Luxon ChristopherCHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition): I'd like to join with the Prime Minister by also thanking the many people here in Parliament and outside this place who support us in our work as MPs and ensure that this House and our democracy functions as well for New Zealand as it does. I'd like to thank you Mr Speaker and all of your presiding officers. I want to thank the Clerk of the House and the team who support us in the Chamber but also in our select committees so professionally; all of the staff of the Parliamentary Service who look after us; the friendly folk at Copperfield's who keep us watered and fed and keep the mince pies flowing; the cleaners who do a tremendous job day and night keeping us COVID-free; the press gallery who in a world of untruths play a critical role in our democracy holding us to account and informing our citizens—although I have to be honest and say I don't understand how Claire Trevett's obsession with capsicums had much to do with any of that—our brilliant talented and very dedicated National Party staff; and I'd like to thank our partners and our families who we know make such huge sacrifices for all of us here to be able to come here and do this. Finally can I just thank the outstanding team from National and can I also thank the very incredible deputy leader Nicola Willis.Now Mr Speaker I have to be really honest with you. You know it's actually quite hard for us to think about heading away for Christmas because on this side of the House we're actually really energised and we are raring to go. In fact we get so much energy standing here looking across the other side and we see the worry staring back at us. We see the worry and the backbench MPs up there who are thinking like a three water asset grab is going to mean they'll be one-term MPs; they're polishing up their LinkedIn profiles you can just see it. We see it across the frontier with a tired front bench who's looking back saying That looks like an alternative Government." And I want to tell you we're a unified team. We're stronger we're stronger than Anna Lorck's Beroccas and we are ready to go.Now I have to say I was incredibly saddened to hear that a Christmas tradition won't be taking place this year. I was saddened that the Prime Minister won't be doing her annual exchange with Mike Hosking. And now in the Prime Minister's own words I would say I absolutely reject the assertion that the Prime Minister should miss out on a Christmas present so I got thinking about this the other night. I was thinking "Well what gift could I give the Prime Minister instead of what she would normally receive from Mike?" and then I got thinking about my colleagues across the House here. So I know it's not quite in the spirit of Christmas but I thought I would share with you my secret online shopping cart. So for Jacinda Ardern I wanted to gift her a Kookaburra cricket ball because I have to tell you Ajaz Patel was my dead-set sporting legend and hero this year. What he achieved was absolutely phenomenal. But I have to say I think the Prime Minister made him look very very average and that's because she took her spin game to the next level. She was bowling balls superbly—the batters were totally confused in the direction the ball was actually going.Now I was thinking deeply about Grant Robertson. What do you get Grant Robertson? It's a relaxing summer getaway package to the Kiwi destination of his choice and that's because we know that being the leader of the Labour Party will be a very taxing job for him and we want him rested and we want him ready to go when he gets ready to take over. For Nanaia Mahuta I thought long about this we've got her a special gift set of three waters—it comes in sparkling still and tap. For Chris Hipkins who's frankly had to walk back quite a lot of comments from his colleagues I think we've got you something really special. It's really special. It's Michael Jackson's greatest hits and that's just so that you can polish up the moonwalk practising walking back with a bit more style next year.Now the one I spent a lot of time thinking about was Michael Wood because what do you get Michael Wood? There were lots of options but I decided actually I'd get him a new rug because frankly the rug was pulled out from him by Grant Robertson. Grant went and upended all of Michael's grand plans for a $785 million walking and cycling pathway across the Waitematā and so we've got you a new rug Michael it should be all good to go. For Damien O'Connor he needs a pair of Red Bands. I can tell you he might not know what to do with these but I can tell you Barbara Kuriger knows what to do I can tell you that Ian McKelvie knows what to do and I can tell you that Nicola Grigg and Tim van de Molen and David Bennett and in fact the whole of the National Party caucus know what to do with the Red Bands.Now this was another difficult one. It was for my friend David Seymour. What do you get David Seymour? I thought long and hard about this and what I settled on was a www.ancestry.com DNA kit to find out whether we're actually as closely related as some people seem to think. For James and Marama a bulk order of kombucha for you and the