Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. You'll note that James Shaw gave some of the MPs around the Chamber superhero names. He appears to be living in a cartoon. I thought What would I call James Shaw?" Surely he would be Captain Planet. Then I thought "Hang on a minute." Those of you who have watched Captain Planet know that Captain Planet had five people's powers combined. James Shaw is in a coalition agreement where he has no powers at all. That's probably a good thing because he just decided to bring back the economic lunacy that we should bring back rent control. Well it's a good example of why we needn't worry about that because Wonder Woman as James Shaw called the Prime Minister ruled out that policy this morning. So we can be safe in the knowledge that James Shaw's lunacy—or was it Marama Davidson's on behalf?—won't be going anywhere.It is so good to have our Parliament back because this democracy depends on the simple idea that any person can stand for office and be elected and stand on this green carpet and question the Government and hold it accountable. There were so many times during this summer that I wished we had that power and ability. Why is the Government stealing rapid antigen tests? Why if people with Omicron who we know have Omicron because they had a test that said they have it—if they can isolate at home why must people returning from overseas those who have had their maternity care outsourced to the Taliban queue up for a space in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) and only 12 percent of them get one? Well the Government said it was because they wanted to delay the arrival of Omicron. Omicron's here. We still have the nonsensical miserable and unjust concept of MIQ destroying people's lives and livelihoods.I wanted to ask does the Government understand that borrowing printing and wasting money puts up the price of everything? You see this year is the year of the hangover. Anybody can get through a pandemic if they borrow enough money; the hard part is paying for it. I wanted to ask the Government why do they insist on putting the partnership principle of the Treaty as they call it at the heart of everything when it's not at the heart of the Labour Party constitution now is it?I wanted to ask why people must isolate for 14 days if they test positive and a further 10 for everyone in their household. Is that why perhaps we have lower testing numbers at the start of Omicron that's more infectious than we did at the start of Delta that's supposed to spread slower? Could it be that small business is suffering because people are staying home due to a lockdown in all but name? We have a fear going out because they can't afford to have 14 days isolation and another 10 for their family. How are we supposed to get to stage two of the Government's communications plan—I mean sorry public health response to COVID—if we don't have the cases they set that was the threshold for their own policy failing so we could move on to the next stage because no one can afford to go out or get tested because the isolation rules are unworkable. So many questions for this Government and that's why it is so good to have our parliamentary democracy back in session.Actually the whole ACT team are thrilled to be back after 2021. Brooke has been extraordinary. As our deputy and whip she has organised the ACT caucus. She's broken stories on the neglect of patients and led a campaign against mortgage interest deductibility changes that make no sense and forced this House to face up to the evil of the Chinese Communist Party when our Government wanted to cut and run the other way.Nicole McKee Parliament's most-loved knitter but she also skewered our hapless police Minister on her softly softly approach to gangs again and again.Chris Baillie has stuck up for small business and our overstretched police force—that same police Minister won't stand up for with his shall we say cutting speeches in the House.Simon has travelled the country—Simon Court that is although I'm sure Simon Bridges has travelled the country. I remember the last time he did actually. Simon Court though has travelled the country hearing from people in our primary and extractive industries and bringing the message back to Wellington that we need to stop regulating those who pay the bills to death or we will not have any economy left.James McDowall has worked hard for so many heartlessly neglected by our clunky immigration democracy bureaucracy and presents legislation to Parliament that would underpin the purpose of our universities about being the free exchange of ideas not complaining about emotional harm every time somebody disagrees with you as if that will never happen outside the walls of the university.Karen Chhour is the ultimate battler and keeps building her base for the fundamental reform of the way we care for children displaced something which every society struggles with and needs the care attention and passion of somebody who has lived through that experience.Mark well what can you say? The authentic and loved voice of rural New Zealand. He is a star in a society or a sector of society that gets so little love from the rest of our Government and Parliament for that matter.And then there's Toni who is endlessly improving and searching for a way to reduce our shameful levels of recidivism Not many politicians have the conviction to go to jail for their beliefs. Toni goes inside frequently