding myself so passionate about this that perhaps the vagaries of the parliamentary rules are escaping me but I will endeavour at this moment to refocus because refocus we must and it's all about focusing on housing. You think about so many of the issues we have: health. I mean growing up—how important is it? So many people stand up here and speak about their old family doctor. What family doctor when you're forced to move house every six months? We talk about education. I mean how important is it looking back—and I would say generally in this House not everyone but most of us have relatively stable backgrounds where we have family friends where we get to go to family reunions. Our schooling was a big part of it. That's where we build our friends. Imagine where you don't have any stable housing where you have to keep moving and then of course you end up in trouble because every time you got to a new school there are already established friendship groups. You're trying to break into them you end up in the wrong group and you don't only end up in the wrong group—part of the problem—you are the wrong group yourself and so—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am not in the wrong group.GREG O'CONNOR: Oh there I go again Madam Deputy Speaker. In the 25 seconds left to me I'll make sure. But seriously I invite the Opposition: keep it up. Keep up the attacks on housing. Keep it going keep the debate out there because that is what is going to be so important because it does need fixing. What they are focusing on they are focusing on the very issue they know that they have left—the biggest issue they have left. We will fix that. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."