Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kia ora. I would like to start by paying tribute to my departing colleague Kevin Hague. Last night in his final speech he talked about the worthy issues that have unfortunately been ignored by this Government over the last 8 years and the frustration of the partisan political response. We have watched this lot this season—for eight seasons—and I want in this contribution to ask what the Government's story is. I agree with Kevin's sentiment. It has been a Government that has taken only a token response to the tough questions. It has been a bare minimum" Government. You only have to look at the announcement it has made to look into it. Take "50 by 50" which is its greenhouse gas target. It is a snappy slogan sure—never mind the science—but the fact is that all its Government policies are actually around increasing emissions and pollution not reducing it. Take the policy for a pest-free Aotearoa by 2050—great. It is pretty hard to find anyone in this country who is opposed to that but then the Government does not fund it to meet the target and members go off and have photo ops with a bunch of kiwis. Take electric vehicles—another area where it is great to see intention. It is an area where we have got an issue that takes more dollars and sense than almost anywhere else on the planet. However Simon Bridges decides to set a target that is less than his officials' do-nothing scenario and then he does nothing. Simon Bridges has launched that one eight times. The Government has set so many empty targets across the 8 years you have got to wonder: does National actually have internal key performance indicators internal meetings to come up with setting those empty targets? It is Government by meme Government by slogan Government by focus group. It is a Government that cares more about looking like acting than actually acting. You have got to give its members credit though: they are pretty good performance actors. It is damaging because the country faces huge challenges and we need action not a bunch of actors. Instead when we do get the substance what we see is the Government selling things off or passing them on to its corporate mates. It sold our power companies and it is selling our farms. It sold out on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. It sold out on charter schools and in the midst of a housing crisis it is selling out the State houses. Once upon a time there was a great Prime Minister in this country who was immortalised carrying in the dining table to help a family move into their first State house. In contrast Key who grew up in a State house—the supposed character from central casting—is the one putting a "For Sale" sign out front. There is something important I want to touch on: Key is the Government's best actor out of that lot. He is going to contest the next election but I want to ask: will he continue the role if by chance he scrapes through on another one-seat majority into a fifth term? I doubt he is going to continue in that role. So the question for voters is: who is going to be picking the next Prime Minister? Is it going to be the bunch over there—the extras on the backbench? We have seen it in Australia in 2010 2013 and 2015. We saw it in Britain this year. Who is going to be picking the next Prime Minister? Is it going to be the National backbench extras or the people of New Zealand directly? The Government's plan of course is to ignore the pressing issues ignore unswimmable rivers ignore inequality and ignore homelessness. It must be hard writing a script to avoid the issues every week but luckily Nuk Korako—he stepped up with an adventure story of how to rescue bags from airports. In his legislative cameo Matt Doocey is taking up parliamentary time with a story about how we can email instead of writing letters to shareholders to see whether they want a hard copy of the form. But what we know is that we sometimes see the incompetence behind the bad acting. Take Nick Smith. This guy has got the reverse Midas touch—everything he touches turns to dust. He announced grand plans to release land but forgot to mention he was talking about cemeteries and substations. There are measures there are policies there are initiatives but there are not houses being built. This is the Minister who took something that the vast majority of New Zealanders support including many iwi—the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary—and somehow managed to turn it into a Treaty of Waitangi breach and a threat to Government stability. Can I suggest as he considers retirement that he considers—and I please ask this—a position in the coaching team for the Wallabies?Then we have got the invisible Minister for Women doing her worst impersonation of an out-of-date stereotype which is to be seen but not heard. It is time for New Zealand to have a conversation about not acting but action. It is time for solutions it is time for a positive vision and it is time for less of this focus on treating New Zealanders as viewers. It is time to treat New Zealanders as informed citizens give them the information show the leadership and take the tough calls. It is time for a new chapter."