Robertson Grant: AdjournmentText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Adjournment[Sitting date: 31 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19833. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central):I want to begin as my colleague David Parker did by remembering today our departed colleague Parekura Horomia. I miss Parekura. I miss him from this House. I miss his influence on our caucus. I miss being told to shut up by him when I talk too long in our caucus meetings. He was a person who told us in the Labour Party to hold the line which we are doing and we will. If I remember one thing from this term of Parliament it was the scene at the Hauiti Marae where he was farewelled. He was farewelled as a loved member of his community of his whānau of his iwi but also by his people. Parekura was the model of an electorate MP who knew his people. They knew him. They could talk to him. He could talk to them. We miss his presence in this House today.Can I also acknowledge all of the departing members from the House. I have certainly appreciated all of the valedictory statements that I have heard—a wide variety of them. I want to make a couple of specific acknowledgments. I want to acknowledge Tariana Turia for the words that she said in her valedictory speech about a number of Labour Party colleagues. Everybody knows the history of Tariana’s departure from the Labour Party and the grief that was around that but I took her words in a spirit of generosity when she spoke. I particularly want to acknowledge her comments about our former colleague the Hon Darren Hughes and note that they were very much appreciated on this side of the House. Mr Speaker can I acknowledge the two members of your team who are departing us HV Ross Robertson—brackets “no relation” close brackets; I will say that for the last time—and Eric Roy. They have both been excellent and loyal servants of this House. They are people whom we on this Opposition side of the House deal with a lot during the Committee of the whole House stage along with Lindsay Tisch and we want to acknowledge all of their work for running this place in a fair and firm manner.To you Mr Speaker thank you for your role. It has been a pleasure working with you. I am secretly disappointed you have never followed through on your threat to throw me out of the House. I need to get my bad boy image up.Dr Rajen Prasad: Still time!GRANT ROBERTSON: I have got about 7 and a half minutes so you never know. Mr Speaker we thank you for your work in the House.I also want to add my acknowledgment as colleagues have to all of the staff who support us here in the building. I want to particularly thank Mary Harris the Clerk of the House and her team who do just such an amazing and professional job when we all behave in an incredibly difficult manner. Mary always smiles when Gerry Brownlee comes up with a new idea at the Business Committee and she manages to make it work within the Standing Orders and I thank you for that Mary. I also thank all of the security staff the messengers the Bellamy’s staff and the Parliamentary Library. I particularly want to acknowledge two groups: firstly our staff who work in our out-of-Parliament offices. If anyone needs a reminder of this I got it yesterday when I got a phone call from my out-of-office staff to say that they had had to call the police because someone had tried to rip off the door in a rage actually about an election poster that had been pasted up somewhere near their house which seemed an unusual thing to be that upset about. In all seriousness every single day our staff are out there on the front line dealing with some of the most difficult problems in our community and I thank all of them—Labour Party staff and other staff as well.The last group of people whom I want to particularly acknowledge are the spouses and partners of MPs. Every single departing member has mentioned at length the support that they have had from their partners and spouses and said that they would not have been able to do their jobs as parliamentarians without them. That is so true. Those who are the people who look after us have their own lives and look after the families are people about whom I think New Zealanders need to understand just the pressure that they are under and the amazing support that we are provided with by all our spouses and partners. I thank them all on behalf of the Labour team.It has been an interesting Parliament. I will not dwell too much on it but there is one day that sticks in my memory and it is the day that we passed the marriage equality law which Kevin Hague mentioned before. It came straight off the back of another Labour member’s bill which also passed that day. It was like the Commonwealth Games; it was our golden hour or our golden evening. We also passed the bill that will mean that Anzac Day and Waitangi Day when they fall on the weekend will now be a public holiday.Hon David Parker: The Clark bill.GRANT ROBERTSON: The bill in the name of Dr David Clark and possibly drafted by somebody else but we will leave that for the Hansard of previous days. That was a day when on this side of the