Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Minister for Oceans and Fisheries): Mr Speaker tēnā koe. Tātau e te Whare e noho tahi nei i roto i tēnei taha o te tukunga pōti tēnā tātou katoa.[Mr Speaker thank you. All of us of the House that are sitting here together on this side of the election greetings to all of us.]Firstly to those of you who are new MPs including my colleagues here in New Zealand First—welcome. Believe you me it is immeasurably more comfortable on this side of the House than on that side of the House having suffered the misfortune of being on that side of the House more days than I care to remind myself. To erstwhile colleagues on that side of the House it was a fateful and bleak day that the leader and I woke up in 2020 after a night of heavy contemplation in Russell and then realised that we were unemployed. Yes there was the small matter of a gallon of red wine as I remember—that was celebrating whakapapa the Dalmatian side. However as a consequence of a very vigorous campaign and respect that we engendered within the electorate New Zealand First is back and contributing to this coalition Government.Technically the Address in Reply debate is traceable back in terms of our parliamentary traditions to the House where members of the House sought to change the content of the Sovereign's address. Now years passed and it's morphed into what we have in New Zealand at the moment which is a broad free-ranging debate in terms of the Government's agenda. So after three years of banishment and a period of self-reflection—something that comes to me with great difficulty—we have contributed to some key policy outcomes that are reflected in this speech and I want to start with the first one. We're going to bring rigour and common sense to the hysteria surrounding climate change. Climate change policies in New Zealand have been driven by a tiny minority with loud voices who have no conception as to the consequences of their narrow shallow ideas on the day-to-day functioning of the economy. For those reasons whatever work has been happening in the Ministry for the Environment—not unlike Thomas Beckett the meddlesome priest"—that is now stopped. The coalition agreement says that there'll be no more uncertainty as to the role of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) as the pivotal paramount institution guiding us as we make the transition from our current emissions profile to a more sensible and defensible place—but not at the cost of those legacy industries that give us our wealth our wellbeing and jobs. So for those of you buried in the Ministry for the Environment working away on those policies: they belong to the old regime that now sit on the other side of the House. Now of course the perfidy didn't just stop with ETS. We've got the significant natural areas; we've got the national policy statements pertaining to biodiversity—they're gone. They will no longer have any legal impact in our rural economy on our farmers on our landowners—squashing the bejesus out of people's property rights. Similarly we will no longer have onerous unworkable water regulations; not only unworkable but completely destructive of the viability of the very industry that is our key contributor in terms of export earnings. Two national policy statements that will go the way of my dear friend David Parker's magnum opus: out the back door into oblivion. And just to show that there are other areas that people want me to concentrate on I am the Minister for Resources. I look forward to leading the debate changing the law enabling gas and oil exploration wealth development to take place yet again in New Zealand.Now just to ensure that the other side of the House feels that's a little bit unbalanced mining is coming back as well. We most certainly need those rare earth minerals. In those areas called the Department of Conservation (DOC) estate where it's stewardship land stewardship land is not DOC land and if there is a mineral if there is a mining opportunity and it's impeded by a blind frog goodbye Freddy. We are going to extract the dividend from mother Nature's legacy on the DOC estate in those areas previously called stewardship land. Now why is this important? If we do not have coal and gas continuing to contribute to our power system we're going to have blackouts brownouts; we're going to have a power system that lacks security riddled with risk; and it'll diminish the status of our nation as a first-class First World country. This side of the House is not taking that risk.Of course we'll hear from the other side of the House but 2030 Jacinda Ardern's aspirational figure inversely related to reality the majority of her legacy—that will no longer be the case. We are not going to meet the 2030 dreamy fairy-tale aspirational figures that we'll be freeing ourselves of fossil fuels as a source of generating energy. We're going to deal with reality. We're going to have not only a plan but we're going to have some certainty for the providers of international capital who are going to help us develop our economy. If you look at what's become of our current account deficit none of us can be lackadaisical. None of us can continue to spend the way that we have been as has been evident on the other side of the House.Couple more things: we will have a strategic fast-tracked piece of legislation in this House. One of the great lies about climate change is that yes apparently it's a crisis. Name me one law that has changed in the last nine years expediting simplifying investors' ability to navigate the digestive tract otherwise known as the Resource Management Act and in a timely fashion secure resource consent find the money deliver the project. No one in this House can. With the development of our fast-tracked bill where authority will lie with us the politicians—no more unelected grandees who destroyed the aquaculture ambitions of Murihiku who caused Ngāi Tahu to squander the thick end of $2 million and not a single bit of kaimoana in the water. How are regions going to grow unless we give certainty to investors and hope to the people who want to continue to raise their children in these areas go to church play rugby netball support the local businesses? Stand by for the fast-track process where the authority rests with the politicians. Fast track for aquaculture fast track for mining fast track for energy fast track for infrastructure. That's the future coming in your direction and to people who want to boost productivity and resilience in New Zealand you could not pick a better champion than my good self. Modesty forbids me to say much more!We're also going to tame some of the ethos problems in the bureaucracy. As we go and dive further with the senior Minister of Finance we are learning we have been living beyond our means for too long. This is not only a challenge for our broader societal concerns but it's a challenge for the leadership of the democracy. Two issues stand out: the debacle of Te Pūkenga. As someone who loves the language why have we used these beautiful words to describe the most fiasco- snafu-orientated bureaucratic developments? It diminishes the language. Oranga Tamariki describing that particular Government department—should never have been given that name given the large number of children that have suffered. It ruins the quality of the language.In this last thing I would remind us: I was in this House when $1.8 billion $1.9 billion was allocated for mental health. Not even Treasury or the gnomes who work in the audit department—sadly they're still chasing me for terrible falsehoods of the Provincial Growth Fund time—can find a sliver of evidence as to how that money has improved the capacity of families and communities to look after themselves. So if there's ever an event that's an indictment on the people who've held the health portfolio on that side of the House it's the $1.8 billion that got poured down the orifice of the bureaucracy supposedly going to give you and me and our whānau better health outcomes of a mental character. The opposite has happened. But rest assured your spirits will soar—New Zealand First is back."