English Bill: Adjournment 
English Bill: Adjournment 
[Volume:676;Page:21839] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I move  
That the House do now adjourn until Tuesday 25 October 2011. 
 For the benefit of members I will just explain the date in the motion. The dissolution of the Parliament will occur at 11 a.m. on 20 October so this motion incorporates the notional date of 25 October making it clear that the House will not meet again prior to the election. An adjournment motion cannot bring a session of Parliament to an end; a session can be terminated only by the Governor-General and this will be done by proclamation on 20 October. 
Mr Speaker as we wind towards the end of the year on behalf of National I acknowledge you and your valiant attempt to make this a place of facts with more facts and less politics. I guess that history will judge as to how sustainable that has to be knowing your persistence and focus; you are one of the few people who could have sustained it as long as you have. 
I take this opportunity also to acknowledge the parliamentary staff and Beehive staff. The incident in the House yesterday highlighted that there are a lot of people around here who do not look as if they are needed until they are needed. Then they are really needed. I thank them particularly the security staff. I thank the parliamentary staff for the way they handled that incident. Also I acknowledge at the end of this parliamentary term their professionalism and helpfulness in the transition to a new Government. It is a huge job and our ability to get up and running as a Government was in no small part due to the staff of Parliament and the Beehive and their neutrality and commitment to ensuring that whoever is in Government is offered as much support as possible. 
I also take the opportunity to thank our own staff of the National Party caucus and Cabinet. I hope they have enjoyed as much as I have the opportunity to work in a very well-led high-functioning team of people with a strong common sense of purpose and impressive unity through some reasonably testing times. In that context on behalf of my caucus I acknowledge colleagues of ours who have departed and are departing. I refer to Pansy Wong and Richard Worth who both left during the term and also to Sandra Goudie for her passionate advocacy. She showed that one can disagree with someone strongly but in good humour. I thank Georgina te Heuheu for her calm and deep wisdom particularly in the late 1990s when she first came into Parliament and played a critical role for the then National - New Zealand First coalition. Wayne Mapp in many respects is very much underestimated. He started a revolution in our defence forces without anyone really noticing. To my good friend and colleague Simon Power it is a pleasure to see you once again striding across the parliamentary carpet. You have proven yourself to be an outstanding legislator and probably the best in a long time. I thank you for your personal encouragement. I think in this year we should acknowledge also Allan Peachey who announced yesterday his departure from the Parliament. It is not the best of circumstances in which to do that. He is a man from whom one learns the value of strong and unerring conviction. I think the mention of these colleagues indicates there is no one who comes into this Parliament or to a caucus from whom we cannot learn in the early stage of their career or later on. 
There is another group of New Zealanders whom I think we should acknowledge today and they are the people of Christchurch. They have had to put up with the most dreadful of circumstances. On any given day of course what is going on in Christchurch now is not spectacular except the days when there are large shakes but day after day after day they have to put up with the grinding discomforts and uncertainties of a city whose way of life has been fundamentally affected by the earthquake. The uncertainties are in terms of not knowing what will happen for their families for their workplaces and for their homes. We acknowledge the resilience that they have shown. 
I also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge those parts of the Public Service that have been involved with the earthquake. I mean the Public Service in the broadest of definitions—not only the emergency services which have been involved in the major events but also the policy and technical people. We have seen a willingness a professionalism and a work ethic from those public servants that has enabled the Government to deal with very complex issues that we have not had to deal with before. Some of those people I know have worked extremely hard all of this year day after day through weekends month after month. In that context I acknowledge the person who has shown them the leadership to do that and that is our colleague the Hon Gerry Brownlee. I think it was quite telling that despite the inevitable criticism of someone who takes the assertive approach that Gerry takes at times the people of Christchurch believe that the Government has done a pretty good job of managing a difficult situation and certainly there is no doubt when working with Gerry that the common good of that community is what drives the relentless energy that he has focused on these difficult problems. 
That resilience that we have seen from the Christchurch people and those who have gathered around the recovery of Christchurch I think is simply a more intense version of the resilience we have seen from New Zealanders. It is reflected in the wider community. I acknowledge today on behalf of the Government the way that our families our businesses and our organisations have adapted to a difficult set of economic circumstances with a resolute will a healthy pragmatism and a positive view of the future. That is not to say they have found things easy but I think that those who have been around politics for a while might want to reflect on the fact that we have had less complaining from New Zealanders in these circumstances than I can recall at almost any time and certainly less than in any previous recession. 
In some ways we are reaping the benefits of having been an open economy for 25 years. People are less inclined now to wait for the Government to solve their problems and more inclined to roll up their sleeves. That is in no small part due to the leadership provided by John Key as Prime Minister of New Zealand in tough times. He is the most relentlessly positive person whom I have ever worked with. He sometimes needs that positivity calmed down a bit but the people of New Zealand have responded very well to a leadership for the times. He has made pragmatic and balanced judgments that have been reflected in the Government’s economic and social policy through this term. He has a willingness to get on and make the decisions that need to be made. I think the progress the Government has made in social policy areas has been less remarked on but will turn out to be as important as its economic policy. 
As we head into one of the more peculiar election periods we have had because of the Rugby World Cup we wish the All Blacks well. We know they will show the same resilience in the face of adversity as the rest of New Zealand has. The election period will be a contest between looking forward and looking back—I do not think there is much doubt about that. It will be between a National Government that is looking ahead to a better New Zealand a brighter future driven by the aspiration that New Zealanders have shown and a Labour Party still looking back with nostalgia to its time in Government. Its billboards are a bit unusual. They cannot even say “Vote Labour”. They cannot even say “Vote Labour”. They cannot even put their leader on them. It will be a contest between a National Party with not just a belief in itself but a belief in New Zealand and a Labour Party that has lost any self-belief and in my view for very good reason.