Robertson Grant: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 21 December 2011. Volume:677;Page:66. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Can I begin by congratulating the entire team of presiding officers who have been selected. Lockwood Smith obviously is returning as Speaker and I think as was noted by Trevor Mallard’s seconding of that motion yesterday the respect for Lockwood Smith around the House is universal. Personally I have come a long way in terms of my relationship with Lockwood Smith which largely began with me shouting at him through a megaphone when he was the Minister of Education. I am sure he appreciated my wisdom then as he does now. I also want to congratulate you Mr Deputy Speaker and the Assistant Speakers Lindsay Tisch and Ross Robertson. I am sure all members in the House will be looking forward to Ross Robertson furthering his views on the flow and ebb of rivers across New Zealand.  
I particularly want to congratulate all members especially new members in this House on being here. We all know how hard individuals work to get into this place and I want to acknowledge every member in the House for the hard work that they have done to get here. I am particularly proud of our four new members: Andrew Little Rino Tirikatene Megan Woods and David Clark. They are a great new addition to our team and I look forward to seeing them contribute in a number of ways over the next period. As many of you know David Clark is in fact a Presbyterian minister. Despite being a Presbyterian minister I think he is already taking confessions certainly from members of the Labour caucus and perhaps from members of the National caucus as well. So we have a diverse team on this side of the House.  
If I was to offer some advice to new National members—it is perhaps not my place to do so but I will do it anyway—it would be to watch some tapes of Paul Quinn because I think that is where they will learn how to behave in this House. If you follow Paul Quinn’s advice you cannot go wrong I say. Speaking of departed members on this side of the House we will miss Aaron Gilmore. We will miss Aaron Gilmore but no doubt he will be particularly busy at this time of the year preparing his reindeer and getting the presents ready for his big day on 25 December. But having said that he may have other jobs. I put this question in front of the House. Who has seen Aaron Gilmore and Kim Jong Un in the same place at the same time? That is the question I put in front of the House today. But in all seriousness I do wish all members well commiserate with those who have lost their seats and congratulate members on being in this House.  
I also want to begin with thanking the staff in this building who help us: the Speaker’s office staff; the Clerk and her staff; the Hansard reporters who even manage to make my grammar look correct; the cleaners who are in this building night after night working in many cases for just on the minimum wage and who do a fantastic job and we all owe them our respect; the library staff who in particular I think have helped Opposition members greatly with their research skills and we thank them; the messengers and gallery staff who are unfailingly polite and offer us excellent service throughout the year; and the security staff in particular. I think of the security officer who was involved in the incident just before Parliament broke up. That was the kind of dedication and commitment that security staff throughout this building show. Again they are unfailingly cheerful and polite and even managed to give Mr Banks the boost that he was in fact Winston Peters.  
I also want to thank the Bellamy’s staff. I was particularly interested in Gerry Brownlee’s comments about this catering committee. I have not heard of it before. I think Gerry and I can share that responsibility well actually and I look forward to working with him on it.  
I also want to thank our own staff within the Labour Party: the leader’s office the executive assistants and our out-of-Parliament staff. This is a particularly difficult time for all of our staff as we transition out of an election and into another Parliament. I want to ensure that we all acknowledge right across the Parliament the excellent work that is done by our staff.  
I also want to wish all of the people of New Zealand a happy and safe Christmas. I want to echo the comments from Anne Tolley about the people of Canterbury and Christchurch. There is no doubt that as we reflect on 2011 that is the fundamental and defining moment of this year for New Zealanders. I think we all know people in Christchurch—the MPs in this House and others who have worked so hard. I want to acknowledge all MPs from the Canterbury region because I know that they have all put in an effort. I want to make a particular mention of Brendon Burns as an MP who lost his seat and place in Parliament. That is the democratic process but I do not think anyone can deny the effort that an MP like Brendon put into looking after his constituents. He lost two electorate offices in two different earthquakes. Although I know that all Canterbury MPs worked hard he is one who will not be here in the future and I do want to acknowledge his role.  
The election on 26 November clearly did not have the outcome that we were looking for but I want to acknowledge two people right now. The first of those is Phil Goff as our leader. Phil Goff ran a fantastic campaign. I have seen very few people around the country who have not acknowledged that. He stood up in the campaign and in the debates and put forward Labour values in a way that we can all be proud of. His energy levels and commitment in a campaign that was very difficult were remarkable. The thousands of New Zealanders who got the “Yeah gidday” from Phil Goff know that every day he got out of bed with that level of energy and I think that is a fantastic thing to do in a very difficult situation. I want to say right now that Phil Goff has my respect for that.  
The other person whom I want to mention is Annette King. One of the things Annette King did as well as being the deputy leader of our party was that she drove our policy agenda. This was the most progressive policy that a Labour Party has put out in a generation. It included some tough decisions. It included some things that were the right thing to do but were difficult to put out there. I want to give credit to Annette King for that. She drove that policy formation. She is still here as is Phil Goff contributing but they are two people whom when we look back at the election despite the disappointing result we want to give credit to.  
The disappointing result is something we do have to accept. As David Shearer said today we do have to make changes. We have to review; we have to renew. But one thing I want to make absolutely clear in this House is that the values of the Labour Party endure. The values that have brought all of us on to this side of the House endure: the values of people before money of social justice of opportunity and of inclusion. Those values we hold dear. Yes we must relook at what happened to us but we will never give up those values. We will never forget the people whom we are fighting for across New Zealand.  
As disappointing as the result was for me perhaps what was more disappointing was the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who did not vote at all. This is an issue right across the House not for any one party but for all of us to take some responsibility for ensuring that the politics that we are part of is something that New Zealanders engage in. Too often as I have travelled around New Zealand I think people believe politics is something that is done to them as opposed to something that they are part of. The challenge for all of us is to make sure that we connect with New Zealanders and make the politics that we are part of something that they are proud to be part of. We need to change the way we approach issues we need to use technology better and we need to talk to people about the realities of their lives in a way that they connect to. That is a responsibility we should all take and I can say that the Labour Party is taking that seriously.  
The Government won this election and we have to respect that. But I want to reiterate the point that my belief is that there is no mandate in this Parliament for asset sales. Every single poll we have seen has said there is no mandate for asset sales. No matter how much the Government benches want to pretend there is there is not. Every single member over there knows that when they were in public meetings in the election campaign asset sales were unpopular. They know that New Zealanders do not want their future sold and we need to make sure in this House that we are clear about those views of New Zealanders.  
I can say for sure that this Labour Party will lead the opposition to asset sales and we will ensure that we actually put together a future Government that we can be proud of. We will work seriously with other parties with whose values we align and whose policies we can support. We are here to provide a positive vision for the future. Was there not a contrast today? As one commentator put it David Shearer offered hope; John Key offered Bob Hope. That is what we got today. We got a vision and a positive future over here and we got the corny jokes on that side of the House. Well my message to John Key is that it is time for him to get serious. This Labour Party is getting serious; it is time for John Key to get serious as well. The change is coming on this side of the House—John Key needs to know that.  
Mr Speaker I wish you and everyone in the House a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We look forward to coming back in the new year to take the fight to the Government and offer our positive vision for New Zealand. Thank you.