House we felt we were really achieving something very important. In terms of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill I know that for a lot of people this was raised as an issue that somehow was not one of the things that matter. Well I think everybody in the House will know from the amount of correspondence we received and from the amount of interest that there was in this legislation that it did matter. This was an important social advance and it made Maurice Williamson an international TV star which may or may not be a good thing.The other acknowledgment that I would like to make to the Government before I get stuck into it as per normal is actually around the question of the passing of Treaty legislation. I do believe that in this Parliament using the extended hours provisions we have as a Parliament been able to make a very important and special difference in the way in which that legislation passes. Every single settlement that passes goes through this House with a huge level of emotion and a huge sense of opportunity for the iwi involved and I think it is a very important part of what we are doing at the moment.We get the chance to spend the next 50 days in our 3-yearly job interview and what an opportunity it is for us to travel around this great country of ours. When I think about New Zealand I think about a country with amazing natural advantages to which we as a country have added considerable advantages through our own effort. We have done that in terms of having one of the longest unbroken democracies in the world as my colleague David Parker often tells us. We do that by standing up for ourselves on the world stage. All of those things that are important about New Zealand and about being an egalitarian country are what this election should be about. My Labour Party colleagues will be familiar with Norman Kirk’s great saying.Kris Faafoi: Tell us!GRANT ROBERTSON: Oh well we could do it in unison if you like. What New Zealanders want is somewhere to live somewhere to work someone to love and something to hope for. That is what this election will be about.Jacinda Ardern: Will you deliver all four?GRANT ROBERTSON: I will. I will deliver someone to love for you Jacinda Ardern. It will happen. On the question of jobs of homes and of families that is what this election will be fought upon. It will be fought upon whether or not New Zealanders get a fair share from the economic growth that the Government promises us. It will be about whether we reduce child poverty whether we create decent jobs and whether or not all New Zealanders can live in warm dry safe homes. Those are the issues that we will be campaigning on in the Labour Party and I relish the opportunity to get out there and be a part of that.The positive vision that Labour has for this country stands in contrast to a Government that has now become known for its arrogance for its rorts for its conflicts of interest and for its dodgy deals—Dr Rajen Prasad: That’s right.GRANT ROBERTSON: That is right. There is not time enough today to go through all of those issues but it is time to ensure that we have a look at “Team Key” the first XV. Here it is. I will run through very briefly a couple of the player profiles from “Team Key” the first XV. John Banks: “John Banks’ season came to a premature end after his cabbage boat became marooned on an island of arrogance and wilful blindness. Likely to shift next season to a new club the Pāremoremo Pirates.” Playing in the hooker position Peter Dunne: “In and out of the team all season. Confuses his team-mates with his record of playing for both sides. Lost the trust of his team-mates when he leaked details of the game plan.” Playing at prop Judith Collins: “Tried to ingratiate her team-mates with her provision of half-time milk but her strategy of getting her retaliation in first backfired when she kneecapped herself. Still much loved for leading the team in the rendition of its team song ‘Don’t Cry for Me Oravida’ ”. Murray McCully playing at lock: “The team’s virtual member. No longer a physical presence in the team. Also failed to show up to any trainings this year due to a failure to open any emails.”Then there is Gerry Brownlee: “A late-season fitness drive has seen a positional shift and he is getting legendary status around the country where security staff everywhere encourage people not to do a Brownlee.” Then there is the open-side flanker Maurice Williamson: “Often found roaming the field and out of position. After a promising start at his guest appearance for the Rainbow Warriors he was escorted from the field during the game against the Police.” And then there is the team captain John Key: “He led by example from halfback hiding behind the forwards evading dodging and then”—his low point—“giving his mate the job as the team head of security.” This is the National Party first XV. This is the high standard that John Key said he would bring to New Zealand.At this election New Zealanders get a choice between a Government led by the Labour Party that will focus on families on homes and on jobs and a tired out-of-touch arrogant National Government. This side will win.