McClay Todd: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:505. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to rise and speak in this Address in Reply debate. Can I start by saying that it is going to be a very hard act to follow that wonderful delightful entertaining visionary speech from the Minister Jonathan Coleman— 
Hon Maryan Street 
: You’ll be all right Todd. Don’t worry. You’ll be all right. 
TODD McCLAY 
: —but I will do my very best Maryan Street; you are absolutely right. But that was an excellent speech. The Minister touched on all of the points that were important to New Zealanders last year before the election—all of the reasons why New Zealanders turned out in their droves to support this party and the Prime Minister and to say “We want more of that for another 3 years.”  
Can I say that it is great to be back and it is enjoyable to be back in this House to join with my colleagues and particularly to join with other members of Parliament here from all parties as we look towards the next 3 years to work hard collectively and separately to make New Zealand a better place. I particularly want to recognise the role of the Speaker and the deputies and assistants to congratulate the Speaker on his election and reappointment and to say that we look forward to more time with him in the Chair.  
Can I recognise the new members of Parliament who have come here and particularly members from the Green Party. I thoroughly enjoyed their maiden speeches yesterday although not as much perhaps as my colleague on my right Cam Calder. But can I say it is good to see new members coming here and talking a bit about why they have come to this House and what brought them here and so on.  
I want to recognise members of New Zealand First the new members to the House and their contributions in their maiden speeches. They too were enjoyable. I want to welcome back the Rt Hon Winston Peters who has come back to the House and also of course to welcome back the Hon John Banks. They are brothers at times—perhaps in the past. It is good to see those members back. We may not agree on everything but it is good to have members of the House who will come here and debate issues honestly. May I wish them well in that.  
Can I recognise four members of Labour who are new to this Parliament and who gave their maiden speeches yesterday; today we have seven new members of National who will make their speeches—7-4. That would have been a good score some years ago in a Rugby World Cup when the All Blacks were playing Australia or somebody else. I want to reflect on that for a moment. Here we are a National Government in a second term which in the last 3 years went through with New Zealand some very difficult times: the global financial crisis the steepest recession New Zealand has faced in 60 years great heartache to New Zealand and New Zealanders with the devastation of the earthquakes and the very sad loss of life in Christchurch. But here we are with seven new members of the National caucus making their speeches today and well done to them.  
That is a bit about rejuvenation. Three years ago we saw rejuvenation for New Zealand when New Zealanders in droves—the largest vote ever cast for any party under MMP—decided they wanted a change of direction and they wanted a brighter future. And here we are with seven new National MPs to make their speeches today—rejuvenation after only one term.  
On the Opposition side in Labour there are four new members. Actually there were some very good speeches there but only four of them. What happened to Labour over that last 3 years when it decided that it was about listening to New Zealanders rejuvenating and bringing in new blood? Well I feel very sorry for some of their hard-working MPs who 3 years ago made their maiden speeches with some of my colleagues—some very intelligent MPs who are no longer in this place. So there is some work to do.  
Can I say that in mentioning Mr Peters we should actually have a vote in this House about who the real Leader of the Opposition is because I think based upon what has happened so far over the last 2 weeks it is not clear that the party in Opposition with the largest number of votes would necessarily win there. If we think about— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: I’ll go with the Australian. I’m going to vote for the Australian. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Mr Williamson would vote for the Australian—very good. Can I say here that over the last 2 weeks when we think about question time and about the Opposition holding the Government to account we see that the largest party in this House Labour has been woefully neglectful and absent. And can I say that although we will not always agree with everything that happens from all parties in this House if nothing more it has been interesting and entertaining to listen to the Rt Hon Winston Peters. I say to his colleagues that they too have a very important role to play. You see the thing about Opposition is that it is not always about opposing everything; it is about finding ways that we can work together putting the politics aside from time to time and finding ways that we can work together.  
New Zealand First members have a list MP based in the Bay of Plenty—Brendan Horan—and I had a chance to talk to him for the first time last week and welcome him to Parliament on behalf of parts of the Bay of Plenty and with my National colleagues in all the other seats in the Bay of Plenty which not only did we hold before but we were able to continue to hold in this election. I talked to him about putting aside some of our individual political issues and finding ways to work together more closely so that we can do better for New Zealanders. And I look forward to being able to do that with New Zealand First members.  