to advocate for a better way to rehabilitate prisoners.Then there's Damien who's done the heavy lifting on the Finance and Expenditure Committee but also improved our voter base particularly in Auckland with his Celtic charm—I can't say any more.It's a solid base for nine new MPs to become the household names of the future and this year we have everything to play for. The best way of finding out what is really happening is to ask the majority of New Zealanders a simple question: is the country going in the right direction or the wrong direction? And what is going to set the tone for this year is that for the first time since the global financial crisis the majority of New Zealanders are telling this Government this country is going in the wrong direction. We now have a gap of 25 points between the left and the right on election night down to a gap of only six points—100000 more voters changing their mind about Jacinda Ardern's leadership is enough to change the Government. And it's not difficult to see why.As more and more people understand that Jacinda's COVID response is a grand illusion nearly every day brings another bizarre disaster showing we benefited from good luck isolation borrowing and printing rather than good management. A million Kiwis offshore know anyone can quarantine an island. I mean it took 100 million years of continental drift but the work was already done for this Government. We've now entered a Wonderland where the Red Queen is talking backwards and a million Kiwis are locked out of their country in the cruellest abrogation of any State's responsibility to its citizens that anyone has seen in a modern democracy in a century and it is shameful.Every aspect of her response has been incompetent. Testing: banned them then allowed some now stealing the ones that they did allow now forcing unworkable isolation rules because without testing the Government's only solution is to lock people down until you probably don't have COVID anyway even though they know that it is going to spread whether they decimate the economy with these unworkable isolation rules or not. When the penalty for testing positive is 14 days at home what do you think people are going to do if they are not a critical worker? The simple answer is that if your family or your business depends on you showing up for work you're going to be a critical worker. That is the reality.Then we're told to be grateful for getting some freedoms back that our border will open over a torturous process between now and October while Australia will be open for business just next week. Two weeks' time they're open. And you have to ask: how should a New Zealand tourism operator who's worked for 20 years—their whole career—to build up their enterprise feel when they watch the planes landing in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane? People are going to spend their hard-earned money over there instead of over here because our Government—the Government that boasted about a wellbeing approach where they would balance all of New Zealanders' different needs—now has a policy obsession with just one thing that blinds it to all of the hurt and misery that it causes to every other aspect of New Zealanders' wellbeing. That's why we face the year of the hangover.Families know the price of everything has skyrocketed. Now it's partly the result of supply chain constraints and inflationary pressure that's affected the whole world but hear this: we have the second-worst inflation in the developed world and we have the second-biggest Government spending and stimulus programme of the OECD—behind the United States who have the worst inflation in the developed world. We have done this to ourselves or rather our Government has done it to us. Make no mistake this Government knows its policies have been inflationary and that is why we have a grand illusion.And here's another reason why people think the country's going in the wrong direction: this Government was elected to fix housing. I have to admire the Prime Minister for her incredible chutzpah getting up in her speech and talking about what the Government's going to do about housing. Well maybe it's not bravery; maybe it's contempt for New Zealanders and an assumption of gullibility. The truth is that under this Government the average house price has gone up $387000 58 percent. The gap between homeowners and non-homeowners has skyrocketed under a Labour Government increasing inequality because they're incompetent at policy.They've got an economy that's busy but it's not one that is productive or healthy. And that's why this year the ACT Party is campaigning for a healthier economy—an economy that makes careful use of taxpayers' money because we know how carefully they have to earn and spend it.We are seeing at this time record tax takes. You know if you take the amount of tax that this Government collects for every single New Zealander—and if you're kind to the Government and you adjust it for inflation they are taking another $2000 in tax overall for every person in your household. And they've been helped by inflation because when prices go up they get more GST and if wages go up—which they're not compared with prices—you go into a higher tax bracket to buy the same stuff.If inflation is a thief in your pocket then the Government should be had up for receiving stolen goods. They are inflating away their own debt and borrowing by lowering interest rates and causing inflation. But