Robson Matt: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
Robson Matt: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
[Volume:622;Page:18142] 
Hon MATT ROBSON (Deputy Leader—Progressive) 
: 
 It is now a few short days before we will be with our families and our friends for the summer holidays. We in the Progressive Party particularly want to thank our colleagues in the Labour Party for helping to provide a stable and effective coalition partnership. We have found them at all times to be reliable and thoughtful. We have resisted people wanting us to use the term “Progressive-led Government” in our brochures. We are insisting that they give it the proper name: the Labour-Progressive Government. We also want to thank United Future for being there for confidence and supply making this minority Government—which was unfortunate enough to lose one of its members—a stable Government during this period. 
I would like to thank my co-whips in the Labour Party. They have learnt a lot while I have been their co-whip particularly my different phone numbers at different locations around the country. 
This is a time to talk read and reflect for 4 long weeks. It is also a time to thank our lucky stars and the sacrifice of the generations before us for the robust democratic and vibrant society we enjoy living in. I chose this as my home many years ago—although I must report that the Minister of Internal Affairs did ask me when he gave me my citizenship whether I had checked that I had signed every part and whether I could perhaps give him a look at it. I thank Mr Burton for advising me of that. 
Each and every one of the eight parties represented here is a direct descendant of the Magna Carta and a child of the Glorious Revolution whether 1688 or 1689 is put as the date of that revolution. Once the wheels of liberty and freedom start in motion they are unstoppable. It is fair to say that all eight parties in Parliament have at one stage or another contributed to making New Zealand a better place over the past 12 months. We all carry on our shoulders the responsibilities of protecting the inalienable right to liberty to freedom to be protected and to be secure on these shores. We have a robust system of law and so it is that we have freedom and liberty. We have a proportional representation voting system that delivers a Parliament to reflect the diverse dynamic society we are. 
For the six parties that are not called Labour or National mixed-member proportional representation offers us so-called third parties an opportunity never enjoyed before MMP to make a positive difference to the day-to-day government of our nation and the well-being of our people. The challenge before all of those who are third parties is to seize the opportunity and embrace the responsibility as best we can. 
As I reflect on the past 12 months I feel proud of the Progressive Party’s role in ushering through the process of the Budget 2004 round programmes that are today offering meaningful practical assistance where needed. The half a billion dollar growth and innovation package in Budget 2004 is deepening the ability of Kiwi companies to compete in the world economy as part of a creative optimistic and technologically advanced country. Budget 2004 allocated an additional $39 million to tackle the illegal methamphetamine trade and organised crime over the next 4 years. Progressive initiatives in the coalition Budget included policies aimed at reducing the demand for drugs. We have made provision to care for the victims of the drug peddlers with nearly $15 million over 4 years on drug-related health initiatives and $5.5 million over 4 years dedicated to supporting suicide prevention measures. 
In practical terms that means residential treatment services in the central region for those suffering from alcohol and other drug problems. It means funding for secondary prevention training which is relevant to those working in the criminal justice system budgetary advice social services and in primary health organisations. 
Progressive sought funding for a pilot programme of alcohol and other drug clinicians at court. We also sought and got funding to provide independent evaluations of the 15 Community Action on Youth and Drugs sites established in the 2003 Budget round because even the best programmes in the world need evaluation and auditing. The Progressive Party sought in the 2004 Budget a new discretionary fund to provide money for new projects to promote our campaign for safer drug-free communities. We secured new funding to institute one-for-one exchange in the needle and syringe programme and significantly boosted funding for the independent New Zealand Drug Foundation. 
So it has been a busy 12 months. It has been a busy year for the Prime Minister who I believe will create New Zealand history and become the first-ever Labour leader to win three general elections. A centre-left Government has had not even the remotest hope of winning a third consecutive election for three generations—not since 1943. It is a great tribute to Helen Clark that we are on the threshold of seeing history made next year. 
The most unexpected highlight for me personally happened last week when the National Party endorsed a minimum 4 weeks’ annual leave for all workers. Minimum 4 weeks’ annual leave for working families which just 2 years ago was but a hopeful vision outlined in a Progressive Party member’s bill is now absolutely cemented in as a key piece of New Zealand’s cultural framework. I thank Labour the Greens New Zealand First and now National for making that so. 
Next year I will be praying—to use that word advisedly—that fate again favours families and that my member’s bill on tackling alcohol-related harm is drawn from the lottery known as the members’ ballot process. I am a member who has changed his mind on the policy of setting the drinking age at 18. I have done so because of the evidence of public health experts. I would rather lose the votes of 18-year-olds—my own son amongst them—than see young people on morgue tables. I am told that even if my bill is plucked from the ballot next year I should not hold my breath—alcohol-induced or otherwise—that the bill will ever get the support it needs to become law. But I cannot get it out of my mind that that was precisely what I was told when my member’s bill on 4 weeks’ leave was selected from the ballot on 7 November 2002 just 2 years ago. 
There is a set of constitutional issues hanging over New Zealand. I have heard my colleagues speak on the question of judicial activism. I say with deep respect to Dr Michael Cullen that it is a mistake to say that the clash is between Parliament and the judiciary. I believe that the judiciary of this country has been interpreting the law faithfully and accurately. The clash is between those members of the executive who do not like the decision. That is very different from a clash with Parliament and the executive. I would ask that when we have a look at the constitutional review we make sure we look at the deepest and most sound principles of constitution-making in a democracy. Judicial activism is not a phrase that we can accurately use about our judiciary. 
I said to my good friend Steve Maharey that I would give a speech he would like. He and I both have admiration for the Italian theorist and leader of the Italian working class Antonio Gramsci. In 1924 Antonio Gramsci was sentenced by Mussolini’s prosecutors. The prosecutor asked him to shut down that great brain for 20 years. I believe that that is what we tried to do in this country to the Algerian MP Ahmed Zaoui. I ask members of Parliament to read the Refugee Status Appeals Authority decision during this holiday. I wish them a very very merry Christmas in doing so. 
Lastly may I say that I also hope that when we come back to the new Parliament the new Speaker following in your great footsteps will be able to reflect on the fact that the opening of this Parliament should be an appropriate opening for all members of New Zealand’s public whatever their religion their culture or their beliefs.