Finally I want to get on to a bit of the detail of some of the things the Government has set out to do but before I do I want to focus on one thing and that is the leader of the Labour Party David Shearer. He came into Parliament at the same time as some of us a short 3 years ago—3 years and a few months. I really got to know him only when we played in the Parliamentary cricket game in Cambridge a couple of years ago. It strikes me that that is about the same amount of knowledge that most New Zealanders have on him. But do I wish him well? Absolutely. It seems that he was demoted or dropped from the Big Gay Out last week. I did not see a lot of coverage there. Breakfast TV—in the headlines today  
Breakfast 
 has decided that as leader of Labour and Leader of the Opposition he is not that interesting so they might not be able to give him a slot every week on  
Breakfast 
. A prediction for you— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Oh. 
TODD McCLAY 
: It is a bit of a shame because I saw him on TV this morning and when he was speaking to New Zealanders I felt my majority in the Rotorua electorate going up. So I would like to keep him there. A plea to  
Breakfast 
 and TVNZ: give him some more time for the good of our majorities.  
Here is a prediction for the next 3 years. In the next 3 years when we have shown New Zealanders that we have continued to work hard for them and deliver on the commitments and promises we made to them during this last election campaign when they re-elected us to govern this country I guarantee that when we get there and it is time to consider John Key as Prime Minister his commitments to New Zealand and New Zealanders and the very hard work that he and this Government has done on their behalves it will not be David Shearer on the other side that he is up against. There is my prediction: David Shearer is gone from the Big Gay Out and dumped from  
Breakfast 
 and I do not think it will be very long before he is finding another seat on that side a row or two back. I wish him the very best because he was quite a good cricket player a year or so ago in Cambridge but that is about all I remember of him. It is about all that the people of Cambridge probably know about him as well. Where is Winston Peters when we need a real Leader of the Opposition?  
What I want to say is that these 3 years are about economic development for New Zealand something that was woefully lacking over the 9 years of the last Labour Government. We started under very difficult circumstances in the last 3 years delivered on every promise and every commitment we made as a party to New Zealanders and now we must focus. In roading we must do more work. A great start—$12 billion invested over 10 years. In the Bay of Plenty a brand new road that will go from the Te Puke area—the Te Puke bypass I call it—between Rotorua and Tauranga to the port will cut out about 24 or 25 minutes from a return journey. That is great if you want to go and visit the beautiful part of the Bay of Plenty and the coastline or Tauranga and so on but it is important for our economy in that area of New Zealand where we produce a lot of trees and a lot of goods that go to the port. That road will cut down the time it takes for us to get our goods to the port. We therefore will be more productive. When we are more productive we can be more competitive and that will be more money back into the Bay of Plenty. Roads of national significance are also an important part of that.  
Broadband and communications—wonderful. Last year before the election they started digging trenches in Rotorua and in 33 other towns and cities around New Zealand for ultra-fast broadband. New Zealanders cannot wait for this to happen and be delivered because for far too long we were left with inadequate ways to communicate with the world and with each other. Rural broadband as well—$300 million the Government will be investing into this. I was told by some of my constituents in a rural area where their cellphones have never worked under the 9 years of the previous Labour Government that a new tower is going up their cellphones will work and they will get internet coverage faster than actually posting a letter. That was what it was like before under the Labour Government in rural areas: it was quicker to post a letter and get a response sometimes. Rural broadband is very important for us to reform our economy and give us some of the advantages that we need so that we can grow.  
Taking away red tape and bureaucracy—the Resource Management Act. We completed some significant reform there previously but there is a lot more to do to free up New Zealanders to get on with their lives and business at the same time continuing to protect our wonderful environment. Time is almost up. Can I say to those who have come— 
Darien Fenton 
: Thank goodness. 
TODD McCLAY 
: I will take a little bit more if you want me to. Can I say to those who have come to listen to maiden speeches that you are very welcome here; this is your House. It is great to see some friends come and support our new MPs. As with all colleagues on this side of the House I look forward to the next 3 years of a John Key - led National Government delivering for New Zealanders and working hard for New Zealanders. It is going to be an exciting 3 years as we work towards a brighter future. Kia ora. Thank you.