here's the sequel—that's why it's called a hangover—the only way the Reserve Bank can get in control of inflation is if they're prepared to raise interest rates. And you've got two-thirds of people coming off their mortgage rates this year—you're going to see people go up two points and that is when this Government will start to understand why people think they're going in the wrong direction. They haven't been confident at balancing New Zealanders' needs through COVID. Anyone can isolate an island anyone can borrow 60 billion bucks but it's paying it back and controlling the cost of living where they have failed.And it's not just a healthier economy that we require; it's also healthier communities. You know the Prime Minister has some gall to get up and talk about record low unemployment. You know they say unemployment's almost as low as 3 percent. What's interesting: 6 percent of the workforce are on the jobseeker benefit; another 6 percent are on other main benefits. So you've got 12 percent on a benefit and they claim 3 percent unemployment. Why is that? Well when Statistics New Zealand ring up and ask if you're unemployed they ask "Are you looking for work?" If you're not looking for work you're not unemployed. The figures the Government puts out are completely incredible and I mean that in the true sense of the word—that they are not credible. The real problems are that we have too many people in our community for whom the best pathway to prosperity in their community is to join a gang because methamphetamine is a half-billion dollar a year industry with no tax. We need healthy and thriving communities. We need communities where kids actually go to school. The Government had a policy like that called partnership schools kura hourua or charter schools. You know how they work? If the kids didn't show up the school didn't get paid. You wouldn't believe what happened next. The school started focusing on making sure kids went to school and once they were at school it was much easier to teach them useful things for the rest of their life than if they weren't. None of this is complicated. We've been putting up the rates for benefits and we're wondering why there's 12 percent on a main benefit despite claiming 3 percent unemployment. Well the ACT Party says that if you're on welfare for the long term we're going to use electronic income management and counselling to get you off a benefit. That's what healthier communities look like and it looks like treating the criminals like actual criminals and being responsive when people find themselves like a woman I met just last week in a dairy in Epsom. I said "What is wrong with your arm? Why do you have that cast?" She was fighting off a robber. When you consider that she lives above the store you understand just how real that is. And then besides a healthier economy and healthy and thriving communities that we so badly need based on the values of personal responsibility and respect for business we also need to understand our Kiwi identity. It's being said that we are going on some sort of bold trajectory where we divide New Zealand into two types of people. On the one hand tangata whenua here by right; on the other tangata Tiriti here on some other criteria that is not clear. Through all of human history there has never been a society that has succeeded by giving people different sets of political rights by birth. In fact so many New Zealanders have come to escape the class system of England the caste system of India the one-party State of China and the apartheid of South Africa—people dreaming of an equal future. Every good political movement in 400 years; freedom of religion to believe what you want; equality between the sexes; equality between races; equality based on people's sexuality—every good political movement has been about the simple idea that each human is born with the same basic rights. That is the way to address genuine challenges such as poverty and a lack of opportunity in education and health and welfare and housing that we badly need to do. But if we divide our country into an ethno-State with different sets of political rights depending on who your grandparents are not only will we not achieve that we will create a level of division and despair in this country that cannot be imagined in New Zealand as it currently conceives itself. That is why we will be advocating alongside a healthier economy with less Government waste less strangling regulation and more respect for people who get up to make a difference in their own lives along with healthier communities based on social services that really work with the premise of personal responsibility and the simple idea that people actually can make a difference in their own lives. We will also be advocating for New Zealand to be a modern outward-looking multi-ethnic liberal democracy where every child or tamariki is born with the same bundle of political rights. That is perhaps the most important debate for New Zealand's long-term future. It is so good to have this House back. There is so much good work we can do holding this Government accountable and giving some hope of a better way forward to rebuild our country in the aftermath of COVID; or perhaps more accurately the Government's expensive cruel and damaging myopic one-sided tunnel-visioned response to it. The ACT Party is thrilled to be here and can't wait to do our best for this great country in 2022. Thank you Mr Speaker."