Little AndrewHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): Well for audition No. 2 I don't think that was a very flash performance. I think we might have expected better from Judith Collins a longstanding member and former Minister of that Government. I've never seen the National Party embracing the Salvation Army so warmly as we've seen tonight and I've never seen a Minister who so misunderstands energy and what is actually happening and the challenge that we face and that this Government along with the rest of the world is facing up to on climate change. I am very proud to be part of a Government that is facing up to the many challenges confronting our country and indeed the rest of the world. Fifty weeks on from being sworn in—356 days on—we have an impressive list of achievements that we can refer to. We have now under way the most comprehensive building programme of residential housing that we have seen in 80 years and members opposite keep talking about Look what's happening to rental housing." They thought nothing of the massive concentration of more and more houses in fewer and fewer hands. That's all they cared about. Never mind about young couples—young professional couples young low-income couples—wanting to chase the Kiwi dream of owning their own home. They didn't care. They don't care now. They are pushing buttons and they don't actually care. We saw the largest programme of income support that we have seen in many many years with the Families Package income support Working for Families—those things that actually put more dollars in the back pockets of working families and actually make a difference. We've seen one of the biggest regional economic stimulation programmes that we've seen in more than a generation with the Provincial Growth Fund in the hands of the Hon Shane Jones who is doing a terrific job. We're seeing massive investment in the regions huge opportunities amazing innovation. I look at what's happening in Taranaki and you see the new ideas emerging there: hydrogen development new manufacturing development on the cusp—great ideas. People there are brimming with new ideas and wanting to do new stuff. That's what a Government serious about the challenges facing this country does. It embraces new energy embraces new ideas and takes on new people and backs them to the hilt. That's what we're doing. We are seeing record investment—record investment—in health. It was the poor cousin of the previous Government for nine years—run down. Hospitals were run down. People couldn't get surgery people were getting surgery in theatres that leaked and weren't properly equipped and now we've seen a Government committed to good healthcare for all New Zealanders. What about the long-overdue positive changes in education? At last an education Minister serious about the job of educating and preparing our next generation of working people and thinkers and leaders and innovators for the challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century. Getting rid of national standards getting rid of the burdensome load that that creates for teachers and that gets in the way of good creative innovative learning for young people—that's what a Government stepping up to the challenges of the 21st century actually does and we're doing it. Modern learning environments training new teachers—what about the dearth of investment in training new teachers by the previous Government? Not us—not on our watch. We are focused on the future and we're doing the stuff that matters. Then there's restoring balance to the workplace relations lifting productivity lifting wages and giving more opportunities for work through Mana in Mahi the great work that the Hon Willie Jackson is seeing through. We are getting more people who have been shut out of the labour market for far too long and giving them a chance. Then you've only got to look at the economy. Look at the numbers coming through: a surplus of $5.5 billion—a record surplus—because this is a Government focused on the bottom line. We're managing the books carefully and making sure that we're making investment where it counts. Fifteen out of 16 sectors experienced real growth—real growth and development. That's what happens when you get a Government working alongside communities and working alongside business serious about taking this country forward but doing it in a way that everybody gets to share in the gains and the benefits. Those are the challenges that this Government set itself to face up to. Less than one year on we're well under way. We're doing amazing stuff and New Zealanders are feeling better for it as a result. I have to say this: as I get around New Zealand the number of New Zealanders telling me how proud they now feel to be a New Zealander. They see Jacinda Ardern on the world stage there in New York selling the message about New Zealand selling the message about New Zealand values. They see us confronting the ignominy of the criminal justice system where people were just left to rot. Hundreds and hundreds of people—billions of dollars spent on locking people up. New Zealanders are feeling proud again thanks to this Labour and coalition Government."