Ardern Jacinda: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: General Debate[Sitting date: 04 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15239. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): There is absolutely no doubt that despite the odd positive anecdotal story from a Minister—we could probably count them on our hands—this is absolutely a Government in decline. It is difficult for me to narrow down for a 5-minute speech the various ways in which we can see that this is a Government in decline. Probably the biggest demonstration of that the best example I could come up with is that in order to return to Budget surplus this is a Government that could do nothing else but sell all our stuff—sell all our stuff.The first thing that the Government could do the best option it came up with when it wanted to make sure we got out of the red was to sell our assets. That is absolutely a relevant issue for us to continue to debate today. This is a Government that is arrogant enough to absolutely ignore the views of New Zealanders. It has dismissed from the beginning poll after poll that has demonstrated that it was a completely unpopular policy to the point that the Prime Minister has arrogantly claimed time and time again that simply by voting for National everyone said they were happy with assets being sold. That is absolutely untrue. More people voted for parties that did not agree with asset sales than for those that did.So the message that needs to go out clearly in the midst of this referendum is that this is a Prime Minister who will interpret every vote that is not cast as simply someone saying that they love his work. So everyone must exercise their democratic right if they would rather not have the Prime Minister skew their view. We will continue to do our job by ensuring that this Government listens to the voices of New Zealanders who time and time again have expressed their anger over these asset sales.But I would also ask that people cast their vote on behalf of those who are unable to have their say—those who are not eligible to cast a vote but who are the generation from whom we continue to strip everything away. They are a generation that is suffering in the wake of a Government in decline. They are the No Generation. We have heard every other label for a generation that is possible: Generation Y theMillennials and the C Generation. This is the No Generation: no house no free education and potentially no superannuation given the way this Government has no plan to ensure that their future retirement is secure. This is a group of young people who are suffering because this is a Government that has absolutely lacked vision for what it is that they will need in the future.There are 78000 members of this No Generation who are currently not in employment not in education and not in training. They are the next cohort of 15-year-olds who will be measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment report and they are failing. We had Anne Tolley say: “It is their fault”. We had Hekia Parata say: “It is not my fault”. We had Steven Joyce say: “It is everyone’s fault”. At the end of the day Labour has not been in Government for 5 years. The buck has to stop somewhere—the buck has to stop somewhere. These young people have been walking through a school gate to a school where teachers have been stripped of professional development have had every change under the sun bearing down on them and have been attacked by this Government. And these young people themselves have experienced deprivation that has negatively impacted upon them.There are 270000 children growing up in poverty in this country. Ms Bennett may stand up here and tell us about all the teenagers who are doing well. I agree that there are some who are doing phenomenally well who are wonderful young people and weshould be proud of every single one of them. But there is a cohort that is not doing well and we cannot ignore that fact. TheYouth’12 survey told us that 29 percent of young women in our high schools are self-harming—29 percent—and 21 percent have seriously considered suicide in the past year. It is no wonder that in this OECD report we come 39th in terms of students’ happiness at school.That side of the House may dismiss that as not being a measure that is included in something like national standards but an unhappy young person does not succeed. A young person who is depressed does not succeed. One in five of our students in our schools is experiencing mental health issues. One in five students is also being cyber-bullied—all of these things are connected. This is a generation that is suffering under the weight of a Government in decline.