Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): Tuhia ki te rangi tuhia ki te whenua tuhia ki te ngākau o ngā tāngata ko te mea nui ko te aroha tīhei mauri ora! E ngā mema hōnore o Te Whare nei Te Whare Pāremata o Aotearoa tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ka nui te mihi ki a koutou![Write it up in the sky on the land and in the affections of people: empathy is indeed the important thing. Behold the breath of life! To you the members of this House Parliament of New Zealand salutations and acknowledgments to you and a huge appreciation to you collectively.]Madam Assistant Speaker may I first take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new position within this Parliament. I congratulate you and wish you the best in your new role. I would and could love to take my 10-minute contribution to rebut the drivel coming from the other side of the House—Chris Bishop: Away you go. FLETCHER TABUTEAU: —but I have a few choice words for Mr Bishop's benefit. He is probably the only one who—oh no I'm not going to say that either. Mr Ngaro spoke about the choices for the people of New Zealand. What choices did that former Government—that Opposition party—give the people of New Zealand? Well here's an example: they had to choose between a home a car or a cardboard box. That is your legacy which you hand over post-election. When he spoke about the education system what choice did they give to the New Zealand public—to those parents who wanted to send their children to Salisbury School while all the time the Minister of Education and other Ministers artificially lowered the roll of that school? There was no choice for those parents. There was no choice for those children. Can I just start by saying how grateful I am that the Rt—no not the Rt Hon"—the Hon David Bennett has been unfettered or that his ministerial leash as I'm sure he would have seen it has been removed from his collar. I tell you what for three years I have taken genuine pleasure in hearing the contributions of the Hon David Bennett because every time he speaks it's just great for this side of this House. It's just fantastic. He was actually quite typical of the sad and miserable line-up of members proffered from the Opposition in this Address in Reply debate. The poorly thought-through messaging the nine years in which that party had to make a tangible difference to this country and already they're talking about after what is it—a week and a half or two weeks? They are saying that we're not progressing enough and we're not moving fast enough. Nine years—there are so many words that are unparliamentary that I would love to say right now but I cannot. To the "soon to be Leader of the Opposition Collins"—for that member to speak about the negotiations at all was insulting to me. She wasn't there let alone to imply that it was hollow and without good intent and honest engagement by New Zealand First with both parties. I was insulted. We engaged we talked policy and in fact the current Leader of the Opposition at least spoke about the honest—what were his words?—negotiations and how they were undertaken in good faith. In summary what we have seen from the Opposition line-up in the last week or so has been sad. In fact it's been inappropriate it's been unnecessarily personal and it's been toxic and it has been an indictment on those members. Really and truly I think the only word that sums it up is "sad". The New Zealand First caucus in fact decided in the end to make a choice for New Zealand and we made a choice for real change rather than a modified status quo. So I proudly stand on this side of the House in a New Zealand First - Labour Government and a Government with the Greens that represents real and meaningful change for the people of New Zealand. We did and we sought out to restore the face of responsible human capitalism in New Zealand. The people of New Zealand have already seen from around the world the devastating effects of the current right-wing thinking. They have seen how those who need our help the most are those who will suffer under the policies of that side of the House and New Zealand was absolutely no exception to what we saw occurring around the world. In fact in the last nine years it seemed to accelerate in an exponential manner. Inequality was that problem and inequality by any measure—unless it was from that side of the House while they were in Government—did get worse. So here we are: a truly MMP Government. I believe and the feedback from the people of New Zealand is that we truly represent a hope and a change for this country—a moving forward where everyone can be a part of this country's success not just those that those members would call mates. National's flawed thinking was bad for Kiwis who were already struggling. What I wanted to make a point of today in my contribution is that not only was it flawed for those who were already struggling—those who were on the breadline who are now without a home who are transient and who are just absolutely struggling—but what I want to say to those members opposite is that already the feedback from a lot of business-savvy business owners is that they actually see what we're trying to do here. They understand that a rising tide lifts all boats. So when you have people who are in homes who are looking after their children who have access to education and who have access to good and timely healthcare that's good for business. That's good for business. When the combined income of New Zealanders moves and increases—Mr Bishop can speak to the House about the movement of aggregate demand—that is good for business. Chris Bishop: I could. Could you? FLETCHER TABUTEAU: That is good for business Mr Bishop in case you were unsure of that. So here we are speaking about being an inclusive Government and we have already actioned some of those aspirations for New Zealand. But for me for New Zealand First and I know for the Government what we are hoping to achieve is not to bring that pendulum back from that extreme far right—where this country has unfortunately gone to under that party on that side of the House—and not to bring it back to the left but to bring it back to a centre common-sense state of affairs. I look forward to working with my colleagues and I say that in that broad sense because I have no doubt I will look forward to working with my colleagues on this side of the House. Already I see so much excitement and anticipation over here. But I actually say I look forward to working with my colleagues on the other side of the House because I know and everyone in this House believes that we are living in the best little country in the world. I don't think anyone's going to debate that New Zealand is a fantastic country to live in. But let us now work together and I implore those members on the opposite side—especially with the way that we have generously configured the select committee situation where we can work together for the benefit of all New Zealanders. We had had enough—we had had enough of that party. Let's actually start delivering for all New Zealanders and let's do this."