Faafoi Kris; Dyson RuthHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Broadcasting Communications and Digital Media): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I rise with immense pride in order to support the Prime Minister's speech and what a great start to the year it has been with the Prime Minister's speech just shortly after we made a $12 billion announcement for infrastructure in New Zealand—long-needed investment in infrastructure in New Zealand—because when we came into Government after nine years of National of a do-nothing Government we knew there was plenty of work to do. We have started and there's plenty more work to do and that's why I'm looking forward to election year. I do want to note the previous speaker—the Rt Hon David Carter—who is leaving and I respect him very much but I would say to that member that in the twilight of your career cheer up a little bit. Cheer up a little bit because you've had a great career and I'd hate to see a member leave this House so angry because of the prospects of his party at this year's election. But enough about them and more about us because there's plenty of good news to talk about. I do want to acknowledge the great work of our Minister of Finance Grant Robertson because he's managed an economy to the point where we now have growth that is well above the likes of some of our trading partners in countries that we compare ourselves to and has managed our financial position to the point where we have talked about surpluses and where we can make that $12 billion investment. But I'm also very proud of all the other investments in some of the critical things that Labour Governments care about and that we have continued to invest in and will continue to invest in beyond September of this year. I want to thank both the New Zealand First Party and the Green Party for their support and their initiatives amongst this Government because it is making a massive difference to everyday New Zealanders up and down the country. At the weekend we had a festival in Cannons Creek called Creekfest and it was really interesting to listen to the good stories that people were coming up and having a chat to us about and the thankfulness that they have around the great work that this Government is doing. Just around the corner from where Creekfest is held is a street called the Castor Loop and those of you who may have watched my speeches very closely over the years—Todd Muller: No I haven't. Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I know Todd Muller has very closely—modelling himself on me as well. He's been watching these speeches very closely. For the entire time that I was an MP in Opposition under that Government there was a piece of land that used to contain State houses. Now just before I was elected as an MP they were demolished—under a National Government. At the time of that demolition a letter went to all the neighbours—who were obviously concerned about what was happening here—saying Don't worry we're going to be building more." That was in 2010. [Holds up photo of a street with no houses] This is what it looked like just after the demolition and as I say those neighbours got a letter saying "We'll be putting up more homes." In 2011 no homes. In 2012 no homes. In 2013 no homes. In 2014—after the election—still no homes. In 2015 no homes. In 2016 no homes. In 2017—election time—guess what happened? [Holds up photo of houses under construction] After the Labour Government came in all of a sudden there were homes. That's why I'm very proud to be part of this Government that is delivering to the most vulnerable communities in New Zealand and putting that into action. So we're not going to buy any of the empty rhetoric from across the House that we are not delivering for those most vulnerable New Zealanders because in my electorate when that Government said it would deliver it sat on its backside for eight or nine years. It can swing a wrecking ball very fast that party but it can't swing a hammer—but that's what we're doing. We're swinging hammers we're rolling up our sleeves and we're getting houses built for those most vulnerable New Zealanders. We've promised to build 6400 over four years and I'm proud to say that we're well in front of that. So when the previous Government was selling homes and demolishing homes and not building homes over nine long years I am proud to be part of a Government that can do this kind of thing and deliver dozens of homes which look like this in an area that looked like this for eight or nine years in just 2½ short years. So what does it mean for the community? It means that the schools around this piece of land which is now getting homes built on it will have their rolls lift so they can feel like a school that has meaning again. So you can bring people back into the community so the community can thrive. But that Government never understood that; it doesn't understand communities. And that's why when we build homes and communities people notice and they come up to us and they say "Thank you for giving us hope that after nine years of a National Government that did nothing we will come back to this community that has meant a lot to us for some time because there are now affordable homes available to it." So I want to thank all of those advocates and community people who stood with us and had barbecues on what looked like a park but was actually Housing New Zealand land over those nine long years because soon we will be able to cut a ribbon on about 50 homes so 50 families can call Castor Crescent home again. And I'm very proud to stand up seven days a week to put our record of delivery like this up against non-delivery of that Government over the last nine years. Another story I had recently was I visited Rangikura School in Ascot Park and I'd like to thank Eddie Uluilelata the principal there for letting us come and have a look because that school which would cater to a low-decile community has been operating out of some dilapidated classrooms for quite some time. And lo and behold when I went and visited the other day there was work under way because some of the funding that this Government has given schools over the last 2½ years has enabled children to learn in a first-class environment but under the last Government schools in my area suffered because of a lack of investment in classrooms. Again I want to acknowledge the work done by the Hon Chris Hipkins who I think at last year's Budget saw $1.2 billion going into investment in new classrooms that should have been built in the previous nine years of the National Government to deal with the demand of a growing population but never got built. So we had this ridiculous situation of children being put in classrooms that used to be dental clinics and I'm not sure if everyone remembers the murder house but they aren't big buildings. Having to transfer libraries into learning spaces—that was the reality under the National Government.But the reality under this Government is investment in the things that matter and they matter to those families who send those kids to their school because their kids aren't learning in substandard conditions any more. They're learning in safe warm soundproof conditions and if you ask any teacher who is teaching a year 1 class about how important it is to teach in a soundproof classroom they'll say it makes a big difference to the way that the kids learn and their state of mental health at the end of the day. But that has happened under the last nine years of the National Government; it's happened under us. Again I was extremely proud of the investments that we were able to announce at last year's party conference of up to $400000 for every school to catch up on the unmet maintenance that they had to put up with when the previous Government wouldn't fund their 5-yearly agreement funding properly. So all the work that banked up that National didn't care about we tended to and parents see that. They see it when they go to school. They see it when they and their families are able to get into a warm dry safe affordable home. So I'm happy and proud to stand here and support the Prime Minister's statement because we have started dealing with the long-term issues that that party neglected. Have we finished? No and we're going to work really hard up until election day to make sure we keep going.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): The next call's a split call—Simeon Brown."