whole Green team to keep the thirst quenched for a beautiful Kiwi summer. For Rawiri and Debbie from Te Paati Māori I just have to say you guys have the best game on TikTok. You are head and shoulders above all of us in this House and I did get a little bit worried last week because Simeon actually came to me Simeon Brown and he said "Chris I'm thinking I should get on TikTok." And I said "God forbid actually no I mean we don't want you on TikTok." I will say it again Simeon: no TikTok for you please. But what we've got for Te Paati Māori is a Foot Locker gift card so that you can get yourself some more pairs of Air Jordans and keep doing what you're doing. Finally for you Mr Speaker I know you're a Hurricanes tragic fan and that you haven't tasted a lot of success recently. I wanted to share with you—SPEAKER: Well how have the Blues gone?CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Wait wait wait. I want to share with you a jersey from my team and my team ends up costing me thousands of votes in Botany. And what it is is a jersey from the mighty Canterbury Crusaders so I think you'll enjoy that.So I guess in all seriousness you know 2021 has been another extremely difficult and challenging year and a stressful year for Kiwis. And while we can have a few jokes and we can take some Christmas cheer out of our interchange today I can tell you we must never ever forget the Kiwis outside of this place that are doing it incredibly tough under the impacts of COVID and under the impacts of this Government. That's who we need to thank. It's all of the Kiwis who've got the kids off to school today gone out to work put food on the table for their families all under extremely challenging conditions this year. Through all of that Kiwis kept going. And I'd say to you as a country we handled COVID pretty well in 2020. But the fact is this year this Government has squandered those opportunities that we've worked so hard for. It's been complacent and it's been incompetent. The traffic light system frankly has been an exercise in utter confusion. And I can tell you Aucklanders have got podium fatigue and after 15 weeks in a "short and sharp" lockdown we've had announcements of announcements and inconsistent messages and rules.People are doing it tough. Small business owners I can tell you are up against the wall. They are racking up the debt and I just encourage the Prime Minister go visit them in Auckland and look at them and you'll hear the desperation in their voices. You'll see how the Government's rules have actually crippled their livelihoods. I want to say good on those people working in those small businesses up and down this country who are getting up every day and are carrying on in spite of the enormous hurdles that they are facing. There will be empty chairs at the dinner table at Christmas dinner for many families. There's a million Kiwis who'll be kept apart from their loved ones because of the misery of a managed isolation and quarantine lottery system. And as we've discussed today it's going to be much harder for many Kiwis this Christmas because the squeezed middle are getting really squeezed. Living costs are rising our wages aren't keeping up and so folk can't get ahead and ultimately they end up worse off with much fewer choices.But I want to tell you that there is hope. There is great hope because I can tell you that New Zealand can do so much better than this. We can be the team at the top of the tables again. We can have vision we can have confidence and we can have aspiration. I want New Zealand to know that under a National Government we will create a more productive economy that lifts the incomes of all people so they have more choices on how they get to live the lives that they want to lead. We will build a world-class education system so Kiwi kids have the abilities to be able to go out and make their dreams happen and do anything they want to do in the world out there. We are going to have the first outstanding Minister of Mental Health to get real help actually to Kiwis struggling with anxiety and wrestling with mental health issues. And I can tell you we will reduce crime and we will keep Kiwis safe. And you don't have to worry about us being gang apologists at all. We won't demonise our farmers; we'll work with them we'll support them and we're going to ensure they remain world leaders. We're going to unleash enterprise and back small business because that's the lifeblood of New Zealand. And we're going to be the party with a proper holistic plan to protect and enhance both our environment and the economy.So what I want to promise this House and what I want to promise all New Zealanders is that while we'll hold this Government to account for their wasteful spending their inability to get things done and to deliver you're going to also see us listening to Kiwis developing practical good policy that enables us to solve problems and challenges that we have in this country. In summary I want to tell you National is back. We're going to have a great break and we wish the same for every member in this House and every New Zealand family too. And we'll be back ready for 2022 and we'll get into the work ahead. Merry Christmas."