Sepuloni Carmel; Rurawhe AdrianHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Thank you Mr Speaker. Talofa lava mālō e lelei. It is a privilege to be able to speak early in this debate as part of this wonderful new Labour Government. Can I start like so many have already in the House and acknowledge those that have been appointed to the very important roles of Speaker Deputy Speaker and Assistant Speaker. I think that we have a very fair team of Speakers a dignified team of Speakers and we look forward to continuing to work with the Speakers in this House.I acknowledge all of the new members of Parliament. Yesterday when I was watching people get sworn in I felt quite teary-eyed seeing the new MPs in particular get sworn in because we never forget how special that is particularly that first time. My first time was in 2008 and I remember reflecting on that day that actually back in 1991 when my social studies class was coming for a trip to Parliament all the way from New Plymouth I was not able to make that trip because I did not have the $30 to pay for that trip. So it's a reminder to us how much of a privilege it is to be in this space. I don't know why I'm crying—I feel like Anahila right now.But the achievement is not getting here; it is what we do when we get here and as has already been laid out by the Speech from the Throne we are committed to getting some things done over the next three years. We have the mandate to get those things done because for the first time we have a majority Government under this MMP system and we take that mandate seriously. One of the first people who rang me the day after the election to congratulate me was my uncle who's a farmer in Taranaki and in Taumarunui. He rang to congratulate me and he wanted to make the point that we have the mandate and that we do need to govern for all New Zealand. We take that very seriously; I cannot say that enough.I acknowledge the other side of the House. I acknowledge the National Party. We have been in that position. We know how much it hurts to lose an election. We know how hard it is to see colleagues go. In fact I was one of those colleagues back in 2011 after three years in here then exiting alongside Stuart Nash and Kelvin Davis and having what we called a three-year sabbatical referring to ourselves now as the retreads of that time. But for those that are here just know that we do understand that there is a cycle to politics and we do understand what it feels like to actually be in the Opposition and to see colleagues go and we do understand what it feels like to be those colleagues who leave and so I want to acknowledge that. But we must still celebrate being here. Whether we are in Government or we are in Opposition we must not forget that it is a privilege to be in this House. So no time for sad faces; I think at this point in the cycle we acknowledge the privilege that it is to be here.I want to acknowledge the size of our Māori caucus: 15 Māori MPs. You know decades ago perhaps even just three decades ago our Māori community—iwi hapū across the country—would not have been able to believe that that is how many Māori MPs were in one political party's caucus and so I want to acknowledge that. I did hear words from another Māori leader who I do have respect for but that I challenge and that I do not agree with and those words were that our Māori MPs have been subjugated within the Labour Party. That is not true. Our Māori MPs have a strong voice within the Labour Party. Our Prime Minister has made it very clear that meeting and addressing the needs of Māori in New Zealand making sure that Māori have the opportunity like everyone else in every aspect and honouring the Treaty is a priority for the Labour Party. So I do not agree with what that person who I do have respect for said about Māori MPs within the Labour Party. In fact I do have to say I am offended on behalf of my Māori colleagues.I want to acknowledge too my Pacific colleagues. When I came into Parliament in 2008 there had been very few Pacific MPs in this House. There had been Taito Phillip Field there had been Vui Mark Gosche there had been Luamanuvao Winnie Laban there had been Charles Chauvel Aupito Su'a William Sio had just got in before me and then I came along. Now we have more than all of those that I mentioned earlier. We have 10 within the Labour Party and our Pacific representation spans Samoa Tonga Tokelau the Cook Islands.Dr Deborah Russell: You're married to a Fijian.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I am married to a Fijian. I have a Niuean son. We are all connected and we are proud of the representation that we have here now. We do not forget that there are expectations on our shoulders and that as I said before the achievement is not getting here; it is what we do when we are here and our community expects us to serve and live up to those expectations. We will work together to make sure that that happens.I acknowledge the representation from all of the other ethnic minorities that are in here. Can I say that I've seen some rhetoric dialogue in the media about representation needing to be about merit. I hate that argument because everyone has a differing view of what merit is and what merit looks like. But this House of Representatives needs to reflect New Zealand. There is only merit if this House reflects every New Zealander in this country and the communities that exist and live here and so the merit is in the fact that we have the diversity to represent all of those communities across the country.We have laid out on the table what our intentions are for the next three years. The Speech from the Throne was also an opportunity to reflect on what we have done. We never promised at the beginning of the last three years that we were going to be able to address all the wicked challenges that we face as a country but we knew we needed to get the ball rolling and we did. If I only look at one of the areas that I have the privilege of being Minister for that area being social development I will say that the criticism that comes our way is that we haven't done enough yet and I've never said that we have either. We had three years to make some changes. What I'm proud of is that actually many if not all of those changes were actually mostly supported by the majority of New Zealanders. Who would've thought that actually the majority of New Zealanders would sit back and be fine with the fact that we'd do something like get rid of section 192 that discriminated against women that didn't name the father of their child? Who would've thought that actually there'd be more people pushing for benefit increases than opposing them? Who would've thought that we'd be able to roll out one of the biggest payments ever if not the biggest payment through our welfare system which is the winter energy payment that we would be able to within our first hundred days in the last Government roll out a Families Package of $5.5 billion and then go on to do things like index benefits to wages so that it would go up just a little bit more every April when those adjustments are made.So we hear our wonderful Prime Minister talk about consensus building about taking New Zealanders with us and that's what this is about. It is about enduring change. It is about not only making change but changing the narrative as we go so that actually we don't have the vast majority of the general public coming out and condemning some of the poorest New Zealanders in our country. Those are some of the changes that have occurred that have not been spoken about much. It's not just about the tangible policy changes; it's about the attitudinal shift within our own country.Someone—I think it might've been David Seymour—was criticising the Prime Minister for what he calls slogans". Well I don't call kindness a slogan actually and I think that we should be proud as a Government as a political party as a country that actually that's part of people's everyday language now and that kindness is something that we value. I am looking forward to the next three years. Fa'afetai lava.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Kāti rā kua mutu a tātou mahi mō tēnei rā.[Finally that concludes business for today.]The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday 1 December 2020. Ka kite anō.The House adjourned at 5.02 p.m."